After all he had endure – well, in truth it hadn’t been that long, but it sure felt pretty intense – he was about to be saved from this bizarre situation he found himself in. He should have felt relieved.  But instead, he felt only a growing pit in his stomach, as the woman’s still-vacant gaze seemed to bore into him.

Time seemed to freeze as they made eye contact. Not that he was even sure she was able make out his own eyes, as wide and apprehensive as they were.

Eventually though, there was movement. Her hand rose up above him, this time with its fingers curled up in tentative curiosity. This only lasted for a moment, as the index finger unfurled, extending out towards him, glittery nail glistening, as if preparing to lunge at him.

And it did just that.

The finger moved faster than seemed possible, growing from a structure in the sky to a great fleshy pillar crashing down in under a second. Yet again, he winced, preparing for a sudden end. And yet again, it was not to be. He felt the impact of something solid against the table, just beneath where his legs were glued down, while the fingertip suddenly stopped short of smashing into him, now hanging inches from his face. Glancing over, he could see that he had only been saved by the length of a fingernail – the end of it extended a little beyond the finger itself, just enough to shelter his tiny body underneath.

However, this quickly proved to be no accident. A horrifying creaking noise practically split his ears, ringing out over the blaring music, as the fingernail began to drag against the table. To a normal-sized person perhaps, the motion would have seemed smooth and natural. But to him, he could see the jagged, almost erratic movements, as the nail forced its way through the uneven grooves and ridges of the wooden surface. Bits of scum and dirt were scraped up with ease, being caught against the underside of the slightly curved keratin. And he, it would seem, was about to suffer the same fate.

The nail slammed into his feet first, ripping them away from the gunk holding them in place. His legs were crumpled up awkwardly, bent into a somewhat unnatural position – although the intention was likely to pry him off cleanly, that was difficult to do with a fingernail that was thicker than his arm. He yelled out, but it hardly made a difference. Much like before, his voice would never carry as far as the woman’s ears.

The rest of his legs were pulled up, before the finger rotated downwards, resting flat against the table, with his bruised lower half now resting on the underside of the fingernail, just touching the pad of her finger. The onslaught was not quite over, however. The woman’s thumb now loomed overhead. Even as he registered it, it grew in his view, until it fully filled his vision. There was a heavy, yet indistinct, pressure against his legs, as the thumb enveloped them. He felt a sudden tight squeeze, as it deformed slightly and encompassed past his waist.

In a single, swift motion, he was yanked free, and lofted up into the air.

Her grip on him tightened, now practically crushing his chest, forcing the air out of his lungs. Blood rushed to his head as he flew upwards. This, combined with the blur of lights and shadows assaulting his eyes, make it difficult to stay conscious. As such, it was a great relief when he came to a stop, even if he was dangling upside-down.

But now, he was finally face-to-face with the impossibly large woman. Or rather, as was clear when his vision recovered, face-to-eye. A huge, almost perfectly circular iris filled the sky, flicking around almost randomly. He could see the flecks of colour shifting and contracting, long strands arranged in an intricate pattern, protected by a transparent glossy sheen that covered the entire surface. Occasionally, the globe would be swiftly covered by her eyelids, smacking against each other with a wet slap, long lashes almost grazing his exposed face, before retreating back to the edges of the eyes. All this, to allow the black hole in the centre of it all to grow and shrink over and over, flitting from side to side, as if trying to focus on some tiny object. Trying, and apparently failing.

The eye retreated somewhat, shrinking until the woman’s entire face was visible. Even in the relative darkness and chaos, it was easy to read the shocked expression plastered across it, her mouth hanging open slightly. He glanced down at her lips, still unsure whether she was actually seeing him for who – or rather, what – he actually was. As if in response, they parted, three simple words streaming out – although the noise was lost in the general dim, he could tell what she was mouthing.

Oh. My. God.

Once again, time seemed to freeze, perhaps for both of them this time. His heart pounded in his chest, feeling as if it was smacking repeatedly against the thumb that was gripping tightly to him. He would have shouted out, but with no air in his lungs, the most he could do was weakly struggle.

This proved to be enough to elicit something at least. The woman let out an ear-splitting shriek, the vestiges of a smile forming on her lips. Then, once again, the world became a blur as he felt himself being whisked around.

By the time it stopped, he found himself in front of an entirely new face. It belonged to a woman with much softer features, perhaps a little less intimidating than the other, although it made little difference given the situation. Unlike her presumed friend, her hair was much darker, and formed ringlets that curled down the side of her head. Her expression was very similar though, the same look of slack-jawed disbelief.

Air rushed both into his lungs and face as he was released, dropped into sudden free-fall. In panic, his limbs flailed and kicked, although this only served to send him into a tumble. Before he could even really register what was happening though, he landed with a slight squelch.

For the first time in a while, he was able to use his arms again, placing his palms down on the ground. It was damp to the touch, and was not only warm, but seemed to emanating heat itself, enveloping him in it. He lofted himself up, managing to stand up, although it was a little difficult with the uneven ground having a fair give under his feet. Almost immediately, he felt a set of vibrations passing both through them and the air around him – laughter.

Looking up, he saw the original light-haired woman looking down at him, perhaps a little higher up than before. Some of the surprise had faded, however, to be replaced with a wide smile, evolving into a toothy grin before his eyes. Glancing around, it was now more obvious where he was – five familiar fingers curled up into the air around and behind him, twitching slightly as this woman evidently tried to keep him upright on her palm.

The whole situation really had left him speechless, barely even having the mental capacity to react to anything anymore. If it wasn’t for the subtle change in shadows, he wouldn’t have noticed the object several times his size planting down just behind him.

He turned just in time to see his own reflection in a dark glossy fingernail, before it slammed into him at high speeds, flicking him away with ease.

His puny form sailed through the air for what felt like seconds, assaulted by the same shrieking that had to endure previously. Quickly though, he landed – this time, it was more of a splash than a squelch. He found himself fully submerged in freezing water, his body immediately going into shock. At least, he thought it was water. As he instinctively opened his mouth, the overwhelming taste of alcohol flooded into his mouth, causing him to splutter and choke. In desperation, he kicked out, trying to tread water… only to impact something surprisingly solid.

He was actually able to stand up, although the foothold was even colder than the pungent liquid he was doused in. His fears were confirmed – a circular solid glass wall surrounded him on all sides, extending high above, encircling a lake of pink water with semi-transparent boulders floating within. The glass
was fogged and stained by lipstick and saliva around the rim, with fingerprints haphazardly stamped all down its length. He was currently waist-deep in the half-empty drink belonging to one of these women, precariously balanced on an ice cube.

Again, the sound of giggly laughter rung out through the air. The sharper, light-haired woman was the first to look over, her piercing eyes scanning the drink, before spotting his stranded form, her grin returning. The darker-haired woman was soon to follow, making the effort to lean in closer, with her round face looming a little as she peered down at him with a smile. He could have sworn he saw a hint of sympathy in her eyes, but this was quickly forgotten as the two of them burst out into fits of laughter once again.

The ice beneath him jolted unnervingly as the glass was grabbed, the shadow of the fingers wrapping around it visible from his unfortunate position. He instinctively went to grab onto something as the drink began to rise, and of course simply fell face-first into the liquid.

By the time he managed to re-surface, it was overtly clear what was happening. He had seen this exact glass being lifted before – it was terrifying enough seeing it from down below, watching this skyscraper sized structure being lofted up into the air as if were nothing. But it was whole other can of worms to be along for the ride.

The eyes of the light-haired woman stared down at him intensely as he approached her face, desperately trying to stay upright in the wildly sloshing alcohol. It didn’t help that he had swallowed quite a bit of it himself, which combined with the intoxicating fumes, was making it more and more difficult to concentrate. Still, there was plenty of awareness left to be enveloped in fear, as the absurdly massive mouth began to crest over the edge of the glass. He screamed, even knowing it would fall on deaf ears.

The world around him began to tilt, gravity itself seeming to shift. The waterline very suddenly rose as the drink rushed forward, the gradually increasing current easily dragging him off the ice cube that had been supporting him up until now. He attempted to fight it somewhat, putting his mediocre swimming skills to at least some use, but he was quickly overpowered. It wasn’t long a smaller chunk of ice smacked into him before he was caught in intense rapids, being dragged left and right as they weaved their way through the bits of mostly-melted ice, and whatever else was mixed in with the foul fluid.

There was little to done as he was carried down the length of the cup – he was being pulled faster than the ice that had momentarily been his lifeline. In some ways, that was for the best; he doubted he would survive being crushed underneath one of those. But, of course, it also expediated his journey to what was perhaps a much worse fate.

Looking ahead, he could see the pair of lips, parted just enough to allow the drink to flow in freely. Even while they grew larger and larger, he couldn’t help but notice how soft they looked – like massive, slimy pillows. What an absurd last thought to have.

The first thing that hit him was the heat. While it had been warm on her palm, that had been almost comforting, a familiar relic of his original size. This was something else entirely – a heavy, aggressively humid heat, fuelled not by natural warmth, but by her blastingly hot breath, which washed over him like some malevolent force. Even drenched in alcohol, he could feel it sticking to his face, her saliva recognising him as some kind of morsel.

For a moment, he thought he might be able to grab her bottom lip, but it wasn’t even close. He was dragged over it in just a split-second, onwards into the wet cavern. Instead, he slapped into a soaking wet, yet disgustingly firm surface, which twitched and wobbled at his touch. The tongue, feeling his intrusion, curled upwards, cupping him slightly and inadvertently forcing more of the drink to blast over him.

If he hadn’t panickily grabbed hold of the rougher bumps that coated the tongue, he would certainly been dragged backwards to his doom immediately. There was little time to consider this possibility though, as galleons upon galleons of the liquid filled every orifice, as well as the gushing against the rest of his body. This seemed to go on forever, only constant primal screams filling his mind, as his instincts failed in the face of an overwhelming onslaught.

Still, before his grip failed him, but long after his spirit had been broken, the flow subsided, gradually slowing down to a trickle and then stopping entirely. He was only dimly aware of the glass receding away and his body collapsing in exhaustion before the lips sealed in front of him, and he was plunged into true darkness.