I was beginning to get concerned about the security situation at the dorm. The situation was that security was non-existent. The dorm building was old, about seventy-five years or so and thus had a lot of issues. The key one for us was that the door frames just weren't up for the job. Lots of locks just weren't working anymore, even with one on, a good shove would see the door open anyway. The university promised to sort this in the summer, but that was four months away and we were having a succession of thefts. Nothing major, so as not to get campus security too interested, but little things. I've had CDs and DVDs stolen out of my room, Tony, a guy who lives down the hall from me had his speakers taken, but what they took from Mei, the girl next to me puzzled me. They took some of her shoes, but only one from each pair that she had. To me this was the most bizarre thing that had happened. Why take only one shoe? It's useless isn't it?

If there's one thing I'm glad that the thefts brought us, is how close it has made Mei, Tony and myself.  We just came in from yet another appeal to campus security to look into this, but as usual they scoffed. As nothing worth more than $10 was ever stolen, they didn't seem too bothered., but to us $10 was a lot of money. This dorm was famed for taking in the 'poor kids'. It was the cheapest, which may go some way to explaining why it was the most neglected. The three of us did not have too much money, which was why getting stuff stolen from us was more a big deal to us

"It has to be someone in this building" Tony mused "The front door lock is fine, so it has to be someone with a key"

"There are forty people in this building" I pointed out "Unless we start a systematic room search, I doubt we'll be able to narrow it down better than that" We all gathered in the communal area on our floor. Mei was rather silent, which was unlike her. Usually when she started talking, she couldn't stop. She loved the sound of her own voice, but at the moment, she seemed down.

"What's up, Mei?" I asked

"I'm just confused, why only one shoe?" She asked, a look of utter bewilderment on her pretty face. Mei was a very pretty young thing. She was around 5'8'' with a slender build. Her short black hair framed her oriental features perfectly. She was always rather fashion conscious, but since the thefts, I began to notice Mei was wearing the same pair of shoes all the time; a pair of battered silver flats. I figured they were too run down to be worth anything hence why they weren't stolen.

"I have a theory" Tony said, speaking up "Maybe they're being auctioned"

"Auctioned to who?" I asked. Who would want to buy one shoe?

"There are people on the internet who would pay quite a lot for a girl's shoe" He mumbled, looking shamed that he even knew about such things. I turned to Mei who had a look of disgust on her face.

"That's sick! They're being sold to perverts who jack off into them" She yelled

"It's just a theory" Tony muttered, but Mei seemed to ignore him.

"I'll show them. I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve" She then smiled, and went back to her room, without so much as a 'good night'. I hoped that Tony's theory wasn't true. I hoped that Mei had just misplaced her shoes, she wasn't exactly neat and organised. Mei lived like a slob, her room looked as though a bomb had gone off, I was surprised she even noticed anything missing. Tony and I talked some more about college and Tv, before turning in for the night.

The next day I realised that my library loan was due at noon. I couldn't afford another late fee, the last one crippled me. Thing was though, getting the book back wasn't as simple as it sounds. At the beginning of the semester, I loaned the book to Mei, in a way to impress her, after I told her how helpful it was for me on my course. Only the previous year, I had the book on a recurring library loan, rather than owning it. When Mei asked to borrow it, stupid male pride prevented me from telling her I only borrowed it from the library, now the book was in Mei's room. I worked out a lie to tell Mei, so I could renew the loan for another month or so and was rehearsing it in my head as I knocked on her door.

"Mei? It's Alex. You home?" I asked. No reply. She couldn't be asleep, I just saw her that morning at breakfast. She must be out at class. This was bad, I needed that book badly, a look at my watch told me it was nearly eleven, I didn't have much time left. A thought crossed my mind. We all knew the doors weren't very good, if I just broke in, took the book,  surely she wouldn't notice. Especially if I got the book back to her room before her classes were out. I jiggled the door handle a little bit, I knew the trick to this.

All it needed was a push of sufficient strength and the door would just open. Giving the door a good shove, I gained entry to Mei's room. It was as I expected; a complete sty. clothes left lying around, bed unmade, books strewn here, there and everywhere, the only clear patch of floor was where her silver flats were placed neatly by her bed. 'Weird' I thought 'she must think those shoes are her pride and joy'. It was strange that it was her shoes above all else that she put on a pedestal and made look presentable in her desperately untidy room. I shrugged it off and looked for the book. The state of the room, made the whole affair rather difficult, but eventually I found the book high up on her bookshelf. Straining to grab it, I lost balance and fell on the floor, miraculously avoiding much of the clutter, I landed on top on Mei's shoes. I tried to get up but found myself unable to move. Something was desperately wrong as the room started spinning. Did I hit my head as I fell, I wondered as it felt as though I was getting smaller. My mind refocused and my perspective was very different. I found myself low to the ground looking up at the world and unable to move. It was though I was flat, I couldn't move my neck to see any part of myself. I was so much smaller than before, the world looked a very different place. I tried to call for help, but I could make no sound. I was trapped in Mei's room, unable to move.

I lay there for what felt like days, I don't know exactly how long it was before Mei returned. I swelled with fear as she walked past me. She was like a skyscraper! She didn't even acknowledge me, could she see me? What had happened to me? I could barely make out what Mei was doing, her giant legs seemed to stretch to infinity. She sat at her desk and crossed her mammoth legs, dangling the flip flops she was wearing off her mighty feet. I tried in vain once again to get her attention, but no noise escaped my body. I felt numb, I couldn't feel any part of my body, yet i could still feel the air on my face. Strangely, I could also taste the air, it tasted salty down here. Had I been paralysed? If so, why couldn't Mei see me? After another long while, Mei turned to me

"Oh the spell activated!" She said excitedly. She ran towards me, shaking the world around me with every footfall. "I wonder which one you ended up as"

What was she talking about, which one. Now Mei was looking directly at me, crouching. She was enormous, I could see every detail of her pretty face. She raised her hand over me, it seemed to glow for a second or two

"Oh, you're lefty. Strange you've always taken the right one before" She mused. Her hand closed in on me. Was she going to pick me up? She was, she lifted me as if I was nothing. In her hand she held me up to her face. "Welcome to your new life, perv"

Mei was laughing as she held me in her giant hand. I used to think Mei was very slight and petit, but to me now she was huge, a giantess.

"Poor thing, you're probably wondering what's happened to you" She said with mock sympathy. "I'll show you!"

She span, quickly around that it made me feel a little dizzy. I saw Mei's reflection in a mirror. She was smiling and holding something in her hand. it was one of her silver flats, the shoes that were neatly lying on the floor when I came in earlier. Then it struck me like a ton of bricks. I was the shoe; that was why I was feeling so strange. I felt flat, because I was flat, I was staring out of the insole of a shoe. How had she done this? Why had she done this?

"Getting the picture" She said, snapping me out of my thought stream "I knew you'd come again to take one of my shoes, so I booby trapped them. The next person who isn't me who touched them, would become them. All I had to do was leave them here and bam. Gotcha!"

This was a terrible mistake! She was after the guy who was stealing her shoes, I was just coming in here to get back a library book, and I tripped. This wasn't fair, I didn't want to be a shoe! I had to get the message to Mei, but once again found myself thwarted by my lack of speech. all of a sudden, Mei dropped me. I was freefalling what felt like thousands of feet, but what in reality was only a yard and a half. I was expecting great pain as I hit the floor, but none came. Could shoes even feel pain?

"Now it's time to be worn for the first time, you must be so excited" Mei said, from far away. I could hardly hear her from down here. Then a huge object filled the sky. It took me a moment to realise it was Mei's foot. her bare foot. I didn't want to be under that, i didn't even like the way my own feet smelt. It was as if she was going slow for effect, as she carefully lowered her foot onto my face. She rubbed the sole along my body. It was now that I realised, that i could taste and smell everything around me. Her salty vinegary toes rubbed against my face as she plunged her foot deeper into my body. Finally she grabbed the back of my body, or the heel as I suppose it was and made sure I was secure around her foot. I now had a face-full of her foot and couldn't let go. in fact it felt as if I was clinging on for dear life.

I found it very strange that none of this was very painful. I felt the pressure of her body weight on me, but no pain. In fact, It was quite... pleasurable. Don't get me wrong, I was hating every second of this, but It could have been so much worse.

"Let's see how much you like feet now, perv" I heard Mei say as she raised her leg and me along with it into the air. I felt like I was soaring, it would actually feel great if my whole field of view wasn't pressed up against my friend's smelly foot. As she put her foot down again I felt squeezed, but again no pain came to me. The rhythm was something that was going to get some getting used to, the problem was I didn't want to get used to it. I had plans in life, now what did life have in store for me? To be worn by this girl day in, day out? And how long will I last, these shoes I now inhabited were already pretty beaten up. I guessed I'd last a year tops before I would be thrown out. and then what? Could I die like this?

It was hard to keep a train of thought going when every few seconds I was thrust down to the ground. The sound kept getting repetitive the clap of the sole against the ground, the squelch of her foot pressing into me then the whooshing of the wind as I was raised back into the air. Why did I have to go into her room? I was a shoe for a poxy book? No, it was the fine I was trying to avoid. Ten dollars. I was a shoe for ten dollars. I had thrown away my life for ten measly dollars, every time I had time to think my situation felt worse and worse, I became thankful for the steps to break my concentration. Then for some reason Mei stopped. I could tell we were outside as the ground below me was cold and wet. As she stood I felt her whole weight on me, without any relief of her walking it was starting to become unbearable.

Another growing concern was the smell. As she stood there, I could feel her sweat leaking into my body. I was actually absorbing it, her sweat was becoming a part of me. I could taste the grime accumulated between her toes. I was revolted by these new sensations. Listening carefully, I could hear muffled voices, Mei was talking to somebody. I could be under her for a while.

After what felt like hours, I was finally lifted up as she started walking again. The floor below me was vibrating, which felt kind of pleasurable. It was nice to have something to distract me from the putrid stink emanating from Mei's gargantuan soles. Soon after I felt myself getting lifted up, but the expected pressure afterwards didn't come. Suddenly light burst into view, blinding me slightly. Once my eyes had adjusted I saw that Mei's heel was arched above me, with her toes still inserted into my body. She was dangling me! I used this opportunity to get a grip of my surroundings. Looking around I saw that I was on a bus. It was dark outside the window, I deduced Mei was going out on the town. It was hard to focus as I rocked back and forth on Mei's foot. The way she played with me got more active as I was slapped into the sole of her foot. This happened repeatedly, to the point where it actually became boring. Soon after her heel slipped back into me and she moved on.

The night was long and disgusting under Mei's feet, as my life became walking, standing and dangling. After a few hours I felt the floor become hard, as if she was walking on tiles. I felt pressure release as Mei's foot lifted off me. After my eyes adjusted I realised I was in a toilet stall. Mei had taken me off as she was pissing. She looked down at me mischievously

"How are you liking it? Wait don't answer that" She cackled, then she leaned in close "Don't think this is just a one night only thing. This is what you are now, my shoe. And because you stole all my other shoes and I'm flat broke, you are the only shoes I have to wear. So this will happen every single day until you wear out and I throw you out" She smiled a sickly smile and stood up again, once again hammering home how small and insignificant I had become. She then shoved her foot back  into me and went on with her night.

I had worried about being stuck like this forever, but a small part of me hoped Mei was only doing this as a temporary thing. Mei confirming it gave me a grim feeling a finality. I was a shoe, a thing, I actually had an owner! This wasn't fair. The rest of the night went by with me feeling depressed at my fate, I barely noticed that Mei had arrived home. She slipped me off and walked off, not paying me any heed. I was left to stew in Mei's stink as she started undressing. Maybe there were perks to this perspective a small voice in my mind said, but it didn't last as Mei strategically threw her bra on top of me obscuring my vision. I could only see a small part of the room, and later saw Mei leave the door in a bathrobe, she must have been going to the shower. She turned off the light and left me in darkness.

After the nightmare I had gone through today, I was glad of this respite. There was still a stink around me, but it was nowhere near as bad as being up close and personal with her foot. Trying to get some sort of sleep, if I could even sleep anymore, I was disturbed by the door opening and quickly closing. It must have been Mei coming back, but the light didn't come back on. Instead I saw a solid beam of light, coming from a flashlight. Was the power out? it wasn't a rare occurrence in this place. After a few seconds, the light was pointed at me, I could see the brightness even through the bra blocking my sight.

"There you are" A very non-Mei like voice murmured. It was Tony! What was he doing in Mei's room with a flashlight.

It didn't take me long to put two and two together. Tony was the thief... well he was Mei's shoe thief at least. He must have told us about the internet thing to cover himself. I was furious, I tried calling out, forgetting I was now incapable of that. This wasn't fair! I was suffering down here because of him and his sickness. The bra was lifted from above me and I saw Tony, with a lustful look on his face. Oh god, he was going to take me and jerk off into me. That thought made me miss having a foot inside me. I wished more than anything for Mei to burst in and catch Tony in the act, but that didn't look like happening. Tony had done this several times before, he was a pro. I noticed that he wasn't looking at me, but slightly to my side. Of course! Mei said he liked to steal the right shoe, at least I wouldn't be some weird sex toy, but it still didn't get away from the indignation that I was suffering punishment meant for Tony.

As he reached for the shoe, a thought occurred. If Mei found me left alone, without the other shoe, she couldn't wear me anymore. What's more, she might realise she made a mistake and change me back. I would tell her it was Tony stealing her shoes, we'd catch him, Mei'd change him into her shoe and we'd all live happily ever after! Well, Tony wouldn't but fuck him. I was actually excited as Tony reached for the shoe, but then my excitement turned to horror.

Tony started being pulled towards the shoe. It happened quick as a flash, but I remembered everything in slow motion. He tried to resist as the shoe pulled him in, absorbing him. He was now my partner shoe. The spell must have still been active on the other shoe! My chance was gone! I was going to be a goddamn shoe forever! At least I don't have to suffer alone. I'll have Tony to keep me company as he gets the punishment he deserves. That's me all over though, always looking for that silver lining.