He simply paused for a few moments, relishing in his freedom. Well, partial freedom. This whole ordeal had exhausted him, and so for now his three remaining limbs were still more or less immobilized. But he was finally able to twist his head, something he’d sorely missed, and for once he could actually see the world around him.

It took a short while for his eyes to adjust to the blinding light of the outside world, it not being immediately apparent where he was. Once they did, though, his earlier suspicions were confirmed. The same foot that had been tormenting him all this time had carried him out of the shoe when escaping itself. Oddly, it appeared the rest of the foot was below him, suggesting it was sitting vertically, toes pointing upwards with him tacked to the side.

His eyes followed the legging-clad leg that extended out from under him, which seemed to on for miles. It was crossed over another its kind, the two winding together like great massive pylons before flattening out to be parallel to each other. An inconceivable distance away, they joined together, plugging into the body of the same woman he’d seen earlier.

He hadn’t really had much time to consider the woman herself before, having been preoccupied by trying not to be squashed by her digits. It was still hard to comprehend, but looking at her now, she just seemed like a normal person – much, much larger, but normal. There was nothing that outwardly suggested she was capable of willingly subjecting someone to what he’d just experienced, especially considering she seemed more interested in eating whatever was in that tub than anything else. If anything, she looked more like someone who would help someone in his unfortunate situation.

For the first time in a while, he felt like he might be able to get out of this.

It still wouldn’t be easy. He’d have to make his way down those long, expansive legs, possibly climb up somewhere higher, and somehow get her attention. That was assuming she stayed still in the time it took him to do all that, which wasn’t totally likely considering the tiny movements he could feel her toes making right now, so small that they likely weren’t even voluntary. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen to him if this went wrong. But at least it felt like he could do something.

To start with, he needed to detach himself from this skin. He slid his free arm underneath the other, using it to pry it away from the still somewhat sticky surface. It was difficult at first, but the more he freed, the easier the rest pulled away. It wasn’t long before he had two working arms. His legs were a little trickier – he wasn’t really able to reach them stuck like this. Instead, he shovelled both his hands down the front of his torso, hacking vigourously, peeling himself off like a plaster.

He didn’t notice anything was wrong until something blocked on his light.

His chest liberated, he hung there in shock as the object moved closer and closer, quickly filling up his vision. One of the woman’s hands had wandered away from the main body, traversing the distance of the legs in a matter of seconds. For whatever reason, it was moving directly towards him, covering up the woman’s face as it approached.

Had he been spotted? Was she saving him?

She set there, ravenously devouring ice cream as she only half-paid attention to the TV. Now she had settled, the various events of today seem incredibly far away – any thoughts about them had been neatly packed away, not to be disturbed until she went back to work. Tonight was a night for her, and her alone, to do whatever she wanted. And what she wanted she was to totally switch off, and be content with the here and now.

As such, she didn’t really notice when her brain detected a slight itch on the side of her big toe on her left foot, the sensation mild enough that it was considered too insignificant for her conscious mind to be informed of. Instead, her hand took a quick break from helping her devour the sweet food, reaching down to deal with the problem, allowing her to continue with her eyes fixed on the television screen.

A couple of seconds of scratching, and she was vaguely satisfied, the hand returning to its nominal position to allow her to continue her feasting.

His heart dropped as he saw the hand begin to contort. Most of the fingers curled back into the palm, out the way, but the index finger continued to extend, seeming to point in his direction. He was getting better at interpreting the giant’s movement, but it didn’t exactly help in this situation – it was already crystal clear what was about to happen.

The flesh around him began to wobble and deform as the nail impacted it, causing the free half of his body to flail around. His cries for help were entirely drowned out by the sound of skin being scratched directly beneath him. The wild movement was helping to dislodge him from this place, but that was the least of his concerns right now; it was difficult to tell with his head bobbing around, but the nail seemed to be moving around him, tenderising various parts of the toe. It wouldn’t be long before—

He screamed out in pain as it crashed into him, ripping off his left arm entirely. At his size, even the thin nail was thick enough to smush more than slice his limb, leaving a gooey mess than once again cemented his body to the skin.

Mercifully, the finger didn’t get so close again, but the damage had been done. His screams were half-muffled as his head was stuck side-on to the flesh, although it wasn’t like the giant would hear them anyway.

Tears streaming down his face, he could only watch as the finger retreated, its job apparently done. As it retreated, he could see, right where the silver varnish had chipped away at the very edge of the nail, a tiny splotch of red encroaching on the otherwise untainted surface. Soon it was far away enough that even he couldn’t see it, the blemish likely being wiped off unnoticed as it rubbed against the tub the woman was handling.

He’d been so close. So close to getting out of this. But now he was stuck, yet again, somehow worse off as he slowly bled out from the stump that once was his arm. Even this fluid was absorbed into the flesh and sweat, not even this being able to escape the presence of the unaware giant.

Any sense of hope had been entirely crushed with his arm. There was nothing he could do now, nothing at all.

His gentle sobs were momentarily replaced by a screech of fury and frustration, as he pounded his remaining fist repeatedly into his uncaring captor.

As if in instant response, the entire toe twitched, and he found himself being slammed against the neighbouring digit. Shock turned to panic as the two toes pressed against him from either side, the soft skin enveloping and suffocating him.

This only lasted a split second before his body gave into the pressure, splattering open. When the walls of flesh parted, there was only an oddly shaped stain on each, already starting to fade as the skin absorbed it.

Her toes curled with pleasure as she swallowed a particularly tasty chunk of ice cream, eliciting even a small smile to herself.

If she had, perhaps, looked at her left big toe at this point, she may have noticed a small red mark on the side of it. However, in reality, she did not, keeping her eyes trained on the TV, instead only registering a vague sticky sensation in that area. Her toes rubbed back and forth over each other, a combination of sweat and movement erasing the irritant from existence, its only legacy a slight flushing of the skin which faded within a few minutes.

The night continued as she’d hoped, not once having to get off the sofa, eventually dozing off to the sound of trashy TV – truly, a perfect evening alone.