Checking Out

You wake up with a start as the sound of a telephone ringing cuts through the darkness. For just a moment, you roll around between the pleasantly warm satin sheets as your consciousness returns. The first thought that manifests in your brain is that you really don’t want to get up. The bed is so cosy and warm. Worse still, the sun isn’t even up yet. You let out an annoyed groan and glance at the digital clock on your nightstand. It’s 6 AM sharp. Awkwardly reaching around for the phone somewhere next to the clock, your hand finally closes around the handset. You pick up, holding the cool plastic casing against your ear.

“Yuh?” You mumble, not yet able to form coherent words, let alone sentences.

“Good morning.” The woman on the other end says. You feel a tingle go through your body as you recognise her warm, mellifluous voice. “This is Victoria from the front desk with your 6 AM wake-up call, and a reminder that breakfast is being served and ends at 10 AM. Is there anything else I can help you with?” She asks in a friendly, if somewhat formulaic tone.

“No, thank you.” You reply tiredly, rubbing your eyes as you sit up straight. You really can’t afford to fall asleep again and miss your flight home.

“Very well. Give me a call here at the front desk if you have any questions.” The woman says and hangs up. You too put the phone down again and stretch yourself.

Letting out a long yawn, you push your feet out from beneath the warm blanket and dig your toes into the soft carpet floor of your hotel room. Your body still feels a bit numb after being torn out of your sleep like that, so you allow yourself another few seconds sitting on the edge of the bed. Then you give yourself a little mental push and rise to your feet. You walk up to the curtains and pull them back, surprised that this actually does let some light into your room.

But then you frown as you figure out the reason. It’s snowing. Again. The skyscrapers around are covered in a thick white blanket, illuminated by the lights of the city. Snowflakes the size of nickels and quarters are raining down into the urban canyons below. Over the last few days, you have seen enough snow for a lifetime. It’s also made it almost impossible to explore the city on your own a little over the half week you’ve been here. Though you’re not even sure if there’s that much to see here anyway. You’ve never known all that much about the Midwest and, if you’re honest with yourself, never particularly cared about it either. The people here have been nice enough, but as far as you can tell, this is just another city. Some skyscrapers in the centre, surrounded by a vast suburban sprawl and seemingly endless plains. Someone even unironically mentioned to you that this place is most notable for having a particularly large shopping mall. To you, it’s really just been sitting in meeting rooms which could have been anywhere in the country, listening to boring presentations and drinking cheap coffee.

Another sigh escapes from between your lips as you turn around and switch on the lamp on your nightstand, bathing your hotel room in a warm orange light. You don’t really understand why, in the age of broadband internet and video calls, you still have to fly a thousand miles to attend some utterly inconsequential business meeting. But the last time you tried to bring this up with your boss, you just ended up listening to him monologuing about how the ‘internets’ were taking the ‘personal touch’ out of everything. Maybe he was right. But then again, these meetings were hardly big social events in your calendar either. In fact, you hardly ever felt as lonely as over the last few evenings, all on your own in a hotel in some flyover state. Getting drunk at the bar and flirting with the lady at the front desk had been all you really could do.

Slipping out of your pyjamas, you step into the bathroom and take a shower, the steaming hot water washing away any residual sleepiness. You use some of the fragrant shampoo provided by the hotel to wash your hair, then you turn off the water and step out of the shower again to dry yourself off. Once you are done, you slowly put on the clothes you laid out for yourself yesterday evening. As you do so, you look at yourself in the mirror, feeling a sudden flicker of melancholy. You’ve put on weight again over Christmas, and as your gaze falls onto your face, you realise that somehow, at some point, you stopped being young. But you push that uncomfortable realisation away as quickly as it came to you. After all, it’s the beginning of February, there’s nobody in their right mind who doesn’t feel a little depressed around this time of the year. And you’ve got a flight to catch in a few hours. So you continue putting on your clothes and then proceed to dry your hair. Once you step out of the bathroom, your mind is back on the journey that lies ahead. Your flight’s at 10 AM. Two hours to get to the airport.

You’ve always been the kind of person who’s a little over-prepared, and so your suitcase is already packed as well. All there’s left for you to do is to stow your pyjamas away, and then you’re good to go. You pull out the telescoping handle of your suitcase and look around the hotel room again to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything, then you head towards the hall, taking your key card out of the holder next to the door. As you walk down the corridor, your suitcase rolling across the smooth carpet seems like the only sound in the world. Initially, you thought that the company had been quite generous to book a room at the Grand Imperial for you. But it’s off season, and the whole place has been half empty for the entire time you’ve been here, so it’s likely that they just had some good offers going to fill their rooms.

Arriving at the elevators, you press the button next to one of the doors, hearing the faint noise of the machinery in the shaft starting up. Just a couple of seconds later, a gentle ‘ding’ echoes through the empty hallway, and the door in front of you slides to the side. You step into the elevator, pressing the button for the lobby. The doors slide shut again and you feel the faintest of jolts as the elevator begins travelling downward. While it starts to zoom down the storeys, you fumble about in your pockets, worrying for a moment that you might have misplaced the keys to your rented car. In the end, it turns out that you had simply put them in one of the side compartments of your suitcase. You barely used the car during your stay due to the abysmal weather. But the company’s paying for that as well, so it doesn’t matter.

Just as you let out a sigh of relief and clutch the key in your right hand, the elevator comes to a halt and you hear another ‘ding’. Then the door slides to the side once more and opens up to reveal the elegant lobby. Like most of the Grand Imperial’s interior, the floor and walls of the generous foyer are revetted with polished white marble, which subtly reflects the warm light from the elegant golden chandeliers, giving the hotel its distinctly posh atmosphere. Just like the hallway between your room and the elevator, it is devoid of people. You hear nothing but the crackling of the generous fireplace next to some blue sofas in the waiting area as you pull your suitcase towards the unstaffed reception. Where is everyone?

Looking around the empty lobby as you get to the front desk, you nervously clear your throat, but nothing happens. You wait for another few seconds, then you cautiously hit the little bell on the desk in front of you. In the eerie silence surrounding you, the sound comes across as unpleasantly loud and intrusive, but it has the desired effect. For the first time today, you get the feeling that you’re not the only human being left on this planet, now hearing the clicking of heels moving across the floor. Another few moments later, a young woman appears in the door leading to the staff area behind the front desk.

“Oh, good morning. I’m sorry, I didn’t expect you to get down here so quickly.” She says as she walks up to the front desk and flashes you a kind smile. There’s that gentle tingle going through your body again. “You’re checking out today, right?”

“No worries. And yes, I’m checking out.” You reply and hand her your key card, her fingers briefly brushing against yours as she takes it. Your heart skips a beat.

“Right! Let me see…” She begins, her fingers quickly scurrying across the keyboard as she enters some information into the computer and her attention turns to the screen.

While she is busy, you can’t help but look at her again. When you first checked in here, you didn’t even pay all that much attention to her. But over the last couple of days, you’ve found yourself increasingly drawn towards her. She’s quite a beautiful woman, but in a more subtle, modest sort of way. Her tidily kept dark blonde hair reaches down to her shoulders, brushing across the silk scarf of her uniform as she leans forward to read the information displayed on her screen. Her most striking feature, however, are her mysterious grey-blue eyes, which give her an almost ethereal quality. Feeling your heartbeat speed up a little, your furtively glance at her golden nameplate, pinned onto her black-maroon uniform just above the bulge created by her chest. You already know her name: Victoria. It’s little more than an excuse to admire her feminine shape one last time before you leave. Her conservative uniform reveals little of her assets in this regard, but you can tell that she has the proportions of a Renaissance statue. And with even the most minute of movements, she exudes such an air of effortless grace. Had you been in your hometown, you definitely would have taken your chances and asked her out on a date. But you’re halfway across the country, and you will never see her again.

“Real blizzard out there, huh?” You say, more to keep yourself from staring.

Victoria smiles yet again. She’s clearly amused by your assessment of the weather conditions but does a good job at maintaining at least a façade of professionalism. “Oh, ya know. Could be worse.” She says, slipping into the local Upper Midwestern accent. Even after half a week here, you haven’t decided if you like the accent. But out of her mouth, it sounds adorable.

“Do you think the highway is going to be okay? I need to be at the airport in two hours.” You say with a somewhat worried glance at the dense snowfall outside, and then at your watch.

“I wouldn’t worry about it. But I can check the road conditions for you if you want.”

“Well, if it’s no trouble…”

“Not at all. Just a moment…” Victoria begins, her slim fingers scurrying across the keyboard once more. Then she nods and gives you another smile. “No road closures, little to moderate traffic. You should be there in half an hour. Three quarters of an hour at most.”

You audibly exhale. “That’s a relief. Was getting a bit worried there.”

“This kind of weather is pretty normal around this time of the year. Doesn’t usually lead to a lot of disruptions.” Victoria explains as she enters some more information into the computer, that hint of an amused smile still playing around the corners of her mouth.

“Is it always so quiet around this time as well? You’re the only other person I’ve seen today.” You ask, looking around the empty lobby to emphasise your comment.

“Generally speaking, yes. This year has been particularly quiet so far, though.” Victoria says, pressing the enter button on the keyboard and looking up at you again. “Alright then, you’re checked out. Are you sure you don’t want any breakfast?” She then asks, pointing at the door leading to the hotel’s dining room with an inquisitive look in her eyes. “You really should have enough time, and it doesn’t matter that you’re checked out already.”

“No, thanks. Can’t really eat that early in the morning. I’ll just get a sandwich at the airp…” You begin, only to be interrupted by a surprisingly loud growling noise. For a short moment, you think that it was your stomach that produced the sound, but then you realise that it wasn’t.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Victoria apologises, putting a hand on her belly as she blushes a little.

“…but maybe you should grab a bite?” You grin.

“I’m terribly sorry, really.” The young woman says again, looking profoundly embarrassed as she visibly struggles to regain her composure.

God, she’s cute. “No need to apologise. But seriously, get yourself a bagel or so.”

“I’ll have to wait until my relief comes in an hour. Can’t leave the front desk unattended.” Victoria says, slightly leaning over towards you and lowering her voice as if she were telling you some kind of well-kept secret. “I shouldn’t even have been in the back room.”

“I won’t tell anyone.” You say with a conspiratorial wink.

“Thank you. Well, now that you are checked out, is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Very well. I hope you enjoyed your stay.”

“I did.” You say. It’s not a lie, but it isn’t exactly the truth either. “Didn’t get to see much of your city, to be honest. But I liked the little I did see.” You continue and look directly into her enchanting grey-blue eyes, maintaining eye contact. Victoria doesn’t look away.

“Is that so?” She replies with a coy smirk.

“It is.”

“Well maybe you should come visit again soon. You might get to see more next time, if you ask the right local to show you around.”

“That would be delightful. I’ll have to be sure to visit again soon.”

 “I hope so. Well then. I’ll see you next time.”

“Take care, Victoria.”

“Take care.”

Feeling another surge of melancholy, you finally break eye contact and turn around, walking back to the elevators. Since no other guests have come down to breakfast in the meantime, the elevator you took earlier is still there, allowing you to step inside right away. You press the button for the parking garage. As the doors begin to close, you and Victoria wave at each other one last time, then the doors close and she disappears from your sight. This time, it only takes a few seconds until the elevator reaches its destination, another quiet ‘ding’ announcing that you’ve arrived at the underground parking garage. Letting out a sigh, you step out of the elevator and start rolling your suitcase past the rows of parked cars. In the vicinity, you hear the sound of a heavier vehicle, maybe a van or a truck driving around in the parking garage, the noise of the motor amplified by the enclosed space.

Now, where did I park this thing? You wonder, again feeling a mild surge of panic creep up inside of you. But then you remember. Two rows to the left from the elevator, lot number 48.

As you walk further into the dark garage, the sound of the vehicle’s motor grows louder still. Then it suddenly shoots out from one of the rows of parked cars in front of you and comes to a sudden halt with a harsh shriek of its tires. Blinded by the glaring headlights, you jerk back, but the shock soon gives way to a surge of anger. You can’t tell for sure due to the headlights shining right into your face, but it appears as if someone is getting out of the vehicle, a black van of sorts. About to tell them off for nearly running you over, you open your mouth, but the words get stuck in your throat as the silhouette comes closer. It’s a burly man, definitely a lot stronger than you, and he seems to be holding something like a cattle prod in his hand.

“Wait, what are y…” You begin, but never get to finish the sentence.

Just a split second later, the man extends the menacing tool towards you and rams it into your chest. You see a ghostly blue spark and hear a sharp rattling sound, accompanied by a searing pain shooting through your body as your muscles begin to convulse. Attempting to cry out for help, you let out a quiet gasp, and then everything goes dark as you collapse to the ground.

***

“Yes. You have gluten- or dairy-free breakfasts on the menu. But I don’t see you offering any breakfasts that are gluten- and dairy-free.” The middle-aged woman with the inverted bob cut barks. “Which is strange, because on your homepage, it says that you do.” She goes on with an indignant snort, pulling out her gold-cased smartphone. “Here, I can show you.”

“That won’t be necessary, ma’am. I have spoken to the chef, and we are preparing a breakfast for you now.” Victoria explains calmly, hoping that this news will assuage the irate guest.

“Why, thank you very much.” The woman says sarcastically. “You better be. Why isn’t it on the menu in the first place even though it clearly should be? Now I have to wait. What kind of a hotel is this?” She shrieks, making a sweeping gesture around the dining room.

“Excuse me?” An older man calls out from the lobby. “Is there nobody at the front desk?”

Resisting the urge to clench her teeth, Victoria briefly turns to the man in the foyer. “I’ll be with you immediately, sir.” She calls out before turning back to the angry woman. “I’m very sorry about the inconvenience, ma’am. We will have your breakfast ready for you very soon.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I want to speak to the manager!”

“I can call her for you right now, ma’am. I’m sure she will be glad to help you out.”

“You…” The woman begins, apparently surprised she has gotten her way so quickly. “Well, you do that. And tell her to hurry up, I am tired of waiting around!”

“She will be here as soon as possible, ma’am.” Victoria assures her before excusing herself, doing her best to not let out an audible sigh of relief as she returns into the foyer.

“There always should be someone at the reception, young lady.” The older man waiting at the reception scolds her as she returns behind the desk.

Yeah, fuck you too. “I’m terribly sorry, sir. We are a little short-staffed at the moment, one of my colleagues is on maternity leave and the other called in sick yesterday evening.”

The old man huffs and gives Victoria a disapproving look but doesn’t say anything else.

“You are checking out?” She asks. The man nods and hands her his key card.

Proceeding to process the man’s checkout, Victoria picks up the phone and presses one of the speed dialling buttons. She wedges the handset between her head and her shoulder and waits for a couple of moments, almost deciding to hang up again when someone finally picks up on the other end of the line.

“Yes?” Her manager asks, sounding a little stressed. “What’s up, Victoria?”

“Good morning, Janet. There’s a lady in the dining room who would like to speak to you. She is dissatisfied with there being no breakfast that is gluten- and dairy-free.”

“Is that really necessary? I just got in.”

“She is very upset.”

“Fine. I’ll be down in a moment.” She says, hanging up with a sigh.

Victoria hangs up as well and turns to the old man again, flashing him a somewhat apologetic smile. “Apologies. You are checked out now, sir. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

The guest simply shakes his head, grabbing his suitcase. “No, that’s all. Goodbye.”

“Thank you for staying with us and have a nice day, sir.” She says somewhat formulaically as the older man starts walking away, not even looking at her as he leaves the lobby.

Victoria is just about to turn her attention to the computer again when two men step out of the elevators across the foyer. One of them is pulling a large catering trolley behind him, while the other is carrying a delivery bag around his shoulder. She quickly realises that these aren’t guests. From their black work clothes and the white swirl on their upper arms, they are easily recognisable as Vortex employees. Victoria realises that she almost forgot they were coming as well today. Like many hotels, the Grand Imperial has a catering contract with Vortex, and they often provide boxes of shrunken people to the guests, be it normal boxes to go with one of the meals, or smaller ones as a little welcome present for newly checked-in guests. Having been here many times before, the man with the trolley greets Victoria with a quick nod before proceeding towards the kitchen, while the man with the bag walks up to the front desk.

“Here’s your Vortex delivery for today, ma’am.” The hulk of a man says, pulling out a small pad and a plastic pen before holding them towards her. “If you would kindly sign here.”

“Sure.” Victoria nods and takes the pen from the man.

As her eyes wander across the man’s black uniform, she can’t help but notice all the different pockets and gear on him. He looks more like a cop than a deliveryman, even carrying something like a baton or prod of sorts attached to his belt, making him appear quite intimidating. Then again, she thinks to herself, these Vortex field operatives are somewhat like the police, apparently even having authorisation to shrink criminals on the spot if they apprehend them.

As she looks at the bag the man is carrying, she inquisitively lifts an eyebrow. “What is that?”

“Oh, these are two dozen small boxes for the staff.”

Victoria frowns, hesitating to sign off on the delivery for a moment. “We didn’t order those.”

“I know, ma’am. Compliments from the manager.”

 “Well, in that case…” She says, her face lighting up a bit at the thought of some free snacks. Then she proceeds to put her signature down on the little screen of the device.

“Thanks, ma’am. Where would you like me to put them?”

“Oh, just in the staff room back there.” Victoria explains, pointing behind herself. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure.” The man smiles and walks past her, disappearing into the staff room. A few moments later, he re-emerges, his empty bag now folded together. “Right, I just put them on the counter next to the coffee machine. Hope that’s okay.”

“Absolutely.” Victoria beams, feeling a slight contraction in her stomach as it lets out a near inaudible rumble. “What a kind gesture. Please give our thanks to the manager.”

“I will. Have a nice day, ma’am.”

“You too.”

The man then steps away from the front desk and walks towards the kitchen to catch up with his colleague, leaving Victoria alone in the lobby again. But this brief moment doesn’t last, as just a few minutes later, two women wearing the same uniform as Victoria enter through one of the side entrances to the foyer. One of them, a middle-aged white woman, briefly glances over at Victoria and gives her a quick nod before walking over towards the dining room. The other, a black woman around her own age, walks towards the front desk, smiling at her.

“Morning, Vic. How’d the night go? Any more kids smoking pot in their room?” She giggles.

The other young woman rolls her eyes at the memory of that incident a few days ago. “Nope. Thank God not. Was really quiet actually. But a couple of more… demanding customers this morning. Janet’s going to talk to one of them now.”

“So she told me.” Her colleague grins.

“Anyway. How are you today, Cassie?”

“Quite well actually! Went to bed early and got a good night’s sleep in. If you don’t mind, I’ll grab a bite to eat before I take over though. Haven’t had any breakfast yet.”

 “Sure. Oh, and by the way, the Vortex delivery just came in. They gave us a couple of boxes for the staff, so help yourself. They’re on the counter, next to the coffee maker.”

“Really? Well, that’s a nice surprise.”

“Right? I’m gonna take a box too before I leave.” Victoria says with a spark in her grey-blue eyes. “Might eat a bagel or something first, but definitely will take a box home for later.”

“Well, I’m gonna have some for sure. Give me another ten minutes or so?”

“Sure, Cassie. You don’t start until seven anyway.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been up all night, hun. I’ll make it quick.”

Stepping into the area behind the front desk, her colleague disappears into the staff room and gently closes the door behind her. Victoria looks around the lobby to see if any more guests have come down for breakfast. Seeing that this is not the case, she then turns her attention back to the computer, beginning to prepare the front desk for the handover to her relief.

***

You suddenly flinch as a loud booming noise from somewhere to your left prompts an uproar of frightened screams. It’s only been a couple of minutes since you have regained consciousness, and you are still trying to get your bearings. You’re on your back, imagining yourself to still be lying on the asphalt of the parking garage. But the more you reach around, the clearer it becomes that this is no longer the case. In fact, you appear to be in some kind of confined space. Maybe a shower cabin or something? Although the walls feel a bit too sturdy for that. And what the fuck is all that screaming about? What was that bang? What is going on here?

Letting out a groan as you lean against the wall behind you, you slowly try to rise to your feet, but are hindered at any meaningful movement by a sharp pain throbbing through your bones. Your whole body feels like it’s been put through a garbage compactor, and there’s a strange taste of metal in your mouth. And what is that weird smell? Ozone? Whatever it is, you have no time to dwell on it. Following the loud boom, you hear another series of loud thuds, each louder a bit than the one before. These sounds are accompanied by ominous tremors, slightly shaking the hard floor beneath you. Something is coming your way. Something big. Very big.

Whatever it might be, the intensity of the sounds and sensations is enough to cause an urgent sense of panic to creep up inside of you. You can feel your heart hammering inside your chest and beads of cold sweat forming on your forehead. While you still don’t know what is going on, your instincts are telling you that none of it can be good for you. Once more, you attempt to pull yourself up along the smooth walls of your cell, or whatever this place you are locked inside of is. To make things worse, you can barely see a thing. There doesn’t seem to be any clear source of light, just a diffuse, dull brightness shining in through the walls themselves. Now taking a closer look at them, you realise that they appear to be made out of some kind of translucent plastic. All you can see is the dim orange light shining in from the outside… and the ghostly silhouettes of people on the other sides, frantically reaching around themselves in similarly tight spaces. You feel an icy shiver run down your spine. What is this place?

Before you can figure out an answer on your own, there is another loud boom, accompanied by a tremor so strong that it knocks one of the other people off their feet. They let out fearful moans and crawl into one of the corners of their prison, pressing their body against the dividing wall between you as they begin to scream incoherently. You can almost make out some of their features through the opaque plastic, but not enough to tell how exactly they look. All you know is that they can see something you can’t, and that they are scared out of their mind.

“W-What?” You stammer, even though you are aware that this person couldn’t hear you even if they weren’t having a nervous breakdown right now. “What is going on here?”

Almost as if answering your question, there is another collective outburst of shrill screams. It kind of reminds you of the shrieks of people riding a rollercoaster, though it completely lacks the carefree and light-hearted nature of those. All you can hear is despair. Just a second later, the roof above you suddenly disappears as it is lifted high into the air. This allows some more light to flood into your cell, which indeed appears to be a plastic cubicle of sorts, just large enough to accommodate a person. Staring up in awe, you suddenly realise where you are.

There never had been a roof to your prison. The top of your cubicle is sealed by nothing more than a piece of plastic foil with some airholes. And the object you had mistakenly believed to be the roof is nothing more than a small plastic box, divided into dozens of smaller compartments. You glance over at the silhouettes on the other sides of the walls again, beginning to gasp for air as the grim reality of your situation fully sinks in. You’re in a box like that too. It is a Vortex box. You’ve been shrunk and turned into nothing else than a tasty little snack for whomever is going to purchase it, and by extension, you. For all intents and purposes, you are dead already. Just like that, you’ve been reclassified from human being to piece of meat. But why? These people who get shrunk down, they are criminals, are they not? Or at least people who did something for society to finally run out of patience with them. Perhaps you weren’t exactly what people would call a model citizen, and there have been some things in your life you would rather just forget about. But this? Why? Do you really deserve to die like this?

Your vision turns blurry as tears shoot into your eyes, not just because of the intense fear that comes with this sudden death sentence, but also a sense of deep shame and humiliation. This isn’t fair. Are you really this worthless? Your hopes and dreams, the challenges and struggles you’ve overcome so far, your entire life – is all that just going to be discarded? Just for you to become food for someone who is supposedly better than you? The thought makes you shake with impotent rage, and you look up towards the other box again, the tears now running down your cheeks freely. From below, you can’t see the shrunken people inside the box, but even down here, you can hear their desperate cries for help. It is only now that you realise that you aren’t going to die just yet. Your box was underneath that one, so you’ve not been selected for consumption. At least not just yet. Those people up there, however, are about to be eaten. Wiping your tears away, you take a closer look at the giant hand holding the other box. It is a well-manicured, dark-skinned feminine hand, disappearing into the sleeve of a black-maroon uniform. The clothing seems familiar. In fact, it almost looks like…

No. You think, shivering as your eyes move to take in the sight of the towering colossus of a human being that is holding the box full of shrunken people in her hand.

You recognise her. Her name is Cassandra, and she is one of the hotel’s employees. You’ve chatted with her a couple of times, but don’t know her all that well, since she mostly seemed to be working the morning shifts at the reception, when you were out on meetings. But during the few opportunities you had talking to her, she came across as a nice person, outgoing and very relaxed. To think that you’ve come this close to getting eaten by her makes you shiver again. And it is difficult to fathom how enormous she is all of a sudden. Just yesterday, when you last exchanged a few words with her, you were one or two inches taller than her. But now, you aren’t even able to take in all of her upper body at once. Your box probably is at around the height of her navel, and still she is looming over you like a human-shaped skyscraper.

The surreal sight of the giant young woman is making you feel dizzy, so much that the idea of trying to call out to her to get her attention doesn’t even enter your mind. Instead, you just keep staring at Cassandra as she reaches into a giant cupboard above and then places a mug into a colossal machine to your right. Only from the loud buzzing noise, a breeze of warm air and the distinct roasted smell are you able to tell that it is a coffee machine. Still struggling to make sense of the suddenly outlandish proportions of even the most banal household items, you look at Cassandra again while she stifles a yawn and waits for her cup to be filled. When this finally appears to be the case, the giantess takes the mug and then turns around, walking towards somewhere in the middle of the room. You hear the distinct booming noises again, accompanied by the tremors you noticed before. As you now realise, this is how the footsteps of normal-sized people sound and feel like to someone as small as you. But since the only window of your cubicle is facing away from her and the larger room you are in, towards a tiled wall that you didn’t even recognise as such before, you can’t tell where exactly she is going. But what you do see before the gigantic woman disappears from your view is how she tears off the plastic foil covering the box in her hand, reaching inside.

***

“Fucking bastards.” Joe Gunderson mutters beneath his breath as the giantess easily pulls off the plastic foil above him, crumpling it up between her fingers for a moment before tossing it in a nearby trash can. Then she makes herself comfortable at what looks like an oversized kitchen table and reaches down right into his cubicle. “You lying bastards!”

Even as the huge fingers of the young black woman casually wrap around his shrunken body, lifting him out of his final prison and towards certain doom, his fear is still overshadowed by his anger. Serving a protracted term in a nearby state prison for multiple cases of grand theft auto, Joe and several dozen other inmates had been offered to participate in a “rehabilitation” programme that would have them “out by the end of the year”. He had been distrustful from the beginning, but even his lawyers had urged him to accept the offer. Apparently, they had been in on this as well. Of course. There was no rehabilitation programme. The only place he is going is into someone’s stomach, apparently that of this lady here.

Like every person he despises, she too is wearing a uniform, but as far as he can tell, she isn’t a prison guard or any other kind of cop. She looks like a civilian, perhaps a flight attendant? She is even wearing a golden nameplate just above her chest. And by the look of the bulge in her uniform, she’s got one juicy pair of tits. If he weren’t preoccupied with trying to figure out a way not to get eaten by her, he would sure try to tap that. Looking back at her nameplate, he notes that her name is Cassandra. Maybe he could use this to his advantage? After all, people love it when you say their name. In any case, Joe quickly comes to realise that he has to act immediately. Pinched between the woman’s thumb and finger, he continues to wriggle for a few moments while he is being lifted further and further towards her face. He is only granted a short reprieve as the giant woman lifts up the cup of coffee with her other hand and drinks a couple of gulps, then she proceeds to lift the squirming tiny to her mouth.

Joe gasps as the young woman’s soft lips and pearly teeth part right in front of him, feeling a blast of hot air wash across his face. It gives off an intense smell of coffee and emanates from the very back of the giantess’ throat, a fleshy abyss beyond the expanse of her slimy tongue, which now slowly extends towards him. But as stunned as he is by the horrifying sight, Joe has the presence of mind to realise that this is his only chance to get through to the woman before he becomes her breakfast. Taking a deep breath of the moist air, he begins to shout.

“Cassandra! Stop! You got to help me!” He yells at the top of his lungs, feeling his heart beat up to his neck. “Please Cassandra! Listen to me! My name’s Joe and I…”

Almost a little to Joe’s surprise, she indeed freezes for a moment and closes her mouth again. Then the giantess squints a little and lifts him up a little further, looking right at him with her large, dark brown eyes. For a few moments, she carefully scrutinises him, evidently taken a little aback by something the shrunken man just said. Then she opens her mouth to speak.

“Joe? Joe Allen from the car wash? Didn’t you have red hair?”

“Huh? What? No, my name’s Joe Gunderson. You don’t know me, bu…”

Cassandra lets out a sigh and gives him a patient, albeit condescending smile. “Sorry, no time to chat with strangers. I’m sure you’re a great guy and all, blah blah, yadda yadda. But I gotta have breakfast before my shift starts. Bye!”

“Wait, no! You got…” Joe begins to panic, but before he can finish his sentence, the woman opens her mouth again and flicks him inside.

Only for the briefest of moments, the convicted car thief finds himself flying through the air, passing through Cassandra’s lips, and nearly scraping her upper incisors before he falls onto her tongue with a wet splat. Realising that his attempt to talk himself out of this situation has failed miserably and that there is nothing left for him but to be eaten alive, all semblance of composure Joe had managed to retain up until now breaks down rapidly. A scream of despair fills the woman’s mouth, though to any outside observer, it is unceremoniously cut off by her bringing the cup of coffee back to her closing lips and taking another sip.

Inside, Joe frantically tries to get up from the warm, slick surface of her constantly moving tongue, but the only thing he manages to accomplish with his continued struggles is to drench himself over and over in the giantess’ saliva. Coughing as he spits out the thick liquid being forced into his own mouth and nose, he blindly reaches around, but all he can feel is more hot, squishy flesh, covered in saliva and slime. Burning in his eyes, Cassandra’s spit also obscures his view, allowing him to see nothing more than a murky palette of various shades of red and pink as he slowly, but steadily slips towards the dark entrance of her gullet.

“No, no!” He begins to sob. “Not like this! Someone help m…”

Desperately trying to slow himself down somehow, Joe stretches out his arms and legs. Then his right hand brushes against something more solid for a moment, feeling almost like a stone or rock of some kind. But this short glimmer of hope is snuffed out when he realises that it is nothing but one of the giantess’ molars, and that it’s far too slippery for him to get any sort of hold on it. Just when he turns around to take another nervous glance at the gaping maw at the end of the visceral cavern, a tidal wave of burning hot coffee spills in from behind, thrusting him forwards. And so, the sight of Cassandra’s throat is the last thing Joe Gunderson will see before being washed down along with her morning coffee, his final descent into her stomach marked by nothing more than a soft gulp and a content sigh.

***

After the giant hotel employee has left your field of view, the screams around you die down a little over time, though there still is the occasional frightened shriek or wailing noise. You do hear Cassandra talk to someone for a brief moment, apparently one of the shrunken people, though it doesn’t seem as if she ended up sparing that particular individual. In fact, you can hear her take another gulp of coffee and let out a satisfied sigh soon after, followed by some renewed screaming from the cubicles on the other side of the box, the ones that have a better view of her. From that, you deduce that whoever that person was, they ended up getting eaten anyway. You try not to think about it too much, because it only reminds you that, sooner or later, this is going to happen to you. Unless you somehow manage to get out of this box.

But as you take another look around the confined cubicle that holds your shrunken form, you quickly give up on the idea that you might be able to free yourself. Both the plastic walls and the foil above you appear to be airtight, with the only exception of the little holes that keep you from suffocating. But each one of them isn’t much larger than your fist, and they all are just a little too high up for you to reach them. You can see that some of the silhouettes in the other cubicles around you keep jumping up towards the airholes or are trying to climb up the walls. But none of them appears to ever get close to succeeding, and so you decide to save your strength. The best opportunity will most likely be when the giant human who picks your box removes the plastic foil. Then there might be at least a theoretical chance of escape. And you would rather save your strength for that critical point rather than waste it now.

Thinking about this, you shiver again. Evidently, you are not in a restaurant, but in some kind of room in the hotel. Most likely the staff room behind the front desk Victoria mentioned to you earlier this morning. Had it been this morning? You can’t know for sure. Even your sense of time is messed up, and you have not the faintest idea how long you were unconscious. But even though your situation has changed dramatically, it doesn’t feel as if you have been out for too long. Judging from what you could hear Cassandra say to the tiny before eating them, she is about to start her shift, and from what you’ve observed over the last couple of days, she generally takes over from Victoria in the morning. Which means that your box will probably be taken by someone working the morning or afternoon shifts. Not that it matters whose food you are going to become. But on some level, you hope that your box is going to last to the night shift. Of all the hotel employees, Victoria would be the most likely one to recognise you. And based on your previous interactions with her, you can’t imagine her eating you if she realised who you are. Of course, you don’t know her all that well, but she doesn’t strike you like that kind of person. Hell, you were even flirting with her back there.

For another few minutes, you just sit in your cramped prison, trying to calm your breathing as you close your eyes and listen in on your surroundings. Beyond the confines of your box, the world of the normal-sized humans seems to be going on as usual, unfazed by your misfortune. You can hear muffled voices outside the staff room. People engaged in casual conversation, laughing. Wheels gently rolling across floors, perhaps suitcases or trolleys of some sort. The distant rumble of an airplane passing by high above the city. Water flowing through the pipes in the walls. The sound of Cassandra slurping her coffee, swallowing. And a clock ticking.

You wince as the door to the back room opens again, letting out a soft whimper and curling up into a ball as you hear the menacing booming footsteps of an approaching giant once more. The door closes again. To the people out there, it’s a sound they probably don’t even take any note of. But you can feel it shaking the ground beneath you. It’s not an earthquake, more like a gentle vibration, but you still can’t wrap your head around the fact that all this is caused by nothing more than someone coming through the door. Then there are more footsteps, getting unnervingly close to your box, the last two or three of them indeed rising to the intensity of minor earthquakes. In the cubicles around you, people start screaming and crying again. Your heart begins to race, and your breathing becomes so panicked that you feel a strange tingle in your extremities. Then the colossal person passes by, walking to somewhere to your right.

“Mh.” Cassandra begins, audibly swallowing a big gulp of coffee. “Do you need me to go out front? I’m almost done here anyway. Can finish the rest of them later.”

“No, no, Janet’s got the front desk at the moment. She’s filing a complaint from that woman.”

Victoria. You simply think as you listen with bated breath. Is this good or bad news for you?

“About you?” Her colleague asks incredulously. “How is that your fault?”

“No, about François. She marched straight into the kitchen to talk to him directly and…”

“Oh dear.”

“Yup.” Victoria says, apparently biting into something. “Yo know how socasdic he geds.”

Cassandra lets out a sigh. “Please tell me she is leaving today.”

You can clearly hear Victoria chew for a moment, then she swallows. The sound sends more chills down your spine. “Nope. She’s staying until Sunday.”

“Ugh. How about François? Is he very annoyed?” Her colleague inquires, taking another sip.

“No idea, just heard about it from Janet myself.” Victoria says. “But I doubt he’ll lose sleep over it. The man’s a three-star chef, he’s not going to get fired because a random Karen had a hissy fit.” She takes another bite of whatever she is eating and noisily chews again.

“Oh well, not your problem now. Are you heading straight home?”

Gulp. Victoria has to be close, but just out of your line of sight. “Yeah, just gonna finish this bagel and then I’ll be on my way.”

“Alright then. Don’t forget to take one of those home with you.”

“Oh, right! Almost forgot about that. Thanks, Cassie.”

Upon hearing that, your eyes widen with fear. Without even thinking, you jump to your feet, even though your legs still feel weak and shaky. You can almost feel the blood being pumped through your veins as your heart goes into overdrive. When you crane your neck to look up, you and all the other shrunken people are plunged into an ominous shadow as something big steps into your field of view. Something very big. Your gaze travels up a wall of maroon and black fabric with elegant golden buttons, visibly bulging out almost a hundred feet above you. And from beyond those rolling hills you know to actually be the underside of a pair of supple breasts, you see Victoria’s now enormous face, looking down right at you with her grey-blue eyes. Now that she is the size of a skyscraper, at least from your point of view, her eyes have an otherworldly, even menacing quality. The sight of the beautiful young lady who, likely not even an hour ago, sparked a feeling of infatuation and desire in you, now is the source of a very different emotion; one of primal fear. You are prey looking at a predator.

“Victoria!” You cry out in panic as the other tinies begin to howl and shriek. “I’m in here!”

Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t hear you. Not only are you probably too small for your miniscule voice to reach her ears, but it is also drowned out by the harrowing screams and the muffled pleading and begging from the other tinies in the box. Victoria also doesn’t seem to be paying all that much attention to any of the shrunken people, taking a large bite from the bagel she is holding in her left hand while grabbing the box with her right. A sudden, powerful jolt goes through your prison and throws you off your feet. You let out a groan and try to get up again, but the sheer force of the upward acceleration presses you flat against the floor. Gasping for air, you glance out of the window of your cubicle, seeing that you are rapidly moving away from a kitchen counter and some stacked Vortex boxes, holding hundreds of people like you. Then your entire world suddenly tilts by almost ninety degrees, and you are violently flung against one of the walls. You hear muffled thuds all around you. Screaming, groaning, crying.

It takes all your remaining strength simply to roll onto your back. Grimacing with pain, you look up, only to see Victoria’s gargantuan form above you. She isn’t even looking at you now, chewing on a mouthful of bagel and swallowing. You see a faint contraction in her neck, and the giant young woman opening her mouth to take yet another bite. Catching a glimpse of her teeth and the foreboding darkness in between them, you can think of nothing else but death. Your conscious mind isn’t ready to accept this just yet, but your subconscious already knows it. By the end of the day, you will have been eaten, and it looks like you will conclude your life in the depths of Victoria’s stomach. You are nothing but her food now.

Almost as if to emphasise the grim finality of this thought, the giant young woman lets go of your box and you suddenly find yourself in freefall. The open zipper of a handbag rushes past, and your prison slips into a dimly lit cavern, coming to a halt again a mere second later. Now that you aren’t being tossed around like a ragdoll anymore, you are finally able to sit up and lean your aching body against the wall behind you, which used to be the floor of your cubicle. Trying to look out through the plastic foil, you flinch as a huge cylindrical object nearby tips over and rolls against the box. You can’t help but let out an incredulous snort as you realise that it is lip balm. At this scale, it is almost the size of a stretch limousine.

Taking in the surreal sight of the inside of Victoria’s handbag, you find yourself looking upon a variety of almost comically oversized everyday items. The lip balm, a smartphone, a packet of tissues, a pen, a wallet, a bunch of keys… but before you can get a closer look, you hear a loud zipping noise and are plunged into perfect darkness as the giantess closes her bag.

***

Slipping the Vortex box into her handbag and zipping it up, Victoria pops the last piece of the cream cheese bagel into her mouth. She only chews three or four times before swallowing it down, grimacing a bit as the half-chewed lump is forced down her oesophagus. In her mind’s eye, she sees her mom before her, telling her off for scarfing her food down like that. Just like the last time when she had been home for Christmas. But the last three years of working in hospitality haven’t left her with very healthy eating habits. Or a good sleep schedule. Or with much of a love life to speak of. Casual little flirts with guests like the one earlier this morning were always a nice distraction, but the fact that these people were staying at a hotel generally meant that they lived far away, and therefore never led to anything. The other day, when her brother Ryan and his wife Stacy had been in town, the latter had suggested that she try one of those online dating apps. But after a few dozen messages simply saying “hi” or “ur hot” and even a couple of dick pics, she had just ended up deleting it again.

“Something on your mind?” Cassandra asks, flipping a screaming shrunken person into her mouth and chasing them down with another gulp of coffee.

“Huh?” Victoria replies, realising that she’d been leaning against the counter and staring into the blue. “Oh, no, all good. Just getting a bit tired now. I really should get going.”

“Sure you’re okay?” Her colleague asks again, giving her a concerned look.

“Yeah, don’t worry about me.” Victoria says with a laboured smile. “Hey, mind if I take one for the road?” She then asks as she walks past the table, pointing at the open Vortex box.

“Help yourself, hun.” Cassandra replies with a wink and pushes the box a little towards her.

Both women pay no attention to the anguished wailing from the box as Victoria bends over it and inspects the few cubicles with tinies left in them, giving herself a moment until she picks a shrunken woman around her own age. What they also don’t know is that the squirming tiny pinned between Victoria’s thumb and index finger is an inmate from the same prison as Joe Gunderson, who also is still alive at this point, being churned around in a soup of coffee and shrunken people within Cassandra’s stomach. She is Nicole Barnes, convicted for leading a series of robberies on gas stations and convenience stores, and now the most recent victim of Vortex’s “rehabilitation programme”. Up until this point, she had been desperately trying to scale the walls of her cubicle and escape before Cassandra would notice what she was doing. But now that she is stuck between Victoria’s fingers, quickly approaching her opening mouth, she fully realises how helpless she is, and that she never stood a chance against these titans to begin with. Breaking down in tears, she pleads with this other enormous woman to let her go, but her desperate pleas for her life go unheeded. Instead, Victoria just flips her into her mouth and begins to push her around in her closed mouth, sucking on her like a piece of candy.

“Thamks.” She says, the shrunken woman’s high-pitched screams escaping from between her lips as she speaks. “Shee yo tomowow.”

“See you.” Cassandra smiles, waving her colleague goodbye as she reaches for her coffee.

Victoria responds in kind before heading out through the door, absent-mindedly pushing the wriggling little person around inside her mouth. When she passes the front desk, she uses her tongue to push the shrunken woman into her left cheek for a moment, speaking around her.

“I’m off. Bye.” She says to her boss, keeping her words short so as to not make it noticeable that she is speaking with her mouth full.

Janet only looks up for a moment and nods. “Okay. See you tomorrow.”

Pushing the squirming tiny back onto her tongue as she walks through the foyer, Victoria can faintly hear her snack’s frightened screams echo through her mouth, though she isn’t able to make out what exactly the tiny is saying. Since she is preoccupied with getting to her car, she ignores the continued wailing between her teeth and gently continues to suck on the shrunken woman as she presses the button next to one of the elevator doors. Just a couple of moments later, a particularly crowded lift arrives, but luckily, most of the guests step out into the lobby, leaving Victoria only with a young family to travel with. She exchanges a friendly smile with them as she steps inside, refraining from pressing another button as she sees that the elevator is headed downward anyway. When the doors slide shut and the lift starts moving again, she closes her eyes for a moment and lets out a near inaudible sigh as she gets ready to swallow.

“Please! I’m sorry! I know I’m a bad person!” The shrunken woman in her mouth cries at the top of her lungs, just loud enough for her to understand. “But please, forgive me!”

Victoria frowns, suddenly feeling a pang of guilt. It rarely ever happens that tinies admit they did something to get shrunken down in the first place, and so this catches her a little off-guard, even bringing back some unpleasant memories.

Having grown up in a remote, rural community far from any major city, Victoria hadn’t eaten any tinies until the day she and a couple of her friends had visited a Vortex restaurant during a field trip. Although she had been the instigator of this little adventure, she had quickly come to regret it, trying to put on a brave face as she and her friends began eating the wriggling and sobbing shrunken people from a shared box. For the rest of that day, she had felt awful about herself, feeling the faint kicks in her stomach die down over the following hours as her body inevitably digested half a dozen people. In the evening, despite the demanding groans of her freshly emptied stomach, she had refused to eat dinner and just cried herself to sleep instead. Wrecked with guilt, she had avoided talking to anyone about it for days, even her own family, who apparently just assumed that she was lovesick. Finally, she had confided in a counsellor, and the response had been one that had stuck with her ever since. The counsellor had argued that her being upset about this simply proved that she was a good person, and that she had a conscience, unlike the murderers, rapists, and degenerates that were shrunken down. That her empathy even for these vile individuals also was what made her fundamentally different from them. And that, though commendable, it was ultimately misguided and unhealthy.

As she reminds herself of that, Victoria tries to block out the desperate shrieks, which only grow even more shrill while she continues to let the tiny slide back towards her throat.

“NO, NO, NO! OH MY GOD, PLEASE! I’M BEGGING Y…”

A simple gulp puts an end to the shrunken woman’s pleading, which seamlessly morphs into a high-pitched, muffled scream that swiftly travels down inside Victoria’s throat. Feeling the squirming lump slide down inside her chest before it drops into her stomach, she straightens herself out as the elevator finally comes to a halt, the doors opening up to the upper level of the parking garage. Just as Victoria steps outside, she glances over at the family next to her to nod them goodbye, only to notice that the daughter is staring at her, her mouth slightly agape. Embarrassed, Victoria looks at the parents, who don’t seem to have been paying attention and are engaged in a conversation. Before she can find any words to apologise properly, the doors slide shut again, and so all she can do is flash the girl a sheepish smile.

Oh crap. Victoria thinks, burying her face in her hands. Did she hear that?

“Done for today, ma’am?” A male voice asks from somewhere to her right.

“Huh?” She asks, turning around to see the Vortex employee she talked to earlier as he closes the back doors of a black van with the company logo on its side. “Oh, uh, yeah.”

“Are you going to be okay? You look a bit stressed. If you don’t mind me saying so.”

Ugh. Do I look that awful? “Yeah, just been a long night. I don’t live far from here.”

“Very well then. Drive safely, ma’am.” The man says with a broad grin and a wink, walking over to the driver’s side of the van and opening the door.

“Thanks. You too.” Victoria says, responding with a smile of her own.

While the Vortex employee gets into the van and closes the door, she walks down the rows of parked vehicles for another few seconds before she gets to her own car. Opening her handbag again to reach for her keys, Victoria passingly unlocks her car with a press of the button on the keychain and gets inside. When she flings her handbag onto the passenger seat, she hears a faint chorus of screams as the bag tips over on its side. Slipping out of her high heels so that they don’t interfere with her driving, Victoria frowns again.

“Oops. Sorry, guys.” She says, then she starts the car and reverses out of the lot.

Turning the car around and slowly driving towards the exit of the parking garage, she passes by the Vortex truck again, exchanging a smile and a wave with the driver as he talks to his colleague on the seat next to him. Then she proceeds up a ramp and briefly stops in front of a barrier, lowering the window. Frowning as the icy air blows into the car from the outside, she holds her employee ID in front of a scanner next to the barrier, waiting for it to confirm her identity. Finally, the barrier swings open and lets her drive onto the road. Victoria raises her window again as she merges into the morning traffic.

“Jeez, that is a chilly morning alright.” Victoria mutters, faint clouds of warm breath escaping from her mouth while she rubs her hands together for a moment.

As she continues driving along the road towards the highway, she cranks up the heating and turns on the radio, a generic country pop song emanating from the speakers of her car. It isn’t her favourite genre by a long shot, but Victoria finds it tolerable enough to leave it playing in the background, drawing some of her attention away from the dark concrete buildings, the cloudy sky and the endless snow raining down from above. After a few moments, she even finds herself humming along to the tune and drumming her fingers against the steering wheel.

Not once do her thoughts wander back to shrunken Nicole, slowly succumbing to the lack of oxygen and the digestive acids inside Victoria’s stomach. Nor does she pay any attention to you and the other shrinkies inside her handbag, routinely flipping the indicator switch as she merges into the lane leading to the highway. She’s simply looking forward to getting home.

***

You let out a pained groan as you get up from the hard plastic floor once more, holding your aching left arm. Things had just calmed down inside the Vortex box a little, you and the other tinies slowly getting used to the darkness and rocking sensation of your new owner walking somewhere. But then she had opened her handbag again and reached inside to grab her keys, prompting another round of frightened screams and fists banging against the walls. Then the world had turned upside down all of a sudden, with you being thrown through the air once more, and almost breaking your neck in the process. You wonder if this is ever going to end.

Trying to block out the throbbing pain in your arm, you look around, now finding the window of your cubicle facing the open zipper of Victoria’s handbag. You look past the giant lip balm and smartphone in front of you, seeing the titanic young woman sitting in the car seat next to you. She is too big to take all of her body in at once, so all you can see right now is the lower part of her, her butt and thigh hugging the soft fabric of her elegant black skirt. Only now do you figure out that Victoria has dropped her handbag on the passenger seat. You know that she’s in the driver’s seat, but the perspective looking up at her is still unnerving enough, and you can’t help but think how you would simply be crushed into nothing if she sat on you. At this size difference, Victoria probably wouldn’t even notice.

As the car begins moving, you slowly look up at her. But no matter how often you blink or rub your eyes, the sight doesn’t seem to get anymore real. It’s as if your brain is just refusing to accept how this cute young woman you’ve been flirting with over the last couple of days has become so ridiculously huge. And although her sheer size strikes the fear of God into you, her whole mannerism just doesn’t match that of a being of such colossal dimensions. When your gaze reaches her face, she is shivering a bit, and rubbing her hands together. If anything, she looks a bit vulnerable, not like a lumbering giant who is going to eat you soon.

But then you remember. It is you who has changed, who has been shrunken down to the size of a pill. For Victoria, nothing is different. This is just another day in her life. But before you can dwell on that thought, she leans over and presses something on the dashboard. You can feel hot air starting to blow out of the huge air vent grill above you, entering into your box through the airholes, and hear some kind of saccharine pop country song beginning to play. It effortlessly drowns out the anxious cries and sobs from the other cubicles around, and seems completely inappropriate for the situation you and the other shrunken people are in. However, you are just food to Victoria, and food doesn’t get a vote on the music playing in her car.

Listening to the annoyingly cheerful song and breathing in the faint smell of a stranger’s car, you cower down in the cubicle and look back up at Victoria. There isn’t anything you can do right now but wait. Soon, she will get home, and perhaps start eating some of the tinies in the box. It’s going to be extremely dangerous and you might get eaten yourself. In fact, the odds are most likely against you. But it’s also going to be the only opportunity you’ll have to draw her attention towards you. Of course, even that plan hinges on the question whether she will recognise you or, worse still, whether she will care. It’s not like you’re friends, after all.

For a while, you just stare up at the giantess as she steers her car along the highway, softly singing along to the song playing on the radio. When she drives by a road sign indicating the exit to the airport, you feel a painful sting go through your body. That’s where you should be now. But you’re not going home. You think of your friends and family, and if you will ever see any of them again. Or if anyone will ever find out what happened to you. Most likely not.

Soon after, the music slowly fades away, and is followed by a couple of commercials before a deep, male voice booms from the speakers, accompanied by a bombastic fanfare.

“This is KMWR-FM, your source for the latest updates, weather, and community stories that matter to you! Stay connected with your local station for all the news that hits close to home, right here on KMWR-FM!”

High above, you see Victoria frown slightly as she extends her hand towards the dashboard to turn down the volume a bit. You almost thank her out loud, but then remember the two vastly different roles you now occupy in life, and that she can’t hear you anyway.

“BREAKING NEWS! Diana Higgs has officially launched her presidential campaign. Higgs, a political outsider, has announced her ambitious plan to visit all 54 states of the Union in just one month as part of her campaign trail. However, her candidacy is not without controversy, as critics are raising questions about her alleged ties to big corporations. As the race for the White House heats up, stay tuned to KMWR-FM for the latest updates. Your trusted source for unbiased news in the Midwest, right here on KMWR-FM!

“I’m sorry, which station is this again?” Victoria mumbles sarcastically as the news interrupt for yet another commercial break.

“Latest data reveals that unemployment and crime in the US have hit an all-time low, with rates dropping to unprecedented levels. As the nation continues to recover from decades of mismanagement, this positive trend is being celebrated by communities across the country. Stay tuned to KMWR-FM for in-depth coverage on this remarkable development!”

You find your thoughts drifting away as the next commercial break blasts across the airwaves. Looking past the enormous young woman next to you, you glance outside, seeing snow and sleet briefly settling on the windshield of her car before they are pushed aside by the wipers. Somehow, the news and the commercials already sound as if it they are no longer talking to you, or about the society you live in. They are addressed to human beings, these strange, huge beings like Victoria, to which you no longer belong. You aren’t even dead yet, and you can already feel your humanity slipping away. As if the universe itself has just discarded you.

“Following their extradition to the US, Colombian drug lord Rafael Molina and two dozen leading members of the Orinoco cartel have been found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death by consumption. The DOJ has handed Molina and his confidantes over to the Vortex Corporation. According to Vortex CCO Emilia Soininen, Molina’s execution is scheduled to take place on tonight’s edition of ‘Serving Justice’, hosted by Logan Powell.”

You can’t help but tense up as the report cuts to Logan Powell’s studio, the arrogant voice of the famous TV host known for his merciless law-and-order politics slicing through the cheers of his fawning audience. Even back when you were at your normal size, you hated this show.

“Good morning, America! Tonight, you, my guests and I will be serving justice once again! And on this edition, we will be taking out one of the big bads. Tonight, we’re sending nobody less than Colombian drug kingpin Rafael Molina TO HELL!”

The audience bursts into crazed screams of excitement and cheers, sounding more like a pack of bloodthirsty hyena than people. You shiver.

“Joining me tonight are Polish Olympic gold medallist Anastazja Kamińska, Israeli singer Yael Alon, and Canadian actor Josh Tremblay. Also joining us will be… YOU! Yes, you! Go to our social media pages to cast your vote, and decide who will carry out the sentence! You can vote until 8 PM PST, and we will announce the result during the show. Join us! Together, we will make the world a safer, better place. Together, we will make this country great again. And together, we WILL STAMP OUT DEGENERACY ONCE AND FOR A…”

“That’s quite enough of that, thank you very much.” Victoria says all of a sudden, extending her hand towards the radio and turning it off.

You look up at the huge young woman again, and notice an expression of mild disgust on her face. This surprises you more than it probably should have – after all, Victoria evidently isn’t one of these activist types who are opposed to the shrinking of criminals. But then again, you haven’t yet encountered anyone halfway sane who was a fan of that awful show. You recall a conversation with your work colleagues around the water cooler a few weeks ago, and pretty much everyone had agreed that Logan Powell was a clown. And yet, the guy isn’t only still in business, but constantly expanding his media empire, to the point that nobody really dares to take on him and his army of internet trolls anymore.

But the fear of being eaten takes your mind to improbable places. Maybe Victoria isn’t going to eat you after all? Maybe she was just acting in front of Cassie, and actually is saving you and the others in this box. It’s an endearing thought, one you would all too gladly hang onto. But the rational part of your brain is aware that none of this means anything. Victoria hasn’t been treating the box with an awful lot of care up until now, and just because she’s not a fan of Logan Powell, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t eat tinies. After all, there are plenty of people out there who dislike animal cruelty, but still eat meat. Once more, you shiver. You’re aware that you’ve just compared yourself to livestock, but as painful as it is to admit it to yourself, it’s an accurate description of your situation. By the standards of Victoria and all the other normal-sized humans out there, you’re just meat, like a slice of ham or a piece of bacon.

Feeling tears of despair pool in your eyes, you look up at your new owner. All you wish for is for her to turn around to you, to tell you that everything is alright and that she is going to help you out of this mess. And then there is just this one question on your mind: Why? Why you? What have you done in order to deserve this? It’s all just so unfair.

You flinch as Victoria’s huge body shifts a little and the car begins to decelerate. Feeling that profound sense of dread creep up inside you again, you rise to your feet and look around. The giantess’ hand casually flips the indicator switch again, and you realise that she is driving off the highway. You can almost feel your time running out, the monotonous clicking sound of the indicator resonating through your ears.

Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok.

***

Driving her car off the highway and merging into the increasingly dense morning traffic once more, Victoria stifles a yawn. Now within just a few hundred yards from her home, she feels a surge of tiredness take over her again. And while the bagel she has eaten at the hotel is still in the process of breaking down inside her stomach, along with the lone shrinkie Victoria already has forgotten all about, she is still a bit peckish as well. A soft, quiet rumble emanates from her belly as the first globs of digested bagel are pushed down into her intestines, and she glances down at the Vortex box peeking out of her handbag. When she gets home, she thinks to herself, she is just going to kick back and spoil herself a little. It was a long night, after all.

She doesn’t acknowledge any of the fearful shrieks and sobs the tinies let out as they hear the menacing groans from her guts. Instead, she simply suppresses another yawn as she steers her car further through the traffic and looks around, keeping an eye out for a parking space. Much to her delight, a large SUV enters the traffic right in front of her, leaving her with a nice large parking space within a few minutes’ walk from her apartment block. Quickly sliding into the gap left by the SUV to not hold up the traffic behind her, Victoria parks the car and turns off the motor. She slips back into the high heels of her work uniform and grabs her handbag, then she gets out of the car, shivering as she steps into the cold air again. Since the snowfall is still quite intense, she quickly locks her car and then hurries towards the entrance of the apartment block, only taking care to not slip on the icy sidewalk in her less-than-practical shoes.

When she has finally made her way up the stairs and closes the door to her apartment behind her, she lets out a sigh, leaning against the door for a moment as she closes her eyes. Fighting against the urge to walk straight to her bedroom and go off to sleep, she takes off her shoes and makes her way towards the open kitchen/living room area. There, Victoria reaches into her handbag and puts the box on the counter next to her laptop, still paying no attention to the ever more frantic screams and pleading from the tiny people inside. Letting them be for the moment, she opens up the laptop and selects her relaxation playlist, soft jazz music beginning to play from the speakers. While the gentle music sounds through the dimly lit apartment, she goes over to the window, glancing outside as she draws the curtains. It isn’t much of a view, her apartment overlooking a gas station and the loading area behind a grocery store. With the snowfall outside, even the downtown skyscrapers fade into a luminous blob on the horizon.

When she looks up at the clock, Victoria sighs. It’s nearly 8 AM, but with all the clouds in the sky, it still almost looks like it’s the middle of the night. At least it will help her catch up on some sleep. After all, there’s nothing worse than radiant sunshine outside if you are trying to trick your body into thinking it’s night-time. Finishing to draw the curtains anyway in case it clears up, she goes over to her bedroom and takes off her work uniform. She has just slipped out of her underwear as well when the jazz music playing on her laptop is suddenly drowned out by the grating noise of someone calling her via a video conferencing app.

“Cripes, what is it now?” Victoria groans, rolling her eyes as she hastily puts on a bathrobe and hurries back into the kitchen. If it was work again, she would just ignore it, but she really needed to make a point of setting herself invisible by default.

But when she glances at the caller ID on the screen, her expression softens to that of a loving smile. She pauses the music and presses the green button to accept the incoming call.

“Hey sis, what’s up?”

***

You still haven’t completely recovered from the ordeal you and the other tinies have been put through when Victoria carried her bag upstairs and put the box on her kitchen counter. Being flung against the walls of your prison once more has left you with a couple of visible bruises, and you fear that you may have sprained your left ankle. Given the condition you are in now, escape seems off the table for good, but that hasn’t been your plan for survival anyway. Your hope still rests on getting through to Victoria somehow. Even though so far, her complete and utter disregard for the shrinkies in her box hasn’t exactly been encouraging.

As you hear the familiar sound of an incoming video call emanating from her laptop speakers and Victoria rushes back into the kitchen, you can’t help but feel a little flustered. You have only really seen her in her professional getup before, and now she is wearing nothing but a fluffy bathrobe. When she approaches the counter, her booming footsteps prompt some more anxious screams from cubicles next to you, and you too instinctively take a step backwards as her towering form rises up above you. Then she leans over the box and extends her hand, but instead of pulling the plastic foil from the box and reaching for one of the living snacks inside, she presses a button on her laptop, accepting the incoming call. As she does so, her sizeable chest hovers right above you, her breasts nearly spilling out of her bathrobe. You can almost feel the warmth of her colossal body, and can smell her fragrant perfume as you inhale. Her mere presence is almost suffocating, and yet she is barely aware of yours.

“Hey sis, what’s up?” The giantess asks, smiling as she looks at the screen.

Despite the oppressive sense of dread constricting your chest, you turn around, looking up at the huge laptop next to the box. The display alone is bigger than the screen in a movie theatre. With Victoria having accepted the call, it has switched from showing the jazz playlist on her music app to the video stream of a young woman in pyjamas, sitting in what appears to be another kitchen. You notice the striking family resemblance right away. The same mysterious grey-blue eyes and the same dark blonde hair, though it seems a little wavier than Victoria’s.

“I can’t sleep. Again.” The other young woman says, rubbing her eyes. While you aren’t sure, your guess is that she is a few years younger than Victoria.

“Yeah, I figured. It’s still pretty early over there, isn’t it?” Her older sister asks as she briefly turns around and takes a carton of milk from her fridge.

“6 AM.” The woman on the laptop screen mumbles, sounding a bit grumpy. “I’ve been up for an hour already. Tried to go back to sleep again till about twenty minutes ago, then I gave up. Just having some breakfast now.” She explains, lifting a spoonful of cereal to her mouth.

You hear a muffled wail, and for a split second, you assume that it’s simply one of the other shrunken people in your box. But then you notice a tiny human shape crawling around on the other woman’s spoon, barely visible between the bits of cereal. You even think you can hear them crying for help, staring straight at the webcam for a moment with a horrified expression on their face. Then they disappear in the young woman’s cavernous mouth, soft lips closing around them. Just a couple of moments later, the spoon emerges again, empty. And then, the woman’s jaws gently begin to move, chewing the spoonful of cereal into pulp.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

“When’d you go to bed?” Victoria inquires, not even really looking at the laptop screen while she reaches into one of the cupboards, producing a large mug and a can of cocoa powder.

Gulp. “I was up until 1 AM. Got an exam tomorrow and still not done studying.”

You are barely listening, only staring into the other woman’s mouth as she speaks. It’s empty now, with only a trace of chewed cereal bits stuck to her tongue. Whoever that shrinkie was, they’ve been eaten. Just like that, without any sort of acknowledgment by their consumer. It’s what’s going to happen to you as well soon, and you can barely keep yourself from heaving.

“Hannah, sweetie. I told you not to stress yourself out about that.” Victoria frowns, suddenly looking straight at the screen with a mix of reproach and concern on her face.

“I’m worried about failing.” Hannah says defensively, lowering the spoon into a bowl outside of the camera’s field of view. Part of you wants to look away, but you keep staring.

“You’ve been saying that since primary school.” Victoria rolls her eyes. “And then you get nothing but straight A’s.” She says as she begins to pour cocoa powder into her mug.

Her younger sister lets out a sigh of tacit acknowledgement, then raises another spoonful of cereal to her mouth. To your horror, you can see shrinkies like yourself on it again, a man and a woman in their late twenties or early thirties by the looks of it. They are hugging each other and appear to be crying softly, anxiously awaiting the inevitable.

“What are you eating there?” Victoria asks, leaning over towards the screen a little to take a closer look as Hannah puts the spoon in her mouth. The female shrinkie lets out a brief cry of despair as the huge mouth begins to close around her, and then disappears behind Hannah’s lips, her screams simply cut off by a soft ‘nom’ sound. “Fruity loops?”

“Mmh. Yeaw.” Hannah begins with her mouth full, a drop of milk running down her chin as she hastily chews and swallows. “I felt like having them again.”

What neither of you know is that this was the end of Monica and Alex Baker, a young couple from the West Coast. An up-and-coming attorney at the state prosecutor’s office, Monica had been investigating some questionable financial transactions made by offshore companies to various politicians. This had proved to not only be the end of her legal career, but also her life. Her husband Alex, on the other hand, had simply had the misfortune of being married to her, and therefore being in the way when Vortex had come for her. While Alex died quite swiftly, his torso being crushed between Hannah’s molars as she bit down on his tiny body, Monica ended up being swallowed whole. Only after almost an hour of agony, being slowly digested alive, she would finally pass away, forever disappearing in the darkness of Hannah’s stomach like so many before and after her. And never to be spoken of again.

“That’s cute.” Victoria grins, pouring milk into her cup and mixing it with the cocoa powder. “I remember you used to love those when you were little. Too sweet for my taste, though.”

You clench your teeth, feeling angry all of a sudden. Are they not even going to mention the three human beings Hannah has already eaten during this conversation? “WE ARE PEOPLE!” You scream up at them, banging your fist against the unyielding plastic window.

“I see you got some shrinkies for yourself too.” The younger woman then says, pointing her empty spoon at the box on the kitchen counter. You notice an odd expression in her eyes as she seemingly looks right at you. Did she notice your outburst?

“Oh, yeah.” Victoria says as she puts her cup in the microwave, sounding as if she had almost forgotten about you. “Actually, I got them for free. The perks of working at a hotel, I guess.”

“Nice.” Hannah nods, slowly raising another spoonful of cereal to her mouth.

Ding. “Sec, let me get that.” Victoria says, turning around to the microwave.

While her sister has her back turned to you, Hannah smirks almost unnoticeably and moves her spoon towards the camera, giving you a close look at the shrunken man swimming in the milk between the colourful fruity loops. It is a dweebish guy in his early twenties, anxiously looking around to find a way off her spoon. He looks crazed with fear.

“No, please!” You hear him whimper. “Please don’t…”

Your eyes widen. Is she…? You look up at Hannah, and to your utter horror, she gives you a playful wink before letting the spoon disappear between her lips, slowly starting to chew.

“Did you say something?” Victoria asks as she turns around again, blowing into her steaming cup of hot chocolate. “Sorry, I was a bit distracted there.”

Hannah gulps, a faint contraction in her throat ferrying her victim downwards. You have no idea if the poor guy was chewed up or is still alive. The cute, innocent looking young woman stares right at you for a split second, then turns to her sister. “No. Just munching my cereal.”

“You have any plans for the weekend?” Victoria asks, taking a cautious sip from her cup of hot chocolate. Judging from the frown on her face that follows, however, it still is too hot for her, and she starts blowing on it again. “You should do something nice after all that studying.”

“Actually, yes. Rachel is taking Ashley, Lucy and me to this spa in the mountains. Rebecca might come along too. Two days of hot tubs, massages, and fancy food.”

“Ugh. Now that doesn’t make me envious at all.” Victoria says. “You’re living the life.”

“Maybe. I have to get through this exam first, though.”

“Eh. You’ll be fine.”

“How about you? You doing anything on the weekend?” Hannah says with a playful smirk as she raises another spoon with fruity loops and a single shrunken woman to her mouth. “Got any more dates lined up?”

“Hm? Oh. Nah…”

Immediately picking up on the slightly dejected tone in her sister’s voice, the younger woman lowers her spoon again. Along with it, the female shrinkie disappears from your line of sight, but you can still faintly hear her screaming for help.

“You okay there?”

“Yeah. It’s nothing. Just like… ugh, I don’t know.” Victoria mutters, taking another tentative sip from her cocoa. Apparently still finding it too hot, she continues blowing. “It’s just that with working night shifts all the time, I barely get to meet people. And these apps are useless.”

“Oh Vic…” Hannah begins. “I wish I could just give you a hug right now.”

“There was a guest at the hotel for the last couple of days…”

Your heart skips a beat. Both you and Hannah look at Victoria, waiting for her to continue.

“…but?” Her sister asks for you both.

The giant young woman holding the steaming mug of hot chocolate puts on a pained smile. “Checked out this morning. Besides, we’re not allowed to hook up with guests. Some casual flirting is alright, but we need to stay professional and all that.”

“But they’re not a guest anymore now, right?” Hannah asks with a sly grin, raising the spoon of cereal back to her mouth. You hear a short, anxious shriek before the tiny woman is eaten along with it, her consumer not even having bothered to acknowledge her existence.

Victoria lowers her cup, shaking her head in mock disapproval. “Who are you and what have you done with my sweet little sister?”

Hannah swallows. “It’s true though, isn’t it?”

“I really need to go down there and visit you this spring. Make sure these big city girls aren’t teaching you their sinful ways. Oh, and check out all the beaches while I’m at it.”

“You’re dodging the ques-tion!”

Victoria sighs. “Well, yes, because they’re checked out and gone. Lived all across the country too. I considered writing down my number for a moment, but… yeah. No point.”

“I’m right here!!” You yell up at the towering young woman, hammering your fists against the unyielding plastic wall. “Victoria! It’s me! Down here!!”

On the one hand, this conversation gives you renewed hope that Victoria will help you if you can just make her aware of you. On the other, there now is a particularly morbid irony in the thought that you could be eaten by her. By someone who might have gone on a date with you if things just had gone a little differently this morning.

“You’ll find the right one in due time.” Hannah says gently, scraping what appears to be the last bits of cereal and drops of milk from her bowl.

In a way, you’re relieved that there aren’t any more shrinkies for her to devour, but the empty bowl on the screen is a harrowing reminder of where they are now. You look at Hannah’s soft lips, her slender throat, her perky breasts, and finally her flat belly.

“Yeah…” Victoria says, staring off into the blue for a moment. Then she appears to shrug off some thought or memory, straightening up a little. “Anyway, sweetie. I’m awfully tired, and I should probably let you get back to your studies too.”

“Sur-urp.” Hannah puts her hand to her mouth as a delicate burp escapes between her lips.

The giant sisters pay no attention to the minor gaffe, but it sends a renewed shiver down your spine. To you, the dainty belch carries a grim sense of finality, the certainty that the tinies you saw Hannah eat will now inevitably be digested and forgotten.

“I’m going to take a bath now and then go straight to bed. We can talk some more tomorrow evening though. If you have time?”

“Of course.” Hannah gets up from the kitchen table to put her empty cereal bowl in the sink behind her. As she does so, you see the outline of her butt cheeks wobble in her pyjama pants. It will be the final destination of the shrunken people currently being ripped apart inside her. “I’ll need someone to whine to about the exam anyway.” She winks over her shoulder.

Victoria laughs. “I’ll be there for you. Good luck tomorrow, alright? Not that you’ll need it.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Do or do not. No try there is. Or whatever Master Yoga said.”

“Yeah. Right.” Hannah giggles. “Talk to you tomorrow. Love you, Vic.”

“Love you more, little sis.”

***

As she ends the video call with Hannah, Victoria blows her little sister a kiss and presses the red button at the bottom of the screen. The image of her sibling freezes to a grainy still for a second, then the laptop switches back to her playlist. With an affectionate smile lingering on her lips, Victoria changes the sound output to the speakers in the bathroom and resumes the playback of the jazz music. She grabs the box of shrunken people and carries it next door to the bathroom, where she places it and her hot cocoa on a small table next to the bathtub.

Victoria then turns on the faucet, allowing a steady stream of warm water to fill the bathtub. The sound of water splashing gently echoes in the bathroom as she carefully adds a few drops of her favourite lavender-scented bath oil, enveloping the room in a soothing fragrance that immediately makes her tense muscles relax. She goes on to light a couple of aromatic candles, appreciating the soft glow they cast on the tiled walls.

Finally content with the pleasant atmosphere she's crafted, Victoria dims the bathroom lights. Taking off her bathrobe, she stretches, frowning to herself as some of her tired joints crack and pop a little louder than they probably should. The air is filled with the combined scents of lavender, vanilla, and just a hint of chamomile. With the tub now at the perfect depth, she sighs with anticipation, ready to immerse herself in the fragrant bath.

Her toned, naked body shimmering in the soft glow of the candles, Victoria gracefully walks by the table with the hot chocolate and the shrinkie box, stepping over the edge of the bathtub and lowering herself into the warm water. Closing her eyes, she lets the strains of the gentle jazz music and the flickering candlelight transport her to a place of complete serenity. The sound of her deep breaths harmonises with the soft melodies, creating a rhythm that mirrors the cadence of her slowing heartbeat.

Reclining in the tub, Victoria feels the accumulated stress of her night shift gradually melting away. The water embraces her tired limbs, and the soothing properties of the bath oil work their magic on her skin. The subtle crackle of the candles provides a comforting backdrop to her thoughts, allowing her mind to wander to the only thing that is missing to achieve a state of pure bliss. The sensation of some hot chocolate and wriggly shrinkies inside her belly.

***

Although you should have seen it coming, Victoria grabbing the box again and carrying you to the bathroom still caught you off-guard when it happened. By now, you’ve completely lost count of how often the movements of your giant new owner have smashed you around in this damn cubicle. In a way, you’re even surprised that you’re still alive after repeatedly suffering what feels like a bad car accident. You can only guess that it has something to do with your lower mass at this size, and that the impacts on the walls don’t affect you as much now.

Nevertheless, you find yourself rolling over in pain once more when Victoria finally deposits the box on a table next to a colossal bathtub. You let out a groan as you check your limbs for any new fractures or bruises, then finally force yourself up onto your feet yet again. But when you look up to the giantess to see what she is doing, you suddenly freeze.

Having turned on the faucet and lit some candles, Victoria is just taking off her bathrobe now, her slim, feminine body illuminated only by their subdued orange glow. And despite the pain and fear you are in, you can’t help to notice how your jaw drops. You’ve already been aware of what a good-looking young woman she is. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have developed such a crush on her over the last couple of days. But now, there’s no uniform to obscure her beauty any longer. Nor any other piece of clothing, for that matter.

Right in front of you, your entire field of view is filled with the sight of her naked behind, a perfect peach butt that could indeed have been sculpted by Michelangelo himself. Only that this one isn’t made of stone or marble, but of firm yet bouncy muscles and fat, gently jiggling as Victoria hangs her bathrobe on a hook. You are just in the process of looking up her back when the giantess turns around, inadvertently giving you a look at her toned abdomen and a plump pair of breasts, wobbling a little with every booming step she takes forward.

The sight of the mountain-sized naked woman walking right towards you doesn’t go without eliciting a strong reaction from your fellow shrunken people in the box. Anguished whimpers and shrieks erupt around you, and you can practically sense the others backing away into the corners of their prisons, fearfully gazing up at the colossal young woman. However, Victoria doesn’t seem interested in you all just yet, simply walking past the box for now. More booms nearly throw you off your feet as she passes by, her naked breasts bobbing up and down with every step, and her hips swaying slightly with her casual stride.

When Victoria raises her right leg to climb into the bathtub and bends forward, her taut butt cheeks spread a little. Before you know it, you find yourself staring right up at her puckered sphincter, then you quickly look away. Your face runs red, but it’s not just the shame of the indecency you have unwittingly committed. The sight is also yet another reminder of what is going to happen with you if you fail to get Victoria’s attention. Closing your eyes, you try to push the thought away. You don’t even dare look at the giant toilet looming to your left.

While you continue to struggle with the idea of what her digestive system will do to you, the giantess lets herself slip into the foamy hot water, closing her eyes for a moment. Relishing the soft jazz music and the scents of the bath and candles, she calmly breathes in and out, her giant breasts moving up and down with the expansion and contraction of her lungs. Steam rises up from the bathtub and envelops her colossal form, moisturising her soft white skin.

Then her eyes open again. Partially reflecting the orange candlelight, the radiant grey-blue disks suddenly take on an almost demonic quality as they move sidewards a little and fixate right on your box. Smiling to herself, Victoria sits up again and extends her hand towards the table, warm water dripping of her arm onto the tiled floor below.

No. No. No. You keep thinking, cowering in one of the corners of your cubicle.

Your mind is racing. You know that you need to get her to recognise you. But how? She is so big. And there are at least a couple of dozen other tinies in this box, all crying and screaming. In the eyes of someone as enormous as Victoria, you shrinkies all look the same. Especially with nothing more than candlelight to illuminate your miniature faces.

The huge feminine hand closes around the flap at one of the corners of the box, then she pulls the plastic foil back to open the first couple of cubicles. A cacophony of terrified wailing and shouting erupts around you, and you cover your ears, your limbs trembling. Somewhere at the back of your mind, your rational voice tells you to get up and try to escape, or to call out for Victoria to help you. The chances of success aren’t high, but it’s all you could do now.

But you don’t even do that. Mortal fear has flooded every corner of your mind like a tsunami, reducing you to nothing but a shaking, sobbing wreck. Your legs bang against the plastic wall to your left as the trembling escalates into something more akin to uncontrolled spasms. The rest of your body writhes in agony as tears run down your cheeks, dropping onto your black overalls. All you want is to unexist. But the harsh reality of the universe is that you are. And will be forced to be until it finally decides to unmake you in the most gruesome way possible. Having you melted down in acid and forcibly made part of someone else.

“N-no!” You whimper. “No p-please! N-not… not like this!!”

Frantically breathing in and out, you feel your hands and feet curl up and your lips stiffen as you begin to hyperventilate. Some part of you hopes that you will indeed simply pass out and be done with it all. But you also know that if you allow yourself to lose consciousness now, you’ll lose any ability to communicate with Victoria as well. And so you start to fight back against the tempting tingle spreading through your body, clinging on the little bit of hope you have left. You take deep, slow breaths, and your stiff, aching muscles slowly begin to loosen.

“NO! OH MY GOD! NO! NOT ME!” Someone in one of the adjacent cubicles screams all of a sudden, and you watch on helplessly as Victoria’s fingers slip inside.

The silhouette of a man presses against the milky plastic wall, hectically trying to climb up or cower in one of the corners, all to get away from the huge woman’s hand. But his movements are panicked and lack coordination or planning, and he is cornered anyway. Deep down, both of you know that he is lost, utterly at the mercy of the giantess. But he refuses to accept it.

“NO! NO! SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE NO I DON’T WANNA DIIIEEE!!”

His face, now pressing flat against the wall as he apparently tries to press himself through by sheer willpower alone, is distorted by fear as it is. But the opacity of the hard plastic warps it even further into a grotesque caricature of a doomed man, reduced to animalistic screaming as Victoria’s fingernails wrap around him. You stare up at him, his eyes meeting yours for a moment as he is lifted up high into the air against the backdrop of the huge naked woman.

It almost looks to you as if he is trying to say something, but all he seems able to produce is a prolonged guttural cry of unfettered horror as the giantess opens her mouth. You hear a gentle smacking noise as her lips part, once again revealing the dark inside of her cavernous mouth. Straight white teeth around a slippery, snail-like tongue that extends towards its prey, strings of saliva stretching between the enormous woman’s upper and lower jaws, and a foreboding darkness at the very back of her maw. Dozens of you could fit in there at the same time.

“WAIT! WAIT! I’M NOT READY! I’M N…”

The shrunken man’s pitiful begging is abruptly cut off as Victoria drops him onto her tongue and moves it back inside her mouth, her soft lips sealing the poor soul inside with another wet smack. But to your abject horror, you can still weakly hear his high-pitched screams as he is rolled around on her tongue, even over the grossly inappropriate jazz music.

What neither of you knows or will ever learn is that this is the final chapter in the life of Scott Chapman. Having graduated with an MBA from an elite university in the Northeast, he had quickly become one of the rising stars at the stock exchange, his business philosophy blurring the line between high-risk-high-reward investments and plain white-collar crime. For nearly a decade, he and his colleagues had lived the high life, an endless blur of parties, recreational drug use, and a different woman every night. But then, he had ended up ensnared in his own intricate web of embezzlement and pyramid schemes, being arrested and charged with fraud on the same day his company filed for bankruptcy. Within a week, Scott had gone from wolf to sheep. Now, he was nothing but a tiny inside the mouth of a hotel employee he wouldn’t even have cared to look at, save for ogling her features when she brought him some drinks.

The bloodcurdling screeches shift within Victoria’s mouth as she moves her tiny morsel from one cheek to the other. You hear more smacking and slurping noises as the giantess coats his wriggling body in her saliva and sucks it off him again, clearly relishing his taste. Then the giant woman finally closes her eyes, tilts her head back a little… and swallows.

GLUCK.

You shiver. The wet gulping noise is accompanied by an almost invisible contraction of her throat, and the muffled screaming rapidly travels down Victoria’s neck, falling silent for good somewhere behind her sternum. The giantess’ boobs wobble a little as she leans forward and grabs the steaming mug of hot chocolate. She takes another sip and sighs blissfully, looking totally relaxed now. But all you can do is gaze at the moist skin just below her left breast. The man’s screams may have become inaudible, but you know he is still very much alive in there. Being digested whole and alive. And soon, you and the others will be joining him.

Suddenly, you hear a loud bang behind you, followed by some strained groaning. Still trying to keep yourself from hyperventilating again, you look around in confusion. Then you realise that the shrinkie in the cubicle behind you has somehow managed to scale the wall separating your prisons from each other. As you gaze up, you see a black man above you, having pulled himself halfway up the plastic divider. He is built like a tank, his upper arms wider than your thighs, and he’s half a foot taller than you. Or would have been if you both still were at your original sizes. You are aware of the irony that this means he also would have towered over Victoria. Now she could easily squash either of you with merely a finger.

Breathing heavily, sweat running down his face, he extends one of his powerful arms towards you. “C’mon man, we need to get outta here! Grab my hand!”

Like a breeze of fresh air, a wave of hope rushes through you. You have not the slightest idea who this man is or why he is taking time to help you. But reduced to nothing more than your most basic survival instincts, you don’t question it, and allow him to pull you up.

***

Victoria leans back in the bathtub, the foamy water lapping against her naked body. Licking a bit of cocoa off her lips, she gently smiles to herself as the sense of relaxation spreads further through her body, even into her toes and fingertips. This is just what she needed after a long winter night at work. The soft flicker of candles. The fragrant steam of a hot bath. The sweet taste of hot chocolate in her mouth. The pleasant tickle of shrinkies in her belly. But it’s still only a faint feeling, and with a soft gurgle, her stomach demands for more of the tasty snacks.

She swallows the lingering taste of cocoa on her tongue and turns her attention towards the box again, putting the mug down beside it. As her eyes scan the cubicles with the squirming shapes inside, she notices that one of them is close to escaping, and is even trying to help yet another tiny out of his plastic cell. Victoria frowns a little. It’s not often that shrinkies manage to escape these boxes, but when they do, it’s always such a hassle to catch them again. In her case, it brings back embarrassing memories of knocking over a half-full box when Ryan and Stacy had been over for Thanksgiving last year; and still finding some of those little buggers hiding in her apartment the day after Christmas. And the last thing she needs now is a pair of obstinate tinies on the loose. In her bathroom, no less!

Nope. Not today!

Victoria shakes her head in mild annoyance and quickly snatches them up, squeaky screams erupting from the box as drops of water and foam fall from her arm into the cubicles. As she pins the upper shrinkie between her thumb and index finger, she notes that he is quite strong for someone his size, putting up some slightly tangible resistance. Even more to her surprise, the other tiny doesn’t let go either, inadvertently picking him up as well. Not that it matters to her, it just seems a bit silly to her. Didn’t they realise they are going to get eaten as well now? Not really listening to their panicked little voices, the lower one even waving at her as if there was something worthy of drawing her attention, Victoria gives them a friendly wink.

“Gotcha!”

***

Only a couple of months ago, during a coffee break at the office, a coworker had shown you a fairly gruesome clip of an albatross being snatched from the surface of the ocean by a shark. But what struck you most about the video wasn’t so much the wretched bird being devoured in a single gulp, or the feathers floating on the waves in the aftermath of the attack. It was the sheer abruptness and speed with which the shark shot out of the water, the way the albatross didn’t even have a chance to react. You are very much reminded of that clip now. When you grabbed the other shrinkie’s hand and started to pull yourself up, you had thought that there would be more time. That, unlike that ill-fated albatross, you would see your doom coming.

You didn’t. Out of the blue, your would-be saviour is pinned between a pair of huge feminine fingers and lifted upwards, pulling you along with him. The utter shock at suddenly finding yourself dangling high up in the air makes you grab his arm even tighter instead of letting go. And so, by the time you realise where you and the man are headed, it is too late. Far beneath you, the table with the box disappears and gives way to an immense bathtub. From your point of view, the colossal body of water almost looks like an ocean, the white foam reminiscent of icebergs in the Arctic Sea. And towering above it all, like an ocean goddess rising from the depths below, is Victoria. She is inspecting the both of you with a curious expression in her grey-blue eyes, an almost amused smile playing around her soft lips. Only a few hours ago, you wondered how it would feel kissing that mouth. Now, you are asking yourself what it’s going to be like getting devoured by it. You’re about to find out.

All of a sudden, you feel the hand of the other shrinkie let go of you. But this only makes you grasp his muscular arm even harder, and you stare up at him in shock.

“What the fuck are you doing?” The man shouts, his eyes wide with horror. “Let go! Now! It’s me she’s got! Let go now! Save yourself!”

It’s true, you’re only in this position because you’re still holding onto him. But you aren’t just going to abandon the person who risked his life to save yours. And Victoria is looking right at you. All you need to do is finally make her aware of who you are, and save both of you.

“Gotcha!” The giantess winks. She raises you towards her face and opens her mouth.

“Victoria!” You scream as loud as you can, waving your free arm at her. “It’s me!! Stop!”

Her soft pink lips part with a gentle smack. Victoria’s perfectly white teeth flash at you, the orange candlelight reflecting off the smooth, saliva-coated enamel. Then the flickering light illuminates the darkness beyond, revealing her huge, wet tongue, slithering across her lower incisors to take you in. Deep within the colossal gaping maw, saliva glistens on pink-red flesh, forming viscid strings as it drops down from her palate. You gasp as Victoria’s unbearably hot and humid breath begins to envelop you, the overpowering smell of chocolate lingering in the air. At the very back of her giant mouth, even the candlelight is swallowed up by the total darkness of her gullet, only the faint outline of her uvula glistening above the visceral abyss.

“Fucking let go!!”

“VICTORIA!! DON’T EAT US!”

All you can see before you now is the inside of Victoria’s mouth. The smell of chocolate is so intense that you can actually taste it on your lips, and you can even make out traces of brown cocoa swirling in the gooey spit. Not listening to your desperate cries, the giantess tilts her head back a little and is just about to drop you both inside her mouth when you feel a sharp pain in your hand. You look up and see that the strong man who tried to save you is prying your cramped-up hand loose with his own free hand, shoving you away when he succeeds.

“You gotta try, fool!”

Your brain still hasn’t entirely processed what is happening when you find yourself in freefall. The man who for a second time put your chances before his disappears in between Victoria’s lips and you feel a rush of air go by you. For the briefest of moments, you make contact with her smooth, warm skin as you tumble across her chin. Then you plummet past her throat and towards her bulging naked boob. Your impact is considerably softened as you bounce off the squishy fat of her left breast and finally splash into the warm water below.

As you shoot beneath the surface, you instinctively hold your breath, feeling the pressure of the warm water tighten around you as you sink deeper and deeper. Starting to panic, you open your eyes again, only to almost inhale out of shock. Although distorted by the cloudy water, you see Victoria’s vast belly in front of you, the ominous gurgling sounds emanating from it amplified through the liquid medium. To your left and right, her legs are resting against the sides of the bathtub, with her raised knees peeking out through the glimmering surface. And deep below you, the outline of her lower body lurks at the very bottom of this artificial ocean, only recognisable by the vast outline of her curvy hips and the slight slit between her thighs. How are you supposed to escape someone so huge? No matter how deep you dive or how far you would swim, Victoria would simply be… everywhere. And the way she just picked you and the other guy up back then. How could someone this enormous be that fast?

But no matter how slim your chances seem, you still have to try and fight for your life. You owe as much to your unsung hero. And so you start treading water, propelling yourself up to the surface and taking a deep breath of air. The smell of lavender is so strong that it makes your head spin. You look up at the giant young woman again and shiver as you realise that she is staring down at the water, her lovely face showing a mixture of confusion and irritation.

Gulp.

Victoria swallows, her throat muscles gently flexing for just a second and ferrying an almost invisible lump down her neck. It then disappears into her impossibly huge upper body, sliding down between the giant pair of breasts bulging right above you. Condensed water drips off her soft breasts and they jiggle a little as she leans forward, evidently trying to see where you are. Unfortunately, her enormous body has displaced most of the iceberg-like foam in your vicinity, so that it only takes her grey eyes only a second or two to lock onto you.

“Oh, there you are!”

“Victoria, please!” You whimper. “Please don’t! It’s me! We met at the hotel! Don’t do this!”

The giant beauty inspects you for another few moments, but she doesn’t seem to hear you, or even try to listen to what you are saying. Instead, she appears to be thinking about something. Then she gives you an amicable, but sly grin, as if she’s going to play a trick on a good friend. It seems innocent, but from the look in her eyes, you can tell that you are done for.

***

Victoria pushes the shrinkie to the back of her tongue and swallows hard, sending him into her oesophagus when he lets out a final scream of existential despair. As he begins to squirm down her throat, putting up impressive, but nevertheless futile resistance in the process, she looks down at her bath. The other shrinkie practically falling out of her mouth did catch her a bit off-guard, but on the other hand, it’s only a minor annoyance, and it’s not like they have any prospects of getting anywhere. Nevertheless, she now looks across the foamy surface of the water in search of the tiny eloper, beginning to think about some form of payback for that cheeky last-minute escape attempt. Finally, she makes out the little shape, treading water just below her breasts and fearfully staring up at her.

“Oh, there you are!”

Again, the shrinkie gives off some response which she can’t really hear over the jazz music. But given that she’s never encountered a tiny who had anything interesting to say, she doesn’t bother to try listening either, and instead continues to ponder about some kind of punishment. Unlike some of her friends and, from what she has heard, even her sister Hannah, Victoria normally doesn’t screw around with shrinkies. But after her long night shift, she really isn’t in a mood to put up with any of their antics. Plus, the whole scene with the shrinkie bouncing off her boobs had looked rather clumsy. And since she isn’t planning to eat the whole box today, she decides that the survivors need to learn that their new owner isn’t to be trifled with. That should help deter them from trying any more nonsense over the next days.

Then Victoria remembers something Stacy told her about doing with a shrinkie once during a spring break trip to Aruba. She’d been at the pool with a bunch of other nursing students, but Victoria reckons that a bathtub will do just as well. She gives the tiny human floating below her a playful grin, and slowly slips into the water beneath them.

***

Helplessly splashing around in the foamy water, you look on with bated breath as the young giantess’ head slips underneath the surface. As she disappears, a minor tidal wave rocks you around for a moment, then the water becomes eerily still. All around you, the long strains of her dark blonde hair, now soaked with water, float through the cloudy water, like tentacles of some eldritch monstrosity hunting in the depths of the ocean. Hunting for you.

“Victoria, please…” You sob once more. “It’s me…”

Unlike the albatross in the video, you know that death is coming. Just like it, however, there’s nothing you can do to evade it. For another few moments, small waves keep lapping against your trembling body as you not so much see, but feel a huge mass move through the opaque water below you. Then, two radiant grey-blue disks flare up in the deep, and the water around you goes dark as a huge mouth opens up just below your feet. You scream.

“NO! STOP! PLEASE DON’T…”

There’s a tremendous splash as the giant young woman breaks through the surface again, and all of the water around you violently pours down into her gargantuan maw, transforming into a roaring waterfall within just a split second. Where there was the vast expanse of Victoria’s bathtub just a moment ago, you now see nothing more than colossal teeth and the red, fleshy inside of her mouth pass by. Briefly sliding across her slithering tongue, you feel its bumpy surface lick across your skin. Then all goes dark and you hear a deafening snap as her teeth shut above you with truly awe-inspiring force, like a gigantic mouse trap. Flowing down with the overwhelmingly powerful current, you are dragged underneath the water.

You hold your breath once more, but before you can even hope to orient yourself, the water around you is suddenly compressed and you are sucked down in a maelstrom of cloudy liquid.

GULP.

The shockwave echoing through the water almost knocks you out, and the suddenly increased pressure on your chest makes you draw a sharp breath. You cough and convulse as you inhale lavender-scented bathing water. But then the liquid disappears below you with a wet gurgling noise, slurped into the same pulsing, organic tube you find yourself being squeezed through. Only one thought races through your mind again and again: Victoria has swallowed you.

All of this warm, slime-coated flesh, contracting and expanding as it pushes you deeper and deeper into total darkness. All of the sounds around you, the bassy, regular thump of the giant heart, the powerful breathing noises of the huge lungs, and the foreboding gurgles of the vast digestive tract awaiting below. All of that is Victoria. She is your world now. And no matter how hard you struggle, no matter how loud you scream, she won’t hear you. Maybe she can feel your impotent kicks and punches as you continue sliding down her oesophagus. But you are utterly indistinguishable from any other tiny to her now. You are doomed. The only thing left for you now is to be digested, and become nutrition for Victoria.

You continue to sob and thrash around, violently squeezed by the contracting muscles around as the giant woman’s chest convulses and she lets out a series of what sounds like bellowing coughs. For just a moment, hope flares up within you that she might regurgitate you, maybe having realised who you are after all. But it’s no more than a lofty delusion brought on by the overpowering wish not to die, not grounded in reality. Your reality is pitch-black, slimy, and unforgivingly biological. You are food sliding into the belly of a healthy young woman.

The huge chest you are sliding through relaxes again and the coughing stops, followed by the harrumph of Victoria clearing her throat above. There’s another moist gulping sound above and a glob of slime lands on top of you, seeping into your wet hair and running down your face. You scream in despair and hatefully bang your fists against the pulsing flesh walls, only to be squeezed deeper and deeper by yet another peristaltic contraction. Then the oesophagus slopes to she side and you slip down a squishy incline, your feet skidding through viscid spit as you unsuccessfully try to slow down your descent towards your final destination.

Another couple of moments later, you pass through a particularly tight sphincter, sucking you and the spit around inside with a disgusting, visceral slurp. You let out a shrill yelp and try to hold onto something, but every last inch of your shrunken body is blanketed in gooey slime at this point. So all you can do is to continue to scream, cry and beg as you slip through the ring of muscles and are suddenly propelled into a huge organic cavern.

As soon as you find yourself in freefall once more, you begin to retch uncontrollably. The air inside this putrid cave is barely worth being called such; oppressively humid, low in oxygen, and rank with the overpoweringly sweet scent of chocolate and the sour smell of acid. But as if that weren’t bad enough, the latter immediately assaults the sensitive mucosal membrane in your airways as you inhale it, the intense burning sensation making you gasp for air.

You grimace as the acidic fire creeps into your lungs as well, and hold your breath when you hear wet gurgling and sloshing noises below. Then you splash into the churning contents of Victoria’s stomach, a revolting broth of wet bagel dough, dissolved cream cheese, cocoa and digestive fluid. Unlike the bath water you fell into just a few minutes earlier, this vile soup is a lot thicker. But as disgusting as it may be, the viscosity also keeps you from sinking into it all too deep, and after just a few seconds of struggling, you resurface.

Out of necessity, you breathe in again, followed by yet another wave of searing pain shooting through your airways. The vile stench inside the giantess’ stomach makes you heave, and you splash about aimlessly, covered in thick slop that is essentially vomit. But your disgust is still overshadowed by the deep, existential dread that makes you shiver despite the agonising heat inside here. You’ve been eaten, and soon, this stomach is going to digest you alive, breaking you down to your very chemical components. You’re not just going to die, you’re going to be wiped out of existence entirely, absorbed by Victoria’s body. And whatever parts of you that her body cannot repurpose for itself will be transformed into nothing but shit.

***

Opening her mouth as she resurfaces, Victoria makes sure to do so right beneath the shrinkie, allowing the tiny human to flow straight into her mouth along with the water. But the soapy, lavender-scented liquid doesn’t exactly taste good, and she frowns as she sits up in the bath, deciding to swallow it all down instantly. Feeling the squirming tiny being effortlessly sucked into her gullet and sliding down her throat, Victoria wrinkles her face in mild disgust and sticks out her tongue. As the tiny slides down behind her breasts, she starts coughing.

“Ew…” She says to herself and thumps her fist against her sternum for a brief moment, water dropping down from her jiggling breasts. Ugh. Not the smartest thing you ever did, Vic.

But then again, she mostly had done this out of curiosity, and to show the other shrinkies who was boss. “Breaking them in”, as people on social media called it. Some of these tinies could get surprisingly cheeky after a while, if they believed that they had gotten to know their new owner and could anticipate their behaviour, or even manipulate them. But she would have to ask Stacy again if she had really done that at the pool. That had been kind of gross, and she could only imagine that it would taste even more disgusting with chlorinated water.

Feeling the squirming tiny slide down her oesophagus and splash down into her stomach, she gives her naked belly a gentle pat. Then she looks towards the table, raises her index finger at the crying shrinkies in the box, and puts on a stern face.

“No running off, okay? I know you’re freaking out, but you’re my food now.” Victoria warns them, even though she does feel a bit stupid talking to her food. “Get used to it.”

Some of the tinies in the first row fall on their knees and cry, banging their fists against the plastic windows, some even praying. Victoria frowns just a bit and looks away again, leaning back in her bath as she reaches for the mug of hot chocolate. She does like to eat shrinkies, and especially the soft tickle she can now feel in her stomach again as you and the two others begin moving around. But if she focuses too much on their fear and despair, some part of her feels like she’s that young girl again, a slight sense of guilt creeping into her mind. She closes her eyes and takes a big sip of cocoa, recalling the conversation with her school counsellor all those years ago. Her empathy and compassion were wasted on this scum. They didn’t deserve it, and would only abuse it if shown any.

And yet, Victoria also remembers what her dad would always teach her and her siblings when he took them out on a hunting trip in the woods. When she had shot her first deer, only a few months after she had eaten her first shrinkies, he had urged her to make it a clean, quick kill. She was not to make it suffer unnecessarily, nor gloat if she succeeded. And succeeded she had, with a single shot to the animal’s head. Even now, over a decade later, Victoria can still remember the scene. The deer lying at her feet in the snow, as if merely sleeping. The small trickle of warm blood seeping down from the hole in its forehead into the icy white. Ryan had congratulated her on the ace shot, but Victoria had merely felt a solemn sadness at the sight. Her dad had been proud of that, reminding her that just because she was at the top of the food chain, it did not entitle her to be cruel. These creatures gave their lives to be her food, and if anything, she at least owed them to treat them with dignity and respect.

Victoria swallows the gulp of cocoa in her mouth and puts the mug back on the table, looking past her naked breasts down at her belly, partially submerged in the bath, thinking about the shrunken people being digested within. Others much more learned than herself, attorneys and judges, had found that they deserved to die, that they were no more than food for their betters. And yet, they were still living beings. Just like the chicken at Uncle Chuck’s farm were. She and her family had eaten plenty of those, but did they get to mindlessly torture them? No.

She smiles to herself as she recalls a recent conversation about this topic with her brother and his wife. Stacy would simply laugh and say that she was overthinking stuff again, while Ryan would argue that it was a poor comparison, since shrinkies had put themselves in their position, whereas animals didn’t have a choice in the matter. Victoria sighs. Whatever it is, she still feels a bit remorseful about what she just did, and even would whisper an apology if the other tinies weren’t there. If she showed that kind of weak-minded sentimentality in front of them, it would only make things more difficult, perhaps provoke even more escape attempts.

Finally, Victoria shrugs off these thoughts. In the end, she can’t carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. Sure, these tinies don’t want to be eaten, but that’s their problem. One they maybe should have thought of before they did whatever got them shrunken down. If anything, they should be grateful that their executioner is as considerate as her. She reaches towards the box again, plucks a shrieking young woman out of her cubicle, and raises her to her mouth.

***

Meanwhile, sloshing around in Victoria’s stomach, you also would have a thing or two to say about your consumer’s ethical musings, but you are too busy not having your flesh melted by her stomach acid, or simply drowning in her viscid puke. You have just managed to stabilise yourself a bit by spreading out your arms and slowly treading the acidic broth when Victoria leans back in her bathtub. This causes such a shift within the churning organic cave that it produces a tidal wave several times higher than your entire body. You let out a terrified gasp as the tsunami of digestive fluids, cocoa and a little of the bathing water you were swallowed with smashes you against one of the slippery stomach walls, trying to hold on. Your fingers slip across the pulsing, slimy flesh, digging into one of the wrinkly folds. But there’s just no holding onto anything in this visceral version of hell. Everything is coated in thick slime and constantly moving, even if the giant woman herself appears to be lying still.

Being pulled back into the middle of Victoria’s stomach, you shiver as a deep, bassy gurgle rises up from the black depths below you, followed by more deep rumbles and squelches, as if tons of liquid are roaring through some kind of flooded tunnel underneath. You can’t know this, but these ominous glorps are the sound of the giant woman’s intestine processing most of the cream cheese bagel she ate earlier, as well as most of the shrinkie called Nicole. In fact, the rest of Nicole is right behind you, the mangled upper half of a skeleton held together only by a couple of sinews and muscle. Thankfully, there is no light in here, and you will never be privy to the gruelling sight. What you do notice, however, is another loud gulp above.

Suddenly, you hear panicked screams from somewhere to your left. You can’t make out what exactly they are saying, but it soon turns out that you don’t need to. Only a few seconds after the gulping sound, you hear yet another powerful gurgle, like that of liquid streaming down a pipe. Then the cardia opens up somewhere above you with a smack, vomiting a current of hot chocolate into the stomach. Your hear the torrent of cocoa smash into the pool of chyme, the water level almost instantly rising as a result. You can hear and feel another tsunami thunder towards you, and brace yourself just in time before you are swept away once more.

This time, the wave doesn’t wash you against one of the stomach walls, but thrusts you into a denser part of the chyme, its consistency closer to that of a swamp or marshland. You let out a repulsed moan as you raise your head above the surface of the tarry, sticky sludge, heaving again as you inhale the smell of semi-digested cream cheese and dough. Grabbing onto one of the small objects floating around you, you notice that these are sesame seeds, most likely also from the bagel Victoria ate earlier today. In another fit of delusion, you wonder if you could build some kind of raft or shield out of these, remembering that the human digestive system is not able to break down whole sesame seeds. But obviously, that isn’t going to work. They are too small, there are too few of them, and you are in a dark, constantly moving stomach.

Far above you, there’s another gulp, and this time, you brace yourself right away, expecting to be caught in another storm surge of hot chocolate. But when the cardia opens again with a moist smack, all you can hear is a hoarse scream of despair, and then an undignified splash as a female tiny plummets into the chyme. There’s an eerie moment of silence, filled only by the indifferent sounds of Victoria’s body all around you, then you hear the shrinkie rise up to the surface again and take a gasping breath. Like you earlier, she also begins to retch and heave.

“No! Oh my God, no!! This can’t be happening!” She cries. “This is a nightmare!!”

One of the other shrinkies yells something in the distance, but it’s drowned out by yet another rumble as Victoria’s stomach contracts once more, the current pulling your splotch of mostly digested bagel pieces further away. In any case, no matter how much you would like to do so, there’s no way for you to help the poor woman. You have no idea how to get to her, and even if you did, you’re in the exact same situation as her. You are trapped in here, surrounded by the thick, muscular walls of Victoria’s stomach, and then layers of flesh, muscle, fat and skin. For all intents and purposes, you are buried alive inside this young woman’s body, and unless she throws up for some reason, none of you is getting out of here alive.

“Let me out!” The woman shrieks, sounding crazed with fear. “I wanna go home! Please!!”

Her fearful voice echoes off the pulsing stomach walls, the gargantuan body all around totally unconcerned with the gruelling fate of the food trapped inside the stomach. Every now and again, drops of acid and slime ooze from the wrinkly gastric mucosa, dropping into the ever-growing digestive broth. Taking another breath, you suddenly start coughing, and as you do, your lungs and airways suddenly feel heavy and obstructed as if filling with some form of liquid. Gasping for air, you keep coughing until it turns into a violent fit, your limbs starting to cramp up as your cells scream for oxygen. Then you finally spit out a stream of hot, pulpy liquid, the metallic taste and smell of blood spreading through your mouth and nose.

What the fuck?

Although you are able to breathe a little better again, there’s a sharp, throbbing pain in your chest now, and it still feels like you are not getting enough oxygen into your lungs. That and the growing horror at the realisation that you may just have coughed up a part of your lung as you are being digested from the inside out makes you splash around in panic once more. But no matter what you do, the burning pain in your airways will just not go away, and slowly but steadily, it’s even spreading to other openings of your body. Your skin too is starting to feel increasingly wrinkly and tender, as if you were being cooked alive.

Feeling another panic attack coming on as you splash about, you barely even take note of the next shrinkie that is devoured, and the fresh stream of more hot chocolate that follows them. You only flap around helplessly as your mind reels in renewed horror at the situation you find yourself in. It feels like an eternity since you woke up in your hotel room this morning, and yet it’s been only a few hours since. You remember Victoria’s warm voice on the telephone, and flirting around with her as you checked out. Now you’re inside her stomach. She really wasn’t much more than an attractive stranger until today, and now you are about to become a part of her forever. You are going to die inside of her, and she will just go on living her life, never even knowing that she fucking digested you. What if you had waited a minute longer, maybe asked for her number? Perhaps there is some alternate universe out there in which you became friends. Or even a couple. But it doesn’t matter. In this one, you are her food.

“VICTORIA!!” You scream, starting to cough again. “PLEASE, I…”

***

“…DON’T WANNA DIEEE!!” A fat, bald shrinkie screams at the top of his lungs, squealing like a stuck pig as he is dropped into the open maw of the naked giantess below.

Victoria closes her lips around him, sealing her howling snack inside her mouth and rolling him around on her tongue for just a moment to savour the taste. Then she dutifully tilts her head back and swallows, the remaining shrunken people in the box watching on in a mixture of fear and awe as the faint bulge travels smoothly down the female colossus’ throat. Feeling him disappear behind her breasts like the ones before, Victoria sighs contentedly and licks the remaining taste off her lips. Then she reaches for her cup and takes another gulp of cocoa.

She closes her eyes, enjoying the state of pure relaxation she is in now. The steaming hot bath with its subtle smell of lavender, her tired muscles finally relaxing, the sweet aftertaste of the hot chocolate in her mouth, and the gentle squirming beneath her left breast. But as she leans into the feeling for a moment, her head grows heavy and slumps to the side for a split second. Victoria jerks up again, splashing some water over the edge of the bathtub and nearly spilling some of her hot chocolate. Looking at the puddle of water on the bathroom floor, she groans.

Ugh. Nearly dozed off there. She thinks to herself, putting the mug back on the table. Well… Never mind. I can mop that up when I get out of the bath.

Victoria stretches herself and lets out a hearty yawn, unwittingly giving the remaining tinies in the box an intimidating view of the back of their throat. One of them, a young man by the name of Kyle Edwards, breaks down in tears at the sight of the giant young woman’s gullet, hammering his fists against the unyielding window of his plastic prison. He is the brother of the shrinkie Victoria has just devoured, but he won’t be joining his sibling in digestive death today. Instead, he will live on for another two days to be one of the last shrinkies in the box. Victoria will then offer him to Stacy as she drops by to pick up a scarf she had forgotten last time she was visiting. Finally, Kyle will meet his demise in the young nurse’s belly.

Meanwhile, the giantess who has swallowed his brother reaches into the cubicle next to him, raising another frantically struggling shrunken woman to her lips. This one too is consumed without effort, then Victoria picks up a bottle of shampoo to her right and squirts a little bit of it onto her hands. She goes on to gently rub the balmy shampoo into her hair, her taut breasts wobbling again as she does. But the sight of the beautiful young woman cleaning herself is lost on the shrunken men and women in the box, whose gaze is fixed on the area just below her left breast. There, people just likes themselves are being digested alive.

Humming along to the soft tunes of the jazz music still playing in the background, Victoria grabs the showerhead and rinses the foamy shampoo out of her hair. When she is done, she takes a bottle of conditioner and applies some to her hair as well. She takes a short glance at the clock to determine how long she needs to let it sit, then looks over at the box once more.

It’s only a couple of minutes, but the time it needs for the conditioner to seep into Victoria’s hair will cost the lives of Marcus Chen, a firefighter from the Rust Belt, and Harper Bennet, a wildlife activist from the Pacific Northwest. Marcus is eaten first, paying the price for having set fire to a house in order to make a name for himself at his job, and nearly killing an elderly lady in the process. Then Victoria picks up Harper from the box and flicks her into her mouth, swallowing her as she returns to her haircare routine and rinses out the conditioner. It’s the sad end of the life of the young environmentalist, who made an enemy in a politician trying to advance his career by building a highway through a nature reserve. Leveraging his contacts at Vortex, the politician made Harper disappear, but her consumer will never learn any of this.

The only thing on Victoria’s mind is whether she should allow herself a bit more time in the bath, or if she should call it a day and go to bed. The thought of lounging around in the bath a little longer is tempting, but she already almost fell asleep once, and so she opts for the latter. She yawns again and then climbs out of the bathtub, water dripping off her wet body onto the mat below. The shrinkies inside the box wince and cower in fear as Victoria puts one foot before the other, walking over to the towel rack. Some of the miniaturised people can’t help but stare at the young giantess’ plump, soft ass cheeks jiggle as she walks past, even with her booming footsteps shaking the ground beneath. But Victoria ignores them, drying herself off with one towel and wiping up the spilled water from the floor with the other.

Finally, she wraps the towel she used to dry herself off around her body, and throws the other into the laundry basket. As she is about to pick up the box and the mug, she notices that there is one more tiny left in one of the uncovered cubicles, a lively young woman with a buzz cut. Victoria isn’t really hungry anymore, but without the plastic foil covering her prison, there’s a chance that the female tiny might escape overnight. Or worse still, she might even manage to help the ones in the cubicles still sealed by the foil escape, and Victoria is in no mood to be searching her apartment for escaped shrinkies for the next couple of weeks again. Shrugging, she reaches into the cubicle and pins the screaming little woman between her fingers, raising her to her mouth. The shrinkie keeps hurling profanities at her, but Victoria simply flicks her onto her tongue and pulls her into her mouth, rolling her around for a moment. Picking up the mug, she washes the ill-tempered shrinkie down with the last gulp of cocoa. Then she grabs the half-empty box and carries it back into the kitchen.

Putting the box down next to the sink, Victoria rinses the mug and peeks out of the window through the curtains. It’s a bit brighter outside now, but the sky is still covered in a dark grey blanket of clouds, and the snowfall even seems to have picked up. She hopes that it will clear up eventually; otherwise getting to work this evening might become a bit of a hassle. Drying off the mug, she puts it back in the cupboard and picks up the box, prompting another outcry of fearful screams from inside. Victoria looks down at the shrinkies with an expression of mild surprise on her face. Then she remembers that they can’t read her mind, after all.

Relax. She thinks to herself with a smile. You guys are safe… for now.

Victoria puts the box with the surviving shrinkies on the top shelf of her pantry and closes the door, leaving them to themselves and their thoughts for the time being. Neither thinking of them nor the tinies still squirming around in her stomach, she stifles a yawn and turns off the music before going back to the bathroom, where she blow dries her hair and brushes her teeth. With that done, she walks to her bedroom and takes off the towel, throwing it over her chair. Naked once more, she shivers as she rummages through a basket with fresh laundry. It is a bit cold in here, but she doesn’t like sleeping in overly warm rooms, and with the energy prices going up and the inflation, she is trying to keep heating to a necessary minimum.

Putting on a pair of not exactly sexy, but fluffy and warm pyjamas with a teddy bear pattern, Victoria slips underneath her weighted blanket. Letting out another hearty yawn, she picks up her current book, a historical novel about the origins of her home state, and begins to read.

 ***

While Victoria does all this, she is totally unaware of the hell you have been enduring inside her stomach. The deep gurgles and groans that you hear all around have amounted to nothing but faint squelches from her belly that she’s barely even taken any note of. You are in such an agonising amount of pain that you can’t understand how you’re still alive, let alone conscious. The last couple of minutes have been particularly horrendous, with Victoria walking around her apartment, making the contents of her stomach slosh to and fro. And there’s nothing you or the other shrinkies can do about your situation, only scream and shout in mortal terror as the churning cave sways up and down, left and right with every thundering footstep below.

At last, your consumer’s movements seem to slow down, but not without the entire stomach suddenly tilting sideways, producing a huge wave of viscid puke that sucks you under. You struggle for just a moment, fearing that you will drown in the maelstrom of vomit, then your body is violently slammed against Victoria’s undulating stomach walls once more. You don’t recall how often this has happened already, but in the face of imminent obliteration, you are reduced to no more than your most basic survival instincts. Yet again, you try to get a hold of the wrinkly, slimy mucosa, only to be sucked back into the depth’s of Victoria’s stomach by the ensuing rip tide. All around, you hear the dying screams of the others.

“It burns! Please! Someone help me!”

“我不想死在这里a281;”

“Make it stop!!”

The currents dragging the bubbling vomit spiral into a powerful swirl that almost sucks you underneath the surface again, but with all your remaining strength, you manage to stay afloat. Panting from exhaustion, you cough up more blood, and realise that the warm fluid is oozing out of your nose, ears, and even your eyes. Your trembling arms splash around, desperate to find something, anything to hold onto, and grant you just a second of rest from your ordeal. But there’s nothing, just slick, muscular flesh and foamy puke. The sheer panic you’ve been experiencing for the last few hours has given you near superhuman strength and endurance, but now, your muscles are beginning to harden and cramp up from utter exhaustion.

You are finding it increasingly difficult to keep your head above the surface of the vile broth, sinking under every couple of moments, inadvertently swallowing acidic puke. Letting out a gargling sound, you spit it out again and cry in disgust, but no matter how much you struggle, your dying body is letting you down. Your muscles are giving in, your skin feels as if it is on fire, and your organs are melting from the inside. Even your consciousness, your mind itself is starting to flicker like a dying TV screen as you begin to fade away.

“Preaashe! No! I’m awraaihd!” You splutter, spitting out more pieces of your dissolving body.

Then the stomach walls collapse inwards all of a sudden, forcing nearly all of the foul air out through the muscular sphincter somewhere above you. The pool of vomit compresses around you, mercilessly shoving your battered body beneath the surface one last time. A nightmarish growl echoes through the giantess’ body. The ensuing shockwave ripples through the dense liquid, crushing your bones and sending one last hellish wave of pain through your body. You open your mouth in agony as the water pressure around you compensates and tears your body into pieces. Your cognitive processes are distorted by the unbearable pain you feel as your physical self is ripped apart, leaving no room for last thoughts or sentimental memories. You only realise that your consumer must have burped. Then your consciousness simply dissolves, just as the remains of your body trickle down to the bottom of the woman’s stomach. You’ve been obliterated, and all that is left now is for Victoria’s body to digest the pitiful rest.

***

Turning to the next page of her book, Victoria senses a deep gurgle in her stomach, moments later translating itself into a slight pressure shooting up her chest and throat. She tries to hold it back, but fails, and the surge of air exits her mouth as a loud, wet burp. Feeling just a little disgusted by herself, Victoria wrinkles her nose as the taste of hot chocolate washes into her mouth again, interspersed with the aroma of shrinkies and a sour tinge of acid.

Yikes, Vic. She thinks to herself, waving her hand in front of her face to disperse the smell.

But as much as she feels grossed out by her own bodily functions, it’s been a while since she has shared her bed with someone, so there isn’t anyone to feel embarrassed towards. Sighing at that notion, Victoria doesn’t even register that the tickles within her stomach have ceased, her belch having finished off most of the shrinkies inside instantly, and robbed the survivors of all the remaining oxygen. She simply continues reading her book, her stomach giving off the occasional moist glorp or squelch as it proceeds to digest its contents.

Victoria goes on to read another couple of pages, then her eyelids become heavy again. With her mind gently drifting off to the land of dreams, she isn’t awake enough anymore to realise that she has been reading the same sentences over and over. Another few moments later, the book falls out of her hands and closes shut. It will be a minor annoyance to Victoria the next day when she will struggle a bit to find her last page again. But for now, the young woman is fast asleep, her body recovering from the stress and exhaustion of another long night shift.

***

Deep within that peacefully sleeping body, at the bottom of Victoria’s stomach, small flakes of dissolving body begin to trickle steadily downwards, not unlike the snowflakes outside of her apartment. But they are also accompanied by a few larger chunks, mostly parts of your skeleton with shreds of flesh and skin still attached to them. Ceaselessly churned around by the periodic contractions of her stomach walls, and mixed with ever more acid as it oozes out of the slick mucosa, the organic detritus slowly accumulates into a slag of melting body parts.

Accompanied by gentle snoring as Victoria dreams of being on a holiday in Southern Europe, what was once your body is dispersed through her stomach, already impossible to tell apart from all the other remains of the shrinkies she has eaten along with you. Over the next hour, your remains melt down even further in utter darkness, occasionally being stirred up again whenever Victoria turns around in her sleep. A deathly silence has taken hold of her stomach now, the screams and coughs of the dying shrinkies having gone silent forever. Now, there is nothing but her calm breathing and soft snoring, her slow heartbeat, and the bubbling of her digestive system as it dutifully goes on to process you. It will stay that way until this organic death chamber has emptied itself and will once more be filled with your successors, a cycle that has repeated itself countless times already, and will continue to do so for even longer. No matter how strong or intelligent the shrinkies who are eaten by her may have been, in the end, Victoria’s stomach always wins, leaving no trace of the vanquished.

Only a couple of miles away, the cabin crew of your flight decides that you aren’t going to show up anymore. Maybe you’ve overslept, maybe you got stuck in traffic, maybe something else came up for you – whatever. Nobody gives a fuck. The doors are closed, the plane taxis to the runway, and simply takes off without you. It’s something you had been afraid of when you went to bed yesterday. But you wouldn’t ever have thought that you’d miss your flight because you would have been reduced to a nutritious paste inside the digestive system of that cute chick from the front desk. You never even learned her full name.

As your plane disappears into the thick clouds above the city, Victoria gently smacks her lips and turns onto her right. Her belly lets out a wet gurgle, and under the combined influence of the peristaltic movements and gravity, the sludge of molten flesh and disembodied bones now begins to trickle through her pyloric sphincter. It takes around an hour for all of your physical remains to be drained from Victoria’s emptying stomach and enter into her duodenum, where bile is released into the chyme by her gallbladder, neutralising the acid.

This relief comes far too late for any of you, however. All that is left of you shrinkies now is an amorphous porridge of shrivelling bones and organic matter, floating aimlessly down the undulating organic tunnel. Being squeezed deeper and deeper into the darkness of Victoria’s digestive tract, the sludge seeps through the villi as they start to suck nutrients into the young woman’s bloodstream. After the first few bends, the pulpy mix of hot chocolate and shrinkies enters the jejunum, where it mixes with the dense slurry that once was a cream cheese bagel.

Even though you were the only solid food Victoria had after the bagel, her digestive system adds insult to injury by registering you more like an additional ingredient to her hot chocolate. This means that you are largely metabolised as a sweet snack, the lipids and sugars extracted from your bodies treated like the fatty milk and the sugar in the cocoa. Ultimately, most of your soft tissue will end up as fat reserves on Victoria’s breasts, her butt cheeks and her hips, a little bit even becoming part of the thin layer of fat around her navel.

When the chyme containing your remains slips further into her ileum, more than fifty percent of your body have already been absorbed into Victoria’s, but her digestive system is long not done with you. As they drift through the last part of her small intestine, your bones and those of the other shrinkies crack and break under the pressure of the fluid and crumble into white flakes of concentrated calcium, which are also quickly sucked up by the billowing villi. Three quarters of your skeleton become part of Victoria’s this way, mostly her femurs and her pubic bone, while a smaller amount of it is used to keep her teeth healthy and strong. Your muscle tissue is also not left to waste, converted into protein and repurposed to fix some tiny fissures in her triceps, her abdominal muscles and her gluteus maximus, owing to a slightly excessive workout the day before. Even the fluids of your body are assigned new functions, about one third of them becoming part of the blood that distributes your nutrients throughout Victoria’s body. Another third of them will become sweat stored in the many glands within her skin, to be excreted during her next workout session. The final third, once your own blood, sweat and tears, is ultimately deemed superfluous by Victoria’s digestive system, becoming part of the pool of urine that is beginning to build up inside her bladder.

***

It is that very pressure building up inside her bladder that wakes Victoria up about six hours later, just as the first semi-solid remains of your body are squirted through her ileocecal valve and into her large intestine. Blinking her eyes, she lets out a mix between a groan and a yawn, rolling around in her lovely warm bed for a few more moments. She would much prefer to go asleep again, but it’s almost 3 PM, and she still wants to get some stuff done before heading off to her next shift at the hotel. Besides, she really needs to pee.

Making another grunting noise, she pushes herself out of bed, her naked toes digging into the warm carpet as she shuffles out of the bedroom. On her way through the living room and past the kitchen unit, Victoria absent-mindedly picks up her phone and goes on to the bathroom, where she pulls down her pyjama pants and plops her butt on the toilet seat.

She sighs as the muscles of her lower body relax and a stream of urine starts shooting into the porcelain bowl, finally easing the pressure within her bladder. Within the jet of yellow liquid is roughly a third of the fluids that made up your body only a couple of hours ago, useless to Victoria’s body and therefore discarded. Unlocking her phone, she also allows some of the built-up gas to pass out of her anus as a mostly quiet fart, and her bowels shift as the pressure inside equalises. Your slightly more solid remains, however, are only at the beginning of their journey through her colon, slowly beginning to ascend upwards in a glob of brown sludge.

Victoria, meanwhile, takes the time to answer an email from her boss and a message from her sister-in-law, asking if she could drop by on Saturday to pick up her scarf. She confirms this and then checks her socials, straining a little to push out another dainty fart. Then she decides that her bowels don’t require emptying yet, so she wipes herself off and flushes. Pulling up her pyjama pants again, she washes her hands and returns to the bedroom. When she draws back the curtains, Victoria gently rolls her eyes at the scenery outside.

It is still snowing, and traffic looks bad. She will most likely have to leave even earlier if she doesn’t want to be late. The mere sight of the huge piles of snow between the sideways and the roads makes her shiver, and at the same time, the sheets on her bed look so inviting…

“Come on now, Vic.” She mutters to herself. “Put on your big-girl pants.”

Resisting the temptation of going back to bed, Victoria slips out of her pyjamas and puts on a light crop top and a pair of extremely tight leggings, struggling a little to squeeze her shapely behind into the spandex pants. She isn’t aware that some parts of you are already starting to contribute to the tight feeling around her butt. In fact, she’ll never think of you again.

Victoria goes back into the living room, where she turns on her morning workout playlist and launches the workout app on her phone. Then she walks over to her yoga matt, the electronic voice of the app instructing her to start with some light stretching exercises. Over the course of the next half hour, however, the workout becomes more and more intense, until Victoria is sweating profusely and groaning louder with every further repetition.

“If it’s too easy, add weights to your back!” The electronic voice chirps happily.

“Too easy?”

She continues to go through all of the exercises, but not without cursing at her phone beneath her breath for the last set of crunches. Finally, the app lets out a pre-recorded cheering sound to signal that she has reached her daily goal, and Victoria sits up, holding her belly. She gives herself a few moments to catch her breath, then she gets up and wipes some of the sweat off her forehead. These drops of sweat too contain some of you, but Victoria simply wipes them off on a towel, where they will remain until she throws it in the washing machine.

Feeling a little proud of herself for having completed her workout before doing anything else, Victoria goes on to take a shower and then cooks up a healthy lunch of turkey and vegetables. She briefly considers having some of the shrinkies to go with her meal, but then decides that she isn’t in the mood for them right now. Having finished her lunch, she takes some time to clean up her apartment, so that it won’t look like a complete mess when Stacy comes to visit her on Saturday, and also gets some more outstanding laundry out of the way.

By the time she is done with her chores, it’s already time for her to go to work again. Trying not to pity herself too much for her lack of free time, Victoria tidies up her hair, puts on her uniform and applies just a modest amount of makeup to her face. Then she heads downstairs and hurries through the snow to her car, putting on the radio as she drives off into the night.

***

All the while, your remains have been slowly working their way through Victoria’s intestines. There is absolutely nothing left at this point that even your closest relatives and friends would be able to recognise as having been part of you. Over ninety percent of your former body has been completely absorbed into the young woman who has eaten you. The only thing left now are some shrivelled bone fragments, bushels of hair, and your finger- and toenails. And even these are increasingly embedded within the brown, mushy waste, gradually being drained of fluids as it is steadily pushed up along Victoria’s ascending colon.

Passing through the first bend into her transverse colon, the mass of digestive waste begins to solidify and take the shape of the organic tube it is passing through. Right above it, splats and sploshes echo through Victoria’s belly as boluses of chewed turkey and vegetables drop into her stomach, already providing her organism with more nutrients to digest. While she cleans up her apartment and does her laundry, Victoria ends up walking around a lot, stimulating the muscles in her abdomen and pushing the log of faecal matter along its way a bit quicker than it would have if she had been lounging around in bed all day. So, by the time her butt touches the seat of her car, the first lumps of shit begin to slip down into her descending colon.

There, they begin to accumulate at the bottom of her sigmoid colon, creating an initially mild sense of pressure in her lower abdomen. But Victoria doesn’t take any note of it at first, too busy with navigating her car across the highway and through multiple traffic jams created by the ceaseless snow. By the time she steers her car into the underground parking garage, all of the paltry few percent of you that remain have collected in her sigmoid colon, the soft faecal matter they are embedded in settling and patiently waiting to be expelled from her body.

***

“Okay. Anything else I need to know?” Victoria asks after swallowing another gulp of coffee, getting herself ready to relieve her colleague Nate from the afternoon shift.

“Oh, yes, I just got a call from Mr. and Ms. Kawamura, who’re booked for room 286. They’ll probably be arriving around midnight. Their flight from Japan’s been delayed, and with this weather outside, the shuttle bus from the airport is having trouble getting through as well.”

“Gotcha. Anything else?” She says as she finishes her coffee and places it in the sink.

“Nope, that should be it.”

“Great. Just let me go to the bathroom real quick, then I’ll take over from you.”

“Sure.” He says with a glance at the clock in the staff room. “No rush.”

Victoria flashes Nate an apologetic smile. She had only started to notice the building pressure in her rectum during the last lap of her drive here, otherwise she would have gone to the toilet back at home. It’s not that she is feeling all that uncomfortable yet, but she reckons that it is better to deal with the matter before she takes over for the night. After all, she’ll be the only one at the front desk, and she never knew how busy she might be for the next couple of hours. Especially if all the snow meant that some guests would be arriving late.

Her high heels clicking on the cold, clean tiles of the staff bathroom, Victoria locks the door behind her and pulls down her skirt and underpants. Then she rests her soft butt cheeks on the toilet seat, flinching a little at the cool sensation against her warm skin. Relaxing the muscles in her lower abdomen, she allows a weak stream of pee to trickle into the bowl. Once she is done, a wet fart escapes from her anus as it widens to expel the log waiting inside.

The young woman strains a bit as she pushes it out, letting out a gentle sigh as it splashes into the water below. Embedded deep within it are the sad remains of most of the shrinkies she ate this morning, including you. Part of you is visible, a fragment of your smashed skull peeking out of the soft brown mass between some undigested sesame seeds. Scattered around you are even more white specks, the bleached bones of other shrunken human beings.

But Victoria is never going to lay eyes on you again. Straining once more, she pushes another, smaller log out of her rectum, which lands right on top of your remains with a wet splat and pushes it below the surface of the urine-tainted water at the bottom of the toilet. She sighs with relief and allows a final short fart to escape from her puckered sphincter, then she gets up to her feet again. As she does so, her butt cheeks wobble gently, by now containing more than forty percent of what had once been the soft tissue of your body. A little bit of you has even become part of her sphincter, having been given the questionable honour of assisting in your faecal funeral. Victoria herself, however, isn’t even thinking about the fact that this is the closest thing you and the other tinies she ate yesterday will have to a burial. She’s simply glad that she got around to poop one more time before her night shifts starts.

Grabbing some sheets of toilet paper, she cleans herself up, wiping some of your undigested hair off her sphincter along with some stickier traces of shit. Without dignifying your funeral mound with another look, Victoria drops the used paper onto her poop and flushes, sending your digested remains off into the sewers forever. Then she washes her hands with hot water and soap, drying them off with some more paper towels. When she is done, she throws the wrinkled towels into the trash can next to the toilet and takes a brief glance at her wristwatch.

It’s 11 PM sharp. Time to get to work.

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