"I have a message to those that aren't affected by this," John said, his voice stern and serious. "Think about what you're doing. Really think about each and every action. Even the most mundane, innocent thing you're doing could be causing hell for someone effected by this."

There was a small pause, before Tasha broke the silence. "Did you want to elaborate further? I don't wish to bring up anything too hard."

"It's fine," John said, taking a deep breath. "It happened on the first day I shrunk, not long after my girlfriend came home. You see we have this Roomba. I've used it a million times. It's some small crummy machine, I could stop it dead in it's tracks with my pinky. My girlfriend came home. She had no idea what happened to me, so she....she turned on the Roomba. It makes this low humming noise as it moves. but all I heard was a sound beating in my ear. When I saw it, it was heading right for me, charging at me. This thing I could have stopped with a finger towered over and and threaten to suck me up. The only reason I managed to survive was because I hid from it. I could have--I could--" John said, his tone breaking down as he started to cry, reliving the ordeal.

"It's okay," Tasha said, assuring him he didn't have to speak if he didn't want to. 

John took a bit to recompose himself, before offering another message. "I just want to tell everyone who isn't affected...be careful. That vacuum you never think twice about? The pen you dropped? All of it could be a dangerous monster to anything with this...this thing. Just please, think before you do anything."

---

First and foremost, I had to recompose myself. Take a deep breath, in and out. Where was I? I knew this place well, I would be able to figure out where I was, even at my current size. That was step one. There was a large table above me, and a giant metal wall...No, that was just the large oven we used to bake our food. To my other side were the slicers we used to cut the loafs of bread we made. Oh, and on the ground was a large drain. I didn't know where it lead, and I didn't want to find out either. But I knew where I was: the back of the store. It was quiet back here when the oven wasn't running, and thankfully it was off at the moment. The table would be perfect for me to climb up. 

Actually climbing it was going to be a challenge though. It was smooth metal all the way up, with my only chance being imperceptible grooves I could use as rest holds. Even then, it looked from my position to be nearly hundreds of feet high. Of course I knew it was only like three feet in reality, but it sure wouldn't feel that short when my energy was drained. However, that was the only choice I had, other than stay on the ground and I was not doing that. Before I could make any moves though, a familiar rumble occurred, letting me know someone was coming. 

I frantically glance around and see the giant form of Sarah approaching me. She stopped short thankfully, but then stood there for a bit, doing something up above. It took me a second to realize she was getting the soufflés we served ready. They were pretty good to be honest, made with egg, cheese, dough, and some other ingredients, and--I look up and see a massive meteor that was a soufflé coming down right at me!

^^^

Sarah went to the back to finish getting the soufflés ready to be served. They were already cooked just need the final touch and be moved over to the front. As she was picking them up, one fell from her grasp to the floor below. "Oh no!" she exclaimed as it crashed face down onto the floor. Sarah bent down and picked it up, then tossing it into the trash can. A glob of the filling had smushed to the floor, so she had to clean that up as well. Sarah grabbed a paper towel and effortlessly scraped and scooped the small little bit of soufflé up, before crumpling the paper towel into a little ball and carelessly setting it on the table nearby. She finished up the soufflés and brought them to the front, her duty done for the moment.

A little while later Francis came by to start slicing the bread they would need for the day. She got to the table in the back and saw someone left some trash sitting there. She grabbed the crumpled up paper towel and carelessly tossed it into the garbage where it belonged, before getting started with cutting the bread loaves.

vvv

I am instantly plunged into darkness as a warm, wet feeling envelops my entire being. At least, it smelled delicious, and it tasted good. A second later light exploded into my eyes as I watched the massive form of Sarah easily lift the giant soufflé into the heavens before walking away, leaving me there on the ground. I found myself lodged within a giant glob of sticky good, likely the inside filling of the soufflé. My whole body was covered with mushy eggs and cheese and I did my best to scrape it all off but I was just totally coated in it. It wasn't long before Sarah returned. I looked up expecting to see her but instead I only saw a giant brown ceiling coming down fast. 

I was instantly flattened onto my back as the world around me began to compress upon itself. I was dragged across the slick ground, easily gliding from the food coating I had. Mush from all angles bombarded into me, further covering me in all of the soufflé filling, not letting an inch remain untouched. My body was pinched tightly as the goo seeped all around and I felt myself get lifted up higher and higher. For the briefest of instances I saw Sarah looking down at where I was, without even a single care in her expression about my predicament or what she was doing to me. Next there was just darkness as she crumpled the paper towel up.

I grunt in pain as I feel myself get bent a little bit as the world collapses upon itself. I had no idea what was going on but I had to assume the worst. I was in some paper towel with fallen food. I was given a one way ticket to the trash can. The only thing that could save me now was a miracle. Unable to see or really sense anything I waited until my world inside the crumpled ball stopped moving. Then when I was able to compose myself I wiggled and squirmed and did everything I could to get out of the folds and bends of the paper towel. Luckily the soufflé gook that covered me help to slide my body out. My worst fear was that I'd find myself deep inside a trash can with no escape. I was gladly surprised to find myself on top of the very table I had just wanted to get up. Things had a way of working out!

Not a second or two after I had escaped from the paper towel, did another associate, Francis, come by and snatch it, no doubt throwing it away. Horror struck as I realized just how lucky I was. If I had hesitated in there even a bit I'd be in a much worse place. This was my chance, I had to get Francis' attention right now while she was still around. She stood near the table and I began to shout and call out to her, desperately waving my arms around and jumping up and down. Doing whatever I could possibly do to make myself noticeable. 

^^^

Francis grabbed some bread loaves and set them down on the empty table nearby. One at a time she picked up a loaf and placed it into the bread slicer. It was an machine that easily sliced whole loaves into slices with some pretty sharp blades. The bread never stood a chance. She did this for all the loaves and made sure to bag them up as well so they'd stay fresh. Once she was done the table was completely littered with crumbs. She effortlessly brushed them all off onto the floor below and left to take the bread over to the production side.

vvv

I kept shouting and screaming and jumping and waving but there was nothing. Instead, Francis brought a loaf and set it down right next to me. For a brief second I notice she looked directly at me, right at my body. But she made no apparent expression of seeing me. Instead, she walked back away leaving me beside a gigantic mound of bread. It was unreal that this was food. I had eaten this bread before. Now, it was massive, I could see little imperfections in the crust. Little spots jutting out creating a rough surface. It was all rough and raggedy and covered in yeast too. I was so focused on the bread, I never noticed that Francis returned. I turned around just in time for her giant gloved finger to crash into me.

I was forcefully shoved backwards from her finger and shoved right into the hard jagged crust of the bread loaf. My puny body easily found a tiny crevice in the crust and I found myself lodged there, unable to move. I struggled to get free until the loaf was effortlessly lifted into the air, then I did what I could to stay on. The world moved by in the blink of an eye and in a second I found myself enclosed in some metal prison, staring upwards at the ceiling with a series of long thing shafts running from each end. I scream in terror when I realized where I was.

The bread slicer. Of course. Francis was slicing the bread, and I had found myself pushed into the crust of one of the loaves. Those thin metal bars were deadly sharp blades ready to viciously slice through this hard bread with ease. And I would be heading right towards them too. Sure, I had survived the immense pressure of being stepped on, but this was a blade. I don't think SHRK-2 did anything to prevent me from being sliced in half. My only hope to not be torn apart is ending up between the gaps. It was all chance.

The world of bread I was on began to vibrate horrifically as Francis started the machine. My screams of terror would completely drowned out as the bread loaf and me slowly inched closer and closer to the vibrating blades of death. I was unable to move on my own accord due to the constant motion, leaving me at the mercy of the machine. I looked straight up and saw the blade directly above me, I was heading right towards it. Tears began to stream down my face as I began crying, terrified that this was how I was going to die. Slowly but surely I got closer and closer, not moving from beneath the blade. I screamed as loud as I could as the blade was inches from my body. At the last second the machine vibrated enough, sending my puny form bouncing over a little, pushing me just outside the range of the blade. Right after the blade made contact, effortlessly slicing through the thick hard crust of the bread in a fraction of a second. The blade went through the rest of the way, with me safe from death. Finally it sliced through the whole loaf and shut off. The jolt from ending dislodged me and sent my puny form tumbling down.

The machine was off so there was no danger from the blades, but I was falling down into the depths of the machine. A second later I crashed landed into a massive pile of bread crumbs. I was in the tray underneath the bread slicer, here just to catch and crumbs that fall off. Down here I was safe from the blades, but there was another, much more pressing issue. Just then Francis puts another load of bread into the machine high above me and turns it on. When the bread makes contact with the blades above, a downpour of giant crumbs and a dust storm of yeast rains down onto me. I try my best to cover myself but the crumbs are much larger than me and smash into my body, pelting me in the head and body. Knocking me down into the pile of crumbs below. The yeast lands in my eyes stinging them as I fall into more bread crumbs. Every single time I attempt to stand up more bread crumbs crash into me, pushing me down once more. Finally the machine and the downpour of crumbs stops. I'm able to stand and see the pile has grown even more. That was just one loaf. I knew how it when, they usually sliced over a dozen of them. There was about to be a lot more crumbs in here.

Another giant loaf entered, and before long another downpour of crumbs rained down. It was impossible to stand up, so I did my best to crawl through the ever growing pile of crumbs while I continuously got pelted and slammed by hard crusty bread crumbs. My clothes were getting torn and ripped from the jagged edges of the crumbs. All of them were piling up in the center of the tray due to the location. I had to crawl my ways to the edges to avoid being buried alive, but that was harder said than done. Pretty much my only chance to move was in-between bread loaves, which gave me only a few seconds to move. With my small size, that didn't amount to much distance. Not to mention I was exhausted from constantly being pelted by bread. By the sixth or seventh loaf Francis had cut I was waist deep in the pile of crumbs, making crawling an hard. Add on the yeast that kept stinging and burning my eyes and it was just impossible to get anywhere. But I had to try!

Francis kept putting in and slicing more and more bread. She was unconcerned with the bread at all. She did this almost every day, it was just her job, nothing more. She put in another loaf and kept slicing. Francis has cut over ten loaves and I was buried up to my neck in a huge pile of jagged, crusty bread crumbs. Moving was not an option anymore. Francis just put another loaf in and began cutting. Another round of downpour came down. Large heavy chunks of crumbs crashed onto my head, I took the blow with no way to defend myself. I was getting mercilessly attacked by freaking bread crumbs. Another large crusty crumb slammed into the back of my head and shoved my face forward right into a pile of jagged rough bread debris. I slowly lift my head back up as bits of spiky crumbs stick to me. Just then another large chunk crashes down onto my head and slams my face back into the prickly crumbs once again. This chunk stays where it is, pinning my head down. Francis put in the last loaf and sliced it, unaware that her miniscule boss was being buried alive beneath all the bread crumbs she was creating. 

^^^

After dropping off all the bread, Francis returned to the back and cleaned off the slicer, dumping all the spare crumbs onto the floor. Next she removed the crumb tray from below, shaking it a little to spread apart a very small little pile that had grown right beneath where the bread was cut. She carefully moved the tray and dumped its contents into the nearby trash can, with on a few spare crumbs missing the destination.

vvv

It was mostly dark, with one a few tiny rays of light seeping in through the cracks. My neck was bent fully horizontal with a heavy weight of bread pressing down on it. My face was pushed into some jagged crusty crumbs with a dull constant pain. My body was surrounded in an entire pile of them. It was over, there was nothing I could do at this point. Being forced to lick shoes and be buried in dirt was humiliating, but here I was literally being buried by crumbs. Bread crumbs. It wasn't as gross, but it was still humiliating. 

I don't know how long I was under the bread, but time seemed to fly by. Not soon after I felt movement as I assume the tray was being pulled out. A violent shake sends the heavy bread crumb off my neck. I straighten my neck back with some pain as the mountain of bread crumbs I was buried in slightly evened out, giving me just a little bit of wiggle room. Light shines down from above illuminating my world. My arms were still by my side buried in crumbs so my eyes were defenseless from the harsh light. As they adjust I see the massive form of Francis standing above me, literally holding my world in her hands. 

I uselessly shouted and screamed up to her, knowing that she would never hear my pathetic cries for help. Still, I had to do something. My heart was racing and my stomach was sinking as Francis easily lifted and carried this massive tray I was on with millions of bread crumbs. It had one destination. I screamed louder and more desperately but she completely ignored me. Soon my entire world began to shift and I was filled with dread. All of the crumbs started to roll. The pile I was in disintegrated and I began to tumble as well. My body was pelted and prodded and poked by thousands of large jagged crusty bread crumbs as I uncontrollably rolled down the ever steeping tray towards the open maw of the trash can. 

I had no idea where I was. My eyes were closed due to the movement and the fear. After a lot more rolling I felt the ground below me vanish as I entered free fall. This was it. I didn't even dare open my eyes, I didn't want to see it. I couldn't help myself and screamed as I fell, terrified of what was going to happen. I'm pretty sure I hit something on the way down, but I didn't know what. After a second or two my body finally made contact, and it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I lay there for a brief moment or two, trying to recover from the fall. Reluctant, I open my eyes expecting the worst.

The first thing I saw was red. It was the same red tile I had grown accustomed to quite a lot recently. It was the ground. By some miracle I had managed to avoid landing inside of the garbage. I don't even get a chance to move before a downpour of giant crumbs crash land onto me. Big chunks smash into my legs. Jagged pieces slam into my back. A heavy crusty piece smacks into my head, pushing my face right into the grimy tile floor with force. I continue to be assaulted by literal crumbs for a second or two until the barrage stops, leaving me laying there in pain with a mess of bread crumbs larger than me.

^^^

Francis puts the tray back beneath the slicer and takes a quick glace at the floor, covered in small crumbs everywhere. She had one thing left to do before she was done with all the bread cutting. She heads away for a few seconds and returns carrying and broom and dustpan. She had to get this place clean.

Francis plants the broom down on one end and effortlessly begins to sweep all the fallen crumbs towards the center. After that, she starts towards the other end and brushes all of those crumbs into the main pile. She gathers any stray piles of crumbs before getting it all together into one neat pile, ready to brush into the dustpan. 

vvv

I lay on my stomach hurting from the barrage of bread crumbs and the fall I had endured. At the very least I wasn't in the trash. There was that. I lift my head and look forward. In the not so far distance I see the massive structures that were Francis' shoes, confirming for sure I was on the floor. Then a giant wall slammed down in front of them. It looked to be a wall made up of hundreds of tall, skinny trees. The bottom ends of them were stained black and large chunks of dust and dirt clung to them. My eyes went wide as I stared as this looming wall. I gazed upward and saw a massive pole reaching into the sky attached to the trees. It was the broom.

In an instant the huge broom moves, Francis's shoes soaring as well. A tremor in the ground let me know she took a step as the crumbs vibrate around me. I hear a loud smack as the broom bristles crash down. A horrific scraping sound ensues as the bristles grind against the tile floor, carrying a wave of bread crumbs hurtling with them. I stared on terrified. I was in the middle of a pile of crumbs. It would be our turn soon. I had to get out of here, now.

I quickly got to my feet and looked for the nearest cover. There was a small gap under the trash can, that would be my safest--smack! Francis took a step, sending a tremor along the ground and tossing me back down onto the floor, crashing into some more jagged crumbs as I did so. The familiar scraping sound occurred once more as I hoped she wasn't sweeping where I was yet. Fortunately, she was still a ways away, but time was running out. I attempt to get to my feet again, only to be helplessly flung back to the ground as she took another step. As the very least I was making progress away from the pile of crumbs. Maybe that was all I needed?

I was getting closer to the small gap that would save me, and I was a decent distance from the pile. Not a lot, but...I wasn't inside them anymore, so there's that. My only problem was, I wasn't paying any attention to where Francis or the broom was. Another step send my sprawling to the ground, and then a large smack filled me with dread. My stomach dropped and I began to scream. In front of me where the massive trees of the broom, looming over me like a horrific monster about to devour me. I saw the details of the bristles up close, they no longer looked thin but instead huge pillars stretching miles into the sky. The bottoms of the bristles were disgustingly discolored and giant balls of dust and hair were attached with bread crumbs and debris caught up and tangled in them. Then it came rushing at me.

A horrific, ear-grating scraping sound blasted into my eardrums. I desperately scream out to Francis to stop, but my pleas were completely ignored as the monstrous bristles rapidly encroach upon me. In an instant the filthy broom bristle collided with me. It felt like getting hit by a bus but it was actually just a regular broom. My pathetic body got effortlessly stuck via friction to the bristles. It kept going, scraping along the ground, the noise louder than ever in my ears. I panic even more as I see the same pile of vicious bread crumbs ahead, the same I had just managed to get away from. The bristles and me violently collide with the jagged, rough crumbs. In the next instant a tidal wave of crumbs and me were being brushed alongside the ground, picking up more and more as it went. The impact of the crumbs dislodged me from the bristles, if only for a second. My body dropped, but was instantly caught up in some stringy, wiry net. 

I found myself looking at the world upside down, my arms and legs tangled up in a web of dust and hair and gook all tangled and clobbered together into some disgusting ball of filth. All the way the broom was still pushing forward, shoving my face constantly into the oncoming bread crumbs without mercy. After a horrific ordeal, the scraping sound finally stopped, Francis has finished her brush. I had a second to catch my breath and figure--the second was over. My entrapped body was lifted up at Mach speed as Francis moved the broom elsewhere. For a brief moment I felt like I was hovering in the air as Francis decided where to plant the broom down next. She decided, and I was going down.

The way she had put the broom down had caused me to land parallel with the ground. My entire body was mercilessly smashed into the tile floor. Due to the distance, Francis was putting more pressure down at the end where the bristles were to ensure to collected all the debris. While it was a miniscule amount to her, it was equivalent to the weight of truck pressing down on me. My body was smushed flat into the filthy floor under the pressure, my face was mercilessly pressed down into the unforgiving tile. Then she began to sweep, scraping the bristles along the floor.

As I was dragged, I was smeared with a layer of grime. From head to toe my entire body was completely covered in thick viscous grime, some of it even getting into my eyes. All the while the bristles continued to push the large crumbs towards their destination. My body was essentially acting in tandem with the broom. My face was scraping off thin layers of dirt and filth from the floor, and the bits that didn't smear all over me ended up getting swept up by the bristles behind. I was basically a cleaning device at this point, an extension of the broom, being used by my own employee to clean the floor, and she didn't even know. 

She completed the brush and my filthy, grime coated, crumb sized body was flung from the tangle of dust and hair sent tumbling along the ground. I pull myself up, disgusted at the substance that had covered me once again. I clear my eyes to see again, only to scream in terror. Ahead of me is an actual tsunami of bread crumbs and other debris rocketing towards me, propelled by the massive broom bristles. I was completely helpless as the wave of massive crumbs collided into my puny body, effortlessly sweeping me up alongside them. I was mercilessly battered and prodded and smacked by mere crumbs as my body helplessly tumbled and rolled along the dirty floor, buried amongst the thousands of other worthless crumbs I was apart of. 

I come to in the middle of a vast ocean of bread crumbs. My body was partially buried beneath them, preventing any and all movement or escape. Every way I looked was just more crumbs as far as I could see. Even if I could move, there was no where to go. I look up and see the massive form of Francis towering over me, not even giving the slightest concern for my predicament. My arms where free and I began to wave and shout up to her. I knew it was useless, but I wasn't about to just give up and not try. Her face didn't even look down. I stopped my waving when I felt the ground tremble beneath me, the familiar sign that people were walking nearby.

^^^

Francis finished sweeping everything up and went to grab the dustpan when Kelly, Sarah, and April came to the back where she was. She stopped what she was doing for a few minutes while the four of them talked and chatted about whatever mundane or boring topic they had on their mind. Several minutes passed until Francis eventually began to sweep the waiting pile of bread crumbs and debris into the awaiting dustpan, all the while not really looking down and continuing to chat with the other women. With the dustpan full of garbage, she lifted it up and carelessly dumped all of its contents into the trash can where it belonged.

vvv

I watched in awe as the massive forms of April, Kelly, and Sarah appeared above me. It was horrifically surreal looking up at four gigantic tower figures above me. It was almost impossible to comprehend that these were four women I knew, who just yesterday I was talking with face to face. Now, I was lost amongst a pile of literal crumbs.

I scream and shouted and waved and did every single thing I could possibly do to get the attention of at least one of them. Nothing. Even from my angle down below I could see what looked like smiles on their faces as they talked, completely unconcerned with my position down below. It was both humiliating and frustrating to have my pleas completely and utterly ignored. They were my employees, I always treated them with respect and they treated me the same, making sure to help me out when I needed it. I could hear April and Sarah let out a hearty laugh from above. I was literally crying and begging these women to help me, and instead they were just laughing. I was nothing to them at the moment. Not even worth of a fraction of a second of their attention.

A scraping sound ensues as I see the giant maw of the dustpan appear in the distance. I look upward and see Francis holding the broom, ready to sweep the entire ocean and me into the monstrous dustpan. I let out a scream as loud and ear piercing as I possibly could, in a desperate attempt to get her to stop. My scream just gets utterly drowned out by a roar of laughter from the women above, wholly indifferent to what was about to happen to me.

Me and the ocean of crumbs are effortlessly brushed into the maw of the dustpan, where I get completely buried by jagged crusty crumbs that stab and prod into my miniscule body. All light goes out as I feel the world that was the dustpan lift up. Tear stream down my eyes as I realize this is the end. I feel everything being to tilt as I prepare myself for my trashy fate. Only a miracle would save me now. I just had to hope something would happen to cause me to miss it.