For the next few days, Emma felt like she was caught up in some kind of dizzying cyclone of tests, surveys and “treatment options.” Most of these few days were spent getting examined by nurses, having more blood drawn, getting interviewed by Dr. Kline and others, and more or less receiving the full brunt of the term “medical intervention.” Emma tried to keep a level head and straight face through it all, but this proved more challenging than she thought it was going to be. For starters, even though all the doctors and nurses (and particularly the nurse who had taken her first measurements, whose name was Martha) were relaxed and conversational around her, Emma couldn’t help but feel the weight of their underlying seriousness. They were medical professionals, first and foremost, and they were engaged in treating a disease, or syndrome, or whatever, that was still largely unfamiliar to them. They had come far enough to where they could dramatically stall growth in many patients, like they had with Igor, but by no means did they comprehensively understand the full nature of these growth disorders. As a result, even though they tried to keep the mood around Emma relaxed, she could tell that they were quite serious, and even grave, underneath.

The thing was, even though Emma of course appreciated the doctors’ dedication to her case, she wasn’t able to avoid feeling like they were acting a little ridiculous, taking everything so seriously around her. As far as she was concerned, aside from the obvious conundrum of her growth, there was still not really anything wrong with her, per se. She felt totally fine, and even giddy at times. It certainly didn’t help that whenever the doctors or Martha or other nurses got close to her to perform an examination, it would become painfully, comically clear how much smaller they were compared to her. For example, when Dr. Kline had been conducting one of his customary formal interviews with her from behind his desk, Emma couldn’t help but notice that his desk, while being perfectly proportional to the doctor’s size, looked almost like a toy desk to Emma…one that a little boy might be given for Christmas so that he could imitate his mother or father, whose desks he had seen during “bring your kid to work” day. This odd, off-kilter thought had occurred to Emma right in the middle of one of Dr. Kine’s questions, and she had snickered slightly at the thought, bringing her hand up to her mouth a little to stifle it. Dr. Kline had given her a bit of a strange look, and then continued.

Or when Martha had needed to take a saliva sample, and had asked Emma to bend down so she could reach, Emma had had to arch her body so far downward towards the floor that it became ridiculous. Giggling a little, she had stood back up to her full height, out of reach of Martha’s up-reaching hand, and instead got down on her knees…it was just easier. Martha had smiled appreciatively at Emma’s slight antic, and both women saw that, even on her knees, Emma was still a couple inches taller than the nurse. As Emma opened her mouth, and Martha reached a swab inside to get the sample, another strange thought had flashed through Emma’s head. For an instant, she had thought about leaning forward and engulfing Martha’s entire hand in her mouth, just as a little joke. Everything surrounding all these endless tests and interviews was so rigid and humorless and…over-professional…that Emma felt like livening things up with a little joke here or there. She didn’t end up following through on this thought, but she had noticed the strangeness of it — like, swallowing Martha’s hand up in her mouth? And closing her lips around it?? That would have definitely been a little weird…which is why she ended up not doing it. These were just some little thoughts that were dancing about in her mind, like little sprites trying to liven up the somber, sterile environment.

Thankfully, she had her budding friendship with Igor to provide reprieve from all the tests. The two of them talked endlessly about their experiences with growth, and about how the syndrome had manifested. Igor had been in a relationship with a woman for a number of years, but when his growth got out of control and he came to the Institute, he found that she had been unfaithful to him.

“What!?” cried Emma, feeling almost outraged that such a kind and mild-mannered man could have been treated like that.

“Yeah, it really crushed me there, for a while,” sighed Igor, a little wistfully. But then he shrugged, and gave Emma a genuine smile, though it was still tinged with a bit of sadness. “But what are you gonna do, right? You can’t control other people’s reactions to this kind of thing.”

“But…” said Emma, not being able to comprehend it, “Like…did she ever say anything to you about it?! Did she ever apologize??”

“No,” said Igor simply. “She just never came back to see me.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s so sad!” said Emma, reaching out and grasping Igor’s hands in her own. She had recently taken to touching his hands often — it was mostly an unconscious thing on her part. She just liked feeling how big they were; it took her back to how things used to be with her and Daniel, even though, of course, there was no thought in Emma’s mind of being unfaithful to him. Her connection to Igor, in her mind, was entirely platonic. He seemed to understand, even though he also didn’t at all seem to mind her grasping and squeezing his hands often.

“Yeah it was pretty bad there for a minute,” he said. But then he chuckled, a genuine, merry gesture, that made Emma feel like he had more or less completely recovered. “But that was years and years ago, you know? Things pass, and you just get on with your life. You have to get over this kind of stuff, even though, in the moment, it feels like the pain is never going to end.”

“Well…well I just think you’re awesome, Igor,” said Emma, feeling almost overcome by some kind of sudden, strange emotion that took her by surprise. She actually got some tears in her eyes, and had to blink them out to see him clearly again. “You…you just didn’t deserve that.”

“Haha, well…thanks Emma,” said Igor, genuinely touched by Emma’s empathetic show of feeling. They squeezed hands together and continued telling each other stories about their growth.

“So, when was the moment when you really, you know…got irritated, or even mad…that something normal-sized was just too small for you?” he asked her.

“Haha, oh man…how much time do you have?” laughed Emma. “There were soooo many of those moments. I guess they just built on each other, until…hmmm…untilll…”

“Yes?” asked Igor, grinning at her.

“Haha, I guess it was when I realized I couldn’t fit in the car anymore,” laughed Emma. “I was trying to go to the grocery store with my boyfriend, and…like…it was just…haha, like, I couldn’t even fit my legs in! And I had to totally just bend my neck this way and it was super uncomfortable and…haha, I felt like I was in a little kid’s toy car or something!”

“Except, of course, it was a normal-sized car,” said Igor.

“Well…yeah, I guess,” said Emma. “But, I mean…I think that car was maybe a little too small in general though. Like, I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t have been so frugal and splurged an extra couple thousand bucks for a little more leg space, you know?”

Igor let out a loud laugh that trembled on the air. Several of the other smaller residents turned their heads toward the giant duo in response, but Emma hadn’t even really registered that Igor’s laugh was so loud. It sounded pretty normal to her.

“But Emma!” he laughed, “You guys got the car before you started growing right!?”

“I mean…yeah!” smiled Emma, understanding his point. “But still…freaking thing is tiny, is all I’m saying, you know?”

The two of them continued on talking for a while, and after the fourth day, they were talking for multiple hours every day. Emma felt for Igor, and his unfortunate past relationship, but not once did she feel afraid that Daniel would do something similar to her. The thought hadn’t even occurred to her — it wasn’t that Emma was talking Daniel for granted. It was just that, even though she was 8’2, almost 400 pounds, and getting treated at the Institute for Growth Disorders, she still felt…relatively normal. And any irregularities that she had been feeling, cooped up in her and Daniel’s tiny house, had been mitigated by the appropriate size and scale of everything at the Institute. The rooms, the ceilings, the furniture, and even the meal portions, were all exactly right; normalcy had been restored. On the fourth night, Emma didn’t even really realize that, for dinner, she had consumed three portions of what normal “8-footers” were eating.

“Golly, you’re hungry tonight!” Igor had laughed, marveling at her portions. “That’s even more than I ate!”

“Well, I was extra hungry!” replied Emma in a tone of feigned defensiveness, smiling up at him. She noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Martha and Dr. Kline were whispering together from the corner of the dining hall, both looking in her direction, but she brushed it off. The doctors had to do all their tests and calculations and what have you…and they had to mark down what their patients were doing and eating and all the rest. She just wasn’t going to be bothered by it.

She went to bed that night feeling more fresh and vibrant than she had in a long time…and possibly in her entire life. Things were going to be ok. When she finally managed to fall asleep, though, her dreams were strange, and troubled by visions of fire, and strange lights flashing all around. Booming thuds and explosions riddled themselves through her unconscious mind. Even though there was no one to hear or measure, her breathing was labored, and her heart rate spiked. When Emma woke up the next morning, her body was covered with sweat, an unusual occurrence for someone who generally slept peacefully.

‘Well, I guess it makes sense, with all those dreams I had,’ thought Emma, shaking her head and staring up at the white ceiling. ‘Jesus, what was all that?’

She pivoted out of bed and made her preparations for the day, brushing her teeth and hair, and applying her pre-approved lotion to her face. She had wanted to wear a little make-up during her treatment, but Dr. Kline had forbidden it, since he and the other doctors suspected that some chemicals in the make-up might be partially responsible for throwing her growth hormones out of wack. Emma thought it was a ridiculous idea, but she had managed to keep her mouth shut. She threw on her white Institute gown, put on her shoes, and walked down to the dining hall for breakfast. She had the sensation of her thighs feeling a bit more exposed than usual, and she couldn’t help but notice that her feet were feeling a little confined in her shoes. But she shrugged it off — she had had a night of weird dreams, and her body was just adjusting itself back into the real world.

She positively devoured her first portion at breakfast, and even after two more trips back down the cafeteria line, Emma still wasn’t satisfied.

“Are you…are you sure you’re feeling ok, Emma?” asked Igor, still smiling, though with a bit of something else in his voice this time.

“Yeah, sure! Why? What’s wrong?” she asked obliviously, opening her mouth and more or less inhaling a stack of four pancakes at once.

“It’s just…well, haha! I’ve never seen anyone eat like that before!” he chuckled.

“Oh that’s ridiculous, of course you have,” she chided him, with her mouth full. “After that story you told me about eating out that entire Chinese buffet? Please.”

“Ha! Well…I guess you’re right about that,” said Igor slowly. But he was still looking at her a bit funny, until he had to get up and go for his round of daily tests. Emma remained sitting, essentially continuing to stuff her face until she had to leave for her own tests and measurements.

When Emma went in to get measured by Martha for her daily statistics total, her eyes had lingered for a moment on the top of the nurse’s head. Martha had always looked like a child to her, but now…Emma thought that her head looked even farther down than before. It was a strange thing, to be staring directly down…into the top of another adult’s head. Martha seemed to realize that something was amiss as well, and she creased her brow as she looked down at Emma’s feet, as if to check whether or not she was wearing heels.

“Feeling all good this morning?” asked Martha, in a voice that did not hide its uneasiness.

“Uh…sure! Yeah!” said Emma brightly, a bit puzzled and put off by Martha’s tone. “Um…how about you?”

“Oh, I’m…doin’ ok,” said Martha, looking up at Emma and nodding slightly. “Why don’t you, uh…step on up and get measured, huh?”

A few seconds later, Martha was staring up at the number that the height sensor had measured. For a couple long seconds, the nurse looked stunned. Emma had a split-second moment where she felt like her stomach was about to drop out of her body, but, without any real explanation, it passed. Now she just felt curious.

“What?” she asked inquiringly. “What is it, Martha?”

“It…it says that you’re 8’6,” said Martha, in a voice that was almost a croak.

“8’6?” asked Emma, looking behind her for no apparent reason, as if doing so would explain the measurement. “But…I was 8’2 and a half, like…yesterday.”

“Yes,” said Martha, writing down vigorously on her clipboard. “You were.”

Emma just kept standing there for a few moments, feeling like she was in a dissociated state. She felt fine; everything felt fine. Her heart wasn’t even beating faster. She wasn’t stunned or shocked like Martha seemed to be. She was just existing in the moment, taking in the surreal reality of what was happening, without much thought for the past or future. Further measurements showed that she had gained almost 50 pounds, putting her well over 400. This new number bothered Emma at first, but after a few moments of hapless gaping, she suddenly shook it off, laughing.

“Well,” she said, smiling, “I mean, if I’m gonna be that much taller, it makes sense that I’d be gaining all that weight, right?”

Martha just looked up at her as she continued to write in her notes; the nurse was too stunned to share in Emma’s odd lightheartedness.

“Gotta keep my figure proportional, haha, like…right?” Emma ventured again, smiling down at the nurse. She wished that Martha would knock off the serious, ashen-faced bullshit. Of course she was still growing! This was why she had come to the Institute in the first place, wasn’t it!? And she had only been there four days! What, did they all expect to have cured her with a snap of their fingers? No! So why was Martha acting so…alarmed? It irritated Emma, but she knew that her nurse was just trying to wrap her head around how big Emma was. But it wasn’t Emma’s fault that Martha was, like, just over 5 feet tall, right?

The rest of the day, and the next one after, passed in a bizarre kind of haze for Emma. She almost felt like she was walking on air, even though, at the same time, her feet felt more firmly planted on the floor than they had ever been before. Everyone was looking at her sideways…the doctors, the nurses, the women’s group (who, much to Emma’s annoyance, seemed to be whispering about her too), the shorter, 6-foot residents whose heads barely even came up to the undersides of her breasts…even Igor seemed alarmed by her sudden growth spurt.

“Aw, come on, not you too!” she laughed, punching him playfully in the shoulder when he had asked in a serious, concerned voice how she was doing.

“What…what do you mean?” asked Igor.

“Everyone’s all concerned about me!” burst out Emma, smiling and shaking her head incredulously as she gestured wildly with both hands. Close by, a 7’2 man around her age had been passing by, and Emma nearly clotheslined him with her hand by mistake. Seeing as the top of his head only came up to Emma’s shoulders, the result would have surely laid him out flat on his back.

“Woah, oops! Sorry!” giggled Emma, making embarrassed eyes at Igor, as if to say, ‘Whew, that was close!’ The 7’2 man looked up at Emma blankly and shuffled quickly away. Emma was suddenly struck by the idea that this man was getting away from her because he was afraid of some kind of contagion…like he was going to “catch” some kind of “growth bug” from her. Once again, she felt a kind of irritation bubble up in her head.

‘He’s not gonna “catch” anything from me,’ she thought to herself in a flash. ‘He’s already HERE at the Institute, for Chrissakes!’ But Igor’s voice snapped her back into the moment.

“I mean…it’s just that, uhh…” he was saying, a bit awkwardly. Emma looked at him sideways, creasing her brow a little at him as she continued to smile. Why was he acting like this??

“It’s just that WHAT, Igor? Come on, spit it out!” she said, laughing good-naturedly at his tone.

“It’s just that…I’ve never seen anyone grow so…fast before,” said Igor, finishing and straightening up, looking at her with an unmistakable seriousness. But then he blinked and seemed to try to make an effort to smile. Emma smiled back, eager to reciprocate his effort.

“I’m…uh…I’m not trying to freak you out or anything,” he continued, launching into a kind of perfunctory chuckle. “It’s just like…’woah!’…haha, you know?”

“Yeah, at this pace, pretty soon I’m gonna totally be taller than you, huh?” chided Emma playfully. But her rambunctiousness ground to a halt internally when she saw Igor’s reaction to her joking around. There was really something like…fear in his eyes. Or at least…uneasiness. She wished he would just knock it off.

A couple days later, Emma was sitting in Dr. Kline’s office, going over (yet another) list of potential treatments for her sudden spurt. She was sitting directly across from his desk, in a large chair that was designed specifically for people around her size. The thing was, though, that Emma was starting to think that actually, things didn’t seem to be quite so “normal” as they had been before. The chair had been fine a few days ago, but already, it was starting to feel a little too confining. She shook off the annoyance, chalking it down to having to get up early to meet Dr. Kline for her appointment. Suddenly, just as Dr. Kline was in the middle of a lengthy spiel about a promising new drug, there was an audible ripping sound. Emma’s right foot suddenly felt a lot better, and she realized in this moment how tight her left foot felt. Dr. Kline stopped speaking.

“What was that sound?” he asked, blinking.

Emma looked down and saw that her right shoe had split down the sides. She stared blankly at her foot for a few seconds, and then inhaled and smiled, holding up her foot to show Dr. Kline the split shoe. As she did so, he started back in his chair, nearly falling over.

“Are you okay?” asked Emma, puzzled at the doctor’s reaction.

“Y-yeah,” he said, a little shakily as he regained his composure. “You just…kinda threw your leg up there and it was just, a little sudden…and it startled me.”

“Oh…oh I’m sorry!” said Emma, looking at him a little sideways. Dr. Kline was so funny, getting all scared like that! Subconsciously, she realized that she should have probably warned him before she just…swung her leg up like that. But it was just her leg! What was the big deal?

“Well, anyway, I was just showing you my foot — my shoe just tore, so, yeah…I think that’s what the sound was.”

“I…I see,” said Dr. Kline, frowning as he peered in closer. He was silent for a few moments, and then Emma just decided to put her foot back down…a little harder than she had intended. The whole office and Dr. Kline reached out to steady the papers and trinkets on his desk.

“Hehe, my bad,” said Emma self-consciously, blushing. “I didn’t realize how, uh…yeah. I didn’t mean to shake everything just now.”

“It’s quite alright,” said Dr. Kline, now visibly shaken. Even though he was trying to maintain an unconcerned exterior, Emma could see right through him. She could tell he was troubled. She almost told him how good she felt, and that he shouldn’t be so uptight about everything, but she held her tongue. Dr. Kline was the head researcher, and she should be respectful to him. Still though, it was hard for Emma not to look at him in a slightly…condescending way. After all, sitting down at his fragile little box of a desk, he just looked so tiny.

Later on that day, Emma was hanging out with 7’0 Jessica and 6’8 Bethany in the common area. Emma had caught the two young women staring at her earlier and, instead of just feeling annoyed at them, she suddenly decided to go up and hang out. She was feeling a little more gregarious these days, anyway, and she much preferred to instigate friendly social interactions than having to deal with everyone else’s awkwardness around her.

‘I’ll show them that they have nothing to worry about,’ she thought to herself happily as she strode up to them. In the process, however, she nearly ran over a pair of middle-aged men, who were 6’4 and 6’5. Emma hadn’t even seen them, because they were underneath her breasts which had grown larger in recent days.

“Oh man! Sorry!” said Emma earnestly, waving her hand in apology as the two men shuffled away. She turned to face Jessica and Bethany, who were both seated. “I've been a little clumsy the past few days!” she laughed.

“Haha! Well…well I uh, I guess it’s understandable,” said Jessica, forcing a laugh. “You know, with you growing so…so suddenly and all.”

“Yeah, I guess,” laughed Emma casually, turning around and collapsing into one of the empty nearby chairs. The sound of something cracking echoed out into the air, but nothing in the chair’s actual structure seemed to change. Emma froze for a second, and then smiled, looking with wide, guilty eyes at the two other women.

“You two didn’t see that, ok?” she giggled. Jessica and Bethany just stared for a couple moments, but then they both made an effort to smile.

“Cross my heart, nothing happened,” laughed Bethany.

For the next few minutes, the women had a fun little chat about unrelated things, and Emma was beginning to thoroughly enjoy herself. The other two were seeming to make a special effort not to bring up her recent growth, which Emma appreciated.

“Oh, look who it is,” intoned Jessica, looking up past Emma suddenly. “The Gentle Russian Giant!”

Emma turned around and saw Igor walking towards them. They exchanged smiles and waves.

“Ladies,” said Igor in greeting as he stopped in front of them. Emma instantly felt the unspoken power of Igor’s presence amongst the other women. He was a man…and he was just so much bigger than they were.

“I see you’ve decided to mix with the dynamic duo, Emma,” said Igor, grinning and shaking his head. “Bad idea. Sexta, Septa, and Octo women all hanging out together?! My god, you’ll start hatching plots before we know it.”

“Aww, what’re you afraid of, Igor?” mocked Bethany. “It’s not enough to tower above all of us, is it?”

“Well, I can pretend it doesn’t mean anything,” chuckled Igor, with a knowing cock of his head.

There was a bit of a pause in the conversation, and Emma could feel Jessica’s eyes on her.

“Actually,” said Jessica suddenly, in a strange voice, “I think Emma’s got you beat.”

“What?” asked Igor in an alarmed voice, but then he quickly recovered and laughed. “I mean, I know she just had a big spurt there, but…I don’t think she’s caught up to me just yet.”

“Stand up, Emma,” said Jessica. “Let’s see.”

Emma glanced around at everyone, feeling an odd, simultaneous mixture of lighthearted frivolity and gravity. She looked up at Igor, who was wearing a mask of a grin on his face. His eyes, though, were searching.

Sticking her tongue into the side of her mouth, to emphasize how playful she felt, Emma stood up slowly. The world seemed to rush down beneath her as she continued to rise. Igor’s eyes got bigger and bigger, and his mouth opened up halfway. Emma’s eyes were even with his, and then she kept straightening her legs, until her knees locked. She was looking straight into Igor’s forehead. She had him…by three whole inches.