“So you’re little buddies still aren’t’ talking to you?” Natalie asked.

“No...,” Aubreigh curled her lips smugly, “I’M the one who is not talking to THEM. If they can’t forgive me for one tiny little mistake, then I don’t want to talk to them either.”

Both of the giants looked over at the tinies’ tank. The little people were huddled together, watching the giant women eat their breakfast. Aubreigh scowled disapprovingly at them, but Natalie wore her signature smirk of superiority.

“I’m sure they’ll come around, sweetheart,” Natalie smiled and took a sip of her orange juice.

“How is my brother doing?” Aubreigh asked plainly, taking another bite of her omelet with her fork.

Natalie grinned and tapped her foot a couple times. Thomas was still trapped under the soft arch of his mother’s foot.

“I think he’s starting to learn his lesson,” she said. “At least, I hope he is, his talking back was starting to get really annoying.” Natalie twisted her foot back and forth a couple times, squashing her tiny son deep into her insole.

“God, I hope he stops that,” Aubreigh said, still resentful of the things her tiny brother had said to her the night before.

“Well, you can always punish him too, Aubreigh, it doesn’t just have to be me that’s always the bad guy,” Natalie said.

“Maybe…, I don’t know. I just don’t think squashing them in my shoes is for me,” Aubreigh shook her head with a grimace. “I’ve tried that a couple times now, and I just don’t see me doing that as a punishment.”

“That’s fine honey,” Natalie sighed. She looked over at the tinies and grinned. “I’m sure your little friends will find that to be a relief.”

“Ha! Probably,” Aubreigh said, biting another mouthful of food.

“Aubreigh, would you mind grabbing me the other O.J. from the fridge? This one has pulp and I don’t like it…”

“Why don’t you get it? You’re closer,” Aubreigh said, talking with her mouth full.

“Boy, it sure is a good thing you’re not tiny too, Aubreigh, I’d have half a mind to put you in my shoe for talking back to me,” Natalie laughed hysterically.

Aubreigh rolled her eyes.

“Ugh, fine, I’ll be right back,” she said, getting up from the table.

“I’m joking, of course!” Natalie laughed as Aubreigh grumbled away.

As soon as Aubreigh left, Natalie snapped her attention back to the tinies in the tank. She smiled cruelly at them and pulled tiny Brian out of her pocket that she had placed him in. Kelly and her mom, Mrs. Chen, started to get worried. Natalie briefly examined the coughing tiny man in her grasp. Her smile grew wide; that smile haunted every single tiny watching her.

“This is just to remind you that Aubreigh is every bit as dangerous as me,” Natalie said, licking her lips, “just in case you ever misbehave again.”

Natalie took her fork and opened Aubreigh’s omelet just slightly. Just wide enough to shove a tiny person inside. She flicked her fingers and tossed Brian’s tiny body into the steaming pile of egg and cheese. Using her finger, she pressed him deeper into the muck and mire of the breakfast food. Then she closed the opening, trapping him completely within.

“What did you say?” Aubreigh asked, coming back in with the pulp-free O.J.

“Oh nothing,” Natalie said, licking her finger clean.

The tiny people were going crazy in the tank. Aubreigh could her them screaming and yelling at her. They were trying to tell her about what Natalie had just done, but she ignored them.

“What are they all worked up about?” Aubreigh asked as she sat back down, still not looking at the tinies, trying to remain committed to not talking to them.

“Oh that,” Natalie said, “I was just telling them that they really hurt your feeling and that they should just apologize to you. I think they’re trying to get your attention so they can make amends.”

“Huh,” Aubreigh said, picking up her fork, “well, they can keep trying, I’m not listening!”

“Jesus! Fuck no!” Kelly yelled, beating her hands against the glass of the tank.

Mrs. Chen had reserved herself to defeat and laid down, barely able to even cry. She felt light-headed and numb. The others around her were screaming and yelling, beating against the glass, trying to get the giant teenager’s attention, but she knew it would never work. Natalie Ashford Beaumont had orchestrated the perfect murder.

The tinies in the tank watched helplessly as Aubreigh brough her fork down and cut another piece of food off. As they watched her fork ascend to her mouth, their hearts sank into the pits of their stomachs. Her giant lips closed, and she pulled the fork out clean.

“Aubreigh!” they shouted. “No! Don’t!”

The chewing sounds coming from Aubreigh’s mouth where somehow more nauseating than usual. Some of the tinies were watching in shock as her jaw moved up and down, others couldn’t bear to look.

Aubreigh grimaced.

“Ew,” she said, rolling her tongue around in her mouth, “think I got an undercooked onion or something.”

She chewed a few more times and swallowed.

“Sorry, honey,” Natalie laughed to herself and poured some more orange juice.

“What’s so funny?” Aubreigh asked, pushing her plate away in disgust.

“Nothing,” Natalie said, composing herself. “Not hungry anymore?”

“Lost my appetite,” Aubreigh said. “Besides, we should probably get going. I bet dad is just terrified and nervous. I bet he really wants to see you.”

“Yeah, I know he does…,” Natalie sighed.

“Are you going to be okay with him?” Aubreigh asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I know how you feel about tinies, like are you and dad going to be okay?” Aubreigh asked.

“I don’t know...,” Natalie said depressingly. 

“We don’t need to talk about it now,” Aubreigh said. “It’s a lot to wrap our heads around.”

“It’s not like when the twins shrank,” Natalie said. “Me and your dad still felt like a team, but lately he’s been so distant and involved in his work for tinies that I hardly know him anymore.”

“Do you think that’s one of the reasons you resent the twins?” Aubreigh asked.

“What?” Natalie said, taken back. “I don’t resent them. I love the twins.”

“Mom,” Aubreigh said, looking at her sarcastically, “one of them is in your shoe under your foot as we speak.”

Natalie rolled her eyes.

“Go get your stuff in the car!” Natalie scoffed with an amused smile.

“I’m just worried about dad!” Aubreigh laughed. “I don’t think he will like being under your feet, mom.”

“I’m not going to do that,” Natalie waved Aubreigh away dismissively. 

“Isn’t that what you said about the twins, too?” Aubreigh smirked.

“My goodness, Aubreigh, what is with all this talking back you’re doing?”

“Okay, okay, sorry,” she said, holding her hands up. “I’m just saying!” Aubreigh laughed as she went upstairs to collect her things.

Natalie sighed and looked back at the table. She was thinking about how things would change with her husband, Andrew. Of course, she loved him, but she was still so heartbroken and angry that he had shrunk. It was reminiscent of how she felt when she first heard that the twins had shrunk. Of course, it wasn’t their fault, it was nobody’s fault. Still, Natalie hated that the rest of her life would forever be very different than what she had planned. She was just thankful that her and Aubreigh were immune. Andrew wasn’t completely immune, but he had such a small percentage of reacting to the virus that it was almost the same as being immune. Or so they thought. Evidently, that was wrong.

The commotion of the tinies grabbed Natalie’s attention again. Watching them curse and yell at her amused her. She was so angry with the things in her life that she couldn’t control, that it was nice to be able to control something… even if it was just the lives of tiny people. When she was younger, her brutal treatment of the tiny people was from immaturity, but now that she had matured, she simply craved the power and control… something she didn’t have anywhere else in her life.

“What are you guys complaining about now?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

The tearful tinies could only blabber, yell, and curse at her. Throughout the cacophony Natalie could pick out Kelly screaming at her.

Natalie frowned and leaned forward.

“Oh, I bet you’re sad about your brother, aren’t you?” Natalie shook her head. “Sorry about that.”

“How can you be so cruel and heartless?” Kelly said.

“I’m not cruel and heartless,” Natalie scoffed. “I was going to pay you your money and take you and your mom home.”

“I don’t want your money,” Kelly shouted.

“Then what do you want from me?” Natalie asked plainly.

“I just want my son,” Mrs. Chen said meekly.

“Really, you want him back even more than your sister?” the cruel giantess asked coldly.

“I would give up my life to have my son back you psychopathic bi-,”

“Whoa, you better be careful there, Xioaling,” Natalie sneered. “Unless you want to end up like your sister and your son.”

“You’re a bitch!” Kelly shouted.

Natalie’s eyes widened in amusement.

“I don’t care that I said it,” Kelly screamed. “You are a bitch, and I HATE you, I hope you die! And I don’t care if you kill me for that!”

“Kelly,” Nate tacked her and put his hands over her mouth, “what are you doing? Taunting Mrs. Beaumont is suicide!”

“Better than living like this,” Kelly gasped with Nate's hand over her mouth. 

Natalie Beaumont reached in the tank and flicked Nate with her fingers, sending him sprawling across the tank and into the wall before stopping. Her massive fingers pinched the tiny Asian girl between them and retreated from the tank.

“Hmm,” Natalie said, eyeing the tiny girl before her colossal eyes. “I don’t know whether to be impressed by you or if I should be offended.”

“Well, I know that you can go fuck yourself!” Kelly panted from her feeble lungs.

Natalie Beaumont’s lips curved into a small smile.

“I guess I’m supposed to be offended then, eh?” she said to the tiny girl. “Well then, I suppose I should probably use you as an example,” Natalie said lifting Kelly high above her mouth, “just like I did with Gregg.”

From high above, Kelly could see the floor of the condo seemingly hundreds of ft away. But front and center was the excited and smiling face of Natalie Beaumont, the woman who hired her to give a pedicure to her daughter. If only Kelly had known what the giantess was really up to, she would have never agreed to it.

Natalie’s smile broadened and her lips parted, exposing her dauntingly large white teeth. A small chuckle escaped her throat as her mouth opened, revealing a dark wet pit with her slimy tongue writhing around. She snaked her tongue out past her lips to catch the tiny girl as she released her from her fingers.

Kelly screamed as she fell with a wet plop onto the giantess’s tongue. As soon as Natalie felt her land, she withdrew her tongue inside her mouth and rolled the tiny screaming girl around. She toyed with her much longer than she did with Gregg.

“Do you want to say good-bye?” Natalie said, lowering her head to the tank and looked directly at Mrs. Chen. Natalie opened her mouth and showed them the tiny girl sloshing around in her mouth.

Julia was sickened with horror at seeing the girl roll around in pools of saliva in her mom’s mouth. She couldn’t believe this woman was her mother. She also secretly worried about how long it would be until she faced the same torment as some sort of punishment someday.

Mrs. Chen was so broken from having seen her son just die, and knowing her daughter was about to die too, that she couldn’t say or do anything, except watch. She felt like an empty shell of a person. As the kids around her screamed at the giantess above for mercy, she could only feel the paralyzing pain of loss.

“Wait!” one of the kids shouted, “What’s that?”

Everybody’s attention turned elsewhere.

Natalie was curious why all the eyes of the tinies were off her and so she looked at what they were so preoccupied by. And there, in Aubreigh’s discarded omelet, a tiny man was breaking free from the sticky gooey prison.

“Oh my goodness,” Natalie smirked without missing a beat. “You survived! How cute!”

Natalie wadded up Kelly into a ball in her mouth and spit her out into her palm.

“I must say,” Natalie smiled, “your little family certainly is resilient.” Natalie looked down at the girl in her hand, completely drenched in saliva, and giggled. “That was a close one, I almost swallowed you! But I have a different idea.”

Natalie plucked Brian out of Aubreigh’s food and dropped him on her palm next to his sister. She then reached in the tank and grabbed their tiny mother. With a miniscule thud, Mrs. Chen landed next to her son and daughter. All three of the tinies were crying, hugging, and embracing each other. They were just thankful to be alive.

“You guys are a pretty sorry sight, if I do say so myself,” Natalie giggled.

“You just tired to kill us!” Brian yelled.

“Oh my goodness,” Natalie rolled her eyes and scoffed, “you guys are so dramatic.”

“Natalie,” Mrs. Chen called, “you’ve had your fun, but please let us go. We didn’t mean to upset you or disturb you. And I’m sorry if we offended you in anyway.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you,” Natalie smiled. “But how about this instead…,” Natalie beamed with excitement. “How about you come home with me?” Her eyes widened with excitement as she asked them her question.

The tiny family was mortified.

Natalie pouted. “What’s wrong?” she teased with a tone of fake sadness in her voice, scrunching her eyebrows into mock concern. “Why, it looks like you little people have seen a ghost!”

“You can’t be serious…,” Kelly wheezed.

“Of course I’m serious!” Natalie said excitedly. “Imagine having a family of tiny Asians to give me manicures and pedicures whenever I want, every single day if necessary, why wouldn’t I want that? That would be incredible!”

Her words were so hurtful and infuriating at the same time that the three tiny people in her palm were taken back, they didn’t know what to say.

“Surely you can’t be serious,” Mrs. Chen said pleadingly.

Absolutely, I am,” Natalie said with a smile that dominated their view. “What better use for Asians could there be? I bet it comes naturally to you. I mean, it’s either that, or I eat you, so the choice is yours!” Natalie paused and thought to herself. “Wow, eating Gregg last night must have really awoken something in me. Because I haven’t eaten a tiny in years… but honestly, you guys all look pretty tasty.” Natalie smiled and licked her slowly licked her lips.

Filled with so many different emotions, Brian couldn’t hold himself back any longer.

“You horrible monster of a person,” he said. “How dare you insult me and my family? We are not your token Asians that you can use for mani-pedi’s as you see fit. We are not your slaves! You are an empty, racist, bigot and you need to respect us!”

“Really…,” Natalie rolled her eyes. “You are demanding respect from me? No, little Brian, I don’t think so. That’s not how this works. YOU need to learn to respect ME, regardless of the fact that I almost had you killed by my own daughter, or that I nearly killed your sister just to see the look on your mom’s face. You need to show me respect for the simple reason that I am bigger than you. I am a giant, you are a tiny. Get that straight and we’ll get along just fine.”

“And that just automatically means us tinies are less important than you?”

“Yes!” Natalie laughed. “That’s exactly what that means!”

“I could never respect anyone like you!” Brian spat.

“Well, then a lesson in respect is what you need!” Natalie sneered. “Let’s see if you still have the same attitude after spending the trip back home in my shoe. It works wonders on my son, I bet it will work well on you too.”

Brian was plucked up between Natalie’s fingers before he could get a word of protest in. His mom and sister were callously dropped back into the tank among the other tinies. 

Natalie popped off her shoe that was currently free of any tiny people and lifted it to her face. She sniffed the mouth of her shoe and giggled. “Sorry if it smells, but I’m sure you’ll get used to it.”

With a very satisfied smile, she dangled the tiny teenage boy above the opening, laughing as she watched his legs running in the air. She let go of him and let him drop with a dull thud onto the heel of her insole.

Brian regained his balance and sense of sight and looked up. The arrogant smile of the giant woman dominated his view.

“I would move out of the heel area, if I were you,” she scoffed. “I’ve heard that’s hell to be in. You, wouldn’t want to get crushed on the first day of the job, now, would you?”

Brian tried to run, but he didn’t know where to run to. Everywhere he could possibly go would be eventually covered with her foot. The giantess dropped the shoe to the ground and Brian’s stomach lurched. It felt like he was on some sort of broken amusement park ride, dropping tens of stories. Brian tumbled over as her giant shoe landed. He looked both ways, one way led to the darkened tunnel where the giant woman’s toes would rest, they other way led to the opening of her shoe where light cascaded in.

In a moment of clouded judgment, Brian thought if he could run fast enough and jump high enough, that he could clear the mouth of the shoe and escape. He ran hard and fast and jumped as high as he could. He fell unbelievably short of his goal and smacked into the back of the shoe’s heel. He landed on his back and knocked the wind out of himself. Looked up, he was mortified as Natalie’s massive socked toes curled around the back of her shoe, gripping it fiercely and shaking it to get Brian’s undivided attention.

“You better stop screwing around in there and get somewhere where you’ll be safe,” Natalie directed him. “Because after my shoe goes on, I’m not taking it off until I get home, so you better make sure you get comfy.”

Brian panicked and ran towards the toe section to escape the incoming foot, but he knew it was pointless. Reaching the end, he looked back and saw her foot making its way toward him. His heart sank and beat faster as the light was cut off.  In the darkness, he could smell and feel the heat radiating from the giantess’s toes just inches before him as they nestled into place. He had never been in this situation before in his tiny life and was terrified of what was about to happen.

“Hmm,” Natalie said, “I can’t feel you, where’d you go little guy?” Natalie raised her shoe and felt Brian tumble onto her toes. “Ahh, there you are!” she said as she gripped in him her toes. “You can’t learn your lesson up there, silly!” she mocked. She lifted her shoe and wiggled her toes until Brian fell under them. “There we go, sweetie,” she smiled. “This is where you belong. This will wipe away any of those pesky lingering feelings of equality you might be feeling.”

The weight of the pads of her toes made Brian claustrophobic. He tried to push them off of him but he couldn’t budge the massive bulbs of flesh even an inch. The temperature increased significantly, making him sweat profusely. The smell permeated his nostrils, all he could smell was the sweaty aroma of her toes mixed with hints of lotions and oils.

“Are you ready to go?” Aubreigh asked, coming down the stairs, carrying the last of her things to the SUV.

Natalie stood up and felt the tinies beneath her feet; her son under the arch of one foot, and Brian under the toes of her other foot. She smiled satisfyingly.

“I am, let’s get these little guys packed up and get moving,” Natalie said, taking an unnecessary step just to squash Brian a little bit more.

Aubreigh came over to grab the tank.

“Why are they still in here?” she asked, looking at Kelly and her mom.

“Oh, them?” Natalie said dismissively. “They’re going to come home with us.”

“What? Why?” Aubreigh asked.

“Think about it, we could get pedicures anytime we want,” Natalie smiled wickedly.

Aubreigh looked down at the two pleading faces of the tiny Asian women. It was painfully obvious to Aubreigh that they didn’t want to be there.

“Come on,” Natalie nudged her daughter. “Don’t tell me your swearing off tiny pedicures too…”

Aubreigh sighed. “We already have our hands full with the twins, and now dad…, and now you want two more tinies to live with us?”

“Three actually,” Natalie said, looking down at her shoes.

Aubreigh rolled her eyes. “I don’t even want to know…,” She sighed and flipped her hair back. “Fine, let’s just get them in the car.”

Natalie was feeling very playful but Aubreigh was frustrated and felt like she had to take more responsibility for the tinies and keep her mom in check. She wondered what would happen when her mom saw her dad. What rude awakening was he in for?