He opened his eyes, only to find that it made little difference; it was too dark to make anything out. Just a moment ago, he’d been lying down on his bed. He was still lying down, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t in his room anymore.

The first thing he noticed was the smell. Bizarrely, the air seemed to have a rubbery scent, as well as something else he couldn’t quite place. It probably wouldn’t have been that unpleasant, but the strength of it was just enough to make it so. The other thing that become quickly apparent was how humid the air was; even though it was only slightly warmer than the room he’d just been in, he could feel moisture on his face.

Now satisfied that he really didn’t know where he was, he sat himself up, in the hopes that his situation might be miraculously explained. No such luck, but he did note how strange the ground was. It was warmer than he’d been expecting it to be, and was, again, slightly damp. He brushed it with his hand, finding it oddly flat, more like a floor. Now that he thought about it, he clearly wasn’t outside - he couldn’t see any kind of sky, not even a few measly stars.

It didn’t make any sense. How did he get here? And where exactly was here? He was dimly aware of the ground shaking slightly from time to time, but he was more distracted by his immediate situation.

His eyes had finally begun to adapt to the darkness, and he found himself able to pick out a few more details about his surroundings. As suspected, he was enclosed by a set of walls, apparently in a very large room. However, on closer inspection, there was some slight… oddities. The walls actually appeared to be a single continuous structure, many times his height, curving inwards towards its top to varying degrees along its length, on one side extending out enough to form a kind of roof. Which led to other odd thing – as far as he could tell, the majority of the room was open to the outside, despite the fact that he couldn’t see anything out there.

Standing up, he took a better look at the area directly around him. The ground was quite flat as he had initially suspected, and he could now see that it had a very strange visible texture. It looked like some kind of thick polystyrene, as if he could squash it between his hands. But having felt it earlier, he knew it wasn’t - it’d felt much harder and heavier than that.

As the quakes he’d pushed to the back of his mind became stronger, they became a lot more difficult to ignore. He soon snapped out of the trance he’d fallen into, and tried to think about this all rationally. Each quake was accompanied by a sound; the sound of something hitting the ground? That seemed pretty logical, but it didn’t exactly explain much. What would that something be?

As it turned out, he didn’t have to wait long to find out.

The sound – the unmistakable sound – of a door creaking open rang out through the air, although it was far louder than he was used to. Light quickly began to flood his view, and looking up, he saw the impossible.

The sky itself was opening up. Opening up into a view that he could never had expected.

His brain could barely comprehend it, but a woman was standing over him – except she was far, far too large to be a woman. The sky-door opened further to reveal that the colossal titan was standing in an equally massive room, with objects he could recognise if they weren’t so huge. He simply stood there, jaw hanging wide open, as she seemed to be pondering her next move.

Today had been ridiculous. Between customers harassing her all day, and her boss pressing her about this new position she wanted her to take, she hadn’t had the chance to rest for even a minute. It was nearly Christmas and all, but she hadn’t expected it to be quite this hectic.

She was relieved to finally be home, immediately kicking off her shoes into her wardrobe, and tossing her bag onto the nearest chair. This place probably needed cleaning, but that could wait until tomorrow. Just one evening to relax was what she needed right now. She fully intended to do nothing else productive for a while.

It only took a few more minutes before she’d stripped off her work clothes, leaving them in a messy pile at the foot of her bed. She was soon slumped down on the sofa, curled up into her over-sized t-shirt. The TV flickered into life as she pointed the remote at it.

She spent a while browsing the channels, pausing a moment on each, before she found something suitably trashy. Perfect. Now she just needed one more thing…

A blast of chilled air ran over momentarily when she opened the freezer, causing her shiver. She gingerly pulled out the top drawer, eyes bright with expectation. But instead, her face turned to confusion as she looked into it. A quick rummage into it confirmed what she was dreading, and this feeling of disappointment only grew as she checked all the lower drawers. Despite what she’d believed, there was not a single tub of ice cream in the house.

This just wouldn’t do. As much as she hated it, it looked like she was going to make one last trip outside before she could properly settle down. She sighed, before making the long trip back upstairs. Even if she had to run around the shop, she was going to put the least amount of effort in possible – she pulled on the first pair of leggings she found, not bothering to change the slightly stained t-shirt.

With that, she opened up her wardrobe, looking for something easy to slip on her feet. It only took a moment to decide on the same battered pair of flats she’d been wearing earlier.

He had no idea how to react to any of this – a combination of fear and disbelief kept him rooted to the spot. Even the movement of a colossal hand coming straight towards him did little to bring him back to reality.

The ground beneath him gave way, causing him fall flat onto his face, smacking some sense back into him. The motion lasted only a couple of seconds, but it was enough to emphasize the danger he found himself in. The experience left him with a pretty horrible – and disturbingly salty – taste in his mouth, but that wasn’t his immediate concern right now.

He stood up yet again, trying to work out what exactly had just happened. Looking up, he found the woman was now somehow even taller, and was reaching over him, picking up something else. He followed her arm down with his eyes, and what he saw made his heart sink.

She was holding a shoe.

It only took a second for him to revaluate the ‘room’ he was in, but it was enough to confirm his fear. The shape of it, the material of the walls, the company name printed in huge, almost unreadable, letters on the floor. Even the five sweat-stained dips in the ground.

He was standing in a shoe.

He was barely getting over this revelation, when the next problem made itself known. Everything shook as the woman dropped the other shoe seemingly far off in the distance. Her attention was once again drawn in his direction, her leg shifting as something began to make its way over the horizon.

Toes. He was looking at toes.

Of course, they were far, far larger than toes had only right to be. Giant structures of skin and muscle, worming their way towards him. Each was easily the size of a building – but, of course, buildings couldn’t flex like this. The silver nail polish on each nail glistened as they started to blot out the newfound light, dragging the attached foot in as they felt their way inside.

His immediate reaction of awe was replaced with terror as they made their way towards him. Toes or not, they were clearly much, much heavier than him – he had a pretty good idea of what would happen if he ended up underneath them. Of course, there was only one way to go.

He turned around and ran, faster than ever before in his life. He didn’t dare look behind him, for fear of slowing down, but the fading light and the sound of skin rubbing against fabric told him everything he needed to know. Both his legs and his lungs were burning, but adrenaline along was enough to keep him running. If could just make it to the very end of the shoe, he might have a chance of surviving this, right?

They were getting closer. He became more and more desperate, his lungs ready to explode, and his legs pushing harder than he knew they could.

As it turned out, they couldn't.

He felt a shooting pain in the back of his left leg, having finally hit his limit. Unprepared, he fell into an awkward tumble, eventually coming to land on his back. It was dark, but there was barely enough light to see the form of the toes sliding into place over top of him, and he could feel an overbearing warmth emanating from them. This was it.

Her shoes now on, she wandered back downstairs, stopping only to grab her keys so she didn’t get locked out. The quicker this was over with, the better.

As soon she stepped outside, she regretted her decision. It was warm for this time of year, but it was still pretty chilly, goosebumps prickling up her arms. At least it wasn’t windy – that would probably have been enough to convince her to turn back and grab a jacket. But no, she was now dead set on this line of action, no matter the cost.

She was relieved to make it to the shop, hurriedly pushing her way into the comforting heat. It didn’t take too long to track down the delicious treat she was craving, although it did take her a moment to decide which flavour she wanted. Eventually, she settled on a classic – chocolate brownie. Not particularly adventurous, but pleasantly reliable.

She ended up picking up a few other munchies on her way to counter, the allure of chips and salsa a little too much for her to handle. Whatever. As far as she was concerned, she deserved it. Thankfully, she only had to wait for a short while before the few people in the queue in front of her finished, and she gratefully paid for the haul.

The food packed into a bag, she waltzed over to the door, hesitating for a moment, before heading back out into the cold.

The great pressure that was on top of him released for a moment, giving him just enough room to breathe, before almost immediately being reapplied. Against all odds, he wasn’t dead.

Instead, he was drenched with sweat – mostly not his own – and stuck to the underside of a giant toe. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. From what he could tell, he’d managed to avoid being crushed directly underneath one of them, instead having managed to end up slightly to the side of one. Aside from being alive, though, it hardly made much difference.

He’d been able to move around for the first couple of steps, enough to manoeuvre himself into a position where he wouldn’t suffocate to death, but soon his situation had become much stickier. He never thought he’d be able to sympathise with sock fluff, but he really did right now – much like that fluff, he was bound by sweat and friction to the skin of the toe, unable to move. All he could taste right now was foot, his face buried deep into it.

But the worst thing was the constant rising and crashing, as presumably this woman was walking around. It was a struggle to even think about the absurdity of the situation, but the repeated pounding to his head made it impossible to consider anything but the need to survive from second to second.

There was no way to tell how much time was passing, but it hardly mattered. Any time at all here was far too long. But then, after what seemed like forever, things slowed to a stop. There was still the occasional step, but they were far less violent and frequent. His conscious brain had a chance to reboot, taking in what little he could about the environment around him.

The air had somehow become far hotter and even more humid, most likely due to the very active foot he was now sharing this shoe with – he was drenched in sweat, but it was difficult to tell how much of it was his own. But that was nothing compared to the sweltering heat emanating from the skin itself, which seemed to be flooding through him like a never-ending wave. He would’ve liked nothing more than to peel himself off, just to get away from it, but right now, he could do neither this or anything else that didn’t involve being stuck here.

He tried to block this all out, turning his attention to his other senses. It was hard to tell, but he thought he could make out… voices? They sounded far away and muffled, and he certainly couldn’t make out any words, but there was definitely someone out there. Someone who could help him if they just knew he was here.

Despite his previous attempts being futile, he once again tried to pry himself off the clingy skin. Of course, he was met with as little success as before, his limbs being pulled straight back to their place immediately, and his shouts muffled. At this point, he almost hoped that his unwitting captor was secretly aware of his presence, just ignoring him out of some kind of cruel sadism. In a way, that’d be easier to deal with than the idea that he was so insignificant that even the woman who’s skin his face was currently smushed into didn’t care enough to notice him.

It was at this point he heard a familiar sound, one he wasn’t expecting to hear right now – the sound of coins jangling against each other, far above.

Once again, several clues clicked together in his brain, finally being able to work out where he was – or rather, where she was. The long period of walking, the unfamiliar voices that seemed to be totally unrelated to his situation, the sound of money being exchanged. He’d apparently been dragged onto some kind of shopping trip. If this was him, right now, best case scenario, he would—

Right on cue, he felt himself being lifted upwards, before being violently smashed down into the ground. And then up, and down, and up, and down, and up, and down…

Any tears were lost into the new torrent of sweat from his travelling partner.

She sighed as she burst through the door for the second time, this time somewhat more pacified in the knowledge that she definitely wouldn’t have to go out again. The warmth of the heated home had hardly been noticeable before, but she was particularly grateful for it right now, the escape from the chilly outside more than welcome.

She placed the plastic carrier bag onto the coffee table, and began unloading it. Each object was regarded carefully before being put down in their various places, each positioned such that she would be able to reach them all without having to stand back up later. The last item, right at the bottom, was the very thing she’d made the trip for to begin with. Carrying the ice cream with her, she practically skipped into the kitchen to collect a spoon.

There was now nothing stopping her from slumping down permanently into the sofa, which she did so with reckless abandon, more falling than sitting. Once again, she switched on the TV, and was quickly able to relocate the same show she’d intended to watch earlier. Perhaps too eagerly, she popped open the tub, setting down the lid next to her, and rammed the spoon into the dairy dessert.

Everything was perfect – there was no reason she had to leave this spot for the rest of the night. She wriggled around in her seat for a moment, carving out a comfy alcove, before slipping off her flats and resting her feet on the table in front of her.

He wished he was dead. He wished that he’d been squashed under these toes as soon as they’d entered this shoe, and he wished that he didn’t have to live through any of this. He was alive sure, but what kind of life was this? Slathered in sweat that wasn’t his, absolutely no chance of freedom, not even able to see. Was he going to be stuck to this skin forever – nothing more than a speck on a woman’s foot? Or was he going to be trapped inside this shoe until he starved to death? Neither fate seemed worth living for, but it was no longer his choice.

After another eternity, he once again felt the pounding steps slow down, but he wasn’t deceived like he was last time. As expected, the steps continued, less intense and constant, but still continuing nonetheless. It was perhaps slightly less uncomfortable, but it hardly mattered – it wouldn’t help him escape from this prison of flesh, rubber and leather.

He could hear noises outside, not voices this time, just general movement. He paid little attention to it – what was the point of thinking about the outside world anymore? It wasn’t like he was a part of it anymore. For whatever reason, the universe had decided that his fate was far less significant. He was going to be stuck here, until either he died, or she died, or maybe even both. For the first time since this started, he allowed himself to drift slowly out of consciousness, giving into the toxic atmosphere he found himself in.

But the universe had different ideas.

He was awoken by the sensation of yet again being lifted into the air. For a moment, he thought he’d been thrust back into pacing hell, but it quickly became apparent that was different. He was being raised far higher than he had before, blood being sapped away from his head, and more importantly, he could feel cold air washing over him, as if flying. He was still bathed in heat from the skin he was attached to, but that wasn’t what he cared about right now.

His heart pounded as his brain attempted rational thought, allowing him to deduce what was going on. He squirmed around, the sweat that had bound him beginning to evaporate. At first nothing much changed, but soon he was able to break free a singular hand. His fingers pushed down and against the soft flesh, liberating an entirely arm. He wasted no time using it to pull on his own head, finally ripping his face away from the toe.

Exasperated laughter escaped him as he took deep breaths in the relatively fresh air.

He simply paused for a few moments, relishing in his freedom. Well, partial freedom. This whole ordeal had exhausted him, and so for now his three remaining limbs were still more or less immobilized. But he was finally able to twist his head, something he’d sorely missed, and for once he could actually see the world around him.

It took a short while for his eyes to adjust to the blinding light of the outside world, it not being immediately apparent where he was. Once they did, though, his earlier suspicions were confirmed. The same foot that had been tormenting him all this time had carried him out of the shoe when escaping itself. Oddly, it appeared the rest of the foot was below him, suggesting it was sitting vertically, toes pointing upwards with him tacked to the side.

His eyes followed the legging-clad leg that extended out from under him, which seemed to on for miles. It was crossed over another its kind, the two winding together like great massive pylons before flattening out to be parallel to each other. An inconceivable distance away, they joined together, plugging into the body of the same woman he’d seen earlier.

He hadn’t really had much time to consider the woman herself before, having been preoccupied by trying not to be squashed by her digits. It was still hard to comprehend, but looking at her now, she just seemed like a normal person – much, much larger, but normal. There was nothing that outwardly suggested she was capable of willingly subjecting someone to what he’d just experienced, especially considering she seemed more interested in eating whatever was in that tub than anything else. If anything, she looked more like someone who would help someone in his unfortunate situation.

For the first time in a while, he felt like he might be able to get out of this.

It still wouldn’t be easy. He’d have to make his way down those long, expansive legs, possibly climb up somewhere higher, and somehow get her attention. That was assuming she stayed still in the time it took him to do all that, which wasn’t totally likely considering the tiny movements he could feel her toes making right now, so small that they likely weren’t even voluntary. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen to him if this went wrong. But at least it felt like he could do something.

To start with, he needed to detach himself from this skin. He slid his free arm underneath the other, using it to pry it away from the still somewhat sticky surface. It was difficult at first, but the more he freed, the easier the rest pulled away. It wasn’t long before he had two working arms. His legs were a little trickier – he wasn’t really able to reach them stuck like this. Instead, he shovelled both his hands down the front of his torso, hacking vigourously, peeling himself off like a plaster.

He didn’t notice anything was wrong until something blocked on his light.

His chest liberated, he hung there in shock as the object moved closer and closer, quickly filling up his vision. One of the woman’s hands had wandered away from the main body, traversing the distance of the legs in a matter of seconds. For whatever reason, it was moving directly towards him, covering up the woman’s face as it approached.

Had he been spotted? Was she saving him?

She set there, ravenously devouring ice cream as she only half-paid attention to the TV. Now she had settled, the various events of today seem incredibly far away – any thoughts about them had been neatly packed away, not to be disturbed until she went back to work. Tonight was a night for her, and her alone, to do whatever she wanted. And what she wanted she was to totally switch off, and be content with the here and now.

As such, she didn’t really notice when her brain detected a slight itch on the side of her big toe on her left foot, the sensation mild enough that it was considered too insignificant for her conscious mind to be informed of. Instead, her hand took a quick break from helping her devour the sweet food, reaching down to deal with the problem, allowing her to continue with her eyes fixed on the television screen.

A couple of seconds of scratching, and she was vaguely satisfied, the hand returning to its nominal position to allow her to continue her feasting.

His heart dropped as he saw the hand begin to contort. Most of the fingers curled back into the palm, out the way, but the index finger continued to extend, seeming to point in his direction. He was getting better at interpreting the giant’s movement, but it didn’t exactly help in this situation – it was already crystal clear what was about to happen.

The flesh around him began to wobble and deform as the nail impacted it, causing the free half of his body to flail around. His cries for help were entirely drowned out by the sound of skin being scratched directly beneath him. The wild movement was helping to dislodge him from this place, but that was the least of his concerns right now; it was difficult to tell with his head bobbing around, but the nail seemed to be moving around him, tenderising various parts of the toe. It wouldn’t be long before—

He screamed out in pain as it crashed into him, ripping off his left arm entirely. At his size, even the thin nail was thick enough to smush more than slice his limb, leaving a gooey mess than once again cemented his body to the skin.

Mercifully, the finger didn’t get so close again, but the damage had been done. His screams were half-muffled as his head was stuck side-on to the flesh, although it wasn’t like the giant would hear them anyway.

Tears streaming down his face, he could only watch as the finger retreated, its job apparently done. As it retreated, he could see, right where the silver varnish had chipped away at the very edge of the nail, a tiny splotch of red encroaching on the otherwise untainted surface. Soon it was far away enough that even he couldn’t see it, the blemish likely being wiped off unnoticed as it rubbed against the tub the woman was handling.

He’d been so close. So close to getting out of this. But now he was stuck, yet again, somehow worse off as he slowly bled out from the stump that once was his arm. Even this fluid was absorbed into the flesh and sweat, not even this being able to escape the presence of the unaware giant.

Any sense of hope had been entirely crushed with his arm. There was nothing he could do now, nothing at all.

His gentle sobs were momentarily replaced by a screech of fury and frustration, as he pounded his remaining fist repeatedly into his uncaring captor.

As if in instant response, the entire toe twitched, and he found himself being slammed against the neighbouring digit. Shock turned to panic as the two toes pressed against him from either side, the soft skin enveloping and suffocating him.

This only lasted a split second before his body gave into the pressure, splattering open. When the walls of flesh parted, there was only an oddly shaped stain on each, already starting to fade as the skin absorbed it.

Her toes curled with pleasure as she swallowed a particularly tasty chunk of ice cream, eliciting even a small smile to herself.

If she had, perhaps, looked at her left big toe at this point, she may have noticed a small red mark on the side of it. However, in reality, she did not, keeping her eyes trained on the TV, instead only registering a vague sticky sensation in that area. Her toes rubbed back and forth over each other, a combination of sweat and movement erasing the irritant from existence, its only legacy a slight flushing of the skin which faded within a few minutes.

The night continued as she’d hoped, not once having to get off the sofa, eventually dozing off to the sound of trashy TV – truly, a perfect evening alone.