I was awoke from my semi-sleep daze by a tremor, the stale confines of the labyrinthine sock providing a poor spot for rest. My entire world was thrown into chaos as the ground shifted underneath me, as the fabric shifted around me, the floor gave way, allowing me to slide down the fabric, the almost rope like fibres burning my naked body. I came to rest on a particularly thick seem, which appeared to be the toe section. The gaps in the fibres allowing just enough space to have a window out of the prison, the body of my captress dominating the view.
"Huh? Mayi where are you?" the voice of Jie, my "qingfu", muffled just minutely by the fabric echoed out. Her eyes scanned the floor, eventually coming to rest on the toe section of her sock. "Oh, here you are, how did you get inside my sock? Trying to escape?" with her other hand, she pinched the ground I was sitting on, the fabric giving way and folding onto itself, the hand supporting the neck of the sock released, followed by the all to familiar feeling of sliding down the woollen cave. I landed with a firm thud on her waiting palm, her soft skin providing a cushion.
"Hah, never mind, today I will teach you about being inside my shoe WITH my foot! It will be fun!"
What!? Was she serious? It was bad enough being inside her shoe alone! I started imagining all the situations that could unfold, being crushed, the heat, the sweat, oh god no. I was so weak though, my body was rubbed raw, the closest thing to food I have eaten in three days is a mushy cornflake. Her hand was brought down and I was deftly placed on the carpet, the fibres coming up to my thighs, I looked up, she was wearing a skirt, the kind that gave me direct line of sight to her panties, under different circumstances I might have liked the view, but the fact she didn't even think highly of me enough to be modest was crushing. Look past her... panties, her face was plastered with the grin that never meant good... for me.
"All Chinese girls keep slaves in shoe, best way to transport, and also already at feet, you need to learn how to survive."
I gulped, what did she mean... survive? She put her food forward, directly in front of me, the black polish on her nails missing, replaced with the ivory translucent natural colour, they also looked to be cleaner, the little mercies.
"Crawl between them."
I sighed, I might as well comply, making this going on any longer than it had to was definitely not good. I walked between her second and third toes, the gap between the just enough for me to squeeze into, I walked right to the fleshy section, the gentle slope sticky with sweat, but relatively lint free. "Hold on, I am putting on my socks". I grabbed as tightly to the slope as possible, wedging myself as much as I could. As she bent down, her face growing closer and closer, her toes angled up slightly, so much that my feet were off the ground, seconds later I was plunged into darkness, the toes wiggling and shifting to get a good purchase inside the sock, thankfully a fresh one. I sat there, squeezed between the two fleshy monoliths, the sock blocking the majority of the light out. As she took a step, the toes rose up, pulling me with them, their fleshy hug like being stuck between two punching bags. The motion of the step flung me into her foot, the inertial wedging me even deeper between them, as her foot came to rest, I was flung in the opposite direction, the jolt almost dislodging me, I crawled up so only my legs were wedged between the toes, hugging the slope of her foot. This was going to be rough.
"Okay, I think we are ready for the walk now! It will only be short."
I had spent the last five minutes stuck insider her shoe, she was just pacing around the room,trying to get me used to the motion, as if it would be any less gut wrenching. the heat increased the moment she put it on and it only got worse from there, the light was completely out, and all sounds were muffled, all I could do was shift around inside trying not to get stepped on.
"Okay Mrs Johnston I am going for a walk."
I could barely hear the words, if mom replied I had no idea, the only sound being the sound of the twisting leather and the muffled thump every time her behemoth foot hit the ground, the force being absorbed into her legs, so high above. As the walk continued, I noticed the pores on and between her toes begin to perspire, tiny drops of sweat began to form around the toes, instantly increasing the humidity of the cramped room. The heat continued to rise, too, the closest thing I could compare it to is being inside a sleeping bag in the middle of Louisiana, the uncomfortable wetness dribbling down my body, the smell increasing as well. The smell of stale socks and linty toes is unpleasant, but the smell, directly between the hot fuming toes is unbelievable, even my nose blindness was no help, the toxic environment becoming more toxic by the minute. How long had she been walking? 5 minutes? 10? It was impossible to tell, time losing all meaning. Pieces of lint began to cling to me and the toes, their fibres bundling up, held together by acrid sweat, which, by the way, was almost poring out of the pores now, the space between her toes becoming slick, I couldn't hold on, the incessant beating and teetering was too much, I slipped off, down, between her toes. I knew she noticed me, her toes wouldn't stop molesting me, wiggling me, perhaps trying to get me back between them, all I knew is that if these socks were fresher, they wouldn't stick to her sole as much and I would roll straight underneath and die in a single step, not that in the other direction, the bulbous ends of her toes wouldn't make quick work of me. Finally, she stopped, and I began to hear voices high above. I could just make them out.
"Evening Miss, I believe you are an exchange student here, yes?"
"Well it is holidays so I don't have much school, but yes, what is going on officer?"
"Mrs Johnston has filed a missing persons report for her son, Tom" her toes instantly locked down on me, prodding and poking me, I can only assume she was grinning. "When was the last time you saw Tom?"
"It was Friday night, he was sleeping on the couch, he wakes up earlier than everyone so I though he went to a friend's house."
"Well no one has seen Tom in three days, cases like this, it was usually due to the shrinking virus, its possible he has been stepped on by now."
"Oh no! That is so sad. If I find anything I will call the police immediately!" I wanted to cry, she was an evil, cold hearted bitch. As she walked up the stairs to the house, I began to scream, I doubt she even heard me.
Jie congratulated me on how well I did, she said that I needed to work on it though, but for now she was happy. After that, she gave me a piece of grape to eat and decided that we would do something "relaxing", for her, I guess.
"I will paint finger nails and you paint toes nails, seems fair, right Mayi?"
"Y-yes, qingfu"
"Okay! I think I want... hmm... blue today, here is your brush."
My "brush" was several strands pulled from the head of her nail polish brush, it was almost as long as my arm, and was quite unwieldy. I walked over to the nail polish, Jie graciously provided a small cap to be palette. The acrid, chemically smell giving me a headache, I dipped the brush into the cap, the thick goo sticking to the ends of the brush making it even heavier. I walked over to her big toe, the one closest to the cap. Standing in front of it, I was just eye level with the nail, which was almost two inches thick by the way. I managed to scramble up, using the tiny prints as foot holds, the ivory plate of the toe nail the size of three ping-pong tables lined up next to each other. Looking right I saw her other toes, greedily waiting for my affection, to the left was a giant balled up tissue, separating her toes, looking up, Jie idly painting her finer nails, it looked like she had already finished a few before I had even started. I got the work, the brush strokes building up each other, the smell acerbating my head ache, almost to the point of not being able to breath. I soldier on, even with a head full of stars. Periodically I needed to return to the cap to get more and more of the dreaded goo, all for the entertainment of some teenage girl who didn't even see me as human. I looked up, she had long ago finished her task, now she was browsing on her phone, occasionally giggling and wiggling her toes, threatening to throw me off. Finally, I finished, it took me well over two hours, and my back was killing me.
"Very good job Mayi, now, you are almost done for today!" Almost... ugh.
"Jiaoyazi" I repeated feebly
"No! Say it like me "Jiǎoyāzi"" Jie had decided that it made no sense to speak the language of her slave, so I had to learn her's "not too hard, only foot related, you won't need much else." as if that made me feel better. Right now she was telling me about the word for foot. I guess it didn't matter too much if I could say it, it was so I could recognise orders from her.
"Jiǎoyāzi" I repeated, trying to match her best.
"Good enough, now, Jiǎozhǐ, means toe"
"Jiǎozhǐ" after speaking to her so long, I had naturally adjusted my voice to be louder, but I suspected she could still barely hear me.
"Good! Very fast learner. Okay, now Tiǎn, it means lick." I shuddered to think of the future implications of the word. I tried not to think about, my future prospects were not bright, but the more of these thoughts I had, the worse it got. I imagined myself going back to China, watching her life go on, relegated to licking her foot and painting her nails. Maybe she would get bored of me, stomping on me as a bit of fun after I was so mundane to her, or maybe I would be with her until she was an old woman, which I doubted, I wouldn't live to eighty if I was breathing in her toes for the rest of my life.
"T-tian" I was coughing, clearly not over my stint with the nail polish.
"No, Tiǎn, Tiǎn"
"Tiǎn"
"Yes! Okay, now Mayi, your name!"
"Mayi" I cringed at the thought of being Mayi in her head, her little pet, Mayi, how cute, he is so obedient, look at all the tricks he can do.
"Mayi means ant, I thought it was a good name, because you look like an ant with your black hair!" Oh god, it really means "ant"? I guess that's what I am now, a bug, not a real person.
"When you meet my friends, you need to say "Nǐ hǎo! Wǒ jiào Mayi!", they will be so impressed!" So the whole point of this lesson is revealed, to be a show off to her friends back home, teach the little white boy to speak Chinese, I named him ant! So funny, ha ha, lick our feet you little bug, you're not a real person. Oh god, why? Why me? Why can't I have been found by my sister? I might be small for the rest of my life, and go to some tiny boarding school, but not this, spending the rest of my life as the obedient slave of some Chinese girl who calls me ant and makes me eat lint covered cereal.
"Okay, enough Chinese today. You are such a good boy! No whining like yesterday. I think you deserve a little reward." She gave me a smile, a genuine one, not her evil grin, she really was proud of me. I might as well accept my reward, take "the little victories" after all... That's probably what she thought of me, a little victory.