"Thanks," said the woman as she grabbed her salad off the counter and brought it to her seat.  Thomas felt the salad bowl he was in start to move, and then descend a bit. The girl was carrying her plate lightly pushed up against her abdomen, so staring up, all Thomas saw were her breasts taking up most of his view. He was unable to see who it was that was going to be the one to end his life. But it's not like it mattered. Thomas had given up, there was no way he was going to get out of this. He was now in the dining room, away from anyone he knew. Even if by the impossible chance someone noticed him for a human, there's no telling what would happen since they wouldn't even know who he was. But that was pointless thinking, Thomas wasn't human anymore.

The girl set her plate down at the table and looked down at her food, ready to dig in. When she did so, for the first time in a long time, Thomas showed any sense of humanity, shock at what he was seeing. Of all the salads that were made, for all the hundreds of people who came in today, he happened to wind up in the food of someone he knew, someone who actually worked here before. Thomas was staring up at the face of his previous co-worker Kat, but his shock soon faded as he saw grab a fork in her hand. It didn't matter who it was. Thomas was simply food.

Kat had used to work at this place about a year ago, but she still occasionally went back there to get food every now and then. She still kept in touch with a few of the people that worked here, Thomas being one of them. She was half-hoping she would see him today, as they hadn't talked in a while, but it seemed that he was off today. She figured she would just text him later today or something. Whenever, they were cool, but they weren't the best of friends. Of course, Kat had no idea that by digging into her salad, she was condemning the same person she was just thinking about to a fate he never thought he would have to encounter.

Thomas felt a tinge of humor at the contrast that was the larger-than-life, bubbly, happy, face of Kat staring down at him next to the gigantic, four-pronged steel tipped death stick know as a fork heading right for him. But he didn't budge an inch. If it was going to stab him, then he'd die. At this point Thomas was hoping that would be the case, but he knew it wouldn't. Nothing had hurt him thus far, why would anything do so now? But, that made him wonder...what would happen? Now was not the time to find out, as the giant fork missed Thomas and entered into the salad to his left. It got under him and tossed him and the lettuce he was on far away amidst the salad. Flicked away like the tiny bit of food he was, Thomas went sailing inside the bowl and landed atop a humongous crouton. 

The crouton itself was like a wide empty field to Thomas, a dark, tan color, covered in bumpy hills and deep holes. Thomas' admiration for nature was short-lived as the fork returned and once again tossed him and crouton elsewhere in the salad. Looking back up, Thomas saw Kat wasn't even looking at her salad anymore. Instead, the sky was replaced with a large black object she was fixated on. Kat was on her phone surfing the web with on hand, and randomly stabbing her salad with the other. She was pretty hungry, she didn't really care what she was eating, as long as it tasted good and got in her mouth, she was fine. She took a quick glance down at her food, and saw a lone crouton sitting there. She wanted it. She kabobed a few pieces of lettuce, squished on the crouton, and got ready to eat it.

Thomas' view of Kat was cut short as the salad was tossed around again, knocking him down on his stomach. While in the process of getting up, a flying crouton landed right down on poor Thomas. Although made of bread and extremely light, a crouton can be quite heavy for someone the size of a crumb. So heavy, in fact, that Thomas was simply mashed under it, and had no chance of getting out from under it. Luckily for him though, those holes in it stopped him from becoming a crumb pancake. There was pressure, of course, but fate was not having Thomas die in this way, much to Thomas' disappointment. Thomas lay underneath the boulder on top of him, until he felt a familiar force pushing down on him, squeezing him more into the folds of the crouton. As such, when the crouton was lifted up after being impaled by the fork, Thomas was lifted up along with it.

For the first time since this whole ordeal started, Thomas felt equal with another human being. He was able to look Kat in the eye directly. At least, he liked to think he did, it made him feel better. Thomas wasn't really looking at Kat's eye. He was looking at her glossy lips, the entrance to her carnivorous maw, the very place he was level with, and his next destination. Thomas could do nothing but stare as he saw her shiny lips part, revealing the grim truth that lay behind them. Strings of saliva hung from tooth to tooth, breaking apart in an instant once they reached their limit. Portions of caeser dressing lay spread across her moist tongue, painting in a different color, but was soon washed away as the saliva did it's job. In her molars he could see mashed up bits of crouton and lettuce sitting there, waiting to join their brothers. A small piece of food was stuck in between her second and third teeth. Despite everything that had happened to him so far, Thomas knew one thing. He was staring at the face of death.

As her maw opened up more, and Thomas felt himself being moved closer and closer towards it, it made him realize something. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to live like this. This whole time everything was out of his control, but was it really? Or did Thomas just not try hard enough to get out of the situations? He himself realized he had done much of anything lately, just let things happen time and time again. Not anymore. Thomas wasn't about to let this happen. Thomas wasn't going to give up. Thomas wasn't going to be eaten without even trying to save himself. Not anymore. Thomas readied himself, and with everything he had to offer, shouted "KAT!" at the top of his lungs." The fork stopped. Her mouth closed, and Thomas saw her face look away from her phone. 

He did it. Thomas had done it. He felt happier than he ever did this entire day. This was it, he was going to be saved. With the biggest smile on his face that there ever was, Thomas prepared once more to shout up to Kat, to let him know where he was. Thomas noticed Kat's head tilt slightly to her right, and a smile grew on her face, proceeded by a friendly wave. Looking over, Thomas saw why. As it turns out, Kat did not hear Thomas' pitiful excuse for attention. At the same time, a friend of Kats was passing by and said hey to her, to which she responded with a nice smile and a friendly wave. 

Thomas was speechless. He had nothing to say. He simply looked forward again, and saw Kat's cavern of a mouth open up again, showing the same deathly details it had before. Thomas was wrong. He thought by simply shouting he could get someone's attention. But that simply wasn't the case. Thomas was much too insignificant for that to happen. He was doomed to live like this, however short that would be as he approached her maw once more. 

Kat shoved the food that was on her fork into her mouth, and proceeded to chew it very well. She made sure each piece of lettuce and the crouton were thoroughly mashed and destroyed by her teeth before swallowing them and preparing her next bite. She felt something stuck in her teeth, but didn't bother with it now, she would deal with it later. 

As it turns out, the distraction Kat's friend provided may have saved Thomas' life. He was simply too distraught to notice, but he had been slowly peeling off the crouton for some time. If Kat's friend hadn't appeared, Thomas would have become food, but as luck would have it, he simply fell off the crouton before it reached her mouth. Thomas and a few drops of dressing had ended up falling, all the way down onto the thigh of Kat's pant leg. Thomas now stared up at Kat as she ate her food, but this again was short lived as she soon noticed, and once again, Thomas's sky was field with brown, as Kat used her napkin to clean up some dressing which had spilled on her pants. She then tossed it on her plate and went to finish her salad.

Thomas was picked up by the napkin, getting smeared with more dressing, but at this point, what wasn't he covered in? Thankfully, when she tossed the napkin to her plate, Thomas was dislodged and landed a few inches away from it. Unfortunately, he was in the center of the plate, with the edges far away. It would take him some time to traverse the plate. Time he no longer had as Kat finished the last of her salad. Thomas had only managed to stand up when Kat grabbed her things, and lifted her plate up, causing him to fall down once more. 

Thomas' view was blocked once more as Kat carried her tray over to the waste bin. She placed the salad bowl into the dish tray, before dumping the napkin and other crumbs into the trash can. Once everything was clear, she said her goodbyes and headed off to do her own things. The world had stopped moving for Thomas when Kat lifted the large yellow bowl he had just been in and placed it elsewhere. The world Thomas was on then started to tilt, and Thomas knew exactly where he was heading. Looking down, he confirmed it. He was staring into the depths of dining room trash can. The plate titled more causing Thomas and the other crumbs to slide faster. With nothing to grab onto, Thomas could only wait as he was launched off the end of the plate, and flipped downward into the trash can filled with used napkins, half-eaten food, and other things he didn't want to know about. 

Thankfully for Thomas, the trash can was mostly filled, but it was still quite a drop for one as small as Thomas. He landed in the napkin he had just been tossed with and looked up, getting a short glance of Kat as she was leaving. His vision was soon replaced by disembodied hands dropping more debris inside of his new home. Soiled napkins, giant plastic cups, used lemons, scraps of food. All of it rained down upon Thomas in the next few minutes that passed. Thomas knew that the safest place to be in this trash can out be the far side, as the hole caused food pile up on one side. Thomas rushed his way over there, but not before someone dropped an open cup of soda into the trash, spilling it over Thomas, coating him in even more sticky solutions. 

Thomas sat in the corner of the garbage can. It had happened. He was trash. He was garbage. There was no denying it. Kat had thrown him in here along with the other trash. He was being bombed with more scraps as time passed. He was no longer human, he was trash meant to be taken to the dumpster. And that's exactly where he was going to end up, and he knew it. Thomas didn't mind the garbage so much, he had been covered in worse things already, but the smell bothered him the most. A combination of all sorts of old food that had been sitting here for hours, and various sugary drinks made for one nasty odor. But there was nothing he could do about it, this was his home. 

It was ironic that the place Thomas has been the most relaxed thus far was the only place he didn't want to end up. But as if to taunt him, the second he was starting to get comfortable, things changed. The entire trash can started shaking around, causing the pile by the hole to collapse, and fall right towards Thomas. He could do nothing but watch as the mountain of discarded food fall towards him. He was pelted with bits of deli meat and lettuce, napkins bounced off of him, more liquid than he could ever want spilled over him. He was garbage the second he fell into this place, but now he at least looked and smelled the part. But this was the least of his issues. 

When the trash avalanche subsided and the garbage leveled out, Thomas was unburied and could once again breath. The light from the ceiling shone upon him, previously being blocked by the case the trash was in. Once he adjusted to the light he saw what caused the disturbance. His coworker, Danielle, working in the dining room, had come to change the trash bag. Danielle's nose winced at the smell of the trash, but otherwise made no indication about it, because why would she? It was simply trash meant to be thrown away. 

Thomas saw Danielle lift the edges of the trash bag from the can, and noticed all the garbage start to converge into the middle. Danielle was a pretty petite girl, but she still had the strength to lift the large bag of garbage out of the can, and set it on the ground. Thomas' world was rocked once more as the bag was lifted and dropped to the ground, causing him and other trash to be tossed around. Thomas looked up once more as Danielle's face appeared, looking down at him and the other garbage with complete disinterest, as she quickly tied the bag shut, sealing Thomas in, and sealing his fate. 

Danielle quickly replaced the can with another trash bag, before grabbing the large bag of trash she just removed, and half-dragged it to the bag. She discarded the bag on the ground, it's weight causing it to tip on it's side, as she left and went back to work. As the trash bags were starting to grow in number, it was about time to toss them all into the dumpster out back. Ruth, the dishwasher, and one responsible for taking the garbage out back, opened up the back door and started tossing the bags outside.