Altered state.


“What do you mean it’s performed an illegal operation? Why the hell did it do that?!” Mike screamed at the computer.
“Having trouble?” Simon said from the desk opposite. Mike looked over to him, he was grinning smugly.
“No, the stupid machine is just playing up.” Mike responded. Simon laughed.
Mike stood up and began to leave his desk.
“Where are you going?” Simon asked.
“To the water cooler. I need to get away from this machine before I throw it through a window.” He replied.
“It’ll come out of your pay if you do.” Snorted Simon. “Listen, while you’re up, could you walk to reception for me? I’m expecting a fax.”
“Sure.” Sighed Mike and set off.

Three years. Three years in this job and Mike hated every second of it. He often wondered what it would be like to do something different, just change profession completely, after all, he was young enough, but he didn’t have the nerve to quit. The job he was in may not seem so bad to some, working in an office, security, decent wage. It seemed like he had a cushy number. However, to Mike, it was terrible. The main problem was the work he did, finding it mind numbingly boring and tedious. Then there was the fact that he didn’t really get along with many people, except for Leslie. One person whom he really detested however was Simon, his supervisor. Mike found him to be obnoxious and patronizing and basically an all round jerk. Mike cursed himself for not having the guts to quit and start something new, at only twenty-one years of age there was nothing holding him back. Nothing, except himself.

After finishing his water Mike headed down the corridor and turned into a small room by the entrance. It was the reception room complete with a phone, fax and of course, a receptionist.
“Hi Leslie.” Exclaimed Mike.
“Oh hello Mike. How are you?” she asked.
Leslie was a fairly old woman, about early fifties or late forties Mike guessed, who was, surprisingly, quite attractive for her age. Her face showed signs of aging and her blond hair was dulling and turning grey a little but her face was still pretty and her figure was not to shabby either. She was wearing her work uniform, navy blue blouse and a long black skirt stopping just above her ankles where Mike saw she was wearing strappy sandals revealing her tan, nylon covered feet. Mike had always had a thing for feet and Leslies in particular. They were quite wide and well formed and she always wore sandals with nylons, which Mike loved. He looked at her toes through the nylon mesh to see that her nails were painted a deep red today.
“Have you come to pick up Simons fax?” Leslie asked. Mike nodded. “It’s in the tray on the side.” He retrieved it.
Just then a large middle aged man entered the room carrying a package and walked to the reception window.
“Delivery for a Leslie Andrews.” He said in a gruff voice.
“I’ll take that.” Leslie said and the man slid it under the partition in the glass followed by his clip board.
“If you could just sign the bottom of the form please.” He said. Leslie did and slid it back to him. The delivery man then said goodbye and left. Leslie looked at Mike. “I wonder what this is?” she stated before ripping the package open. It turned out to be a small remote with many different buttons littered across the surface. There was also an accompanying note which Leslie read, as she did, a smile grew across her face.
“It’s from my sister in Germany. It’s one of her gadgets.” Leslie said.
“One of her gadgets?” Mike asked.
“Yeah, she’s a scientist. She works in the genetic field, I think. She’s really good, works for a high profile company. Sometimes she sends me some of the things she’s worked on. A lot of them can be really useful.” She said. Mike wasn’t really sure if he believed her.
“So what does that one do?” Mike asked. Leslie continued reading. Then she laughed.
“Apparently it changes the molecular structure of a living creature to that of an ant.” She laughed again.
“Yeah right. Seriously, what does it do?” Mike asked.
“I’m telling the truth. She sent it because I have a problem. There are a lot of foxes where I live and they keep destroying my garden. She says this should help.”
Mike just shook his head. “That’s impossible.” He said.
“Oh really.” Leslie said. She looked out side and saw a cat in the car park not far way from them. “Let’s see shall we.” Leslie opened the window, aimed the remote at the cat and fired. To Mikes eternal surprise he watched as a beam shot out of the remote and hit the cat. A bright light surrounded it the creature, when it faded the cat was gone. The two then headed outside to where the cat was. Mike couldn’t believe it, there was a tiny ant on the floor. “Lets see if it works changing back.” Leslie said and fired again, hitting the ant. Again there was a bright light, when it faded the cat was now restored.
“Oh my god!” exclaimed Mike. “That was amazing!” Leslie laughed.
“See, I told you.”
Mike stood in awe for a while before being interrupted by Simon. “Where the hell is that fax?” he yelled.
“Oh sorry, here it is.” Mike said and handed it over.
“Stop the chit-chat and get beck to work.” Simon growled before storming back inside. Leslie looked at Mike, smiled, and rolled her eyes. Mike smiled back and began to walk inside with Leslie.
“So I’ll see you at five.” Leslie said.
“Five?” Mike was puzzled.
“Yeah, remember, you said you would help me put up some shelves. I asked you last week.” Damn. He had completely forgotten.
“Oh yeah. Sorry, must have slipped my mind. I’ll see you at five.”

The rest of the day past, very slowly, as usual but Mike couldn’t help but think of Leslie’s device. It was incredible. His thoughts then drifted to what it would be like to actually be transformed into an ant for a while. The thought excited him but he dismissed it quickly realizing how dangerous it could be. He looked at his watch, it was time to go. Mike walked to reception where he saw Leslie putting on her coat. “Ready?” she asked. He nodded and they both left for her car.

Two hours later Mike was sat in Leslie’s front room as she handed him a cup of coffee.
“Thanks for the help with the shelves. It would have taken me forever to do on my own.” She exclaimed.
“Don’t mention it.” He replied and took a sip from his coffee. Directly in front of him on the table he saw the remote. It brought a smile to his face.
“That thing is incredible. Your sister must be very talented at her job.”
“Oh she is, very intelligent. We’re very close; even though she lives abroad we still keep in close contact. She is brilliant to me. When my husband died years ago she helped me through. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
“That’s nice.” Mike stated, feeling a little uncomfortable and not really knowing what to say. Leslie looked at the remote and smiled.
“I wonder what it would be like to be turned into an ant. It must be really weird.” She said. Mike smiled.
“I was thinking the same thing earlier today.”
“Would you like to try it out?” she asked playfully.
“What, me? Turned into an ant? No way.” He replied.
“Oh come on. It’ll be fun.” She giggled.
“It’ll be dangerous.” He stated.
“I’ll be right here, nothing will happen to you. It won’t be for long, I’ll change you right back. I promise.”
“I dunno.” He said but Leslie persevered. Mike had to admit though, the thought was quite exciting to him and after a while he conceded.
“Okay then, but promise me you’ll be careful and change me straight back.” He said.
“I promise.” She laughed.
Mike stood up, shaking a little. He was very nervous. Leslie then grabbed the remote and stood in front of Mike, pointing the remote at his chest.
“Are you ready?” she giggled. Mike took a deep breath. He had butterflies in his stomach.
“Ready.” He said. Leslie pressed the button and the beam came out of the remote and hit Mike. It felt warm, even through his clothes. Then he was blinded by a bright light and then it happened.
Leslie looked down to see Mike’s clothes now piled on the floor. She held her breath and picked them up, dropping them on a nearby chair. She then scanned the floor and smiled. She spotted him.
Mike couldn’t believe it. Everything was absolutely huge. He looked directly in front of him to see Leslies giant feet encased in her sandals and to his surprise he could smell the. It was a shock to him that ants could smell at all but he definitely could smell her feet and the smell was strong. It repulsed him a little. He then heard her thunderous voice from above.
“It worked. Your so tiny.” She bent down to get a closer look. “Wow, what’s it like? Not that you can respond. Sorry, that was a silly question. Can you understand me? If you can crawl forward.”
Mike did. Another surprise for him was how easy walking was. For some reason he was expecting it to be difficult and take some getting used to, but it was second nature. Leslie laughed from above. “Well, I guess you can understand me.” She lowered her giant hand to the floor, palm up, and spoke. “I’ll change you back soon Mike I promise, I just wanna get a closer look at you. Crawl into my hand.”
Tentatively he did as told and crawled in her huge palm. He could see all of the lines in her rough feeling skin and her hand seemed to stretch on forever. Leslie laughed and stood up, bringing her palm up to her face. He could feel her warm breath on his minute body. It did not smell pleasant. He looked at her impossibly large face. It was an awesome yet petrifying sight. Being this small and helpless was definitely scary. He saw her mammoth lips form a smile revealing her immense teeth behind them.
For Leslie the feeling of having Mike so small in the palm of her hand was not what she expected. It was exciting, yes, but it was more than that. It was a feeling she couldn’t place. It made her feel good, powerful. And seeing his minute fragile form completely at her mercy was strangely…erotic. Dark thoughts entered her head as she thought of things she could do to him. It made her smile. She then snapped out of her trance, this was a person. It was Mike. She couldn’t harm him. She lowered her hand to the floor.
“Wanna go explore little guy?” she giggled. Mike didn’t know what to do. He wanted to be returned to normal but then he thought he may as well make the best of it. Leslie was around and he felt safe with her. Thinking what to do he scanned the room and spotted an old pair of Leslies clogs next to her couch. The thought of crawling in one at his size was irresistible, so he headed towards them.
Leslie watched him intently as he went scuttling along the floor. “Where are you going?” she giggled. To her surprise he headed for her old clogs and began climbing up the heel. “Ew Mike, you don’t wanna go in there. They must smell awful.” She laughed. Mike reached the top and looked down into the depths of the shoe. It was dark at the bottom and it did smell. But it excited him nonetheless. He headed inside. Leslie saw him disappear into her old shoe and those dark thoughts entered her head again. Her heart began to race.
At the bottom of the shoe the smell was really bad and he couldn’t see too well. He turned around and was about to began crawling out when he heard Leslie’s voice from outside. “Need some company.” Then, to his horror he saw her giant nylon foot enter the shoe. It happened so quickly Mike had no time to move and before he new it he was trapped beneath her massive, smelly, wiggling toes. They began pressing on his body, completely smothering him, forcing him to smell their disgusting stink. It was awful.
Leslie meanwhile was grinning to herself. For her, this was amazing. She could just feel him tiny body beneath her toes and began wiggling them over him. Smothering him and squashing him gently. She knew it must be terrible for him in there but she couldn’t help herself. She new he’d be a little upset when she restored him.
After a while the foot left the shoe and it began to move into the air. He saw her giant smiling face come into view.
“I’m sorry Mike. I was just playing, I couldn’t help myself.” She laughed. “Let’s get you out of there shall we.” The shoe then tipped upside down and he saw her hand awaiting him to fall into below him. However he remained in the shoe, his legs sticking to the walls. Leslie then took her hand and banged the side of the shoe. “Come on Mike. I said I was sorry. I was only playing.” She said and banged it again. This caused Mike to loose his grip and he fell from the shoe. Leslie saw this and tried to catch him but missed. He fell down onto her foot. To mikes surprise he was totally unhurt. He looked up to she Leslie bend down.
“I’m sorry.” Leslie giggled. “Are you alright.” She then noticed a small hole in her nylons above her toes. Another idea popped into her head. She smiled and flicked Mike’s tiny body towards the hole. Mike was petrified as he fell into her nylons between her second and third toes. However, mid-fall she suddenly brought her toes together mashing him between them. Leslie laughed at his plight.
“I’m sorry Mike. Don’t worry, I’m only playing with you, I’ll restore you in a little while. You just feel really good down there.” She said. Mike began thrashing about which made Leslie laugh again. She then walked to the couch, each step causing mike to be squashed between the two giant toes. The smell was indescribable. Mike didn’t find this funny at all. Leslie then sat on the couch and propped her feet up on the table in front of her. She could just make out Mike trapped between her toes, struggling. She grinned and began flexing her toes, lightly squishing him over and over again.
“What’s it like in there Mike? Being squished between Leslie’s big old toes? Are you having fun?” Leslie joked, and then laughed. Mike was livid. He wasn’t having fun. This was torture. Her feet stunk and he was being squashed relentlessly between her foul smelling, sweaty toes. Again and again they would press together, completely engulfing his entire body. Between squashes he saw her face in the distance, smiling the whole time. She was enjoying this.
Finally the torture stopped. “I think you’ve had enough for today.” Leslie giggled and flexed her toes one more time. However this time she accidentally caught one of his legs in the nylon mesh and pulled it off completely. Mike was in agony. Unaware of what happened Leslie worked her thumb and fore finger into the hole and gently gripped Mike, pulling him out and dropping him into her palm. He began rolling about.
“What’s the matter with you?” Leslie asked and upon closer inspection realized that one of his legs was missing. Leslie couldn’t believe it. Not the fact that she had ripped off his leg; it was the fact that she felt no remorse. Instead she felt excited. Giddy even.
“Aww, did I do that to you. Poor little Mikey.” She said in a mock tone then laughed. Mike then saw her huge manicured hand come into view and pinch another one of his legs between her thumb and forefinger’s red painted nails. “Did it hurt?” she asked and ripped of another leg, Laughing as she did. What the hell was she doing? The pain was unbearable for him. Then she did the same thing with the rest of his legs. Mike felt pain and fear like you wouldn’t or should I say couldn’t believe.
Leslie looked at mike lying in her palm. She felt good. “Well, it look’s like you won’t be going anywhere. Not on your own accord anyway. Now, I have to tell you something Mike. You’re not going to change back. Ever. Believe me, I never planned for it to happen this way, I didn’t expect to feel the way I did. But like I said, I can’t help myself. It’s nothing against you. Infact, just to prove that, I’ll do you one last favour. It wouldn’t be very fair to let you live out you’re life as a bug with no legs would it? So, I’ll end it for you.” She said with an evil grin. Mike couldn’t believe what was happening. Scared wouldn’t do justice to the way he felt. Leslie then pinched his tiny body roughly in her thumb and forefinger and brought him up to her face. “Bye bye Mike.” She said with a grin. She then dropped him face up inside of the sandals she wore that day. Mike looked up to see her smile and raise her giant foot above his body and insert it into the shoe. Her toes past over him and he could make out every detail on her nylon covered sole. It was huge and stretched as far as he could see. The foul smell was ever present to. Then her foot slowly lowered, making contact with his body and slowly coming down, engulfing him and compressing his body. Leslie could feel his body under her sole. She pressed down slowly, she wanted it to last. She wanted him to experience the fear. Mike made his peace with God as the giant, smelly foot came down completely squashing Mike into nothing more than a stain.
Leslie let out a sigh. It was the best feeling she had ever experienced. She removed her foot from her she and looked at her sole. Directly in the middle was a tiny stain that was one Mike. It brought a sinister grin to her face as she picked up the remote. This thing would come in handy.

The End.