Allison wished she could talk to Ms. Fulton again.
Ms. Audrey Fulton was the 10-12 grade English teacher at Allison's old high school. Allison and Ms. Fulton had practically friends since the first day of 10th grade English, and Ms. Fulton had been invaluable in getting Allison interested in pursuing a teaching career. Ms. Fulton wrote one of Allison's letters of recommendation to the admissions board, and had, over the years, been a mentor, coach, confidant, and even friend to Allison. Ms. Fulton helped Allison learn and grow through good and bad times, and was, by far, one of Allison's favorite people on the planet Earth. Allison missed her terribly.
Allison thought of her as she laid on her bed. She could see Ms. Fulton perfectly. Ms. Fulton was slightly tall, perhaps 5'7", and was always dressed immaculately in plaid skirt with a sweater or blazer on top. Ms. Fulton always looked so glamorous and gorgeous to Allison, especially with her red lipstick and straight black bangs. Allison always thought Ms. Fulton looked like a fashion model you'd see on posters at Macy's or maybe even in a haute couture magazine. She often wondered by Ms. Fulton didn't go into modeling or acting, though she was quite grateful she was a teacher. She hoped she would be as half as pretty and stylish as Ms. Fulton when she turned her age.
Allison remembered the times in which Ms. Fulton was kind to her, hugging her when she needed reassurance or when she needed encouragement. Though she was alone and in bed, she could almost feel Ms. Fulton's warm, comforting embrace. It brought a smile to Allison's face.
The warm feeling began to spread. It seemed to start in her heart, then stretch down to her stomach. Then, it seemed to arc back up past her heart and up to her head. It was a wonderful feeling, though it was overwhelming and all-encompassing. Allison was surprised by it. For a moment, she seemed to no longer be on her bed in her dorm. She seemed to shift between warm memories she had of her teacher. She relived the moment that she told Ms. Fulton she planned on becoming a teacher, and the moment she shared the news that she had been accepted to college. She was back at her graduation three months prior, giving her teacher what seemed like a final hug goodbye.
And then, suddenly and without warning, she was back on the bed. She opened her eyes and sat up. She didn't feel sad or lonely like she did only a half hour before. She wasn't quite happy, either, though. The warm feeling she had was rapidly leaving her, and all she could hear was her heart beat as it slowed and returned to its normal cadence.
She sat in the quiet, hugging her knees on her bed and smiled to herself. She did miss Ms. Fulton. Maybe she'd go home for a weekend in October and visit her old high school. Maybe Ms. Fulton could give her some much-needed advice and support.
Allison was snapped out of her train of thought by a sudden thump. Her head snapped towards the source of the sound: her old dollhouse. A nervous feeling bunched up in her gut. I bet Hannah and her friends messed up the interior of the house she thought. They probably broke something or left trash in there, or something.
She sighed as she got up and walked towards the dollhouse. Her petite hands slid across the right side of the house and found the familiar locks clasping the walls of her little house together. She snapped them one at a time, shaking the house ever so slightly.
The dollhouse wasn't one of those cheap plastic Barbie houses that is easily openable. In fact, the dollhouse wasn't really made for playing at all. Rather, it was the sort of dollhouse that was made to be highly intricate and to contain plenty of furniture and miniature dolls, to be admired and tinkered with but not used thoroughly. The roof flipped open to allow Allison to peer into the top floor, though it could also be opened horizontally down the middle to allow a viewer to get a look at all three floors of the house via cross-section. She flipped the roof open first and scanned the dollhouse for anything out of place. Some of the furniture was clearly moved and flipped and not handled with care, likely by Hannah or one of her friends. But there was nothing that would have caused it to flip on its own.
She shut the roof and then, with a bit of force, heaved the dollhouse's front open, bisecting it right through the middle. Her gaze was immediately drawn to something that fell over as she swung the front away from the back. She crouched down and peered into the dark dollhouse, and gasped when she saw what it was.
On the floor of the kitchen was Ms. Audrey Fulton.
It appeared that the force used to swing the dollhouse open had lifted Ms. Fulton off of her feet and caused her to fall onto her back. Allison was transfixed as she watched Ms. Fulton, clearly disoriented, slowly sit up, clutching her head. Her normally impeccably brushed raven-black hair was a bit tousled by the fall. Allison wondered if she hit her head as she fell. She was dressed in a plaid business skirt with dark leggings, ballet shoes, a white and red turtlenecked sweater, and a black blazer - as Allison frequently saw her wear in high school.
Allison, at first, was quite shocked. She couldn't believe what she ways seeing. At first, she believed what she was seeing was a dream. The past ten minutes had to be, she reasoned. But, almost instantly, she knew it was not (for every time she realized she was in a dream, she always snapped out of it). Unless she had simply lost her mind, she was really seeing a miniature Ms. Fulton, sitting up in her doll house.
Ms. Fulton appeared dazed for a moment. Her eyes then locked on to the massive face of Allison, gaping down at her with a dumbstruck expression. Ms. Fulton's face became a mask of panic, her red lips twisting into a confused grimace.
"Where a- how did... Allison?" she said, her eyes wide. She blinked rapidly, trying to process what she was seeing.
"Um, hi, Ms. Fulton" Allison said, snapping out of her trance-like stare. She glanced around and then turned away from the dollhouse, grabbing the chair from her desk. She dragged it over to the dresser and sat down in it, bringing her face level with Ms. Fulton and the lower level of the dollhouse. "Um, how did you get in there?"
"How did I... what?" she said, glancing around the dollhouse.
She probably didn't even realize she was in a dollhouse until she saw me Allison thought to herself.
"I was about to leave my place to get drinks with, um, Mr. Carras, but I think I fell asleep. Because this can't be anything other than a dream" Ms. Fulton said, standing up. She glanced around the dollhouse again and walked a few steps away from the edge of the house and Allison's face. "I wonder what this dream means. It must be that I miss having you in class!" Ms. Fulton said, laughing.
Allison smiled and bit her lip. Watching the miniature Ms. Fulton walk around in the dollhouse brought a smile to her face, both because doll-sized Ms. Fulton looked oh so cute, but also because this meant she now had someone to give her the attention and companionship she so desperately needed. Did thinking about Ms. Fulton bring her here? Possibly. This seemed like something that might happen in one of the novels Ms. Fulton would have assigned for class. And, Allison reasoned, if she shrunk Ms. Fulton, there must be a way to unshrink her, right? So, she reasoned, what would the harm be to keep her like this for a few hours? Allison would just send Ms. Fulton back later, and she'd probably just think she had a weird dream and missed her date.
Allison watched Ms. Fulton walk around the kitchen of the dollhouse for a few more minutes as the tiny woman spoke to herself about what a weird dream she was having. She was mesmerized by everything about the shrunken woman - the way she was dressed (impeccably as usual), and especially the way her tiny, toy-like body moved. It was like watching a doll come to life. To Allison, there was something precious about that. She just wanted to pick her up and hold her. This thought would not cross Allison's mind in more normal circumstances. But it's not every day you are presented with the opportunity.
A voice in the back of Allison's head told her to just reach out and grab Ms. Fulton. Who wouldn't want a little friend they could carry around in their pocket? Allison couldn't think of anybody who wouldn't. So she suddenly, and without asking Ms. Fulton, reached forward and grabbed the tiny woman's torso in a soft, petite hand. Ms. Fulton yelped as fingers wrapped around her torso and hips, leaving her arms and legs free to kick and pound against Allison's vise-like grip. "Sorry" Allison said, sheepishly. The anxiety she felt earlier in the evening seemed to disappear as she rotated her hand, watching with glee as she toted the tiny woman around like a toy. She carried Ms. Fulton to her bed and laid down, resting her chin on her pillow. She put Ms. Fulton on the other side of the pillow, propping her up against the back of the bedframe.
Ms. Fulton, bewildered, stared up at Allison, who simply smiled back down at her tiny teacher. "Allison... you did this to me?"
"Well" Allison said, blushing. "I didn't mean to. I was thinking about you, is all. How I missed your class. And then, all of a sudden, you were in my dollhouse" Allison said, pointing over her shoulder. "I didn't mean for this to happen, but I'm glad it did. We can hang out again, like we used to after class! And it will be nice to have someone around I can talk to without being judged, like by my roommate or the other kids in the dorm."
Ms. Fulton's eyes remained wide, and she put her hand up to her temple as she processed what had happened to her and what Allison was saying. Allison seemed quite pleased to have her old teacher in the palm of her hand.
"This isn't a dream, is it?" Ms. Fulton sighed.
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