Soft, warm, and cushy. It was perhaps the coziest surface the two men had ever rested on in their entire lives. Ordinarily, they would be grateful for such a rare amenity, but the appalling smell reminded them of their cruel predicament. They weren't resting on a luxurious bed. They were lying on a fluffy sheepskin insole, trapped inside a girl's smelly boot. They were left in despair, waiting for their young tormentor to return.
Several hours had passed since the girl responsible for their affliction stowed them inside her rancid footwear. They were clueless about the world outside the boot, but it was far from a quiet environment. The constant thundering roars, repetitive squeaks, and frightening high-pitched whistles left them worrying about their surroundings. Little did they know, they were at a regional volleyball tournament. Over a hundred girls, alongside their family and friends, were gathered inside the large gymnasium.
During the tournament, the various teams had ditched their belongings in a secluded area. The tall sheepskin boot that housed the two men sat on the floor next to a matching pair, surrounded by assorted backpacks and duffle bags. Other boots, sandals, sneakers, and slides from different girls were also scattered on the ground.
The two men inside the boot were hardly the only males at the tournament, as many men were suffering underneath the toes of the numerous spectators. Others were like them, stuffed into a foul shoe or boot of one of the volleyball players. Though they were given a slight break from the physical and mental abuse they endured earlier in the morning, the worst was yet to come. None of them were fully aware of what they would be dealing with later, the sour odor from a girl after hours of volleyball games.
The weekend volleyball tournament had hundreds of attendees with not a man in sight. But their presence was there, though, and enjoyed by many of the spectators as they watched their daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, or friend play. The men were hidden, entirely out of view. For the most part, anyway...
As one player's mother went to retrieve an item from her daughter's bag, she spotted something scurrying around on the floor. She assumed it was a bug, but the odd-looking creature was moving in an unusual pattern. After bending further down, she realized it was a man, presumably one of the player's toe-warmers on the loose. Even though she wanted to return him to his rightful owner, doing so was impossible, given the abundance of bags and shoes scattered about. There's no telling who he belonged to, so the simple solution was to dispose of him before he could hide somewhere.
The man ran for his life. He had barely celebrated his successful escape before he was caught so easily. As he looked behind him, hoping the goddess would spare him, he glanced upward at the rubber sole of the woman's sneaker descending toward him. In an instant, he was flattened.
The mother twisted her foot, ensuring the man was thoroughly crushed, before removing her foot off him. His gory remains were smeared all over the ground. At first, she looked for a tissue to clean up the mess but decided not to get her hands dirty.
Eh, they'll clean the floor later. She reasoned to herself.
The two men were shaken up after the boot they were entrapped in finally moved, indicating their owner had returned. Unfortunately for them, the girl completely forgot she had set them in her boot. They looked upward as the toes of her sock-clad foot entered, barely avoiding the two of them as it passed by. They tried desperately to cling to the outer walls, but the rocky movements set them off-balance. Darkness filled the boot as her foot fully entered. Once she slammed her heel down, the two men were gone forever, ending up as red smears on the bottom of her sock.
"Good job today, you gals killed it out there!" A player's mother praised as she approached her daughter.
"Like always." The girl boasted, flexing the medal around her neck. She was sitting on the floor with the rest of her team, changing out of her volleyball shoes and knee pads. After removing her sweaty socks, she rummaged through her bag and pulled out two toe-warmer cases.
"Oh honey, have mercy." The mother joked. She knew firsthand, having to endure many unpleasant car rides together, how smelly her daughter's feet could get after volleyball. For anyone, even a man, to be that close to them should be considered a war crime.
"What? They like it!" The girl teased as she dangled a helpless man above her foul-smelling sock, mere inches from the opening. The poor man inhaled the rotten odor wafting through the air and tried badly to free himself from the girl's grasp. The merciless girl savored the sight of the powerless man thrashing back and forth between her fingers until she eventually released him into the dark abyss of her sock.
"The smell of victory!" she mocked while putting on her sock, binding the man against her sticky, moist toes. The smell was unbearable, causing him to gag. He wasn't the only one suffering this kind of torture, though, as many other men were trapped underneath the toes of numerous volleyball players, forced to endure the sweaty aftermath of the intensive volleyball tournament.