If Felix hadn’t been late for the bus that day, he would’ve been 72.

Had he not stopped walking at the yellow light and kept going, he would’ve been 73.

Granny Gilda decided to go shopping on a Tuesday instead of her normal Wednesdays, and her weak fingers caused her to drop her bags on her way home, and the kind Felix knelt down to help her pick them up. Had that been all, he would’ve been 75.

But Felix stopped for a moment to admire the daisies that had just bloomed. This allowed Paul Johnson to pass him, and Felix became 76. 

---------------

Felix woke up on a cold floor. He didn’t have the strength to open his eyes, and he was too focused on the pounding sensation that plagued his head to worry about where he was. His body tingled, and soon the pain in his head faded away. For a second, he debated if he were dead. In that moment, he felt true peace. He was weightless, like an angel resting on a cloud. He was afraid that opening his eyes might ruin his illusion of bliss, and reveal that he had just collapsed on a pavement somewhere. No, he wanted to enjoy this feeling—a feeling that unfortunately wouldn’t last long.

“Someone help!” A woman’s voice screamed. She sounded far away, but Felix could still make out the sound. His eyelids were heavy, but he managed to open them wide enough to get a look at his surroundings. His vision was blurred, but he saw the woman running adjacent to him. She must’ve been a couple yards away. She constantly turned her head around, as if to look at whoever it was that was chasing her. 

Felix blinked twice, clearing up his eyesight to his normal 20/20 vision. Something didn’t look right. It looked like he was on a hardwood floor, but each plank was way too big. His body alone didn’t even make up the length of a single plank width. 

The sound of a bang in front of him brought him back to the woman. Felix tried shouting out to her, but his voice was raspy and the words didn’t come out. For a second time, the woman screamed. Felix cleared his throat and reached his arm out. It shook in the air, revealing to Felix how weak his body felt. “Hey.” He tried shouting, but it only came out as a murmur.

Luckily, the girl heard him. She turned to him. Felix could make out the desperation and fear in her eyes. It didn’t make sense to him; Felix didn’t see anyone else around. What was she running from? Before the girl even had a chance to run towards Felix, something large and round struck the girl’s side. She screeched. Where did that come from? 

The girl shot a foot in the air, and landed far away from where she originally was. The sphere rolled towards her before coming to a stop at her feet. It was too smooth to be a rock. The thought alone made Felix feel crazy, but it almost looked like a giant marble.

“Bullzeye!” Unlike the woman’s screams, this roar was ear piercing. Felix instinctively covered his eyes. Felix tried desperately to regain his bearings. He had no idea what was going on, but he was obviously in danger. He staggered up to his feet. His head spun, as did his world. He no longer knew that peaceful bliss from earlier. It was replaced with fear and anxiety.

“AH! Stop, please! I promise I’ll be a good girl from now on! I’ll be a good little whore.” The girl from earlier wailed and cried. Who was she talking… 

Felix grabbed his ears again at another ear piercing siren. “Can you even walk anymore? I think I might’ve broken your back by accident.” Felix couldn’t hear anything else as his ears were ringing too loudly. Instead, he forced his eyes open. 

A large shadow casted over the woman, and she was soon covered by a weird liquid that fell from above her. The liquid was too thick to be water, and it was mixed with some foamy white stuff. If Felix had known the truth about his situation, he would’ve known the girl was now drawing in a layer of spit, unable to move due to the marble that broke her back.

Despite not knowing what the liquid was, Felix knew he had to help the woman. Every instinct he had told him to make a run for it, but he needed the woman’s help as much as she needed his. Each step he took towards the woman sent knives up his numb legs. After he saved her, they would have to find somewhere to hide so they could both heal up. 

As he got closer, he could make out the woman’s desperate thrashing in the phlegm. She was covered in it. Without help, she had no hope of making it out and she would drown. Felix dropped to his knees in front of her, covering himself in some of the sticky liquid. He pushed his hands into the mess and wiped it away from her face first. 

The woman clung to every breath she was given, spitting out whatever it was she was forced to swallow in the process. She turned to her savior, tears flowing out of her eyes. “Please, you have to save me. I-I can’t feel my legs. Please please please you have to get me out of here. Get me away from her.” She was hysterical.

Felix tried his best to calm her down. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here.” He said with a smile. He wanted her to feel safe. With him around, nothing bad was going to happen to her. He’d make sure of it. His face looked so calm and handsome in the moment, who wouldn’t feel safe in his presence?

“See, I knew you couldn’t walk.” *Crunch*

Without any warning, something large and white crashed down on top of the poor girl. She was dead in an instant. Her blood splattered, though most of it was contained under the object. 

Felix stared at it blankly. Without moving his face and inch, he brought his hand up and wiped under his eye. The woman’s blood was on his face. It was on his clothes. She was just right here, where did she go?

Looking longer at the object, Felix finally came to grips with what his current reality was. He was looking at a giant shoe. Not just any shoe, but a giant white vans sneaker. The sneaker alone was enough to send his mind into a panicked frenzy, he couldn’t even imagine who might be wearing it.

That giant just snuffed out a girl’s existence with her shoe alone. How cruel… Felix was brought back to the present as the sneaker started to twist back and forth. Each twist bringing another crunch with it. The shoe continued until every bone in the woman’s body was pulverized to dust.

Felix found the experience to be traumatizing enough; he wasn’t ready for when the shoe lifted up. He could make out the girl’s twisted and deformed face as it stretched from the floor to the shoe that was only a few inches in the air. Her guts clinged to the sole, stuck in its creavases. 

The sight became too much for him, and Felix fell on his back. He looked up at the ceiling. Things started making sense to him. He really was on a hardwood floor, and each plank looked huge to him because he was tiny. He was shrunk, trapped inside a room he had never seen before.

“You really shouldn’t get that close to someone who’s about to be stepped on.” The loud voice said. Felix didn’t have the strength to cover his ears anymore. He was barely able to move his eyes to get a look at the source.

He finally saw her. The giant dark haired girl who crushed the person under her shoe. He quickly looked away. He repeated over and over again in his head how this couldn’t be real. But it was

The giant girl bent down over him. His vision was getting darker.

“Don’t give up on me now, you just woke up.” She said. Though his vision was weak, he could make out how mad she was. What did he even do to her?

“You’re supposed to be mine.” She pouted. “I won’t stand for another weak tiny.” 

Before anything else could happen, Felix blacked out.

  Abigail hugged her older brother tight in her arms. She buried her face in his shirt, dampening it with her tears. “Please don’t go. We can have so much fun here if you just stay.”

Felix put his hand on her head. He had trouble finding the right words for her. He knew him going away for school again would be hard on her, but he didn’t think she would react so strongly. “It’ll only be for a semester, and then I’ll be home for the summer. We can play lots then, promise.”

Abigail looked up at him, snot dripping down her nose. “Promise you won’t forget about me when you go up there with your cool friends?”

“Promise.” Felix smiled, and the little girl did too. “I promise I’ll come home to you.”

I’ll come home to you.

---------------

“Come on man, wake up!” Connie helplessly shook the unconscious man before him. Elias continuously swapped between looking at the man and Emma, who was trying to keep Katie busy. “If you don’t wake up right now she’s going to kill us all.”

Felix was awake and heard his words, but he didn’t show it. He felt like his body and mind were separated. These strangers, for whatever reason, were counting on him to wake up. But Felix didn’t have any strength left, not after watching what happened to that girl…

“Screw it man.” Elias said, pulling his hair with his hands. “I’m a senior in highschool, not fucking a doctor. Why would Katie task us with waking him up?”

“Just shut up.” Connie slapped that man as hard as he could. A red mark was left on the side of his face, but he didn’t respond. “Just be thankful you didn’t get Emma’s job. She has to clean Mia’s remains off Katie’s shoe.” Connie slapped him again, but he didn’t even flinch. “Wake up damnit!”

She has to clean up? How? Felix could see through his eyes, even if he couldn’t move them. Far away, he could make out another tiny girl with her face buried into the bloodied shoe. The giant was sitting against the wall with her legs stretched. She was saying something to the tiny, but Felix couldn’t make it out. Was… was that tiny girl licking at the shoe?

“Is this really how we go out?” Elias gently hit the side of his face. His eyes sank and darkened. “I spent the last month being the best little slave I could in hopes of staying alive long enough to be sold to someone nice, and now that all is going to be ruined because this little shit decided to take a nap on his first day.”

Connie dropped Felix and turned to Elias. “If you want to stay alive then how about you stop complaining and try helping me.”

“Helping?” Elias stared at Connie. He was starting to lose it. He was able to push the psychological damage caused by a month of cruel torture and rituals because he hoped one day to make it out alive. But the reality he dreamed about every night was starting to collapse, and he could taste how close his death was. “Sure, why not.”

Elias pushed Connie out of the way. He gripped Felix’s shirt and lifted him up. “Why are you being so selfish? Don’t you know that Katie wanted you to be her own personal tiny? Come on man, that means we wouldn’t have to deal with all her shit, ya feel me?” Elias brough their faces together, looking straight into Felix’s eyes. “So won’t you become her plaything so I don’t have to suffer as much? She’ll kill us if you don’t.” 

Her… Plaything? Her personal tiny? Was Felix shrunk… to be a slave to this giant?

“I don’t know how much longer Emma is going to last.” Connie’s hands started to twitch. He was really going to die. “She’s turning green. I think Katie is making her swallow Mia.” Connie turned back to Felix and Elias. 

He shoved himself next to Elias. They were both now staring down the unresponsive man. “Wake up! Please!” They shouted.

“I’ll only be gone for a semester.” Felix spoke, but his tone was cold and emotionless. “Then I’ll be home for the summer.”

Connie and Elias look at each other and smile. Maybe they weren’t toast after all. 

“Pathetic.” Katie screamed. “You couldn’t even clean up one person from under my shoe before throwing up.”

Emma was on her knees, hand over her mouth. She was staring down at her blood filled puke that way lying in the already blood soaked floor. “I’m sorry…” She murmured. 

“Sorry doesn’t make the throw up go away.” Katie reached her giant hand over to the tiny Emma. She slapped the back of Emma’s head with her pointer finger. Emma’s head crashed into the floor, it was a miracle her skull didn’t crack. Katie placed her finger on the back of her head and forced Emma’s face into her throw up. “Lick that up. It better be gone when I come back. Then you need to finish my shoe.” 

Katie stood up and walked over to the three tiny men in the middle of the room. Her giant form loomed over the three. She tapped her foot. To an ordinary person, they wouldn’t see anything weird about that; but to the inch tall people on her floor, they could make out the blood stain on her sole every time she raised it. It served as a reminder. 

“Is it awake yet?”

Connie and Elias shake in their skin. It was true that he spoke and was awake, but they knew he wasn’t conscious. “Well, see…” Connie said. Katie lowered her brows. She was getting angry.

“We can play lots then, promise.” Felix muttered. 

Katie smiled, “Oh, so he is up. And he’s ready to play. I haven’t heard anyone word it quite like that, but things will probably go better for him if he treats it like a game.”

Connie and Elias were speechless. They knew better than to correct their goddess, even if she was wrong in assuming Felix was conscious and ready to play.

“I promise I’ll come home to you.” Felix said.

“What was that?” Katie raised a brow. 

Connie opened his mouth, about to tell her the truth, but Elias quickly covered it with his hand. “He said he couldn’t be happier, Goddess Katie.” He covered his deception with a discrete smile. 

“Good work you two. At this rate, I’ll be ready to put you on the market in no time. I have plenty of friends at school who are dying to have an obedient slave.” Katie bent down and grabbed Felix, pinching his arms into his body with her pointer finger and thumb. She lifted him up to her face, being careful not to drop her newest addition. 

A chill was sent through Connie and Elias’s bodies. It was hard to tell from how high she was, but if Katie gets a closer look at Felix, she’ll know for sure that he’s not alert and that the two lied to her. 

Katie eyed Felix up and down. Felix got a good look at her deep hazel eyes. Her skin was fine and smooth. She was attractive too, despite looking a couple years younger than Felix. “He looks a little stiff, but you’ll get used to being picked up and tossed around soon enough.”

The two on the floor exhale a sigh of relief as Katie walks away with Felix. Katie returns to the ill Emma on the floor. Katie nudges her with the tip of her shoe, which sends Emma into a panic. “You done yet?” 

Emma vigorously nods her head. “Yes Goddess Katie!” 

“Good. Because you need to finish my shoe. Your friend’s replacement will be watching. Make sure you give him a good show, I’m sure he’ll be cleaning up your remains from my shoe sooner or later, so I need him to know how to do a good job.”

“Yes Goddess.” Emma said, almost too passionately. 

Katie carefully bent down and sat Felix down in the mess on the floor next to Emma. One look at his desolate eyes, and Emma was able to tell he wasn’t there. She looked back at her two friends. Without exchanging words at all, she knew what was going on. She had to keep up the charade that he was awake, lest she dies. 

“I love you too.” Felix again mutters. 

“What are you looking at, bug?” Katie slid down against the wall and slammed her sneakers in front of Emma, exposing the soles to her. The remains and blood were as prominent as ever. “Get to work.”

“Yes.” Emma dug her face into the rubber sole. The guts of her fallen friend squished into her face as Emma worked at prying it off the Goddess’s sole with her teeth. 

Felix could do nothing but watch the girl work. Her tongue dragged against ridges that were painted red until they returned to their original white color. He could tell that the girl was barely holding it together. Did one of the men from earlier say the dead girl’s name was Mia? Were they friends? Is this girl licking her friend’s blood off her killer’s shoe? Is she swallowing her friend’s guts?

“I always liked you more than that other girl.” Katie said, humming to herself. “Training girls is a lot easier than the boys, because you girls know what it’s like to be subservient. Mia was something else. She thought she could be strong and brave, but did you see how easily I crushed her back with a marble? How’s that for reminding her how weak she is, I mean the whore almost drowned in my spit.”

Despite the harsh words, the girl didn’t stop licking the bloody sole.

“You always knew your place though.” Katie continued. “Before I saved you, I bet you spent your free time giving blowjobs on some corner. Aren’t you happy I found you and gave your life actual purpose?”

“Yes Goddess.” Emma ripped out another chunk from the vans. She didn’t let this one drop to the floor. Instead she chewed it up and swallowed it. She looked like she was going to throw up, but kept it in. 

Katie laughed. “I tried giving that other slut purpose, but she refused. I mean, what could be more of an honor in life than being my plaything? Although I guess her existence wasn’t entirely pointless. Her death gave us an opportunity to teach the fresh meat how to clean guts out from under a shoe. Ha! Isn’t that funny? Mia probably had hopes and dreams for her life, but from the moment she was born, she was always destined for this. She only existed so I could have the pleasure of squishing her under my vans and having you eat her.”

“Yes Goddess.” By now, Emma was crying. After how long she had been there, two weeks, she had learned to weep in silence. “She really was worthless.” 

“No she wasn’t.” Felix whispered. Emma’s heart dropped with fear, but luckily he spoke too low for her Goddess to hear. No one ever corrected her and lived, and Emma wasn’t sure if being her personal tiny would be enough to save him.

At the very least, Felix was showing signs of coming back to his senses. Maybe they wouldn’t all die after all. Not today, anyway.

Felix sat there with his knees dug into chest. No one had said anything for nearly 20 minutes. Part of Felix thought he should ask what the hell was going on, but the rest of him prefered the silence. He didn’t know if he'd be ready for the answer anyway. A bunch of tiny people in a highschool girl’s bedroom, there wasn’t any good version of an answer that would make Felix feel better about what he just saw. 

From what he was able to gather, it seemed that Katie was shrinking people and training them to be slaves for the highest bidder. That fact alone was enough for Felix to keep his mouth shut, scared of what else they would tell him about her. The thought of being sold was scary, but what was even scarier was that Felix was under the impression that he’d belong to Kaite forever.

Felix banged the back of his head against the bars behind him. Katie went to eat dinner shortly after Emma finished cleaning her shoe. The floor was still stained, but Katie said that it could wait until after dinner. She didn’t trust any of us running around when she’s not there, that’s why she put them in this dusty old cage under her bed.

Emma had been crying since we were put in here. Another girl was comforting her, Felix remembered someone saying her name was Sofia. Connie and Elias were silent like Felix, but they sat close to each other. And then there was a boy who hadn't spoken up at all. He laid on the ground on the other side of the cage, sneezing his head off.

And who could blame him with all this dust. The cage was filthy. Even where he was, Felix sat next to a pile of dried up poop. It stunk, but it mixed with all the other scents. After spending who knows how long sitting in blood and guts, the stool didn’t bother him.

“That’s Mia’s, ya know.” Connie said. 

Felix looked at him, but didn’t say anything.

“That pile of crap you keep looking at. It's Mia’s. That’s all we have left of her: a pile of waste.”

Emma wailed even harder, having trouble keeping it quiet this time. 

“Well I guess we’ll get a little more of her if Emma decides to throw up again.”

“Watch yourself.” Sofia barks.

“What’s your problem, it was a compliment.” Connie remarks. “Emma ate her friend like a good little dog, now she gets to live another day.” 

“She did what she had to do.” Sofia said. “I don’t have to remind you of the things you’ve done.”

“I’m sorry.” Felix said, looking at no one in particular. 

“Ah, it speaks.” Connie turned to him. 

Emma calmed down her crying to look at Felix. “What are you sorry for?”

“She was right there in front of me. I could’ve saved her, but I didn’t. I was so focused on looking cool to her that I did nothing as she was crushed to death.” Felix buried his head into his knees.

“Sorry doesn’t bring Mia back.” Elias sat up. 

“That’s something Katie says.” Sofia said. “Leave it up to the teacher’s pet to really retain that lesson.”

“Call me what you want,” Elias shied away from everyone. “I’m getting out of this hell hole. You guys haven't been here as long as I have. Katie has only sold three of the last ten tinies before me. The rest ended up just like Mia, one way or another. I’m doing whatever it takes to get sold, anyone has to be nicer than Katie.” 

“Achoo!” The boy in the back sneezed. He quivered, staying to himself. Felix started to stand up to move towards him, but Sofia glared at him and shook her head. Felix sat back down. 

Felix reflected on what Elias said. Katie has only sold three in ten people. There were six people in here. The odds weren’t in any of their favor, except maybe Elias. But what about…

“What did you mean when you said I was going to be her personal tiny, Elias?” 

The man peered back at him. The hairs on his chin were so thick, and his eyes heavy. “Katie was tired of seeing all her best pets go, so she wanted to train one all for herself. And since I know why you’re asking—no, I don’t think she’ll kill you as easily as she’ll kill us. You’re her lucky 76, she won’t give up on you as easily as she does us lower beings.”

Felix would be lying if he said he wasn’t relieved to hear he probably wouldn’t die, but living as Katie’s personal slave sounded like a worse fate. Felix scanned the room. Everyone there looked like they were the living dead. Felix wondered what each of them had done. He already knew Emma had eaten her friend off Katie’s shoe, but what did the rest have to do? What kind of things would he have to do to meet Katie’s standards of the perfect slave? And did he have any hope of returning to normal size and escaping?

Besides the boy hunched over in the corner, those in the cage jumped up when they heard Katie’s heavy footsteps climbing up the stairs. They all turned to the door. From under the bed, they could make out only the bottom portion of the wooden door, but they watched it intensely. 

Felix kept his eyes glued to it as his heart raced. The footsteps quickly approached, getting louder as the atmosphere began to gloom. 

Elias walked up besides Felix, gripping his hands between the tight metal bars. “A word of advice.” He started. “Do whatever she says.” Elias never once turned to him. Felix nodded silently to himself. He didn’t expect friendly advice from Elias. Honestly, Felix thought he was a little self absorbed. Could it be true that Elias cared about the safety of Felix and the other’s as much as his own?

The footsteps stopped, and the crew could make out a shadow from the small crack at the bottom of the door. Without any more warning, the door shot open. It banged against the wall behind it, and Katie harshly slammed it shut again. She marched over to the group. A long arm reached under the bed and grabbed the cage. She yanked it, sending the cage out into the open and everyone inside to the front facing bars. 

Felix’s body pressed into the bars next to Elias. There was a scream from behind him. Sofia flew in the air. Her skull crashed into the bars as they came to a stop. She screamed as she landed on the cage floor, grabbing the back of her head. 

Katie opened the top of the cage and turned it upside down. All six of the tinies fell out. The sneezer had trouble at first, so Katie had to shake the cage until he joined the others. Felix didn’t like returning to the cold hardwood. Memories of what happened earlier returned to him. Mia’s death, Connie and Elias desperately trying to wake him up, and Emma having to lick Katie’s shoe cleaned after the fact. 

Felix could see Connie in front of him. He was quick to jump to his feet. So were the others. Felix and Sofia were the only ones who still clung to the ground.

“Welcome back Goddess.” Elias said, dropping to his knees and kissing the floor. “I’m so honored to be in your presence.” He kept his head plastards to the ground as Katie walked past him. 

“You.” Katie said, peering down at Emma. 

“Me?” Emma gazed up at her. Her eyes widened as Katie’s giant digits reached down for her. Kaite picked Emma up with her pointer finger and thumb pressed into her head. The tiny girl screamed as gravity alone threatened to tear her head off her miniscule body. 

“Did you think what you did was funny?” Katie asked in a diminutive tone. She pressed her fingers ever so slightly together, but it was enough for Emma to feel her head was going to explode. 

Felix watched in horror as the small girl thrashed in the air, desperate to be released from the giant’s grip. Her head sunk into the flesh of the goddess’s fingers. Emma scratched at the giant finger nails, but to no avail. 

“Don’t you know how embarrassed I was at dinner tonight.” Particles of spit flew out of Katie’s mouth as she spoke. Her eyes showed no remorse for the tiny girl in front of her. “I was still walking around with a stain of blood on my shoe. What if someone saw it? They wouldn’t know it was blood, but they’d think I don’t keep my shoes clean. What’s the point of having a slave who cleans shoes if people think my shoes are dirty.” Katie pressed harder into the skull of tiny Emma. Emma’s scream became ear piercing. Emma lost the strength to kick in the air, instead she focused on the excruciating pain she was under.

“Christ.” Connie said. Everyone’s eyes were fixated on their friend above. It was always hard to watch someone be punished, but this seemed extreme. This stunt could leave Emma with permanent brain damage if Katie didn’t stop soon. If this impaired her functioning, then there was no doubt that she’d be killed next time Katie asked something of her. 

“Stop it!” Felix yelled. “You’re hurting her.” The other tinies turned to him. Usually, they’d be terrified as to what punishment would fall on him for speaking out, but this time they all hoped his cries would save Emma. Even if the punishment shifted to Felix, they’d be happy to have Emma back unscaved. 

“The fuck did you just say to me?” Katie said, now focused on Felix. Her grip on Emma seemed to loosen, as her screaming stopped and she was again able to breathe again.

Felix froze in fear. He couldn’t find any words to say. He felt the malice of the young girl above him radiating down at him. 

Katie locked eyes with Felix for a moment, debating what to do. The tiny girl between her fingers cried, wetting Katie’s skin. “Pay close attention, fresh meat.” Katie turned her hand around and extended it to the group of tinies on her floor. They could all see the agony on Emma’s face as she was brought closer to them. “This is what happens to a tiny who doesn’t do as they’re told.” Katie again pressed down her fingers on the girl’s head, but this time harder than before.

Emma screamed out. She trashed at the fingers, trying to scratch them and claw her way out. 

“Disappoint me, and this is what happens.” Katie squeezed the tiny girl harder. A crack could be heard as Emma’s skull started to fold in on itself. Her head became thinner and longer. Before long, her arms fell to her side. Katie increased her grip, crushing Emma even harder. Emma’s eye turned bloodshot red. Most of her face wasn’t even visible from beyond the pads on her fingers. With the next increase in pressure, Emma’s left eye pops out of her socket. Before her right eye could do the same, her entire head collapsed between the weight of Katie’s forefinger and thumb.

Blood exploded from in between Katie’s fingers. The remnants of Emma’s body fell to the floor, blood still sprinkling out of where her head once was. The tinies stood there stunned. This was the second brutal death Felix had seen in just a few hours. His mind was breaking. He wanted to scream, but didn’t have the strength. 

Katie flicked her hand, trying to get Emma’s brain off of it. “And in case you need another reminder, insect.” Katie’s hand reached for Felix’s head this time. Scared he would be next to die painfully between the giant’s digits, he jumped back. He wasn’t fast enough for the hand, and Katie wrapped her pointer finger and thumb around his head. Instead of squeezing, Katie instead rubbed her thumb and finger into Felix’s face, covering it in the blood of the now deceased Emma. The girl who was just crying in front of him moments earlier. After his face was completely red with her blood, Katie pulled her hand away.

“You, you and you.” She said, pointing to Elias, Connie and Sofia. “Clean that up right away.” 

Elias didn’t hesitate before rushing over to some of the blood that splattered on the floor and lapping it up with his tongue. It took Connie a little longer to move, and Sofia didn’t budge at all.

“And you, fresh meat.” Katie was referring to Felix as she slipped off one of her sneakers. The sole was exposed, and Felix could barely make out a tiny red smudge left on the bottom. “Clean that.” 

The sneaker was right in front of Felix. He wondered why Emma hadn’t cleaned that part. From what he remembered, it was clean when Katie had left for dinner. The only explanation Felix could think up was that Katie had gotten that stain after Emma finished cleaning it, perhaps when she stood back up in the blood that was still on the floor that she said would be cleaned up later. Did Katie know it was her fault her shoe was still dirty when she killed Emma?

“I won't ask again.” Katie said.

Felix stared at the blood on her shoe. He figured he was supposed to lick it up until it turned white, just like Emma had. He thought back to what Elias said about doing whatever Katie tells him to. At first, he thought Elias was giving him advice to help him out, but now he knew better. Emma died so that Katie could teach Felix a lesson on obedience. That’s what Elias was trying to tell Felix: Do whatever Katie tells you, because it’s them who are going to be paying for his insolence. 

Not wanting to witness anymore torture, let alone have any imposed on himself, Felix inched forward and licked the rubber sole. He dragged his tongue against the red spot. He couldn’t smell anything besides iron due to the blood on his face, so he couldn’t smell the foot stank that Emma could earlier. But he could taste the dirt and the rubber that was forever infused on the sole. Every lick caused his tongue to twitch. Felix licked at the sole until he could no longer see any red spots. He fell down to his knees, swallowing the blood soaked spit that lingered in his mouth. What had he just been told to do? 

Katie came over to inspect his work. “Good boy.” She kicked off her other shoe and shoved them both under her bed. Her light blue ankle socks were right in front of Felix’s eyes. He could make out each toe on each foot. The sight alone made him wanna vomit.

For a second, Felix wondered if Emma had been spared from a fate worse than what had happened to her.

Felix didn’t get any sleep last night. He laid in the dirt filled cage playing with the dust scattered under his fingers. Every once in a while, he would ram his head against the plastic. He didn’t understand why, but part of him liked the pain he felt afterwards. If he could focus on that, he wouldn’t have to focus on the mental pain. He also entertained the thought that one might kill him. 

Only Elias was able to get any shut eye, with his knees dug into his chest and his hands over his ears. Tomorrow was Friday, meaning there would only be one more week until the end of the month. That’s when Katie would bring him, Connie, and possibly Sofia into her school to be sold. Seven more days of anguish and torment. He hoped he’d get a nice girl, or if she had to be cruel like Katie that she’d be a cheerleader. Katie sells tinies for only ten dollars, that’s how little she thinks they're worth. 

Andrew didn’t see what Katie had done. Even though she had forced him out of the cage, she didn’t force him to watch like she did the others. Andrew thinks that’s her way of being nice, or maybe her way of appeasing him. Even though he was being punished, it would end sooner or later. She wouldn’t want him resentful of her, just obedient. He wasn’t like the other tinies in the cage.

Connie and Sofia tried their hardest to get their minds off Mia and Emma. They talked about their old lives and what they would’ve been doing at that moment. It worked for a while, but each of their stories would somehow work it’s way back to Mia or Emma. Around 2, they sat in silence. 

And of course, Katie slept soundly in her bed above. A few times during the night the tinies could hear her shift her position in bed, reminding everyone of the monster that laid just above them. 

---------------

Katie didn’t acknowledge her tinies for the majority of the morning. She rarely ever did. Once in a while, she liked to take one or two with her to the bathroom, but even that was only on weekends. She wasn’t a morning person, and didn’t like anyone seeing her until she was fully dressed— even those she didn’t consider fully human.

When the lights in the room turned on, Connie, Sofia and Elias all approached the front of the cage and sat down. They told Felix that this was the way Katie preferred it. She wouldn’t always like it, but it’s what was least likely to make her mad. Felix followed their lead.

It took Katie an hour to wash up and eat her breakfast. During that time, Felix was able to ask plenty of questions to his fellow captives.

His first question was about food. Sofia told him that Katie only ever feeds them actual food after she eats dinner. She also mentioned that Katie almost never gives them water, but they drink when they can—whatever that means.

He found out that Katie also knew all of their names, but didn’t often use them. She didn’t think unowned tinies deserve names, but there were circumstances where using them were unavoidable. Elias thought Katie would give Felix a name herself when she thought he was ready for one.

Felix tried not to ask too many questions about what the other’s been told to do by Katie, as to not bring up any unpleasant memories, but he thought he should be prepared for what's to come. So he reworded his question a bit. “What might Katie ask me to do?”

“Napkins. Toothpicks. Table weights. Insoles. Toothbrush. Nail clippers. Wipes. Toilet paper.” Connie said, staring blankly at the bars. “Think of any common object, that's what we are now. You saw how she used us as shoe and floor cleaners yesterday. I’m sure you’ll see some other things today.”

“I used to think that was the worst part.” Sofia picked up. “It’s so humiliating, I hated being reduced to something so worthless. But it’s the torture that’s the worst part. Because there's no purpose behind it. It’s just Katie being bored. Mia was crushed like nothing under a marble yesterday for no reason at all. At least when she’s using us to clean the food left on her face, or shortening her fingernails, we have a purpose. But she still treats us like we’re nothing.”

Felix sat on that. Before he could ask another question, Katie came back in, and Felix wiped the terrified look off his face.

Unlike last time, Katie pulled the cage out from under her bed with ease and caution. She undid the latch at the top of the cage and opened it up. 

Felix forgot how pretty she was. He spent the entire night reflecting on how much of a monster she acted. How could someone so beautiful be so cruel? 

Katie reached her hand down and plucked each person out one by one. Felix thought he was going to have a panic attack when it was his turn. Katie used the same fingers to pick him up that she used to crush Emma. Visions of Katie smearing Emma’s blood on his face filled his vision. As he was carried out, a terrifying thought came to him— he hadn’t had a bath or water or anything since he shrunk, was Emma’s blood still on his face?

She dropped the five of them on her bed. After scratching her chin for a moment, she picked the sneezer boy back up and brought him over to her book shelf. “While I’m at school, you can work on getting over your allergies.” Standing on her tiptoes, she dropped the tiny boy on the top of the shelf. Felix didn’t think a girl like Katie would read a lot of books. The shelves were probably littered in dust. A loud sneeze confirmed his suspicions. 

“And you,” She said, walking back to the bed and picking up Elias. “You’re going to help me cheat on my history exam Monday.” She dropped him on top of a notebook sitting on her nightstand. “So memorize all of those notes I borrowed from Lina by the time I get back.” Elias nodded and got to work on lifting the heavy front cover of the notebook. 

Connie and Sofia were so stiff, standing on either side of Felix. They didn’t show an ounce of emotion or take their eyes off Katie for a second. Felix wondered if he still looked afraid. He felt it, fear like you wouldn’t believe. He was still trying to wrap his head around being only an inch tall, let alone being as weak and powerless as a bug on top of it. 

Katie bent down and pulled two shoes out from under her bed. They were sadie shoes, probably the ones she wore to school. They had a white toe and heel, with a navy blue color in the middle by the laces and a brown sole bottom. 

“I think we’ll go a little easy on you today.” She said picking up Connie. “I’ll put you in the left one.” With that, she dropped Connie into her left shoe.

Felix jumped back and screamed. Sofia turned to him. She looked terrified. “Shut up.” She barked, sounding scarier with that demand than Katie ever did with one of hers. Felix paid her no mind. Katie just dropped Connie into her shoe. He’s going to die in there. Was she killing all of them? Felix looked around for any way of escape. 

Katie’s hand reached for Sofia and picked her up. Felix wasn’t even able to scream again before her hand was upon him, squishing him in her grip next to Sofia. “And you two get the right one. Girlie, make sure my new pet doesn’t die in there. You’re in charge of him.” And then she dropped them in her right shoe. 

Felix landed on the leather sole with a thud. A slight tilt of Katie’s hand sent Felix hurderling into darkness as he plummeted to the toe section. The smell was putrid. The odor smelled like something had corroded and rottened inside. Knowing Katie, it could either be that or her natural foot smell. Felix’s body slid into the tight tip. His heart rate intensified. 

Thoughts of dying painfully under her toes cluttered his mind. With the faint light peering in from the entrance, he could make out Sofia’s body next to him. Katie told her to keep him safe, she wouldn’t let him die would she? Would she even have the power to save him if she wanted to. “Brace yourself.” She said.

“What?” Felix panicked. He felt his soul leave his body. Katie had dropped the shoe, sending Felix into a world of dysfunction and disorientation. He hated rides for this very reason. He screamed in fear as the shoes clanked against the floor and sent knives of pain through his body. He took in deep breaths, relieved he was alive. 

He looked forwards towards the exit. If he could get there before Katie slid her foot in, he might be able to climb out and escape. He made a run for it. 

Within seconds, Sofia was on top of him. She grabbed his arm and sweeped her leg under his, forcing him down on the sole. 

“What are you doing?” He yelled, trying to get out of her grip. He was going to die. He was really going to die and Sofia was trying to kill him. 

“You’re going to kill yourself, you idiot.” She heaved. “The toe section is the safest place to be.”

“Are you nuts?” Felix freaked out. “That’s the furthest away from the exit. How are we going to escape?”

“Don’t be dumb. You need to give up on escaping and do what makes Katie happy. How else will you live?”

The shoe rumbled. Katie was slipping her foot in. Felix could make out the outline of each toe through the thick navy socks. 

“Get up!” Sofia yelled, letting go of him and running for the far corner of the shoe. Felix flipped on his back. He crawled backwards towards the edge of the shoe, trying to escape the impending foot. Felix reached the end. He was screwed. 

The foot grew closer, and the musky scent grew stronger. Katie’s big toe collided with him, shoving him deeper into the shoe end. Her toe rubbed up and down his body, and he could faintly feel her sharp nail poking at him. At first, he thought she was petting him, but he soon realized what she was actually doing.

With each rub, Katie was trying to drag Felix’s body under her toe. Felix screamed and tried to fight it, but the toe was too strong. He was forced under her toe. He tried wiggling his way out, but Katie lifted up her toe and slammed it back down on him. She did this several times, slamming her toe against his body until he got the message that she didn’t like his squirming. “You’re an insole.” She said, slamming her toe down on him again. She pressed on him. “Insoles don’t move. I’ll give you permission to lick and kiss if you want to show me how grateful you are, but don’t move from that position.” That was the last thing she planned on saying to him until after school.

Felix finally got the message as the pressure lifted up. He caught his breath. How long would he be in there? Katie wasn’t serious about using him as an insole was she? 

As if to answer his question, Katie tightened the laces on her shoes. She stood up straight and pulled her bookbag off her chair. Katie took a step towards her bedroom door. The toes crushing Felix became weightless. It allowed him the time needed to catch his breath. His body ached. He had only been under her big toe for a few seconds, he knew he wouldn’t survive a whole day.

At the peak of her step, Felix felt his whole world stop. Everything began to shatter once her foot started to descend. Felix’s head spun, and Katie’s toe slammed into his body as her foot hit the floor. The process repeated several times. It was especially excruciating for Felix. His body would feel like it was on the worst ride of his life, then his head would bang against the bottom of her insole, and at the same time the putrid toe would crash down on him. 

He felt like he was going to pop. How was a young girl’s toe doing this to him? Tears flowed down his eyes from the pain. Every step caused him to scream, but every scream was muffled by the thick cotton sock. Then came the stairs—the worst experience Felix had gone through in his entire life. It was a rapid succession of Katie’s foot being raised and slammed down on top of him. His mind went numb, letting his body be assaulted by the onslaught Katie’s toe brought.

She landed on the floor with a stomp. This forced Felix’s mind back to what was happening to his body. He was sweating profusely, or maybe it was Katie’s foot sweat that was drenching him. It was so hot in the shoe. What was going to kill him first? Would he die of a stroke? Would he be crushed to dust under Katie’s toe? Or would he end up drowning in sweat?

Felix didn’t want to think of the idea that Katie might have gym class. Part of him wished that she didn’t, that he would have an easy day as she sat in a chair for 8 periods. Another part of him wished for a quick death. No, a large part of him did. The only reason he didn’t want to die was because of how degrading his death would be, but even that part of him was smaller.

His throat started to hurt from the screaming, as did his head from the trampling and crying. What would his parents think? What about his sister? He didn’t want them to ever know about this. He wanted to be crushed by Katie’s toe and flattened beyond recognition. He hated himself for where he was. He finally understood how worthless he was, why Katie thought she could push them around the way she did. He was nothing.

Katie’s foot continued to rise and slam down. Was she putting any thought into her movements? Felix never once thought about the strides he took. Katie was taking each step without thinking even a little bit about how much pressure she put down or considering the tinies inside. 

Felix wondered how Connie and Sofia were doing. Despite being right next to him, Felix didn’t have the strength to move his body to check on Sofia. She was supposed to keep him safe, but how could anyone save him from this? His body continued to be beaten and bruised by Katie’s toe, and she wasn’t even trying to hurt him. 

Things got really heavy for a second. All of Katie’s weight was being supported by her one foot. The pressure was relieved for a moment, but Katie soon returned to her normal walking style. After a few more steps, Felix again felt himself suspended in the air. Except this time her foot didn’t go back down all the way.

Felix heard the sound of an engine, and then felt a little nauseous. Was Katie on a bus? She really was on her way to school with Felix shrunk and in her shoe. 

Feeling the pain consume him in the same way the toe did, Felix couldn’t help but resume his crying. He surprisingly clung onto the toe, pressing his face into it. It was so humid and damp. He felt a gentle hand grasp at his shoulder. He turned and swatted at it, thinking it was another thing out to hurt him. 

It was Sofia. “Are you done crying yet?” Despite being in the same situation Felix was in, she didn’t look battered or scared at all. While Felix’s face was red and soaked in tears and sweat, hers was dry and pale. 

“Kill me…” Felix begged, weeping to himself. He shut his eyes and laid his head on the well-worn insole below. 

“Emma made me promise something to her once.” Sofia said. Katie’s foot twitched, and she scrunched her toes to feel where her tinies were. “When I was first brought here, I told her that next time Katie picked us up and put us on her desk or drawer, I was going jump off and kill myself.” Her voice was so calm and soothing. You’d never know she was almost crushed to death beneath Katie’s pinkie toe. “Do you want to know what she told me?”

Felix forced snot back up his nose. He nodded, staring up at the girl. She couldn’t be older than he was, she actually looked a little younger than Katie.

“She told me that no matter what we did, no matter how well trained or behaved we were, that we were all going to die here. None of us were making it out of here, not alive.”

Katie flexed her toes, trying to find where her one slave had gone. Sofia made sure to stay out of its way. Felix shook his head. “Is that supposed to cheer me up?” He clenched his fist. “I don’t want to spend another second here. I don’t care if I’ll die eventually, I want to die now.” The two could feel Katie place her foot back on the bus floor.

“You idiot.” Sofia said in the driest tone imaginable. “This isn’t about your death. It’s about Emma’s. She was right, she died. And if I don’t go back under Katie’s toe, I’ll die too.”

Out of nowhere, Katie brought her weight down on Felix, pressing her toe into him with great force. He screamed, but Sofia’s face didn’t change.

“Do you know what’s happening? Katie is squishing you to threaten me to get back under her toes. She really will kill you, and then I’ll probably be killed for making her do that. I’m willing to let her kill the two of us if you want, and I’ll let you die. I don’t mind, because I want to die too.”

Felix felt like his head was going to burst. Sofia’s arm slid under the toe, and she pulled Felix’s hand out with hers. She had no hope of pulling him out, but she wasn’t trying to. 

“But if I die, who will remember Emma? Or Mia, or Moritz or Charlotte? Who will remember Elias and Connie after they’re gone?”

Felix spit up blood. It splattered on his stretched out arm and sole below. “Please, h—” He coughed up more. The toe’s pressure was only getting harder.

“Make me a promise.” Sofia smiled. “Promise me that you’ll keep living. Not for yourself, but for the rest of us. So someone can remember what we had to do to keep those before us alive. If you want to die I’ll let you, and I can forget about you too. But one day, someone might escape from this hell. Until then, won’t you fight with us to stay alive?”

Katie wriggled her toe on top of Felix. Half his face sunk into her sock, leaving only the other half visible to Sofia. He couldn’t speak. His throat was torn to shreds from the screaming, and he couldn’t capture enough breath to form any words. But he squeezed Sofia’s hand in his. 

“Okay.” Sofia’s hand slid out of his, leaving it to fall to the floor. She inched her way to the other side of the shoe and slid under Katie’s pinkie toe. Sofia planted a kiss on the fabric of Katie’s sock. Instantly, all the weight on Felix was lifted and transferred to Sofia. She screamed, having Katie’s pinkie toe drilled into her ribcage. 

Felix couldn’t watch. The bus ride to school would be over soon, although he didn’t know how long. All he could do was lay there and wait and listen to Sofia scream. He had a long day ahead of him.

Felix missed his phone. The heat and musky odor inside the old sadie shoe caused his skin and throat to burn. Even though the cotton covered toe had been dormant since second period began, it still weighed heavy on Felix. Without his phone, he had nothing to take his attention away from the pain he felt or the awful situation he was in. 

He couldn’t keep track of time outside of Katie’s movements either. If she went to a regular highschool, then Katie would go through 7 or 8 periods in total including lunch before returning home. Katie’s toe was still now, which let Felix know she was in class. Her moving around would alert him that she was moving to her next period. 

Katie’s big toe scrunched lightly on top of Felix. She did that sporadically, though Felix didn’t think she was doing it consciously. He didn’t think anything Katie was capable of doing could be that gentle.

Felix tried to distract himself by thinking of what his friends were up to. It was still early, so most of them would be in class too. He wondered if his roommates were worried at all that he hadn’t returned to their dorm the previous night. Despite everything that happened, it had barely been a day since Felix was shrunk and kidnapped. 

Would they even know that he was missing? It wasn’t uncommon for Felix to return to the dorms late or sleep out on a Thursday night, and for all they know he could have gone home for the weekend since he didn’t have Friday classes. That meant at the earliest, nobody would know he was missing or start looking for him until Monday. 

Felix hated the idea of his friends hanging out and partying without him while he was stuck in some highschooler’s shoe. He slid his hand down the side of his face to wipe the sweat off. It was easily 100 degrees in her shoe, and the sock dripping with foot sweat wasn’t helping. It was more bearable now that Katie was sitting down, though. When she stood up, her foot would slide forward trapping Felix’s entire body under it. Now it only rested on his waist and legs. 

Looking at his wet palm, Felix realized that he hadn’t taken a shower or anything since before he was shrunk. Did he still have Emma’s blood on his face? Surely it would’ve dried overnight, but would the toe sweat be enough to wipe it off?

He would have to ask Sofia when she woke up. He still couldn’t believe that she was able to sleep so soundly under the giant girl’s pinkie toe. Sofia told Felix that he should try to do the same. It would help pass the time, and they had no idea when they’d be able to sleep again.

Despite not sleeping at all the night before, Felix couldn’t take his mind off his situation for too long. Katie reduced him to nothing more than an insole. She proved time and time again that she didn’t see him or any of the tinies as human. She didn’t care if they lived or died as long as they pleased her. Today, Felix was her insole. But what next? He wasn’t human. It’s exactly like Connie said; Felix was an object now. 

Katie scrunched her toes again, rubbing more sweat onto Felix’s legs. 

There was something comforting in that thought—that he was an object. It had to be the heat making him think that way, but being an object gave him purpose. He was Katie’s insole. He could do that for her. As long as her toe lay comfortable above him, he had meaning. That’s something he always longed for—purpose. That’s why he studied so hard. But why does he need to study so hard if he could help this young girl feel comfortable while she walks, and that be his purpose? 

For the first time since he got there Felix smiled. He felt proud of himself. His head felt dizzy and his vision was spotted, but he was happy. He took in deep breaths, trying to fight to heat. He wasn’t sure if he was in euphoria or dying. His body was the rope in a tug-o-war match between heaven and hell. One moment he was in bliss over being Katie’s personal insole, another he felt the cruel reality of his diminished humanity and melting body. He placed his hand on Katie’s toe, but it wasn’t clear to him if he was admiring it or pounding at it. He needed out of this shoe, but then what good would he be to Katie?

Slurp! 

The sound came from across the shoe. Felix’s head dropped to the side. Through the black spots, he made out Sofia on her knees with her mouth sucking on Katie’s sock. She slurped, the sock sucking into her mouth. She moved her head back and gulped, sending the foot sweat down her throat. “Ahh.” She moaned before going back in for more. 

“This heat…” Felix said, trying to get a bearing on his thoughts. “Getting to you too?” He licked his chops. 

“I thought I told you to sleep.” She sucked in more of Katie’s sweat. “And don’t patronize me. You’ll die if you don’t drink it too.”

“Wha…” He stammered. There wasn’t a chance in hell that he was drinking sweat from Katie’s toe. “Won’t you get slick… sick?“

“Only as sick as you’ll get eating your dead friends off a converse.” She moved to a different spot on the foot and sucked up more sweat. Her face bore disgust, but she swallowed anyway. She coughed before wiping her face and wedging her body back under Katie’s pinkie toe. 

“Look, I know it’s gross, and not the best for us, but it’s better than the alternatives. Piss is all waste and spit isn’t good in the long run. Sweat is mostly water and a little bit of salt. Your body will get used to it. I would give up on ever tasting water again.” Sofia slid her hands under her cheek and closed her eyes. “Besides, the sweat comes from Katie herself. You should be honored to get to drink it.” She dozed off.

Felix couldn’t tell if she meant that last part or if she was being sarcastic. He did know he needed to drink something soon. He clenched Katie’s sock. Sweat seeped out of it. Gross. This must’ve been what Sofia meant earlier when she said they drank when they were able. 

Felix sat up the best he could. He didn’t exactly have a lot of strength in him, so he leaned against the sock for support. He felt the foot heat radiate out towards him. It was unbearable to a degree. Why was he still alive? Was it only to serve as a girl’s insole and drink her sweat? It didn’t matter. He trusted Sofia to keep him alive, so he’d do what he had to.

He puckered his lips and pressed them against the sock. He inhaled in, but no sweat seeped into his mouth. He only kissed it. He would have to try harder. This time, he sucked a lot harder. At first, there was nothing. Then it hit him all at once. A mush of toe sweat swarmed into his mouth. He wasn’t expecting it to be so hot and salty. He swished it around, but ended up spitting it out in disgust.

He coughed. That was awful. How could he drink that? He gagged and choked on the musky air. Maybe dying could be a better outcome. He wouldn’t ever have to drink toe sweat again, or worship some entitled brat. But then who would remember Emma? Surely the others would, but who would remember him? He made a promise, and he intended to keep it.

Katie again scrunched and rubbed her toes on top of Felix’s body, as if encouraging him to keep going. He sat back up and wrapped his lips around the sock. He sucked hard, and the sweat came out almost immediately. He cringed with it in his mouth. It was so hot. Katie’s sweat sat in his mouth for almost a minute before  Felix finally bit the bullet and sent the sweat down his throat. 

It felt oddly refreshing. He needed more. He repeated the process of sucking on Katie’s sock and extracting sweat to swallow. He cursed himself the entire time, but he had to drink. It was so humiliating, but he kept swallowing the girl’s sweat. He hated how reliant he was on Katie. She hadn’t stopped torturing him since she shrunk him, but he was so reliant on her to keep him safe, to feed him, to give him shelter, and now he was reliant on her foot sweat to keep him hydrated. 

Felix swallowed his fifth round of sweat. Before he was able to go back for more, Katie stood up. He and Sofia both wailed at the sudden increase in pressure. Katie’s foot quickly covered Felix’s entire body as she started walking. The two tinies screamed in unison with each crash down.

This was nothing like the last couple of times Katie walked on him. Her foot was a lot more drenched in sweat. This caused every step to end in a squench that sent her body fluids pouring into Felix’s mouth. 

It was hot. So hot. It burned his throat. He was forced to swallow tons of sweat every other step, way more than he had drank earlier. He had no time to spit it out eiter. Katie’s strides were quick and rhythmatic. Felix’s body was crushed in sweat every time the dark fabric squished against the floor. It was torture. Complete torture.

By the time Katie sat down again, Felix was sure that the sweat had cleaned any blood off his face. Katie’s toe slid back as she got comfortable.

Felix’s ribs ached, and he was sure that his nose was broken. He couldn’t keep his attention on any thought for longer than a second. 

It was only her third period. There were still five more to go, not including the rest of that one. Felix howled as Katie’s toe drilled into his stomach. She let up after a few moments, but it was enough to make Felix finally pass out.

Felix drifted in and out of consciousness. He so desperately wanted to stay asleep, but the constant pounding of Katie’s big toe on top of him kept him awake. How long had it been? Each time he managed to drift into slumber, a shot of adrenaline would soon rush through his body alerting him to the impending threat of being crushed to death or drowning in sweat, but he had no way of knowing if he was only asleep for a few seconds or longer. The shoe was beginning to overheat, adding more to his fever and drowsiness. Felix couldn’t move, he felt like a ragdoll trapped in an oven. Spit was drooling out of his mouth. He tried his best to keep it in, less he dehydrate, but he didn’t have the strength to suck the spit back in. His mind raced, but thought about nothing other than the pain he was in, all due to the giant girl who had him trapped in her shoe.

High above, Katie was starting to get restless in her seat. Class was so boring, and she didn’t have any friends to distract her from the lecture. So she diverted her attention to the tinies in her shoes. She’d start by pressing her toes down on the singular tiny in her left shoe. When she felt like he had had enough, she’d release the pressure and move it to the tiny under her right big toe, then do the same with the tiny under her pinkie toe before starting over again.

Part of her really wanted one of them to pop, but there were two things stopping her. Firstly, she didn’t remember which slave was her 76, and was afraid that she might pop him without needing to. Secondly, she had been killing off too many of her slaves lately. The two from the day before were necessary; the first decided she wanted to be a slut and mess around with her younger brother, and she had to kill the second one to teach her personal slave a lesson about his new place in life. But if she killed any more, she wouldn’t have anything to sell next Friday. She only had three that she could sell, which is already lower than previous months. So she tried her best not to kill or maim them, but the thought was tempting. As long as they did what they were supposed to—be good insoles for her— she wouldn’t need to kill them. 

Her fifth period was almost over, and after that she would have lunch and one more period. When the bell rang to signal the end of class, she made sure to slam her feet down as she stood up. This woke Felix up from another nap. He erupted in screams of agony. Being under Katie’s big toe, he had it worse than the others. Pain soared through his body with each fidget of motion. He didn’t think it could get any worse than earlier, but it did. 

As Katie resumed walking, each drop of her foot caused Felix to scream. But about half way through the hall, his tormented screams turned to sick laughter. Each time her shoe connected to the floor and her foot squished into Felix’s body, he laughed even louder. What has become of my life, he thought with a smirk. This wasn’t him. He had traded places with someone else. People don’t get put inside someone else’s shoe. This was a cruel dream, a nightmare that he couldn’t wake up from. Either that, or it really was true that he was no longer a person. 

Across the insole, Sofia listened to Felix with worry. He didn’t sound okay. She felt like she was being selfish not forcing Felix to Katie’s pinkie toe when they first entered the shoe and taking it for herself instead.The pinkie toe was the best and safest place to be. Not only was it the smallest toe, but it was also the least walked on. Sofia felt nauseous going up and down so many times, but the pressure on her was miniscule. She felt bad for making Felix stay under Katie’s big toe, but better him than her. She already decided that when they were released, she would make it look like she was the one under the big toe and not Felix. Katie would appreciate her initiative going into the spot she preferred, and Sofia might even be rewarded. Katie wouldn’t punish Felix for cowering under her pinkie toe, not since it’s his first time as her insole. Cheating him out like that made Sofia’s stomach sick, but she had to look after herself first. 

Finally, Katie’s foot came to a stop. Felix’s laugh faded into a slight chuckle. He slammed his head against the mushy insole. This was what it felt like to be crazy. The pain wasn’t only soaring through his muscles and bones, but his brain too. His network was being rewired. Everything he knew about his old life was being rewritten. He was always this pathetic. He was never a person. Did he actually believe this, or was it the combination of the heat he endured and the sweat he had to drink? Regardless, in that moment he felt it to be true. Katie was like a god to him. No, she was a god to him. She controlled his entire life. He couldn’t leave the shoe though he wanted to, and after slamming his head down again on the sweaty insole, he realized he could even die without her permission either.

Then Katie started to move again. Felix’s world was already disoriented enough, but why was Katie getting up so soon after sitting down? Her class couldn’t have ended this quickly. That had to mean she was going somewhere else, but where was she going? The warm cotton again pressed into Felix’s face, causing sweat to drip out onto him. The sensation was all too familiar. 

He heard a door open and close. After a few more seconds of walking, he heard a click. The movements once again stopped, and the weight was lifted from them as Katie sat down. 

“Felix,” Sofia started. “Are you okay?”

Felix was more composed from earlier. He still wanted to sleep, but the fire shooting in his brain kept his eyes wide open. “How much longer?” He cracked.

“If I had to guess, I’d say we’re at lunch right now. But I’m not sure where she got up to go. Anyway, she only has one more class after this, and then it’s the bus ride home.” Sofia was unbothered. She spoke so calmly, a calm that Felix hadn’t experienced since he was dumped in the shoe. 

“Sofia,” Felix said, his face scrunching up. “I want to—”

“You promised me you wouldn’t die.” She interrupted. 

Felix couldn’t take the mental strain any more. He was breaking down. He wanted to cry, but there weren’t any liquids left in his body to spare. 

“Tell you what,” Sophie said, biting her lower lip. “If Katie asks us which toe we were under, tell her you were the one under her pinkie toe. If she finds out you were under her big one, she might make that your permanent spot.”

Felix tried to crack a smile, but he couldn’t move his lips in such a way. Sofia didn’t have to be that nice, but she was willing to stick her neck out for him anyway. His heart pounded with joy— maybe he wasn’t as worthless as he was beginning to believe. He still had people who cared about him and were looking out for him. “Thank you.”

Katie’s foot started to shift. “Huh?” Felix said, looking back at the entrance of the shoe. Katie’s foot was retreating, leaving through the hole above. Light poured into the shoe, the odor airing out. Felix could feel the sweat that covered his body mix with the incoming cool air. He took in deep breaths. With the influx of light, he could see how damp his clothes were. Even his skin was all pruny, he looked like a towel that needed to be ringed out. 

Then a hand made its way into the shoe. It was inching towards them. “Felix,” Sofia cheered, “She’s going to take us out. Quickly, switch spots with me!” 

Sofia ran towards him. His body was too weak to move, but he knew if he didn’t then Katie would know it was him under her big toe and that it would become his permanent spot. He couldn’t go back there again. He reached his hands out, using all of his strength. Katie’s hand was almost on top of them. Sofia grabbed onto Felix and pulled back, dragging him over to the other end of the sole. Katie's hand got stuck for a moment. She had to wiggle her hand around to get in deeper. Sofia ran back to the big toe end just in time for the two of them to be grabbed.

Katie’s pinkie finger dug into Felix’s stomach. He screamed as he was dragged back to the shoe entrance. He could see her face— the face of the demon girl who did this to her. She seemed so unaffected by everything that had just happened. To her, it was just another school day. She paid no mind to the pain she inflicted onto Felix.

The shoe turned over, causing the two to fall out onto the cold tile floor. It was unclear if Katie thought it was Felix under her pinkie or not. For the first time in hours, Felix was met with total fresh air. He turned over on his back, allowing the cool air to wash over him. It felt weird not having a heavy fleshy object on top of him anymore, not to mention being able to see again. 

After taking a moment to collect himself, he took a look around at his surroundings. It looked like they were in a huge metal box. The ceiling was just as grey as the walls. Sofia didn’t look good at all. Her face was beat red and her hair was frizzy. Her eyes boggled. Felix assumed his face looked the same.

He made eye contact with Katie next. Just like that morning, he forgot how attractive she was. For the last few hours, he thought of her foot as the monster that was torturing him. He personified her foot into a demon, but now he saw it was only attached to a much larger and scarier devil.

She wasn’t in a classroom or the lunchroom. Looking further down, Felix noticed that Katie was sitting on some kind of white seat. Not only that, but her pants were down by her knees. Then it hit him: they were in a bathroom. Felix felt a little weird to be in a girl’s bathroom, but he felt relieved to be away from Katie’s foot.

“You should know better than to stare at a girl while she’s using the pot, pervert.” Katie demeaned. With that, she raised her foot above Felix and shoved her big toe down on top of him, shoving him into the hard cold floor. The insole provided Felix with comfort and support on his back, but the hard tile threatened to crush him.

“Good news and bad news, chickie.” Katie said as she reached down for Sofia and picked her up. “This stall is out of toilet paper, that’s the bad news. The good news is that I only peed.”

Sofia looked up at Katie in terror. She had only heard one story of a tiny having to be used as Katie’s toilet paper. It was a girl Emma knew who had been sold long ago. The thing is, Katie actually had toilet paper in her bathroom that time. She just wanted to humiliate the tiny girl, laughing as she rubbed her up and down her butt checks and smearing her in shit. Apparently, Katie dropped her in the toilet after, threw shit covered toilet paper on top of her until Katie was clean, and then left the tiny girl in the toilet overnight. If she couldn’t clean herself up by the morning, she’d be flushed away with the toilet paper. Sofia hoped that didn’t happen to her.

Sofia was met with a swift flick to the head from Katie. “Why are you looking at me like that? I need you to pay attention and lick. If you’re not good enough to wipe away a little dry drip, how can I sell you. If you’re that brain dead, I can leave you in here to drown in my piss. Maybe another girl can come to piss all over you too.” Fearfully, Sofia shook her head.

“Good.” Katie brought Sofia down to her shirt and wiped off her sweat. The fabric of Katie’s shirt scratched Sofia’s face and body. She guessed it wouldn’t do much good cleaning off any leftover pee if she got her sweat on Katie’s hole. After she was well and dry, Katie lowered Sofia down to her urethra. Sofia was pressed into it, excess pee splattering on her face. 

The poor girl was rubbed against the giant cunt, being used as toilet paper for the giant girl. Katie swiped her three more times, turning the tiny around to make sure every dry part of her body was rubbed against her. Sofia was in agony. She had to get used to doing so many gross things— drinking sweat, picking boogers, eating her friends off a shoe— but she never imagined having to clean up pee with her body. She shrieked, but managed to keep her mouth shut before any pee got in. Most of the pee was already gone and in the toilet, there was only a little left, but it felt awkward to be rubbed against her giant capture’s vagina. By the time Kaite was finished, Sofia was covered in pee, but at least Katie’s cunt was clean. Katie almost dropped Sofia in the toilet on instinct, but remembered at the last second to take her out. If nothing else, Katie had to admit it felt better to have a tiny down there than actual toilet paper. If they were a little bigger, she would use them often.

Katie dropped the tiny girl on the floor in between her shoe and foot. She pulled her pants back up and took her toe off Felix. His mind was spinning from being overheated in such a cold area. He will definitely catch a cold after today. He was so worried about his worsening condition that he didn’t even notice how awful Sofia’s piss scented body smelled.

“Okay, back in my shoe you two.” Katie picked up Sofia and dropped her in her shoe. “And you, newbie.” Kaite grabbed Felix and pinched him in between her fingers. With any luck, he might pop. “Don’t ever leave your spot under my pinkie toe again. If I had to crush another slave to teach you a lesson I would’ve been furious. You’re my personal slave, so I don’t have to worry about keeping you intact before the sell date. If I have to start cutting off limbs to teach you a lesson, I will.” 

The words shook Felix. At the very least, Sofia's plan worked.

Just then, Felix could hear the bathroom door opening again. Katie smirked. “Looks like your new friend just arrived.” Without another word, Katie dropped Felix in and tilted her shoe downwards. The tinies slid into their spots as the shoe dropped, Sofia under where the big toe would be and Felix the pinkie toe. Felix managed to mutter a thank you to Sofia before Katie’s foot invaded the shoe and covered them.

Katie stood up, pressing weight down onto the pair. The pinkie toe was way lighter on Felix than Katie’s big toe. Being in the infectious heat again wasn’t easy, but Felix got used to it pretty quickly. It was like Katie left some of her foot stench out there with her. 

There was a scream, only for a second, before complete silence. Felix could hear Katie washing her hands before leaving the bathroom. Felix could also hear Sofia’s screaming as she was slowly crushed under Katie’s big toe with each step. He felt bad for her. He should’ve finished being under there for the day since he was already used to it. He remembered Katie’s warnings not to leave, however, so when Katie sat back down he stayed where he was.

With the lightened weight, Felix was able to fall asleep with more ease. 

--------------

The sound of a roaring engine is what woke him up. He was covered in sweat again, but he was sure this time that most of it was his. There was more room between the toe and tip of the shoe for Felix to stretch. For a second, Felix could pretend like he wasn’t in a school shoe. That didn’t last long. Once his eyes were able to absorb the little light that made its way in the sadie shoe, Felix could make out the outline of each toe. 

The little toe scratched against his lower body. It didn’t hurt as much as when the big toe did it. This was more of a relaxing pat. He hoped Sofia was okay. Katie’s big toe was merciless before, and Felix doubted anything would change just because it as later in the day. If anything, things would get a lot worse under there. 

“Sofia, are you still conscious?” Felix tilted his head and tried to pick her outline out, but couldn’t find her. 

“Don’t worry about me.” Sofia grunted. It was clear to Felix that she was in a lot of pain. “This isn’t even my tenth time inside a shoe. I’m a lot stronger than I look.” She coughed. 

“I shouldn’t have let you trade places with me.” Now that Felix wasn’t drowsy or experiencing heat stroke, he was able to think more clearly. He didn’t believe what he thought earlier about himself being worthless, even if that was how Katie made him feel. He accepted where he was in life, even if he didn’t agree with the title bestowed upon him. “I’m Katie’s personal, uh… I’m her personal slave. I’ll probably end up back under her big toe anyway. I should get used to it now. For all either of us know, that girl that buys you might not even keep you in their shoes.” 

Sofia was silent for a few moments. Felix feared she might have passed out, but eventually she spoke. “You know, you’re lucky that you were chosen to be Katie’s pet.” 

Felix popped his head up. “What? Are you crazy? How can you say I’m lucky to be shrunk and turned into her slave? You don’t believe that she actually gave us purpose by shrinking us do you?” 

“Of course not!” Sofia gritted her teeth. “None of us who have crossed her path have been lucky. But if you were to be shrunk by anyone and be their personal slave, Katie is who you would want to own you.”
“What are you talking about?” Felix was lost for words. Not only that, but he was angry. “We couldn’t have gotten a worse person to shrink us. She has done nothing but torture and kill us since I got here. Hell, I almost died today. How is that lucky? Anybody would be a better choice!”

“Do you think the people she sells us to are any different?” Sofia shouted. “Do you think any of the tinies she sold are still alive?”

Felix grew silent. He hadn’t thought much about the people Katie had sold, but he always saw getting away from her as salvation.

“Even the nicer ones don’t know how fragile we are. Katie has shrunk 76 people, she knows how much damage she can do to us before we break. Her friends don’t. I won’t last a day after I’m sold!” She was crying. 

Felix wanted to say something back, but he was stopped by the giant toe pressing down on him. Katie was walking. Even though the toe he was under was a lot smaller than the one before, the pain was still grave enough that he couldn’t focus on anything else. 

Katie entered her home and ran up her stairs to her room. She was home alone, except the tinies, but she still locked her door out of habit. She stood on her tippy toes to get a look at the tiny on top of her book shelf. This put an incredible amount of pressure on Connie, Sofia and Felix. Being under her big toe, Sofia threatened to pop. However Connie had it worse of all, since he was laying sideways he had multiple toes crushing down on it.

The boy was covered in dust and laying in his own throw up. His face was red and puffy, and though his eyes were swollen shut he was awake and experiencing every agonizing second of his predicament.

Katie smiled at this. He was slightly less puffy than he was last time she did this to him. “You can spend another couple hours up here, kay?” Katie gently blew air on to the boy, causing the dust to blow onto him. He entered a sneezing fit, which sent Katie into a laughing fit. 

The tinies in her shoe were relieved when Katie stood normal again. Another few seconds and Sofia would’ve popped under the toe. Kaite connected the back of her left foot to her right shoe to take it off. She slipped her foot out, then did the same with her left shoe. She picked both of her shoes up and turned them upside down, dumping the tinies onto her desk where Elias was.

Connie, Sofia and Felix all coughed and gasped for air. They were finally freed from their prison and returned to fresh air. Elias turned to them, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he looked up at Katie.

“Stop your bitch coughing and listen up. It wasn’t even that bad in there.” Katie said. Felix clutched his chest and looked up at the giantess. “Starting today, we're going to be training a new slave for distribution.”

Katie reached into her shirt and dug in between her breasts. She pulled out a tiny girl, who was also covered in sweat, and presented her to the group. “This is Angelina, an underclassman who had the misfortune of going to the bathroom at the same time as me. I’d hate to have to kill one of you to teach her what her new place in life is, so while I get changed and washed up, I suggest the four of you teach her what her place is before I do.” She dropped Angelina from her fingers, letting her fall onto the table with the others. 

If they couldn’t get her to submit, one of them would die.

The door clicked behind Katie, shutting the five in a dim room.

“Please, one of you has to help me.” Angelina shook so harshly that the others thought she was having a panic attack. “I don’t know what happened to me.”

The others looked at each other, but none of them knew what to say. Felix, Connie and Sofia were all exhausted from the long day as Katie’s insole, their hair still fizzed and sticking up from the heat and sweat. Katie said she shrunk Angelina in the bathroom. Was that the scream Felix heard earlier, the young girl being overpowered and shrunk? 

“My mom’s going to think I’m being bad again.” Tears swelled in her eyes. Felix felt his heart sink, she didn’t look older than 15. “The school dance is next week, I can’t be grounded and miss it.” Angelina clung to the ground. She was in shock, having no idea what kind of situation fate had forced upon her. It was Felix’s job to teach her. Katie tasked them to teach Angelina her place, but how could they when she was barely coherent? 

The weeping tiny girl looked up at the figure approaching her. “Please, will you help me?” A swift hand slapped across her cheek, causing a shriek as her head whipped sideways.         

“Elias!” Sofia shouted. She stepped forward, but her legs were too weak to carry her more than a few steps before she collapsed. 

Elias grabbed Angelina by her uniform’s collar and pulled her in. “You’re a slave now.” Smack! “A toy.” Smack! “An object.” Smack! Angelina fell back to the floor, sobbing. Her cheek was red from being smacked so much, but Elias didn’t seem to be done with her just yet. He flipped her around and mounted her. 

“No!” Angelina fought him, smacking him with her palms. Elias grabbed her wrists and forced them to the floor.

“Stop resisting!” Spit flew out of his mouth as he spoke. “Get it through your head that your old life is over. You’re Katie’s property now, a slave to be trained and sold.” 

“Please!” Angelina said again, but she wasn’t talking to Elias. Her head jerked back, and she made eye contact with Felix. “He’s gonna… he’s trying to rape me. Help! Help!” She wouldn’t stop screaming. Elias smacked her again, but it didn’t work.

“He’s not going to…” But he couldn’t find any words to sooth her, so his voice was drowned behind her screams. By this point, Sofia finally crawled her way over to where Angelina and Elias were. She placed her forearm on Elias’s chest, and with all her strength, pushed him off her, tumbling in the process.

“Enough, Elias!” Her voice, though still cold, clearly showed how much pain she was in as it forced the words out. Felix felt it too, the aches in his bones from his time under Katie’s big toe. “You’re scaring her.”

“She should be scared!” Elias threw his arms out to his side. “You heard our goddess, if we don’t show her her new place, it’s one of us Katie is going to kill.”

Sofia was trying her best to comfort Angelina, but she was still speaking sporadically, saying the words ‘please’ and ‘help me’ over and over again. “Look, you made her worse.” 

“At least I did something, the rest of you just stood there!” 

“I can’t take this anymore.” Connie spoke for the first time since leaving the shoe. He was crotched down, his hands squeezing his temple. “Mia… Emma… it can’t be me next. Don’t let it be me next.” Connie had already given up. There was no way of getting through to Angelina. They were all goners. 

“You need to calm down.” Sofia rubbed the side of Angelina’s face. “Things are only going to get worse if you can’t calm down.” But this didn’t make Angelina feel any better. In fact, Angelina became more hysterical. She backed away from Sofia, almost pushing herself off the desk’s edge.

“I say we beat it out of her.” Elias said eagerly. He was shaking almost as bad as Angelina was. “Beat her until she becomes complacent. That’s what Katie did to us, isn’t it. We could,” his hand made a fist. 

Everybody was panicking. Felix recognized this scene, just a day before, when he had first been shrunk and watched Katie kill Mia. He was just as, if not even more hysterical than, as Angelina was now. And just like then, the people trying to wake her up cared way more about saving their own butts than hers. But could Felix blame them? Mia died because he was selfish, because he wanted to play the hero. 

Sofia was pulling Angelina by the hair. Maybe the reason Felix wasn’t as scared as the others, resorting to anything to get Angelina to comply, was because he knew he was safe. Sofia said it to him back in the shoe, that he was lucky to be Katie’s personal slave. If things went south with Angelina, it wouldn't be Felix who died. 

“You selfish bitch!” Sofia was forcing Angelina’s mouth shut with her free hand. “Katie will be back any minute now. Just shut up!” They hadn’t made any progress at showing Angelina her new place, in fact, it was proving impossible to get her to stop crying. Sofia let go of the girl completely and fell into the same position Connie was. “We’re all going to die.” A wicked laugh escaped her lips. “We’re all going to die.”

Elias was marching back to Angelina. “Wait!” Felix shouted. Elias shot him a look that was a mix of anger and fear. “Let me…” Felix still didn’t know what he’d say, but he had to try. Angelina had snot dripping from her nose and her cheeks were puffy and red. Seeing Felix approach her seemed to calm her down some, but she still flinched when he knelt down beside her. 

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He assured her. This calmed her down enough to stop screaming with every cry Felix was careful not to touch her. “But somebody will, and I’m not talking about them.” He motioned to the people behind him. Connie had switched to the fetal position, sucking on his thumb. Elias and Sofia hadn’t stopped shaking, either. 

“They’re scared, just like you are. Do you know where you are?” Angelina shook her head. She wasn’t shaking as hard. “You’re in Katie’s bedroom, on her desk.” She was freaking out again. “You were shrunk during lunch, and she brought you here.”

“Y-your hair.” Angelina muttered, breathing more heavily now. “F-face.” 

A light in the hallway shut off, and footsteps banged towards the door. Felix’s time was running out. 

“This isn’t going to work.” Elias shouted. “Let’s push her off, pretend that she jumped.” 

“We’re all going to die.” Sofia whispered. 

“Don’t listen to them.” Felix redirected Angelina’s attention back to him. “Do you trust me?” She shook her head. Felix was hoping for something else. “I know this can be hard, but you have to do whatever Katie tells you. Everything will be okay if you just do that. You’re not a slave, you’re a person, but you have to do what it takes to survive. Can you trust me on that?” 

The door swung open. Angelina nodded. “Yes.” 

“How’s the new slave coming along? Not well by the looks of it.” Connie, Sofia and Elias were frozen in fear. 

Angelina was too. She clung to Felix’s shirt, desperate. “I can’t do this, you need to save me. You need to—”

“She’s accepted her place.” Felix yelled up to Katie. 

Katie was happily surprised. “Good work, slave. I knew 76 was a lucky number.” Katie reached down and grabbed Angelina’s head between her finger and thumb. She lifted her up.

“No.” Angelina reached out for Felix, but Felix shook his head.

“Just do whatever she says.” He assured her, hoping Katie would excuse the terrified look on her face. 

Katie raised Angelina up to her hazel eyes. The girl looked terrified, tears still streaming down her face. She’d have to punish her slaves for not making her completely compliant, but that could wait until after she finished showing her new bitch its place. 

“Do you remember me, Angelina?” Katie asked. “Or I guess I can’t call you that anymore, names like that are for people.”

Angelina winced. She didn’t know her head laid between the same two fingers that crushed another one of Katie’s slaves the day before. Angelina eyed Katie through the gaps in her fingertips, she didn’t recognize her. 

“I’ve seen you a few times in your old life. You freshmen were always so annoying, I always just wanted to—” Katie squeezed her fingers, delighted to see Angelina scream and thrash her legs in mid air. 

Why was Katie laughing at her? They went to the same school, and Angelina never did anything wrong to her. Angelina wanted to beg, but she couldn’t find the strength to speak in front of a being so powerful. Angelina could only make out her face, but it was so enormous and terrifying. Her eyes, beaming down, were just as big as she was. Her nose could swallow her whole, and her mouth… Her pink plush lips, guarding her off-white teeth and tongue glistening with spit. That’s what scared Angelina the most. Every time Katie spoke, as hot bad breath washed over her, Angelina could see her giant teeth and tongue, waiting to feast. 

“I’m glad you know your place, but you still need to be broken in.” Katie released some of her pressure on the girl’s head. “I wanted to do that by killing the other girl in front of you, but now I see I don’t have to do that. So I think… hmmm… Ah, I know. I think I’ll eat you instead.” With a smirk, Katie licked her lips and opened her maw. 

Angelina squealed. She could see her terrified face staring back at her in the reflection of Katie’s spit. Katie bit down her teeth, holding Angelina high above them. Her teeth were so sharp, so deadly. Katie wouldn’t eat her, would she? People put food in their mouths, things to be eaten. Angelina wasn’t food, she wouldn’t— 

Katie let go of the tiny girl. All at once, Angelina felt the pressure from her head lift and be replaced with the sensation of falling. It took forever for her to reach the giant’s lips. Angelina landed hard on her teeth. She wasn’t expecting how wet they’d be. Katei’s breath escaped through the gaps in her teeth, and it was through them Angelina could see the dark pit that awaited her. She was helpless to stop this. She was frozen on Katie’s teeth, afraid that moving an inch would cause the gate to open and swallow her whole. 

How long was Katie going to keep her there? Was she watching her? Angelina was too scared to check. Then, Katie closed her lips around her. Angelina was squished on either end by giant lips that pressed into her. The teeth below her parted, suspending Angelina in the air with only Katie’s lips to save her. 

Any words of desperation Angelina may have been saying were drowned out by Katie’s mouth. “I wish there was something we could do to help her.” Felix said.

“Yeah? I don’t,” said Elias, “She almost got us killed.”

Sofia was still calming herself down, and Connie was spread out on the desk relaxing. Unlike Elias, though, Felix couldn’t take his eyes off what was happening meters above him. He couldn’t tell if Angelina was in Katie’s mouth or not, but it looked like she was trapped between her lips. Katie surely wouldn’t actually eat her. Although by now Felix had learned not to put anything past Katie. If Angelina did something up there to piss Katie off, she’d die.

The giant tongue beneath Angelina slithered up and grabbed her legs. It slid onto and over them. It lathered her legs in spit before sliding up to Angelina’s waist. Angelina’s heart pounded. She really was going to be eaten. Katie was tasting her. They went to the same school, they were both Eagles, why would she eat her? 

Katie giggled, pulling her lips off Angelina and letting her freely slide down her tongue. Her entire body was covered in saliva as she entered the dark moist cave. Katie shut her lips, sealing Angelina in darkness. It was hard to breathe, most of the air already down into Katie’s lungs. The tongue below her tossed her around, making sure Angelina got thoroughly acquainted with its spit. 

No amount of preparation could’ve prepared Felix for how loud Angelina’s screams would’ve gotten, only to be silenced seconds later by spit sneaking into her mouth. Felix was pulling on his hair, impatiently waiting to see if Katie followed through on eating Angelina. He had only ever seen her kill the slaves she punished. 

Angelina was choking on Katie’s spit. If it weren’t for the plump tongue her back rested on, Angelina wouldn’t be able to tell which direction she faced. She was just thankful she couldn’t see the sharp teeth that surrounded her. Angelina thought about sliding her body down to the back of Katie’s throat, ending her torment before Katie could do anything worse to her. But before she could, Katie’s tongue pushed her to the side. 

 The tongue slammed Angelina into a row of teeth. Her body yelled, her breast crushing into her chest, her cheek slashing against a pointy ridge. Angelina tried squirming out, but the giant girl’s tongue was too strong for her. It overpowered her easily, and Angelina knew Katie wasn’t even using her full strength. 

Light poured into the dark save as Katie opened her mouth. A rush of cold air blew over Angelina, blowing the spit down her body. “I’m not going to eat you.” Katie’s voice boomed in Angelina’s ear. She wanted to cover them, but her arms were still pinned to Katie’s teeth. “But I will keep you in there longer.” Angelina’s ears were ringing so badly that she didn’t hear what Katie said next. Instead, she saw her push something else into her mouth, something that scared her a lot more than being eaten.

“No way.” Connie said, suddenly alert. “She’s going to kill her.”

“She won’t die.” said Sofia, but she wasn't looking at anyone in particular. “Not yet, but the injuries she’ll get will make it hard for her to make it far during Katie’s slave training.”

“Not very reassuring, is it?” Connie puffed air. 

Angelina thrashed around in Katie’s mouth as a large stick of gum entered it, resting on Katie’s bottom row of teeth. Her mouth shut, Katie’s upper row of teeth smacking against the bottom. The gum started to squish, pressing into Angelina who narrowly just had her head bitten off. Katie lowered her jaw and bit down again, repeating this over and over until she was satisfied with how chewed the gum was. Spit was absorbed and released by the gum as Katie chewed it, splashing spit onto Angelina’s body. 

The next time Katie lowered her jaw, instead of biting back down, Katie shoved Angelina slightly with her tongue, sticking her to the gum. Angelina was afraid of this; becoming Katie’s gum. With her hands freed, she frightfully ripped at the gum on her body. She couldn’t get stuck there, she couldn’t. But her attempts were fruitless. Katie’s tongue pushed down on Agelina’s back, forcing her into the gum. It stuck to her clothes and face. Katie’s tongue rolled her around, covering her entire body in the spit filled piece of gum.

Then Katie bit down. She was careful to see how much her new slave should take. She nibbled on the tiny girl, but that gave her too much space to wiggle. Katie increased the force she bit down on her gum, did this a few times, but couldn’t tell where the gum ended and the girl started. So she increased her force a lot, biting down into her gum.

Angelina feared when Katie’s teeth would break into the gum. She could feel the two teeth between her compress her as it forced the gum into her. Angelina’s hair was long and wavy, coming down to just above her hips. She took pride in her hair, so she never gum, because if she blew a bubble and it popped it might get stuck in there. 

Angelina’s body compressed and decompressed as the teeth nawled on her. She could feel the gum rip away in front of her. Katie kept pressing down harder onto her. Angelina wished that Katie would just leave her curled up there, but the rips in the gum provided Angelina with the only air she was going to get. She was lightheaded, but she had bigger problems to worry about. 

Annoyed, Katie started biting down hard. Who cared what happened to the slave? She chewed her a little lighter than she would chew actual gum, but she was a slave, and if her owner one day wanted her to be gum, she’d have to learn how to be gum. 

Angelina’s back was stabbed by the sharp row of teeth behind her. She swore holes were poked in her back, but the gum sticking to her made it hard to tell. Katie was picking up the speed of her chewing though, freely allowing spit to soak the gum. Angelia was tossed around the mouth too, being pushed back and forth from the right side of Katie’s mouth to the left. 

Angelina cried so much over the next twenty minutes that the gum was starting to absorb it. Over time the gum got more rough, gluing itself to Angelina. It sealed her mouth shut. She wanted to die quickly, but suffocating scared her just as much as being chewed, so she bit away at Katie’s gum, swallowing it and her spit. 

Katie’s sharp teeth continued to stab Angelina’s body. It punctured holes in her skin, putting dents in her body the size of her teeth. It covered her. She didn’t want to ever look at herself again. The sound of Katie chewing her was ear piercing too, blowing out Angelina’s ear drums and causing blood to leak out of them. 

Even Felix eventually stopped watching. Katie grew bored of them, leaving them on her desk as she played on her phone. Connie and Elias chatted with each other, Sofia occasionally glancing at them. She had lost the person she used to talk to the day before, and she was growing tired of Felix’s ignorance. 

The pain never got easier for Angelina, even after Katie started chewing on her a lot slower. Even though Katie wasn’t chewing as quickly, she was pressing in harder to Angelina.

“Coming!” Katie yelled, although Angelina barely heard it. She couldn’t hear much of anything anymore; not the clanking of Angelina’s lips, the squelching of the gum or even her own screaming. 

Katie spit Angelina out onto her hand, but Angelina couldn’t tell the difference. She dropped the gum wadded Angelina onto the desk with her other slaves, retrieved the cage from under the desk, and deposited the five in there before sliding it back under her bed. Katie exited the room, heading to dinner. 

Felix was the first to run over to Angelina. The pink gum, parts stained red from what Felix feared was Angelina’s blood, was solidified into her body. He dug his hands in and tried prying the gum out, ripping away parts of Angelina’s skin as he did. She looked mortified, half dead. Her eyes were shut, and using a finger to open one showed Angelina’s eye bugging out. She was alive, but wasn’t coherent.

“Thank God.” Felix whispered. 

“I don’t know why you’re thanking God,” said Elias. “She’s the one who did this to her.”

Felix’s blood boiled. He was getting sick of Elias’s ass kissing when Katie wasn’t there.

“Y-you.” Angelina’s bugging eyes were staring at Felix. “Y-you did this.” 

“Angelina, I’m sorry.” 

“You told me to trust you, and then this happened.” Angelina said, weeping again. She was bleeding from several holes throughout her body, including cuts on her face. Large teeth indents were still visible on her skin, and Felix swore he could see the outline of some of her organs. “Somebody said she’d kill one of you if I didn’t comply. I wish I didn’t… maybe then she would've killed you.”

“I’ll talk to her.” Sofia had said. “Mortitz used to treat my wounds, I’ll do my best with her.” 

So instead, Felix was stuck listening to Connie bicker about Angelina’s selfishness. “How dare she say that to you,” said Connie. Felix didn’t think much of Angelina wishing he had died, part of him agreed with her sentiment. “You saved her life, not to mention Sofia’s, and she’s treating you like you’re the one who spent 20 minutes munching on her like gum.” Connie obnoxiously clattered his teeth together to show his point. 

“Yeah, I guess.” Felix reluctantly agreed. Even though what he did to Angelina likely saved more than just Sofia’s life, was it the right call? 

Just a few days ago, the most difficult choice Felix had to make was whether to study or go to parties. Now he chooses between death or torture on the regular, and it wasn’t just his death and torture either. In Katie’s shoe, it would’ve been easy for him to choose death if Sofia didn’t give him a reason to keep fighting, but was he justified in allowing one person to be tortured to save another’s life? 

“Connie?” started Felix. “Is there really no place to, ya know—go— other than in the cage?” 

“Unless you want Katie to force you to clean it up with your mouth, I suggest you find a corner and squat,” said Connie. Everyone kept mentioning awful things Katie had made people do, Felix was starting to wonder if she had actually done them or if her cruelty was starting to take on some form of legend. 

Not wanting to find out, however, Felix made his way over to one of the corners. “Not here.” Elias ordered, not looking up from the bottom of the cage. Felix turned around and walked to a different corner further away. He pulled his pants down just enough to expose his but and squatted against the cage bars.

“It hurts.” On the adjacent corner, Angelina whimpered as Sofia catered to her wounds. Felix tried not to look, but the site was too gruesome to divert his gaze from. 

Sofia dug her fingers underneath a wad of gum that was welded into Angelina’s skin, using her free hand to muffle the young teen’s screams. Sofia pried it off, layers of skin coming with. Blood gushed out from it, and Sofia applied pressure to stop the bleeding while using what looked like the point of a thumb tack and a strand of Katie’s hair to sew the wound up. 

Felix pulled his pants up, but still watched. “I’m sorry, but this is the last piece of gum I’ll be able to take out of you right now,” Sofia’s voice always remained so soft and cold that a random person would never know what she was actually doing. “Katie chewed too deep into you, removing the gum now would create a tear too big for me to patch up.” 

As Felix walked back to the other end of the cage, he got a glimpse of Angelina. The girl’s once smooth skin was covered in giant dents. It was a miracle her head was still intact, but her body itself looked more like a chewed piece of gum than it did a human girl. The two locked eyes, but Felix looked away. The guilt was too heavy. 

“I wish she’d stop screaming.” Connie muttered. “If she knew half the stuff we’d been through—”

“Will I become this insensitive to it one day?” asked Felix, sitting down and digging his knees into his chest. 

“What?” Connie seemed taken aback. “Don’t judge me just because I’m not crying over a girl who’d rather one of us die than take a punishment.” 

“It isn’t my intention to be judgemental.” Felix was surprised the words were actually coming out from his mouth. “I mean it. Watching Mia die broke me, Emma too. I felt like the only one on that desk who felt terrible for what was happening to Angelina. How long until I stop feeling that way?” 

Connie didn’t answer right away. He actually looked shocked Felix had asked that, too. “Seeing it never gets easy, but I guess I have stopped caring about what happens to you new people. I don’t think it's a bad thing you cared for her back there. After all, you were the only one who got through to her. None of us could’ve known what Katie was going to do to her, you saved her life.”

The door creaked open. Katie was sockless, and Felix was in no rush to learn about how her feet felt without socks on. “It’s a Friday night, isn’t it?” asked Felix. “What are the odds she goes out and leaves us alone for the night.” 

“There’s one thing you should learn now before you get your hopes up,” said Connie. “Even if she leaves, we’re never left without something to do.” 

 The two bare feet stuck slightly under the bed. They scrunched as the giant teenager knelt down and poked her head under the covers draped over the side. Large fingers poked at the cage’s latch to open it. The fingers slid in, giving no time for Felix to flee before they grabbed him and Connie.

The duo pressed into each other as the fingers closed into Katie’s soft palm. Felix forgot that not every part of Katie smelled like her feet did, and her hands smelled something of Hawaiian scented lotion. The cage shook a bit more before Felix heard the sound of it locking. 

“Come here you three.” Katie stood up, Felix pressed deeper into her hand due to the momentum. It still felt surreal to be handheld like this. It really made Felix feel as small as he was. 

Katie walked a few steps before sitting down. “If this girl doesn’t let us go soon I’m gonna—“ Connie was cut short by Katie opening her palm. He pushed off of Felix, evidently disgusted by how close they had been. Katie’s bright eyes peered down at them. Despite how cute she seemed, Felix was well aware by now of the monster that lurked within. 

The giantess snapped with her other hand. “Your attention should always be on me. Discipline him.” Katie deposited the pair on the desk below. Felix swore he heard Katie mention the “three” of them, but only Felix and Connie were in her hands. 

Something hard hit the back of Felix’s head, causing him to stumble. He turned around to see what it was, and saw Connie throwing another punch. Though it hit Felix square in the cheek, it didn’t hurt as much as Felix expected it to. Connie— like the others— were weakened by their time in captivity. Felix figured they wouldn’t be very strong, but he expected a little more. 

“Didn’t you hear our Goddess, you need to look at her when you’re in her presence!” Screamed Connie, obviously shouting so Katie would hear him. He winded up another punch, but Felix shoved him to the ground. Connie fell on his back, looking up and past Felix. He looked terrified. 

“A slave who can’t discipline others clearly didn’t learn their place.” Katie was sorting through a drawer underneath her desk, pulling out a make up kit and other accessories. “If you need a reminder, I’ll happily stick this mascara and brush up your ass.” 

Connie’s worried expression turned back to Felix. “Come on man, let me beat you.” His teeth clattered as he spoke. 

“No way,” whispered Felix.

Connie climbed to his knees, inching closer to Felix and grabbing at his shirt. Felix was ready to push him again, but Connie wasn’t trying to fight him. “What do you think she means when she says she’ll shove that thing up my ass, huh? A light little rim job? She’s going to skewer me! She’ll probably keep me there long after I’m dead. She’s going to turn me into a meat suit for her brush and you’re going to let it happen?”

Felix glanced at Katie, who was setting something down by her feet. “Okay, but go easy on me. I can ride a punch as long as I know it’s coming.” 

An uppercut knocked Felix on his ass. He screamed louder than he needed to, and Connie did not throw the light punches that Felix wasn’t hoping for. Felix didn’t push against him this time. He couldn’t have another person’s death on his conscience.

A shadow casted over them, and a large finger swung right over Felix’s body. It swept up Connie, blood falling from his mouth onto Felix’s cheek as Connie’s body flew across the desk. Felix laid  paralyzed as the finger retreated, too frightened to look up. Was Connie… 

Connie wasn’t dead, Felix heard him screaming on the desk’s edge. “Please, I was just doing as you said!” 

The same finger flew back down, flicking Connie right in his ball sack. As his body fell down, Kate’s middle finger didn’t let up on him, constantly flicking him over and over to drill in her point. “I hope you weren’t expecting praise,” said Katie. “So what, you’re able to do something as simple as discipline. Sure it was what I asked, but anyone who hurts my slave gets punished.” 

Tears streamed down Connie’s face as Katie refused to stop pummeling him. Sofia had said that being Katie’s personal slave would bring him benefits, but he didn’t think that came at the cost of other’s safety. Katie had ordered Connie to beat him, yet he was punished for it anyway. Why did this keep happening? Why did Felix have to be the reason they were put through so much pain?

“Now get up.” Spit flew from Katie’s mouth as she uttered the command. Connie groaned quietly to himself, cupping his balls with his hands in the fetal position. He wasn’t in any position to get back up. 

“Didn’t you hear me, I said get up.” Another one of Katie’s fingers flew for Connie’s head. He spun around from the force, a giant red mark on his forehead. Connie took in deep breaths, but they weren’t helping him with the pain. 

Katie was going to kill him. As she again flicked the cowering tiny, Felix realized this was all a ploy. Katie killed Emma to teach Felix a lesson, she was going to kill Sofia to show Angelina her new place, and now she was going to kill Connie for the hell of it. 

Felix jumped up. “Goddess!” He screamed, directing Katie’s attention. Her eyes frightened him. He dropped to his knees. “I’m ready for a command.”

Connie held his junk tightly, in too much pain to move. Felix had all of Katie’s attention, but he had no idea if he actually succeeded in saving Connie. 

“Excuse me?” Asked Katie rhetorically. She slammed her fist on the table, nearly sending Connie bouncing off the edge. “You’ll get a command when I grace you with one. Until then, your life is meaningless.” 

Connie groaned, muttering something incomprehensible to himself. Felix debated his next move, scared for Connie and fearful of Katie. “I was a bad slave. Please don’t punish him for making me see that.” 

Katie’s lips tensed. There was a lot of anger in the things she did, but she could also show restraint. “Okay. Then you finish his punishment. Push him off the desk, I’m tired of seeing his miserable face.” Felix’s expression was blank. He couldn’t do that, he couldn’t kill somebody.

“I could give you his punishment instead.” Katie laid her finger down flat in front of Felix. “I’d love to know what my personal slave’s balls feel like exploding against my nail.”

Felix took a step back, and it was clear to Katie which he decided. 

Felix slowly approached the hunched over slave on the desk’s edge. Connie didn’t look up at him until his feet were right beside him. 

“Are you fucking serious?” Connie asked. “You’re not going to throw me off this desk, are you?”

“I don’t know, are you going to hold your punches next time?” Felix looked across the edge down at the floor. He hadn’t realized how high up they were.

“Dude I swear I’ll never hit you that hard again. Just take Katie’s beating, you’ll be fine.” 

Katie made a yuck noise. “Don’t get your snot on me.” She rang, spitting a glob of saliva onto her hand.

Felix grabbed Connie by his shoulder and held him on the edge. He was too weak to fight back. “What are you doing?”

“Relax.” Felix said, peering over the edge to get his angle right. “I’m going to drop you onto the pile of clothes to break your fall.” 

“You’re kidding?” Connie held onto Felix for dear life. “Do you think this is a fucking cartoon? Even if a cardigan on the floor could break my fall I’d be dead before I even hit the ground, there’s no way.” 

Felix thought it over. If he missed, Connie would splatter. He didn’t want his balls obliterated, but he couldn’t let Connie die either.

Dropping Connie back on the desk, Felix walked back to Katie. This felt right, it was easier walking to her than it was waking to Connie. 

Katie spit in her hand before closing it and shaking it. Her face smiled when she saw Felix, but frowned when she saw Connie. 

“I’ve decided—“ Enormous pain erupted through Felix’s body. It started in his groin before shooting up his stomach and down his legs. Felix dropped to his knees, the air forced out of him in one movement rendering him unable to scream. 

Katie pressed the tip of her finger into his ball sack. She. Twisted it, turning Felix into a mindless pain bot as the hurt was too much to focus on anything else. “You decided what? That you wanted to disobey your goddess and piss her off at the same time?” 

The finger retracted, but it wasn’t long before Katie flung it back into his junk. With enough air in his lungs now, Felix erupted in a scream that was likely heard all the way down in the cage. He could do no more than wheeze as Katie continued her onslaught on her balls, her hard solid nail ramming into his weak testicles over and over until he got the point. 

When she finally pulled back, Katie delivered a final flick to the bottom of Felix’s chin. Felix’s jaw clanked against his teeth and he bit into his tongue. His body spun around until he laid there, spitting blood onto the marble. 

Katie looked down at her other hand, frowning. “My mood is ruined, it’s not even worth playing with you anymore.” Katie opened her palm, letting the tiny Andrew fall out and on the table. He was covered in goo from being spit on my Katie, and the pad of her palm looked extra sweaty. 

Andrew sneezed, finding it difficult to even get up. All 3 tinies on the table experienced excruciating pain, and it only brought fear to Felix that Katie knew of different methods of torture. He may have lost the ability to have kids and was too busy reading with pain to form a thought, but Katie had been using Andrew’s allergies to torture him. 

A small hand touched Felix’s back. “I knew you could take a beating.” Said Connie, still wincing himself.

“A—a—“ no, the pain was too much to speak.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to the recovery,” said Connie. “I’m sorry for hitting you so hard earlier. I know you want me to go easy on you. We’re all rats in a cage, so we should be looking out for each other. But Katie won’t go easy on you, so I can’t either.” 

Felix gripped his balls, still able to feel Katie’s nail on them even though she had long since started doing her makeup. All he could give Connie was a nod. 

“Don’t get me wrong. If it’s between you and me, I’m choosing me.” Said Connie. “But that doesn’t mean I want to see you die. Sofia and Elias may be under the impression that being Katie’s personal slave is going to give you benefits, but that’s only because death fears them more than anything. I see how much suffering Katie can cause, and I think being hers is going to mean she’s going to be a lot harder on you. Being hers is going to be a curse.”

The pain subsiding enough to focus, Felix looked up at his massive capture. 

She looked so expressionless as she rubbed something into her face. 3 inch sized people were wailing in pain on her desk, and yet she didn’t miss a single spot filling in her eyebrows.

“You know,” said Connie, looking up as Katie was putting the finishing touches on her makeup. “I have never seen her this ticked off before.” 

“Seriously?” Asked Felix, looking between Katie and Connie. “I’ve never seen her so deadpanned and uninterested in us.”

Katie had not acknowledged the tinies once while doing her makeup. While that on its own wasn’t strange, Connie kept waiting for her to give them some kind of task. According to him, it was out of the usual for her to let them relax when they were outside of the cage. 

“My theory,” said Connie. “I think you really pissed her off when you didn’t push me off this desk. I’m not complaining, I just hope she doesn’t follow through with it when she’s done.” 

Is that what was going on? Katie said earlier that all the ‘fun’ was taken out of torturing Andrew, but she sounded more annoyed than mad. 

“What’s his deal, do you know?” Asked Felix, looking at Andrew. Connie and Felix sat next to each other, and started talking more once they realized Katie was ignoring them. Everybody in the cage seemed to at least act friendly with each other, even Elias. But nobody ever talked to Andrew, and Andrew never talked to them. Even now, he preferred to lay in the puddle of Katie’s dry spit than sit with them. 

“Who, him?” Said Connie, pointing to Andrew. “Like I told you before, it’s for the best if you just stay away from that guy. There’s no use getting yourself in trouble with Katie.” 

Felix nodded, though he was unsure why talking to Andrew would get him in trouble with Katie. Something was for sure different about the way Katie treated him versus the others.

Last night, Elias explained to Felix the way Katie goes about training slaves. The first week is all about breaking down the person’s will. It’s why Felix spent the morning and afternoon being nearly pummeled to death under Katie’s foot, and why Katie killed Emma and Mia in front of him. Elias put it bluntly, “they died because she wanted to show you your place.”

“And because Katie hates the girls.” Sofia had said.

Then there was the second week, the week Sofia was in. That week was about obedience training, and making sure any new slave knew their place. It’s why Sofia was in the same shoe as Felix and not Connie. Then it’s the third week, which is about refining to what the master wants, and the fourth has to do with more mundane things like helping the master cheat on her test.

Make it through all 4 weeks, and Katie sells you to the highest bidder. The strange thing was that Andrew didn’t fall into any of these weeks. If he were in the first week like Felix, why wasn’t he placed in Katie’s shoe with him? And what good would setting off Andrew’s allergies and spitting on him do with obedience? That was more about doing what he was told, but it seemed like Katie was just flat out torturing Andrew. 

Katie’s makeup case clicked shut. She took a breath, admiring a job well done. The teenager looked a lot older with her makeup down, and Felix wasn’t sure if he’d mistake her for another college girl if he saw her at a frat party. 

She looked at them, and Felix’s heart nearly leaped from his chest. So much fear disposed on him, and just with a short glance.

“I’m done playing with you two.” Katie’s hand came for them, but her fingers only wrapped around Connie. She picked up Andrew, and skidding out from her chair she knelt under the bed and rattled the cage. When she came back up, Felix only saw one tiny in her hand, but didn’t know who it was. 

“Aww, look at you,” Katie cooed to the tiny in her hand as she sat. “You finally look pretty. I mean, honestly, did you really think pulling up your skirt that high made you look cute? Or the way you bobbed your leg over the other one in class. You wouldn’t believe how many times me and my friends made fun of you for that.”

Through the cracks in her fingers, Felix saw the mangled form of Angelina’s body. “But thanks to me, you finally look cute! You’re just the prettiest slave in the entire pack.”

Angelina fell from Katie’s fingers, dropping to the table and jerking around while erupting in pain. Felix thought she looked like she was on fire. Every nerve in her body must’ve been exploding in extraneous pain, and it was Felix who did that. Looking at the pathetic mush of a person, Felix wondered if he should’ve let one of his other companions die to avoid this. 

“You two are going to go out with me tonight,” Said said, giving herself one final check in the mirror. She patted on her cheeks with her palms, straightened out the wrinkles on her shirt and winked at her reflection.

“I was very upset with your performance in my shoe, 76.” Katie addressed Felix ignoring the withering Angelina under her. “But maybe I just couldn’t feel you as well. I’m not the monster I’m sure everybody keeps telling you I am. I can admit when I made a mistake. So this time, I’m going to put you in these.” 

Reaching under her desk, Katie pulled from the floor a dirty pair of stockings. She raised them over Angelina’s body, taking pleasure in the way the stocking’s gentle tickle’s sent Angelina into a twisted pain. 

Felix’s body flinched as he tried to take a step forward, his body too conditioned to Katie’s torture for his heroics to try and save her. Besides, he’d probably end up getting Angelina in more trouble if he did anything. It's like the others keep saying, they’re suffering because he won’t learn his place.

“And I’m going to drop this little chew toy in there with you. You’re going to train it like I had the other bitch train you earlier. Make sure she learns her place by the time I take her out again, I’m not entirely convinced that from that pathetic show you all put on earlier.” 

With a quick scoop, Felix was picked up by Katie’s hand. He’d grown used to the motion of being trusted around in a giant’s hand— it was nothing compared to the sensation of being stepped on— but the feeling of being dropped was still spinning his head in circles. 

Felix rolled to the bottom of the stocking, and it wasn’t long before Angelina’s frighted body rolled down on top of him. She was even scarier up close. Angelina’s wounds were sealed up with the piece of hair Sofia found, but patches of dried blood stained on the edges were her skin still stuck to her bone. 

“Here comes my foot, be good bugs for me and lick up any of the sweat. It took you way too long to learn that the first time around.” Katie’s foot slid in.

Angelina was hysterical, but her hysterics were more tame than earlier. She spent all day crying, Felix doubted she had much strength to throw too much of a tantrum. 

Katie’s foot wiggled in the stocking that shook as the beast approached. What should Felix do? If Katie’s foot came down while Angelina was still on top of him then he’d be crushed. When it was him and Sofia in the shoe, Sofia forced Felix under Katie’s big toe so she could have an easy ride, but if Felix did that to Angelina she’d die for sure under the weight. 

Thinking quickly, Felix threw Angelina off of him and over to Katie’s smallest toe just as it connected with her. Angelina again erupted in a roar, but her voice tired from screaming quickly died out into a muffled cry. Katie’s big toe pressed into Felix’s face

The first thing Felix felt was the warm skin roll over him as Katie lowered her foot to the ground, and the second, more noticeable, was how much more potent the smell was.  Felix gagged and spit up phlegm uncontrollably, his mouth opening up and letting the salty sweat drip into his mouth. If nothing else, at least the taste was better. Katie must’ve showered since her time at school. 

Even though she didn’t scream, Felix could hear the faint cry escaping Angelina’s lips as Katie’s foot connected to the ground. Luckily Felix’s time in her school shoe had him used to the feeling of being stepped on, but poor Angelina couldn’t bear it. Maybe it actually helped him that Sofia had him under the big toe. 

Angelina slid her foot into a shoe, but even though the light dimmed it didn’t go out. Instead her foot slanted upwards, more pressure being added onto the sole. Tilting his head and looking through the tiny holes in the stocking, Felix made out the edge to a red strap. Katie was wearing heels. 

As Katie took her first step, Felix turned to Angelina, whose entire body was under the pinkie toe of Katie save for an outstretched hand. “Don’t tense your muscles, it’ll only make the landing—”

Felix was cut off by Katie’s foot coming down. The air was knocked out of his gut, water formed around his eyes. He shouldn’t be talking, not while Katie was walking. Even though he was used to the impact, he wasn’t used to the increase in pressure. But Angelina was struggling, even under Katie’s smallest toe her injuries weren’t anything to be taken lightly. Too much contact and she could pass away from the pain alone. 

Cold air rushed over Felix. He hadn’t realized how much his body had heated up in the few minutes he’d been inside Katie’s stocking. Katie must’ve been outside now, otherwise it wouldn’t have gotten so cold so drastically. 

Katie stood still. Felix took the moment to address Angelina. He stared closely at her hand, waiting for it to twitch. It never did. “If you’re still alive,” Felix started. “You need to get your face out from under her toes. There should be enough room in the stocking to scoot up, if you have the strength too.” 

No response. 

“I’m sorry about before,” said Felix. She might not be able to hear him, but he needed to get it off his chest. “I thought I was helping you, I didn’t know she was going to do… this to you.” 

Still no response. Felix took a breath, needing to pay more attention to the weight on his chest. When Katie stood still before it was like her toes rested waitless on top of him, comparatively to being stepped on anyway. But things were different with the slant. Before her weight was mostly on her heel, but now her entire body weighed on her toes, and thus Felix. 

A heavy boom. A shadow fell briefly over Felix, and through the stocking Felix saw the figure of a giant boot walk pass Katie. He hadn’t thought of it before, but if Felix could look out of the stocking and see the outside world, then the outside world could see him. 

If Felix could get somebody’s attention, they could help him. 

A car rolled up on the curb, and Katie walked to the window. “For Katie?” She asked. Felix couldn’t hear a response, but Katie opened the backseat and slid in. The air was cool and smelled like air freshener. Felix had been in enough Ubers to know what one smelled like. Where was Katie going?”

About 10 minutes into the ride, while Felix was debating whether to start licking the sweat off Katie's foot now while the levels were low, Angelina’s hand twitched. She pressed it against the toe, pushing against it until her face slid out from under the pinkie. There must’ve been enough sweat for her to do that. 

Angelina’s right cheek was sunken down to her chin, a feature Felix was unsure was there before she had been dropped inside of the stocking. “I’m dying?” Angelina asked, terror in her eyes and shaky voice. “I… I can’t feel anything. Help me.” She begged.

Felix looked up. How long would it be before Katie reached her destination? It could be a couple minutes, or it could be hours. She hadn’t checked on them yet, but would she feel if Felix left his spot under her toes? 

Risking a punishment, Felix slid out from Katie’s big toe. He scooted against her second and third ones, the fabric making it hard to squeeze through,  until he made it to Angelina. “Don’t panic,” he said, unsure of anything better to ease her worries. “You’ll be fine, we just have to make it through the night and everything will be fine, I promise.”

Katie’s toes flexed. Spit flew from Angelina’s sour mouth. She may have not felt the pain, but her body did. 

Shit, Felix forgot. When Sofia left her spot under Katie's toes, it wasn’t Sofia who was punished for it. It was Felix. 

“Stay strong,” Felix urged. He rushed back to the big toe, losing his foot several times before squeezing his legs back under her big toe. 

The pressure under Angelina stopped, but it transferred to Felix. It was too much of a pressure difference, one preferable side effect to Katie being in heels, but it still hurt. Angelina meanwhile laid still, looking up at the car’s roof as lonely tears fell from the side of her eye. 

It wasn’t long before the car pulled to a slow stop and Katie stepped outside of it. Angelina moaned as Katie walked towards a house. A doorbell rang. Anxious moments pass before it's open, followed by loud screams and Katie being embraced in a hug. 

All Felix saw as Katie walked in the house was a handful of feet on the floor. Some were in shoes, others were bare, and one was in just thick black leggings. They chatted and moved around the room, unaware of the tiny people inside Katie’s stocking. 

Felix stuck a hand out, feeling at the fabric. If he pulled hard enough at it, he might be able to rip it. If he remembered correctly from his sister wearing them, they tear accidentally all the time. Felix wasn’t as weak as the others, he might be able to do it. Then he’d just have to get somebody’s attention and hope they didn’t freak out. 

But first he had to make sure he didn’t pass out under the pain. Despite the couch just feet away from her, Katie refused to sit down. Many of the teens in the room stood, afraid of the social stigma of sitting down. Felix’s legs were being crushed, if he didn’t act soon he wouldn’t have leg strength to run away. 

Felix reached out and grabbed for the fabric. He glanced at Angelina. Would Katie kill her if she found out Felix left? She was going to kill Felix earlier when Sofia left, or at least it felt like she would. Felix knew Katie wasn’t above killing, but if he escaped he could save the others back in the cage under Katie’s bed. 

And there he was again, faced with a choice between Angelina and the others. He could save one, but not the other. It wasn’t his place to choose, but he couldn’t not act. But he promised Angelina she’d be safe. She was so still under Katie’s toe, her death would be painless. 

Felix grabbed the stocking. He pulled with all of his strength to rip it apart, but even he was too weak to do more than just break it a little bit. He looked through the hole up at Katie. She was still distracted, Felix had to act. He pulled harder, not allowing himself to let up even a little bit. 

If he were fast enough, he could save Angelina too. Originally, he wanted to wait out the party and find the host after the fact, but if he got somebody’s attention quick they could help Angelina escape before Katie could kill her. Then they’d find a doctor for her, he’d save everybody. 

The stocking ripped. Seeing his chance, Felix used the sweat under Katie’s big toe to push himself out from under it. He spun around, pulling himself out of the stocking and onto the carpeted floor below. 

He’d done it, Felix had actually escaped. Katie shouldn’t have been so naive to think Felix wouldn’t try something like this. His legs were too weak to stand, he’d have to hide longer than he wanted until he gained the strength to move. It didn’t matter, he wasn’t far from the couch. All he had to do was drag himself under it and—

Shrouded in the darkness under the couch was hard to see, but it was unmistakable. Twisted and dismembered, disfigured and unjointed, a twisted body laid still under the couch. Its face was petrified with pure terror, though it didn’t move. Maggots half the size of it crawled from a hole in its stomach, and ants circled around it. 

Another tiny person laid dead under the couch. 

“Uh oh Katie,” said a feminine voice. “It looks like one of your slaves escaped.” 

Felix was stunned. He had to run for the couch, but some of those bugs were the size of him. 

“Tsk tsk, I had more faith in you.” The rough bottom of Katie's heel pressed into Felix’s back. Tilting his head up as much as he could, all of Katie’s teenage friends were staring down at him. It was intimidating, and none of them looked the least bit sympathetic or surprised. 

“He’s only in his second day of training,” Katie assured the group, ignoring her slave. “I don’t like to show you the magic behind the curtain, but I guess here’s your glimpse.” 

“Don’t worry, katie.” Said a brunette as she knelt down to get a better look. “Why does it look so scared? Don’t they usually know their place by now?” 

“I think it found Shitstain.” Said a blonde girl. Was she referring to the person under the couch? “Shitstain hid under the couch after my dog chased it there. MY baby waited there a week for it to leave before it died of starvation. I still want my money back for that, by the way.” 

“Fuck off, Jasmine.” Katie rolled her eyes. “All sales are final. Besides, you only paid $2.50 for it anyway, so drop it. Unless you wanna be my next project.”

“Given your track record with training female slaves,” said Jasmine. “I’ll pass.”  

Felix wiggled his ankle. His legs were starting to wake up, but he couldn’t tell if he could move them yet with Katie’s heel weighing on top of him. He’d rather take his chances with the bugs under the couch than with whatever these girls had planned for him. 

They all must’ve known about Katie’s tinies. Why couldn’t Felix put two and two together? Katie was out with friends, why wouldn’t they be the same friends she sells shrunken slaves too? The person under the couch— the living person that one of Katie’s friends dawned the nickname Shit Stain— must’ve been one of Katie’s old slaves. Trained and sold for less than a transit ticket, that’s how much these girls thought they were worth. 

The crusty heel pressed down on Felix’s back like it would a cigarette. The heat radiating from Katie’s foot stretched all the way to the floor, as did the putrid smell. Angelina was likely right above him, what a cruel fate it’d be to have them both crushed like this. 

“Hmm, maybe he wasn’t escaping.” Said Katie. r up something awful. She knew damn well what he was doing, if she was pretending she didn’t it meant she had other ideas. “I bet you came out here to tell us you finished training that dumb bitch, didn’t you?” 

Katie pressed down harder, she wanted Felix to give the answer she wanted. “She’s trained,” Felix’s voice strained under the pressure. 

The heel lifted off, and Katie took a few steps back, leaving Felix alone in a circle of feet. “See girls, he was just coming to tell us he finished training the other slave.”

Some of the girls giggled, and a few tried to talk at once which created an incomprehensible blurb. Katie bent over, one of the girls making a comment about her ass for laughs. The titan dug her fingers into the home Felix created in her stocking, and after a little digging she pulled out her other slave. 

“Holy shit,” said a brunette. “Is that Angelina?”

“Careful Hanna,” said Katie standing up. “I haven’t sold her to anybody yet, so she doesn’t have a name.

Katie laid Angelina out in an open palm, and suddenly Felix was old news.  The group of girls swarmed around Katie’s palm, poking and prodding at the tiny girl on top of it. They cooed and made sounds like they were talking to a cute puppy. 

“Look at it squirm,” said one girl.

“I just want to eat her up.” Said Jasmine with chattering her teeth. 

Felix smashed his head against the floor. It pounded back, and he was unsure why he did it. He was overwhelmed. His choices carried too much weight. Too many consequences. 

“Okay, okay, back up.” Said Katie. “Let’s see the bitch work.” The girls took a step back in the circle, allowing Katie to kneel down and place Angelina in front of her feet.

Katie placed her hands on her hips, eyes furrowed like she was waiting for something to happen. Angelina’s body was near lifeless. If it weren’t for the rhythmic soothing of her head bobbing back and forth, she'd be no different from the body that laid still under the couch. 

Jamie bent over, the flashlight on her phone illuminating onto Katie’s foot as he camera pointed towards the tiny next to it.

“Oh my god send that to me,” said Hannah eagerly. 

“Shh.” Jasmine’s thick white teeth cracked through her lips as she looked down at the camera. “I’ll send it in the group chat.”

Katie’s toes gently nudged into Angelina. “Go ahead worm, show me what you learned in your day as my slave.” 

Angelina gave no signs of acknowledgement, yet her lips slightly twitched as she breathed. Slipped from her heel, Katie’s sole hung only inches above her. Only Felix had an angle on the sight, but Jasmine did lay on the floor to get a better shot with her phone. 

“You must’ve been taught to wait for orders, good Slut,” said Katie. “But don’t keep your owner waiting, I want you to lick my nylons. Go ahead.” 

The giant girls around them squirmed in anticipation, but Felix knew they’d be waiting a long time. Angelina was alive, conscious even evident by the way she groaned in fear, but she could move. Her body was giving out, it didn’t have the strength to move. 

“Hey, brat!” Katie tapped her foot down. It was light, but hard enough that Angelina came up with Katie’s foot before falling back on the carpet. Angelina wiggled, her body coated with a new layer of sweat, but she didn’t have much mobility. 

“Step on her again.” Said Jasmine, not looking up from her phone. “She’s starting to wake up.”

Katie did as the crowd instructed, stomping her foot down, but this time twisting it into the carpet. Jasmin and Felix’s jaws dropped from their faces as they hard light crunches. When Katie pulled her foot back up, Angelina looked flatter than usual. 

“Is this better?” Katie asked, lightly placing the ball of her feet on top of Angelina’s body. “You’re pathetic, maybe what you were taught is that you’re not worth sticking your neck out to reach my feet. So here, lick them now like you’re dirt I accidentally stepped on.”

Felix was too far away to see if Angelina licked Katie’s foot. Half her body was covered by Katie’s sole, but Katie’s gaze of displacement gave it away. She pressed her foot further down, the floor creaking as the carver fibers folded under her. 

Angelina was submerged under Katie’s sole, the carpet being the only resistor of her becoming completely flat. Katie slowly grinder her foot left and right, Jasmine using her free hand to cup her surprised mouth. Angelina’s body was cracking. 

“You spent all of your high school career using your tongue to get what you want. When it was for Mr. Lamon you had no problem licking whatever he asked you to, why can’t you do that for me?” 

A pair of toes moved closer. “She’s a pick me girl,” said Hannah. “She hates you cause you’re not a man.” 

“Figures,” Katie’s toes flex as she grinds her foot harsher into the ground. She raised her foot up, Angelina sticking to it and falling to the ground, only to slam her foot back onto her and grinding her foot more. “Maybe if a man tells you, you’ll listen.” Katie looked down at Felix. “Go ahead, tell her.” 

All eyes were on Felix. The girls cooed and whispered to each other. Katie lifted her foot off Angelina, placing it besides her. Felix hesitantly approached the beast, focusing on the beaten girl under it.

Angelina was in this position because Felix got cocky. It was his fault, he should’ve just stayed inside the stocking. The closer Felix got, the more disfigured Angelina became. Several bruises lined her body, and her joints were messed up or poking in wrong directions. She looked so flat, even the faint rising of her chest barely added depth. 

Felix knelt beside her. “Listen, Angie, I know you don’t want to do it, but lick her foot. You have—“

“So… cold.” Angelina muttered. Her lip quivered, and tears once again streamed her cheeks.  But these tears were quieter. 

“Don’t say that.” Felix begged. Katie’s toes were scrunching impatiently. “We’ll help you back in the cage, you’ll get better.” 

Angelina pouted thicker, the thought of getting better scarier than the thought of drying. 

“You can’t give up, Angie. If you die..” What did Sofia say to him, when Felix wanted to die? “If you die then what’s the point of any of this. All of this suffering, all the people Katie killed. None of it matters if you don’t get better and escape.”

“I don’t… care.” Angelina’s voice was low, and though she cried she sounded content. “I’m ugly. This isn’t my body anymore. I don’t, Christ look at me. I don’t want to live.”

“Have you told her yet?” Katie asked.

“Jesus fuck, Katie,” said Hannah, getting a closer look at Angelina. “Did you bite her?”

“I prefer the word chewed.” Katie said. “Chewed a lot.”

Felix touched Angelina’s hand. Time was running out. “Just lick the foot, we can talk more later.” 

Angleina shook her head, her final year falling to the floor. “I’m not sorry.” She said, “You are, but I’m not. I know you feel bad, but just… please… just let me die now.”

Felix stepped back, shaking his head. Crawling on fours, he moved to Katie’s sole. Felix stuck his tongue out and dragged it across her stocking. 

“Forgive her, goddess.” Felix said in between licks. “She’s not trained yet, allow me more time to train her.” Felix sucked up Katie’s sweat.

“I’ll punish you later.” Katie twitched her foot, sending Felix flying back.

Felix rolled on the ground. Getting his bearing, he pushed himself back up. “Wait!”

Two fingers wrapped around him. “Where’s the fire, little guy?” Hanna said as she pulled Felix up in the air. She twisted him around to her face, and shined her stained teeth at him. “Mmm, maybe I’ll take a bite out of you, too.” She chattered her teeth at him. 

Felix turned around. Hannah was scary, but he needed to see if Angie was okay. 

“Oh, you wanna watch?” Asked Hannah. “Let’s watch, then.” She bent down, extending out her hand so Felix could see. He was still so far away, Katie didn’t even look at him. 

Katie bent over and pursed her lips. Felix shouted, remembering the sight from earlier. But before long, a giant glob of saliva dropped from Katie’s lips. “Bullseye!” She yelled as her spit connected with Angelina. 

Jasmine stood up. “Let me help you.” She said, cupping her lips and spitting over Angie. A few of the other girls joined in, all releasing as much spit as they could on the tiny girl. 

Felix could do nothing but watch as the pile of spit grew larger and larger on top of Angelina’s body. At first it dropped off her, only costing her before spilling into the carpet. But as the carpet fibers grew moist, there wasn’t much space for the spit to go.

Katie and her friends continued to spit on Angie, and her entire body was trapped under a pool of spit. For a while she laid still, but as the spit seeped into her throat she started to squirm.

The girls laughed as Anglina drowned in their spit. Jasmine continued filming. Getting real close to Angelina’s body. The camera captured her final moment. Angelina had again gone still, but this time she wouldn’t move again. 

She was dead. Strangely, Felix found himself thinking of Sofia. He understood now why she didn’t want him to apologize to Angelina. Saying sorry fixed nothing.