Version: 1

Clean Whistle fell into the acid with a defeated flop. He floated on the surface, on his back, limp and ready for death. The burning was mild, but that would pick up in an hour or so. The darkness was only a bit scary and the organic noises were disgusting. But the worst part was the betrayal.

Eaten by the very girl he'd asked to the prom.

Whistle felt sleepy. Even as his clothes, fur, and flesh just began to melt, his mind delved into silly philosophy. He considered the world and the two true races who inhabited it: the norms and the tinies. He considered also the cruel ridiculous lie both sides played. How everyone pretended that the two could ever peacefully coexist.

All tinies heard about the disappearances. The mixed schools where more than half of the smaller class simply vanished between freshman and senior year. Everyone knew what was happening. But the investigations and questions always went in circles. The truth was obvious, but proving a student had been eaten was literally impossible. Yet the tinies did not withdraw. The smaller folk did not flee from the mixed schools or the norm's society. The number one cause of death for a tiny was "disappearing", but they all knew it was murder. The tinies pretended. The norms pretended. It was wrong. So wrong.

"Equality" was a joke. "Coexistence" was a joke. "Peace" was a lie. The wars never ended. They were just fought in more subtle ways.

But both sides could play that game...

Lazily, Whistle reached down into his back pocket. Through the muck he drifted on he easily found the capsule and pulled it up in front of his face. In a few moments the acid would have breached the thin shell anyway, but there was something about breaking it open with his own hands that felt so satisfying. With a bit of strength, the test tube sized canister split in two with a snap and a white powder began to spill out. Whistle grinned darkly and tossed the thing into the distance where it made a wet splat and began to dissolve.

Retaliation. She killed him, that was certain, there was no escaping once you went down a norm's throat. But he had killed her too. The poison was special. A Super Vitamin capsule. A concoction of pure "healthy" powders. The problem was the dose. It might have seemed like only a pinch, but it was so concentrated that by tomorrow morning his "love" would be suffering multiple organ failures as the vitamins clogged everything. She had a little less than 24 hours. The best part? The doctors wouldn't be able to determine she'd been poisoned. Her tests would all read "higher than normal" vitamin levels, but by the time the tests were run the mix would have dispersed enough that only the most well-trained specialist would be able to determine the true cause of death.

This was the future. How tinies would fight back. It was a new trend spreading in secret amongst their kind. Always carry a Super Vitamin capsule. That way if you were ever eaten, your killer would follow shortly. A norm's death was always well reported. The mystery would drive the story even harder. Meanwhile, the tinies would also note the disappearance and know what had happened.

The nature of the poison ensured the most amount of time before the norm's figured it out and developed countermeasures, but by then they too will have lost an entire generation of children. The norm parents will have felt the sorrow of losing a child and not knowing why. Of demanding the police punish someone, only to be told they have no clue who to punish.

Norms and tinies will always be at war. Peace was a farce concocted by the dreamers and the delusional. The only difference between the past wars and the moderns ones was the style. And tinies always were good at subtle.

The next day another norm died and parents wept. The norms had no explanation. They were confused and angry. Norms weren't supposed to die mysteriously. But the tinies knew. And the tinies bowed their heads solemnly at Whistle's funeral. He died a martyr. At least he was able to punish his killer before he disappeared...

Author's Note

There are a number of stories with a premise of "norms" (macros) and micros going to the same school and the norms just... kill indiscriminately. They crush, eat, and kidnap the norms in droves in these stories. And every time I encounter these stories I'm just like, "what kind of retarded micro parent would send their kid to mixed school when the death rate for their kind is so high?" Because the law requires kids to go to school? With a fatality rate that high the tinies would say, "if we obey your law we will be extinct in 20 years max. Fuck your law."

It makes no sense. It's ridiculous. This kind of thing would NOT last. The tinies would simply withdraw from schools and even society in general if this was allowed. Even if it wasn't allowed and still happened. So I wrote a short about it.