Oh (2024)

Introducing Slater in his Macro Stories debut.

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Kevin didn’t know how it happened. One second, he was standing in the living room, debating whether to grab a drink from the fridge, and the next—his entire world had erupted outward, stretching, distorting, swallowing him whole.

The walls soared into infinity. The couch, once a simple piece of furniture, now loomed like a towering landmass. The carpet beneath his bare feet had transformed into a sprawling, fibrous jungle, each tangled thread a thick, dust-laced vine resisting his every movement.

He had shrunk.

A ragged breath tore from his lungs. His chest tightened, panic clawing at the edges of his mind. No. No, this wasn’t how things ended. He could fix this. He just had to get Slater’s attention.

That shouldn’t have been hard. Slater—his roommate, his friend—would notice him. He had to.

Kevin just needed to reach him.

But the apartment had become an alien world. Everything that had once been mundane now stood as an impassable landscape. The coffee table loomed like a steel-and-wood monolith. A discarded hoodie, lazily crumpled near the couch, had transformed into a mountain range of tangled cotton, its valleys and folds stretching into dark, impassable terrain.

And then there was the front door. His only hope. And it stood impossibly far away.

Before he could make a move, the lock clicked.

The door swung open, and Slater stepped inside.

Kevin’s stomach plummeted.

The impact of Slater’s foot hitting the hardwood sent a thunderous tremor through Kevin’s tiny frame, shaking him to his core. A rush of displaced air washed over him, all the way from the other side of the room. Slater exhaled sharply, raking a hand through his perpetually messy dark hair, oblivious to the minuscule figure below.

Kevin screamed and ran towards his giant friend.

“SLATER! DOWN HERE!”

His voice barely carried, a whisper swallowed by the vast space between them.

Slater didn’t even hesitate. He strode past the living room, his towering form disappearing into his bedroom without a glance downward, or any knowledge he ever heard tiny Kevin. 

“I can reach him…I can reach him…” Was all Kevin kept reminding himself. 

Kevin had to reach him. Slater had to see him. He had to.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself forward, pushing through the dense jungle of carpet fibres. Every step was agonizingly slow, every movement a battle against the world that had once been ordinary but was now impossibly vast.

And then—the tremors returned.

The ground quaked beneath him, sending violent shudders through his tiny frame. Kevin stumbled, barely managing to stay upright as the earth itself seemed to pulse under Slater’s massive steps.

Slater was leaving his room.

Kevin craned his neck upward. His colossal roommate emerged, now clad in his usual plaid shirt and a pair of loose shorts, his expression relaxed, unaware.

The giant strode into the living room, his bare feet slapping against the hardwood. Kevin could feel the weight of him, the sheer force of each step rattling through the floor. Slater barely paused before settling into his favorite chair with a satisfied sigh.

Kevin’s stomach twisted.

“Oh…” The sound barely escaped Kevin’s lips as his wide eyes took in the sheer enormity of Slater, just sitting there, oblivious and immovable. His knees buckled, sending him crashing onto his ass, the impact jarring but insignificant compared to the vastness before him.

His heart pounded in his chest as he raised one trembling arm, fingers stretching desperately, beckoning, pleading. His voice, once a strong and certain thing, now evaporated into the yawning chasm of space that had once been his world.