The Sunshine Project Pt. 06

"Alright." I sigh and bend down to sort through the tub of guns. The one I want is shiny silver with a green handle. I find it near the bottom and pull it out. It's heavy in my hand, the way it was when I was washing it, and I make sure I don't point it anywhere close to Allie or myself. "I'm sort of nervous."

"It's just a plant," she says, biting a nail. She's nervous too, but she'll never say that. I can see the way her forehead crinkles and her nose scrunches a little. I'm glad I'm not the only one freaking out about this other-worldly shit.

"Yeah, just a plant..." I say the words as I raise the gun and aim it at my planter. The pink petals flutter in the slight breeze, and my mind is a whir of thoughts. GG was into some really crazy science, and if the government knew we had these things I have a feeling they wouldn't be happy. The more we use these guns the more likely we are to draw attention to ourselves, but I have to figure out what's going on and save my best friend so she doesn't get turned into a pin cushion in some government science lab.

I clamp my eyes shut and fire the gun, seeing the light flash through my eyelids. I am afraid to open them. I stand there with my arm extended and my hand shaking for a few seconds and expect to hear Allie's report of what happened, but she says nothing.

"Well?" I ask her.

"Well what?"

"Did it work?" I ask, still afraid to open my eyes. My insides are quivering. If we're right and it only works on living things, then we have to try every gun over again and we have to find rabbits or whatever to shoot.

"I don't know. I can't look. I thought you'd tell me."

"Ugh..." I groan and steel myself as I lower the weapon to my side and slowly open my eyes. There in front of me is a tiny begonia plant, not a fresh seedling that's only just sprouting, but the exact same plant that was in that planter only seconds ago, only miniature. Next to that is Shep, hiking a leg on the planter. He sniffs the flower and looks at me with his hear flopped sideways. "Shit, Al. It worked." I look to her immediately as she opens her eyes and gawks at the sight.

"Holy shit, Jess. It actually worked! We shrank a plant." Allie covers her mouth in shock and shakes her head. "You know what this means?"

"Yeah, we know another law of these guns. Only two uses and only living things." I sit down in the chair behind me and lay the gun on the table. Allie walks around it and sits on the edge of the table planting the heels of her palms next to her.

"No, it means we have real government science stuff. Like, legit." Her tiny grin is priceless. She isn't even seeing this as the travesty it is anymore. She's excited about this. "Those things are worth millions, guaranteed. You can sell just one of them and pay that stupid survey guy or whatever."

"You mean Dean? Hardly. No, I haven't figured out what I'm gonna do about that, but if I try selling these things, it will draw attention. No doubt. GG wasn't the only scientist working on that project. He had a whole lab of people. If we try to sell government tech the NSA or whatever will come looking for us." I breathe a deep sigh and try to relax. "Besides, we just need to get you back to normal; then we can think about Dean and money and toy guns."

Allie looks like she wants to protest, but she doesn't say another word. Instead, knowing that the guns work only on living things, I pick up the next one and look at my poor little begonia. I can't resize it because I don't know how, but I can shoot other guns at it maybe.

"Okay, so which one next?" I look into the tub and see so many guns it feels overwhelming. We've already determined that some of them are probably really toys. Like GG had the tub of real guns in the house somewhere, and when Glenda went to start cleaning things out, she picked up the toys and put them with the real ones. When Shep tipped the tub that night they all mixed together.

"That one, with the dirty blue handle." Allie points to another silver gun, one we haven't been able to clean yet. The layer of dust speaks of a very long time of not being handled. GG probably hid them away, praying no one from the government came looking. Who knows if they're even his, or if he stole them.

"Kay," I breathe, leaning to pick it up. It's weighty too, just like the green one. There really is nothing special about these guns, at least not by appearance. This one reminds me of a squirt gun I played with when I was little, before I even met GG. "What do I shoot?"

"There." Allie points at the neighbor's apple tree. One lonely branch reaches across my fence, dangling into my yard. I had a conversation with them once about how many bees it attracts and how the apples fall into my yard and rot. They told me the bees help pollinate and that if it was too much trouble, they'd have it trimmed back, but I just bartered. As long as they don't mind if I pick and eat apples from that branch, I'll ignore the bees.

"So an apple or the whole tree? I'm not sure if we shoot the whole tree if that's safe. If we can't reverse it and it does something stupid, the neighbors will call the cops." I chew my lip nervously. If it shrinks the whole tree we're fucked.

"Well if it's a mind control ray it won't do anything because trees aren't sentient. Duh."

I scowl at her and sigh. This literal science experiment is nerve wracking, and she is a bit too eager to throw her life away. I momentarily forget that I'm supposed to be saving that life as I get frustrated with her and almost quit. This is stupid. If my neighbors see her sitting on my patio table and don't think she's just a really cool toy, I'm going to prison or something.

"The apple, fine." Allie crosses her arms over her chest and looks at the tree, waiting.

Standing, I try to steady myself. I take a few steps to get closer and aim for a single apple. This gun feels just like the last one, heavy and bulky. I take aim, and this time I leave my eyes open as I pull the trigger. The blue light swirls in the gun then a ray shoots from the tip hitting the apple. The apple spins and flies off the tree, smashing into the privacy fence at the back of the lot.

"Woah! Did you see that!" Allie squeals and covers her mouth. "Go, go! I want to see what happened."

I set the gun down so I don't accidentally fire it again, and I walk across the yard to the fence. The apple lays in a few pieces, one of them smashed, the other two frozen solid. I glance at her and my eyes are wide. I don't even know if I should pick it up.

"Well! What happened?"

Feeling very uneasy, I use a single finger to touch a piece. It's cold, like I'd assume a frozen apple would be, but it's slightly blue. Nothing scary happens, so I touch it again, then pick it up. "It's frozen..." I mumble, then smell it. It smells faintly of apple, but it's so cold it feels like ice.

"It's what?" she calls as I stand slowly under the branch.

"It's frozen!"

She has to see this. It's ridiculous. Why would GG need a freeze ray? What sort of strange science was he doing? And what the fuck do the other guns do if one shrinks and one freezes?

I walk back to the patio carrying the two pieces of apple and set one down next to her. "It's literally frozen. Shot so hard it blasted right off the limb and smacked into the fence."

"Woah... That's sick. We can freeze things?"

"No, Allie. We can't. We can't do anything. All we can do is figure out which one will fix you." She's far too excited about this given the risk involved. "Then we lock them up and not think about them until we decide how to give them back to the government."

Allie nudges the apple bit with her toe as I sit down and shake my head. My nerves are shot. I don't know how much more I can take of this. She's quiet for a few minutes as she examines the frozen apple, and I hear the neighbor's door open. For a moment I think they're going to question what we are doing and what happened to their apple, but all they do is let their poodle out.

The dog runs straight to the fence and Shep meets her there, but they sniff each other and bark a little bit, then she runs off, happily sniffing her yard. Shep whimpers for a moment but gets distracted by something else and runs away. I'm so glad that mutt's heat cycle is over. She was insane this time and drove Shep nuts for days. I'm surprised he refused to toilet outside even once when he knew she was out there.

"What are you thinking?" Allie asks, and I look down at her.

"I just want this to be over. I want my best friend back."

"Me too, babe. Let's just do the next one and see what happens. Okay?" I'm sure Allie would be reaching for my hand right now if she were big enough. It's just the sort of thing she does to comfort me. I can't keep doing this--taking time off to fix her so she isn't tiny again. Life has to get back to normal. For weeks now it's been one thing after another and I need to rest.

I reach into the box and pull out one that has a red handle and red circular glass piece in it. I'm not naïve enough to believe this one will shrink or freeze. I thought shrinking was the weirdest thing that could happen, but I'm starting to see that each of these guns has a different color on it, which means they likely all do something different. After we narrowed down the ones that we felt were specifically toys and the ones we thought weren't functioning, it left seven guns of seven different colors: blue, green, red, orange, purple, white, and silver.

"What do I shoot?" I ask her. I don't think I can take the risk of shooting the apple tree again with the neighbor's dog outside. If they are watching from the window, they'll see it for sure.

"Well there's a bird at the feeder..." Allie shrugs, and I look at the feeder where a small bird with boring colors sits pecking at the seed. Shep hasn't noticed yet, or he'd have chased it off. "Probably a perfect way to test it."

"And if it's a mind control ray, I just tell the bird to do what? Fly in a circle?" I shake my head at the futility of this whole thing. "If it's the growth ray, will that make a giant beast of a bird that will crush the city?"

"Jess! You're overthinking this thing." Allie sounds annoyed, but I know I'm right to be cautious. There is a reason GG never talked about his science. It was classified. This is scary shit, and I have no clue what I'm doing. I want to stop.

"I don't want to do this."

"So what? You're going to leave me tiny the rest of my life? Turn me into the police so they can probe me? Jess, you have to do this. It's the only way. You're my best friend. Now fix this." I hear the whimper of emotion in her voice and drop my chin. She's right again, but God do I hate it.

Without thinking, I raise the gun and point it at the bird. But as I pull the trigger my sudden movement scares the thing, and it flits off just as the red beam streams from the tip of the gun. The light reflects off of the glass and refracts, into the neighbor's yard. The poodle is there, right where the beam of light hits, and it yelps.

"Oh shit!" I drop the gun and cover my mouth. "Fuck, Allie. What did I do?"

I can't look. I walk straight to the back door and press my forehead against the glass. This is bad, really bad. This is going to cause problems. I am freaking out, mind racing with fear as Allie starts to laugh hilariously. So loudly, in fact, that I have to turn to see what she's laughing at.

"Oh fuck, that's good." She is leaning forward, hands on knees, watching the neighbor's dog rub her ass against the chain link.

Shep races over to the fence and goes nuts, whimpering and yelping. His little paws reach through the holes, and he claws at her ass, licking her--exactly how he did all last week when she was in heat.

"Holy cow... What did it do?" I walk toward Allie trying to let the sight sink in.

"I think it's like a pheromone ray or an arousal ray or something."

"That's stupid. Why would they do that?" I glance down at the gun on the ground and shake my head. It's obvious the dog isn't done with her heat yet.

"Why the fuck would they build a gay bomb?" Allie snickers as Shep tries to mount the poodle through the fence. He's so stupid.

"I don't think it's a pheromone ray. She's just not done with her heat." I shake my head and sit down. The gun did nothing, right? I mean, the neighbors aren't going to kill me. It's not frozen or tiny.

"They why did they peacefully coexist for ten minutes outside before you shot her? Has that ever happened when she was in heat before?" Allie plants a hand on her hip and stares at me. She's right again and again and again. God, I hate when she's right.

"Fuck's sake. How do we reverse that? I can't have that dog in heat twenty-four-seven. I can't put up with Shep whining and chasing tail indefinitely." I slump forward and put my head down. "I can't do this anymore today, Allie. These things are dangerous. We could hurt someone." I'm overwhelmed and emotional. I just want my best friend back and these guns to go away. I don't even care that there are a dozen more of them yet untested. I can't do it.

I feel her tiny hand smoothing my dark hair. "Alright, babe. We'll take a break. Besides, I'm hungry. Want to get me another sausage meat loaf?"

I snicker at her joke and sigh. This is getting more insane by the minute. I want it to be over, but the only way out is through. We have to find the growth ray, and we have to make sure no one finds out about any of this. "Yeah, okay." I sit up and look at Allie who remains calm as can be. How can she not be freaking out when life as she knows it is over?

"I have to go home this weekend. I need to get my laptop and send an email to HR about what's going on. Maybe they'll grant me work from home privileges."

"Or maybe they'll think you're insane." I shake my head at her. "Fine, we'll go on Saturday after we take care of Jackson. He's been a bit neglected this week anyway."

We head into the house and I still feel like nothing will ever get better. Allie is tiny; Glenda is blackmailing me--I swear it.

And I'm just not sure what to tell the neighbors about their poodle either.

Chapter 18

Cora

Danny's bed is so uncomfortable. It feels like it's made of springs and thin material, squeaks so loud we have to fuck on the floor to avoid his parents knowing I'm here. I'm sick of this tiny space. I want my large bedroom and luxury kitchen back, but I'm not about to go home and admit to Dean I need him.

Rolling to my back, I stare up at the ceiling. Danny has been prepping nonstop for college, shopping, visits, calls with his counselors. His scholarship committee meetings and football practices consume him. I'm not sure I'll ever have a normal relationship with him again. It's like we fuck, and he leaves, and that's my existence. Right now, he's showering, and I expect him to want me when he comes out. I have zero desire for sex again, but he's letting me sleep in his bed and eat his food.

The door creaks open, and he walks in with a towel around his waist and one in his hand drying his hair. He smirks at me and winks. "Mom and Dad just left. I have to meet them at the bank in twenty minutes, which means I have fifteen minutes to do whatever you want."

"You'll be late if it takes you fifteen minutes." My dry tone doesn't discourage him. He shuts the door and tosses the towel, then walks to the window where he shuts the curtain as the towel around his waist comes loose and drops the ground. He leans toward the window then looks back at me.

"Didn't you park there?" he asks, nodding toward the middle of the block.

"Yeah, why?" I ask, jumping up out of bed. I walk to where he stands and pull the curtain back so I can see what he's looking at. The spot where I parked my car the day before yesterday is empty. My car is gone. "What the fuck!" I want to climb out the window and run to the spot, as if standing where the car used to be will make it manifest. "Shit."

"Someone stole your car?" he asks, sounding like an idiot.

"Not someone--Dean. There is no other person on this planet who would want it and they have the spare key." I stomp back over to the bed. Of course they'd steal it because I never got the guns for them. They are hoping I'll come home and try to claim it so they can manipulate me into doing their dirty work. Why can't they just sneak into her house and take the guns themselves?

"How do you know it was him? Classic cars like that get stolen all the time. It's worth a lot of money, Cora." Danny follows me to the bed, letting the curtains swing shut, and crawls across me as I flop onto the mattress in a huff.

"You only think that because you're a guy. You know something about cars which makes you think you know everything about cars. I'm telling you it's a trash heap and no one will pay a cent for it." His dick is hard and still damp from his shower. He grinds it against my ass. "Get the fuck off me."

"I thought you'd want a little D before I leave." He grinds harder, pushing his cock against my hole and making me cringe. He humps me like a frickin' dog, thrusting too quickly to be worth anything, and I'm not turned on by it.

"I said, get off me," I snap, turning. He moves to the side, and stares at me as I sit up and cross my legs. "My car was just stolen and you think I want sex?"

"You know where it is, Cora. That doesn't make it stolen; that makes it misplaced." Danny grabs my knee and pulls me toward him. "You don't want sex, that's okay. Let me hold you for a minute. You'll feel better, and you can have a nap while I'm gone."

"So I can wake up to you trying to put things in me while I'm sleeping without waking me up? No thank you." I fold my arms over my chest, and he scowls at me again. I don't even care. I'm angry at the entire fucking world. I deserve better than all of this.

"I'm only trying to help." His hand on my knee softens, his thumb strumming me like a guitar.

"If you're trying to help then go get my fucking car and help me get back at them." I pull away and slide to the end of the bed where I can reach his phone on the edge of his dresser. I have a mind to call Dean and tell him off, but that might only make things worse. If I call Glenda, she'll just insist Dean is doing the right thing because she's terrified of being out on the street. I don't blame her exactly, because this living in poverty sucks, but I can't stand by and watch her be some man's whore.

"What are you doing?" Danny asks. The bed shakes as he gets off, and I watch him walk to his dresser and pull out some boxers.

"I'm thinking of what to do. It's obvious I'm never working for Dean's company. And if I'm not doing that, then I don't need his fancy college education. I think I'm going to call the university and just drop out, have them send me the money. Then I have a good start on being independent."

"Drop out of college? Cora, that's a horrible idea." Danny continues to dress while he lectures me on the importance of education. Leave it to a jock with one goal--to go pro--to coach me on how to live my life.

"You know what, Danny? If you don't have any good ideas to help me then just butt the fuck out." I type away at his phone searching the internet for the OSU college admissions office number. It can't be that hard to do this. Dean and Glenda figured it out for Christ's sake. All I have to do is prove my identity and then request the drop out and the funds sent back to me.

"Cora, I can't do this anymore." Danny's words make my blood boil. I look up at him as he jams his feet into socks and shoes.

"Do what?"

"This... You treating me like trash and talking down to me like you're better than me. Sure the sex is amazing, but I'm trying to take my life seriously. Do you really think I want to marry Glenda?"

"Cugh!" I scoff and glare at him. "Are you suggesting that I act like my mother?" I stand and square off with him, and he shoves his wallet into his back pocket and sighs.