Several weeks had gone by, and little had changed in Andrew’s situation. He was helpless at the feet of Kate, his former roommate turned owner. Allowed only to go to work so he could pay the entire rent, then shrunken again and made into her personal plaything. To keep him coming back, Kate had taken his girlfriend Diana as a shrunken hostage, toying with her constantly for fun and to keep Andrew in line. 

Today started like most others, after getting up and setting her favorite toy to work, Kate left to take a nice hot shower. Andrew was tasked with cleaning Kate’s favorite flip-flops. They were already fairly clean, but Kate liked keeping Andrew busy and found it funny seeing him crawling all around her massive flip-flop. While he cleaned, Diana was taped securely where there was a visible toeprint. Her entire body was covered, and small folds were made so she could at least get a limited airflow. 

Andrew scoured the flip-flop, finding any blemishes and aggressively rubbing them out, looking behind him every minute or so to see if Kate was coming back. His eyes then darted forward across the room, scanning the walls. There was a small chip just under the nearest outlet, small enough that Andrew could just squeeze through it if he tried. He could get out and find someone to help them, call the police, and get everything back to normal. 

Andrew looked over to his girlfriend, small and helpless as she lay tight against the flip-flop. Her clothes were stained and torn, her hair frayed and sticking to the tape, some would definitely be ripped off once she was removed. Andrew then looked down at his own body, his clothing in tatters with exposed bruises showing through the holes. They couldn’t go on like this…

With one final look back, Andrew scrambled up to Diana, who looked at him with desperation in her eyes.

“I’m going to get help,” he said quickly, “please, hang on and I’ll be right back.”

He could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She didn’t want to be alone, fearing what Kate would do. The tape was too strong to lift, or he would have taken her with him, this was the only way. 

Andrew bolted, hearing a muffled cry from behind as he jumped from the flip-flop. Rolling onto the floor, Andrew made a mad dash for the hole in the wall. His heart pounding louder than it ever had, Andrew felt like giant eyes were watching him from every direction. At any second he felt he would be pinched up into the air, or more likely, flattened under a giant heel.

His breathing grew ragged as he neared the whole, as small as he was still needing to stoop down to get through. Squeezing into the darkness, the drywall flaking off into white dust that freckled his body, Andrew now reached the relative safety of the wall cavity.

The air inside was cold and still, everything felt so silent, except for the beating of Andrew’s heart. The only light came from the hole he had just crawled in from, which he now looked out to see the apartment he used to live in normally. The flip-flops were still visible, with a noticeable shiny spot that he knew was the tape holding Diana. His heart ached for her. 

Turning now to the darkness, Andrew now had to find a way to get help, which would be extremely difficult being the size of an ant. But he had to try. Heading along the wall towards the front door, Andrew began walking between beams and loose nails, hoping to find some exit out of his old home.

_____________________

Twenty minutes later, as Diana still lay in the same position, her muscles screaming to move, she heard the now familiar thudding of bare footsteps across the floor. She could barely move her head, but soon a giant smiling face filled her view.

“Hey guys,” Kate’s voice boomed from above, “you done cleaning my flip-flops yet? I was just thinking of taking a nice long wa-...”

Diana saw Kate midsentence, a confused look now on her face as she scanned the sole of her footwear.

“Andy?”

She looked all along the sole, the toe spacer, and even the floor around, but one little body seemed to be missing.

Annoyed, Kate reached down and lifted her flip-flop up to her face, looking straight at the tiny girl that grew dizzy with the sudden movement.

“Where’s Andy?” Kate boomed, sounding serious.

Tears welled up again in Diana’s eyes as she faced this giant monster. There was no telling what she’d do to her once she found out.

“I said,”

Kate reached with her free hand at a corner of the tape, quickly ripping it off her flip-flop. The tiny girl could finally breathe better, but she was still stuck to the tiny square that now hung between two giant fingers.

“Where’s Andy.”

“I don’t know!” Diana cried out, tears falling down her face.

“Yeah, not good enough,” Kate said, before dropping her flip-flop. Taking two fingers, she grabbed the back of Diana’s shirt and began to pull.

Diana screamed as parts of her were pulled free from the tape, feeling like a full-body wax. Everything hurt, her arms, legs, face, and especially her hair as she was ripped from the thin sheet of plastic, the front of her body turning red. 

“Where is he?” Kate continued, ignoring the screaming. 

“I-I don’t know!!” Diana screamed through tears, “h-he didn’t tell me and I couldn’t see! Please I swear!!”

Through teary eyes Diana saw Kate consider for a moment, holding the tiny girl by two enormous fingers that could crush her in under a second. 

“Okay… so here’s what we’ll do,” Kate began, before holding Diana to her side, taking her attention off the tiny girl and addressing the room.

“Oh little Anty, come out here right now and I promise to go easy on you two.”

Kate began walking, taking small steps as she scanned the floor for any movement.

“You don’t want anything bad to happen to your little girlfriend, do you? Be a real shame if I had to mash her into a paste.”

Diana cried once more, feeling so helpless as Kate threatened Andrew with her life.

“Then again…” Kate continued, raising Diana over her head and watching her dangle, “I haven’t had breakfast yet. How long do you think it’d take her to digest? Couple hours?”

Diana screamed and grabbed at Kate’s fingers for something to hold on to. She’d been sucked on enough, getting swallowed was now what filled her nightmares. 

Kate waited several seconds, expecting some squeaking from near her feet as she licked her lips threateningly. Unfortunately, there was nothing. 

“Damn it,” Kate said, looking down at the floor now very annoyed, placing both hands on her hips, “I guess we’re doing this the hard way.”

Walking over to her large couch, Kate sat down, dropping Diana onto her coffee table. The tiny girl crawled back in terror, unable to stand with her muscles so sore.

“Dont worry, I’m not going to kill you,” Kate said, now addressing the tiny girl before her. She then reached next to her and grabbed a familiar-looking remote, “Not until Andy comes back anyway.”

Kate pointed the remote toward Diana and suddenly she began to get even smaller. She was going from the size of an ant, down and down, until she was hardly the size of a grain of sand.

Diana looked around her with new freight, everything seeming again like a different planet. The giant colossus of a woman before now seemed like a god.

“Until then, I’ll make you WISH you would die.”