Upon entering the hallway for the first time in 6 months I immediately realized 2 things. 1: It was pitch black outside. And 2: it was pouring rain. While each element would cover my travels to wherever I was going, being naked didn't help anything. I decided to weather the storm inside tonight.


I walked to my right, the way I had always heard Zoey's footsteps coming from and the first thing I came across was an apartment was a utility closet. I was pleased to see that the door was open and I shimmied my way inside.


It was dark inside aside from the sliver of light from the hallway but I successfully felt my way into what seemed like a decent hiding spot should Any one happen to open the door, which was lucky, because a moment later I heard footsteps coming from the way I had came.


Zoey.


Judging by the time it has taken, it had been just long enough for her to regret her decision, put some clothes on, and come out looking for me. She neared the closet, and I worked to hide myself further, but she just passed by. It was a little odd, but then again so was she.



I made myself comfortable, realising how late it was. I literally had just sat around all day, but going out in a storm was a shit idea so I decided to gather my thoughts and make a game plan tomorrow.


I faded in and out of sleep over the course of the next 3 hours. Only when I heard footsteps approaching did I wake completely.


This time, the closet door did open, and I could see Zoey's silhouette, soaked to the bone. She only glanced around quickly before she gave a defeated sigh, and walked away, leaving the door wide open. It was a little irritating trying to sleep with the light flooding in, but I made do and passed out for the night.



The next morning, I woke up to find it was still pouring outside. I sat and waited and what I imagine was 45 minutes to an hour later, Zoey passed by again on her way to work.


To set the record straight, I really wasn't hiding from or avoiding her. The fact that she wanted me back was irrelevant. Even if things went horribly for me out here, I couldn't have gone back anyway. This was the first time in 6 months that I had even had a glimpse of freedom, so I couldn't waste it.


Once I was sure she was gone, I climbed out of the closet and made my way to the stairwell. It took some doing, but a half hour later I was on the floor at the front door of her building. . . Now how to open it. . . .



First, I tried outright strength, but I was far too weak. I would have to hide until somebody came in and try to slip out. It seemed like forever before a girl who looked about my age came walking out of her apartment. She had on a rain coat and was holding an umbrella. I hid behind a corner in the wall and watched as she stood by the door, preparing to make a run for her car.


It was crazy to think about, but she was literally the first human I had layed eyes on in person in the last 6 months. It made me think about all my friends and family. Zoey had taken so much from me. Who knows what the final toll actually was of her.


I didn't have time to contemplate it, as the girl made her run. The door swung open far enough, then closed fast, then slowed. I sprinted for the opening and lept for the gap.



I let out a gasp as the cold rain hit me. It was hard to breathe. I hadn't really thought it all the way through, but I was outside at least. First thing first, I had to figure out where I was. I had seen Zoey's address 1 million times before [1427 West Addison street #32] but it never really meant anything to me, but now that I was outside, it seemed somewhat familiar.


I felt like I knew someone in this area, but I couldn't remember who exactly. To keep warm, I began to jog, sticking to the shadows, although there was nobody walking the street at all, possibly because of the rain. I was pretty out of shape, having just lazed around for the last 6 months, so jogging long distance was out of the question.


It took some time, and a lot of hiding from the rain, but eventually I was 5 blocks from Zoey's apartment. That was when I realized who i knew in the area.


Cadence Simpson.


Cadence Simpson was a fellow "struggling artist" I had known since I moved out of my parents house 3 years ago. I say "struggling" because her parents were filthy rich, and Cadence had access to daddy's money when she wanted it. She only struggled when it was convenient for her, and I gave her shit for it constantly.


I was pretty sure she lived in this neighborhood in a renovated warehouse her dad had bought for her, and 3 hours later, I finally saw her Porsche 911 turbo outside on the street. It was going on late afternoon by this time and I was drenched from head to toe.


I had an uncontrollable shiver now, and hypothermia was a real possibility for me. I needed to get inside. I walked up to the heavy front door that led to a walkway for Cadences large apartment. It had a doorbell, but I was far too small to ring it. I did remember there being a swing up window on the side that Cadence left open for her friends when she was out of town.


You had to crawl on your belly to get in when you were full sized, but I easily slipped through at my size. It went into an open room with a few of Cadence's sculptures inside as kind of a cool little gallery. I walked past the items in the room, and out into the hallway. Across it, was the sliding steel door that acted as her front door.


I took a deep breath as I stood outside it. Just as I hadn't seen anyone else in 6 months, I also hadn't talked to anyone else in 6 months. I was seriously nervous. Part of it was straight anxiety but part of it was Cadence's personality. . .


I lifted my hand and was about to knock, when the door slid open before I touched it and I was knocked to the ground by what felt like a tree trunk.


"What the fuck?" Cadences said as she saved herself from falling directly on top of me. She stood up and looked down at me. Her jaw dropped.



She looked like she had seen a ghost. Her face went paler than normal and she took a step back in awe. I was determined for things not to be different between us, so I walked past her and into her apartment.



"Cadence, I'm staying here for awhile." I said matter of factly.


She turned around slowly, a blank look on her face. Forgetting to close the sliding door, she walked to where I was drying myself off with a corner of a blanket on a bench.



"Pre. . Preston, what the fuck!" She said under her breath, her blue eyes burning into me.


"Well are you going to just stand there staring at me, or are you going to close the door and show me to my room?" I asked, smirking.


"Preston. . . You can't be here like this right now! You're. . . You. . ." She stammered.


"I know. . . . It's a long, fucked up story that I will tell you once I warm up and get something to eat." I told her.



"Uhh yeah. . . Something to eat." She said, unsure of what she should make as I followed her deeper into her humble "apartment"


It was more like a suite. It was huge and the perfect blend of high class and industrial.


I couldn't help but let my eyes wander over Cadence's body as she walked. It was a work of art by itself. From top to bottom she had long sandy blonde hair that reached down to the middle of her back. In the front, she always had her bangs over her right eye as part of her style. It was a shame because her eyes were gorgeous.


They had an unnatural electric blue color to them, and I always told everyone they were contacts but I knew it was all her. Down from that she had a cute upturned nose, and for whatever reason, her chubby cheeks were always rosey. Her plump lips usually had red lipstick on them and were forever configured in a slight smirk like she was always the smartest person in the room.



Cadence was a thick girl, but not excessively so. It worked well with her height, which was 5'11. If I was guessing, she probably weight about 170 or 180. I never asked. It's not that she wouldn't straight up tell me if I asked, but that she kind of intimidated me even when I was full size.



She was one of those rough friends who put you in head locks and tried to hit her guy friends in the nuts all the time. She was abbrassive I would say. . . . But she did it on purpose and that was what irritated me about her most times.



I was snapped back into the real world as we reached her kitchen. It was probably the most modern part of her whole place, with all new counter tops and appliances. It was a far cry from what I had grown used to over the last half a year.


I was startled as she turned to face me. .


"So what the hell Preston!? You. . . You disappear out of nowhere for months, then just show up on my door step and you're fucking tiny!?" She said, folding her arms and looking down at me.



"Food first, then the story." I reminded her.


"No. You don't get to just turn up in the middle of a storm, tiny, and expect me just to be ok with it. I want the story now." She stated, now putting her hands on her hips.



I knew I didn't have a choice.



"Ok. . . But just know that it's not really something I WANT to talk about and relive." I said as I climbed up on a stool she had lining a long counter adjacent the kitchen.



And so I began. . . . .





"So wait! What do you mean a "fetish model". . . Like feet or something?" Cadence asked, trying to grasp the concept.


"Yeah. . . It's not ONLY feet though. It could pretty much be anything. " I explained.



"And she makes her own videos, and sells them?"


"Yeah. She has an online store." I answered, as I watched my food cook on the stove.

"What's it called, I NEED to see this!" She responded, getting excited.

"No you don't NEED to see it. She took advantage of me so many times it's not funny. Plus, I know you can't keep your mouth shut about anything." I responded, looking away from her.

"I'm going to find it regardless of what you say. There can't be that many "Zoey's" with fetish stores, can there?" She asked, grinning.

This was typical Cadence. She thrived on doing whatever she knew would bother a person. She was a great and generous friend, but she was also a fucking asshole.

"Is my food ready or what?" I asked, rudely motioning to the stove.

"Just about. . . I just have to add the special ingredient that all the little assholes get!" She said, and she made me flinch as she dangled a loogie over the pot of ramen noodles. My eyes got embarrassingly big when I saw her do this, and she burst out laughing at me.

"You really think I would hock a loogie into your ramen noodles Preston?" She said, her eyes focused on me.

"Yeah! Yes I do. . . ." I answered flatly.

"Meh, you're probably right!" She shrugged. "But since you seem to have had a rough last couple months, I suppose I can let you slide this time. " she finished.



"Can you eat these things whole, or do you want me to cut them for you?" Cadence asked, genuinely.


I only blushed, afraid to ask as she stood in front of me with the bowl-full.


"God, you're so cute when you're all embarrassed like this!" She said as she pulled out a drawer close to her and grabbed a salad chopper. In short order she had my noodles chopped to a manageable size before she dropped the bowl in front of me.


I wolfed them down like I hadn't eaten in days, because honestly I hadn't. Whenever I got into a fight with Zoey, starving me was always part of the punishment whether she was in the wrong or not. Like a well trained husband, I quickly learned just to agree with her from the start when I sensed a fight coming for my own sake.



Cadence just watched me with a mix of pity and distain for the animal I had become. She had no idea what I had been through over the past 6 months.


"Preston. . . . Was it. . . Was it really that bad over there? At that girls apartment?"



Cadence moved the hair out of her face, and stared at me eye to eye.



"Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't." I said, keeping my answer intentionally short.


I could tell it wasn't good enough for her.


"That's it?" She asked, obviously unsatisfied.


"Yeah." I said, as I finished the ramen in record time, wiping my mouth.



"Seriously, I don't want to talk about it." I added.



I knew she would push it and I was right.


"She just starved you or what? "



I sighed a deep sigh.



"More or less. . . . It was punishment for any little infraction. One of the last times. . . She had a bad day at work, which was normal. All I did was not let her get under my skin when she tried to fuck with me. So she goes out and starts cooking right? . . Makes this amazing meal just to spite me. She called me over to where she was eating and acts like she was going to give me this piece of bread. I hate germs and she knows it, so she fucking stuffs the whole piece in her mouth and chews it all to hell. . . . . Then she puts fucking that v8 vegetable juice in her mouth too. . . ."



Cadence cringed. She knew where the story went from there.


"And it wasn't like. . . "Here you go, take a bite". . . She made me eat until it was all gone. . . . It's like eating a solid mass the size of a beach ball." I explained.


"Did you do it?" Cadence asked, completely taken with the story.


"I didn't have any choice. . . When she did shit like that, she physically wouldn't let me do anything else until I finished. I had to eat that disgusting shit for 3 hours before she finally went to bed. "


Cadence was silent.


"Her attitude rubbed me the wrong way that night. . . So I tried to retaliate. . For the sake of not getting my spirit crushed like that. . . So I used a plan I had been working on, but she. . . Outsmarted me, and beat the shit out of me for it. . . . Used the incident to film a video. . . "



"What do you mean she made a video? . Of her kicking your ass?" She asked, shocked.



I only nodded.


Cadence had a look of disbelief on her face.


"Don't you want some type of retribution for yourself? "


It felt like she wanted me to stand up for myself.


"It's not like that. . . . . . . Close your eyes."


"What?!" She said, unsure of what I wanted.


"Just close your eyes. It's fine." I assured her.


"Ok. . . . Now picture somebody as tall as a 5 or 6 story building. . . . "



"Ok. . " she said, her eyes closed.


"Now picture trying to affect that person in any significant way when they keep you hungry and flattened, 90% of the time." I concluded.



I could tell when she opened her eyes. . . Cadence understood me.




We spent the rest of the day getting me clothes and just being lazy. She set me up with one of the 4 extra bedrooms that her warehouse had to offer and made sure I felt at home before she left me to my own devices for the night. I honestly didn't sleep that well that night, but I was so thankful to my friend.