Hidden Stock
By Supernova


A commissioned work


        Sarah’s eyes glazed over. The wall of cereal boxes appeared to blend into one homogenous mass; her vision blurred. Squeezing her bright blue eyes tightly, she pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled slowly. Her heart fluttered as she used her other hand to balance herself on the grocery store shelf.


        “Just a few more weeks, Sarah. Not long now,” she whispered to herself, hoping no one was close enough to hear her. Blinking, she saw the words on the boxes shift to the vocabulary words she had relentlessly drilled into her head during her years in medical school. Shaking her head, she watched as the words “Spiral multidetector” turned back into “Raisin Bran” before she sighed deeply.


        Under the harsh fluorescent lights of the supermarket, she felt her arm grow distinctly heavy as she reached over to grab the box. Watching her hand shake as she dropped the cereal into the red basket, she pursed her lips and put one foot in front of the other. “Just a few more things,” she murmured.


        Almost dizzy with various terms bouncing around inside her skull, Sarah brushed her bright blonde hair out of her face with her quaking fingers. Knowing her studies were at their peak intensity, she couldn’t help but feel an intense guilt for not working and committing the heinous crime of going out to get groceries.


        Her heels clicked on the white tiled floor below. Repeating her study phrases to herself, she had no idea if her thoughts were escaping her lips as she turned the corner. Looking to the row of ketchup bottles, she distinctly saw the words “Positron emission tomography” printed on the labels. Exhaling deeply, she felt her jaw begin to shiver; tears began to well up in her eyes.


        She wasn’t going to break down in Whole Foods. Not today.


        After closing her eyes, she began to perform the long, slow breathing exercises her therapist taught her. Her heart beat slowed. She could feel the tension melting away from her shoulders. Sarah, at least in her own mind, felt fully in control. She shifted the negativity involving her imminent project due-dates, reports, and residency paperwork into the back of her thought cabinet. In its place, visions of her bright future came flooding in. How, extremely shortly, she’d be a radiologist: The most well-compensated career in the medical profession outside of uber-rich plastic surgeons.


        Within her mindscape, she saw luxury cars, a huge house, debt paid off before all of her friends, perhaps even a rich husband and a family of her own. She thought to her past, how all of her adult life was spent purely in pursuit of this one goal. How even small jobs, like the money gained in her babysitting gig in high school, was expressly to cover part of her student loan. Sarah knew she had come a long way for the reward at the end of the tunnel; it was almost within reach.


Her grip on the basket lessened as she fully realized her goal was not only possible, but extremely likely given her current track. She opened her eyes slowly, feeling the tightness in her chest dissipate, and saw that all of the labels on the supermarket shelves were as they should be. Advertising disgusting, sugar-laden products that, as a soon-to-be doctor, she would never advise anyone to eat.


        Though still exhausted, given that she was averaging only two hours of sleep per night, she tried her best to pretend she wasn’t tired. Sarah stood up as straight as she could, shifted her shoulders back, and walked down the aisle as confidently as she could, as if she were being graded on her posture.


        Long, controlled breaths dominated her lungs as she continued walking, feeling delighted every time she heard the sharp click of her heel tapping the ground. “That’s the sound of Sarah coming. That’s power. That’s a doctor’s walk. I’m going to be a successful woman. I already am successful.” She repeated her positive affirmations within her head, another trick her therapist taught her in order to deal with the incessant stress and self-doubt inherent in any intensive academic program.


        Sarah perked up as she reached the end of the aisle. “Isn’t Melanie working here right now?” She thought, darting her head left and right. “Where did she say she was? She’s not stocking, she’s not cleaning the aisles.” She put a finger on her chin, trying to remember what department her housemate said she was working in. “Oh right, the Deli.”


        After shaking her head, Sarah thought that she didn’t want a mind-lapse like that on some big exam. “Maybe I could talk about memory issues at the next therapy session,” she thought as she walked down the tiled path.


        Her heart fluttered, in a positive way, as she finally caught sight of her friend working the counter. Sarah’s bright pink, glossy lips curved into a smile right as she fixed her hair. Though Melanie hadn’t noticed her yet, Sarah always hoped to look the best she could, even to the person she lived with.


        “Hey Mel!” Sarah exclaimed, raising her hand in greeting. Unable to suppress the sensation of pity she felt for Melanie, having worked her way through college only to end up employed at the Whole Foods deli counter, Sarah attempted to maintain a chipper demeanor without coming off as fake. Raising her eyebrows intentionally, as that was supposed to signify genuine happiness, Sarah walked towards her friend, hoping she wouldn’t instinctively leer at her humiliating uniform.


        “Hey, Sarah.” Her voice sounded droll. “What’s up? Do you know the password?”


        Surprised, Sarah’s head shot back. “Password? What password?”


        Melanie shrugged. “Policy. Never mind.” Her bored voice seemed to align perfectly with her sunken eyes and poorly-applied makeup. Sarah couldn’t help but judge Melanie’s appearance, knowing that she looked much better when she was thinner, she could use foundation that better matched her skin tone, and her unkempt curly hair should be given a perm.


Swallowing her negative thoughts, Sarah smiled. “Anyway! How are you doing? I thought I’d stop by and say hi!” She bounced her knees slightly, feeling her hair shift while waving slightly. “You look like you could use some company!”


Melanie looked down before darting her eyes back at Sarah. “Me? Oh. Yeah. It’s kinda boring here, but you know. Got some interesting stock recently but that’s pretty much it here. You know. It’s a Deli.”


Sarah cocked her head. “Interesting stock? Like what? Something new on the menu?”


Melanie shrugged. “I guess?” She winced. “I’m not supposed to talk about it.”


“The deli counter has secrets! Exciting!” Sarah smiled. “When can I get this, uh, hidden stock?” She hoped it didn’t sound too mocking as she gave an exaggerated wink.


“I donno Sarah. I think I could get in trouble for even talking about it. We need some things for the house, anyway.” A tinge of obvious annoyance colored Melanie’s response. “Can you pick up some stuff now that you’re here?”


“Can I use your employee discount?” Sarah put on a big, toothy smile.


Melanie’s face looked even more sunken, as though she wanted to put her palms over her eyes and sigh. “I think I’ve told you, like, twenty times. There’s no employee discount.”


“Doesn’t hurt to ask!” Sarah said, still grinning. “What do we need?”


Melanie crossed her arms. “Oh, you know, the usual. Milk. Bread. Eggs. You got all that?”


“Already on it!” Sarah raised the red basket, which currently only contained a single box of cereal. “I got’chu, babe!”


“Okay. Thanks, Sarah.” Melanie responded flatly. “I’ll catch you later, I guess.”


“Later!” Sarah said, trying to infuse her words with a tinge of sweetness.


Upon walking away, she ruminated upon how strangely rude Melanie was. Not wanting to bring it up at her job, perhaps she could confront her later. Her heart began beating quickly, wondering if there was something she said that may have set her off.


“I should have made a fucking list,” Sarah thought, as she had no idea what else to buy other than the three obvious items Melanie had just asked her to buy. “We need orange juice, I guess. Toothpaste. Uh, baking soda?”


Her mind flitted straight back to the medical terminology she swamped herself with on a daily basis. Picking up the pace down the cross-aisle, she felt her heart begin to beat more quickly, realizing that every second she spent grocery shopping was one that wasn’t spent studying, which meant that she was less likely to achieve her goals and become a radiologist.


“Milk. Eggs. Bread. Other stuff. Yeah.” She whispered, embarrassed upon having caught a glance from another shopper.


Now near the back of the store, she shoved the products into her basket as quickly as possible, feeling the growing weight under her skinny arm. Gritting her teeth, she turned right around, trying to take the fastest route out of the store. Her heart was now fluttering so fast she could feel it within her wrists. Breathing heavily, she felt the impulsive need to get back to the house and study. She knew that a few other people on her track would listen to audio lectures at all times, even grocery shopping. Feeling her ear with her free hand, she knew she would have to work extra hard later to catch up to them.


Clicking her heels down the aisle, she felt an immense sensation of uneasiness come across her chest as she saw an employee walking towards her. A shorter woman with red hair so long it seemed to almost reach her waist. As Sarah sped between the shelves, she could almost feel like she was going to collide with the woman before her.


“Excuse me!” Sarah said, putting on her nicest voice as she almost walked into the worker.


“Oh, sorry,” the woman responded, oddly gleefully, as she seemed to intentionally block Sarah’s path. Sarah stepped to the left and the woman did as well.


A pang of annoyance thundered through Sarah’s body as she stepped to the right, her motion mirrored exactly by the woman. Resisting the urge to push her, Sarah rolled her eyes, placed her back against the shelves, and tried to shimmy around her. The woman leaned against the shelves with her arms crossed.


“What’s your problem? I gotta get through!” Sarah’s voice quaked as she realized she was on the verge of tears again. Looking down at the woman’s vest, she saw the nametag, which only said “Witch.”


“Look, I really don’t have time for this, uh, Witch. I need you to please get out of my wa-”


A brilliant pink flash overwhelmed Sarah’s vision. Loud, high-pitched tinnitus echoed through her skull as she felt a flat coldness over the entire front of her body. Feeling her face planted on flat, frigid ground, she coughed, crawling on her hands and knees, experiencing the floor almost shift below her due to overwhelming dizziness.


Blinking, she could see the fluorescent lights above begin to glow brightly above. The rectangular shapes shifted into clarity. “Did I just collapse from a panic attack?” Sarah thought as she felt the tinnitus reduce in volume. Looking down at her pale, nude body, she stared at how erect her nipples were, at how every inch of her body was now covered in goosebumps.


“Wait, what the fuck? I’m naked?” An extraordinary burst of humiliation-induced terror washed over her as she instinctively covered her bare breasts, feeling her hard nipples press against the inside of her forearm. Darting her head in several different directions, her heart now beat with a fiery intensity, blasting hot blood through every inch of her body. She shivered as she crawled backwards over the endless-looking flat, tiled floor. The texture of the environment felt extremely odd, the floor felt cold and gritty, covered in cracks that seemed too big. The air felt almost soupy, the heaviness of it made it harder to inhale.


A dark shadow loomed over her. After looking up, Sarah screamed so hard she could feel a deep, piercing agony scorch her throat. The red-haired worker she had almost bumped into now looked to be hundreds of feet tall.


“Oh my fucking God! What the fuck! What the fuck did you do?” Sarah shivered, scooching back on the hard tiles below. A lump formed in her throat as she gazed upon the woman’s form, looking as though she was putting Sarah’s clothes into the very basket she was just using. She had never before experienced dynamism at such a scale. In spite of the fact that the woman was simply moving her blouse and skirt into a basket, she felt a supreme vulnerability. Sarah knew that any wrong move could cause her to become a red stain on the Whole Foods floor.


Thinking she must have been reduced in size to two inches tall somehow, she instinctively planted her feet on the ground before attempting to bolt forward. Her knees felt as though they were made of jelly, collapsing immediately as she tried to move. Falling back forward with a slap to her chest, Sarah tried crawling army-style, tears seeping from her eyes and nose.


The terror coursing through her veins at that moment was unlike anything she had ever felt. School-induced anxiety was nothing like this. Her body surged with such adrenaline that she could taste metal within her mouth, time seemed to slow down as she scraped her torso against the ground, finding that she was completely unable to move her legs. Both of her eyes twitched as the electric sensation emanating through her chest seemed to shock her with every heartbeat.


“Oh, God! Oh, God!” She kept repeating, reaching for the cross on her necklace that she knew wasn’t there. Covered in a thin sheen of sticky sweat, she could feel herself begin to slow down as her skin began to adhere to the tiled floor with greater intensity.


“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” The bubbly, squeaky voice blasted from above.


Turning her head upwards, she retched in horror, trying to retreat back into her own mind somehow, as she saw the spider-like image of the tremendous woman’s hand head right for her body. The sensation of vulnerability within Sarah’s mind was unmatched as she felt the rough fingerprints of the stranger above gently caress and grip her skin.


The sensation of violation as the woman’s thumb pressed up against her bare breasts was astronomical, instantly making Sarah feel an intense sensation of uncleanliness. She needed to flee somehow. Feeling her ribs become lightly compressed as the woman’s pointer finger pressed between her shoulder blades, Sarah shivered, still experiencing the fiery agony of her own screaming in her throat.


A brutal sensation of ascent gripped every cell in her body. She knew that if the woman were to accidentally lose her grip, her life would quickly end after a terrifying fall. Sarah continued to dart her head around as she dug her nails into her scalp, feeling her hair between her fingers.


“AIIYEE! Let me go! Please! I’ll do anything! Change me back! What did you do to me?” Sarah felt her voice become raspier as her pleas continued. Her voice seemed to act before her thoughts. She had no idea why she was even pleading, given that she already knew that her newfound captor had some kind of plan for her. She flailed her legs back and forth in the open air as she saw the immense visage of the stranger’s face.


        Looking slightly younger than her, the redhead looked upon the tiny woman with a smug-looking expression. Sarah’s jaw quaked hard enough that she could feel her teeth clattering. Seeing every single vein in the woman’s green eye, Sarah coughed as it was quickly thrust out of sight.


        Now overwhelmed with a gripping descent, Sarah felt herself land upon her own white blouse, which was stuffed in her own shopping basket. The instability of the fabric below her forced her to stay still, as she felt that one wrong move could send her falling down through the grating below.


        Holding tightly to the cotton textile, she stared upwards, seeing the woman’s hand grip the basket’s handle. The bright green nail polish was so shiny, Sarah could almost see her reflection in it. Her heart still pounding, her skin still covered in goosebumps, she knew that the situation was currently hopeless and the only thing she could do was remember some obscure lesson she learned on a self-defense Youtube channel. “Wait your turn. There will be an opportunity to escape,” she said to herself, sniffling, feeling warm tears drip across her cheeks.


        The tremendous basket bounced up and down gently as Sarah continued to grip the fabric below with such an intensity that she could feel it indent her skin. Now feeling her own sweat soak into the clothes, she continued looking upwards, growing even more dizzy while watching the world pass her by at an unnatural size.


        “Please, God. Please.” She whispered to herself as she saw that she was so small that the other shoppers were completely oblivious to her. Noticing that she was being carried back the way she came, the woman opened the small swinging door next to the deli.


        “Hey, Melanie! I got another one!” The woman said happily.


        Sarah’s heart exploded with excitement. Melanie! “M… Mel…” Another burst of horror flooded through her body as she attempted to scream her housemate’s name, but all that came out was a low, rasping plea. No way could that have gotten to her.


        “Hey babe!” Melanie put on a wide smile, her eyes looked bright as her whole body perked up. “Yeah! The container is in the back. You can put that one in there.”


        “On the table to the left, right?” The redhead asked, cocking her head.


        Sarah blinked as she saw her thick friend at an unimaginable size. She had no idea what was going on, but Melanie seemed to be a part of this awful plan. Was this what that password was about? The hidden stock?


        Gazing upon her friend’s form, she felt incredibly violated and vulnerable, as though Melanie could do anything to her in spite of the fact that she seemed to be simply talking. Each one of Melanie’s dark brown, curly hairs was ten times her own height. She almost felt as though she were looking at an entire forest as she stared at her friend’s hair while she turned around.


        The basket continued to rock back and forth as she felt the light above her change as she was brought into some service room in the back of the grocery store. With a loud thud that vibrated Sarah to her core, she couldn’t help but cough again.


        Curling up into the fetal position, Sarah continued to whisper “No. Please. No. No.” as the woman’s two immense fingers pinched her sides yet again. Her jaw still shaking, the fabric slipped away from her grip, leaving her feeling alone as the basket below grew smaller with distance. Hearing the woman’s footsteps below her, Sarah could barely see anything through the haze of tears between her eyelids. Trying to blink, she could make out a large, white cube before her.


        As the redhead reached over the top of the box, Sarah let out a light yelp as the woman deposited her inside the white, translucent cube.


        Feeling a strange, soft, fabric mesh underneath her, she looked upwards, seeing the redhead’s hand slink away before the footsteps indicated the tremendous woman walking away.


        Sarah burst back into tears. Leaning forward, she let a few screaming, rasping sobs leave her, letting her snot and tears soak into the mesh below, forming a gross-looking webbing. Breathing heavily, she felt incredibly dizzy as cold air seemed to wash over her naked body. “Why!” She screamed before sniffling loudly.


        Craning her neck upwards, still curled up in a ball, she saw three other women, each completely nude, staring at her silently.


        Words caught in her throat as she saw a brunette, a dark-skinned woman with straight, black hair, and an East Asian woman all sitting back against one side of the mesh cube. Looking upwards, she saw the top of it extending almost endlessly, making it obviously impossible to climb out.


        Still choking on her own spit, Sarah managed to eke out “Wh… what’s going on? Does anyone know what’s going on?” Her jaw quivered, making it even harder for her to speak.


        The brunette cleared her throat. Looking like she had just gotten done crying, she seemed to whisper something.


        Sarah crawled forward towards her. “What was that?”


        “I don’t fucking know! None of us do! We were all just fucking, uh, shrunken down or something by that fucking redheaded bitch!” She coughed. The other two women stared blankly, their eyes far more sunken than Melanie’s, not responding to the situation whatsoever.


        Sarah darted forward. “We need to get out of here!” She ran for the side of the mesh, sticking her fingers into the gridding and spreading hard. Grunting with strain, she couldn’t feel the fabric budge an inch.


        “We’ve tried that. We’ve been here for hours. Nothing works. Biting it doesn’t work. Climbing it is impossible, the gaps are too small. Do you have any other bright ideas for us?”


        Sarah stared at her and slumped, sobbing hard. “This is a nightmare.”


        The brunette woman approached her, putting her hand on Sarah’s shoulder. In a soft voice, the woman whispered “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I just don’t really know how to, you know, respond to anything right now.”


        “Has anything happened since you got here? Are there any opportunities to get out? Like, do you know why we’re here?” Sarah continued sobbing.


        Sighing, the brunette woman murmured “Yeah, there was one more here. I saw her get dropped in here, she reacted exactly like you did, and a few minutes later she was gone.”


        “Gone? What do you mean?” Sarah’s eyes widened as she looked at the brunette in shock.


        “The redhead came back and took her out. Didn’t see her after that. Don’t know what happened to her. She’s gone.”


        Sarah slumped back into a curled ball, letting her tears run freely down her face. “Maybe she was let go.”


        The brunette looked back at the other two women, each one shaking their head.


        “Sure. Maybe.” The brunette responded.


        Sarah put her hands over her face as she went back to one of the cube’s corners. After staring at the white grid, she closed her eyes as hard as possible, hoping to wake up from this dream, but only succeeded in seeing the after-burn of the grid in the inside of her eyelids.


        A loud blasting came from across the room. A door had opened at the far end of the service area. Sarah burst upwards, running towards the direction of the sound as the brunette went to sit back with the other two women.


        Staring at the open door, Sarah gasped. It’s Melanie. The sight of the woman’s graceful movement across the room was incredibly jarring, as though something her size shouldn’t be able to move that fast. “M-Melanie! I’m in here! Help me!” Her voice was still low and raspy.


        “Wait, you know her?” The brunette asked, surprised.


        Sarah’s jaw continued quivering. “Yeah! We live together! We’ve known each other for years!”


        The brunette stood up right next to her, pounding on the mesh. “Melanie! Melanie in here! Your friend’s in here! Help us!”


        Melanie’s head turned from across the room, now facing the mesh cube.


        “Did one of you just say my name?” Melanie asked. Her thick thighs lightly jiggled under her leggings as she walked over to the cube. As she leaned forward, Sarah leaned back so hard she fell backwards. Beyond the transparent fabric, Sarah couldn’t help but gasp as she saw her housemate’s familiar face look to be the size of a billboard. Through the mesh, she could see every pore on her friend’s face. She seriously needed a skincare routine.


        “Yeah! It was me!” The brunette shouted. “Melanie! You need to help us out of here!”


        Wordlessly, Melanie reached into the mesh cube and picked up the tiny brunette woman. Sarah continued staring up at her friend, who now literally had a human life in her hands, appearing almost like a completely different person. Even in spite of the distance, Sarah could still hear the woman as she laid in Melanie’s palm. Melanie had a strange calmness about her, grinning down at the woman below.


        The brunette’s voice sounded frantic as she squirmed in Melanie’s cupped hands.“Yeah! Carry me out of here, Melanie! Let’s go! We have to go now! Before that redhead witch gets back! Plea-”


        Sarah felt a warmth between her legs as she urinated upon herself. Her eyes widened as she watched Melanie’s jaw drop before quickly shoving the tiny brunette into her mouth like a piece of candy.


        Hearing a whooshing sound between her ears, she resisted the urge to vomit as she saw lumps poking and prodding from her cheeks.


        “I’m reawwy not sh’posed to be doing dish.” Melanie said, her mouth full of squirming woman. An arm darted from between her lips before the brunette, her hair darkened and soaked with spit, managed to stick the top half of her body out of Melanie’s mouth.


        “Please! Help! Don’t eat me, please!” She screamed as her tears mixed with the hot saliva now covering her.


        Melanie’s lips puckered into an o-shape before she sucked the rest of the woman back into her mouth with a loud, wet slurp.


        A spine-tingling terror coursed its way up and down Sarah’s spine in a vicious, painful bolt as she heard the “Gulp” sound emanate from Melanie’s throat.


        “Ahh, that one was squirmy,” she said as she traced the path of the woman down her throat with her pointer finger. As she walked back to the mesh cube, she leaned forward, smiling. “And let that be a lesson to you three! Shut the fuck up when you’re in there!”


        Melanie quickly turned around, her ass shaking back and forth with a confident swagger as she stepped out of the room. Looking at the two other women in the cube, Sarah saw that they had equally shocked expressions, both breathing heavily.


        Looking down at her own hands, she looked back at the door. The woman she was just talking to, who had comforted her just a few minutes ago, was now inside Melanie? Inside her stomach? To be digested alive?


        Still shivering, she continued to grow increasingly dizzy to the point where she dry heaved. Hungry, given the fact that she forgot to eat due to her constant studying, she didn’t manage to throw up anything other than a wad of slimy bubbles. The tinnitus came back, ringing inside her skull like a torturous dinner bell.


        Now almost numb from the overwhelming cacophony of emotions, she walked over to the other two women and sat next to them. Now staring into space, she tried to breathe deeply and heavily, just like her therapist had told her to do countless times, but now her breath was choppy. Each time she breathed, she could feel the agonizing burn of her scream-scorched throat.


        Closing her eyes, she thought that the best way to handle this hopeless situation was to pretend that she was going to get out of it okay. That she should just review the medical terminology in her head, given that she was in the home stretch of med school. She knew that she had a bright future ahead and that this little hiccup wasn’t going to stop her. Thinking of medical imaging techniques, she couldn’t help but grit her teeth and ball her fists as she thought of the woman inside Melanie at that very moment. How terrified she must be in the roiling gut of someone she doesn’t even know.


        Sarah jumped in shock as she heard the sound of the door opening yet again. Pursing her lips so she didn’t hear anything, she could see both Melanie and an older woman walk through the door.


        Her eye twitching, she immediately recognized the other woman as Ms. Cooper, the woman she used to babysit for around seven years ago, right before she started college. Having not seen her for a while, she still saw her elegant outfit and pretty face, making her look much younger than her fifty or so years.


        “The special menu is in here. Take whichever one you like.” Melanie said as she stood near the door.


        Sarah couldn’t sit still. She rolled up into a ball upon hearing the word “Menu.” She felt her skin crawl with an incredible, piercing disgust. Was that all she was now? Something on a menu?


        Though she couldn’t see Ms. Cooper’s face, she could feel her presence right outside the mesh cube. “Oh! You have a little blondie this time!”


        “Yeah, just got her in a few minutes ago. My associate said she is pretty feisty.”


        Ms. Cooper raised her eyebrows. “A feisty blonde! That one sounds perfect.”


        “No. No. No. No.” Sarah whispered to herself. Her head darted back towards the other women, who weren’t even looking at her.


        “Would you like a net or will you handle her yourself?” Melanie asked, her voice unusually peppy.


        “A net would be lovely, sweetie. Thank you!” Ms. Cooper responded politely.


        “No! Wait! Please!” Each time Sarah eked out a word, she felt the agony within her throat explode. It was as though someone were scraping her vocal cords with a nail file. She bit her tongue, feeling her pulse pound its way through it, as she saw Melaie reach through a drawer and find a small net on the end of a short, green pole, looking exactly like the ones used to catch goldfish.


        Hearing her steps thunder from underneath the mesh cube, she tried to scream, but could only let out a low, gravelly whine as the green netting overwhelmed her, Melanie effortlessly scooping her up.


        The floor disappeared, replaced with the round dipping floor of the net. As Sarah instinctively tried to jump away, Melanie clipped off the edges of the top before deftly using a twist tie to seal her in the netting.


        Again trying to tear her way out of the bag, Sarah grunted as she found that the material was much too strong. There’s no way out.


        “Thank you for your patronage!” Melanie said as she passed the bag to Ms. Cooper’s cold palm. Sarah fell limp as she felt herself thrust into a bag smelling of old cosmetics.


        Sarah found herself familiar with the slow, rhythmic sensation of being carried in a container as the detritus of Ms. Cooper’s purse clattered around her. Through the netting, she could feel the cylindrical battering of a lipstick container, the crinkling of old gum wrappers, and the slow thudding of what must be a phone. A monolith compared to her.


        Only flashes of light managed to squeak in from above as she experienced the relentless, violating sensation of being completely helpless. Again curling up into a ball, she covered her head to prevent any of the other items within the purse from pounding upon her head. Nausea washed over her as she thought back to Melanie. Someone she had known since they were both in undergrad had simply sold her like a lobster after swallowing another living human being. She felt like heaving, thinking about how that poor brunette must be feeling at that very moment. Though she was well-versed in anatomy, she had no idea if that woman could possibly be still alive or if Melanie’s body was scorching her screaming body with acid.


        Her eyes now widened, she felt her chest rise and fall at a rate she didn’t think was possible. Hearing her own heart beat within her chest, she dug her fingernails into her scalp, gritting her teeth as she lost track of time. “This can’t be happening. No. No. This can’t be happening.”


        A bright flash shined down from above and Sarah felt eight sharp pains on top of her head as she dug her nails in deeper. Wishing she could just burrow away like a trapped animal, she felt truly alone as Ms. Cooper’s hand groped around her bag, swiping away the various cosmetics to get to the tiny woman encased in the netting.


        The sensation of being handled by immense hands was now strangely familiar to Sarah. The gentle press on both sides of massive fingers squeezing her nude body. The vulnerability of knowing that all she needed to do was squeeze and her life was over. Still letting tears pour from her eyes, she looked up at the huge woman through the green net. A pang of rage overwhelmed her as she looked at the woman’s wry grin. Sarah’s eye twitched, leaking more tears, as she saw the expression of someone who was clearly planning something.


        “Please. Ms. Cooper. Please. Help.” Sarah continued to painfully eke out only quiet rasps. “It’s me! Sarah Burry! Don’t you - c’gh - remember?” She wanted to screech, but the agonizing burning from her throat prevented her from making any loud noises.


        “Augh!” Sarah grunted as Ms. Cooper unceremoniously dropped her on top of a flat granite countertop. The coldness instantly bled through the netting, resulting in a painful shiver, as though Sarah had been thrown into a freezing bath.


        Each cough she muttered felt like an explosion of pain inside her throat. Through the netting she tried to crawl, but only succeeded in falling forward.


        A loud “Clink” echoed through her ears, forcing Sarah to feel the vibration under her hands and knees. Falling forward, she saw a tremendous, white plate before her.


        “No! Please! No!” She attempted to crawl backwards, finding herself trapped in the fabric gridding. Thinking back to what Melanie had done to that poor woman, Sarah entered a phase of delirious terror.


        Growing more tangled as she saw Ms. Cooper gently place a comically oversized donut on the plate, Sarah felt the need to piss herself again, but nothing came out. Biting her lip, she thrashed as hard as she could, further tying herself up.


        A kitchen drawer below her screeched open, Sarah gasped as she caught sight of the glint of an immense pair of shiny, steel scissors. “Stop! Please! Stop this!” She tried to scream, but her volume was comparable to a quiet talking. It was like she was in a nightmare where she lost her voice.


        Placing her hands over her head, she heard the vicious cutting sound blast from right above her head. As a Sarah-sized hole was cut in the netting, she couldn’t help but notice that the woman had cut off a large chunk of her tangled hair. Bringing her hands up to touch it, she grit her teeth and moaned. Just an extra inch and her head could have easily been sliced off.


        “Aigh!” She tried to scream as she was picked up by the ankle through the netting. Ms. Cooper, holding the green fabric, held her over the side of the fat, plain beige donut. So entangled in the net, she felt her ankle become wrapped tightly in a few of the green net’s loops. Her pulse beat quickly as Ms. Cooper held her over the pastry. Now being shaken, Sarah experienced the net digging into the skin on her ankle as her weight pulled on the fabric.


        “Come on! Out you go!” Ms. Cooper said in a strangely sweet tone.


        The netting tore completely, forcing Sarah to fall down face-first for a split-second before landing on a spongy, soft surface. Stuck up to her waist, she tasted the sweetness as it forced its way up her mouth, causing her to cough. In an attempt to dig her way out, she flailed, finding that pressing her fingers into the surface only caused it to give way, leading her to fall even deeper into the donut.


        She could hear a screeching giggle from above. As Sarah finally managed to pry her head out of the substance, she could see Ms. Cooper covering her mouth, blatantly laughing at her. “Yeah, that’s a bit too much donut for someone your size!”


        Sarah crawled forward, her head feeling as though it was swimming. Wanting to crawl over the edge, she knew that a quick death off the side of the counter was preferable to whatever Ms. Cooper had in store for her. Thinking back to Melanie yet again, she couldn’t imagine the same thing happening to her, only with Ms. Cooper. The thought immediately made her heave.


        Staring down the side of the donut, she found that her joints were completely locked in fear. She simply couldn’t even dive off of the pastry, nevermind the rest of the counter. Her teeth clattering, her bloodshot eyes wide, she felt her hands and knees sink into the surface of the donut.


        Shocked awake by a blazing hot syrup pouring over her back, Sarah tried to grunt, but could only cough. The scorching of the thick goo now covering her body, dripping down her arms and on to the donut below gave her outside an agonizing symmetry with her throat. She felt completely helpless as Ms. Cooper poured some fluid over her head, legs, and torso.


        “Ungh! Stop!” In a panic, she managed to thrust both hands up in the air in an attempt to shield her face from the incoming goo. As a drip reached her mouth, she could taste it. Glaze.


        The white, cloudy mixture quickly hardened over Sarah, freezing her position. Her hands, still held over her head, her breasts exposed, her knees sinking deeply into the donut. Unable to move, she felt the next coating over the current mixture that trapped her. Struggling relentlessly, her aching, scorched skin stuck painfully to the inner coating of the glaze.


        With only her face exposed, she was stuck in a statuesque position, unable to even move her head in spite of the nagging sensation that something was going on behind her.


        Wincing as Ms. Cooper lifted the plate upwards, she could feel a tingling tear trickle down her cheek. Her heart felt as though it was literally shattered, bleeding hot blood throughout her chest. Both her soul and mind felt as though they were composed of broken glass.


        “Sweetie! I have a surprise for you!” Ms. Cooper said as Sarah felt the vibration of the table clunk beneath her. Her heart beat rapidly, though she could only take short, pained breaths due to the constriction of the dried glaze that froze her into place.


        Now obviously on a dining room table, Sarah could only move her reddened eyes. Scanning her new environment, she gazed down a vast hallway that inspired a Grand Canyon-esque sense of awe in her. Recognizing the house, she saw that it had changed little in the seven years since she worked there. Still not used to how everything was so huge, she grit her teeth as a sweet-looking teenager turned a corner out of one of the side doors.


        Now squirming as hard as she could, she could only form tiny cracks in the glazed surface. Unable to move in any significant way, she watched as the young woman continued traipsing towards her, her beautiful locks bouncing up and down with each step.


        Sarah gulped. She recognized her immediately. Her heart felt completely shattered when she realized it was Deirdre, the girl she used to babysit for shortly before she started college. Having not seen her for seven years, she saw how much she had grown now that she was eighteen.


        Ms. Cooper sighed. “I know you had the party last week, but I couldn’t get one of these in time. I hope giving you one now will help make up for it.”


        Deirdre pulled up the chair and sat right before Sarah. Tears continued to fall from Sarah’s face. She had no idea how to get out of this situation. There was no “Waiting your turn,” there was no “Self-defense,” there was only waiting for the inevitable. She was going to be eaten by this teenager.


        The young woman smiled. “Of course it’s okay, mom. This is a lovely surprise.” Her voice sounded very proper as she seemed to articulate every word in a somewhat nerdy way. Sarah’s jaw quivered, knowing that the sweet girl before her was going to be her end. Seeing she was wearing a pink tee shirt and denim suspenders, Sarah pointed her eyes upwards, looking up her somewhat long nose before gazing upon her colorful hazel eyes.


        “Don’t forget to eat her properly. Like I showed you! It’s important. You don’t want to waste her, she was an expensive one.” Ms. Cooper said in a doting manner, as though she were a teacher.


        “Yeah mom, I got it. Nice and whole.” Deirdre licked her lips.


        Her mouth covered in the hardened glaze, Sarah screeched, feeling her throat continue to burn as she saw Deirdre’s hands wrap around the sides of the donut itself. “Mmmf! Pls! D’rdra! Nnn!”


        The donut shifted in her grip, causing the woman to buckle under the weight of the hot glaze. “Nnn!”


        Sarah’s eyes widened, her heart beat in immense terror, as she was brought to the face of the tremendous teenager. Before her, Deirdre’s thick, pink, glossy lips expanded into a wide smile, exposing two rows of glistening teeth covered in a thick, black wire connecting all of her braces together.


        “Hey, mom!” Deirdre’s breath smelled putrid at this size. As she uttered those words, Sarah’s eye twitched as her mouth humidity covered her body like a hurricane wind. “This little one looks kinda familiar! Do you remember, like, years ago? The babysitter?”


        Her heart now exploding with hope, she thrashed as hard as she could, thinking that this was the opportunity to escape! To let them know that she knew them, that she couldn’t be eaten like this. No one would just eat someone they know!


        “Y’s! I’m h’re! It’s m- Sr’h!” Her voice was completely muffled by the glaze as she watched Deirdre’s shining tongue slither against her braces.


        Ms. Cooper leaned in behind her; Sarah could feel her staring into her soul. “Oh yeah, you’re kinda right! It sort of does look like her! Weird!”


        “But mom, what if it is her?” Deirdre looked upwards, concerned. The light shined off of her freckled tan skin. Her brow furrowed.


        Ms. Cooper put her hands on her hips. “Do you remember Sarah ever being bite-sized?”


        Deirdre laughed, spraying her spittle on Sarah. “You’re right. I guess not.”


        Sarah’s vocal cords burned in agony as she watched Deirdre’s jaw drop, exposing the insides of her mouth. Cords of saliva snapped and dripped over her braces. The heat from her mouth blew over her tiny body as she wished to slide backwards, away from the teen’s gaping maw.


        “N-n-n!” Sarah screeched in an attempt to say “No,” just as Deirdre’s teeth sunk into the donut right before her.


        An electric terror continued to blast through Sarah’s tiny body, feeling herself grow extremely weak as her glaze-frozen form leaned forward. Right in front of her was a curved emptiness in the donut in the shape of a bite, complete with indentations where Deirdre’s braces had scraped. Looking upwards, she could see the young woman masticate the soft pastry loudly, leaving a few crumbs stuck on her lower lip.


        The sound of the gulp sent her into near convulsions, reminding her of what Melanie had done to that brunette from earlier. Trying to flee, she could only slightly crack the hardened sugar she was bound to as she watched Deirdre’s mouth open a second time.


        Writhing in disgust, she could only stare as time slowed down before her. She could see the bits of gooey donut caught in Deirdre’s braces, the slime traveling down the crevice of her tongue, and the tiny pieces bashed into her molars. As she watched a tiny chunk travel down a wire of hanging saliva, Sarah thought about how this wasn’t supposed to happen. She was supposed to finish med school. She was supposed to become a radiologist. She wasn’t supposed to be a donut topping for some teenager.


        Unable to screech anymore, she watched the young woman’s lips spread wide open. A dark shadow overwhelmed her as a humid breeze crossed over her body. Cringing as the teeth slammed down behind her, she found herself on a little island of donut within the teen’s mouth. A dark horror gripped her chest as she felt her body fall forward. The glaze nearly instantly melted as she came into contact with Deirdre’s wet, slimy tongue. A tidal wave of wet donut washed over her, covering her naked, scorched body in the hot, chunky mixture of pastry and spit.


        A vicious sense of disgust gripped her as she could taste Deirdre’s saliva infused with the sugary sweetness. The rank slime flowed up Sarah’s nose as she frictionlessly slid against the teen’s bumpy tongue. Her hands slithered against her taste buds as the muscled floor undulated beneath her.


        “Deirdre! Please! No! Don’t eat m-” As Deirdre’s jaw lowered and raised while chewing the donut around her, Sarah could feel the tongue deftly position her away from the crushing molars. The heat was astronomical, but nothing compared to the scorching heat of the hot glaze from earlier.


        Crawling on her hands and knees was nearly impossible as the tongue continued to reposition her into the crevice. The wet flesh warped on either side of her, almost like a taco, as the slimy chewed donut caressed her nudity. Smelling nothing but Deirdre’s chewed donut, Sarah felt a burst of panic-induced energy.


        Diving forward, she felt the teenager’s lower incisors. Hard and white, Sarah hoisted herself over the front, hooking her hand over the wire of her bottom set of braces. Squeezing as hard as she could, she held onto Deirdre’s braces for dear life as she felt an incredibly powerful suction nearly drag her into the abyss behind her. The gulping sound shook her bones as Deirdre’s body slipped almost all of the chewed donut down her throat.


        Coughing, Sarah could feel the donut stuck in what was left of her hair as she was covered in a thick layer of the teen’s mouth slime. Shivering, she could feel the wire dig into her skin as she knew that maintaining her grip was the only thing that mattered. Not med school, not planning her future, only grabbing onto Deirdre’s brace wire.


        Grunting, she could feel Deirdre’s tongue begin to slither against her, probing her backside as she hooked her other hand onto the square brace attached to one of her lower incisors. Pursing her lips and squeezing her eyes shut, she could feel the warm, hot muscle slither against the inside of her thighs.


        “No… please Deirdre, no…” She whispered, spraying her spit against the inside of the immense bottom lip. “Aungh!” She screeched, louder than she had since she was first shrunk, as she felt the tip of Deirdre’s tongue slip against her bare vagina, splitting her legs wide open.


        Trying not to lose grip, she could feel the soft, wet, slimy taste buds ripple against her pussy gently, causing her to develop a state of unwanted arousal in the face of the extreme terror she was now experiencing. As the tongue continued to dab between her legs, she could feel her grip weakening as she moaned against her will. “Ungh. No. Please.” The tongue continued lapping at her, making slick, wet crackling sounds.


        “N! No!” She screamed as she felt her arms give way as one of the taste buds hooked under the hood of her clitoris. The tongue quickly positioned her into the back of Deirdre’s throat with a brutal ferocity. Now slamming her hands on the disc-shaped taste buds right under Deirdre’s uvula, she screeched as she realized that it was over. There was nothing more to grip.


        A crevice of light opened before her, exposing the inside of Deridre’s disgusting mouth. As the donut eclipsed the illumination, Sarah screeched. She didn’t care how much it pained her to use her vocal cords. A tidal wave of wet donut squelched through the slimy oral cavity, causing her to retch backwards, feeling her back painted by the young woman’s uvula.


        Digging her nails into the tongue below, she felt herself fall backwards into the near-endless pit where she knew only death waited. Deridre’s jaw bounced up and down a number of times, pulverizing the donut quickly, turning it into a warm flow of chunky mash.


        Now overwhelmed by darkness, Sarah shivered as the hot goo blasted against her face, forcing her through the arch behind her. A thunderous gulp echoed over her, sending her into spasms as the peristaltic motions of the throat gripped her. Embedded in a chewed wad of pastry, Sarah squirmed, pressing her hands through the bolus of donut, experiencing it flowing through her fingers as it slathered all over her face.


        The tight tube that surrounded her warped in a regular pattern, slipping her deeper into the teenager’s body. As the young woman’s calm heartbeat slammed against her, she felt her own chest clatter with the harsh pitter-patter of her own pulse. The difference forced a sense of fury into her. How could this happen to her? She had worked so hard to live a good life and now all of that studying was for nothing? She was literally back to the very girl she babysat for.


        As the descent slowed, she found herself squeezed tightly against a hot, fleshy ring. The oozing esophageal motions constricted her chest while the rings of muscle above sputtered her through the tight, pulsing orifice.


        The most putrid scent she could comprehend waited for her at the other end of the rippling hole. Her eyes immediately burned with the hot fog of Deirdre’s stomach. A short fall led the toxic haze to blow over Sarah’s back before she landed in a hot pile of chunky sludge.


        As it clung to her body, Sarah’s only instinct was to thrash, immediately feeling the heaviness of the mucus-laden puke as it weighed down her arms. Trying to wade through the mixture was impossible, as her tiny legs couldn’t even reach the bottom. Pitch darkness surrounded her as she was overwhelmed with an orchestra of shlucking, crackling sounds. In an attempt to swim, she could feel the ooze begin to burn between her toes and on her already-oversensitive pussy.


        Knowing this was the start of digestion, Sarah couldn’t stop weeping. She knew that, in her position, the fluid would only become more painful as the minutes went on. The acid already etching at her bare skin, she tried to dive forward in a vain attempt to signify to Deirdre that she wanted to be let out. If she just pounded the walls, maybe Deirdre would take pity on her and throw her up. This was her last plan.


        A large glob of chewed donut landed directly to the rear of Sarah, splashing liquid vomit all over her. Almost forced under the current, Sarah kept trying to swim forward, knowing that if she stopped, she’d sink under the surface, never to emerge again. Alive, at least.


        Still coated in a thick layer of the teen’s vomit, she sighed as she found one of the rippling stomach walls. Surprised at how much give the wrinkles had, she balled her hand in a fist and punched the wall as hard as she could. She didn’t even make a thud. The sound was completely muffled by the slime. As the stomach seemed to detect her activity, a wall of hot mucus fell from above. She retched in horror as she felt it slather over her nakedness.


        She thought about how her life had completely changed. How her future once was one of a highly paid medical professional. She wept as she realized that her only future now was in Deirdre’s toilet. She wasn’t even going to have a proper funeral other than being flushed away with the rest of some teenager’s feces.


        Wailing, feeling agonizing pain both on the inside and outside, she ran her fingers through her shortened hair, feeling it come off of her scalp in thick clumps. Squeezing it, she could feel the puke and mucus ooze between her fingers. “Guh!” She screeched, throwing it away as another large bolus of food splashed down into the teen’s stomach.


        Almost on cue, the walls started to shift. Pressed forward with a surprising strength, Sarah could feel the puke under her grow into a strange current. Her arms and legs swam through the moving slop, feeling unrecognizable chunks slip against her.


        Weeping, not knowing what to do other than accept her fate, she simply swam in one direction, thinking she might be more sensitive on one side of her stomach as opposed to the other. Maintaining a surprising level of composure, she found the tip of a stomach wrinkle a second before feeling it press up against her before contracting again. Now between two wrinkles, Sarah used her knee to slam into the stomach itself, trying to get some kind of attention from Deirdre, either to delay or stop her own demise.


        She never could have thought that this sweet girl could ever have had something so putrid and deadly within her. Her lip shaking, she coughed again, tasting a combination of blood and Deirdre’s vomit. The sour, chunky mixture blasted up against her face, forcing its way up her nose and into her mouth. Every single one of her senses was entirely dedicated to experiencing Deirdre. She could only hear the wet slapping of the digesting food, the rumbling from below, and the cracking of the snapping cords of mucus.


        Drizzled with several types of hot slime, Sarah felt the acid continue to etch away at her. Her lips, eyelids, nose, and inner thighs now felt as though they were on fire. Pressing her teeth together so hard she could literally hear them squeeze, she wept against the sheer stomach wall. The agony became too great to even move. Each time she stretched her skin even in the slightest amount, it felt as though someone were flaying that section with a dull blade.


        Unable to even comprehend where her limbs were, she lost all perception of self in a sea of painful disgust. Now driven only by some animalistic panic, she never stopped to think that the person who once was Sarah was now dead. For the rest of her life, she’d just be a scared animal acting as any other animal would in a similar situation. Crying, screaming, and thrashing.


        Feeling herself sink into the hot pool of chunky vomit, she felt the lava-like scum coat her body. She sneezed as she experienced it flood into her nasal cavity. Reaching up to touch her face, she tried to wince as she felt her nose’s cartilage dislodge. Every inch of her felt far too soft, as though her skin was made of clay.


        Trying to stay above the puke, she put her palms up against the wall, hearing a muffled plop behind her, as her ears were now clogged with burning vomit. Unable to smell or see anything, she attempted to screech as she felt her palms peel off her hands as they adhered to the mucus-covered wall of flesh.


        Her heart beat quickly and with great strength as Sarah realized her body was falling apart piece by piece. At this point, if she could get out, she wouldn’t want to live the life of a scarred human being. Trying to swim, she chafed away the skin of her inner thighs, exposing the raw muscle to the burning acid.


        Unable to focus on anything but the brutal pain she was in, she tried to splash against the vomit, succeeding only in shredding the skin on her arms.


        Now fully submerged within the acid bath, Sarah couldn’t move any of her limbs. Consciousness remained stubbornly attached to her soul. Writhing, she could feel the hard bits of whatever it was that Deirdra ate before the donut scrape against her softened body. A thud came from above as another thick wad of chewed donut landed atop the vomit surface.


        Now sent into spasms, she felt her own lungs fill with the hot goo that surrounded her. Instantly overwhelmed with a new, bright, brutal pain, she could strangely see flashes of bright lights before her eyes. Flickering, like a strange strobe where it shouldn’t be. As the flickering grew more constant and luminous, Sarah felt one final moment of peace before complete darkness.


        Her corpse slid downwards, landing with the rest of Deirdre’s digesting vomit. The dead body settled between two curved wrinkles near the teenager’s pylorus hours before it warped to sip her into her lower intestines.


---


        The next day, Sarah’s body was sliding through Deirdre’s colon. As the teenager yawned, she could feel a bubbling come from her belly. Shaking her head, she leaned back, looking up the schedule for the rest of her summer. Her heart fluttered as she realized that her freshman orientation for college was coming up in just two short weeks. She licked her lips, anticipating how much fun she was going to have and how much she had to look forward to. Given that she was on the pre-med track, she wondered if her old babysitter would have any tips for pursuing it. Reminded of her because of her special snack yesterday, she figured she’d look her up on social media and come into contact. She must be a doctor by now or something.


        Within her descending colon, Sarah’s body was lodged in the side of her next bowel movement. As it slid into her rectum, the blonde woman’s face was nearly shorn off by the intestinal rippling. The shit poured into the teenager’s rectum, forcing her to feel the familiar sensation of tightness in her bowels. Happy she was home for the weekend, Deirdre shot up and walked towards the bathroom.


        Hiking up her miniskirt, she pulled down her pink pair of panties to her ankles. Sighing, she curled her toes as she felt her anus relax. She looked down at the ground as her asshole expanded slowly. The tip of the long, round, brown hunk of feces poked out from her brown hole as it spread widely to let the rest of the sludge fall out. As it was halfway to the toilet water, Deirdre let out a long, yellow stream of hot urine, landing in the bowl with a “kshhhh” sound.


        As Deirdre’s anus smeared against Sarah’s dead body, her limp left arm fell forward, free from being lodged in the hot shit.


        As the log landed in the yellowed water with a soft plunk, Deirdre let out a few more streams of piss, unknowingly directly on top of Sarah’s mangled form. Now dislodged from the rest of the bowel movement, Sarah’s body was a strange mixture of bloated on one side and wrinkled on the other, causing the bloated half to float over the piss and the wrinkled parts to sink. Her left leg was completely torn off at the hip, not even connected to the rest of the log of shit anymore. Her eyes were gone, replaced with two brown stains. Her jaw was widened, completely dislodged due to the amount of brown sludge that was forced into her mouth and down her throat. Various indigestible bits of food were scattered both in her greened skin and inside her body. She smelled putrid, exactly the same as the shit that she was now a part.


        Deirdre wiped herself, dabbing her crotch so as to absorb any stray spots of piss before she reached far between her legs to wipe off any anal residue. Finding an oddly firm part of the otherwise consistent mixture, she looked at what was left over on the toilet paper. Within the middle of the brown stain was a lacerated human leg.


        Spreading her own legs, she looked down at the water to see the dead body of the woman she had swallowed yesterday. After dropping the used toilet paper into the water, she scrutinized the features of the woman’s corpse that had just exited her body. What was left of her bright blonde hair looked green and she was twisted into an unnatural position. The way all the shit was lodged in her face made her almost seem like she was screaming eternally.


        “Wow, I was right, she really does look like Sarah,” Deirdre thought before flushing.