The Replacement Chapter 1

“You’ve gotta get a job, and pronto,” Julia said to me as we lugged our couch up a flight of stairs. Both of us were chugging; it was a heavy couch, and neither of us were as fit as a fiddle, as they say. She was just your average woman, if a little bit taller. She was 5’8, blonde, and fairly thin.

If we were being honest, I was the weak link in this group: I was only 5’1, so incredibly short. And very light. I only weighed about 120 pounds, so I was rail thin. Let’s just say, there was a time when I was a really good coder, and we met and fell in love. Just explaining that because, well you know, it probably has to be clarified why an unemployed short man was married to a taller woman.

“Working on it…” I grunted as we got it past the last step. Once we did, we dropped it and it flatlined on the ground while we caught our breath.

“I… I don’t know how we’re going to fit all of our furniture from the house into this tiny apartment…” Julia said, huffing.

“Where there’s a will… there’s a way,” I replied.

“Nice couch!” came a voice from behind me. I turned around, and Julia tilted her head to the side to look as well.

A man was standing behind us, a rather tall man, probably around 6’5, maybe taller. He had dark hair and sharp green eyes. He looked down at me and had a warm smile. He was morbidly obese, with a double chin and a smile the devil would be proud of. He looked like he could eat me.

“Thanks… I…” I started, still out of breath. But this time, it wasn’t entirely just from pushing this couch around. I just then noticed that there was a woman standing behind him, a massive woman. When I say massive, I mean she may have taken up the entire hallway. I could only fathom her weight, but she was wearing a green shirt and jean shorts, and she had brown hair and thick glasses. Each of her legs looked like they weighed significantly more than I did. And she was taller than me, too. Probably around Julia’s height.

“I’m Fred, and this is my wife, Cheryl,” he said, offering his hand.

I instantly refocused my eyes on Fred, and it made sense that they could be married. They were both enormous, and we were comparably tiny. We shook hands, and I snapped out of my exhausted stupor.

“Um, yeah… I’m Luke, and this is my wife, Julia. We’re right here at 208.” I motioned over to the door close by.

“Hey, Julia,” he said, waving behind me.

“Hi, Fred!” I heard her say.

He sized up the mattress.

“You two look like you could use a dolly, want me to grab one?” he asked.

“Oh no, it’s okay,” I said.

“It’s no trouble at all, I live just down the hall, 215,” he said. “Let me get it, be right back with the dolly, it will only take a second.”

It was now the three of us: myself, Julia, and Fred’s wife, Cheryl. She had dark hair and glasses, and looked like she could be an assistant in an office, but I doubted she could fit through the front door. She towered over me, and was taller than Julia as well, not to mention outweighing both of us by what I could only guess was several times over. We stood awkwardly for a moment. She didn’t seem to have much to say. She wasn’t being rude, or making any offensive gestures. She just didn’t really say a whole lot.

“You… you lived here a while?” I asked.

I could tell Julia was afraid of her. I had known her a long time, and Julia was never one to hide her emotions. Cheryl was a massive woman, she looked like she could eat us both as a snack. Neither of us had ever seen a woman of her size.

She nodded.

“Don’t hurt him…” Julia said.

Cheryl looked at her confused. I was bewildered by this sudden outburst myself. I mean sure, this woman was so much bigger than me, aliens would think we were different species. If she wanted to, she could flatten me in a heartbeat, that much seemed undeniable. Her arm was thicker than any part of my body; in a fist fight, a wrestling match, probably any sport, she could toss me around like a baby.

But why would she?

Polite society said we all stood next to each other in peace. I should be able to stand next to a woman like Cheryl and not fear for my life, and that’s exactly how it was. There was a deep understanding that she wouldn’t hurt me, for literally no reason. Therefore, the statement was absurd. Actually, now that I was analyzing it, what DID she mean by it? Did she really think so little of me that I couldn’t defend myself against this mammoth of a woman? I mean, it was plain to see I couldn’t… but she should be more supportive of me, shouldn’t she? She should have faith in me even against all odds.

“Here’s a dolly!” came Fred’s voice.

I snapped out of my delusion and instinctively took it from him. I wasn’t thinking about the weight and realized it was heavier than I expected. To be fair, it was a heavier duty dolly than I was anticipating, but it was nonetheless embarrassing that I almost dropped it. Luckily I caught myself at the last second and kept it up.

“Careful there sport,” Fred said, patting me on the shoulder. “Need any help with the big move? I’m a big guy, and I DO work for pizza.” He chuckled, and I didn’t doubt that he could put down a few slices.

“This dolly is plenty, thank you,” I said. I wanted to prove I could do this move by myself. At least that much should prove something to Julia, who had just dismantled my manhood with a few choice words not a few seconds prior. To be honest, I probably could have used his help with this, but now I was committed.

“I’ll bring this back after I’m done?”

“215,” he said with a warm smile. “Door’s open.”

I left Julia in the apartment to make the kitchen what she wanted it to be. It would never match our old kitchen. We had a beautiful arrangement, with a large island and fancy, custom cabinetry. This kitchen was small; there was no island, more of a small peninsula, with a sink and an oven close together so you probably couldn’t wash dishes and cook at the same time. She was going to have to get used to the idea that her kitchen was not the apple of all of her friends’ eyes.

I continued out to the truck, using Fred’s dolly to help get various items out and easily into the apartment. Make no bones about it; I was not a fit man. I was not a man meant for physical labor. Towards the latter half of moving all of this furniture around, my back began aching and begging me to stop. I wasn’t about to give up. I wasn’t going to give my wife more fuel to ridicule my manhood. Sure, I was a little guy. But I was still a man. The way she looked at me standing next to that huge woman was humiliating. Sure she was bigger than me. In a fight, she could probably crush a small guy like me.

But I was still a man.

And I proved it, finishing the move and walking back into the apartment, plopping myself down on the couch. Sweat was streaming down my face. I knew Julia would freak out if I got it on the couches, so I wiped it from my brow. I was looking around, waiting to brag to her about what a great job I had done. The living room was empty. I listened closely. I heard a faint whimper from our bedroom.

I got up and opened the door to see Julia in tears on our bed. She looked around the room, where once she slept in a fancy, big room of her own design, she now sat in a room with walls lined with boxes and generic white walls.

“What’s the matter, Honey?” I asked, sitting next to her.

She wiped a tear from her eye.

“There’s not enough room in here for all of my pictures,” she cried.

I gave her a big hug, and she bawled her eyes out. I could tell this was hitting her hard. It was terrible for both of us. And something told me it was about to get worse. But I couldn’t let her see that I was worried for the future. Not with her in shambles like this. No, this was my time to be the man. I had to prove to her that her husband was still the best man for her, even without the high paying job.

“We’re gonna have to sell some of this… aren’t we?” she asked.

“We’re gonna do what we have to do,” I said, holding her tight.

I then remembered I still had Fred’s dolly. I let her go and stood up. I planted a kiss on her cheek.

“I’m gonna go return this dolly,” I said. “Then, I’m gonna order a pizza. We’re gonna make apartment living our bitch!” I was half joking. I got at least half a smile, which was good enough for me.

I grabbed the dolly and left the apartment, wheeling it down to Room 215. I knocked, but nobody answered. I tried knocking again. Nothing. I waited a little bit longer, but I remembered he had told me the door would be open. I still thought it rude, but I was new to apartments, so maybe this was the neighborly thing to do.

I opened the door and walked in backwards, wheeling the dolly in behind me. I could hear the faint sounds of… something… but I didn’t think much of it. I pulled the dolly all the way in and let it stand in the kitchen.

“Fred, I gotta thank you for letting me use this- OH MY GOD!” I exclaimed.

In the middle of the living room were Cheryl and Fred, but I could barely see Fred at all. Cheryl was sitting on top of his face, covering almost all of his large upper torso. He was laying on the couch, his arms flailing underneath him. There was a camera in front of them and some lights, making it all look like they were filming a movie.

Cheryl’s eyes met mine, but her expression remained mostly blank. Fred’s hand gripped the jean shorts covering her gigantic ass, but she didn’t seem to notice, so he started smacking it as hard as he could. She realized now and got up, revealing the red faced Fred trapped underneath.

“I-I am so sorry… I’m gonna…” I didn’t know what to say, I just wanted to get out.

“Wait…” Fred panted, clearly out of breath. “I can explain.”