Shrinking John

John was at home watching tv because he had nothing else to do. He was so bored that after a few hours watching tv, he decided to go for a walk. But after only a few steps from his house, he saw Dylan, a friend of his. John was a tall and muscular guy of 6'3 while Dylan was only 5'7. He immediately noticed that Dylan had a bottle of water in his hand.

"You're thirsty?" asked John.

"Yeah, I just ran for an hour."

"Oh, so you don't mind if I borrow you some water!"

John ripped the water bottle out of Dylan's hands and started drinking it. Dylan was upset against John, but he couldn't do anything because John was so tall that he only had to use one hand to push him away. After drinking the whole bottle, he threw it at his friend. He liked to tease his friend a lot, he was so weak compared to him that bothering him amused him a lot.

"Hey, do you mind if I fill up my water bottle at your house? You owe me that."

"Yeah, sure!" answered John.

They both entered. But as John walked in, he began to feel weird, but it didn't worry him more than that.

"So, do you have any plans today?" asked Dylan.

"No, because of the fire at the university, I don't have any classes for at least another two weeks..."

"Since you don't have anything to do, we can go to the mall together!"

"Yeah, why not!"

Dylan drank some tap water, then they drove to the mall. After about ten minutes, they finally arrive at the mall. But when John got out of the car, he noticed that his shirt, which is usually tight, looked a little loose on him. He also noticed that his friend looked a few inches taller. "Maybe I've lost some weight these last few days..." He taught to himself.
When they saw a fast-food restaurant at the entrance of the mall, they decided to take a lunch break. John usually takes two hamburgers, but he was strangely less hungry than usual. They stayed for 20 minutes at the restaurant. But when they got up, they both noticed that something wasn't right... Dylan looked way taller to John, he was even intimidated by his friend who was much smaller than him only a couple of minutes ago.

"That's strange, you look shorter..." said Dylan.

"Yeah, I feel weird..."

They went to the entrance of the ball pit because there was a height sign.

"5'9" said Dylan.

"That's impossible!" exclaimed John "I'm supposed to be 6'3!"

"I know, I know... But you really look shorter, and also your voice is higher..."

John was shocked, he couldn't believe what was happening. But also, due to his shrink, he was swimming in his clothes.

"I need other clothes, mines are too baggy for me now!"

"I left some spare clothes in your car, they will probably going to fit you now."

They went back to the car and John changes his clothes for his friend's ones. They looked a little tight on him, but at least they were not about to fall. After these crazy events, they went back to the mall and started to look for new clothes. John was picking out clothes to try on. But when he arrived in the fitting room, he was horrified to see himself in the mirror. He looked so short and weak compared to before... He was even more surprised when he tried on the size L clothes he usually wears and realized they didn't fit him at all. The t-shirt with short sleeves he put on was elbow length, and he had to hold his pants up to keep them from falling down.
After he came out of the fitting room, John realized he had shrunk again because he couldn't see above the shelves like he normally does. The clothes on display looked huge to him. He finally found Dylan in the store and he immediately noticed he was now looking at him at eye level!

"John you're so small! We're the same height now!" said Dylan surprised.

Being the same height as his friend was very odd considering he's usually the tallest one. He also noticed that his friend's clothes now fit him perfectly well. He also felt weaker because his muscles were smaller.

"Maybe we should come back home." suggests John.

"Yeah, I think it's a good idea."

They went back to the car and John sits in the driver's seat. But he couldn't even reach the pedals anymore, he had to readjust his seat.
After ten minutes they arrived at John's house. But when they went out of the car, John was once again stunned to see that he was now eye level with Dylan's mouth.

"Oh my God Dylan, you're so tall!"

"I'm not taller, YOU are shorter." said Dylan "Look, the clothes I gave you are too big for you now!"

John noticed that Dylan took his key "Hey give me my key back, I need it to open the door!"

"So come get it!" said Dylan jokingly.

He was waving the key in the air while John was trying to catch it "Come on Dylan! I'm too short I can't grab it!"

"Ok ok, here's the key."

John was in front of the door to open it when he noticed that the handle was higher than usual. He was about to open the door when he started to feel a weird tickle shaking through his body. And while he was looking at the door, he saw that everything around him was growing by a few inches.

"Did you just shrunk?" said Dylan who was behind him.

"Yes... I think..."

They both entered the house, and Dylan immediately helped John to measure him. He was scared to see someone a few inches taller than him so close to him.

"A little less than 5'4."

"God, I'm so short now..."

They both sat on the couch and they started to watch tv to clear their mind. After a few minutes, Dylan ordered pizzas.

"Should I order one pizza for me and one pizza for you?" asked Dylan.

"Can we share a pizza instead? I'm not hungry enough to eat an entire pizza..."

"Ok."

John was last measured 20 minutes ago. But Dylan decides to measure him again.

"5'4 again! You didn't shrink since last time!"

"Really? Maybe I'm not shrinking anymore!"

*Someone is knocking at the door*

"I'll get the door." John said to Dylan.

When he opened, it was a delivery guy a couple of inches taller.

John gave him the money and the delivery guy gave him the pizza.

"You're home alone tonight right? No adult! I used to love when my parents left me home alone!"

John didn't say anything. The delivery guy believed he was not an adult. He put the pizza on the table and saw on the couch a water bottle near his friend's stuff. He opened it and drunk half of the bottle. They both sat on the couch and watched TV while eating their pizza. They stayed like that half an hour. But when they got up, John's t-shirt fell. He also realized he was now eye level with Dylan's shoulders!

"John, what happened? You're way shorter than a few minutes ago!"

"I don't know. I thought I stopped shrinking..."

Dylan measured once again his friend.

"4'9!" exclaimed Dylan. At the same time, he notices his half-empty water bottle lying on the table. "John... Did you drank in my bottle?"

"Yeah, but is it really important right now? I'm shrinking and I will probably be so small that I will disa-"

"No, you don't understand... It was not just a water bottle, it was a shrinking potion. You were only supposed to drink one!"

"A shrinking potion?! But why did you want to shrink me?"

"You were so big and strong compared to me, I could never defend myself when you bothered me... I wanted to see how it feels to reverse the roles for once..."

He went back near the couch where he left his bag and took out another bottle of water, but this one had no label, probably to differentiate it from the others. "This one is a growing potion, but I only have one bottle, and you drunk one bottle and a half of shrinking potion." said Dylan a little worried. "And you have to wait 24 hours before drinking a new potion." John was starting to get worried, he was afraid he would never grow back to his normal size.
After a few minutes to recover from their emotions, they both agreed to let Dylan stay at his friend's house for the night so he can give him the potion tomorrow.

"Maybe we should eat a little something before going to bed, I'm still hungry." said Dylan.

"Yeah sure, I think I still have some leftover pasta in the fridge."

He went to his fridge, the door seemed so hard to open compared to before. He took the pasta and went to the microwave, but there was a problem... "Dylan can you help me, the microwave is so high, I can't reach it!" Dylan now felt so powerful compared to his friend. The rest of the night went well and they both went to bed.
They both woke up, they almost forget the shrinkage and were surprised when they saw themselves.

"How much longer I need to wait before I can drink the growing potion?"

"Another two and a half hours."

"I have some errands to do, I'm probably going right now."

"Now?! In this condition?"

"Yeah, it won't take me long."

John went to his car and started sitting, he immediately noticed his head was way too low and that the pedals were way too far away for him to reach. After adjusting the seat as high and as close to the front of the car as possible, he was still a little too short, but thanks to the small size of his car, he could still drive.
After he parked, he got out of his car and immediately noticed that everyone was staring at him. At the same time, he was no taller than the shoulder of almost everyone passing near him. It was weird and unusual for him to be the smallest. He entered the store. He knew where he had to go and went straight there. But when he found himself in front of the shelf, he realized that the item he wanted to buy was too high for him to grab. Even on tiptoes, he wasn't touching it. He was too ashamed to ask anyone to help him and he preferred to take another brand that was lower down on the shelf. When he finally gets out of the shop, he was exhausted. It's like he had to walk twice as hard, and the bag he had to carry seemed huge to him.

Once he got home, he asked Dylan if he can drink the growing potion. "Yeah, I think you can drink it now." said Dylan "Also, keep in mind that the effects are almost instantaneous." Then he gave the bottle to John who drunk it as soon as he got it in his hands. After only a few seconds, he slowly began to grow. His eye level went from Dylan's shoulder to his neck, then his mouth. But then he stopped growing.

"Why am I not growing more?!"

"Because you drunk more shrinking potion than you drunk growing potion."

"Where can I find more of this growing potion?"

"You can't grow more. Unlike the shrinking potion, this one has limits..."

John wasn't very happy about having to spend his entire life being short, but unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do about it...