The television illuminated the dark room, flickering like a candle in the night as the picture changed from scene to scene. The snoring of the home owner drowned out the sound as the sitcom being rerun for the umpteenth time was cut off and brought viewers into the news room where an attractive women stared into the camera with a serious look on her face. 

"Evening, I'm Milena Agate with Channel Four News alongside Dr. Amy Trill, here to bring you a breaking update on the mysterious SHRK-2 Virus going around. Now, Dr. Trill, is it true you're beginning to believe this isn't a virus at all?"

"Yes," Amy said, turning towards the camera. "We initially believed it to be a virus due to the lack of confirmed information, it was the only logical assumption."

"But for the first time we've gotten a survivor of this SHRK-2 Virus?" Milena asked, already knowing the answer.

"We did," Amy confirmed. "A young man who will remain unnamed. He was found at the size of only one centimeter by his girlfriend a few days ago. Thankfully she brought him to the ER and they were able to reserve the effects of this and return him to his normal size."

"That's a relief to here," Milena said. "We've gotten used to hearing horror stories of people vanishing one day, only for their bodies to turn up weeks later the size of an ant. Was this man okay?"

Amy stopped for a second, to give thought to her answer. "Physically, yes. However the man has developed severe PTSD after the situations he found himself while at a diminished size. The curse of-whatever this is-is that your body is able to withstand much more pressure and abuse. In fact, every victim we've discovered didn't die from being crush, but instead other means."

"Dr. Trill, why is it that you believe this is no longer a virus?" Milena asked.

"Our reasoning is due to the information we obtained from this victim. We believed it was a virus because all of the previous victims were found naked, but the survivor informed us that his clothes shrunk with him. We presume everyone's clothes were instead torn off and destroyed due to their environment. If this was simply a virus, their clothes wouldn't shrink. We are unsure of what this is, but we advise everyone to exhibit extreme caution at all times."

"What is some advice everyone should hear now that we know people can survive this?"

"Always know where someone is," Amy started. "This thing can happen suddenly, at any time. If someone you know seems to vanish, please inform the proper authorities so a search can be preformed. We can all survive this so long as the people we care about are looking out for us. We are in this together. The worst thing to happen to anyone is to be affected by this, and have nobody realize."

"Thank you, Dr. Trill," Milena said. "Now, about..." she continued speaking.

The television keep flickering in the dark room, the sound of them talking taking up the entire space. The room was quiet otherwise, there was no snoring. The sleeping man had shrunken down to the size of only 1mm in height, his body lost amongst the fabric of the soft chair he was sleeping in. He lived alone and spent most of his days indoors. He would never be seen or heard from again, his malnourished and frail body forever lost inside the fibers.

----

My name is Tim Glice, just an average everyday thirty year old guy. By day I'm one of the managers at Rocket Café, by night I'm...asleep. Yeah, average, I told you. Being a manager of some casual café isn't the more glorious or rewarding job out there, but it pays the bills and I've got a team of great associates. Can't really ask for more. Maybe you're wondering what Rocket Café is? Probably not. Well, it's just a pretty basic chain of fast-casual restaurants. We serve sandwiches, salads, breakfast, pastries, everything, really. It's a nice place, with nice people. I enjoy it, and that's what matters most, isn't it? 

Anyway, today was a special day. Why? Because it was my last day before I went on vacation! Nothing is better than getting to relax and enjoy some time off, especially when you're getting paid for it. All I had to do was get through one last shift and vacation would be all mine. I got ready and headed out to Rocket Café. I actually lived close by, close enough to walk, and I could use the exercise to be honest. I head over to work and begin my shift.

My job as a manager was to ensure the associates were following the rules and making food and helping customers in a positive and efficient way. I had to help out from time to time too. One thing I always had to watch for was the dress code. Rocket Café had a pretty lax dress code, allowing associates to wear most things with few exceptions. They couldn't wear hoodies or 

leggings, and had to wear slip-resistant, closed-toed shoes. Most people followed it with no issues. As I was walking around to check in with everyone, I noticed one of the employees not following the dress code. 

Mindy was a 24 year old woman and one of our better employees. She worked hard and did well, she just had a habit of wearing shoes that didn't fit the dress code. As I was walking around I glance down and notice she is wearing a pair of white Crocs, with holes along the top. They were worn down from use but not in bad condition at all. After greeting her I let her know that her shoes weren't appropriate for work. She would be fine today but next time she would have to wear proper shoes. "My sneakers are dirty," she told me. Well, it was a good thing they were only for work.

As the customers slow down for a slow period, I take the time to walk around check in with everyone. I head over and see a couple employees watching a video on Yancy's phone. Yancy was a young 21 year old woman who worked hard when needed, but was pretty lazy otherwise. I never wanted to be some dictative authority, so I let her watch so long as there were no customers or orders to be done. Plus it gave me an excuse to watch some funny videos too. We all need a nice short laugh at work now and then, don't we?

A little while later I got into a conversation with one of the older employees. April was a 49 year old woman and mother of four. She had been with the company for twenty years already. She had a lot of experience both in the job and in life. We started talking about SHRK-2 and how lucky we were not to have gotten it, or know anyone that got it. She told me to be careful while I was on vacation, I told her to be careful here. I warned her that a restaurant would be a terrible place to have it affect you. I'd at least be at home away from danger. She told me still to be careful, and jokingly said she promised not to step on me if I did it.

The rest of the day proceeded smoothly. Busy, but smoothly. Everyone showed up, work got done. It was a good shift overall. All that was left to do at the end of the night was close up and clean up the place. The associates worked in the front closing down, and cleaning the place while I was in the back doing the paperwork and money handling for the day. As I'm working someone knocks on the door of the office.

Abby was a young 19 year old working here part time. She told me that the vacuum cleaner we used to clean the carpeted area wasn't working. I head out to check on it and give the vacuum a quick examination. I first look at the dustbin to see if that the issue. It was filthy. Globs of hair and dust coagulated together with bits of crumbs and an assortment of other debris. But it wasn't the issue. I checked the brush at the bottom and sure enough found an object lodged in there. I yanked it out and told her that was the problem. I told her next time to sweep up the large pieces of debris first, the vacuum was for small stuff, too small to get yourself. "What about bugs?" she asked me. Well I hope we didn't have bugs in the place we serve food. As long as they're dead, I told her.

On my way back to the office I saw Maria lift a garbage bag out and toss it to the floor. Maria was 27 years old and a good worker, at times. As the bag of trash landed it fell over and spilled out some bits onto the floor. She starts to pick it up and I head over to help her. I grab some piece and my hand gets some gross fluid on it from the trash. I clean it off and remind Maria to always tie up and seal the trash bag when she removes it. That way none of that garbage tries to escape. It's in the trash because that's where it belongs. 

The rest of the night went well. I finished my work, locked up the store, and went back home to finish getting ready for my vacation, and most importantly, to sleep. I got ready for bed, got comfortable, and let myself drift off, prepared for tomorrow.

---

I woke up feeling great! I was on vacation officially, but it was still early. I sat in bed and came up with an idea. I was gonna head back to Rocket Café and get some breakfast. Yeah, going to work on the first day of vacation? Well, I wanted some fresh coffee and Rocket Café really was the closest place to where I lived. And I got it for free. Just a quick stop in, get some warm delicious coffee to start my vacation, then nothing but relaxation, great food, and a calm atmosphere. Sounded like a perfect idea.

I entered the place and greeted the few associates that where there at the moment. Kelly and Sarah were two women who usually worked the morning shift and set up the bakery side of the restaurant. They questioned why I was there when they knew I was on vacation, so I told them. It was a pretty quiet morning like usual, not a customer in sight at the time. Both Kelly and Sarah headed to the back to get something while it was busy. There was nobody around. Behind the counter I grab a cup to get my coffee and begin to walk back to the front.

*SMACK*

*Smack*

I caught myself from falling with my hands. I don't know what happened, I was just walking and then I was almost hitting the ground, lucking stopping myself with both hands to prevent any harm. Both hands? What about my cup? I must have dropped it. And what was that loud noise? It was deafening, someone had to have heard it other than me. I push myself up from the ground and stand up straight and tall and...

What looked like miles away was a towering white structure that was in the exact same shape as the paper cups we used at Rocket Café. There looked to be a picture of a rocket on the side of it as well... I found my cup. But that couldn't be my cup, it was huge! That was when my eyes began to adjust to everything else. Everything was kinda blurry, like when you're driving and you see mountains in the distance. You just see a fuzzy shape because the mountains are hundreds of miles away. That's how everything looked. I looked straight ahead and didn't see much, just walls on either side. Then I looked up. They weren't walls, not strictly. They were fixtures. A small mini fridge. A counter. And they stretched up and up and even further up. I craned my neck just to see the fuzzy top. Despite the distance I was able to make out what they were due to just how massive they were. My heart was pumping. Fear and uncertainty filled my stomach giving me a terrible sensation across my entire body. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. My eyes darted back to the Rocket Café paper cup and...was it bigger? No, surely it...It was moving, rolling to be specific. Directly towards me. Dread washed over me in an instant. I felt my body become flushed as a horrific realization dawned on me. The paper cup rolled towards me, as it got closer I understood just how fast it was moving relative to my size. I stood there in panic, my body unable to move from sheer anxiety. It happened. I had gotten SHRK-2. My eyes went wide as the cup got larger and larger. I had to do something. Now! But first, I opened my mouth and let out the loudest scream I had ever produced in my entire life.

^^^

It was completely silent in Rocket Café. There wasn't a customer in sight, nobody was out front, nothing was even beeping at the moment. It was relaxing. Kelly came back to the front after bringing some dirty containers to the back. Kelly was a young 23 year old working here part time while she was working on becoming a nurse. She had a bad habit of being away from where she needed to be during work, but she was still a good employee otherwise. She entered into the rather small bakery just looking straight ahead. Kelly was a short woman, only 4'11" but she was tall enough to not be staring at the ground. That's why she was surprised when she stepped right onto a paper cup that was on the floor.

"What the?" Kelly exclaimed aloud to herself. Stepping on the cup made a small crunch only audible due to how quiet it was in the store. She lifted her foot off the now crushed and flattened cup and stepped back a small bit. "Stupid cup," she said as she bent down to pick it up. She tossed the worthless thing in the trash without a care. Just then a customer enters so Kelly heads to a register to help them, just carrying on with her day.

vvv

Run. I had to run! Think later, run now! I quickly turn around and begin to sprint as fast as my legs would allow. I got about five feet before an figure in the far distance caught my attention due to the sheer size. My eyes instinctively followed the figure upwards, and upwards, and ever farther up until they landed on what, even through the distance blur, I was able to see was a face. It was Kelly.

I stopped dead in my tracks at the magnitude of the woman hundreds of miles away from me. I forgot about the cup, I forgot about SHRK-2, I forgot everything. I just stood there in stunned silence as my mind struggled with the fact that I was looking at one of my employees. Just like the cup before, the massive figure of Kelly was getting larger as she approached me, but she was moving at a much, much faster rate. Within a second or two the figure had travelled hundreds of miles and was nearly at my position. In was unfathomable seeing a human move that fast. There was no time to react, no time to even think. She was just here, just like that. I keep craning my neck upwards as she grows taller and taller the closer she gets until she is right on top of me. I watch, still stunned into silence, as her shoe soars dozens of miles above my head. What came next shook me to my core.

A horrific and destructive crunch erupted behind soon followed by a ear-splitting slap and earth-shattering tremor. I immediately cover my ears due to the sound and turn around to look at the source, all while the floor I was standing on shook and trembled from the recoil. The shaking make it difficult to keep my balance, especially with nothing to hold onto. I caught a glimpse of what caused such a massive quake, and for the briefest of seconds I saw the crushed corpse of the giant cup I had been running from just seconds before. On top of the cup? The massive grey wall that was Kelly's shoe. I was unable to see anymore as the tremors from Kelly stepping down took over and sent my tumbling to the floor.

I hit the ground and started rolling from the shakes. It all happened so fast, and I had absolutely no control over what was going on. In an instant I hit a drop off, falling a solid foot before landed on some slanted ground. I didn't realize it before, but I had been right next to a groove in the tile floor. I scream aloud as I lose all control, picking up pace rolling down into the pit of the groove. This was the place where all the grime and dirt built up, the divot providing the opportunity for filth to avoid being cleaned, where it was cemented and caked into the floor. As my body rolled it picked up and gathered grime and dirt, almost making me become part of it. I kept rolling and tumbling, parts of my body and clothes being stained black from pure filth adhering itself to me. I shut my eyes to help with the whiplash and nausea I was getting from the constant fast-paced movement. It helped only a little. I finally came to a stop, but my head was still spinning. Even with my eyes closed I could feel everything moving, it was very disorienting. I just sat there for a second to catch my breath and let my brain catch up with the rapid turning that just occurred. A second later I opened my eyes, and all I see the sole of Kelly's shoe come hurtling down towards me.

I let out a scream as the shoe slammed down, extinguishing all light and sending me into pure darkness. I was safe, completely. The deep groove actually made it impossible for the sole of her shoe to come crashing down upon me, I was simply too low to be reached. That didn't change the fact that seeing the ceiling from crashing down was a sight I'll never unsee. I laid there in the pitch blackness beneath Kelly's shoe, terrified of moving even an inch. The scent of rubber wafted into my nostrils to remind me where I was even when I couldn't see. My mind was doing everything it could to avoid thinking about the fact that at this very moment I was under the shoe of my employee. I could hear my heart beating rapidly in the silent darkness, my mouth agape from confusion and fear. I never saw it coming due to the darkness, but a small fleck of dirt had fallen from Kelly's shoe sole, and landed directly onto my face. It crumbled instantly, sending little bits and pieces of dirt into my eyes and my mouth. I yelled as my eyes stung and tried to spit out the dirt. As I do so the ceiling rises above and blinding light floods the area, causing me to cover my already stinging eyes. Kelly had moved, freeing me and allowing me to get out of this groove. Not that I knew where to go.

I lay down looking at my body, stained with patches of brown and black from the dirt I rolled in. I push myself to my feet and start to carefully climb up the slope of the groove to get out of this place. I reach the top and finally get onto the red tile floor once more. As I get up I'm startled by a giant object directly in front of me. I stared at this giant white thing for a bit, wondering what it was and where it came from. It's size was comparative to a bus. It rose above me, and stretched out far on both sides. I could have easily gotten on a ridden the thing if it had a door. But what was it? It was all white, and the shape that I could make out was a little weird. I stared at it some more until it dawned on me.

It's a sesame seed. A singular sesame seed that had dislodged itself from Kelly's shoe when she stepped down. Many thoughts came rushing into my head from this realization. I had looked up the size of a sesame seed before from pure curiosity, that information was at the top of my mind now. One of them was only about three to four millimeters long and, even more troubling, usually about a single millimeter thick. I had to look upwards to see the total thickness of the object. I was smaller than a sesame seed. That's when it truly sunk in. The cup from before wasn't giant. Kelly wasn't massive. Kelly was just a 4'11" woman. It was me that small. Dozens of thoughts came and went and came through my head as I stood there stunned. My phone! I just had to call the store and let them know what happened. I'd be fine! My clothes shrank, so my phone must have as well. I reached into my pockets and came out empty handed. Panic struck as I kept searching everywhere for it. That's when I remembered. I left my phone back at home so it could charge before my vacation. I'll be gone thirty minutes, I told myself before leaving. 

The ground began to tremble just as it did when Kelly was walking near me. I look in fear over where Kelly last was, and see she is indeed walking back towards me! But, she was still extremely far away, from my perspective at least. I turned around and found the answer to my question. Just like before a towering figure was heading towards me. I craned my neck upwards and caught a blurry glimpse of the face. It was Sarah, and she was approaching fast.

^^^

Sarah had finished putting stuff away in the back and came back to the front. She was a 39 year old woman working here, and another place, to help support her kids. She was also rather short, only 4'10" in height. She took a few steps into the bakery area just as Kelly was walking back from helping a customer. The two stood near each other and began casually chatting. Despite the age difference the two were pretty similar and had quite a lot to talk about. 

The conversation led to Kelly's nails that she had just gotten done. Sarah mentioned she had gotten a pedicure just a week ago. Kelly asked to see so Sarah slipped her foot out of her shoe and held it just above the floor. Both woman looked down at the shiny, green toenails, impressed at the work. After a short look, Sarah slipped her foot back in and the two kept talking for a little bit before another customer entered and they left to go help them.

vvv

I stood there, smaller than the sesame seed next to me, and did the only thing I could think to do to try and get someone's attention. The only way I was going to get back to normal and cured from this was to get someone to see me. I had to try anything, I had to. I started shouting out as loud as I could, calling out Sarah and Kelly's names. I was waving my arms, moving every body part in a desperate bid to be seen. I had to stand out, had to be shown I was down here, and moving was the only way to do that, so I kept moving. Kept shouting. Kept hoping.

Both Sarah and Kelly kept walking towards me. In a couple seconds both women were standing over me. I had to crane my neck completely to look up at them. The two of them towered over me, it was unfathomable how high up they stretched. I continued to shout and wave and do anything and everything I possibly could at my size to get their attention, but they never looked down. They just stood there talking, completely oblivious to the fact that I was right here, right next to them. But I couldn't give up, I had to keep trying! 

While I kept shouting and waving and jumping the sheer size of them still overwhelmed me. I knew these two. It was Kelly and Sarah, two of my associates. I had just talked to them a few minutes ago. Now...they towered over me, taller than any building I'd ever seen in my life. They just rose and rose into their air, their heads were practically in a whole other dimension from where I was. That's when I stopped yelling. I stopped waving. I stopped jumping. I just stopped. Neither of these women were over five feet tall. They were what the world would call short. Heck, I called them short. That's what they were: short people. But if these two women who were currently towering over me, rising thousands of miles into the sky, were described as short people...what was I?

I was never going to get their attention by shouting and waving my arms. I was smaller than a fucking sesame seed that was the size of a bus. My voice was never going to reach them. I was wasting my energy on useless tasks when I needed to be using it on some method to actually get someone to notice me. And being on the floor, directly between their shoes, was not the place to do that. I was a human, I had to think like a human. I had to come up with some plan or idea to get myself to safety. With a renewed sense of hope and determination, I stood strong and prepared to get help. Until the floor shook from the movement of a short woman. I panic as I see the large shoe of Sarah begin to move, but all I can do is attempt to hold onto the sesame seed for support. It doesn't work and I fall flat on my back. The sesame seed looked ever larger from my perspective, as did Sarah and Kelly. As did the utterly massive ceiling that appeared above me, with five gigantic protruding objects jutting out from it. 

I screamed helplessly as the fleshly ceiling got closer and closer to my position. I put my arms up instinctively to stop the oncoming mass and protect myself, not that it would have done anything. It never hit me. The wall of flesh that was Sarah's foot stopped a few dozen feet, to me, above my body. Even at that distance, it was still too close for comfort. I looked straight up from my place on the floor with my view blocked on either side by the pillars that were Sarah's toes. It was like looking through a scope, only making the two women above appear even larger and higher up. Unlike everything else that appeared blurry due to the distance, I was able to see all the details from the sole of her foot.

 All the ridges that made up the print of her toe were clearly visible, even with the diminished light reaching under her foot. I saw some callous patch of skin and a part where old, dead skin was peeling away. It was kinda red as if it had been stuffed inside a shoe and walked on, because it had been. I saw little flecks of dirt scattered around on her sole, giving the flesh a bit of color. It was the same as looking up at the night sky and seeing all the stars. I could make constellations with the flecks of dirt on Sarah's foot. It was the sky to me. And just like the stars, I tried not to think about the fact that I could only see those pieces of dirt because they were larger than me. Being smaller than a piece of dirt adhered to a woman's foot was not the thought I needed at this moment. Yet that's all that was going through my mind.

The scent was going through my nose. It wasn't awful...it wasn't good either. It was clear Sarah had taken a shower or something recently. The scent of soap lingered around me. But nothing was going to change the fact that this was a foot, and the odor that accompanied feet was wafting down into my face, sliding into my nostrils. I coughed as the scent invaded my lungs. I tried to plug my nose to avoid the smell but it just seeped into my mouth. It was then that I noticed, far far above, the faces of the towering women above me were looking down. Right where I was!

I disregarded my own decision and started waving my arms around wildly to gain their attention, let them know that I was down here. This was my chance, their focus was right down on the floor. I waved and shouted and waved some more but all that happened was nothing. My calls for attention were ignored completely. Just as rapidly as it had appeared, the massive fleshy sky that was Sarah's foot vanished from sight, and the faces of the towering figures returned back upright. My hopes were gone. 

The two short women then start to walk away, their shoes soaring far above my head before crashing down. In just one step they were far enough away to barely shake the ground where I was. They were able to move that quickly. After a second or two of watching them leave, I sprung up and knew I had to get into action. The floor was not where I wanted to be. I dropped back down into the groove where it was filthy, but at least safe...well safer. I sat down and started to give some serious thought. I knew Rocket Café fairly well. Granted, it was different at this size, but I knw the place. I just had to figure out the best place to get up high and get someone's attention. 

While I was sitting there thinking, I felt the ground quiver once more. I peeked out from the groove and looked towards where Kelly and Sarah were, but they weren't anywhere near me, and weren't even moving. I quickly turned around and saw another towering figure that was actually just an associate that worked it. It was Isabella, and she was walking right towards where I was.