Founded.pdf

Lila was just a regular woman living an ordinary life. She worked as an accountant in a small firm, came home to watch TV, and occasionally met friends for drinks. Her boyfriend Tom was a software engineer, they had been dating for 3 years now.

One evening after work, Lila was at the grocery store shopping for some dinner ingredients when she saw it - the shrink ray display in the electronics aisle. Of course, this was no ordinary shrink ray, but a full-scale, functional, 3D object downsizer. She remembered seeing an article about it - something about some scientists who had created a portable device that could shrink objects down to 1 inches tall within seconds using high-powered LEDs and focused microwaves. Apparently the military was interested in weaponizing it.

Lila was about to walk by when she heard a tiny voice. "Help me! Someone help!" She looked around confused. That's when she saw him - a tiny naked boy, about 1 inches tall, right there on the floor by her feet. She gasped. He looked up at her pleadingly, his small hands outstretched.

"Who are you? How did you get so small?" Lila asked in shock. Her mind was racing. Was this a prank? Some kind of trick?

"Please, you have to help me! I'm Jason. This shrink ray, it's real. I found it online, thought it would be cool. I'm a physics student. I was trying to fix a bug but it malfunctioned and zapped me!" Jason explained frantically. "I've been trapped in my dorm for hours. Then I crawled out the window and was trying to get home when I got stepped on by some guy and he put me in his pocket. He brought me here and left me on the floor."

Lila's eyes went wide. She looked around the empty aisle, mind reeling. This couldn't be happening. Yet here was a tiny naked man at her feet, begging for help. She had to do something.

Quickly, Lila grabbed a box of tissues from the shelf and set it on the floor. "Get in here," she told Jason, who gratefully climbed inside the dark cardboard box. Lila placed it carefully in her shopping cart, her heart pounding. No one had seen her. She finished her shopping and paid, all the while worried about the tiny human in her cart.

Once in her car, Lila opened the box a crack. Jason peeked out, eyes shining with gratitude. "Thank you so much. You saved my life. I owe you one," he said earnestly.

Lila swallowed. What now? She couldn't bring a shrunken human being back to her apartment. What would Tom say? But she couldn't just leave him here either. He was someone's son, someone's brother, someone's friend.

"You can stay with me until we figure out how to get you back to normal," Lila found herself saying. "But we have to be very careful. If anyone finds out, they'll lock you up. And probably me too. Okay?"

Jason nodded solemnly. "I understand. I'll be good, I promise. I won't cause any trouble. Thank you, you're a lifesaver."

Lila drove home in a daze, a small, shrunken man hidden in her purse. She had no idea what she was getting herself into. But she felt a strange tingling in her spine. This was going to be the most interesting thing that had happened to her in a long time.