Anne sobbed quietly with her head in her hands as the small army of doctors poked and prodded at her tiny son. The past few days had been a whirlwind of activity at the Riesin household, with government medical specialists and disease control agents coming and going to inspect the shrunken phenomenon. Almost immediately upon seeing Luke's 4-inch tall form on the bed, Mary had called the Centre for Disease Control, and the moment that she had mentioned Luke's shrinking condition the line was suddenly intercepted by another agency. They gave no name, but very clear instructions. Lock down the house. Isolate the subject. And perhaps the most ominous of all - not a word of this event shall be spoken to anybody outside their immediate family on pain of swift incarceration. Immediately after the phone call ended, the house was cut off from the power grid, and despite Mary's attempts to call her colleagues and Anne's attempts to call her daughter, neither of their phones seemed functional. Something had jammed the signal. Anne was so shocked and grief stricken over the predicament of her tiny son that she barely even remembered what happened next, only that Mary held her as she sobbed, and poor Luke seemed to have fainted out of fright.
Agents had arrived at the Riesin household within the hour. Displaying no badges or identification, they secured the property and immediately placed Luke's tiny body into a small, strange box. It was clear on all sides and sealed completely, except for a small black unit on the side that seemingly filtered the oxygen entering and leaving the tiny prison. Having shrunken out of his clothes, poor Luke was forced to sit naked and exposed on the cold perspex floor of his new prison, his knees tucked tight up to his chest and his head hung low as he tried again and again to wake up from this nightmare. Open seeing her son trapped and naked in his prison, she cried out to the agents in the room.
"For heavens sake!" She cried. "At least let me give him something to cover up with!"
The agents glanced between each other, and one nodded to her. She withdrew a cotton handkerchief from her purse, which was lightly used but she didn't care at that moment, and one of the agents unsealed the lid so that she could gently place the light cloth over his exposed form. Luke looked up at his beautiful mother as she reached in with her giant manicured hand, and felt a surge of overwhelming gratitude towards her. He felt reassured that she was there and looking out for him in this terrifying and confusing moment in his life. He stared up at her beautiful green eyes, her iris almost the size of his entire head, and he could see the love and concern she harboured for him. Her heady breath exploded towards him as spoke softly "I love you, Luke".
"I love you too Mom!" he cried, and then her hand was withdrawn and the perspex lid was replaced above his head, sealing him in once again. He drew the makeshift blanked close around himself, and was comforted by the lingering scent of his mother's sweet perfume.
As Anne walked shakily back to sit at her table to watch the continuing flow of secretive medical and security agents coming and going from the scene, she saw her beautiful daughter Margaret enter the room, a very professional looking 50-something man at her side in a dark suit, blue tie, and carrying a briefcase at his side. Margaret was trembling, her pale freckled face wrought with bloodshot eyes, and she wailed as she ran across the room to her mother for a comforting embrace.
"Oh mother! They told me what happened to little Luke! How he's well...well..." She couldn't finish her sentence, and burst into tears. Margaret hugged her daughter tight, patting her on the back and trying to hold back her own tears as the older man approached the two ladies.
"I'm very sorry that you have to go through this, Mrs Riesin, and I apologise for the necessary response." He swept his hand at the table with Luke in his cage, and the surrounding agents inspecting her sweet son. "I know you have your questions, and I will be happy to answer those which I am able to. You must understand however, that some answers will remain classified." Anne sniffled and nodded as the man continued to speak in calm, level and considered tones. She knew the type - he was a legal man.
"Clearly things are going to be very different from now on, and we need to establish a few important preliminary items." He reached into his briefcase, producing a small stack of documents. As he handed her the first of these, he spoke again.
"First and foremost of these, is absolute, iron-clad non-disclosure. Until we know exactly what this affliction is, we cannot and will not allow news of these events to spread. Without a strategically crafted response and explanation to the public, there would be panic in the streets, and conspiracy would fester. We consider this to be an unacceptable outcome." He looked Anne straight in the eye as he spoke, and she gave a faint nod in reply. "You will notice in these documents a few clauses that you won't see in civilian legalese. I trust you understand that outside this household, your silence on these matters is essential, and mandatory. Doctor Mary will be signing one of these also"
Anne blurted out as he finished "Ha-have there been many cases before?" she pressed.
The man in the suit inclined his head as he answered. "Some, yes. The first caught us off guard, but now we have a task force equipped to deal with this, as you can see. Now the seco-"