My body was cold and wet. It was pitch black inside the giant fridge so it was impossible to tell what time it was, but nobody had come in for a very long time, so I believed it had been overnight. I didn't get any sleep, my body was too busy shivering as best it could to stay as warm as possible. I had been in the fridge for a while before when I was doing inventory--ha, the idea of doing that now was lost on me--and I got a little cold. I could just wear a jacket. Now I had wet, cold sauce all over me. A jacket made out of food. Great. If I had anything positive to say about this situation, at least I didn't have a putrid disgusting mop thread shoved down my throat. Yeah, a real gem of a situation I was in now. 

What was even the end goal here? I couldn't move. I can't get out of this thing. It's just a ticking time bomb until I'm scooped up with this stuff and served to some hungry customer. I had just been a cleaning instrument, and now I was food. Well I felt sorry for the poor sap who was going to end up eating my disgusting body. Man, if I ended up in food, makes you wonder how much other stuff from the floor ends up here, huh? 

This was all my mind could think about to distract myself from the inevitable reality I was in. I wasn't getting helped. It was impossible to get anyone's attention. What was even the point anymore...

I awoke when a bright light assaulted my eyes. I must have passed out from pure exhaustion. Well, any sleep is sleep, I suppose. I felt the world around me shake as a massive figure walked into the giant fridge. I immediately recognized it as Mindy, one of our longest tenured associates. She was a good worker. I saw her briefly searching for something before a hand reached out and my world started shaking violently. She was grabbing the container of chicken salad I was in. I guess this was it. My time was limited. 

^^^

Mindy had just gotten into work, ready to begin her long eight hour shift for the day. She worked on the line, helping to make and prep food for all those hungry customers. She herself was pretty short, only barely reaching five feet tall, so she needed some help getting to things situated high up. Otherwise, she was great at her job and well liked amongst all the other associates. Her favorite manager? Tim, of course! He knew she was a great worker and would usually reward her hard work with free food and the like. 

Mindy really cared about other people, and hearing the news of this bizarre sickness going around that shrank people scared her. What if it happened to her? What if it happened to her child? In a way she was glad to be at work, cause she knew that if the worst case scenario did happen, there would be a whole lot of people around to keep her safe. Not like anyone could miss a whole person getting shrunken down so easily. Obviously this wouldn't be her first choice, but if she did end up catching, this place would be pretty safe.

She didn't like thinking about this, it was already making her anxious. The first thing she was sent off to do when she clocked in was go to the fridge and pick up more chicken salad. Apparently there was an order for some and there was nothing on the line! Just great. Well, the work kept her busy, so for that she was grateful. She quickly grabbed the stuff from the fridge and headed back to the line to start helping out.

vvv

If I wasn't being held tightly in place by food, I would have flown all over the place. Mindy had grabbed the container I was in and effortlessly lifted it from the shelf it was on. She grabbed onto it and began to walk towards the line where it was needed. I couldn't move, not even my neck or head, so I was stuck staring in one direction. Facing right back at me was the giant width of Mindy's cleavage. Normally I would never look at such a thing at work--they're my associates and it would be wrong--but right now I had no choice. I could have just closed my eyes, but a part of me was mesmerized by it. Staring down into the void between her breasts made me feel smaller than ever. This plastic container was saving me right now, if I had fallen down between them...I would never get found.

Not like I had a chance in my current predicament anyway. 

The valley of Mindy's cleavage vanished as she set down the container with me in it. I heard the ripping of plastic wrap getting removed up above, before I was plopped down into a refrigerated station. The only thing in front of me was the gray slick wall of the station. Above me I hear a gooey slurping sound as multiple scoops of the chicken salad is removed from the container. It was only a matter of time before I was in one of them, huh? Well, that time was sooner than I thought. The food around me started shaking as I hear the familiar goopy slurp noise. And then I began to rise. Because of my place inside the container, I was right at the top of the scoop, nothing holding me in there aside from the sticky chicken salad I was coated in. I looked down from high above right towards the bed of tomato and lettuce that would be my grave. I wasn't even going to be able to see who would eat me. Perhaps that was for the best. I closed my eyes, not wanting to accept this reality. Before long, a falling feeling took over my body. I was going down.

^^^

Mindy grabbed another scoop of chicken salad and got ready to place it down to complete the sandwich. She noticed a small chunk of it fall out, but not like it mattered. The customer would be okay if they were missing a small bit. It landed on the floor with an inaudible plop. Mindy turned around to bring the sandwich to the counter, and inadvertently stepped right onto the tiny little glob of chicken salad. She didn't even react or care and kept going on with her work.

Mindy was wearing a pair of slip resistant work crocs. On the line the floor got messy and greasy and to be safe she wore the right shoes. They had some deep and big treads on them to easily grip the floor and prevent and dangerous slips. Of course the downside was that often bits and pieces of grime and food would get lodged in there. It was such a natural occurrence she paid it no mind at all whenever she accidentally stepped on something. By the time she had turned back around to keep making more sandwiches, she had forgotten that she had even stepped on anything at all. It was that insignificant to her, and everyone else, really. It was an eight hour shift, she was going to step on a lot of stuff during it. One little glob of meat was meaningless in the end.

vvv

I didn't feel the soft and wet landing of tomato, so I opened my eyes. Instead of the red coloring of a freshly cut tomato slice, I saw the dark, dirty red coloring of the tile floor. In an instant my face slammed down right onto the unforgiving floor with a splat. Some chicken salad had come with me and now covered my body completely. My eyes were open but all I saw was darkness as my face was flush against the dirty floor. I can only assume a small glob had fallen from the scoop right onto the ground. How fortunate that it was the same glob I was in. I could finally move again, all I had to do was remove this glob of saucy meat on top of me and I'd be free. There was a chance for me to save myself. There was a chance I could get out of this!

A resounding thump echoed around me as the darkness that surrounded me was made even darker. My arms and legs which had previously been free where shoved and mushed into the thick goop and chicken, effectively combining me with that food product. I felt everything compact around me in the darkness, as the thick sauce coated me fully. Any movement I had previously was gone. My arms and legs were bound inside the goop. My face and chest were exposed but I had barely any movement in them. My face was still flush against the tile floor, but there wasn't any force being pushed down on it thankfully. My only question was: what the heck happened? 

I got my answer. A massive force lifted me into the air as light flooded my eyes. For a brief--very brief--instance, I caught glimpse of the world around. Red tiles, the station where we make food. It was all a blur, happening in a fraction of a second. Before I could even register what I was seeing I saw the red tile coming in faster than ever, before my face went flush with the dingy tile once more. I knew exactly what had happened. I had been stepped on, again. The glob of chicken salad that had landed on the floor with me must have been stepped on, and now it--and me---were lodged inside the treads of someone's shoes, likely Mindy's.

I was violently flung into the air again before images blurred past me and I was slammed into the tile floor once more. Everything was happening so fast. Within one second I was risen into the air, flew across the sky, and slammed back down into the floor. Multiple times. Most steps weren't even full ones. Just a quick rise only to be moved over a bit and right back down. My brain couldn't even process what I was seeing with each blur, because it was already been shown a new vision by then. Things were simply happening too fast for me to keep up with it. My eyes were straining to adjust to the constant swapping between light and dark. It was like rapidly covering and uncovering your eyes, while constantly swirling back and forth. I felt myself getting light headed and ready to pass out. It wasn't just the sight, either. My ears were being confused as well. In the darkness all I heard was muffled noises, but for the brief instance I was in the air I could hear everything. It was as if the treads were amplifying the sound from above, channeling it to my ears. Of course all I hear was fractions of words, but I could hear them regardless. 

Then everything stopped. It was muffled silence. It was dark. There was no movement. Mindy must have stopped moving at all. My mind took a moment to catch up to everything my body had just endured, syncing up the ordeal and processing what I had dealt with. One thing I noticed was that my face was no longer against the tile floor. It appears the glob I was in had gone deeper inside the treads, sparing my face from the punishment of the floor. At least there was that. I took advantage of the calmness to try and free my arms and legs from the bond they had formed with the sauce. It was easier said than done. The time that had expired and the air currents had begun to congeal the gooey sauce. If I didn't do something soon, this stuff was gonna form an unbreakable paste--with me still in it!

Everything started up again in an instant. All I could do was scream at the sudden motion as a blur of familiar images raced past me before I was unceremoniously sent into the darkness once again. Only for it to repeat, and repeat, and repeat over and over again. Multiple steps within seconds, for several minutes. Hundreds of steps building up in no time at all, and none of them with any concern for my safety or well-being at all. After several dozen cycles of small steps and periods of darkness, things changed. Mindy started walking with regular steps, changing how I was flown across the world. 

I was lifted into the air like normal, but instead of only going up I was thrown backwards as well, feeling myself tilt upside down as Mindy began her step. For a brief instance I saw the world behind Mindy, albeit everything was flipped. I saw other associates standing there working, and the place I knew so well as my job. Everyone was going about their day like nothing was different. To them, nothing was. I was rushed forward at a speed faster than I've ever felt as Mindy took her step forward. All I could do was scream as the wind current blasted me with force before things slowed down for a fraction of a second. I was left looking down at the familiar red tile before her shoe slammed down and all was dark again.

Once again I was lifted up and facing upside down as Mindy began her step. I saw the other associates, this time a bit further away, before the rush started as she began to go forward. This time, the force was too much for the miniscule blob, and both it and me were flung out from between Mindy's treads and smacked right onto the ground with a loud plop...to me anyway. Nobody above heard it. During the fall the glob and me had flipped, so I found myself facing upwards towards the ceiling. Looking forward, I saw the other associates standing where I had just seen them a second prior. I was evening seeing them upside down again. Four of our women associates were all standing there chatting, going about as if I wasn't mere feet away from them. Then I started laughing. I was free from Mindy's shoe treads. Haha, this was perfect. There was still time to get myself out of this glob before it congealed completely. I began to struggle and move about to free my arms and legs, and that was when I heard a loud thud from ahead. I looked forward, and my stomach sank. The four women who were just standing there chatting, were now walking right towards my position.

I let out a panicked scream as the hoard of women casually strolled toward my puny place on the floor. I wiggled and struggled to free myself from the bonds I was in, but it was useless. In an instant they were all upon me. The noise from their combined footsteps blasted at my ears, drowning out the tears and sobs I was creating as I helplessly laid there. I looked up at them and could make out smiles on their faces. They weren't even looking down. Any one of them could have stepped on me and wouldn't even know or care. Then they were there. In an instant I was surrounded by various pairs of shoes on every side. By pure luck, none of them had stepped on me, but I did look ahead and see a massive mass of rubber. Someone had stepped right in front of me, and as they began to take another step...I was sent flying.

The blob and I were violently kicked forward. I was sent spiraling through the air. We landed with a smack, the thick goo plopping down on the tile and sticking where it landed. I once more found myself with my face flush against the tile floor, unable to see anything. But I heard the thuds of their steps fading away. They were past me, and I was safe. Well, safe may not have been the best word, as I was still right in the middle of the pathway completely helpless. The sauce glob that covered my arms and legs was getting thicker, and it was getting harder and harder to move at all. I had to do something, fast.

^^^

It had been a busy morning with lots of walking back and forth making sandwiches, but Mindy got through it just fine. Once things slowed down she headed to the back to restock some things before going back to her position. During the breakfast rush, lots of stuff had fallen on the floor, and Mindy had inadvertently stepped on a lot of it. The treads of her shoes had collected a good deal of this debris. Not a big deal, it was nothing a good cleaning couldn't remove. But she had to get through the rest of her shift before any of that. 

As Mindy was walking back, she unknowingly stepped right down onto a tiny little glob of chicken salad--the same one she had stepped on earlier. She didn't even notice it happened as the glob was so insignificant compared to what else was lodged in her shoe treads. As she stepped down on the glob, it compacted and was pushed into the groove. As it was, that specific groove already had a bunch of grime and debris built up in it. The sticky sauce of the chicken salad congealed and combined with the other filth, creating one big block of muck, and essentially cementing it inside the tread. It wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon. A small bit of the gunk was sticking out past the edge of the tread, but with enough steps it would be flattened out in due time. How else would it make room for even more gunk to get stuck? Completely unaware of everything that had happened under her shoe, Mindy kept working, focused solely on doing her job, and doing it well.

vvv

An immense weight pressed down upon me, instantly flattening me against the grungy tile floor. I let out a cry of agony as I felt the thick gooey chicken salad bend and contort upwards along with my arms and legs. I hear a sickening slurp sound from above me as my arms and legs go fully vertical and get mashed up against the side of the rubber treads of the shoe. I screamed out in pain as my body contorted under the crushing weight. My arms and legs were shooting straight up in the air, covered with thick goop and smushed around inside of it. My face and chest was flat against the tile floor with a heavy weight pushing down on me. And then I was lifted up.

Once again I was in the air, facing upside down at the world behind me, before being flung forward. The red tile floor came rushing up as Mindy stepped down, and I was mercilessly smashed into the unforgiving floor. My face was brutally crushed into the floor with absolutely no remorse. I scream out in agony as Mindy puts the full force of her weight down upon me. As she begins to take another step, she lightly drags her shoe across the ground. An insignificant gesture to her. To me, my body was viciously scraped against the merciless tiles. While unnoticeable to regular people, the tile floor was jagged and rough. Filled with sharp and spikey bumps all over. Getting through it was easy when I could walk, but being forcefully drug across it was complete and pure agony. As I got pulled backwards, the bumps stuck into my clothes and began to puncture holes into them. My face was scratched up and brutalized. And all of that was only one step.

^^^

As soon as Mindy got back with a few things to restock, she realized she forgot some things. She had to walk all the way back to the fridge in the back, only to find it wasn't even there! Just great! With that, she had to walk even further back into the store where all the unprepped ingredients were stored to grab some. Not to mention she'd have to walk all the way back! At least she was getting her steps in today. 

vvv

Once again I was mercilessly smashed into the jagged floor as Mindy put her foot down. I didn't feel as much force against the floor as last time, as if I was further away from it. It still stung horribly though. It happened once more as she started up, dragging her foot against the tile. My clothes got more and more holes and my face got more and more brutalized. This continued step after step after step it felt as if it would never end. By the eight step, my clothing had been torn to shreds. I was left with nothing but tatters, exposing my body and removing the last bit of substance that made me feel human. By the twelfth step, I had been coated in a slick layer of grime picked up from constantly being pressed into the floor. By the twenty-seventh step, I was indistinguishable from the very grime and debris I was stuck in.

^^^

Mindy got back to her position with all the stuff she needed. She stood as she put everything in it's proper place before taking a small step forward, where she inadvertently stepped directly onto a small chunk of avocado that had fallen on the floor. Yuck. Unlike other debris she had stepped on previously, the slick paste of the avocado would ruin the "resistant" part of her slip-resistant shoes, that was a hazard she didn't want to deal with. To counteract that, she began to gently stomp and grind her shoe across the tiles to get off whatever bits and pieces of it that she could. 

Once she was satisfied with that, she finished up before a coworker came up. They two got into a nice conversation about whatever mundane thing they talk about. As they chatted Mindy raised her shoe up on her toes and began subconsciously shaking it back and forth, just a habit she had. 

vvv

After an uncountable amount of steps, I was smashed down into the tile floor once more and left there under the immense weight. Mindy had finally stopped walking, if only for a brief time. As she stood there the entirety of her weight bore down upon me. It stayed like that for a few moments before I was lifted up again and flung forward, expecting to see the red tile floor I had become so acquainted with. Instead, I saw a field of green.

With a loud splork sound, my body melted right through the green paste, which I discovered was avocado when it was forcefully mashed into my mouth and nostrils. I felt myself rising up in the air, but the green paste had covered my entire face and coated my eyeballs completely. All I saw was darkness. Everything stopped moving for a second, before I felt the world begin to fall. Fast.

In an instant I was smashed into the floor with more force and pressure than any normal step. I cry out in complete and utter agony as avocado paste is shoved into my mouth. I was lifted up once again very briefly before being pulverized into the floor once more with the same force as before. Even through the layer of avocado paste coating me I could feel every little bump and jagged spike from the floor piercing me. I was squashed and smashed and slammed over and over onto the unforgiving and merciless tile floor. My agonizing screams and pleadings were ignored completely as the relentless onslaught of stomping continued, the force and pressure being exerted on me never once letting up. In fact, they only increased in strength and brutality. By the sixth stomp, the avocado paste had been embedded into my skin and sunk deep into pores all over my body. Any cut or scratch on me had been patched up with grime and muck. And with one final stomp, everything stopped. The assault was over.

Then the grinding started.

Instead of being lifted up, my body was instead forcefully dragged backwards. The rough, bumpy, jagged hills of the tile floor tore into me as I was rushed past it. On the bright side, my eyes weren't covered with avocado gook anymore. That was because the tile floor has tore it completely off my face. By now whatever shreds of clothing had still be attached to me were totally obliterated, leaving me exposed and naked. For a fraction of a second, everything came to a stand still. Then without even lifting off the ground, I began to be dragged forward the way I had just come. Only now there was more weight and pressure being pushed down on me, crushing me deeper and harder into the jagged spikes that made up the tile flooring. 

My now exposed groin was being flattened directly into the rough and ragged hills, there was no pleasure to be gained from it. My face, still facing directly downwards into the floor, my nose flush and flat against the tile, was drug and scraped through the crevices. All the while spiny pokey chips stabbed and struck into me, cutting me up, only for those wounds to immediately get filled and patched up with some grime. Without ever leaving the floor, I was ground back and forth, front and back across the tiles. Each swipe had the pressure increase further and further until there was nowhere left for my body to go. By the third swipe, my exposed private parts had been so smashed and flattened they were like crudely drawn pictures on a piece of paper. Strands of my hair that hadn't yet gotten matted down with grime got tangled up on spikes from the tile floor. The sheer force of the grinding caused those patches of my hair to be ripped straight out of the roots. My pained cries turned into agonizing sobs as I begged and pleaded for this horrific ordeal to end. My pleas were completely ignored, and it only got worse.

Even more pressure was exerted down upon my body, smashing and compacting me even further into the hellish landscape. Three more swipes ensued, each with exponentially more weight bearing down on me than the one prior. By the end, my entire body was coated with grime. Muck had been ground and mashed deep inside of my skin. Open wounds had been sealed off with the filth. My eyes had been plastered with pure grime, the likes of which stopped them from getting torn to shreds by the jagged tiles. My nostrils and mouth were packed with rancid foodstuff. My clothing had been torn apart and I now wore muck all over. There was nothing even recognizable as human anymore.

But hey, at least there was no more avocado on me!

With one more swipe backwards the gunk covering my eyes was ripped off and blinding light blasted my sight. Looking forward I saw the expanse of the world ahead of me, but it was all upside down. Then things started to move. It was slow at first, just a slight sideways movement, left to right to left. Back and forth. Then the speed picked up. Then it got faster. And faster. And the movement became erratic. Everything became a blur. My gut filled with muck was coming back up from the constant motion. I began to feel light-headed from the unending rush. 

Things died down and became calm, letting me rest. I realized that, despite being far down below them, I was able to hear voices from above. Something about the acoustics that allowed their voices to drift down to my lowly position. It gave me hope that if I shouted loud enough, perhaps my voice could carry to them. Perhaps I could get someone's attention. Perhaps, I could escape this hell. I begin to scream as loud as I possibly could. I called out for help, begging and pleading for rescue. I said my predicament. Told them my situation. Said anything to get my voice out there. I laid out my entire ordeal in the hopes that someone would hear and help me. There was a short pause from the voices above, as if they had heard my plea and were letting it sink in. Then there was a response.

A boisterous laugh, bellowing out and exploding into my ears. A laugh. I had just poured my heart out in a plea to be saved, and all that came from it was my unknowing tormentor laughing at me. It was clear that she wasn't actually laughing at me. I was kidding myself, I was simply too small and insignificant for my voice to ever even dream of reaching their ears. But a laugh was a laugh. I was down here in agony, suffering through an ordeal no human should have to suffer through. Being treated as less than dirt. And the person doing it to me was meanwhile enjoying themselves. Chatting up other regular people and laughing at jokes and probably smiling without a care in the world, completely oblivious to the hell I was undergoing by their actions. 

Tears began forming in my eyes. I started crying uncontrollably. The reality of the situation was more sunk in than the grime in my skin. I was never getting help. I was never getting out of there. This was my life now, like it or not. Another laugh erupted from above, as if my thoughts were hysterical. My eyes filled with tears and muck, I could barely see before everything rushed forward and the world went dark once more. I was scraped and ground across the floor again, just the like the dirt I was.

^^^

Mindy's phone was ringing. She checked who it was real quick and saw it was from her babysitter. If she was calling Mindy at work, then it must be something important. Mindy excused herself from the line and headed to the back where it was quieter to take the call. She stopped just near the mop and cleaning area. She was focused on the call she didn't even register the fact she had stepped down right on a little puddle of water. It was barely any, not like it would cause any problems anyway.

Her babysitter had called because she was certain Mindy's kid had gotten smaller from the virus. In reality, that wasn't the case and the babysitter was simply overreacting to perceived danger. Mindy herself was understandably worried about the possibility of her child contracting that virus, but that wasn't the case here. She did her best to calm the babysitter down and reassure the precautions they've set up in case something does happen. The entire call, Mindy had been subconsciously lifting and lowering her foot. It was another habit she did when nervous or worried. It was only like an inch or less. Funnily enough she was doing it to the same foot that had stepped down in the water. Harmless, really.

During the call Mindy had nothing but the utmost concern and care for her child. That was all that was on her mind: her kid's safety and livelihood. Her kid who was currently asleep in a deep and peaceful sleep, away from any danger or any harm whatsoever. Meanwhile, she had not even a single iota of concern or care for the well-being of her boss who she was currently, and unknowingly, putting through a cycle of hellish torment. He was the furthest thing from her mind right now, never even hearing the puny, inaudible pleas begging her to stop. 

vvv

I endured several more steps. They were familiar, a comforting pain. I knew I could count on the horrific crushing weigh of being stepped on to remind me of the place I was in. Of the world I now belonged to. My body was getting desensitized to it. What was another step when I've already endured several hundred of them? I was beginning to resign myself to the fact that this was my life. I was going to be here forever. My mind went numb as I started to accept that fact. Then I was brought back to reality as a splash of water exploded into my face.

It happened in an instant, giving me absolutely no time to prepare. I was completely submerged within the water, taking in gallons by the mouthful and struggling to get any air as I was unable to hold my breath before. Just as quickly as it had happened, I was lifted out of the water. I desperately gasped for breath, trying to get any air I could. I only had a fraction of a second before I was slammed down and submerged once more. Again I took in mouthfuls of water as my scream continued from the descent. 

I was only underwater for a fraction of a second but it felt like an eternity. My body once again rose from the depths and I gasped for breath once more. I was only in the air for a fraction of a second but it felt like instantly I was rushed back beneath the water. I was only surviving on the molecules of oxygen I was able to breath in before being submerged. I had been dunked over and over several times, and in reality it had only been ten seconds. I had endured a lot of stuff since this all happened, but this...this was actual torture. Hellish, demented torture I wouldn't wish on the evilest of people. And it was being inflicted upon me by my young employee, who had no idea I was even there. 

Despite each rise and fall only being a fraction of a second, it was never the same fraction. Meaning it was impossible to time my desperate breaths for air. Half the time I managed to get a particle of air, and the other half I only ended up sucking in mouthful after mouthful of water. Due to my new body structure thanks to this forsaken virus, I was in no actual danger of dying, but my body still felt as if I was drowning. That feeling of just barely gasping for air never left. The horrific agonizing pain of struggling to breath. The crushing feeling of my chest about to collapse on me. I was forced to endure all of this while being completely and utterly helpless to do anything. Literally the only thing I was able to do was scream out for this torture to stop, something that just caused more water to flood into my mouth. Every second felt like an eternity.

This hellish cycle continued for ten straight minutes.

^^^

Mindy hung up the phone. Apparently she had been on the call for ten minutes? Wow, felt like it had only been a minute or two, haha. She walked back to the line, never even noticing she had stepped down on a small puddle or the wet footprints she left behind. Once she got back she apologized for her absence and started helping them out with a small rush that had formed. Once that was done, things were calm again and they could take a short break, restock, and prepare for whatever came next.

During the downtime, Mindy's co-worker Yancy came up and they started a conversation. It started out simple enough until Yancy brought up the whole SHRK-2 virus going around. 

"Did you hear?" Yancy asked. "They found another one. This poor dude was found stuck in some gum under someone's shoe. Turns out his whole airway was blocked with the stuff and he couldn't breath. What a way to go."

Mindy looked on, horrified at what Yancy had just told her. "Why are you telling me that?" she asked, annoyed. "I don't want to hear that!"

"Yeah but we should all know, right? So we can keep those virus people safe. That's what they say at least," Yancy said, with a nearly inaudible chuckle to herself. "Imagine you stepped on some poor sap, they're down there struggling and you're the only one that could save them."

Mindy's eyes widened as she hurriedly took her shoe off and brought it up. She flipped it over to observe the soles. "You don't think..." she trailed off.

"You never know," Yancy said, hiding a giggle to herself. 

Mindy held her shoe in her hand and looked over the sole of it. It was actually fairly clear, like it had been washed fairly recently. There was only a small area with a bit of gunk built up in the treads. She leaned in a bit closer to this tiny blob and looked for any signs of a person.

vvv

The torture ended. I was brought back to the welcoming comfort of being trampled on over and over again. I was crying tears of joy to finally have the cold embrace of the grimy tile floor slammed into my face mercilessly once again. This continued on for a good while. It's wild that I had grown accustomed to the horribleness that was being stepped on over and over. Maybe I was really starting to become my role...

NO! I couldn't think like that! I'm a human, and I have to keep thinking like one. As soon as that thought occurred, a radically different feeling happened as I was whisked upwards and sideways. A blinding bright light burst into my eyes as the shoe and I were flipped upside down, facing the ceiling and the fluorescent bulbs attached to it. And something else was up above as well. Mindy.

Hovering above me like a goddess was the face of Mindy staring down into my world between the treads of her shoe. I was in stunned silence for a moment, unable to move or act or do anything. I have no idea what had transpired to lead to this fortunate fate, but this was my one, my only chance at getting someone's attention. I could tell she was talking to someone, but I was so lost in the mesmerizing view that I couldn't really comprehend what she was saying or who she was talking to. After a few seconds, my brain caught up with everything that happened, and I knew I had to spring into action.

I belted out a scream as loud as I was physically able to. Help! I shouted at the top of my lungs. Mindy! Help me! I kept shouting non stop, desperate for her to hear me. The only body parts I was able to move was my head and my right hand. The rest of me was either buried in grime or too squished and compacted to move. I bobbed my head around as if I was in a heavy metal concert and waved my free hand about in any way it would move, all while shouting non-stop. 

Mindy's face grew massive as she approached my place. Her eye alone looked like an endless sea, and it was staring right at me. She was looking for something, looking for me! I kept shouting. I kept waving. I kept doing whatever I was capable of to get noticed. Her looming eye continued to stare down at my position. She was going to see me. I was going to get seen. I was going to get helped. I was going to get back to normal. 

As if to mock my thoughts, a rumbling laugh erupted up above. A powerful voice burst out, still laughing in-between words. Upon hearing them, my heart sank. No....NO! Mindy's looming eye moved away and her face rose up, away from where I was. My salvation was leaving. Then she began to speak. The proximity allowed me to hear clearly what each person was saying. I couldn't believe it. Tears formed in my eyes, and I began sobbing uncontrollably. 

^^^

Yancy let out a boisterous laugh seeing Mindy staring into the sole of her shoe. "You actually fell for it!" Yancy said, laughing. 

Mindy turned her attention off her shoe and back onto Yancy. "What?" she asked.

"I made it up," Yancy said, smirking. "There was no guy stuck in gum, haha. I was just trying to scare you, and it worked!"

"That's not funny!" Mindy said. "You made me think I actually stepped on someone." 

"Yeah right," Yancy said. "Anyone with SHRK-2 would have to be stupid to actually get stepped on. Besides, there's so many people here. We'd see anyone that it happened to. Probably the safest place for it to happen is here," Yancy said, laughing to herself. 

Mindy glanced back down at her shoe, at the small little glob stuck in her treads. She was annoyed that she fell for such an obvious trick. Of course she didn't step on anyone! She hadn't heard about anyone in the area getting effected by it. Not to mention, even if she had stepped on someone, she would have easily been able to see or hear them when she looked. And all she saw in that glob was some gross debris. Definitely no human, haha. 

"Not funny," Mindy said, not able to hide a slight smile at the practical joke. She lightly tapped Yancy with her shoe before dropping it down to the ground and putting it back on. 

vvv

No! You did step on someone! You did step on me! I shouted and shouted and waved my arms and did absolutely anything, but it was too late. Mindy hadn't seen me. She hadn't heard me. And now she was convinced it was entirely impossible for her to have even stepped on someone. Any chance of getting noticed was gone. That was it. It was over. My life was over. I was flung around again inside of the treads before a falling feeling took over. The familiar tile floor came rushing into me, my body slamming into it full force before an immense weight pressed down on me, smashing and crushing my face into the grungy tile. Right where I belonged.

^^^

"Hey, Mindy," one of the managers came up to the line. "We got a delivery that needs to go out right now. You up for it?"

"Yeah, I can go," Mindy said. A delivery? Sounded like an easy few bucks for the delivery fee, and a quick break from work. Mindy gathered up the food she needed and walked out to her car. She placed the food in the back seat, made sure it was secure, and climbed into the driver's seat and took off.

vvv

I spent several more minutes being trampled over and over again. It was just how it was, now. I barely even reacted now as my face was pulverized into the bumpy tile floor. That was just what happened. It still hurt, I was still in complete and utter agony, but I was just starting to give up. I didn't really think it could get much worse than it was right now.

I was wrong.

The floor below turned into a soft and plush carpet, which felt quite nice. But it was short lived, as after a couple steps, the ground below turned into something horrific. The sidewalk. Long gone was the red tile I came to love, instead replaced by the grey coloring of pathway. My body was smashed down into it with Mindy's full weight, and the first thing I noticed was just how uneven and rough it was. 

The tile back in the store had been bumpy and jagged, but for the most part was actually quite smooth. The sidewalk was nothing but sharp, pointy spiked hills shooting up into the air. If I had had any clothes left, they would have been instantly torn to shreds by the ragged hills of the pavement. Instead, it was just my body been mutilated. By pure chance, no sharp spikes had been pierced into my body, them narrowly missing me by mere inches. That didn't mean I wasn't being bludgeoned by rough jagged hills. All I could do was scream out in horrible agony as unforgiving and bumpy pavement was mercilessly pressed into various places all over my body. One bump was crushing into my free hand, pulverizing it into the depths of the muck and ensuring I was able to move it. Another bump was situated right under my eye, threatening to tear it apart if I even dared blink. One more bump was being smashed right into my crotch, flattening my private parts into the second dimension. And that was all one step.

The cycle of steps continued several times, each time the bumps blasting into another body part of mine, each time causing immense and horrific agony. On one step, Mindy had inadvertently stepped right onto a discarded cigarettes' butt, right where I was situated. My face was instantly smashed directly into the end of it. My screaming mouth was filled to the brim with ash from it. My nostrils were also clogged up with the smoky substance. The pungent taste of nicotine filled my lungs as I desperately wanted to cough and spew it from my mouth. The next step ensued and before I even had a chance to get a single particle of ash out, I was slammed back down to the pavement. This time a rough bump was located right where my open mouth was. Upon landing, all of the ash was thrust down my throat, forcing me to swallow it all. My throat burned in pain from the smoky ashes while my lungs scream in agony. 

Without a care in the world for the pain and suffering I was going through, my world lifted up once again as Mindy took a step before I started being violently slammed down and pulverized into the unforgiving sidewalk on repeat. The hellish cycle continued several more times, the sidewalk even changing to a deep black coloring to signify that Mindy had stepped onto the road. Different color, but still agonizing to be smashed into. It was only a few dozen steps after that when things changed. I felt myself get lifted up as usual, except this time it was higher than normal. The setting around me changed completely. I was no longer outside. Mindy had entered her car. My mind instantly thought of the nice mats on the floor. They would be much, much more forgiving than the brutal sidewalk from outside. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the plush carpeted mats below. But I got confused as they soared across with no sign of coming closer to where I was in the shoe tread. Instead, I scream as I saw I was heading straight for brake pedal.

^^^

Mindy drove to the destination. It was uneventful. 

vvv

The filthy, disgusting, dirt covered brake pedal came rushing up to me, and an instant later I was slammed right into a pack of caked-in dirt. Dry, flaky particles of dirt erupted into my mouth, mixing with my saliva to create a muddy paste that coated the entirety of my throat. My nostrils were completely clogged with giant mounds of old, dusty dirt that forced me to keep my mouth open just to obtain whatever air I could from my position. Because of this, I was utterly helpless when Mindy pushed down with a bit more force, driving my wide open mouth deeper and further into the caked in grime. Piles upon piles of dirt was shoveled brutally into my mouth as I was pushed more and more into the crud. There was absolutely nothing I could do as more and more and more dirt was forced down my throat. Finally the pressure began to relent, and I felt myself rising into the air. Light came back into my eyes as I saw the brake pedal getting further away as Mindy moved her foot. It didn't move far, as a mere half a second later, I saw the brake's counterpart: The gas pedal.

Even from my vantage I could tell the gas pedal was much dirtier than the brake, and naturally I was heading straight for it. In an instant I was once again smashed directly into a mound of dried up and crispy dirt that had been caked into the pedal for who knows how long. My nostrils were already clogged, but that didn't stop even more dirt from being shoved in them from the sheer force that was upon me, compacting everything even further. Even more mounds of dirt and grime from years prior was shoveled into my mouth. It constantly mixed with any remaining saliva in my mouth creating a muddy muck that easily slid down my throat against my will. My body naturally wanted to convulse against the force feeding, but it was so compacted and mashed into the grime in Mindy's tread that it did nothing. The only thing that fidgeted was my head back and forth, a motion that only served to scrape up and shove even more dirt and filth into my mouth and down my throat, repeating the cycle. I began to involuntarily cry due to the pure abuse my body was suffering through. My tears began to mix with the otherwise dry dirt and started making mud. I was in pure darkness beneath her shoe, yet my eyes had still be forced open due to the sheer pressure, coating them with the mud. As Mindy pushed down to drive, I was pressed deeper into the muck, and likewise, the mud was being pulverized into my eyeballs. As my face was mushed further in, the tears continued to produce more and more mud, all of which was violently compressed into my wide open eyeballs. All of this occurred within three seconds. The trip took twenty-five minutes.

During the trip Mindy would consistently switch from gas to brake, and took me along with it. Each time she was sure to place my puny body in a different spot, with fresh dirt to be shoved into me. With my body buried in grime and my face completely covered with mud and dirt, I couldn't see anything that was happening. I felt it though. I felt my body lift from the gas before being slammed down onto the brake and vice versa. I felt the thick dirt being shoved into all of my orifices. I felt the crushing defeat that this was to be the rest of my life. Literally all I could do during the trip was cry, something that just made everything worse as more mud was jammed into my eyeballs. For very brief periods of time I heard loud music emanating from above, no doubt the radio, and Mindy happily singing along to the lyrics, completely oblivious and utterly unconcerned with the hell she was putting me through. After nearly an eternity of being brutalized, the resounding rumbling of the engine shut off and I knew that to mean Mindy had arrived wherever she was going. And that meant one thing: she was going to start walking again.

^^^

Mindy arrived at the delivery address pretty quickly. She grabbed the food and receipt from her car and began walking to the building. Unfortunately there wasn't any sidewalk or pathway to the entrance, which meant she would have to walk through the grass for a bit. Mindy didn't really like walking on the grass all that much. It was so uncomfortable to step on the uneven terrain sometimes. Ah well, it was the only way to the building. 

At the door there was a welcome mat. Having just walked through the grass, Mindy took the opportunity to wipe her feet as she waited for the guest to pick up their food. Once done, she exchanged food and got the signature for the order, and headed back.

Mindy got back to her car, and as she opened the door she accidentally dropped the receipt on the floor. She bent down to pick it up and for the first time in her life thought about the pedals of her car. They actually weren't that bad, just a few bits of dirt on them. Not like it mattered, the pedals were where her shoes went. Nobody was getting up close and personal with the pedals, haha. She got in the car, buckled up, and turned on the radio to get back to the music for the ride back.

vvv

Mindy put her foot down onto the pavement of the driveway. I know this because the jagged, rough, spiny spikes of the pavement pierced through the dirt and grime covering me and jabbed me in the face and body. As she was going around and picking up the food from her car, her steps on the pavement tore apart at my body and the dirt that had been caked into my face. On one step I felt the bumpy hills of the pavement pressing right where my eyes were. If there hadn't been a thick layer of muck compacted into my eyeballs, those spines would have been in me. As Mindy began to step, she didn't lift her foot and instead her shoe dragged across the pavement. This caused the spines that had been pushed into the muck to violently tear off the mud covering my eyes. My nostrils were stilled completely clogged up, leaving my mouth to stay open just to gather any air I could. As Mindy took her next step, my newly freed eyes were blinded by bright light, until her step continued and I saw where she was stepping down next.

Down below was a massive jungle, which in reality was just a lawn. Mindy stepped down, pushing me through all the foliage and down to the deep dark soil below. Due to the terrain, I actually didn't end up getting slammed into the dirt. Instead, my face was just a mere few centimeters away. The next step I wasn't so lucky. As I flew through the canopy of grass, my face was slammed down into the dark soil. Unlike the dried, caked in dirt from the pedal, this stuff was damp and sticky. As she began her other step, all of her weight bore down upon me, pushing me more and more into the soil. My mouth was filled with the damp stuff, reinvigorating all the dried dirt from before. As Mindy rose her foot, several globs of sticky soil adhered to my face. My eyes were still clear, but that just allowed me to see the soil coming up as Mindy stepped down again. 

After another few rounds of being smashed into soil, my face was entirely covered with the sticky and damp dirt. As Mindy stepped off the grass, the globs over my eyes fell off, luckily not stuck on too deep. It would have been better if they had been stuck covered. On the next step I saw Mindy about to step down on a giant bed of thick fibrous threads jutting into the sky. A door mat. 

As Mindy put her foot down onto the mat, the prickly, rough and stiff threads of the door mat were smashed into me. My eyes were the first victims as the strands were mercilessly jabbed into my eyeballs with absolutely no remorse at all. Then she started grinding her shoe. I was pulled backwards as the threads of the mat tore into my body, threatening to rip off all the dirt, and the rest of me. After the first swipe, Mindy rose her foot a slight bit before lowering it down directly onto the mat once again with force.

This time I was doubly assaulted. One of the threads brutally smashed into my entire face, while the threads easily cut through the thick layer of grime coating my entire body and collided with my bare and exposed genitals. My crotch screamed in utter agony as Mindy's weight increased, pressing the thick, spiky strands even harder into my private parts. At the same moment the other strands tore apart my face scraping all of the sticky damp soil off of it with ease. Then I started getting swiped backwards. One of the thick strands had loosely wrapped around my member, and as the shoe moved, it was violently yanked along with it. A good layer of grime had been ripped off as well, slowly unveiling my body from the grimy tomb. A new thought entered my mind. If she kept doing this, the grime keeping me in her soles would be gone, and I would fall into the abyss of the door mat. I was actually hoping that I would stay with Mindy, now. 

This horrific ordeal went on another three times. Caught in the crossfire of the door mat was my crotch several times, along with my face and even my one free hand was forcefully shoved backwards. By the end of Mindy's swipes, a lot of the grime holding me in place had been removed. At the same end, my puny body had been pushed further back as well, keeping me sealed inside and unable to fall out. As Mindy stood on the mat, the threads no longer even reached me as I was so pushed back. In addition, nearly all of my body was now completely buried. The only thing not submerged inside the muck was my face. Even the back half of my head was engulfed in the grime, it was only the front half of my face that stood out just beyond my ears, and it was completely immobilized. While the door mat had removed a lot of the debris in her shoe treads, it had compacted and compressed the rest of it. I felt the tight cocoon of grime surrounding me all over. There was quite literally nothing I could do in this position except breath. I had become just a part of the grime in Mindy's shoe treads.

Mindy walking back to the car started pretty uneventful. I was so pushed in that my face no longer touched the ground as she walked, freeing me from the brutal abuse of her walking. After a few steps is when it happened. As Mindy took another step through the grass, I noticed something else down below in addition to the damp soil. It was a huge, massive creature with a bunch of legs and a few body parts...It was an ant. And I was heading straight towards it. The ant itself was too big to fit between the treads of Mindy's shoes, so instead as her foot came down, the ant was brutally crushed with body parts flung about from the enormous pressed of Mindy stepped down. As she put her foot down, all the light was extinguished, but I didn't need light to see what had happened.

Almost instantly after it happened, I felt a hot, sticky goop explode all over my face. The ants blood and guts. My mouth had been open due to my clogged up nose, so globs of the goop was blasted into my mouth. I even felt chunks of its mutilated body get thrown inside as well. My eyes weren't spared either as warm blobs of goo was spewn into my open eyeballs. I had no idea what it was but I felt either it's legs or antenna up against my face as well, with it being buried into the grime and wriggling against my body buried deep inside too. Mindy kept walking as if nothing happened. To her, nothing did. The ant was too small for her to even feel she had stepped on anything. 

As light floated into the treads from Mindy's step, the true realization of what had happened set in. Down between where my legs were buried as a massive chunk of the ant's body, jutting into the air. It was half buried into the grime, caught just like I was. Even worse, directly to my right was the massive head of the ant, staring right at me with it's big compound eye. It too was half buried in the grime and trapped. I first took note of just how big these body parts were. This was an ant, a freaking ant, and just a part of it's head and a part of it's body were giant compared to me. It's no wonder Mindy hadn't seen or heard me earlier. At my size I didn't even exist to her, I was in a completely other realm. Dread filled my stomach as the horrible conclusion sunk in. I was never going to get found. Even if I somehow got freed from this shoe tread, I was simply too small to be seen or heard. Mindy stepped down again onto the damp soil, plunging me into darkness and reminding me of my place in this world now.

The car ride back was largely uneventful. I no longer reached the pedal so I didn't have to suffer that ordeal again. Instead, I was left alone with my thoughts and the ants body parts to contemplate what to do now. What was there to do? I couldn't move. I couldn't even wiggle. What happened to me was completely out of my control, I just had to live with whatever Mindy did. All I could do was think about how this couldn't possibly get any worse than it was right now.

^^^

Mindy returned back to the café and got back to work. It was just her and Yancy on the line at the moment, so it was quite a bit of back and forth walking when there were orders to take care of. When there wasn't, that just meant more time for chit chat. During a break, Katrina, another manager at the café, came up and handed Mindy the tip money she had earned for the order previously. 

"That's it?" Mindy asked, jokingly. She was happy with whatever extra money she had. "Tim would have given me more," she said with a teasing giggle. "I'm his favorite employee." She said this as she perched her foot up on the toes and swung it back and forth.

"Is that so?" Katrina asked, teasing her back. "Thought he went on vacation to get away from you," she said with a smile. 

"Ha ha, funny," Mindy said. She brought her foot back down, dragging it across the floor. "Oh my god you know Yancy tried to trick me into thinking I stepped on one of those small sick people."

"Yancy!" Katrina scolded her while Yancy let out a chuckle. After a short pause, Katrina asked "You didn't, did you?"

"No of course not!" Mindy asserted. "I would never!" Mindy kicked off her shoe and brought it up. All three of them looked down at the sole. The treads were very clean, with only a couple small splotches of dirt here and there. "See if there was someone here they'd be like calling for help or something."

There was a short silent period where all three women looked down at the sole of Mindy's shoe, before Katrina broke the silence. "Oh my god is that Tim?" she gasped. 

"Oh I see him!" Yancy confirmed. 

"What?" Mindy shouted. She looked right where Yancy was pointing and only saw some dirt. She leaned in close but she was certain all she was looking at was some dirt. Just then, both Yancy and Katrina busted out laughing. 

"She fell for it again," Yancy said in-between giggles. Even Katrina was laughing, being apart of the joke. 

"That's not funny!" Mindy said. "What if I actually stepped on him?"

"You didn't," Katrina said, silencing the laughs. "He's hundreds of miles away, probably having way more fun than we are right now, haha."

"Yeah, but still," Mindy trailed off. She put her shoe back to the floor and put it back on. The three of them keep conversating about other topics and pretty soon the whole fake out they teased Mindy with had left her mind entirely. 

vvv

Being completely immobilized had pretty much drained any sense of urgency in me. What was the point? I was too small and nearly completely submerged beneath some grime between the treads of my associates shoes. Where I was now was beyond an afterthought. Even if Mindy did look at the bottom of her shoe. Even if she did look right into the groove I was in. What would she see? The crushed head of the ant was bigger than I was, not to mention literally only the front part of my face was exposed. I just laid there in silence as Mindy walked around the store, unconcerned with the filth under her shoe. 

Then I was lifted up rapidly, towards the bright light of the ceiling above. Staring down on my landscape was the massive face of Mindy once again. It wasn't just Mindy though, to the sides I also saw the gigantic faces of Katrina, my fellow manager, and Yancy, one of my other associates, staring down into my prison as well. All three of them were looking down, scanning the sole of the shoe. Had they realized I shrunk? Where they looking for me? Why...why else would all of them be looking at Mindy's shoe? 

I did the only thing I could do: shout. I screamed and yelled and shouted as loud as I was physically able to do. They were looking for me, and I was going to be found. I kept screaming, kept shouting, kept pleading and begging for attention and help. Tears fell down my cheeks as Yancy's eye hovered right over my position. I let out the most intense scream I ever have in my life, and in response...

"See if there was someone here they'd be like calling for help or something," Mindy's voiced bellowed down into the treads, echoing off the rubber walls. My heart sunk. I was calling for help. I was shouting. Yet it was clear Mindy hadn't heard me. But there was still Yancy and Katrina looking for me as well, so I didn't give up. I cursed my inability to move any single part of my body. Even if I could just fidget my head around it would help. As Katrina's giant eye scanned right over where I was, I let out another shout. That's when I heard something that got my heart pumping...

"Oh my god is that Tim?" Katrina's voice boomed down into my prison. She...she saw me! Katrina actually saw me trapped in here! I was going to be saved! A waterfall of tears cascaded down my cheeks as I happily shouted up to Katrina. 

"Oh I see him!" Yancy's voice blasted into my groove. Her massive finger appeared above, pointing down directly into the tread I was trapped inside of. They...they really did see me! I kept shouting and crying and smiling as I thought about finally getting out of this hell hole. This was going to be a crazy story to tell them, but anything would be worth ending this nightmare. Up above, Mindy's eye grew massive as it got closer and closer to the tread I was in. She was looking down directly at me, she was focused straight into my eyes. I just laughed in joy as this nightmare was finally over. Turns out I wasn't the only one laughing.

The loud boisterous laughs of Katrina and Yancy exploded down into my prison. I ceased all shouting as Mindy's eye hung over me like a massive UFO. All of my hopes were instantly crushed when I heard a mere five words.

"She fell for it again."

It was a joke. It had been a joke. Neither Karina nor Yancy had seen me. I was just being used to tease Mindy, with none of them realizing that I actually was there. Right under there eyes. Right where they were joking I was. It wasn't a joke. Everything around me went numb. I lost focus and just zoned out. This was it. The end. There was just nothing left anymore after this. I just stared straight ahead, motionless as Mindy's shoe fell to the floor again and the world went dark. 

^^^

Mindy still had a couple of hours left on her shift. She spent it just the same as always, making food, restocking, and just doing her job. After the shift she sat down at a booth for a brief period of time waiting for her ride. As she did she subconsciously dragged her feet across the carpeted area back and forth while scrolling through her phone. Once her ride was there she got up and left to finally head home. Later that night she cleaned out the treads of her work shoes as she usually did, dumping all the crud that fell off into the trash, right where it belonged.

vvv

Darkness. Blur of light. Darkness. Blur of light. That was my life as Mindy just kept walking. I didn't scream anymore, I hardly even reacted. My mouth was still open to breath as my nose was still clogged. I just breathed, it wasn't even voluntary at this point, just my body naturally trying to keep me alive in the hell I become accustomed to. I didn't even think anymore. I just lived my new life as grime under Mindy's shoe. My mind never even contemplated that it could get worse. But of course it did.

Instead of the usual red tile I had become accustomed to, Mindy managed to step down directly onto a piece of fallen chicken that had already been sitting on the floor for a while. Because of the previous ordeal with the door mat, there was plenty of room inside the tread to house more debris, so the warm slimy chicken easily got mushed and mashed into the tread with me. The old decapitated ant's head and it's body got smushed in closer to me, completely overtaking me to make room for the mounds of stringy chicken that were coming in. Not long after, Mindy must have stepped on something else as everything around me got even more compacted and crushed. 

Strands from the warm slimy chicken slid into my wide open mouth and down my throat. The giant eyeball of the ant was squashed down into my face, exploding into mush and spilling all over my own eyeballs and dripping down into my mouth, following the trail of the chicken right down my esophagus. For a while every single step Mindy took compressed and smushed everything deeper into the treads, and more into me. My face was swallowed up whole by the eyeball of the ant, leaking goop and guts down my throat. The same place that slimy, rancid chicken was being forced, with juice seeping off of it. I just accepted it. This was my place now. This was what I was.

There was just darkness and pressure. All light was extinguished due to the mass of muck I was concealed inside of. Even with my clogged nostrils, I could smell the scent of the grime I was in. The odor of decaying ant. The scent of expired chicken. It permeated through everything right into my nose. I was apart of that now. I believed that's all that was left. 

Then blinding light blasted into my eyes. I was flung and flipped and sent flying across the sky before landing down on a thick jungle of fuzzy colorful strands. As fate would have it, when Mindy was moving her feet back across the carpet, a rouge fiber had gotten latched onto the mess of chicken she had stepped on earlier. That chicken had molded with the decaying head of the ant, which in turn had absorbed my puny body into it. When the chicken was violently plucked out of Mindy's shoe tread, the ant head and my body was flung out with it, all off us going separate ways. 

I was free.