Shrinking Son.pdf

Mother clattered into the kitchen in her wooden clogs, not noticing the tiny figure on the floor. She was carrying a heavy basket of laundry and her mind was on the younger children waiting for their breakfast in the next room.

Little Tommy, the eldest at 9 years old, had woken up that morning to find himself inexplicably shrunk down to a height of just 1 inch tall. Terrified and disoriented, he had scurried out of his bedroom to find help.

As he hurried across the cold linoleum of the kitchen, he let out a tiny scream of warning, but it was drowned out by the thud of his mother's heavy clogs. Her foot came down directly on top of him with a sickening crunch.

"Ahhh! Oh my god, what was that?" Mother exclaimed, frozen in shock. She slowly lifted her foot and stared down in horror at the small, bloody smear that remained of her eldest son.

Tears streamed down her face as the awful realization sunk in. She had accidentally crushed Tommy beneath her clog. Her firstborn, her little man, was gone forever.

In a daze, she cleaned up the spot with a trembling hand, not wanting the other children to see. She had to tell them... but how could she possibly explain such a terrible accident? Such a senseless tragedy?

Mother broke down sobbing as the true weight of her actions overwhelmed her. She had murdered her own child, and nothing would ever make it right. Tommy was gone, and it was all her fault.

The other kids came tumbling into the kitchen, eager for their breakfast. But they found only their mother, weeping uncontrollably on the floor amidst broken dishes and spilled food. She gathered them into her arms, rocking back and forth.

"Tommy... my baby boy. I'm so, so sorry..." Mother wailed between sobs. "Mommy did something terrible, and I can never fix it. Never, ever!"

The children didn't understand, but they clung to her, confused and scared by their mother's anguish. Even the smallest infant sensed that something was very wrong.

As the sun rose over the house, the family of five was now four, mother bearing a weight of guilt and grief that she would carry for the rest of her days...