James was only 23 years old when his life completely changed. It was the middle of summer, and the sun was beating down hard, causing temperatures that often went above 80 degrees. James never cared much for the heat though, in fact, he'd really rather be in a cooler climate. But of course, when everything in life costs money, including moving, people have to settle for what they currently have access to.
Now James had a bit of an unusual job for a guy. He worked at a shoe store, one that mainly catered to women's shoes. While it wasn't the first time a male had worked in a shoe store, it was still a rare sight to see. That being said, it certainly did help James out, if he ever wanted to hook up with some beautiful ladies. The store he worked at was very popular, and James knew he was in a good position. Many pretty ladies came in to buy all different sorts of shoes, and since he was not only attractive, but also working with one of women's favorite things, he seemed to be a good choice. However, this being said, relationships with James never lasted longer than a couple of dates, considering he wasn't the type to settle down, and he certainly wasn't ready for a commitment...
On this day, James had to work an all day shift, something that was a bit unusual. The young man was always flexible with his hours, but rarely did they ever schedule him to work from open to close. Of course, who was he to complain. While working the extra hours might mean having less free time, James was much more happy with the prospect of earning extra cash. Besides, for the most part, all he had to do was sit behind the counter. Occasionally, he'd go and restock shoe boxes, but most of the time, he was busy watching the customers from a distance, one eye on the people, the other eye on his phone.
Right now, it was about 2 in the afternoon, and oddly enough, the store was completely dead. In fact, even James' coworker had gone out for a late lunch. He was all alone, which wasn't something he really minded. If anything, it was nice to have a break from dealing with people. Yet, still, something seemed off, and James decided to walk up and down the aisles to make sure nobody was here that he had forgotten about...
As James reached the women's size 10 shoes, a sudden flash of light went off throughout the entire store. James felt a searing pain in his head, and he felt his ears ringing. Everything was blindingly white, and James couldn't seem to gather his bearings...
~~~
About 2 minutes had passed, when James' head pain seemed to subside, and his vision started to become clear again. The terrain in front of him was different, though. On either side, James was flanked by impossibly tall towers, and a less, but still pretty tall tower stood in his field of view. It took the young man a few moments to realize, but it wasn't long before he recognized his surroundings.
James hadn't gone anywhere at all. He was still in that same shoe aisle, the only difference being that now, his height had diminished from the once tall, 5'10", to a mere half an inch, give or take. For the next couple of moments, James began to panic, as he tried to covince himself that everything he was seeing was nothing more than just a dream. Certainly, this couldn't be real. He couldn't really have shrunken to such an impossibly small size. And yet, nothing had appeared to prove him otherwise. As much as he didn't want to believe what he had seen, James had no choice now, but to accept the fact that he had become nothing more than a speck of dust.
Having come to grips with reality, James was about to formulate a plan, when he heard an incredibly loud dinging sound, the sound that indicated a customer had come into the store.
Stomp.
Stomp.
James could hear the loud footsteps, presumably of a girl, starting to head his way. Maybe there were even two girls, he couldn't tell. All he knew right now, was that he needed to hide, if he were going to survive long enough to come up with something.
Stomp.
Stomp.
Sure enough, there were two girls, and they were heading straight for him. Moving surprisingly fast, James ran, narrowly avoiding being squished by the first girl. Still filled with adrenaline, James then began to climb the nearest shoe to him, a pair of slip-on converse.
Before long, James made his way to the top of the shoe, but before he could think of what to do next, another footstep made the ground shake beneath him, and he fell inside of the shoe.
Surprisingly, when James had landed, he had not broken any bones, nor did he feel much pain. It was a rather soft landing, and he couldn't tell if it was because of the insole, or if it was because of whatever had shrunk him. Either way, he began to look upwards, where he could finally get a decent view of the two girls who had entered his store.
The first girl, a blonde that stood at roughly about 5'2", was wearing a plain grey t-shirt, jean shorts, and pink flip flops. She had dazzling blue eyes, and she appeared to have just a little weight to her. She wasn't fat, or even really overweight, but it also didn't look like she starved herself.
The second girl was much different. She had an astounding height difference between herself and her friend. While her friend was short, this girl had to be 6' even, at the very least. She had brunette hair, hazel eyes, and some freckles that flecked her cheeks. She was wearing a green tank top, a pair of black bike shorts, and black flats to match. This girl was also more heavyset. Again, she definitely wasn't obese, but she also had some meat on her bones.
After observing them for a moment, James had heard them beginning to talk with each other. However, the young man had more pressing matters, such as making sure that he wasn't discovered before the appropriate time. In order to do this, James ran towards the toe of the shoe, so he would no longer be visible, if he was even visible beforehand. It's just a shame that he didn't listen in on the conversation happening above.
~~~
Jessica, the blonde, said, "Come on, Maria. You need a new pair of sneakers, and I'm sure you'll find some ones that you love here."
Maria responded, "Yeah, Jess, but this place is usually kind of pricey, and I'm not looking to spend a lot of money right now."
Jessica thought for a moment, before saying, "I'll help you pay for the shoes, if you really like them. Now, why don't you try those ones on, down there?"
Maria was unsure, "You don't have to Jess, but I suppose I can try them. I just... I don't have any socks with me, and I'm not wearing my ped socks either."
Jessica simply laughed, "Come on Maria, you mean to tell me that other girls haven't tried them on without socks. And furthermore, you don't think you yourself won't wear them without socks? The only reason you're not wearing your peds, is because you hate socks in the first place. It's going to be fine."
Maria conceded, "I guess you're right Jess." And then, in attempt to convince herself, she said, "Besides, this is the only store nearby that carries size 10 sneakers. Why don't people understand that women can have big feet too?"
Jessica simply said, "Well, I can't really speak, I'm only a size 7, maybe a 7 and a half on a good day."
With that, Maria bent down and picked up the pair of shoes her friend had been eyeballing, and she walked over to a little bench to try them on.
~~~
James' world was turned upside down, as just as he had reached the toe section of the shoe, he felt the floor slip from beneath him. If he hadn't had made it down to the tip before, this would've done it. It seemed as though somebody had picked up the shoe he had hid inside. Of course, they had to choose the single pair I wanted to hide out in. James thought to himself.
Before long, the ground became flat again, as the shoes were rested on the ground. Looking towards the mouth of the shoe, James was taken aback as he saw the biggest foot he had ever seen entering. Five monolithic toes, each painted a bright sky blue, were heading straight towards him, and he didn't have a plan of action.
It's at this time that it should be mentioned, James hates feet. Funny, huh? He works in a shoe store, yet he hates feet. But this is precisely why he hates feet. Having once been neutral towards the appendages, having to look at and sometimes even smell the feet of those who entered the store for two years now, he felt nothing but disgust when even just thinking about them. And yet, here they were, almost about to crash into him.
James braced himself for impact, but instead of being pushed down by one of her toes, he managed to find himself in between two of them instead. Specifically, the big and second toe.
This was arguably a worse fate than being squished, because the smell of sweat and ripe foot odor was magnified by a thousand in this little crevice. Furthermore, it was clear that this girl had issues with toejam, as he could see some built up where the two toes met at the foot.
Gagging, and nearly vomiting, James wasn't prepared for what happened next. As the foot wiggled around, James found himself forced into the previously mentioned toejam, hearing a squelching sound all around him. And then, the foot kept on moving, presumably because the girl was walking in the shoe, to make sure it was comfortable.
~~~
Maria had sat down, and she pulled her foot out of her flat. She could smell it almost immediately, and she warned Jessica, "You might want to stand back. I guess I have a little bit of foot stank right now." This, of course, didn't stop Maria from slipping her foot into the converse shoe. Once she had gotten the first shoe on, she quickly pulled on the second one, before standing up to walk around.
Jessica chimed in, "So, what do you think? Do I have excellent taste, or what?"
Maria smiled, "Oh my gosh, these are so comfortable. There's no question, I'm totally going to get them. Can you find me a cashier?" Having asked her friend to look, she paced back and forth, already sort of breaking in the shoes.
~~~
James was in hell, each step a nightmare. Even if he wanted to pull himself out of his position, the toejam was way too sticky, and when he did break free, a simple step easily knocked him right back in. Alongside the fact that he was stuck in toejam, the smell was horrific, and it didn't seem like it would be getting any better. Since it was so hot out, and the store didn't have air conditioning, the girl's feet began to sweat profusely. If anything good were to come out of that, maybe the sweat could break down the toejam, although James had his doubts.
~~~
Jessica came back with a frown on her face. "That's odd! I can't seem to find anybody to ring us out. I guess maybe we'll have to come back."
Maria, originally having had her reservations, now defended the original plan. "No, we can't just do that. I love these shoes. We have to wait... Or..." She came up with an idea to get around the issue of the unmanned register. "Why don't we just leave the money on the counter, and we can leave a little note?"
Jessica hesitated, before sighing, "I suppose. I don't feel very good about this, so just hurry up, put your flats back on, and let's get this over with. I'll write the note and leave the money."
Maria shook her head, "No, actually, I think I'm going to collect my flats, and just wear theses shoes out. They're really comfortable, and you're supposed to wear new shoes often, just so you break them in."
"Whatever, then just do that instead." Jessica said, finishing her note, and leaving the money behind. "Let's go."
~~~
Things weren't improving much for James. The sweat from the girl's foot had the opposite of the desired effect. Instead of breaking down the bonds of the toejam, it only strengthened them, whilst forcing some really salty liquids into most of James' orifices. In this moment, he wished he could die. But instead, as the girls began to leave the store, James knew he had a long day ahead of him.
James laid there, engulfed in toejam, feeling completely defeated. Being somebody who absolutely despised feet, this was probably the worst situation he could've probably ended up in. Not to mention, for whatever reason, he didn't seem to be harmed at all. He had all his senses, sight, sound, touch, taste, and *ick* smell. His body though, it felt different. Almost as if, when he changed, his dna had changed with him, making him something else entirely. All that mattered now, was finding a way out of this seemingly endless hell.
Being small, all of James senses were enhanced. What might smell slightly odorous for a normal sized person, smelled like James had taken a trip to France, and had been locked in a tight, confined room, with only the smelliest of cheeses. And then multiply that by 10. It was truly a wonder that he hadn't passed out from the smell. In fact, if they could figure out a way to capture the essence of this smell, James believed the police could use this odor as a powerful knockout gas.
And then, there was also the taste of it all. Toejam, which had been forcefed to James on a particularly rough step, tasted indescribably awful. It was rancid, to say the least, and if James could puke, he probably would have. Although, oddly enough, it seemed as though his gag reflex had stopped working, meaning that he could only take things in, he couldn't vomit them back out. Aside from the toejam, James also was forced to drink the ever-dripping sweat from this girl's toes. This wasn't as bad as the toejam, though it was most definitely salty.
The sounds he heard while she moved, they were squelchy sorts of sounds. This, most likely, was related to all of the sweating she did, whilst she and her friend were on the move. The insole of this shoe was probably soaking wet, and that would only help to make the shoes smell terrible by the time this was over. He wondered why any girls would choose not to wear socks, when socks were so comfortable. At least, maybe that was James point of view. He could also hear the thunderous booms that occurred when her feet landed on the ground.
James' vision was blurry, partly due to the mixture of sweat and toejam obstructing his field of view, and partly because it was just so dark in here. These shoes were brand new, and this girl's feet filled them out well. There were no holes, nor were there any cracks that could let the light shine through. In a way, though, James was almost grateful for this, not wishing to see what his life had become, and where he had ended up.
Lastly, his sense of touch was a little out of whack. James felt soaked to the bone, and he felt slimey and hot. He most definitely felt the heat of the sun, causing the girl's feet to bake, and him to feel like he was inside of an oven. It should also be mentioned, James felt vertigo, considering the fact that his feet didn't touch the ground, and his body was more or less stuck in place. And yet, he could still feel every footstep quake throughout his entire body. It was rather unsettling for him.
Every sense of his only helped to contribute to his concoction of misery. And little did the young man know, his day was only going to get worse.
~~~
A couple hours had passed for the girls. The two of them had made a couple of laps around the mall, before Maria remembered something. "Oh shit! Jess, we have to get back home. The party is going to be starting early, and I like to be there on time."
Jessica stopped dead in her tracks, "You're right, good thing you remembered. Sammy would've been pissed if we had forgotten altogether. This party means a lot to her, especially since it's the first time she's had an all girl party in forever."
Maria simply nodded, before making her way towards the exit, Jessica following right behind.
~~~
James hadn't realized how easy he had things. Now, considering the girls were rushing, James felt everything more frequently, until something incredible happened. One super rough step knocked James out of the toejam, and onto the insole. Of course, this incredible success was followed immediately by an even bigger failure. He had no time to look, as the slightly risen foot pounded straight down onto his small body.
This powerfully forceful step would be enough to squash even the heartiest of bugs. But James? He just felt his body flatten a little, almost as if he were made of clay. Finally, he felt a little pain, but yet, he didn't feel any blood that he would've expected to squeeze out of him. Instead, the only liquid he felt was the sweat that squelched out of the insole, threatening to drown him, before being soaked back up.
~~~
Maria had almost tripped, and in doing so, she placed down a heavy footstep, feeling something strange beneath her foot. Unfortunately though, she had no time to pay it any mind, and instead, she simply unlocked her car, so that both her and Jessica could climb inside and drive off.
~
After about a 15 minute drive, the girls had made it to their house. Leaving the car, they walked inside, knowing they only had a short time to change.
"Hey, Jess, what are you going to wear to the party again?" Maria asked, secretly trying to figure out her own outfit.
Jessica sighed, "This is the third time I've told you now. I'm going to be wearing my midnight blue dress, and a pair of really comfy flats."
Maria lit up, "Oh, yeah, that's right. And I can't remember if I said, but I'm going to be wearing my red dress and a pair of matching high heels."
Jessica shook her head at her friend, chuckling a little. "How exactly do you wear those things, anyways? My feet ache too much by the end of the night, and I end up taking them off and going barefoot."
Maria simply chided her friend, "Well, I'm sorry, but fashion has a price, and it's name is pain."
~~~
There wasn't too much interesting that happened while the girl above drove. If anything, the little movements made it easier for James to gather his bearings. And, having her foot being slightly raised above him, James was able to pull himself together. Getting up, he walked around a little, looking at the shoe, and her foot. His vision still not really clear though, he wasn't prepared for what happened next. Once the girls had arrived, James found those same two toes coming back for more. And this time, they scrunched him up, almost as if they wanted to play with him.
As the girls walked inside, James was continuously battered by the scrunching and unscrunching toes. No matter what he tried to do, he couldn't get free. He was only so lucky that he was farther away from the rest of her foot, lest he wanted to be subjected to toe jam again...
There was one final scrunch that really caught James attention though, because this time, instead of unscrunching, her foot did something unexpected. It began sliding out of the shoe, before it was finally revealed to the world. Wiggling in excitement, the foot let out a little kick that sent James flying.
~~~
Admittedly, while Maria liked her shoes, there was definitely something to be said for being able to take them off. Her dogs needed some air, and when they had come out, she stretched the one, accidentally kicking it out a little. She thought she saw something small coming from her toes, but she chalked it up to it just being a rock or something. Maybe it was even that odd thing she had felt with her foot. Either way, though, her feet didn't remain free for long, as she quickly traded the converse for her pair of high heels.
Across the room, Jessica was also getting changed. She failed to notice however, the flying object sent by her roommate. Instead, she was too focused on making sure he dress looked alright. And once she had decided she was okay, Jessica stepped forward, pulling on her flats. They felt extra tight today, but perhaps that was simply because her feet were swollen from all the walking earlier. In any event, Jessica said to Maria, "I'm ready, whenever you are."
~~~
His freedom was short lived, as James body landed in a new, yet not unfamiliar environment. Once again, he was inside a shoe, although the opening to the sky was a lot more open, and these shoes were much more worn. In fact, there was a lingering odor that told him that these shoes were probably kind of old. That, and the fact that there was a miniscule hole at the toe, just barely too small to fit his body.
None of that mattered either way, as above James' head, he could see pink painted toes flying by. Looking up, and then laying down in fear, he could only watch as her sole pressed down on his tiny body. James didn't receive the full pressure though, if only because he was underneath her arch...
Groaning, James struggled for a way out, but his body only seemed to flatten and fall under the control of the overpowering, feminine sole. This sole, believe it or not, had an even worse scent and taste, and unlike his previous captor's shoe, James knew he wouldn't have any chance to run or escape the footsteps he was about to endure.
~~~
Jessica felt something weird under her arch, but simply stomping her foot caused it to submit and bend to her will. In fact, once she had flattened the object, it actually felt kind of nice.
~~~
Three swift stomps. These stomps were all it took, and James had finally begun to pass out. The pain had started to sink in, and James wished his life had ended, just before losing consciousness.
