Crap! We Shrunk

7

They woke up early and started to walk immediately. It was their third day without food and it was getting critical. They didn't talk. Everyone used whatever strength they had left to move one foot in front of the other. Louis could walk by himself but he was limping badly.

They collected water from the grass around them and they just kept going. Just as everyone was about to give up they reached the fence. That gave them new strength and they walked alongside it until they saw the wooden barrier around Jay's garden patch. They jumped and cheered.
"Finally!" Niall said and burst out crying. "I'm so hungry."

An enormous strawberry had fallen off the plant and it was laying on the ground like an oasis in a desert. They ran up to it and started to eat. They had never tasted anything as good as that strawberry at that moment.

There was plenty to go around and they had a fiest. When their bellies were full they sat down to rest for a while.
"How are we gonna bring that strawberry with us?" Niall questioned.

"Mum has fewer sticky things in her garden. Carrots and peapods." Louis said.

"I don't know if we can pull a carrot out of the ground but pea pods can work. Zayn, wanna give it a try?" Liam asked.

"I'll help too."Harry offered.

"Yeah, me too." Niall said.

Lottie got up as well. They found a hole in the wooden crater and climbed inside after helping each other reach it. Louis lay on his back and rested. He wasn't much of a help with his foot anyway.

A half-hour later a gigantic peapod was thrown over the edge. A couple of minutes later everyone was back on the ground. They gathered grass straws and Zayn started to cut pieces of the peapod. An hour later their pockets were full and they ate from the peapod one last time before they continued.

In the meantime, their parents had a crisis meeting.
"We have to try and think like them." Anne said.

"Niall would stress about food. That would be his number one concern." Maura said.

"They must be starving by now." Karen said in concern.

"How will they even find food? There's only grass." Anne said.

"My vegetable patch!" Jay shouted.

They ran to that part of the garden but stayed on the driveway.
"Alright. We need to get up in the air and search the surrounding area. Hurry!" Anne stressed.

Louis and the others were just walking around, minding their own business when everything went dark above them. Scared that it would be another rain episode they looked up, just to see bright red fabric.
"It's mum!" Lottie screamed.

They all started to jump up and down and scream and soon enough Jay finally spotted them.
"They're here!" She shouted excitedly.

Running feet that felt and sounded like an earthquake knocked them off their feet. A big hand picked them up gently one by one. They were put in a big basket and carried inside. They just lay on their backs, experiencing something equal to a rollercoaster.

Jay carried them to the attic. Mark was still working on the shrinking machine.
"We found them!" Jay said.

"Thank God. I can't get the machine to work through. It's overheating." Mark stressed.

"It must be the baseball." Louis said to the others.

"What do you mean?" Zayn questioned.

"The baseball was on the machine. Like the beam went through it before it hit us." Louis tried to explain.

They were let out on the table and everyone was staring at them.
"Show him! Come on, let's pretend to play baseball." Harry said.

"Mark, the kids are trying to show us something." Jay said.

Mark came closer to have a look.
"Baseball?"

"The window was broken and I found a baseball on the floor." Jay replied.

Mark was thinking really hard while Niall and Lottie reenacted how they shrunk. Louis was pointing at the machine and Harry tried to show a ball with his hands.
"I think I understand!" Mark said and Jay found the baseball.

Mark placed it in front of the machine and aimed at a chair in the corner. They all cheered when the chair shrunk. Mark turned the switch and made it big again.
"Alright, it works. Now, Jay, try it on me before we use it on the kids."

"Are you sure?" Jay wondered.

"Absolutely." Mark said.

He stood in the middle of the room and everyone else backed off. Jay took a deep breath before she pressed the switch and suddenly Mark disappeared. Karen went to look.
"He's here!"

Jay turned the switch and zipped him again and he got big again. Louis let out a breath of relief. Niall offered to go first. They all watched anxiously as the light beam hit him but he didn't explode. Instead, he was back to normal size and his parents hugged him. Lottie was next in line.

Louis touched Harry's arm.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"

They walked away from the others. "What's up?" Harry asked.

"Wanna hang out someday?" Louis asked and glanced at Harry.

Harry hesitated.
"I don't know, Lou." He sighed.

Louis wised up. He called him Lou.
"I mean, I totally get it if you don't want to. I totally screwed up and I know a sorry won't fix that, but if you'd let me I would try and make it up to you. I've missed you."

Harry just stared at him.
"You fucking ghosted me, Louis. We were friends! Best friends!"

"I know! I regret it!" Louis replied.

"Well, that doesn't solve anything, really. You were a shitty so-called friend. I don't know if I can trust you." Harry argued upset.

"Okay." Louis replied and hung his head in shame.

"Guys! Your turn after me." Zayn shouted.

Louis was the last one to return to his normal size and his mum hugged him tight.
"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I hurt me foot." Louis said.

"We should go to the hospital and get it checked out." Jay answered.

"No worries. Lottie almost drowned though." Louis replied.

Jay stared at him and then she rushed them both to the hospital.