Turned Upside Down

Chapter 5

Evan woke to a strange, disorienting sensation, a feeling of being engulfed in unfamiliar vastness. His mind was thick with sleep, his senses slow to catch up as he lay on his back, blinking groggily up at a ceiling that seemed impossibly far away. Everything seemed blurry, distorted, his vision struggling to make sense of the world around him.

For a fleeting, blissful moment, he thought he'd woken up from a nightmare, that maybe everything from the last two days had been a trick of his imagination. But as he became more aware, his heart quickly sank. The soft fabric beneath him stretched out like an endless plain, now seeming much thicker than before, and his own pillow was like an oblong mountain at his back. He was in his bed—but he was once again five inches tall.

Evan took a deep, steadying breath, willing himself to stay calm as his heartbeat began to pick up pace. Logically, he knew that panicking wouldn't help, that it would only make things worse, but the thought of being small again, trapped in his own apartment like a bug, sent a wave of dread coursing through him. His bed, which should have been a haven of comfort, had transformed into an alien landscape, a vast and intimidating space.

For a few moments, he lay perfectly still, breathing in and out as evenly as possible, trying to calm the fluttering in his chest. He had to think rationally, had to look at this situation as something he could deal with. Maybe, he thought, if I stay calm, I can find a way to make this experience... useful, or maybe even interesting. The thought was thin, barely convincing even to himself, but it was something to cling to.

He slowly sat up, taking in the towering mounds of his blankets around him, their folds and creases like hills and valleys. Everything was huge, surreal, every detail magnified to the point of absurdity. His fingers dug anxiously into the fabric beneath him, each thread clearly visible, the texture so much more intense at this size. He took a deep breath, letting the cool morning air fill his lungs, trying to focus on his curiosity rather than his fear.

Alright, I'm small again, he thought, looking around nervously. But maybe... maybe I can explore. See things from a new angle.

He glanced toward the edge of his bed, where the drop to the floor seemed like a sheer cliff edge, the carpet below an expansive field. He took a cautious step forward, feeling the faint bounce of the mattress beneath his feet, noticing how his now minuscule weight was hardly enough to dent the surface. He took another step, then another, growing a bit more confident as he walked across the vast landscape of his bed, closer the pillow.

Standing next to his pillow, he looked up at it, marveling at how something so ordinary had taken on an almost mythic scale. The stitches along the pillowcase were thick and heavy, and he reached out, brushing his fingers along the fabric, amazed at how different it felt at this size.

He walked to the far side of the pillow closer to the edge, looking over at the nightstand. From his perspective, it was a towering plateau, his alarm clock casting a faint red glow that looked like the distant lights of a far-off city, and his phone lying beside it now looking like a large electric billboard, easily out sizing him by a few inches. He chuckled softly, the absurdity of it all bringing a strange mix of awe and amusement.

Evan turned his attention to the floor again, a strange longing to find a way off his bed and explore suddenly pulling him closer to the edge. Walking cautiously along the edge of the mattress, he took a deep breath and made his decision. Evan carefully began climbing down the side of the bed, gripping the folds in his blanket that had slipped off the edge as he lowered himself to the floor. It was an odd sensation, feeling his own bedding shift beneath him, but he tried to keep his grip steady, taking each movement slowly and carefully, mentally thanking himself for keeping in descent shape. When his bare feet finally touched the plush carpet, he looked up at the now towering bed, feeling a sense of accomplishment. It was strange to be proud of climbing down from something so mundane, but at his current size, everything seemed like a strenuous challenge.

The carpet fibers brushed against his bare feet, soft and springy, but they were thick enough to make walking a bit more difficult. He trudged forward, marveling at how each step tickled as it felt like walking through dense, fuzzy grass. He could see every strand, every minuscule thread, each one as tall as his ankles.

He approached his dresser a few feet away from his bed, which towered above him like a wooden skyscraper. He looked up at it, feeling the same thrill he'd felt when he was a kid staring up at a massive playground structure, his vision spinning briefly as a sense of vertigo hit him. He ran his hand along the smooth wood, tracing his fingers over the grain, feeling the faint coolness of the material. He almost wanted to try climbing it, but the distance seemed daunting, the drawers too far apart for him to reach, and the likelihood of him falling back down to the ground painfully deterred him.

Instead, he made his way over to his closet, taking each step carefully, trying to get used to the strange scale of his own apartment. He stuck close to the walls and furniture around the room, feeling uncomfortably exposed and vulnerable out in the open. His clothes hung like massive tapestries from hangers, the hems of his shirts brushing against the floor like enormous curtains. He laughed to himself, ignoring the way his voice was swallowed by the open air, imagining what Mason or Sarah would think if they could see him now, exploring his own closet as if it were a hidden world.

As he ventured slowly out the cracked bedroom door, further into his apartment. Thankfully, the hallway was short and he managed to make good time trekking along the baseboards. The kitchen became his next destination, and he carefully approached the table, marveling at the towering height of the chairs. His stomach churned slightly as he tilted his head back to trail his wide, blue eyes up toward the top, his messy blonde locks tickling his neck. He remembered the childhood thrill of hiding under tables, and now, at this size, he could do that with ease. He hesitantly walked under one of the chairs, standing beneath it and looking up at the bottom of the seat, the wood stretching above him like a high ceiling.

Suddenly, a faint hum from the refrigerator clicked on and caught his attention. He turned toward it, the sound now louder, more resonant, filling the air with a steady vibration that made his chest hum in response. He walked more confidently over to the fridge, his small footsteps slapping quietly on the cold tile. The fridge's slight tremor felt powerful at his size, like the humming of some massive, slumbering creature. He could feel its cool presence emanating outward, filling the air around him.

After just a few minutes, the quiet whirr of the refrigerator's compressor switched off, and the silence that followed felt strangely oppressive. Evan was alone, in an apartment that now seemed both familiar and completely foreign. He looked around his towering kitchen, feeling a sense of awe at the quiet vastness of his own home, realizing just how much he took for granted every day.

For a moment, he stood there in silence, taking it all in. He could feel a strange mix of emotions—fear, yes, but also a sense of wonder, a feeling that he was glimpsing his world in a way no one else ever would. Everything seemed so much more detailed, so alive. He'd never noticed the faint scuff marks on the baseboards, the way the sunlight streaming through the window caught tiny specks of dust in the air, creating a sparkling haze around him.

But as awe-struck as he felt, a flicker of worry continually crept back in. How long would he stay this way? And more importantly—would he even return to normal? He felt his chest tighten as these questions reemerged, his initial curiosity giving way to the creeping fear of the unknown.

Eventually, he wandered back to his bedroom, sitting down on the carpet at the edge of his bed, feeling a strange weariness settle over him. The day had barely started, but he already felt exhausted, his mind heavy with questions he couldn't answer. He leaned back, staring up at his bed, and for a moment, he closed his eyes, trying to push down the tide of worry building inside him.