ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ, 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘴𝘰𝘯

Chapter 2 - We've Been Shrunk

"Ron Thompson at the plate. Bottom of the ninth, clutch situation. Here comes the pitch!" The youngest Thompson son says, standing in his backyard with a bat in hand, throwing up a baseball. He swings.

"Oh, he's swinging like a rusty gate!" He says as the ball drops by his feet. He picks up the ball.

"He pumps once, he pumps twice- Oh!" He groans, missing yet again.

"He's never been good on the high outside pitch." He says, picking up the ball a second time from the ground.

"Here it comes, the fast ball is bread and butter.." He tosses it up, this time making contact with the ball, "Grand!"

He watches as his ball flys up and- smashes into the neighbours attic window.

"Slam.." He turns on his feet, attempting to flee the scene.

That would've worked if his older brother Russ hadn't heard the glass break. Ron runs into his chest, immediately blurting out excuses.

"Hey, hey, I didn't do it!" He struggles in Russ' grip.

"Come on, Dope." Russ drags him by his shoulder, leading his younger brother to their front gate.

"Hey, nobody has to know! Nobody saw it but you. Let's negotiate-"

As Russ opened the gate to their front yard, he yanked Ron along with him.

"I'm your brother, Russ! You're not supposed to fink on your own brother!" He whines, as Ron gets led to the Szalinski's front gate, and then the front yard.

"Turn me in and I'll tell all what you spend your allowance on!" Ron continues, Russ still pushing him forwards by the shoulder.

"Come on, Russ!" He groans, as they get even closer to the Szalinski's house, and he realizes he won't be able to get out of this one.

"Look, either you tell 'em, or I'll tell 'em, okay?" Russ says, leading Ron up to the front steps and opening the screen door.

With no time to waste he reply's, "You tell 'em." and he turns right away, but Russ grabs him by the back of the jacket and brings him back to the door.

Russ looks just about done with his brother as he knocks on the front door.

what none of the kids knew, even the ones inside the house, is that Mr. Szalinski's shrinking machine was currently going haywire and shrinking all the furniture in the attic.

Nick opens the door, putting his hand on his hip, "Aren't you in the wrong yard?" He asks snarkily, Amy and Nancy following behind to see what's going on.

"Listen, nerd face-"

"Tell 'em!" Russ cuts his brother off, looking at him impatiently. He hadn't noticed the two girls. He hadn't noticed Nancy was standing there.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked, making the two brothers look back.

Russ' eyes immediately landed on Nancy, and he awkwardly began talking, "Hi, um.."

"I-I'm Russ Thompson from next door, uh," He continued, His brother silently mocking him.

The two girls looked at each other quickly, looking back at the stuttering boy, "Um, my brother has something to tell you." He finished, looking to Ron.

Ron gave him a face, "Or else I could tell them?" He added, seeming to have lost the awkward voice.

"Okay!" He said harshly, looking to the girls.

"See, I was playing with my ball, right? W-well actually it's not my ball exactly, It's Charlie Sudzen's-"

"Just tell 'em what ya did." Russ said, nudging him on the back.

"It never would've happened if their house wasn't so close!" Ron exclaimed, making Russ roll his eyes.

"He hit a baseball through your attic window." Russ said simply, looking back at them.

"He what?" Amy said loudly.

"It shouldn't have been closed in the first place! It's a nice day!" Ron said, defending himself.

"We'll get it fixed, okay? We'll take it out of his allowance, alright?" Russ assured, trying to get rid of their worried faces.

"My allowance? Dream on!" Ron argued.

"Okay, we'll just have dad pay for it, huh?" Russ said, knowing that if their dad found out it'd be no fishing trip for Ron.

He paused for a second before looking back at the others, "We'll take it out of my allowance. Give me my ball back." Ron said extending a hand.

"Until you pay, no man shall pass." Nick said back.

"You've got nothing to say about it, space boy!" Ron pushed.

"Cool it!" Amy stopped the two.

The two girl looked at each other again. Nancy touched Nick's shoulder, "Nick, take him upstairs and get him his ball."

"What?" Nick said, surprised that his sister's friend was telling him what to do.

"And clean up the mess." Amy added.

He looked at the two like they had spiders crawling out of their ears.

"Do it, Nick, we don't have time to mess around." Amy continued when he hadn't done anything.

Ron gave him a humorous look before Nick scoffed, "Come on."

"This is what's wrong with the American system of justice." He muttered, leading his much despised neighbour upstairs.

Amy, Nancy and Russ were left standing at the door. When it got too quiet Russ started up a conversation.

"So.. you two like to dance, huh?" He said with this awkward grin on his face.

"How do you know?" Amy asked skeptically.

He looked unsure what to say, "Well.."

"You could see us?" Nancy said teasingly.

"No! No, yeah I could," He blurted out, "But I wasn't watching you, I.."

Nancy smiled at Russ' failed excuse, she didn't feel uncomfortable somehow.
•~•~•~•~•

The shrinking machine turned towards the sudden movement, the end lined with electricity.

Nick and Ron entered the attic to reveal the machine.

"Awesome." Ron said quietly, him and Nick edging closer into the room.

"So your dad's still in contact with his home planet." He joked.

The machine crackled and whirred, landing on the boys and suddenly shooting a large electrified laser.

Their screams were the last thing you'd hear.
•~•~•~•~•

Amy sighed, "What could be taking them so long?" She lead the way up to the attic, Nancy and Russ right on her trail.

"I am not missing the mall today." She continued, the three going up the stairs.

Amy arrived first in the attic, Nancy right behind her. "Nick?" Amy called, looking around.

They weren't there.

Russ walked in after Nancy, also confused.

"Nick?" Nancy said after Amy, looking for her friends brother.

"Ron?" Russ scanned the tiny room. No sign of either kid brother.

"If you guys are hiding up here, it is not funny."
Amy said, still looking around the room.

"Nick you know what dad said, you're not supposed to be playing up here!" She continued.

The machine then started making zapping noises, "Hey, guys.." Nancy said slowly, Amy on her left and Russ on her right. They both looked towards her, and then to the machine.

The machine then shot out a beam of glowing blue light surrounded with bolts of electricity, hitting the three and then everything went to a blur.