Opening my eyes I can see that I’m in a situation that I’m getting a little too familiar with. I’m back on the coffee table under the glass that distorts my view of the outside world.  I stand up and try to make out what exactly is going on when the table beneath me vibrates from the footsteps of what I have to assume is Dakota. My glass imprisonment is lifted and I’m shocked at what I see. Ana sitting on her couch looking at me with a carnivorous smile.

“Wha.. what?!” I yell, “How?! Where is Dakota?!”

“Oh” she says playfully as if I startled her, “it seems my little toy boy wants to talk to me now.  You seems so intent on hiding from me this morning but when you want some you acknowledge my existence! Typical man.” The end of her sentence is dripping with disdain. It’s not just me she’s talking to on this table.

“You know I even went out of my way to do take on some of your work while you were off ‘sick’.” She giggles as she uses air quotes. “I do all this for you and what’s the first thing you tell me when I see you, a ‘hey thanks for taking care of me Ana!’ or a ‘or thanks for not squishing me for hiding from you!’, No! You ask about some other woman! For someone who wants to remain faithful you sure do have a lot of girl friends!”

“I don’t owe you anything!” I say defiantly back to her, “Look at me! I’m supposed to be thanking you for this? And speaking of my girlfriend, I would…”

“ENOUGH” she yells and slams her fist on the table. The force of her fist shakes the table and my body all the way to its core. “Now it’s time you do something for me!” She leans back and places her feet on either side of me each foot creates shockwaves that remind me of actual place in this world now.

“Walking back and forth between our desks doing YOUR work has gotten my feet extra tired. I want you to rub them for me.”

 I can feel the heat emanating from her feet from where I am but pales in comparison to the smell. I remember massaging Katie’s feet when I was normal, her feet never seemed to smell or at least it never bothered me. Ana’s on the other hand are extremely pungent, and because of my small stature the scent of her feet is overwhelming me. 

I hesitate at first but remember the force of her fist on the table. “I guess I don’t really have a choice in the matter” I think to myself. I begin by placing my hands on her heel and immediately notice is quite soft “she must take good care of her feet” I muse.

“I can hardly feel you down there” she scoffs from the couch. “if you can’t even do this why the hell do I keep you around?!”

I begin to push harder into the soft sole of my captor, coupled with the heat from her foot I begin to sweat. Looking up I can see that her toes hang over my head wiggling. There’s no way I can keep this up I just started and I’m beat and there’s a whole other foot to do. I put my arms on her sole and rest my head on my arms trying to get some of my strength back.

“Aww” she says from above, “you mean to tell me that you are done already?! I was just about to say how good of a job you are doing? If you can’t do this…” as she says this, her foot shifts and I’m pinned to the table. My overtaxed senses can’t process everything that’s happening to me. The one thing that can’t ignore is the immeasurable weight that is being put on my legs by Ana’s heel.  After the first few minutes the only thing I could feel was a sharp pain that was greater than anything I’ve ever experienced.

“Whoops,” she taunts lifting her foot off of me, “I guess I was a little too rough huh?”

I can’t find any strength to speak so I look up at this goddess of death as she takes her other foot off the table and covers me in her shadow.

“I have no use of a broken toy.” I can see her turning her hand into a fist and like a flash it was upon me…

I open my eyes and they are instantly filled with a white light.

“Am.. am I dead?” I say outloud.

“No!” I hear a a voice giggling from above, “of course not, I was in the middle of explaining to you the current situation of my research and what it means to you and you fainted.”

As everything starts to come into focus I can see that I’m in a Tupperware looking container inside of Dakota’s lab, but Dakota’s gigantic form dominates most of my view

“Well…” I say up to her “now that you have officially seen me at my most vulnerable, do you think cut my some slack and get me in touch with my girlfriend? Also how hell did you know where I was?”

“Ah, yes” she says smiling “well to answer the latter, it was your girlfriend who contacted me. She was quite upset and confused at what was going on so I explained to her about your accident and said I would retrieve you from Ana’s…”

“Retrieve?” I call up to her, “you know a guy could develop a complex being talked about like he was item you know!”

“I take it you would have preferred I use rescued instead?” she responds and I nod smiling.

“Anyways…” she continues, “as I was saying, She knew that Ana had you, which by the way was very resourceful of you to send out that email. I don’t know if I would or even could act the same way in a similar situation. In fact, it makes me want to field study on surpassing one’s limits in survival situations when I get to take my next sabbatical from the company.”

“That’s all well and good” I say, “and I’d be glad to be the first subject of that study but I would really like you finish up you work here and return me to normal! So what happened next?”

“After I found out who you were with,” she goes on, “It didn’t take much to find her information from the payroll database, and you know the rest.”

My world shakes as Dakota lifts up my plastic container and heads over to her work desk. The rocking back and forth is something I just don’t think I could get used to.

“Do you think you can give me a warning next time you plan on doing that?!” I yell up to her as she puts down my container on her desk.

“I’m sorry” she says apologetically, “I was trying to hold it as stationary as possible, but I need you here on my desk so I can start running tests.”

“Tests?!” I scream, “What kind of tests did you have in mind? I hope you don’t plan on sticking any needles in me Dakota!”

“No of course not” she says calmly, “Besides, if I were to draw the amount of blood that I would normally need for a test you most likely wouldn’t survive.”

“Oh that makes me feel better.” I say sarcastically.

“Its just some brief exams to scan you of your radiation levels.” She says, “The sooner I can figure out how to properly depose all of the miniaturizing radiation the soon you can return to normal.”

“And you CAN do it right?” I hesitantly ask, “I’m not going to be at this stuck like this?”

“For the moment yes unfortunately.” She says, “I have to analyze the results of your scans, run multiple virtual trials before we even attempt any tests on you. Besides the condition your body is in at the moment you probably wouldn’t survive any kind of growth.”

“I see,” I say, “so what is the time table for all of this?”

“At the very least,” she responds, “4 days, but that is if everything goes perfectly.”

“OK” I say, “so am I going to just wait here in this Tupperware thing until you are finished? You could have at least put something here for me to use as a bathroom. And I’m still pretty hungry, a man can not live off of bread crumbs alone you know!”

“You aren’t staying here” she smiles down at me “have you seen my desk? After a few hours I would probably lose you!”

She giggles and this leaves me a little unsettled.

“and I’m sure you are going to enjoy the alternative housing option anyways” she finished saying this just the door of her lab opens.

“Ah just in time!” she says, “Hello Ms. Palermo!”

I turn around to see the most beautiful woman that I thought I would never see again!

 “KATIE!!” I scream, almost bringing myself to tears.