Karen heard the doorbell and quickly got up, put on her slippers and dashed to the door, eager to know if the police had any information on Matt's disappearance. She felt a spec of dust stick to her toes when she stood up, but ignored it as she was in a hurry to let the investigator in.

"Good day Ma'am, I am Sergeant Maloney. We got a call from you about the disappearance of your boyfriend."

"Hello Sergeant, I'm Karen Rogers." 

Karen invited him in and offered to make him some tea. He agreed and proceeded into the living room and took a seat. The apartment had an open kitchen so the investigator was able to speak to Karen while she was busy in the kitchen making the tea.

"Have you found out anything, officer?" Karen asked.
"I took the liberty of checking this buildings CCTV before I came to see you." He said. "It's strange."
"What is?"
"Matt didn't leave the apartment yesterday."
"So what are you saying?" Karen asked.
"I'm saying that, at the moment, the only logical explanation is that Matt snuck out of the window." He replied. "Either that or he is playing an extremely cruel game of hide and seek."

The investigator chuckled to himself at his little "joke". Karen didn't laugh.

"Ahem, I'm sorry Ms Rogers."

Karen came back into the living room with two cups of tea in her hand and handed one to the Sergeant.

"Thank you." He said.

"No problem, so why do you think he snuck out of the window?" Asked Karen as she took a seat next to the investigator.

"Actually, I was hoping you could shed some light on that." He replied. "Do you know of anyone who might have been after Matt? Or could have possibly threatened Matt, forcing him to leave this apartment?

Matt started to wake up. He could hear muffled voices and was struggling to remember where he was. He tried to sit up and instantly clutched his arm and screamed in pain. He remembered what had happened. He had almost got Karen's attention when the doorbell rang. Karen stood up, accidentally stepping on him in the process. His arm had broken and he had passed out a few seconds later. But where was he now? He examined his surroundings, careful not to apply any pressure on his broken arm. He was surrounded by pink, furry fabric and Karen's toes were directly above him. His only guess was that he was inside Karen's slipper. He thanked his luck that Karen had recently taken a shower otherwise the smell may have been unbearable. He was surrounded by the calming smell of strawberries. Her favourite foot lotion. It wasn't long before he had dozed off again.

"You will  be glad to know Ms Rogers, that we have set up a search party to aid us in our search for Matt and we will get back to you as soon as we get anymore information on the case. Do you have a number we can contact you on?"

"Yes, my cell phone." Karen said as she grabbed a pen and paper and quickly scribbled down her number.

"Thank you Ma'am, now before I go, do you mind if I search the apartment?"

"Is that really necessary?" Karen asked. "I would never do anything to harm Matt."

"I'm afraid that for now, like everyone else, you are still a suspect, and I wouldn't be doing my job right if I didn't treat you like one Ms Rogers, I'm sorry." He replied.

"Fine." Said Karen.

As the inspector searched the apartment, Karen took her feet out of her slippers and began to slowly rub them against the smooth fabric of the floor. During this process Matt had come unstuck from Karen's foot and lay unconcious on the floor. He slowly opened his eyes and realised was no longer in the pink, strawberry smelling prison that was Karen's slipper. He stood up and looked around. Karen was sitting directly above him. He also noticed that the investigator was still there, and he was searching the apartment.

"Crap." Matt thought to himself. "If I'm found in this state they may suspect Karen. I have to hide!"

Matt lept under the couch and sat in the darkness, surrounded by dust bunnies. After a few minutes he started to feel bored, and scared. He decided to observe his surroundings. he looked at all the dust bunnies around him and noticed the strange patterns that they had at such a microscopic level.

"Funny." He said. "They almost look like."

Matt stopped, frozen in fear as he realised what he was really surrounded by.

"These arent dust bunnies." He gulped. "They're cobwebs."

He then heard an all to familiar hissing noise behind him. He slowly turned around, already knowing what was behind him. There, about 10 metres away (to him) stood that same black spider that had been the bane of his existence ever since he had shrunk. It crept slowly towards him, picking up speed with each step until it was running towards him at full speed. Matt tried to run but his feet wouldn't move. They had become stuck to some cobwebs on the floor. Matt closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable. then he realised, he wasn't scared, he was angry. As his final moments approached, he thought back to his childhood and how horrible it was. He thought of the orphanage bully who broke all of his toys. He thought of the school bully who would steal his lunch money everyday. He thought of everyone who had made his life a living hell. Then he thought of his dead friend Barty, and his mother, Karen. Sweet, caring Karen who had been his only friend at the orphanage. He was tired of running, he was tired of hiding from everything. 

"So help me God, I will not allow my life to like this." He said. "I will see Karen again and we will grow old together, and no fucking spider is going to get in my way!"

The spider was now a metre away and lept towards Matt, ready to bite into his flesh.

"NO!" Matt yelled, punching the spider right in its eye.

It fell to the floor, screeching, but Matt wasn't done. He grabbed the spider, and pummeled it until it stopped moving. His hands were covered in its blood. He simply wiped it on the floor and tried to walk away. His feet were still stuck. He grabbed the unconcious spider and pulled out one of its fangs, and used it to cut off the cobwebs stuck to his feet. He decided that if he was going to be this size for a while, and if he was going to get Karens, attention, he would need to get some equipment to defend himself. He decided to keep the spider fang. After searching under the couch for an hour, he had found some pieces of fabric, a piece of leather, a needle and a coin. After working for a few hours, he had made himself a shirt and trousers. He had also managed to design a makeshift cast for his arm out of the piece of leather he had found. He also had weapons. He had a sword (the needle), a dagger (the spider fang) and a shield (the coin). 

"Yup." He said to himself. "I'm a badass."

He decided it was time to come out from hiding and try to get Karen's attention. He came out and looked around. He spotted Karen at the table, having lunch. It was at that moment he realised how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours. He darted towards the table hoping to get any crumbs she may drop. He looked around, but saw nothing. 

"I never thought I'd say this, but Karen's too much of a careful eater."

Karen then lifted her foot, revealing all of the food crumbs and grime that had gotten stuck in the wrinkles of her sole.

"No way." Matt said, almost gagging.

Then is stomach started to grumbled and he clutched his stomach in pain. Hethen realised he had no choice. He slowly edged closer to Karen's foot. They no longer smelled of strawberries like they did earlier they now stunk of hours of sweat. Matt thought back to the night where he had given Karen a foot rub. When he had smelled and licked her sole while she slept. He never imagined how horrid they could smell at such a microscopic level. As he stepped closer to her foot, he began to gag. He was now inches away from Karens foot, and his dinner. 

He grabbed the crumbs and dirt from Karen's foot and darted away. He was lucky he did, because just as he got out of harms way, Karen slammed her foot down, stood up and walked away. Matt looked down at his loot. A few bread crumbs and a bit of dirt. He begrudgingly took a bite out of one of the bread crumbs and instantly spat it out, eager to get the taste out of his mouth. He decided he would rather die of hunger than take a bite out of that again. He then heard some scrambling behind him. He turned around and drew his weapon. It was an ant, and it was heading straight for him. He had killed it within seconds. As the carcass of the ant lay there before him, he thought back to a survival class which he had taken as a child. He remembered being told that in extreme conditions, insects are a good source of protein. He sat down, and started to eat. As he chewed away, filling his empty stomach, he heard some scrambling behind him. He drew his sword and turned, ready to attack. It was the spider he had "killed" earlier on. At the sight of him, the spider backed away in fear. 

Matt felt bad. After all, the spider was only trying to survive. He decided to share his food with this insect. He cut the ant in half and pushed half towards the spider. It slowly staggered towards the ant, and started to eat.

"You aint so bad little guy." Matt said, patting it on the head. "I'll call you Barty."

------------------------------3 Months Later----------------------------------------

Matt woke up to the sound of Karen leaving for work early in the morning. In the last few months he had gained muscle from all of the survival and his arm had healed. After a month of trying to get Karen's attention to no avail. He decided to try something else. He had spent the last two months collecting supplies to write a message for Karen on the floor. Pen didn't show on the floor so well, so he had gathered small sticks and other objects to spell out a message for Karen while she was out. He had done the calculations, and he now had enough supplies to write out:

Under the couch

-Matt

He had made a home under the couch, and a makeshift bed out of some dust bunnies. He sat up in his "bed" and smiled, knowing that today he would be found.

"Todays the day Barty!" Matt said to his friend. "Better get started."

Barty slowly crawled out from under the couch, carrying Matt on his back. Matt worked for hours as Barty kept a lookout for predators. They worked for hours, but the message was finally complete. They both ran back under the couch, and just in time. In that moment, they heard the keys enter the lock as Karen began to open the door. 

"I'll never forget you, Barty" Matt said. "Thanks for everything."

Then Matt's heart sank as he turned and saw Karen drop her bag on the floor, destroying their message. Matt fell to the floor, tears rolling down his cheeks. All hope was lost. Barty ran out from under the couch, screeching at Karen.

"Eeew, a bug!" Said Karen.

Matt watched in horror as all life was crushed out of Barty as he was stepped on my Karen. Karen walked off into her bedroom to get ready for her shower. Matt sprinted to the body of his lifeless friend.

"Stay with me buddy come on, you're stronger than this."

There was no response. He was dead.