Emily sighed, wringing the sweat out of her hair as the summer sun beat down upon her body, leaving her glistening in the light of the softball field.

“Great work out there, Emily!” her coach shouted, garnering a smile from the auburn beauty as she walked back to the locker room. Her feet were as nimble as ever, feeling barely any soreness from such an intense workout. She wasn’t sure when this began, because she remembered always needing a massage from… someone, back in the day. But now, she could run marathons and barely feel a thing!

She sat down on the bench, leaning into her knees as she stared down at her feet with a smile.

“Still going strong…” she laughed, looking at her pink Asics, held together by a thread at this point. She wriggled her toes within the footwear, feeling a light film of sweat accumulated on the beaten insole.

“I think I’ll save a shower for later…” she said with a stretch, as she neglected changing out of her uniform, instead grabbing her things and beginning to head back to the dorm, before she was interrupted by her teammate, Kelsey.

“Hey Emily… you doing okay?” she asked, her face concerned.

“Yeah, I’m great, why do you ask?” Emily responded, a look of confusion on her face.

“Well, today’s the anniversary of when Courtney and your other friend David vanished… I just figured you might need to talk to someone…” Kelsey explained, placing a hand on Kelsey’s shoulder.

Emily sighed.

“Man, I don’t see why everyone thinks I know these people… it sucks what happened to them, but I barely knew them, if that. I’m fine, Kelsey…” Emily affirmed, taking Kelsey’s hand off her shoulder.

Emily walked away, leaving the locker room and walking back to her dorm.

“Poor girl…” Kelsey exclaimed.

“Did she seem okay?” another girl asked, walking up to Kelsey with an interest in the conversation.

“She’s still doing that thing where she pretends she didn’t know em’. We need to talk to her about getting a therapist…” Kelsey replied, getting a nod from the other girl.

-

Emily whistled along as her feet slapped against the scorching pavement, a bounce to her step as she walked along the city streets. In truth, she was happier than ever. She was division-one in softball, and was doing great in her major. She was a little lonely these days, but for some reason, she always felt like she was just fine with herself.

She opened the lock to her dorm, and stepped inside, thanking god that Abby was out. “Time to slip these babies off…” she grunted, as she stuck her toe of her right shoe onto the heel of her left, popping her foot out in all its glistening glory.

“Oh my god… stinky today…” she gagged, lifting her foot up to her face and coughing as she smelled the ripe appendage. “Maybe a week is a little too long to avoid a shower… I don’t know why I hate doing it so much…” she wondered, as she popped the other foot out, freeing her bare toes to the open air.

She sat on her bed, then took her feet into her hands, beginning to rub them vigorously. She sighed with bliss as the tightness in them melted away, leaving her with two perfectly happy, if a little... well, a LOT smelly feet as she laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Suddenly, the sound of a piece of paper sliding under the door rang out through the room, and Emily turned to look at it.

She got up and picked it up, looking intently to see what it said.

“Clinical trial… looking for women to participate in a study observing their feet… two-hundred an hour?! Call this number?!” Emily shouted, as her hungry stomach begged her to take the hero’s call.

She ran over to her phone, picking it up and dialing the number with haste.

“C’mon, c’mon…” she grumbled, waiting for the other line to pick up.

Suddenly, a click indicated just that, and a voice began to speak on the other line.

“Hello, InStep Solutions, how may I help you?” the voice responded.

“Hi, this is Emily Smith, I saw your flier and wanted to learn more about the trial?” Emily excitedly explained, quietly bouncing on her feet as she awaited the ladies answer.

It took a few seconds, before the other voice began to speak again.

“...That’s wonderful to hear, Ms. Smith… let me tell you all about the trial…” the voice on the other end said, almost sounding like she was smiling.

Emily grinned, as she thought all about the money she was about to make…