John was doing everything in his power to calm himself down, to slow his heartbeat, to regulate his breathing, even just to stop shaking. Unfortunately, none of it was happening.

The fall from the desk had been bad enough. To his study partner, Mary, and his chaperone, Chloe, the fall was caused by Mary's careless opening of a musty reference tome they'd decided to research, and only a couple of feet down. To John it has been like being knocked by hurricane force winds off of a cliff.

Pure luck had knocked him into Chloe's jacket, hung over the back of her chair, slowing his fall, and then onto a backpack that was mostly empty, save for air, to cushion his fall.

But it hadn't been the fall that had John in a state of barely restrained panic. It was what he glimpsed while on the floor, after tumbling free of the backpack.

Both Mary and Chloe had been astonished, and Chloe worked to scoop him off the ground as delicately and quickly as she could. Her job, after all, was to be a kind of all purpose caretaker for John since his admission to the college. She had carried him to and from classes, she had helped facilitate opening and reading of textbooks that hadn't been adapted to his size yet, once, she had even saved his life from an aggressive squirrel while the two of them ate lunch outside, although to do that, she had shielded him by entrapping him in her almost empty glass water bottle, slamming the vessel over him just in time to prevent the rodent from attacking him.

Still, even before she got him in her hands, John saw something in the sole of her flats. Unmistakable, and clearly defined against the black leather sole was the outline of a human being, about the same size as John himself. It has only been for a moment, and even though the tiny caught in Chloe's shoe was half obstructed by her foot, the dangling heel of the flat clearly revealed a shrunken man.

"... alright?" Chloe asked.

John snapped back to attention, with both Mary and Chloe hovering over him where Chloe had set him back on the table. Mary's expression was wracked with guilt and worry, Chloe's was harder to discern.

"I said, 'are you alright', John?" Chloe asked again.

"I…" John started.

“Hey, Mary, why don’t you head home?” Chloe said, interrupting John. “I’ll get John cleaned up and take him home so he can rest.”

“Are you sure?” Mary asked. “I’m really sorry.”

“Yeah, accidents happen.” Chloe said. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll reach out a bit later on.”

“Oh, okay.” Mary said, packing her things and heading toward the door. “I guess I’ll see you guys later?”

Chloe stood and followed Mary to the door of the tiny, windowless study room. Chloe ushered Mary out the door with an unusual haste.

“Sure thing, Mary. Take care.” Chloe said. “Goodbye.”

With Mary already on the other side of the door, Chloe shut it, waited a few moments, and locked the door. John stared wide-eyed, fully conscious that something out of the ordinary was happening, but stranded as he was on the table top, less than able to do much about it. Chloe sighed, standing next to the door, without turning back to John immediately.

“You know, I really like these study rooms.” She observed. “The university never bothered to remove the locks on these really old ones, which means that if you wanted to get freaky back here, as long as you were just a little bit quiet, you could have all the privacy in the world.”

John didn’t respond as Chloe made her way back to the table. She sat back down in her seat and, to John’s horror, leaned back in the chair and threw her feet up on the table. John screamed briefly as her feet traveled overhead, and crashed back into the table top, ankles crossed, with her left foot hanging over her right. The soles of her flats were worn almost to the point of being garbage, but that didn’t stop her from wearing them. She idly bobbed her feet over John, while crossing her arms over her chest.

“Why John, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Chloe observed. “Or could it be that you saw something else that has you…scared?”

“I…” John stumbled with his words. “The… the fall, I’m just shaken up from the fall!”

A painful silence persisted between them for a few moments.

“No.” Chloe said flatly. “I’ve been your caretaker long enough to know this is different. You’ve taken a couple of falls worse than that, and had closer calls with getting stepped on or worse.”

John wanted to be anywhere else, but the door was locked, and even if it had been wide open, he knew there would be no outrunning Chloe. Chloe rocked in the office chair, the old metal frame squeaking as she did. Her feet, still crossed on the table where they towered over John bobbed idly.

"I suppose now is as good a time as any to introduce you." She said. "That idiot Mary won't be bothering us."

Her right toe dug into the back of her left heel and worked to pry the black flat away from her foot. The shoe didn't come off of her foot, just the heel. She hung the bare heel above John, and shook her foot slightly. Even though the shoe remained on her toes, the game in the heel was enough to allow the shrunken man John had glimpsed earlier to slide out, down to the table top, almost hitting John.

His body was weathered, and coated in what couldn't be called sweat any longer, it was more of a slime. Chloe had walked everywhere she and John had been today, from the classrooms in the morning, to the bookstore and cafe at lunch, around the campus in the afternoon and here to the library as the sun set. The man that fell lifelessly out of her shoe had been subjected to its confines the entire day, and dirt, dust, grime, and of course, Chloe's sweat had coated him all over. The shrunken man hit the table with a sickly wet sound, and except for a bit of breathing, he didn’t appear to John to be moving.

“Well, John?” Chloe asked, pulling John’s gaze away from the pathetic creature that had slipped out of her shoe. “Is this what got you so riled up?”

John couldn’t find the words. He hadn’t wanted to believe it when he’d caught the glimpse of the man earlier from the floor, but now he wanted it to be a lie, a joke, a trick, something other than what it was.

The shrunken man, his hair matted, his skin reddened and waterlogged with her sweat, stirred ever so slightly. John expected him to plead, but he stayed silent. John expected the man to attempt to run away, or at least to crawl, but as the shaky limbs shuddered back to motion, the man curled himself into a ball on his hands and knees, prostrating himself on his knees before Chloe’s feet.

“See?” Chloe said. “He gets it. The question is; do you?”

“What the fuck?” John finally found the words to speak. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Chloe bobbed her foot, letting the flat bounce against her sole. She chuckled a little as she did. It was a genuine laugh, but it was also one that John had never heard. It made his whole body shudder, like her laugh itself was shaking him to his core.

“You see, John… Hold on a moment. Worship.” Chloe ordered the man that had emerged from her shoe.

The weathered man almost leapt forward, and immediately began kissing, licking, and massaging Chloe’s foot. He threw himself into the devotion with more fervor than John had ever seen a human being give to anything, let alone the sweat-drench, stench-laden, hot sole of another person.

“That’s better. Now John…” Chloe said. “While I wanted to do this in a bit more private setting, and after a few more months of conditioning, I guess we’ll have to move the schedule up a bit.”

“Please, Chloe…” John said. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“Oh John, that’s okay, you don’t need to understand it completely right now.” Chloe assured him. “But the short version is, you’re going to become my little plaything, like this guy here.”

To emphasize her point she simply lowered her foot a bit, allowing the flat to slip over the man worshiping her foot. It had the effect of trapping him against her sole, but did little to stop his adoration. When she raised her foot a moment later he slipped out, stumbled a bit, but resumed his worship just as fervently as before.

“I… I will never…!” John started.

“Oh, but you don’t get a choice.” Chloe interrupted. “And you should be happy! Hold on a moment. Back in.”

The tiny man worshiping her foot embraced the stinking sole in front of him, spreading his arms wide in an embrace that didn’t even extend to the edges of Chloe’s sole, and pressing himself as firmly against her skin as he could manage. Chloe, simply slid the flat back on over him, tucking her heel in and sealing the weathered man back into her shoe, where he had spent the entirety of the day.

“As I said…” Chloe began, taking her feet off the table and procuring something from her backpack on the ground. “You should be happy! I’m going to take away all your worries, all your doubt, every responsibility you’ve ever had or would’ve ever had.”

The object hit the table with enough force to knock John's feet out from under him. A large black cylinder, devoid of features and, like virtually everything in John's life, massive to him.

“But hey, I can promise you that you’ll come to accept this, even love it!” Chloe said. “That little guy fought me for days before I finally broke him, and now he thanks me every day for subjugating him, and you will too.”

She pushed the giant black cylinder forward, closer to John.

"Now, you're not ready to ride in my shoe yet." Chloe explained. "Too much of a chance you'll be crushed to death, or maimed beyond usefulness."

She gripped the top of the cylinder and twisted, revealing a seam that spun around, and eventually a lid. The whole thing was a jar, or container of some kind with a deep, screw on lid.

Chloe tipped the container over toward John. Inside was nothing, a black void of darkness, even in the light of the study room. What little John could make out looked like some kind of padding or foam, lining the interior. Chloe also set the lid down next to the jar.

"This is the 'Quiet Jar' and it's the best way to transport my newest acquisitions." Chloe said. "Completely opaque, such that even under direct, intense lighting, no one can see in or out. The lining is thick enough that I could chuck it down a flight of stairs and the shrunken person inside probably won't get hurt, but that also means no sound gets through the walls."

Chloe held up the lid, revealing odd lines in the underside of the lid.

"And this, I'm particularly proud of this…" She said. "The lid has similar padding, but also baffles to allow air in and out, but no light or sound."

Chloe brought both pieces toward John, the deep recess of the jar only slightly more visible.

"Once someone goes into the Quiet Jar, that's it." Chloe said with a smile widening on her face. "No sound, no light, no one will ever know that there's a small person inside. It lets me discreetly move my toys around, or even bring new ones home. Once you're in the Quiet Jar, no one can hear you, no one can see you, and no one ever finds you again."

John tried to make sense of everything.

"Please Chloe, just take me home." He begged. "I won't tell anyone what I saw!"

"Oh, I know. And don't worry, I'm going to take you home, to your new home." Chloe explained. "And you're going to be mine too, just like the insole you met. So get in."

For the first time since the jar hit the table John looked up from the void in front of him. Chloe's look was chilling, unlike anything John had ever seen.

"I don't want to go into the jar, Chloe." John protested. "I want to go home."

"You don't have a home anymore, John. You're mine now. I'm going to take you home and turn you into a little toy, just like the one you saw in my shoe." Chloe outlined. "But, if you don't get in the jar, I'm going to have to keep you silent some other way…"

"What do you mean by that?" John asked.

"Well there will certainly be an unfortunate, messy accident. You'll get caught underfoot, turned into a red smear on my shoe. Or you'll fall down to the seat of my chair just as I sit down, that's always fun. But I'll be honest with you," Chloe said, leaning in. "When the problem is as small as you are, the best way to remedy it is to just slip you into my mouth, chew you up, and swallow you down. A few hours and one flush later, you're gone."

"If I don't go into the jar, you'll kill me?" John asked, too stunned to really process information.

"Let's call it 'disposal' instead." Chloe offered. "But yes. I'll try to make it fun, though. Probably more for me than you, but oh well. So, what's it going to be John? The jar, or the end?"

"I… I…" John stammered.

"Time is short, John, the library will close soon, and if I need to dispose of you, I'll need to do it quickly." Chloe prodded.

John wanted to crawl into any other dark hole than the one in front of him. But there was nowhere to go on the table, in the locked study room, in the back of an almost empty library, with the one person who was supposed to be his first and last resource who had just revealed herself to be the last person he'd want to be locked away with.

Chloe didn't seem to be willing to wait, as John was cast into shadow. Chloe's hand obscured the light and began to grow larger as it dropped slowly from on high. It was a sight that John had grown to fear, like few others. Those trained in interacting with shrunken people tried to avoid panic, confusion, and fear. Up until now, Chloe had been the perfect opposite, allowing John to step into her hand willingly.

"Wait! Wait!" John screamed. "I'll go! I'll go into the jar."

The hand paused in it's descent, allowing John to shift to his hands and knees and begin crawling forward. Even as slowly as he progressed, the mouth of the jar grew larger and larger before him.

Doubts and fears warred inside him, but John didn't have time to dwell on those as Chloe's hand dropped down before him, suddenly and frighteningly barring him from the jar.

"Strip first." Chloe ordered.

“What?” John asked, equally stunned by the hand like a wall that had dropped in front of him, and by the command.

“You’re going to need to learn to obey without questioning me.” Chloe said, a bit of venom in her voice. “I said strip. You won’t need your clothes any more.”

John didn’t reply, but the threat of Chloe’s hand alone was enough to prompt quick action. He began shedding clothing. Fear and trembling caused him difficulties in removing even the simple clothing that had been fabricated for him. Once he was completely naked, still shivering, from fear not cold, he stood up, next to the pile that was his shirt, pants, and shoes.

“Good.” Chloe said simply.

Her hand finally moved out of John’s way, but instead of simply allowing him to gracefully walk into the jar, Chloe’s hand was joined with its counterpart and delicately picked up John’s discarded shirt. Lifted up between two thumbs and two fingers, like a display model for shrunken persons’ clothing store, right up until Chloe’s fingers pulled the shirt in opposite directions, shredding it instantly. She didn’t stop there, her fingers reasserting on the scraps of the shirt and pulling it apart again, and then a third time. When the mere fibers that remained of his shirt fell from her fingers, they were unrecognizable for what they had once been. John’s pants followed, until everything he had been wearing was reduced to a heap of fibers and scraps.

“There we go. Nothing to hold you back.” Chloe said. “Now, get into the quiet jar.”

John began to shuffle toward the jar when Chloe’s hand again stopped him.

“No. On your hands and knees like before.” Chloe ordered.

John fell to his hands and knees and resumed trudging forward, until he came to the lip of the jar. It wasn’t much of a climb up the lip, a steep step at most, but it still because he was on his hands and knees, felt like climbing in.

“That’s it.” Chloe said. “All the way to the back.”

The padding was thick, it was certainly enough to cushion him and prevent sound from getting in or out, but it made it difficult to trek along. Every crawling step took him deeper and deeper into darkness, and what little sound there was to be heard grew fainter and fainter inside the jar.

John was unprepared when the world upended. Chloe had either thought he was at the base, or just grown impatient, and righted the jar. John tumbled over and over into the base of the jar, where he came to a rest on his back, looking up to a harsh light. It didn’t take long for the light to fade, as Chloe’s face moved into view above him. With her looking down into the jar, there was nothing but Chloe’s face, framed by her blonde hair.

“There we go. That’s a better look for you, John.” Chloe said. Deep in the jar, her words didn’t sound the same, there was no bounce off of walls. “But I don’t think that name fits you any longer. My insole doesn’t even know his old name, and honestly I forgot it myself. I’ll come up with something new for you.”

Chloe’s face turned into a smile, her lips slowly spreading wide.

“But for now, let’s help you get adjusted to your new position in the world.” Chloe said.

John didn’t have to wait to learn what she meant as her lips pursed. A globual of spit formed between her lips, building in size very slowly and steadily. At critical mass, the blob of saliva fell free of her lips and crashed accurately into John down at the bottom of the quiet jar. Coughing and spasming followed.

“Perfect.” Chloe said. “It may be a while before you see or hear anything again so enjoy the scent and flavor of my spit. It’s a long walk home. But the next time you see me, you’ll be in your proper place.”

John was still busy coughing, trying to clear Chloe’s spit from his eyes, mouth, and from deep within his lungs, as the world dimmed. Through her saliva, John caught just enough of a glimpse of the lid being moved into place before everything became utter, uncontested blackness. For a split second there was a brief scraping noise, as the lid was screwed into place, and then nothing but the rapidly cooling, pungent stench of Chloe’s spit to keep him company in the silence and darkness.