The Kernel
by Atkins


For Ryan, life was good. Great job, talk of a promotion, and all the free popcorn he could eat.

Ryan squinted in the bright sunlight as he got out of his car. He'd lost his sunglasses and needed desperately to replace them. These Texas afternoons were getting hotter, brighter, and more humid by the minute. The teenager strolled over to the movie theater where he'd been employed for nearly a year now. He tugged on the glass doors to find that they were locked. Ryan peered inside to be greeted by the sight of the lobby, sans lights. "Aw, shit" he muttered under his breath as he took one last look inside before pounding the glass in desperation. It was a little after eleven and the first show started at noon. The manager was late, again.

As Ryan sat down outside the ticket taker's booth and lit up a cigarette, he tried to imagine what excuse his boss would come up with. About fifteen minutes later, a car came speeding into the lot. Ryan watched the form of Leslie, one of the assistant managers scramble out of her car. "Sorry, Ryan. What time is it?" she shouted. Before any reply was allowed, she started lugging a cardboard box from her back seat, "Here, gimmie some help with this." The box was a lot heavier than it looked. Ryan almost dropped it.

"What's in the box?" Ryan grunted as he struggled not to lose it's contents over the ground.

"Popcorn salt, that's why I'm late," she said as she scurried around the lobby unlocking doors and turning on lights. "The damn store didn't have any, so I had to go hunting for some. I finally found this in a hole in the wall herb shop. Cost me an arm and a leg too. I better get reimbursed..." she trailed off as she ran upstairs to warm up the projectors.

Ryan casually started to set up the concession stand. He went through the same procedure that he had done countless times before. He could have done it in his sleep. After the occasional all nighter, he sometimes did. Leslie came running back down the stairs, almost in a panic. As she circled the lobby making sure everything was ready, she reminded Ryan to do the chores he already had ten minutes ago. Leslie was only a year older than Ryan, but she acted like she was having a mid life crisis. Accepting the Assistant Manager position instantly aged her ten years and convinced her that the weight of the entire world rested solely on her shoulders. She was a very nice person, and would have been breathtakingly beautiful if it weren't for the sever layers of stress and responsibility she wore.

"And Ryan," she continued, "once every one else starts getting here, get to popping some more popcorn." She promptly ran into the box office slamming the door behind her. Seeing the door shut, Ryan sighed and continued stirring the artificial butter. It was going to be a long day, he thought. He had no idea.

The morning went by uneventful. They eventually opened and soon other employees started coming in. Once everything was settled, Ryan retreated to the room behind the concession stand where the popcorn was made and stored. The room also served as a changing area for the employees. The popper was an ugly thing that took up a good section of the room. The uncooked kernels were scooped up in little metal tins, seasoned with salt, and then poured into big bins where the oil was added, heated, stirred and popped. The cooked corn fell into a big metal bin where it cooled, and then stored in giant bags. The bags were shelved, and then re-heated up front in the concession area. Some bags were weeks old. Sure, the customers thought it was fresh, but what they didn't know, wouldn't hurt them.

And so it was Ryan's job today to pop the corn that would get them through the week. He cut open the box of salt he had dragged in. It sure looked like regular popcorn salt. He dabbed a little onto his finger and tasted it. There was a subtle difference. No one else would have probably noticed. This stuff was a little tangier. Ryan wondered how it would taste after he got done "fixing it." The reason he was always asked to make popcorn is because his tasted the best. He combined the regular popcorn salt with a special blend of spices he concocted at home. The end result was magnificent. Ryan didn't want to take any chances mixing this new stuff. For all he new the new salt might taste horrible with his spices. He reached into his locker and poured a small amount of his concoction on his hand. It was a reddish brown. He safely stored his spiced back in his locker. He then started mix in the new salt with his finger. The whole thing started to turn a pale yellowish. Ryan stuck his finger into his mouth for a final verdict. His caution was well rewarded. The end product tasted absolutely horrible. The two spices just didn't mix.

The remainder of the spice swirled down the sink as Ryan washed it off his hands. He went to work making the popcorn. No sooner than he had scooped up the first scoop of the uncooked kernels, he started to feel dizzy. His stomach started to cramp and he felt all tingly. Ryan figured it was a bad side effect of the new salt. As the room started to spin, he lurched forward looking for balance. He fell toward the poppers and grabbed onto the nine inch high metal box that the uncooked kernels sat in before the were salted and cooked. He put all his weight on that hand for balance. Then he blacked out.

Ryan awoke instantly. Well it seemed instantly, for all he knew he had been out for days. After he regained consciousness, there were three things that caught Ryan's attention. One, he had the worst headache he ever had in his life. Two, he had no idea where he was, and Three, he was completely naked.

From what he could gather, he was laying on a brown domed thing that was twice as big as he was. There were several more of these things around him. Beyond those were metal walls that ran up about eight feet in the air. The ceiling above seemed ridiculously high up. Ryan finally gained enough courage to stand up and survey his surroundings. He immediately wished he hadn't. What what he was able to gather, he was tiny. Very, very tiny. Smaller than a popcorn kernel. He knew because he was standing in giant scoop of them. Ryan then proceeded to pass out again.

Ryan woke once more to a sound that shook his entire body. It was a knock. Someone was knocking on the door to make sure no one was changing. Ryan was saved. He would get their attention and they would see him and all would be good. Ryan watched in anticipation was the doorknob turned. The door opened and Ryan almost passed out again. Standing there in the doorway was Molly. Another employee at the theater and if you asked Ryan, his idea of heaven. She had a great figure and a full head of curly red hair. Even at regular height Molly caught Ryan's stares, but now, now she was a goddess. She was huge, absolutely huge. Ryan was frozen with fear and awe.

Molly walked in, took a look at the pile of clothes on the floor and groaned. "Pigs" she muttered as the stuffed the entire pile into a random locker. She made sure there was no one else in the room and then locked the door. Ryan, finally mobile, started screaming. "Molly!" he shouted. "Down here! In the Popcorn!" It was of course completely useless. Ryan's heart sank as he realized he couldn't be heard. He started to jump up and down. Molly, meanwhile, took he work clothes out of her locker and set them on the popcorn popper next to the scoop Ryan was in. The gust of wind knocked him over. Molly pulled the tight T-Shirt she was wearing off, giving Ryan the show of his life. Ryan was a gentleman and normally would have looked away but he was in a trance. He was hypnotized by Molly's breasts. They were huge simply huge. They were the size of a house. Bigger that a house. Ryan was surged with a sense of helplessness as he realized just how tiny he was. Molly undid her belt and slid off her jeans. She was wearing a black bikini thong. She bent down to pick up her jeans giving Ryan the most incredible view of his life. Her ass was right up in his face, only a couple of feet (to him) away. Then she slipped. Ryan watched in horror as Molly's ass loomed closer and hit the rectangular prison he was sitting in. Ryan slipped of the kernel he was standing on. He fell between the kernels and kept falling. He slid around until he hit bottom. He was stuck. He couldn't move. Ryan screamed again but to no avail. He heard Molly close the door leaving him alone in a pile of popcorn kernels that was about to be poured in boiling oil.

Time went by. Ryan heard the door open and close. He heard voices. Leslie was bitching to the other employees about Ryan's disappearance. He heard he assign Molly the duty of cooking the popcorn. Ryan vomited in fear. He knew this was then end. He could hear the whir of the popper and it heated the oil. Tears ran down Ryan's eyes as he tried to remember the some sort of prayer. Suddenly his world was turned upside down. The kernels were being emptied into the popper. Ryan's stomach lurched as he fell down. He hit the grease with a splash and lashed onto the nearest thing he could find. He clutched desperately to a kernel of corn. The grease wasn't hot yet since this was the first batch. Ryan knew it was only a matter of time.

The oil got hotter. It became unbearable. He heard the kernels around his start to pop and fly out of the oil. The skin on Ryan's arm started to turn red and blister. Ryan was about to let go of the kernel he was holding when suddenly he was propelled backwards very quickly. He felt his body contract under him. He could feel his leg breaking. He was falling; falling quickly. The ground hit him suddenly and knocked the wind out of him. It didn't take long to realize what had happened. The popcorn kernel he was holding onto had popped. When a popcorn seed pops, it turns itself inside out. The seed had popped around Ryan's body and trapped him in it. Only his head stuck out of the kernel. Unfortunately his head was the size as the head of a pin.

More popcorn rained around him as the metal bin started to fill up. He looked up to see Molly's body leaning over him stirring the popcorn with a scoop. She hit his kernel hard as he was flung forward. He could see her giant hand reaching into the bin to pick up the occasional piece and pop it into her mouth. He tried to scream but nothing came out. Ryan now realized that he wasn't going to be boiled alive. He was going to be eaten. Maybe not by Molly, but by somebody.

No sooner than he had thought it, than he saw the shadow of Molly's hand reach over him. She grabbed on to a handful of kernels, one of which included Ryan. He was jerked back and forth while she ate the handful one kernel at a time. He saw Molly's mouth open, her lips part, inviting death, again and again. Ryan was soon the only kernel left in her hand. He knew that this was it. The end. He couldn't think of a better way to die. Before he was devoured, the hand stopped. Molly's head jerked the other direction. The next thing Ryan knew he was being thrown back into the bin with the other popcorn.

The General manager walked through the door. Molly hadn't wanted to be caught eating the popcorn and threw the rest back. Ryan had never been so relieved in his life. Between the heat and the stress Ryan soon realized just how exhausted he was. He closed his eyes and went to sleep. He didn't even wake when he was scooped into a bag with the rest of the corn.

Inside the bag, time had no meaning. After Ryan woke, he wasn't sure how long he had been there. Maybe days, maybe hours. He couldn't see anything. Everything was dark. He struggled to free himself of the kernel, but couldn't even feel his lower body. He eventually gave up, admitted defeat, and silently wished for death.

Eventually, the bag was moved. Ryan felt it being shook up and down as it was carried to what he assumed could only be the concession stand. Light poured in as the bag was emptied into the heated bin. On one side, Ryan could see the familiar uniform that he once wore. He couldn't tell who donned it, only that it was scooping the popcorn around him into bags. On the other side, though the butter stained glass, he saw an endless line of customers, one of whom would be his unknowing executioner. He was tossed around constantly. Once he was bagged, but the customer changed their mind at the last minute, and he was dumped back.

Eventually it happened. Ryan was scooped into a bag about a fourth of the way down. He didn't even care at this point. He just wanted it all to end. He felt himself being carried and soon set down. The movie started, and about twenty minutes later, the ceiling came out. Ryan strained to look up and see who would be eating him. It was a girl. A young girl, he guessed maybe sixteen or seventeen. The kernels around him were lifted and devoured, and for the second time, Ryan was brought to a pair of eager lips waiting to eat him without a second though. Ryan closed his eyes as he was brought closer and closer. He could smell the a hint of mint behind the popcorn on the girls breath. Suddenly, like before, he was stopped seconds from death.

The girl's attention was completely on the movie. She had sucked in her breath and held it. Ryan figured it was a suspenseful point in the movie. One of the moments before something scary happens. As if on cue a scream emitted from the girls lips that left Ryan's ears ringing. She jumped and dropped the kernel she was holding. Ryan fell from the girl's fingers. He saw her breasts come rushing up to meet his face. The girl was wearing a low cut blouse that showed plenty of cleavage. He hit head on with her left breast and stuck, The weight of the popcorn pressed Ryan's face into her flesh. He was beginning to suffocate. The girl noticed the kernel and absently brushed it away.

Ryan fell into the girls cleavage and past her breasts. The popcorn bounced around inside of her shirt and eventually out the bottom. He landed between the girls legs where he finally rolling. The girl was wearing a pair of very short shorts. Time stood still as Ryan was surrounded by the greatest set of legs he had ever seen. The girl shifted in her weight on the chair and he started to slide forward. The crotch of this girl slid closer and closer and soon Ryan was pressed into the denim guarding her womanhood. He took in her scent breathing long and hard. Then all hell broke loose. The girl crossed her legs.

Ryan was lurched upwards as the prison that held him was crushed between her thighs. Ryan gasped as parts of his body that hadn't been touched for days was suddenly engulfed by the young girls perfect legs. Bliss turned to agony as Ryan struggled to breath. Then the pressure let up. Ryan's limp body fell and hit the seat. He was once again between the girl's legs, inched away from her crotch. He tried to crawl but his body was broken. Neither arm nor leg would move. To make matters worse his legs were wrapped up the the fabric of the seat. After a moment the girl stood up to go to the bathroom.

Ryan was flung forward as the seat went from horizontal to vertical. He was stuck to the fabric and hung there in mid air, waiting. Soon the girl came back. He hand pushed the seat back. As Ryan looked up he saw one of the worlds greatest asses coming down on him. It struck him hard knocking the wind out of him. He felt the cushion give was slightly as the girl planted a cheek on either side of him. As the girl squirmed to get comfortable, Ryan felt himself being pulled upwards, stuck in the middle of a wedgie. The denim closed in around him on each side as she clenched her cheeks together sealing him in his tomb. Ryan held on as long as he could, but eventually the air grew thin. Ryan's last moments were painful, and as he asphyxiated underneath the teenage derriere, his last thought was of how much he hated popcorn.