I woke in a new room for the third time in a week. In the distance I could hear a lot of talking, but the room I was in was empty. It looked like a living room, but as I had found out a lot this week at my size things look weird. I focused on what form I was taking now. Once again I was flat on my back looking straight up. I felt softer this time, all the other times I didn’t really take in just how hard skinned I’d become, but now I felt really soft. My body was a baby blue colour that seemed to extend down me. Given I could see other parts of my body, I guessed my perception was back in the heel part of the insole. The whole heel part of me had no walls or straps, but further down me towards the toe end I saw a canopy. If I was made to guess, I’d say I’d become a slipper.

“Honestly, you didn’t even look” A voice from behind yelled. Before me two giant legs stomped past, bare feet slapping the hard surface of the room. It took a while to realise it was Katey, who still seemed to be in her nightie. Some mental calculations told me that today was Sunday, I guessed Katey was just having a lazy day. As she leaned over a chair, I took the chance to get a good look at the feet I’d be under for the next two days. They were a bit coarse, somewhere between Ashley and Sarah’s. There was some dirt on them, probably from walking around the house barefoot. I waited for Katey to look at me before putting me on, but instead she grabbed what looked like a shirt off the back of a chair and stomped out of the room.

I found it a bit odd that I had been awoken, presumably that was in the control of whoever had the box, but Katey did not seem interested in putting me on. I guess I shouldn’t complain, it’s not as if I want to be worn, but it is useful to break up the monotony of just existing which is all I could do without movement. Still not doing anything like this wasn’t too bad. I was nice and soft, and without being worn there was no stink hanging around me. I prepared to drift off again before I heard Katey shout from the other room.

“Go and get Mummy’s slippers from the living room, Sasha”

After few seconds I heard rumblings of someone approaching. A hand loomed towards me and grabbed the top of my body, squeezing it uncomfortably. I was held before the giant face of a small girl aged around 6 or 7, who looked at me quizzically.

“Is it the blue ones you want?” She yelled, the loud high pitched voice made my ears ring… well whatever I had instead of ears like this.

“Yes” came the reply from the unseen location. I was then carried by an eager little girl to meet the feet I’d be under. She ran so quickly, I couldn’t keep up and it was only when she stopped and held me towards Katey that I realised I was now in a kitchen.

“Thank you dear” Katey said, taking me from her. The way Katey looked at me, it wasn’t with recognition like Ashley or curiosity like Sarah, but just passively. As if she didn’t recognise my humanity.

“Are they new?” Katey’s daughter, who I took to be Sasha asked “Only you usually have pink ones”

“Yes, they’re sort of new” Katey said, dropping me to the floor. I bounced upon hitting the floor and landed face down. I could see dirt and crumps on the linoleum before something unseen flipped me over. When I was right side up, I saw it was Katey’s foot. Looking up, she wasn’t even looking at me. “I’m just testing them out”

As she said that, her foot gently entered the canopy at the end of my body, then her heel came to rest on top of me. She then adjusted and stuck her other foot in my other half. The pressure that was so uncomfortable before was manageable as my body moulded to suit her feet. I heard a sigh of pleasure from above and I almost felt like giving one out. After the last four days, this was the best I’ve felt with a foot in me…

***

I spent the most part of my first morning beneath Katey in the kitchen as she made breakfast for her family. The smells of fried bacon and eggs wafted down to me and made me regret this whole thing. I would kill for some real food, all I’ve had to taste for the last few days has been foot dirt and sweat. A feeling not helped by Katey wiggling her toes in me.

What was with her ignoring me? Was it because her kids were around, the same way Sarah did around her boyfriend. But she was alone with me in the living room before, she could have at least looked at me. It made me feel so worthless. It’s not as if my self-worth was through the roof anyway as Katey’s soles pressed into me.

A week ago if you’d told me that I’d be the slipper of a thirty-five year old mother of three I’d have called the nut house. To me Humies were something completely foreign. I still had no idea why I agreed to this, no amount of time off was worth this, I was nothing, worse than nothing, I’m a thing! I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t talk, no wonder Katey looked at me like just another shoe, that’s all I am right now. I snapped myself out of it, I was getting awfully melancholic just because Katey didn’t look at me. Was I that precious that I’d question my own dignity over being ignored? I just had to put up with a few more days and I’d be scot free, I wouldn’t have to see any of the team again and that was fine by me.

Katey called for her family once breakfast was done as she carried plates to the breakfast table, I noticed just how gentle her walk was. I didn’t know whether to attribute to Katey herself or just the fact that this was a lazy Sunday. It was certainly a welcome change from the last few days, especially yesterday when Sarah ran in me. I still didn’t feel totally right after that.

As Katey ate with her family, she slipped her feet out of me. I was now underneath the table with all the other family member’s shoes. I wondered what it would be like if any of them were Humies. Would we have some way of connecting, of communicating? Before I could fully question the idea of developing some sort of fraternal bond with other Humies, some who chose this life voluntarily, Katey’s feet re-entered my body. Breakfast, and by extension my break, was over and it was time to be underfoot again.

Katey spent the day doing chores, with me placed duly under her. Katey’s feet weren’t great tasting by any means, they were stale and I could feel bits of dead skin around the edge of the heel, but thankfully she wasn’t sweating. Although I did notice the lack of sweat created a great dryness in me. The coarseness of the foot began to grate on me throughout the day as Katey would sometimes be stood on me for hours at a time. Every now and then, the foot would release its pressure on me and she’d stoke my body with her toes. As she did this, the gunk from between them would come loose and I’d get an awful taste.

It felt my time under Katey was far longer than any individual stint as a shoe. I sat beneath three meals, forced to smell the delicious foot being cooked up while I consisted on my diet of toejam and dried skin. It finally seemed like it would soon be time that I would get some rest after Katey put her children to bed, but I remained under her for hours afterwards. As she went up to bed, I felt sure it was time. Katey and I had been inseparable today, I’d even been to the bathroom with her. Luckily she kept her feet flat over my line of sight during that time. Even as I felt her clamber into bed, I was still being worn. She was lying atop the covers, with me just on her feet. Was she going to fall asleep with me on? The sound of feminine snoring confirmed it. I wouldn’t be getting any rest tonight as there were still two feet inside my body. Was she doing this on purpose or had she genuinely forgot I was alive down here. I didn’t know which situation would be worse…

***

The whole night I stayed on Katey’s feet as she tossed and turned in her sleep. In the night, it started to get warm and as a result her feet began to sweat. The already stale taste got worse as her feet moistened in the heat. I regretted my earlier mental complaints about the dry taste, as if some sort of karma heard me and punished me. After hours and hours an electronic ringing emanated across the room and I felt conscious movement once more.

“Oh not again” I heard Katey tiredly moan as she leaned up. She wagged her ankles and I was thrown off of her feet onto the floor next to the bed. Not exactly the best good morning I’d ever had, but I was glad to be off her feet after nearly a whole day pressed up against them. I was mentally drained and I hoped that I would get to stay a slipper today. It was Monday and I could just be left here o recover.

No such luck as Katey returned to my view, with my box in her hands. She glanced at me, once again without a hint of recognition, then at the panel which controlled me. She pressed a few buttons on the panel then I began to feel wibbly. This was the first time I had ever been changed while I was aware, it was almost fascinating to experience the change. My body stiffened, the light blue fluff that surrounded me was replaced with a black matte rubbery plastic. The canopy at the end of my body disappeared and it it’d place two straps shot out of the side of my body and met near my toe section. Now that I had witnessed a change, I felt confident about what form I’d taken. I was a pair of black flip flops.

Katey raised an eyebrow slightly then left my view again. A smile wouldn’t have killed her, I thought darkly. I guessed I wouldn’t be getting any rest then. In the distance I heard the shower go as I presumed Katey was finishing her morning routine. A, now towel clad, titan then popped into my field of vision as she reached down and curled her fingers around my straps. She carried me outside of the bedroom and threw me to the ground and shut the door.

Well if she’s creating privacy from a shoe, she must realise I’m alive. So she’s treating me this way on purpose. My mind filled with all sorts of abusive names for Katey, but nothing changed the fact that I was going to be worn again very soon and I had no real break. I was sick of looking at feet all day and being pressed down into the ground. Though it was day six for me now, I was past half way. I’d gotten over the summit and it was downhill from here.

Katey emerged from her room in a white t-shirt and vivid blue jeans. Without a cursory glance she slipped her feet into me. I felt a tight grip between her big and second toes as she secured me to her foot. She showed good control as I stayed parallel to her sole as she took a step. I was glad she knew how to walk in flip flops. When I changed into this form, I had a little flash of my last time at a beach and seeing people walking around in flip flops, the shoe slapping the bottom of their feet as hey walked.

I was under Katey for the school run and the drive to work ad was glad to finally be in the office where I could just wait for the day to be over beneath her desk. Perhaps she’d take me off and I could get a bit of rest. I had no such luck. Unlike Ashley or Sarah, Katey didn’t seem to go in for the whole cross your legs thing and instead sat with both feet on the ground. I was pinned under Katey’s soles, with no real pressure on me, just face to face with the feet I had grown so weary of.

Hours passed and I was still underfoot, not so much as a twitch from Katey. It was so boring, I felt like I could draw Katey’s sole perfectly from memory like this. If I could move… and had arms. Finally her foot moved a little as she got up. That was by far the longest day I’d had as a shoe. As I was stepped on further I heard something which made me sink. This wasn’t the time she went home, this was the cafeteria. It was only lunch!

At the lunch table, Katey finally seemed to cross her legs as I got to see something other than her sole for once. I was underneath the table with two other pairs of legs, one I recognised very well. Ashley’s legs were hanging down from her stool as she was wearing a pair of sandals not unlike the pair I resembled on my first day as a Humie. I found it weird looking at those feet in a different pair of shoes. I grew nostalgic for the days under Ashley, she used to rock me, she used to move about, and Sarah, she dangled me like a pro.

What was I thinking? Was I really looking back fondly at times when I was a shoe? Would I do so after this whole experience was over? I resolved for the first week or two of my break after becoming Human again, I’d drink solidly, see if I couldn’t kill the memory.

The rest of the day underneath Katey dragged by slowly until finally the moment came when Katey got up and drove home. As she re-entered her house, she slipped her feet out of me, leaving me next to a pair of pink slippers, presumably the ones her daughter mentioned yesterday. Casually she grabbed the slippers and left me in the porch with various other shoes. After an hour or two, Katey returned with the box. Finally after nearly two whole days of consciousness I could rest. I gave Katey one last look, hoping to see anything resembling gratitude or acknowledgement, but it remained blank. It would be Jessie or Melanie next, I hoped either of them were willing to treat me as something more than just an object, despite appearances…