“I hope you enjoyed dinner.” Heather said from above her napkin dabbing the last of the steak’s juices from her lips.

“Yeah! It was great!” Daniel shouted back up to her.

Although they had eaten from the same plate, sharing the same filet Heather had selected, her own side of the plate was clear save for the drippings of each cut of her knife, red pools swirled around the white ceramic. His side, however, still had most of the flesh remaining, the hunk of meat Heather had sawed off of her own being larger than Daniel’s entire body many times over.

Heather couldn’t help but smile. She had chosen the cut of steak because it would seem large by comparison, and offering to share the plate was a stroke of genius she’d have to use again. Every time her fork had come down to pierce the filet, every time her knife’s serrations had glinted above her diminutive guest, she had been treated to a very brief show of deeply-rooted fear. Even as she had brought each severed chunk of flesh to her mouth, Daniel had watched as she licked her lips, painted a deep crimson-and-slightly-purple. He then stared, as she would pull her lips back, revealing her teeth, and very deliberately let her teeth sink into the meat to pull it off the fork. It was only after she’d pull it back into her mouth to chew that his eyes would finally dart back down to his own eye-level meal.

“Was it tender enough?” Heather inquired, setting the napkin down, and leaning in on the backs of her hands with her elbows propped up on the table. “I could practically swallow it whole.”

“I… uh, yeah, i..it was great.” Daniel responded. “It’s…it’s just hard to eat as much when you’re…”

“Two inches tall?” Heather offered.

“One-point-eight.” Daniel said, dejectedly. “The doctor’s said that I was about forty six millimeters or just under two inches.”

“One-point-eight, then.” Heather said. “But still, did you enjoy the seasoning? I prepared it sous-vide, do you know what that means?”

She began to lean forward, although he still stood behind the plate, it wasn’t much of an obstacle to Heather, and as she spoke, her relatively distant position on the table began to slowly loom over Daniel.

“I d… I don’t.” Daniel said.

Heather wondered if Daniel was even aware of his trepidatious step away from her as they spoke.

“Well, it means I took my time with it. You see, I’m all about a big payoff, for the flavor.” Heather started.

“O…oh.” Daniel stuttered.

Despite his tiny size, and even though the plate was still between them, Heather could see his breathing quicken, he had spent a great deal of money, or at least, a great deal for him, to afford himself a tailored shirt, pants, and even some little things passing as shoes. Because it was fitted to his small size, she could see his chest rise and fall ever faster as she leaned closer over.

“The meat and aromatics, with some butter, cooked under a bath of water for four whole hours.” Heather said. “Our whole dinner tonight, even though it was lovely, took less than a quarter of the time it took to cook.”

“T…that’s really impressive.” Daniel said, as Heather’s shadow fell over him. “A…and it was v…very good. Uh, can I borrow your phone?”

“No, I don’t think you may.” She said before continuing. “You see, Daniel, I prefer to take my time with my meals.”

“I…” Daniel started.

“I prefer that every morsel is utterly delicious.” Heather explained. “It makes the wait so much more worth it, wouldn’t you agree?”

“P…please let me borrow your phone.” Daniel pleaded, dread sinking in.

Heather paused, glancing toward her purse, which contained her cell phone, hanging next to her door. Unless she got up and provided him with her phone, unlocked it and likely, dialed too, there would be no way for him to ever reach the outside world.

“Did you know, Daniel, that there are networks someone such as myself can go to, if they were interested in acquiring a shrunken man such as yourself?”

“N…no.” He mewed in her shadow..

“Yes, it’s true. They’re very sophisticated.” Heather said. “You can tell these networks what you’re looking for. For instance, I could say that I wanted a little man, with no family ties, little income, and I’d want him to be, oh…”

Heather’s hand came down on the table, not quick enough to slap the wood, but enough to startle Daniel into collapsing where he stood. Her hand framed his tiny form between her thumb and forefinger, calling his size into stark relief.

“Maybe under two inches tall; a very rare size, very expensive and time consuming to find a man of that small stature, I’m told.” She said, her other hand coming down opposite of the first from where Daniel cowered.

Heather began to slowly constrict her hands together, so slow as to avoid Daniel’s immediate notice, she didn’t need to take this much time, but neither did she need to cook her steak for four hours either. It was worth it in the end, though.

“And then, if the network finds someone matching my criteria, I get a nice little packet in the mail. Name, residence, photos, things that the little person likes or wants, even places or sites they frequent so that I can begin the process of ‘naturally’ contacting them.” Heather explained, still closing in on Daniel. “They can even tell me where the little person liked to eat before they shrunk. For example, if they hadn’t had a good steak since shrinking.”

“Why?” He asked, seemingly unaware of the closing gyre of her hands around him. “Why would you do that?”

Heather had to stop, the sheer naivete of the question caused a body shaking laughter to ripple through her. She even stopped closing in on Daniel with her hands to hold her sides as she laughed.

“You can’t be serious?” She asked through the laughter, wiping a tear from her eye.

In response Daniel just mutely shook his head.

“Oh, that’s almost too good.” Heather said. “I wish I could do this over and over again with you. The reason ‘someone’ would do that is to chat up the little person, invite them over for a nice dinner, and then, once the mood had been properly set… eat them.”

That was the last straw to break Daniel. The shrunken man began to scramble away from her on the table. Not very fast, and not very effectively, his movements panicked and uncoordinated as he attempted to flee from her, even if there was nowhere to flee to.

“I’ve done it before, you know.” Heather said.

She let him scurry away. The worst he could do would be to cast himself over the edge of the table, and even then, she’d be able to catch him with minimal effort. She even considered it might be fun to stomp after him on the carpet, to force him to watch her black nylons drop down from the sky, getting closer and closer.

Halfway through his dash to the edge, however, Heather decided not to let it come to that. There was something to be said for taking her time, but that also meant not drawing things out too long. Couldn’t leave the steak in the pan for more than necessary, it might burn.

Heather used one finger, her index finger, to push down into Daniel’s back as he crawled. This caused him to scream anew, even though Heather didn’t push hard enough to puncture the small man with her nails painted to match her lips. Instead, still screaming, she used that solitary finger to drag Daniel back toward the plate they had shared. Heather made sure it was a slow process, but also an implacable one. Daniel thrashed and screamed and clawed at the table to free himself from under her digit, but had no effect.

“I’ve brought little people like you here to this very table.” She said as he drew closer to the plate.

Although she kept her house, and thus her table, very clean, she could see that Daniel’s clothing was losing its presentability as she dragged him along the wood. Wrinkles, even a few tears, were beginning to show as his diminutive body slid along the surface of the table.

“I treated them to a decent meal, usually something they hadn’t had an opportunity to eat in a while, like a good cut of steak.” She mused as he reached the edge of the plate.

She pulled her finger back, satisfied to see that he’d exhausted himself in the futile attempt to free himself from under her finger. His renewed attempts to crawl away were much slower, even for his size. Each motion was painfully labored and slow. Heather rested her chin on her hands again, content to let him try again if he had it in him.

“And then, once I had enjoyed a nice meal of my own, I ate them.” She said.

Daniel froze where he lay on the table, slowly turning back to Heather.

“That’s right, I ate them.” She clarified. “Some of them I chewed up, crunching their bones in my teeth, before I swallowed them. Others got to experience the most intense roller coaster ride any human being could, a one-way slide down my throat into my stomach.”

“P…please.” Daniel almost whispered, tears forming in his eyes.

“Occasionally I’d even eat them with the meal.” Heather continued.

She dipped a finger into the cooled juices of steak still on the plate, making a path where her finger traced on the white ceramic surface. When she retrieved the finger back up to her lips, it dripped with savory liquid. She tilted her head back and let a droplet fall into her open mouth, before plunging the finger in after it and sucking the remnants off the tip.

“One woman was even tangled up in spaghetti as I slurped…” She paused to noisily mimic the act of slurping noodles, complete with pursed lips and obnoxious sound. “Her up with the marinara.”

“Please don’t…” Daniel tried again.

“A man very nearly drowned in my wine glass.” She said, reaching for the glass on the table, still unfinished from dinner. “But he was still wriggling when he washed down with the rest of the pinot.”

“I won’t tell anyone.” Daniel sobbed. “I swear!”

Heather paused for a moment, as though she was considering the offer. She responded by snatching Daniel up from where he cowered next to the plate, much to his shock. He screamed as she lifted him up, but didn’t have much time to catch his breath before she used his whole body to resume where her fingertip had left off on the plate. With no care for his comfort, she pulled him, writhing and screaming, pinched between her thumb and forefinger, through the leftover juices of the steak. By the time she lifted him, now again exhausted, to her face, his shirt and pants had been soaked in delicious smelling liquid. His shirt had been stained from a white cloth to browns and reds from the meat.

“But I’ve learned, in all these times.” She said, bringing him closer and closer to her lips as she spoke. “That the most rewarding way to eat a tiny person, is to be restrained with the seasoning, and take the time to prepare them properly.”

“I don’t want to die!” Daniel screamed.

“Oh dear! It looks like your shirt has been stained.” Heather mocked. She afforded herself a deep sniff of Daniel’s soaked form.  “You’d better take it off.”

She set Daniel back down, this time on the plate, and waited with a sinister smile on her face.

“Well?” She insisted. “Strip.”

Daniel didn’t respond fast enough for her wants. He tried not to meet her gaze, and spent a few precious moments looking around, as though someone else would magically appear, or some escape vector would materialize.

“If you won’t take care of this, I will.” Heather said, plucking him back up from the table between her fingers.

Heather had long since stopped caring, but she also knew she wasn’t ready yet. Or rather, her morsel hadn’t yet been prepared properly. With practiced precision, Heather brought Daniel’s squirming form to her teeth and with an uncharacteristic gentleness, bit down onto just the dripping wet cloth of his shirt. Less gently she pulled him away, shredding the front of the shirt into tatters. She lowered Daniel back down to the plate and spat the cloth stuck to her teeth away.

“That’s a start.” She said. “Now strip, unless you want my help in finishing the job.”

The threat of her teeth ripping more of his clothing, or being that close to him, seemed to encourage Daniel and his shirt, now mostly just sleeves and rags, was quickly pulled off. He stood on the plate, now looking up at her, his arms wrapped around him, probably growing colder since he’d been soaked in steak drippings.

“The pants and shoes, too, darling. Let’s be quick about it, you don’t want me becoming impatient again, do you?” She asked.

Daniel followed quickly and soon, he was nude and shivering on the plate.

“That’s much better.” She said. “I really did mean it when I said that I hoped you enjoyed the meal.”

“Please, I won’t tell anyone. I swear I won’t.” Daniel pleaded.

“I know you won’t.” Heather said.

The grin on her face must have been enough, because Daniel screamed as her hand came down around him. This time there was no more foreplay, and the shrunken man was brought screaming and fighting up to her lips. She did savor the opportunity to press him into her pursed lips and then, using just one finger pushed him between them. The same practiced care came into play as she worked him between her lips, never letting him fall or even slip a millimeter from her plush lips, but instead, slowly and steadily shoving him between those purplish red gates.

When she felt confident he’d be unable to squirm out from between her lips, she brought her tongue underneath him, sliding it out, letting him not only feel its passing under him, coating him in saliva, but also letting him see it emerge in front of him. She removed her finger and curled her tongue up, the wet organ slapping him in the face and silencing his screaming. Like a giant, wet serpent, she used her tongue to pull him back into the darkness of her mouth.

It was always special to Heather when one of her victims was small enough to fit into her mouth entirely, and Daniel was proving to be very special. She could feel all of his limbs as he fought in futility against her tongue. She used it to press his body to the roof of her mouth, then into her cheek as she sucked on him. Over and over she passed his body over her teeth under her tongue, between her cheeks, anything to feel him inside her mouth. She even opened her mouth to take moaning breaths, making sure he wouldn’t pass out.

When she had had her fun, she carefully manipulated Daniel’s body back toward her lips, it was such a pleasure to be able to feel his head being pushed out from her lips as she held him in place. The blade of her steak knife provided a mirror for her to view him. His head emerged from between her lips, his hair now matted and soaked through, his face wracked with horror and the pain of coughing up what to him had to be an ocean of saliva. Heather gave him just enough time to really clear his lungs, enough time for his coughing to cease and remind him of what the world outside of her mouth looked like before she tilted her head back, and sucked him back inside.

There was nothing more to it, her tongue pulled him to the back of her mouth, her hand came up to her throat, her fingers resting just under her chin as she braced herself. One deep swallow was all it took. She could feel Daniel slide out of her mouth, down her throat, traced by her fingers along her neck, and then disappear behind her chest where he plopped into her stomach.

Heather exhaled a massive sigh, she hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath. She lay her hand just below her chest and closed her eyes. The sensation never lasted long, but it was always clearest just after swallowing. Sure enough, there came the tickles, the light sensations of movement not her own.

“Oh, I need to work quick. Can’t have your efforts go to waste. Keep struggling in there!” She shouted at her stomach.

With that, and her meal done, Heather got up from the table and made her way to her bedroom. She knew from experience that Daniel only had a few minutes of air, and she wanted to be able to capitalize on it with her favorite vibrator.