Jessica kept me clutched in her fist for thirty minutes by my reckoning, though it may have been several hours as far as I knew. Throughout the ordeal I heard her get into and drive her car, then unlock and go through her door. I heard her feet thudding on the stairs, accompanied by vibrations running throughout my body and some slight wiggling within her hand. She did a surprisingly good job of keeping me steady, and the main discomfort was the power of her movement passing through me.
Finally, even the slightest hint of movement stopped, and I felt my stomach drop as I was raised too quickly for comfort. My body surged forward with the sudden stop, and I waited for what was to come next. Jessica must have felt my trepidation, since her fingers peeled away from me slowly, letting the feeling of mystery linger. The whorls of her fingerprints receded, and I was subjected to the sudden influx of light.
My eyes quickly adjusted, and again my attention was grabbed by two piercing blue eyes. They seemed to dance as they looked over me. “Hi again, Mr. Tiny!” Jessica proclaimed, making my insides quake. “Welcome to my house! I mean, I doubt you’ll see more of it than my room, but it’s still my house!” She leaned in to somehow make me feel even smaller while her eyes were directly over me. “So what do you think?”
I looked to the sides, and all I could see were white walls. Above me, the only thing was Jessica herself, bearing down on me aggressively. “It’s very…you,” I managed. I knew well enough not to offend someone who held me in their palm.
“Thank you!” Jessica boomed. “I decorated it myself!” She twitched her fingers, making me wiggle along with them. “Are you excited to spend this time with me?”
The world turned sideways when she turned her hand, dumping me out of her grip. I slid along her palm until landing on her sheets, buffeted by her mattress. I looked around, trying to take in my surroundings. A massive white bedspread stretched hundreds of feet in each direction, with a black wooden ridge for the footboard and rolling, soft white hills for pillows. My attention was quickly drawn back to Jessica however, her eager blue eyes looming over me while she gazed at me expectantly.
“I asked you a question, Mr. Tiny,” she chided.
“If I say no, will you let me leave?” I asked.
“Sure!” she exclaimed loud enough to blow back my hair. “I just won’t grow you back. So, which are you more excited for: spending time with me, or trying to teach while the size of a bug?”
I sighed in defeat. “Then I guess I’m pumped to hang out with you!” I said, trying to fake enthusiasm. At the very least Jessica probably wouldn’t kill me, and I couldn’t say the same for all my students unaware of my predicament.
She clapped her hands together in joy, making a terrific boom that I vainly covered my ears against. “I knew you were, you just didn’t want to admit it,” she said. Suddenly she stood, bowling me over when she bumped the mattress with her thighs, forcing me to gaze up at her titanic body towering over me. Jessica made a show of turning around, and I had to look up at her round, fit butt looming above.
Slowly the black tower began collapsing, and I could only watch while Jessica’s posterior descended toward me. Her tight yoga pants fought against it while it strained within the material, forming it perfectly to each cheek. It was almost perfectly centered on me, leaving my prone form in the crack, which might give me just enough leeway to not be smashed beneath her tremendous rear. I took a deep breath, anticipating a fight for my life against her butt.
At the last moment it shot backward, though the lowest point of each buttock grazed me as it passed over. Jessica’s butt impacted the mattress hard, making a large crater beneath her weight that I sank into. On either side of me two enormous black walls stretched to the precipice, bowing toward the center when her thighs flattened. I looked up the black cliff face behind me and saw a small, self-satisfied smirk on her face. If the whole night was going to be her having fun like this with me, maybe I should have taken the chance to leave when it was offered.
She leaned forward so that her body filled the sky above me and lifted one of her legs, making the mattress raise slightly along with it. Springs creaked while she reached down, then were drowned out by an overwhelming crash and shockwave that reached me even on the bed. The ground was thrown into turmoil by Jessica’s leg setting back down, then raised her other one. Events repeated, and I was tossed into her thigh by the more violent impact.
Jessica suddenly raised her legs, and I was tossed about helplessly while the mattress adjusted to the shift in weight. They crashed down behind me, hitting with such force that I the tremors in my teeth. The pillows crunched beneath her body, and all I could do was wait for the platform she had stranded me on to stop shaking so violently while hoping to not get thrown off the edge.
Finally, the mattress returned to peace, and I could risk standing again. Jessica’s vast body nearly stretched from one end of the bed to the other, from her back propped against the headboard to her white-socked feet sticking in the air like spires. She had a book propped open on her lap and a pencil in her right hand, and I recognized that as the school’s calculus textbook. To my surprise she was fairly engrossed in the book’s material, her blue eyes darting along the pages while her pencil made the occasional mark in a notebook on her other side. I could not recall seeing her so much as crack a book for my class, let alone focus on it as intently as she was now.
“I hope you don’t mind, Mr. Tiny,” Jessica began, keeping her eyes on the book, “but I’ve got a bit of homework to finish up before we can get to the fun part. You understand, right?”
“About how long is this going to take?” I asked.
“Aw, is someone impatient?” she teased. “Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be too long.”
“No, I just don’t have anything to do,” I replied. “I left my phone in my desk and everything’s too big to do anything with, I’m wondering how long I’ll have to be bored.”
“My mother always says that only boring people are bored,” Jessica chided. “Look around you, don’t you have any imagination or sense of wonder? You have a unique opportunity to experience the world from a bug’s eye view, why don’t you go explore my room or something?”
“I’m a… a little worried about getting lost or trapped under something,” I sheepishly admitted. “It’s weird to say, but I feel safer up here with you.”
Jessica cracked a smile. “I appreciate the vote of confidence,” she said. “For what it’s worth, I’d have to be an idiot to let anything serious happen to you before you write me that letter.” Of course, her concern for my safety was completely self-interested. “Tell you what: if you’re that hard-up for something to do, you can climb up here and help me study. That ought to pass the time.”
“Oh, math was never my strongest subject,” I told her. “I’d probably just slow you down if I tried to help.”
She glanced away from the book to me and cocked a blond eyebrow. “Really? That’s interesting, because it’s my best subject. Do you mean to tell me that I’m stronger and smarter than you are?”
“That’s not really fair to say, there are many -“
“It’s okay to admit it, Mr. Tiny!” Jessica boomed. “I am exceptionally skilled and talented, and you’re, well, you. Most people are vastly inferior to me, you just look the part much better right now.” I had no retort for that, so I just went silent and let her get back to studying.
Several minutes later she turned her attention back to me and scoffed. “Are you going to climb up here or not?” she demanded. I shrugged: climbing one of my students seemed indecent at best and rife with opportunities for something to go wrong. “Look, if you’re just going to stand there like a bump on a log staring at me I’ll have to put you somewhere else, it’s distracting.”
“Fine with me,” I answered.
Jessica smirked. “We’ll see if you still think that in a few minutes.” The mattress groaned as she shifted her weight, and before I knew it her hand was bearing down upon me. I could not even shy away before two digits clamped around me hard enough to knock the breath out of my lungs, and she plucked me off her bedspread as though I weighed nothing. Futilely I kicked my legs in the air while she lifted me in her vice grip. Another great creak rang out when she leaned to the side, carrying me over the edge of the mattress.
I looked down and gasped when I saw the fur-lined opening of one of her Uggs directly beneath me. When I was positioned directly over the hole Jessica showed no hesitation in opening her fingers, dropping me from her grasp. In less than a second I plummeted into the waiting boot, my landing softened by the padded sole inside. All I could see if her was a shock of blond hair just beyond the rim which quickly retreated, accompanied by a cry from her mattress as she settled back down.
“Have fun in there!” Jessica called before going back to studying. “I’m sure it’s much more pleasant than climbing me.” The first time I tried to inhale I coughed. The atmosphere was oppressive and dominated by the overwhelming scent of sweaty foot. Every time I breathed was like taking a whiff from between her toes. Her smell must have seeped into the soft material lining the boot, saturating it as she walked around throughout the day. It was strong enough to make my eyes water to the point I had to dry them on the tail of my shirt.
When I could finally see, it was like being trapped in a well decorated during the 70s. The small amount of light coming through the hole above me provided ample illumination where I stood but sharply dropped off as it traveled the length of the boot, until it barely lit the toe section at all. Its lining was like white shag carpeting all around, even on the ceiling, that came up to my waist. Trapped in the enormous, white tube with the worst smell I had ever experienced enveloping me, I felt slightly dizzy as I tried to get myself oriented atop her insole.
There was no way I was going to patiently wait for her to finish her homework while trapped in what was essentially a gas chamber. I walked toward the rear side of the boot, struggling to fight my way through the thick wool that had been compressed by Jessica’s heel. Every step was an ordeal, and I had to limit my breaths to short gasps to keep from choking on the air. It took several minutes for me to walk the couple of inches to the wall, forcing my legs to push through the resistance.
When I reached the base of the boot’s shaft I looked up the curved, wooly cliff, and estimated it to be forty or fifty feet tall to me. The last time I had climbed anything was a ten-foot chain link fence years ago, and that had been unpleasant enough. I reached forward to grab on to the lining, and my hand sank into the white fibers, accompanied by a viscous oil. At first I recoiled from the disgusting tactile sensation, but I gritted my teeth and shoved my hand back in. Unpleasant though it may be, it was the only way to keep from spending what could be hours in this dank, smelly pit all by myself.
I grabbed onto the wool in my hands and jumped, trying to hoist myself up and begin the long climb ahead of me. My foot snagged on a fiber, however, and I was jerked back onto the sole. Involuntarily I winced at the pain and hoped that it wouldn’t make this any more difficult than it was already going to be. Carefully I pulled my legs out of the lining along the insole, not wanting to strain anything if I got caught again, and pushed myself up. Steeling myself, I plunged my hands into the lining again and prepared to begin the climb in earnest.
Making any progress at all was difficult. Wool was far from an ideal climbing surface, and the thin, oil-like substance that coated it made it even harder to grip. Every time I wanted to move one of my limbs I had to navigate it through a tangled mess of fibers, leaving me to rely on only a single arm to keep me from falling away. To make matters worse, my feet were actively making the ascent worse. They got almost no support from the lining, so I had to dig them in until they practically reached the boot’s exterior, and they repeatedly got caught in the material when I tried to pull them out. After only an inch or two I was already sweating, making matters even worse.
When I crossed the halfway point my muscles were burning from the sudden and intense physical activity. Every time I moved was a new, light jolt of pain that I knew I would be feeling for weeks to come. Finally, almost inevitably, I messed up. My sweaty fingers slid along a clump of wool I had grabbed onto, and I was unable to fasten my grip around it. I fell backward, and the jolt when my body stopped jerked my other arm out. Without anything to keep me close my feet lost their grip as well, and I once again dropped onto the soft, padded lining of the insole.
I laid there for several minutes, trying to catch my breath without breathing too deeply and gagging on the smell. The loud, dull thud of a textbook slamming shut came from the outside world, and I surprisingly felt relief that I would soon be the focus of Jessica’s attention. “Oh Mr. Tiny!” her tremendous voice called out. “I’m ready to have fun with you now!” If it meant getting out of this dank pit, I would submit to whatever weird games she had in store for me.
Her mattress screamed when she shifted her weight on it to come fish me out, and two blue eyes flanked by blond waterfalls came into view. Jessica let out a short laugh and declared, “Aw, you look so cute in there! Cute as a bug, really. I almost don’t want to pull you out.” The tremendous face above me was blocked by her hand, fingers outstretched as it descended toward me. Lighting was reduced to a few small slivers that managed to get between her fingers as she grabbed the boot’s rim, then complete darkness when she squeezed it shut.
I was roughly tossed into the boot’s wall when she picked it up, and I felt my stomach turning from the forces. Fortunately, it was a brief trip, and I came to a stop in the indentation from Jessica’s heel. Light flooded into the cavern, and I saw an open, cream-colored palm set against a black backdrop waiting for me. She upturned the boot and I was sent tumbling up the shaft, rolling along the wool so fast it did not have a chance to snag me. At the top I was unceremoniously dumped into the middle of her hand, where I rolled one more time before coming to a complete stop.
A tremendous finger the size of a tree trunk pressed into the soft skin beside me, and with a slight push from her fingertip Jessica rolled me onto my back. She was studying me with an intense gaze and smiling broadly, revealing a wall of gigantic teeth. “So, how was it?” she smugly boomed. There was another dull crash when she dropped the boot back on the floor. “Any more fun than climbing me would’ve been?” I groaned and she jabbed me with the finger, making me double over. “You know I hate asking you questions more than once.”
“It was unpleasant,” I finally managed. “I probably would’ve enjoyed climbing on you more just for the fresh air.”
“See, was that so hard?” Jessica’s voice rumbled. “Now maybe you’ll think twice before not doing what I say.” She poked me again, just a light prod this time, as though she were merely asserting her dominance. “The question is, though, what am I going to do with you?”
“Get that letter written so you can grow me back and get me out of your hair?” I offered.
Jessica replied by nudging me with her fingertip and giggling. “You sound like a broken record. Let’s have some fun!” Her thumb swung in from the side and clamped around my body along with her forefinger. “I think I have just the game for us to play, too.”
No matter what, I expected it to be just another means for her to torment me. “What is it?” I asked, fully knowing that we would be playing regardless.
Jessica held me up to her face, turning me over as though she were inspecting me before answering. “Let’s play tag, but with a twist. You can run around to your little heart’s desire, but I can only take one step at a time. Sound fair?”
Hardly. Her legs were several hundred feet long to me and could catch me easily. Still, her mind was clearly made up, and she would not listen to any ideas from me. “Sure, sounds good to me,” I lied. “Where are we playing?”
“In my room, obviously!” Jessica answered, laughing. “I can’t have my parents watching me chasing nothing around the floor, they’d think I was having a fit. Oh, and by the way.” She gave me a firm tap with her finger that felt like my whole body got punched. “You’re it.” With a slight flick of her wrist she tossed me away, releasing me at the apex of the movement. I spun head over feet in a lazy arc, sailing over her gigantic body and just clearing the footboard to land on the soft carpet below. After a bounce I came to a stop, thankfully with nothing broken, and stood back up.
One question immediately presented itself: if I was ‘it,’ how was I going to tag Jessica? I’d have to climb up onto her bed, and after my recent experience with climbing I doubted I could manage. She gratefully addressed my concern before I could voice it, and the bed groaned when she moved her body. Two loud crashes followed, along with earthquakes, and I saw the top of her blond locks peek from behind her bed.
“Catch me if you can, Mr. Tiny!” she called, and I started toward her. My legs sank up to their knees in the carpet, meaning I had to high step over the fibers to get anywhere. It was surprisingly easier to navigate than the lining of her boots, however, and felt like child’s play after that ordeal. Progress was slow, and it took me about a minute to go a foot, but at least I did not feel like I was trapped.
After a few minutes I turned the corner of Jessica’s bed and saw her standing at the far side, waiting for me with her hands on her hips. I felt her gaze on me as I approached, her blue eyes following my path toward her. As I drew closer to the titaness I passed a row of her colossal shoes arrayed along the side of her bed. Along with the Uggs I had been trapped in earlier, there were some simple but stylish black flats, red hi-top Converse that had seen better days, her cheerleading shoes, and for some reason pair of shiny black pumps. Why the tallest girl in school owned a pair of high heels was beyond me, but I knew better than to question women’s fashion. It was impossible not to notice, as I walked by each shoe, that I was looking up at the toes for each one, and in the case of the flats could walk beneath the toe without even ducking my head.
I was only a few steps away from Jessica’s foot and started to think she had forgotten to do anything about me while bemused by watching me cross the carpet. Suddenly her foot raised, and I helplessly watched her sole fly over me, just out of reach. She set it down with a boom a good distance behind me and giggled. “Almost got me!”
With a groan I turned and ran toward her other foot, aiming for the middle. Again she waited for me to get close, but before I could reasonably touch her foot she took a step forward, leaving me in the dust. “Not quite!” she boomed, and I turned to face her. With one step, she was a few feet and several minutes of walking away from me. I began to doubt I’d be able to overcome her extreme advantage in this.
As I got closer to her again, she did not turn around to follow me. Maybe she realized this was drastically unfair, and was giving me a chance? Regardless of her reasons it would be dangerous for me not to play along with her, so I kept my slow and steady pace toward her foot. With each step I expected her to spin around and simply step away from me, but the gigantic young woman remained staid in her position. Not wanting to overthink it I focused on the task at hand, though I suspected the whole thing was a trap.
At last I was at the base of the great tower of Jessica, gazing up at her enormous socked heel. With each second that passed I expected her to lift it up and drag it over me so she should smash me, but everything remained perfectly in place. Finally, after some hesitation, I reached forward and tapped her foot. “You’re it!” I declared, hoping she had even felt me.
“Oh, you got me!” Jessica said, feigning surprise. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you get out from under me before chasing you down.” I expected that meant several more minutes of running ahead of me, but she slightly lifted her heel and dragged her foot along the carpet beside me, creating an inescapable cacophony. When her toes were past me she moved them back in front of me and began digging her big toe into the carpet. She flicked her toes up with the force of a fright train, slamming it into me while kicking her foot up into the air. I was sent flying in a low arc and landed several feet away from her, sore but no worse for the wear.
I quickly got back to my feet, and Jessica was already advancing toward me. Her long, ponderous steps shook the ground when they landed, throwing me off-balance as I tried to dash into hiding. The closest and most obvious spot was under her bed, of course, so I made a beeline to get there. Jessica took another slow step toward me, closing half the distance left, and I realized it was futile to even try. Even so, I could not stop moving, and kept sprinting to get past her footboard.
With one more step Jessica’s foot crashed down in front of me, blocking my way with a solid wall of white. The force stopped me almost immediately, and I felt my legs turn to jelly from the vibrations. I turned to go the other way, but Jessica merely pivoted the foot on its heel, swinging it over me before slamming it back down into the ground with a boom. Once again I tried to go back the other way, trying to evade her foot for as long as possible.
Jessica had other ideas. She raised her foot again and rotated it, stopping when the vast expanse of her sole was directly over me. Mercilessly she brought it down, slamming her foot on top of me. Effortlessly she had pinned me beneath her sole, and no matter how much I struggled against it I was powerless to make it so much as budge. Vibrations from her chuckling ran all the way through her body and over mine, giving me a disgustingly pleasurable sensation.
“You’re it,” she boomed, leaving her foot atop me. I fought to breathe amid the much too familiar stench of her foot, but the sheer weight pressing down on me made it difficult to draw breath. Jessica pressed down harder, increasing the pressure on me, and I became worried that she was really going to smash me. Desperately I thrashed harder, futilely fighting against her foot when I could not even move my arms. The clean, white fabric of her sock crawled into my mouth when I screamed for help, and white spots appeared at the edge of my vision. If she did not crush me, she was going to suffocate me.
Thankfully she relented, and after several minutes picked her foot up off me. Unfortunately, I was stuck to her sole, and subjected to intense g-forces while she swung her leg around. After a brief rush she stopped, and I heard her laugh again. “Look at you, Mr. Tiny!” Jessica roared in between laughter. “Squashed like a bug and stuck to my foot! I didn’t think a game of tag would be too intense for you, but it looks like it is.”
I groaned when she pinched me with her fingers, then peeled me off her sole. By some miracle I did not have any cracked ribs or broken bones, but whatever pride I had left was deeply wounded. The world whirled around me as she lifted me to her face, but I was too light-headed from nearly suffocating to feel anything else too strongly. “Just as well, that took longer than I expected and it’s about time we got that letter written.”
Jessica carried me over to her desk, however instead of setting me down next to her keyboard she dropped me into her lap. While the computer came out of sleep mode she brought her long legs up so she could cross them in the chair, penning me in again. I looked up past her enormous, rounded heels to the gigantic cliff face towering above me until I saw the blue light cast from her monitor on her face. “So,” she began, turning her piercing gaze down to me between her thighs, “for what reasons do you recommend me to a college?”
All I had to do was rephrase everything she had done to me as something positive instead of unthinkable torture perpetrated by a spoiled brat who simply did not want to study for a class that was uninteresting to her. According to the letter I was going to endorse, she was a diligent and hard-working student, focused on whatever tasks came her way. She knew how to use her advantages to stand above her peers and was willing to do whatever it took to succeed. Without a doubt she was one of my brightest students but was not reluctant to have her playful side come out when she wanted. When it was over, I had written perhaps the most glowing letter of recommendation I ever had for a student, all under the threat of getting crushed by the student I was recommending.
“There!” Jessica declared, hitting save for the last time. “Now, was that so hard?” She looked down at me smugly, like I hadn’t offered to do it several times since she shrank me.
“I guess not,” I admitted. “Can you grow me back now?”
Jessica tapped her chin then looked at a clock. “Hm, I don’t think I should,” she declared. “What would people say if they saw you leaving my house in the middle of the night? Your reputation would be ruined. You should stay with me tonight, and I’ll get you back to school early.”
“What do you mean, stay with you?” I asked, not wanting to jump to conclusions. “Seems like that could be just as bad.”
“Oh don’t worry, you won’t be sleeping in bed with me,” Jessica replied with a laugh. “I’ve got a place just for you.” Her hand came toward me, and I had nowhere to move when she pinched me between her thumb and forefinger again. My world raced when she stood, causing my insides to drop from inertia, and I bounced in her grip when she stepped off. It only took a handful of strides for her to cover ground that had taken me ten minutes, and in no time we were in front of her night stand.
With her free hand, Jessica reached down and picked up a small glass jar from the top. She raised it until it was directly beneath it, then let me go. I dropped into the glass vessel, falling on my face when I landed. “Welcome to your room for the night!” She sounded almost sickeningly sweet as her voice echoed off the rounded surface holding me. “Sorry I didn’t have time to get a bed set up for you, but you’ll manage, right? Bugs can sleep just about anywhere, I think.” Jessica took a second to stare at me inside the jar, face distorted by the glass so that it seemed to wrap around me, before lowering me down onto her nightstand.
The titaness walked away and hit the lights. “Good night, Mr. Tiny!” she declared as the room was plunged into darkness. Rustling sounds rebounded off the glass surface as she undressed and crawled into bed, and I laid down on my cold floor. Although it was remarkably uncomfortable, I was exhausted after being tormented and abused for the past several hours, and drifted off to sleep before Jessica’s roaring snoozing could keep me up.
* * *
I woke up to loud, piercing tapping rebounding through my small glass room. I opened my eyes and saw Jessica’s face looming over me, dominating my view even more thanks to distortion from the glass. “Wake up, Mr. Tiny!” she boomed. “We’re going to be late!” The world trembled as she swiped a hand over the jar, snatching it in her grip. The force of her movement threw me against the wall as she dashed while holding me, then I was tossed against the opposite wall when she came to a sudden stop.
The jar dropped rapidly when she knelt, and I slid along the smooth glass while she rotated it upside down. The wide open maw of her flat came into view, and I desperately looked for something to grab onto. Unfortunately, the glass was flawless even to someone of my size, and Jessica poured me into her shoe. I landed roughly in the middle of her beige insole, and she cast a shadow over me when she stood back to her full height, tossing the jar onto her bed.
“Well, we’re not going to be that late,” Jessica admitted. She had taken the time to finish getting ready before waking me, and was wearing a pair of black stockings with a black skirt, white blouse, and dark brown corduroy jacket. “In fact, we’re going to be a good deal early.” Carefully she slid her foot into the shoe beside the one I laid in, then worked her fingers in behind her heel to pull it on tight. “I just wanted to get you back in place and normal-sized before other students come looking for you.”
Before I could say anything she began sliding her foot into her other shoe, and my eyes bulged as I saw it approach. In no time at all the black-stockinged foot eclipsed my view of everything, her toes passing over me followed by her sole dominating my vision. It began slanting downward as she inserted her toes on the far edge, and I braced for impact. The elastic rim stretched around her foot as it set down, squishing me against the insole. I cried out when she pulled it onto her heel, tightening the shoe so her foot pressed down on me harder. Luckily, I had landed near her instep, or I would have doubtlessly been smashed under the ball of her foot.
One step was all it took for me to doubt that was luck at all. The immense weight atop me became even heavier for an instant when her other leg moved, then I was subjected to horrific forces when the heel beside me raised. I was squeezed between the inertia of the foot’s movement and the foot itself holding me firmly in place while it sailed through the air, my whole body pinned against her insole. My stomach turned when her foot flipped, and rumbling vibrations ran the whole length of her foot when her heel set down. A second wave, much worse than the first, came when she swung the rest of her foot down, making my very bones shake and tears well in my eyes, then the whole process began again.
Each step Jessica took with me trapped in her shoe was torture. Before I could recover from one the next had begun in a cycle that seemed to never end. It only took three strides for me to reach a point beyond pain, where I could no longer differentiate between which horrific part of the cycle I had just experienced and which was next. The inexorable pounding of her gait made me wish that she would just apply a little more pressure with the next step and squish me just so the living hell she was putting me through would end.
There was a small reprieve while Jessica drove herself to school, and I was in her left shoe so there was no risk of being splattered between her foot and the pedals. It was over seemingly as soon as it had begun, though, and I did not have nearly enough time to recover. Once again I was subjected to the agony of her merely walking, feeling myself brought near to death with each step only for the shore of release to recede a moment later. The sound and feeling of her foot slapping against the pavement drilled itself into my head, and I was sure to be traumatized by it until my dying moment.
Finally, after what seemed like days of sharing Jessica’s shoe with her foot, she came to a stop. Slowly she slid her foot out of her flat, and I instantly felt an immense amount of relief. Unbeknownst to me, during the voyage I had become doused with sweat, and my tiny body was stuck to the nylon stretched over Jessica’s foot. She let out a light chuckle then pinched me with her fingers, peeling me off the bottom of her foot. Instead of taunting me she simply set me down on the tile and got to work putting her shoe back on.
For several seconds we stared at each other silently, her piercing blue eyes seeming to challenge me as I gazed up at the colossus towering over me. Finally, I became impatient. “Well?” I shouted. “Aren’t you going to grow me back?”
Jessica smiled. “I probably should, right?” she asked. “I mean, it’d be pretty hard for you to teach if you’re the size of a bug, and it was part of our deal.” She took a second to tap her chin as if in thought. “Then again, I’ve already changed the deal once, and it’s not like you’d be able to do anything if I didn’t.”
My eyes widened and I felt my face go flush. “What?” I protested. “You can’t be serious! You –“
“Relax!” Jessica boomed over me. “I’m just messing with you! Part of the reason you recommended me is that I like having fun, right? Just stand still and you’ll be big enough to teach in no time.”
Gradually the world around me became smaller, and Jessica seemed less a gargantuan threat to my very existence and merely a gigantic menace. However, my growth unexpectedly stopped when I was still several inches below her waist and my vision was even below her crotch. “Where’s the rest of it?” I implored, looking up at her. Though she could no longer step on me, she still towered over me.
“That’s all you’re getting,” she replied, smirking. “Three feet seems about right to me. Maybe next time you’ll think twice about telling me no, hm?”
“But people will notice!” I protested. “Don’t you think people will wonder why I’m suddenly two feet shorter?”
“Yeah, probably,” Jessica smugly answered. “What’ll they do about it, though? It’s not like I’m going around telling people that I shrank you, and no one would ever guess that anyway. I’m betting the Mandela Effect will kick in and people will convince themselves you’ve been this tall the whole time.” She tapped me in the stomach with the toe of a shoe that could cover my entire torso. “Anyway, I’m off to calculus. See you later Mr. Tiny!” My tormentor spun on her heels, making her skirt whirl in the breeze, and left through the open door, slapping her feet on the tile with each step.
When she was gone, I let out a deep sigh. This was my life now, apparently, and I would have to get used to it. I climbed into my chair and raised it so that I could reach the keyboard, and found that my legs dangled a good bit off the floor now. No matter what, I would not be able to cover this up for any amount of time. After another sigh, I logged in and got ready to start the day.