The ground trembles beneath her as she steps towards me, my view of her blocked by the towering carpet fibers until she looms right above me. As she gets down on all fours, her massive visage soars horrifyingly close, but still so, so far above. I can see each and every freckle splattered like constellations across her pale face, and like stars, they are much bigger than they appear. I watch her vast, plump lips purse as her eyes, hidden from my sight by her dark, shaggy hair, scan the carpet for my impossibly miniscule form. I am paralyzed by fear, cowering beneath the canopy of fibers as her eyes sweep over miles and miles of carpet. I know I can’t run; I am far too small to make any real progress. It would take days to trek my way out of this vast forest. I’m better off trying to stay still so that she can’t detect my movement, hoping my infinitesimal size will hide me from her all-seeing gaze.
Through squinted eyes braced for the worst, I see her face stop directly above me, as if staring down straight at me, but I still can’t be sure. She exhales triumphantly, deepening my fear, and her hot breath crashes over me in a powerful gust, tugging at my clothes and threatening my stance. Her black-painted lips curl up into a smile so subtle I can’t be sure I’m not just imagining it. But my stomach drops and a terrible chill seizes my spine when she whispers so gently:
“FOUND YOU.”
She pulls herself up onto two feet, quaking the floor so violently I am knocked down onto my knees. I begin spluttering out pleas for mercy, but my words fall on deaf ears. I am much too small to be heard, and even if she could understand me, she would ignore me all the same. She lifts one of her mighty legs, clad in casual pajama bottoms, looming her vast, pasty sole over me. She lowers it slowly, drawing out my impending demise as long as she can. She stops when her foot is only centimeters above me, resting her heel on the carpet while the ball of her foot is lifted ever so slightly up. It is so close, in fact, the tops of the carpet fibers bend against her skin. She gives me a moment to honor her divine sole. The air grows humid around me, enough that I can feel my clothes getting damper. The heat from her flesh pulses off of her in waves, washing over me. A stifling, cheesy smell fills the air, so palpable that I can taste it.
She lowers her foot even further until I am pinned to the floor beneath tons and tons of her meaty sole. Her skin is slick and sticky with her sweat. I struggle to breathe with my chest squeezed beneath her, and my lips graze her plush skin. If I wasn’t fighting for my life, I would be impressed by the sheer precision she would need to get so close without crushing me.
Suddenly, her foot retracts with my body stuck to it, and she bends her knee up with the help of her hand so that the bottom of her foot faces her. She spies my nearly imperceptible form glued to her, almost indistinguishable from the miscellaneous grains of filth that dirty her sole. With her other hand, she pulls the hair off of half her face to get a better look at me. A single beautiful eye, a piercing bright blue, gazes down at me intensely, open wide in a way that makes her look insane. Her subtle smile grows into a mad grin. Then, she speaks.
“GOODBYE, SPECK.”
She slams her foot into the ground with unparalleled force, and I am crushed into a paste beneath it. She sighs, satisfied, then walks away with my remains still splattered against her sole, ready to start her day. As she ponders what to make herself for breakfast, her memory of our encounter is already fading, replaced with more important matters.