Hello, this is the first story I've written. Well, the beginning of it. If my message gets approved, I'll send the rest. I hope it's not too cheesy. Please do give me your opinions.
Part 1
Ashley and Daniel grew up on Silver Pine Mount, in a nice wooden cottage at the top of the hill. Their parents had a plot with a garden and some chickens. Ashley was born when Daniel was still very small. Ashley was born sick. From that moment on, all parental attention got diverted from Daniel to Ashley. To get attention, little Daniel would try to push Ashley to the ground, and get told off. When they got older, he would get sent to time out. Daniel would regularly attack Ashley physically as he grew bigger, saying he was only play-fighting. Ashley wasn’t sick anymore, but she would cry as he pinned her down forcefully. He was bigger and stronger. That night, the children were alone in their home, the parents away for work in the city.
“LET GO OF ME!!!” yelled Ashley, crying and kicking hopelessly. Daniel felt really strong against his little sister. The day before, they had been at their dojo, and Daniel had ignored her all along, pretending he didn’t know her. Unbeknownst to the sensei, he would tell the other children that she was a freaky little girl from his neighborhood who did all sorts of bad things, from kicking his dog to stealing eggs and even cutting a chicken’s head. Recently, Ashley had decided that she didn’t want to do sports anymore. It was always the same, even in soccer. Daniel had tons of friends at the dojo, in the coed soccer team, at school. Nobody wanted to talk to her. Since she had been so sick, she had started talking very late and was still very insecure about talking to other children. Plus, they were all taller than her, even children younger than her. Daniel was tall, too. He was barely a year and a half older and yet the top of her head only came up to his chest. She thought about how her father was 196cm. Maybe she would grow taller some day, be more normal, tall even. She was also tired of being so skinny.
“You ugly little pipsqueak!” said Daniel.
“LET GO!!!”
“Why would I let you go? We’re having fun. We’re training for next week!”
“No! I’m not ever gonna go anymore because I hate you!!!”
“You hate me because I’m bigger and stronger?” laughed Daniel.
“I hate you because you tell lies about me!”
He had pinned her arms and legs so she couldn’t kick or really move anymore. She was squirming, tears on her face. Daniel felt sorry and got off her. He only lied about her so he wouldn’t be the one pushed away by the other children.
After he got off her, she didn’t want to take any risk by retaliating. Her arms and legs were sore. She felt bad and scared. She ran away to her room and locked herself up.
Daniel felt a bit guilty, but decided to stay in the living room, on the sofa in front of the TV. His parents weren’t home. It was lonely in here. He didn’t like being alone. He was hopeful that his parents would get holidays soon, though. They were always happier at the end of the year, all the family was here. Well, all five of them. They were all here, including his mother and father and grandmother. Sometimes, his aunt came. It was a small family and the moments when they were together really compensated for the rest. They would get gifts even if it wasn’t necessarily Christmas, the family would tell stories from when their parents were young, and they had this funny ritual of getting measured by the wooden doorframe! People kept telling him he was going to be really tall as an adult and he loved it, he really rubbed it in his tiny little sister’s face. Smiling at the expectation, he fell asleep on the couch.
Ashley got out of her room that night to compare herself against the wooden frame’s markings. Her brother was already 155cm. She felt ridiculously short, even if it was normal that she was shorter as she was younger. She felt frustrated. All of the children in her class were taller than her. One girl at school was only 11 but had already begun puberty and filled out, she was 167cm tall. Why? Ashley told herself not to get too envious because the girl had had to redo a year and it was embarrassing. She knew the girl got teased, but Ashley really couldn’t wait until she could be taller. She remembered an argument with her brother about how even though she could become “normal” some day for a woman, he would still always be bigger and taller because he was a boy. She felt angry, all of a sudden, and really sad. Boys get even bigger and taller during puberty, he said. He had made his point by patting her head and then pressing hard on it: “and look, now you’re going to be shrinking!”. He had laughed. “I’m gonna get really tall, like our dad. Maybe if you’re lucky you’ll be average height like mom.” He had flexed his arms: “And men have muscles!” “Girls can get muscles too!!” “ Men always have more! Besides, you don’t even do any sports!”
Tears coming down her cheeks, Ashley decided to go back to her bed. She felt small and weak. She had bruises! She was thinking about how two girls in her class had had growth spurts and how one kid shoved her in a cupboard that one time. She hadn’t been able to defend herself at all. Pushing him back did nothing, she was too weak. Most kids left her alone, but she always felt small and exposed. She didn’t know what to do. She locked her bedroom door. She felt like she barely grew. Coming next to her bed, she started praying. The family wasn’t religious, per se, her father (raised Jewish) thought religion was ridiculous. Her mother had been catholic and still somewhat believed in God “as an afterthought”. She’d seen her grandmother pray. Maybe she could ask God to help her?
“Dear God, I am tired of being scared. I want to be big and strong. I want people to love me. I want to have friends. I wish I could get bigger and taller than Daniel so I’d make him stop wanting to hurt me and I could join a sports team again. I am really tired of feeling bad and being alone! Please, God, help me. Amen!”
Sure, some kids would talk to her, but she had acquired a reputation as a loner and a weirdo and some rumors spread by her brother still lingered at school.
Years ago, Ashley had stopped doing any sports-related activities. She was now into reading and drawing, a wallflower of sorts. She didn’t need many friends, anyway. Daniel had kept on doing martial arts, but had given up on soccer to join the school’s track team. He regularly invited his two best friends, Amin and Ulysse, over to eat snacks and watch movies. He would tease Ulysse endlessly about his name and nose shape. Ulysse would in turn tease him about being taller than him, then he’d generally stop talking. Ashley was still on the short side, but her classmates generally called her cute. She felt insecure and had put on weight from lack of exercising and emotional snacking, but at least nobody attacked her anymore. This included her brother, he had found other hobbies as he had become more popular. Oh, he still rubbed it in her face, though, and sometimes got physical, but it was alright most of the time. A classmate had told her that she had been the shortest until she got her periods which triggered a growth spurt; research done online by Ashley taught her most of a girl’s growth was done right before her first periods, at which point they generally got a growth spurt and then stopped growing. Additionally, she had started doing things to maximize her growth: taking multivitamins and amino acids supplements, sleeping early, eating well. She had read that exercising could help trigger growth hormone production; she still felt anxious at the idea of exercising with others and secretly did cardio and yoga in her bedroom, attempting pushups… she felt painfully weak and inflexible. Ashley really hoped to start puberty soon, grow and really catch up on other kids. She still regularly prayed, now adding “I want my puberty to arrive so I can get tall. Please!”
She was now 145cm. Her brother was a year and a half older and 165cm. He was starting to feel short, too. He used to be taller than the other kids, but now they seemed to be catching up on him. At least he knew he would still be growing! Girls stop growing at 13, not boys. Boys can grow up until they’re like 25, he reasoned. And his dad was a giant. He was already as tall as his teacher! It annoyed him that he was the same height as many girls in his class, and that boys were definitely starting to get growth spurts. “Eh,” he thought “girls hit puberty early and stop growing early too… it’s alright! I have just not hit my growth spurt yet, besides I’m supposed to be tall and maybe I’m a late bloomer!” his thoughts drifted to his “little” sister. She sure was a late bloomer too. He still teased her (calling her “chub-chub” and “pipsqueak”, putting his elbow on her head to use her as an armrest) but he had stopped being violent after finding a few actually close friends with whom he spent most of his time. She was so ridiculously tiny! That was because she had been really sick as a baby, sure, but imagine if she stayed that way! He pictured himself as a 2 meter tall adult, towering over his miniature sister, still teasing her in front of their own children and smiled. Looking in the mirror, he admired the beginning of a masculine, he thought, musculature. He couldn’t wait until puberty made him strong and lean. Daniel then started flexing awkwardly in the mirror, picturing himself as a bodybuilder. He couldn’t hit the weights too early, he thought, as it could stunt his growth or so had he heard, but he definitely would in his twenties!