Faith woke up a little earlier than Angie that Tuesday morning.  Looking up at Angie, it was strange to be around somebody so much larger than herself without having to feel scared. It had been a long time since Faith had actually had anybody in this god-forsaken dwelling that she actually felt a sense of comradery with.  Paige was usually off getting bullied somewhere and Emily was almost as bad as Duncan was.  She gently poked her new friend.

“Wake up, Angie.  It’s Tuesday, and Duncan will get mad if we don’t start the morning routine.”

Angie woke from her sleep feeling refreshed.  Miraculously enough, it seems that the injuries she had endured the day before had mostly healed.  From the looks of things, it seemed Emily had already gotten up and dressed.  She was wearing a crop-top and miniskirt that were just barely too small.  It was clear she wasn’t used to being this big first thing in the morning, and she was in an even worse mood than usual.  She looked down at her one-inch friend Faith.  

“Good morning, Faith! Do you … would you like help getting down?”

Angie picked up her friend and started getting herself down from the bed.  At only a little less than a foot tall, it was hardly easy for Angie, but she managed to get herself and her pal back down to the floor.  By that point, Emily had already left, so the others decided to follow.

Duncan was lying on the sofa barefoot texting his friends when they finally entered the living room.  The television was switched on to the weather, showing it would be raining heavily today with a light chance of flooding towards the evening.  Emily had already shrunken down even smaller than Faith and seemed to be much happier as a result.  When Angie got close, Duncan finally acknowledged their presence.

“About fucking time you little shits got off your lazy asses!  My feet aren’t going to clean themselves!”

Duncan sat up and put his left foot on the ottoman, while his right foot was sitting on the ground with his sole exposed.  Angie didn’t see anything to clean his foot with, until she saw Faith and Emily lapping at this right foot with their tongues.  Angie was horrified and disgusted, but swallowed her pride.  After all, in a few more hours, she planned on making a break for it.  She didn’t want to give Duncan any reason to take precautions.  

Mercifully for Faith, Emily was doing more than her share of the work.  Faith was only licking enough to not draw attention.  For Angie, it was different altogether.  Because Angie was so much bigger than the others, she had to take care of Duncan’s left foot by herself and had Duncan’s undivided attention.  Emily was glaring daggers at her.  Angie could almost see the green in her eyes as she glared at Angie for daring to catch her sadistic lover’s interest.  Angie tried to avoid eye contact with Duncan, but could tell he was looking down at her as she buried her face in his foot flesh.  Now she knew how Paige had felt living in his shoe.  That’s when Angie realized she hadn’t seen Paige at all today.

“Um, Duncan… where did … what happened with … is Paige-”

Upon hearing Paige’s name, Duncan cut her off. “You don’t need to worry about that bitch today.  She won’t be joining you this afternoon.  Now quit stammering like an idiot and get to licking, bitch!”

Given how horrible Paige’s situation before had been, Angie could only imagine what terrible things Duncan was doing to her now.  She felt bad that Paige wouldn’t be with her and Faith when they escaped, but she was sure that once she got away from Duncan, she could get Paige some help.  Faith also looked a bit worried, but tried to block it out of her mind.

The rest of the afternoon went uneventfully.  Duncan’s humiliating campaigns continued until lunch, when the three women ate what Duncan gave them exactly how he gave it to them.  It didn’t matter whether he stepped on it, spat on it, or chewed it up and spit it out.  Angie had already learned the hard way not to push Duncan’s buttons.

After lunch, Duncan prepared to bring Emily with him to his Bio classes.  Emily got dressed in a long, black dress that went from her neck all the way to her ankles.  It wasn’t a terribly flattering ensemble, but it served the purpose it needed to.  Duncan had placed a line of black velcro on the inside of his sleeve towards the elbow.  That way, her dress made of towel fabric could adhere to it on the way to class.  The color also let her blend in with the cuff of Duncan’s leather jacket, so she could watch the class and even write notes on Duncan’s paper without attracting any unwanted attention.

The rain was still pouring outside as Duncan headed out with Emily.  Duncan stepped out into the dorm’s hallway and shut the door behind him.  Angie could hear him fiddling with the door, but after a few seconds, he started heading down the hallway towards the stairs.

When Paige heard the sound of Duncan leaving, she got to work trying to get the thumb tacks sticking into her appendages off.  She remembered that she was stuck to a corkboard on top of Duncan’s desk, and decided on a plan that, while certainly risky, would free her so she could communicate the information she’d gathered last night to the others.  

Slowly, she used her body and scooted the entire corkboard underneath her closer to the edge of the desk.  She could feel the corner start to dangle over the substantial drop to the floor.  Holding her breath from fear, she shifted her weight until the corkboard started to tumble from the desk.  Paige pushed against the tacks with all her might, and when the corkboard landed on one of it’s corners with a thud, she managed to get her left hand free.

Paige slowly pressed the tip of the thumbtack in her left hand against another thumbtack, slowly wiggling it loose from her hand.  She started to bleed rapidly, but her adrenaline kept her moving.  She started to pull her right hand free.  Her mouth coverings hadn’t muffled her screams as she pulled herself loose.  And it was fortunate that they did, because otherwise Paige wouldn’t have been able to hear somebody fiddling with the door handle.  Had she been wrong, and Duncan hadn’t actually left at all?  Paige’s heart rate rapidly increased as the door swung open.

Angie waited with her ear by the door until she could hear the sound of Duncan’s footsteps disappear down the hall.  When she was satisfied the coast was clear, she started pushing the ottoman over to the door.  She got on top and started fiddling with the doorknob.

“What are you doing?” Faith asked, as though she didn’t know the answer already.

“I’m going to get us out of here!  I … I know you think that it's hopeless, but I have to … well, at least try!  As bad as it is out there … I mean … look how it is here!  If you just -” 

Angie’s train of thought was cut off as the door only barely went ajar before getting stuck.  Checking what was up, it seemed Duncan had put a padlock on the outside of the door before he left, leaving them trapped where they were.

As Angie contemplated what to do, she and Faith heard a loud thud coming from Duncan’s room.  Startled, Angie went over and listened, seeing if she could hear anything.  At first, she didn’t, but then she heard what sounded like a muffled scream coming from inside.  It must be Paige!  Angie had thought Duncan had taken her with him, but she was actually still in his room the whole time.  The screaming worried her, so she scooted the ottoman over to Duncan’s room and opened the door.  This time it swung open just fine and Angie was shocked to see Paige Dangling upside down by one leg from a corkboard.  

Angie ran over to the bleeding Paige.  It looks like she had heavily injured her hands, and she had been pinned by her thighs to the corkboard leaning on the leg of Duncan’s desk.  She pulled the thumbtacks out of her legs, causing Paige to let out more muffled screams as she started completely bleeding out.

Paige tries to pry the duct tape off her face, but it was wrapped tight around her mouth.  She tried to get Angie to help her, but she didn’t understand what Paige was trying to do.  Noticing a pencil had fallen off the table when the corkboard went over, she went and cracked the tip off.  Ripping the corner off a piece of old homework Duncan hadn’t gotten around to throwing away, Paige started writing out her plan to get away from Duncan once and for all.

The only problem was that she was losing blood fast and could feel herself slowly slipping into unconsciousness from the pain and blood loss.  Thinking quickly, she just drew a picture of the key to her escape plan before finally passing out.

Angie quickly used what she could around the room to try to bandage up her wounds when a flood warning alert started blaring on the television.  Faith realized that with a flood in effect, Duncan’s class would be cancelled and he would be coming back home any second.  Angie had opened every door in the dorm, and Duncan would be furious once he realized Angie had tried to escape.

“Angie, hurry up!  Duncan’s on his way right now!”

Angie started to freak out.  She didn’t want to leave Paige behind, but she didn’t really see any other option.  She pushed the door until it was almost closed, then squeezed outside bringing the scrap of paper with her.  Getting on the ottoman, she pulled the door handle until the door shut.  She moved the ottoman back over to the front door and just barely got it shut before hearing stomping coming down the hall.  She quickly ran back to the sofa, ottoman in tow.  She tossed the scrap of paper on the ground, sat the ottoman on top of it, and tried to act casually.

Faith and Angie heard Duncan roughly jamming the key against the padlock outside until it finally came undone.  The door swung open hard enough that the doorknob left a huge dent in the wall.  Duncan was scowling, drenched head to toe by the rain.  Emily wasn’t fairing much better.  Despite her clothes being made from a towel, it seems they didn’t do much good drying her off.  Duncan tossed the woman out of his jacket and stormed off to his room.  Emily clutched her leg and hobbled back to her room.  

They heard loud banging from Duncan’s room.  It sounded like Duncan found out Paige had been freed from the corkboard and wasn’t happy about it at all.  Soon, they heard Paige screaming loudly, but at this point, Faith and Angie knew there was nothing they could do about the situation.  Angie silently resolved that she would get Paige out of this situation no matter what it took.  She was at least relieved that she hadn’t passed away due to her injuries.

For now, the only option was heading back to their room.  The test that Angie took on Monday would be graded by the time they arrived in class on Wednesday, which would determine whether she could even get herself out of this situation alive. 

That night, Angie slipped out of the bed and crept over to where she had hidden the piece of paper Paige had left them.  Looking inside, she wanted to see what Paige had managed to write.  The only words she seemed to have gotten written down on the paper were “The key to Duncan’s po-”.  The only other thing drawn on the page was a small oval sitting on top of a large circle.  Angie pondered what it meant for a second before giving up and heading to bed.  After all, she did have class the next morning.  She got back in her bed and fell asleep to the sound of raindrops falling from the sky outside.