Noah found himself in the middle of the large expanse of the kitchen floor. Everything was absolutely enormous: from the towering table and chairs near the back door, to the feast-sized crumbs previously deposited on the floor by a clumsy giantess. His shrinking had accelerated to the point that he was now barely a quarter of an inch tall, on the verge of being microscopic, and his hopes of his doctors finding his personalized cure now practically nonexistent.
Suddenly, Noah felt the ground shaking, distant tremors accompanied by horrific booms in rapid succession. A moment later, his giant sister and colossal cousin appeared at the top of the half story of stairs, both quickly stomping down the steps into the kitchen.
“Oh, Noah,” his sister, Tabatha, called out whimsically. “Little brother, where are you?”
“Come out, come out, wherever you are, bug boy,” his cousin, Treva, chimed in, checking under the table. “We’ve got a lotta fun games for you to play with us.”
“Yeah,” Tabitha said playfully. “Treva wants to see how you feel between her toes.”
“Yup,” Treva chuckled, “and Tabs wants to tape you to the bottom of her foot.”
“Ooh, that DOES sound like fun!” Tabitha giggled, turning towards Treva, who was still chuckling with sadistic glee.
Noah, however, didn’t find it funny at all. He was horrified listening to how the two, monstrous, cackling teenagers were planning to torture him once they found him. The tiny boy looked around frantically for a place to hide; he desperately needed to get out of the open, and fast!
“You’d better come out, bubba!” Tabitha called out again, growing increasingly frustrated. “You’re only making it harder on yourself.”
Luckily for Noah, both girls were searching the opposite side of the kitchen at the moment, but the tiny boy knew they’d be heading his direction any second.
“Come on, bubba,” Tabitha pouted. “You know your not supposed to go running around the house all by yourself.”
“Yeah,” Treva chimed in, “you could get STEPPED on!”
“That’s right,” Tabitha giggled, “you wouldn’t want one of us to accidentally SQUISH you, would you?”
“Yup, so you’d better come out soon, or else...” Treva added.
“Yeah....then we can squish on you on purpose!” Tabitha said jokingly, under her breath.
Both girls began laughing at Tabitha’s brazenness.
Noah was out of options! Despite the risk, he took off in a mad dash towards the kitchen sink, hoping to get to under cover before the giant girls spotted him. Unfortunately, he was stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his Aunt Katherine’s gargantuan figure stomping up the steps from the basement.
“HEY GIRLS,” Aunt Katherine’s booming voice called out as she stepped onto the kitchen floor, her huge, bare feet slapping the linoleum with each monstrous step she took….right in the tiny boy’s direction.
“HAVE EITHER OF YOU SEEN NOAH?”
Noah’s face contorted in horror as his aunt’s huge, right foot lifted over his head, her bare sole descending directly upon his position on the floor.
“EEK!” Noah shrieked as he frantically dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding being crushed as his aunt’s giant foot crashed down to the floor just off to his right.
“AUNT KATHERINE!” Noah shouted up. “DON’T SQUISH ME!”
“No, Aunt Katherine. We haven’t,” Tabitha shrugged.
“Yeah,” Treva chimed in, “we’ve been looking for him all morning, mom, but we can’t find him.”
“AUNT KATHERINE, I’M DOWN HERE!” Noah shouted up as he got to his feet, frantically jumping up and down and waving his arms. “AUNT KATHERINE!”
“WHAT?!” Katherine exclaimed. “Girls, you know it’s not safe for him to go running around the house unsupervised, ESPECIALLY now that he’s shrunk to the size of a teensy, little bug! It’s dangerous! He could get STEPPED on!”
“We know that, Aunt Katherine,” Tabitha replied defensively, “but what can we do? He just….ran off.”
“Yeah, mom,” Treva butted in, “it’s not like he’s easy to keep track of. We’ve looked everywhere, but…there’s still no sign of him.
“You don’t suppose he shrunk so small he DISAPPEARED, do you?!” Treva offered, showing slight concern.
“AUNT KATHERINE, I SAID, I’M DOWN HERE!” Noah squeaked frantically. “ON THE FLOOR, BY YOUR FOOT! CAN’T YOU HEAR ME?!”
“Alright, let’s not panic, OK?” Aunt Katherine said, trying to get a grasp on the situation, “He’s gotta be around here somewhere.”
“Well, yeah, but where?” Tabitha asked, shrugging. “We’ve practically searched the whole house!”
“AUNT KATHERINE, I’M RIGHT HERE!” Noah squeaked in desperation, “PLEASE, LOOK DOWN!”
“Alright,” Katherine tsked, sighing as she hit her lower lip, “well…why don’t you girls go check back upstairs, okay? Look in all the bedrooms…and under the beds. I’ll look around down here. He couldn’t have gotten far.”
“OK,” the girls said in unison as they stomped off towards the stairs.
“And mind all that stomping, would ya?!” Katherine scolded them sharply, “You’re liable to SQUASH him!”
“We’ll be careful, mom. We promise!” Treva called back frustratedly, waving her mother off as the girls disappeared up the stairs.
“Now, where in the world could that little boy have run off to?” Katherine sighed as she turned her head, slowly scanning the kitchen and living room.
“Noah?” she called out, completely oblivious to the tiny boy’s presence on the floor down by her bare feet. “Noah, where are you?”
“AUNT KATHERINE!” the tiny boy shouted louder, jumping up and down even more frantically now. “I’M DOWN HERE! ON THE FLOOR! CAN’T YOU SEE ME?!”
“Ugh, where could he be?!” the giant woman sighed with frustration, placing her hands on her hips. “I sure as hell can’t spend all day looking for him!”
“PLE—HEASE, AUNT KATHERINE,” Noah shouted in a whiny voice. “I’M DOWN HERE! BY YOUR FOOT! PLEASE, LOOK FOR ME!”
“He’d better not be getting into trouble again!” Katherine muttered impatiently as she curled her lips, tapping her right foot in frustration. “He knows better than to run off on his own!”
“EEK!” Noah shrieked as his aunt’s giant foot began repeatedly smacking the floor next to him, shaking the ground with powerful, ear-shattering booms. “ACK! AUNT KATHERINE, STOP! NO! LOOK OUT! HELP! YOU’LL SQUASH ME!”
Katherine huffed and ceased her foot tapping for a moment, lost in thought as she pondered over where in the world her tiny nephew could be.
“Maybe the girls’ll find him upstairs somewhere,” she sighed, turning her gaze towards the stairs.
With his giant aunt’s foot finally still, Noah seized the opportunity to get closer, hoping he could could somehow get her attention before the giant woman moved again.
“AUNT KATHERINE!” Noah shouted, pounding on the side of her giant, pinky toe. “AUNT KATH-ER-INE!!!!”
“Hmph! Oh well,” Katherine shrugged, lifting her right leg to scratch an itch on the side of her foot, “He’s bound to turn up sooner or later.”
Noah was completely caught off guard when his aunt’s giant foot suddenly hoisted itself into the air, knocking him onto his back. He took a moment to quickly shake off the impact, but by the time he’d regained his composure, he suddenly found himself shrouded in darkness.
The tiny boy looked skyward…
His eyes went wide, and his face contorted in horror:
The fleshy, wrinkled sole of Aunt Katherine’s right foot was hovering directly overhead as she nonchalantly scratched her itch, casting its dark, ominous shadow over the floor.
“A-A-A-AUNT KATHERINE!” Noah stammered, putting up his hands defensively. “WAIT! NO! DON’T STEP ON ME!”
“I’ll just have to keep my eyes open,” Katherine said as she slowly lowered her foot back to the floor again...
“NOOOOO!” Noah screamed in terror as his aunt’s giant foot descended towards the floor. “AUNT KATHERINE, DON’T SQUISH MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!”
It was no use. The poor, shrunken boy could only watch helplessly as his aunt’s massive sole lowered on top of him…
The last thing he heard was her huge, booming voice calling his name...
“NO-AH....NO-AH...”
*SQUISH*