“A psychopath is an egotistic person with a lack of remorse and empathy.” Noel whispered to himself as he walked through the valley that was once his living room.

He was wondering if that description would fit Maudie. Serial killers always start out hurting smaller creatures, and the same could be said for her. It was hard for him to think about his roommate that way. She had always been a bit of a bully, but seemed to have a good heart.

“Maybe she has rules.” Noel theorized to himself. “Rules not to hurt people, and her definition of what makes someone a person is just messed up.”

Noel pulled up his sleeves. He wasn’t going to wait around for Maudie to step on him. He gathered everything he could find; a broken toothpick, a used tissue and some crumbs. With the tissue and toothpick he build a little hideout underneath the couch, where he would hide his supply of crumbs.

After a long day of work he could hear the front door open. Noel could hear Maudie taking off her shoes, and felt a slight vibration on the floor with each step she took.

“Noel, we need to talk.” She said as she entered the living room. She froze when she saw his clothes next to coffee table.

“Fuck!” Maudie yelled. “Why did you have to shrink so soon?”

She carefully searched through his clothes trying to find him. “Where are you?”

The young woman looked around. “I just want to talk.” She said.

Noel didn’t know what to think. Did she just request a short talk before she would start hunting him? Maudie had always been honest to him, so he decide to trust her. As soon as he walked out from under the couch. He realized she probably didn’t think of him as ‘him’ anymore.

Maudie’s eyes fell on her tiny friend, and at this moment Noel couldn’t turn back.

She smirked. “Bug or not you’ll always too gullible for your own good.”

She walked over to him. Noel’s heart raced as he looked at the giant being that was his best friend. Her feet landed on either side of him. They didn’t look soft anymore. Noel could smell their subtle stench, as he looked up at her legs. the shape and texture of her skin, so much bigger.

“Come on, aren’t you going to beg?” She asked.

Not planning on giving her the satisfaction Noel yelled up at her. “Your feet smell!”

“Which one?” She asked as she placed one of her feet on top of his little body. “This one?”

Her friend screamed as her cold hard skin pressed him against the ground.

Noel tried to talk to her . “How can… you be so… This morning… you were crying.”

“I was crying cause I was going to lose my friend.”

“But… I’m still…”

“Ow, just shut up already. You’re a bug now.” Maudie slightly twist her foot.

“Can’t I… be both?”

She takes her foot off him. “You don’t get it do you. Look at me, you are nothing compared to me. Our power difference is too big. Rules of nature bug. You died when you shrank.”

Maudie blushed a little. “You know you should be thankful your attractive friend is doing the job, could be worse.”

Thinking this might be his last chance to confess Noel screamed at the top of his lungs “I’m in love with you!”

For a second Maudie hesitated, surprised and caught off guard. She raised her foot over him one last time. “Just die already.”

Noel couldn’t believe her cold-heartedness. He knew she had it in her to crush him, but not this way, not with these words, not with this indifference.

Blood filled his mouth as his ribs broke. The tiny guy cried as he took his last breath of foot odor before the pain ended and everything faded to black.

To Maudie it was simply a step and grind. She always loved this part, but this time she wasn’t smiling. She had just lost her best friend, and in her mind it was the disease that killed him, not her.