“Are you sure you’re comfortable back there honey?” asked Daniel anxiously, turning in the driver’s seat to look behind him.

“I think I’m as comfortable as I’m gonna get in this tiny little….uh…in this car,” said Emma, sounding cramped, but still smiling at her boyfriend. Since Emma was now too big to fit in the front seat, they had let the seats down in the back of the car, so that Emma would have enough room to half-lie on her side during the car ride to the Institute for Growth Disorders. They had put some pillows in, so Emma could at least be moderately comfortable, but she quickly found that, whenever she put the weight of her arms or elbows into the pillows, they just seemed to shrink away like little cotton balls. She was just too big, and too strong, to be comfortable in a normal-sized car, in any capacity.

“Just make sure you drive carefully, babe,” said Emma, letting some humor bleed out of her voice. “You know I’m not wearing a seatbelt, and I’d hate for you to be on the receiving end of my inertia right now, haha! Imagine me flying out of the windshield — I’d totally take you with me! You wouldn’t stand a chance!”

“Haha, uhh…Emma, maybe we shouldn’t be talking about that kind of stuff right now,” said Daniel, chuckling through his nervousness. “I’m already anxious enough as it is.”

“Aww, I know you are,” said Emma kindly, reaching a big out and petting the side of his head from behind. She felt Daniel flinch a little, and withdrew her hand, feeling a little bad. Had she pet him too hard? Was she so big now that he was afraid of her? Emma didn’t really know. But what she did know was that she had spent much of that morning reassuring her boyfriend that everything was going to be fine while she was at the Institute. Dr. Kline hadn’t been able to say precisely how long she would need to stay there, but it definitely wouldn’t be for a huge, extended amount of time. Besides, once the initial few weeks of testing and treatment were completed, then Daniel would be able to come visit her.

That was the hardest part for Daniel; going a few whole weeks without being able to see Emma — especially in the condition she was in — was not something he was looking forward to. Emma wasn’t thrilled about it either, but she could tell that her approach to the whole thing was just…different from his. As she reflected during the awkward car ride, Emma wondered how exactly she was feeling about everything. Daniel was anxious and sad; that was easy enough to gather. But was she anxious? Emma wasn’t really sure. She definitely had a few butterflies in her stomach when she thought of the myriad forms of treatment she would be exposed to. They were all simply unknown, and the unknown could be a bit anxiety-provoking, for sure.

But for some reason, Emma wasn’t truly feeling all that anxious. She was definitely experiencing sadness around having to be apart from Daniel, but, if she was being honest with herself, there was a significant part of her that was actually relieved that she wouldn’t have to be constantly subjected to his incessant worrying about her. She had started to realize how exhausting it all was. So, although she loved Daniel dearly, she was seeing her extended stay at the Institute as a kind of welcome vacation from the cares and worries of their relationship. Additionally, Emma also couldn’t help but feel how surreal all of this felt — it was almost so surreal that she didn’t have the capacity to feel anxious about it. She was 8’2, weighed god-knows how much, could barely fit into the car, and had started actively engaging an online fetish community that had become transfixed by her size. If Emma had known how her life was going to pan out two months before, there was no way she would have believed it. Alone in the backseat, she felt that she had no choice but to smile a little at the craziness.

A couple hours later, they arrived at the Institute. Daniel got out and opened the trunk door, allowing Emma to finally exit the car. She looked absolutely enormous, stepping out, totally dwarfing the regular-sized car. She took a deep breath, reached her limbs up and out, and gave a long, mighty stretch. Daniel could do nothing but watch transfixed. The top of his head was right at her breast level, and he was staring straight into the upper part of her stomach. And when Emma reached her arms up like this and stretched, it made her entire body look even bigger. Daniel couldn’t help but shudder at her sheer magnitude, even though he was still very much attracted to her.

“Ah Emma!” said Dr. Kline, coming out to greet them. “I see that you’ve made it here ok — welcome to the Institute! I hope your drive went ok?”

“As well as it could’ve gone,” giggled Emma, feeling immediately reassured by the doctor’s presence as she continued to stretch. “It’s a tight fit in there!”

“Haha, I bet it is!” laughed Dr. Kline.

Emma was looking around at where they were. The Institute was a series of sleek, large white buildings that were situated nicely within a forest of tall pine trees. They looked to be up somewhere in the mountains, and, as she took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air, Emma felt a rejuvenating, almost excited rush go through her. Everything was going to be ok — they would be able to treat her here. And she would get to clear her head.

After a sad and awkward goodbye to Daniel (in which Emma was surprised and touched to see that Daniel had tears in his eyes), Emma reassured him that they would see each other soon, and that they could even facetime sometime later on in the week. Daniel drove away, and Emma turned to follow Dr. Kline into the Institute’s main building.

The first thing that Emma noticed was how normal everything looked. During the past few weeks, she had become accustomed to everything being far, far too small for her. Everything, from utensils to her bed to her shower to her furniture, were all just way too small. But as soon as Emma walked through the door of the Institute, she realized that this place was different. To begin with, she didn’t even need to duck her head down to enter. And once they did, she beheld a sleek lobby, or common room, with chairs, sofas, and tables that all seemed the right size. Emma felt a surprising surge of emotion — finally, she was somewhere that was made for her.

The second thing that Emma realized was that there were other people, all of them wearing knee-length white robes, who were just as big, or bigger, than she was. This was perhaps the most striking thing to see. Sitting at the tables, lounging in the chairs, playing board games with each other, reading, or just hanging out…were dozens of the biggest, tallest people that Emma had ever seen. Some of them (and all of the women) were smaller than her, some by a good deal. But a good number of the people (all of them men) looked totally huge to her. Emma couldn’t help but stare. Is this what other “normal” people felt like when they were around her?

“Everyone!” called Dr. Kline, tapping on his clipboard with his pen, “This is Emma, our newest resident!”

“Hi Emma!” came a chorus of deep voices. Emma was struck by the sheer, effortless sound and volume of the voices. She could tell that none of these people were speaking very loud, but their voices were big and they carried strongly on the air.

“Hiii!” she said bashfully, blushing a little as she waved at the group.

“We’re gonna take you in for processing,” said Dr. Kline. “But after we’re done with that you can join the others here and make some friends!”

“Ok!” said Emma, feeling buoyant.

A few moments later, Dr. Kline led her into an exam room, which had clearly been designed and fitted specifically for someone around her size. Emma noticed that other exam rooms had labels about their doors…”Sexta,” “Septa,” and “Octa” were a few of them…Emma noticed that they went into one of the “Octa” rooms.

‘Of course,’ thought Emma. ‘It’s because I’m over 8 feet tall.’ She wondered why there were “Sexta” rooms. Did people have this condition who were only 6-foot-something? Maybe they were children? She wasn’t sure. In any case, she was distracted by looking down and seeing just how tiny Dr. Kline looked in this room. He was not a short man himself, but he wasn’t any taller than Daniel. Seeing him stand next to the sink, the exam table, and the comparatively-huge door, just emphasized how small he was compared to her. Emma smiled, and felt a little like giggling. She knew he was an adult man, and a doctor…but he just looked so…tiny.

“Ok Emma, the nurses will be in to get your preliminary measurements and stats in a moment,” said Dr. Kline, and left. Emma went over and sat back on the exam table, enjoying how nice and accommodating it felt. She even noticed that she had to jump up slightly to get on it. A minute or so later, a kindly-looking middle-aged nurse came in.

“Hello Emma,” she said. “Welcome! Let’s get your measurements!”

“Haha, ok!” said Emma. She didn’t know why, but she almost felt giddy. This all felt like some kind of fun little game…and it all revolved around her. Even though Emma was not one to seek or hog the limelight, she had to admit that it felt rather nice to have all these little doctors and nurses scurrying about, who were all there to treat her. She hopped off the exam table and went over to the height-measuring station. The nurse, who couldn’t have been taller than 5’4, reached out and pivoted Emma carefully into position. From way up above, Emma had to crack a smile. The size comparison between them was just ridiculous. This adorable little woman was staring straight into her hips! And she had to spread her arms wide to jockey Emma into position to the measuring contraption, which looked to be some kind of special sensor that started at the floor and spanned all the way up to the ceiling.

“Alright good!” said the nurse. “Now stand still for a couple moments…really still there…ok good! Eight-foot-two-and-a-half!” The way the nurse spoke the last bit, it made Emma feel like there was something noteworthy about that particular measurement.

“Is…is that normal?” asked Emma.

“Well! No, not for a woman,” said the nurse, taking a couple steps back and looking up at Emma impressively. “In fact, that’s the tallest initial measurement we’ve ever had from an incoming female patient.”

“I…uh, wow,” said Emma, feeling a little throb of something unpleasant inside her.

“Aw, but don’t worry dear — that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” said the nurse kindly, smiling up at her. “Let’s get you weighed.”

She led Emma over to the huge scale in the corner of the exam room. Before Emma stepped on, the nurse had her take off her (too small) clothes made by Ms. Bisset, replacing them with one of the knee-length white robes instead.

“Ooo, I’m sure you’re glad to have those clothes off, huh?” said the nurse.

“Oh my god, yes,” said Emma, nodding as she slipped into the airy, comfortable robe. It had a nice loose fit all over, although Emma also noticed that it was made of a kind of micro-fabric that was stretchy. But she hardly noticed it, because she was busy making small talk with the nurse.

“I actually hired a personal tailor to make these,” said Emma, holding up her clothes. “They were made to fit someone, all the way up to 7’10, and that was just a couple weeks ago, when I was 7’0. We all thought it would be fine.”

“You’ve grown over a foot…in two weeks?” asked the nurse bluntly, betraying her surprise.

“Um…uh, yeah, yeah I did,” said Emma, getting that uneasy feeling again.

The nurse recovered quite quickly, however, brushing her hand in front of her face. “Aw, don’t worry about it Emma — we’ll cover all of that when we sit you down for your “past history” part of the initial exam. Alright, just go ahead and step on that scale there!”

Emma did, staring forward into the electronic weight display which had initially been blank. When Emma had first stepped on, it had “woken up” and gone to a “0 lbs” rating…but quickly, the “0” disappeared. For a moment, the scale was blank again; it appeared to be “thinking.” When the number suddenly appeared, Emma felt her jaw drop on its own accord.

“O-k…394.7…and that robe is five pounds exactly, so your official weight is 389.7.”

Emma just stood there, staring at the huge number on the scale. The last time she had bothered to weigh herself, weeks before, she had weighed just over 250 pounds. And now…NOW…she was almost 400!? Emma couldn’t believe how much bigger she had gotten. She had been so focused on height and navigating the spaces of cars and doorways that she had forgotten how big the rest of her body had become, proportionally, to her towering height. The nurse seemed prepared to deal with Emma’s reaction, and she reached up above her head and put a kind hand on the small of Emma’s back. Emma appreciated the gesture, but also noted how she barely even felt the nurse’s touch; comparatively, her hand was not bigger than a small child’s.

“It’s going to be alright, Emma,” said the nurse reassuringly. “A lot of our patients, particularly our girls and women, get a nasty shock when they see how much they really weigh. But Emma, always keep in mind that this is a condition, and that it says nothing about who you are as a person or your ability to control your diet.”

“I…I, ok, uh…yeah…yeah, thanks,” said Emma. She was struggling with unexpected and unwelcome feelings from weeks past, back when she was filled with anxiety, and even dread, about her condition. She had indeed been caught by surprise at just how huge she had become. She knew that she was big…but…almost 400 pounds?? It seemed absolutely crazy.

“Am…am I the heaviest woman that’s ever come through here too?” she asked suddenly, hating how scared and vulnerable her voice sounded when she asked the question. It struck Emma as an absurd scenario — it was like she was airing her private fears to…to a child. She knew that the nurse was an adult, and a competent medical professional as well, but something in her brain just couldn’t get quite past the size difference.

“Um…I, uh, yes, yes i believe you are,” said the nurse, trying to sound casual about the whole thing. “But that makes sense, Emma! If you’re the tallest, and you’re all growing proportionally, then it’s just common sense that you’d also be the heaviest. Don’t let it make you feel weird or get you down. For what it’s worth, I think your shape and proportions are some of the…most aesthetically pleasing I’ve seen.”

“Really!?” asked Emma, staring down at the nurse. That little comment had really hit a nerve in her heart, a positive nerve, and Emma could feel herself brightening almost immediately.

“Honest truth, yes!” laughed the nurse. “But that’s not to put down anyone else, of course. I just noticed how…um, nice your shape was, and thought I should let you know.”

“Well that’s very nice of you — thanks!” said Emma brightly. She knew that the nurse was probably just doing her job, trying to reassure her during a moment of anguish, but for some reason Emma didn’t care. She remembered looking at herself in the mirror, and how good she thought she had looked. The only thing that had changed since then was she was a lot taller and a lot heavier, but all in proportion — though her hips were perhaps wider than usual, and her ass might have been a bit bigger than what was proportionate. But the nurse’s compliment went a long way, and Emma could feel her old fears being carried away like smoke on the air.

The rest of the exam took another hour or so, and involved a series of basic body measurements, followed by another series of more complicated and nuanced measurements that the nurse performed using a whole host of strange, exotic-looking tools. None of it really hurt Emma, although the nurse did draw some blood from her arm for additional tests. Emma marveled at how big the needle looked compared to the nurse’s arm.

‘Good god, if she got stuck in the arm with that needle, she’d bleed out!’ thought Emma.

But eventually, after taking down her past history, the exam was over, and Emma was allowed to go mingle in the common room area. At first, she went over and sat down in a group of five women who were playing cards. They all greeted her warmly, and exchanged a series of pleasantries and little stories about their conditions and how they had come to be at the Institute. Jessica was an attractive redhead in her mid-twenties, just younger than Emma, and had started growing slowly and steadily ever since she had turned 22. Before then, she had been only 5’2, but gradually, she just kept growing and growing, reaching 6’0 by the time she was 23, 6’5 when she was 24, and, finally, 7’0 now at 25. Hitting 7 feet tall had been the last straw for her boyfriend and her parents, who were all worried about her, and so they had paid for her to come here. But recently, in the past two weeks, Jessica’s growth had slowed to the point where she hadn’t grown at all in 10 days.

“So that’s hopeful, right!?” laughed Jessica, staring around at the rest of the group. They all responded enthusiastically with encouragement. Emma did as well, even though she had started to feel strange. She listened intently to the story of another young woman, Bethany, who was only 19, but who had started growing suddenly and rapidly at age 18, all the way up to 6’8. Like Jessica, she had been short initially, standing only 5’1 before the spurts began. But unlike Jessica, Bethany was still growing, though at an admittedly slower pace of an inch every month. Her treatment seemed to be working. Among the women, there was a sense of cautious optimism and camaraderie…and it made Emma feel good, on the one hand, but on the other, it kept making her feel strange. Maybe she had been out of women-centered environments for too long, but the constant encouragement and support that these women were all giving each other just…well, it made Emma feel like there was something else going on under the surface. Like…maybe everyone actually wasn’t so happy and optimistic about their situation, but no one wanted to say it out loud. They were going to be strong together, and not let their links break. Emma had to admit that she admired this group attitude, but, looking down at her own body, she also had to admit that it made her feel like a bit of an outsider.

To begin with, aside from the remnant feelings of panic and vulnerability that had briefly passed over her when she saw her weight, Emma didn’t really know how she felt about her current condition. Sure, she wanted to be “cured,” if that was the right word, but the way these other women were talking about it, someone would have thought that they had cancer or something. The search for the cure, the cure that would end their nightmare, seemed to be the focus. And Emma didn’t feel like she was living in a nightmare. A surreal world, yes — a bizarre, almost fantastical parallel reality, perhaps. But not a nightmare.

The other thing was, Emma was already a good bit larger than all of the other women there. The one who was closest in size to her, Anastasia, was “only” 7’4. Even sitting down, Emma’s head rose up high above hers; the top of Anastasia’s chin didn’t even come up to Emma’s mouth. And…well…just everything about Emma was so much bigger than them. They were definitely much bigger than the other people like Emma had been used to, like Daniel, but they were just a degree or two bigger. When she looked down at her hands, and privately compared them in her head with the other girls’ hands, she still felt like a giant. And here they all were, talking about their barely-veiled desperation that they all be cured, and Emma was already the biggest of them all! It all left her feeling odd and out-of-place, and after a little while, she kindly excused herself from the group, deciding to wander around on her own a little instead.

It had grown towards evening, and dinner was about to be served. Emma walked out into one of the courtyards, which was heavily and delightfully filled with all manner of vegetation. She looked up into the deepening sky, up towards the dying remnants of the sunlight that was passing away into the west. The moon, a fingernail-thin waxing crescent, looked almost archetypally beautiful in the sky of dark violet, superimposed upon the velvet background as if by some intentional hand. Emma took a deep breath of the fresh, cool, clean mountain air, and let it out again. She wasn’t going to let those other women get her down, or make her feel too weird. This was HER condition, and nobody else’s. If anything, hearing all the other women’s stories told her that, even if this was all the same condition (which it likely wasn’t), it affected everyone in different ways, both physically and mentally. And Emma was determined to have a good attitude about what was happening to her. As she took in the natural beauty of the young night, she felt like she was well on her way in this regard.

“Nice evening, is it not?” said a deep, accented voice behind her. Emma turned around and looked up. A huge middle-aged man was standing before her, smiling politely. Emma noticed that if she stared straight ahead, she was staring straight ahead into this man’s neck. For the first real time in a long, long time, she felt truly small.

“Oh! Oh yes, it is!” she said, having to catch her breath a little from the unusual sensation of looking up at somebody. She wasn’t aware of it in the moment, but Emma was feeling, for the first time that her growth had started, a feminine sense of smallness that she had so desired before. A warm rush went up in her torso and down her back.

“I’m…I’m Emma,” she said, holding out her hand.

“Igor,” said the giant man, stepping forward in one step and accepting her handshake in a warm, powerful embrace. Emma almost shuddered in pleasure at the feel of his massive hand. She had big hands, of course…giant hands…but compared to Igor’s they seemed tiny.

“P-pleased to meet you,” said Emma, having to swallow a couple times to keep her throat from going dry. She was not smitten with Igor in a romantic sense really — it was more like she was smitten with his raw size. He was not an unattractive man by any means, but it was how he made her feel that was taking Emma by pleasant surprise. He was making her feel…like a woman again, in the most basically physical sense.

“Likewise,” said Igor. “So, you’re the new resident here?”

“Yeah,” said Emma. “The nurse told me I’m the tallest, biggest woman they’ve had here.” Talking with this man felt so easy and natural.

“Hmm, that may be,” chuckled Igor. “But you still look maybe a little small to me, haha!”

“Haha, well!” laughed Emma, trailing off. “How long have you been here?”

“Oh I’m not a permanent resident here anymore,” said Igor. “I come back a few times a year for treatment — lasts maybe a month or so each time. But my growth has slowed down to where I’m only growing an inch or two a year, so…”

“Oh! Oh well, that’s nice, isn’t it?” asked Emma, searching his face for clues as to how he felt about it all.

“What’s that saying...What do they say? It is what it is,” chuckled Igor, spreading his huge hands out and shrugging his shoulders. Emma smiled up at this man. His energy was a little more relaxed, more mellow…and more to her taste than the women she had been hanging out with. She knew, in that moment, that she and Igor were going to be friends here.

“So tell me about you,” said Igor. “What’s your story, Emma?”