The men waited patiently in darkness. It was all they could do. They couldn’t move, let alone escape. They were nothing but an accessory trapped in the sock drawer of a young woman, surrounded by various cotton, polyester, wool, and nylon garments. Beyond the world of the ordinary wooden dresser, they were inside a college dorm room.
Unbeknownst to the helpless men, their owner, Ava, was getting dressed for the day. The tanned college student was clothed in typical fall fashion with her striped, oversized sweater and dark, skin-tight leggings. The only thing left to complete her outfit was socks.
While kneeling in front of her dresser, Ava yanked on the bottom drawer, revealing numerous pairs of balled-up socks. There were casual socks for typical everyday wear, athletic socks for when she worked out, and wool socks for the cold fall and winter months. Given the season, she grabbed a pair of thick wool socks. Along with them, she figured she should wear some toe-warmers for the chilly day ahead of her.
Nestled in the corner of her sock drawer were a few toe-warmer packages. The men inside those cases were slowly adjusting to the faint daylight after being enclosed in darkness for an extended time. Uncaring, Ava grabbed two individual packages which contained two separate men.
Standing back up, Ava set the pair of socks and one of the packages down before tearing open the other package in her hand. The frightened man quickly relished in the fresh air as he was freed from his plastic prison. Before he could do anything else, however, he was grabbed by her massive fingers, pinched between her finger and thumb. He tried to squirm away out of instinct, but it was useless in his situation.
The man saw himself move closer to the large cloth object held in her other hand as she clutched him. But he didn’t have time to react as he was promptly dropped into the long, dark tunnel that was Ava’s sock. Fortunately, his fall was cushioned by the thick fabric. Before he had time to assess his situation, the light from the opening of the sock disappeared as he saw the enormous woman’s foot enter.
He looked for any way to avoid it, but he was embarrassingly overpowered by her massive toes. After being pushed to the bottom of the sock, her toes maneuvered his tiny body around until he eventually ended up on his back underneath the arches of her toes. He felt the moisture from her recent shower against his skin, and the strong floral scent infiltrated his senses.
With the toe-warmer positioned perfectly underneath her toes, Ava grabbed the other package and liberated the tiny man inside. As she held the opening of her other sock, she dropped him above it and watched him fall into it. After shaking it slightly, ensuring the man tumbled to the bottom, she slid her foot in. Like before, she maneuvered the tiny man’s body until he was positioned perfectly underneath her toes.
Once both her socks were on, Ava scrunched her toes to test her toe-warmers. Upon feeling a tickling sensation from the wiggling men, Ava got ready to leave for her class. She slid on her suede leather sandals and grabbed her backpack next to the door before departing her dorm.
Meanwhile, the men in her socks experienced torture as her enormous toes pressed down on their bodies. Feeling pain, they tried to wiggle to a safe position. Their only relief was when she would take a step, and her toes would slightly alleviate pressure off them. It didn’t take long until the air became limited, and they began suffocating.
While Ava went on with her day, the tiny men inside her socks couldn't keep track of time, and seconds felt like minutes felt like hours. Every so often, she would scrunch her toes, nearly crushing their fragile bones. Over time, humidity filled the socks as the moisture from her shower quickly turned into moisture from her sweat.
Despite wanting the torture to end, there was no way to escape and no one to submit to. They were helpless. There were some brief moments where they received some semblance of rest, such as when Ava would cross her legs in class, dangling her foot in the air off the ground. Still, the humidity made it hard for them to breathe as fresh air would barely reach them through the thick wool fabric. They couldn't fall asleep. They couldn't space out. No. They had to endure all of the suffering.
If it made them feel any better, they weren’t the only men on this college campus experiencing this cruelty. Hundreds of others like them were trapped underneath the toes of numerous students and faculty, often ignored as the various women carried out their regular lives.
“Mrs. Henning!” an enthusiastic voice shouted in an ordinary school classroom.
“Yes Brittany?” the teacher of the class responded as she turned around from the whiteboard.
“It’s 10:15!” announced Brittany, the eager young student. Looking at the clock, Mrs. Henning was surprised to see how quickly time snuck up on her.
“Oh wow, already? Okay then, everyone go get ready and get changed.” the teacher ordered, which was promptly followed by the mass rush of the excited class. It was the annual class field trip to White Wolf Hill. Unlike their mundane museum field trips, they were all looking forward to it as their day would be filled with sledding, tubing, and playing in the snow. No girls would miss this year, as all of their mothers had signed their permission slips.
In the hallway, the class of students changed in front of their lockers into their snow gear. As part of the permission slip agreement, they were required to wear hats, gloves, snow pants, snow boots, and a warm, insulated coat. Optional but recommended were scarves, hand warmers, and toe-warmers.
A few girls didn’t bring any toe-warmers, but most of the class did. Some had even worn theirs to school. Throughout the hallway, numerous girls pulled out plastic packages from their lockers. Without a care in the world, the girls aggressively ripped open the packaging, freeing the tiny men encased inside before dropping them into their vile socks.
The hallway floor was soon littered with empty cases of the various toe-warmer brands. The previous contents of those cases were now trapped underneath the toes of a young girl. Some luckier ones were trapped underneath a girl who wore thin socks, which allowed for more breathability. Others weren’t so lucky, however, as they were trapped underneath a girl who wore thick, fuzzy socks, which quickly became humid and smelly from sweat.
Once changed, the girls gathered on the buses, and the field trip commenced. When they arrived at their destination, some girls went sledding, some went tubing, and others just played around in the snow. While they were having fun, the tiny men trapped underneath their toes were living in hell.
Brie hurriedly walked down the hall to her next class when she suddenly felt a crunch underneath her right foot.
“Fuck!” she yelled audibly in the noisy hallway after realizing what had just happened. She entered the nearest restroom and walked toward the trash can before removing the black leather boot on her right foot. After peeling off her dark red boot sock, she saw the bloody remains of her toe-warmer on the ball of her foot. Why couldn’t they just stay underneath her toes, she thought, as this seemed like a regular occurrence for her.
After grabbing a piece of paper towel, she cleared off the half-squished man on her barefoot, as well as the rest of his remains on the inside of her sock. She discarded the waste in the trash and inspected her sock, where she noticed the man’s blood blended in against the dark red wool fabric. She was glad she didn’t choose to wear white socks that day.
After putting her sock and boot back on, she scrunched the toes of her other foot. In response, she felt the squirming movements from her other toe-warmer. At least that one is still alive, she thought to herself before continuing on with her day.
Arriving home from a long day at work, Leslie slipped off her black flats at the front door before heading to her bedroom to change. Working an office job wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but it paid the bills. She was glad to finally be home so she could change out of her stiff work attire.
The mature woman entered her bedroom while she started to unbutton her white blouse. Once her blouse was off, she tossed it on the floor and unbuttoned her black dress pants. She stepped out of her pants and grabbed both pieces of her discarded work garments before tossing them into her laundry hamper.
In her underwear, she looked down at her socked feet. Like most days, she had worn toe-warmers, not so much for comfort but rather for amusement. The squirming men underneath her toes offered her slight enjoyment while she worked her dull desk job. Sadly, the lack of movements the past few hours indicated the men were likely dead.
One by one, Leslie stripped off her socks. For the first one, she noticed the unfortunate man stuck underneath the crevices of her wrinkled toes. She peeled off the motionless man from her slightly moist foot and held him in her palm as she took off her other sock. Like before, she looked for the toe-warmer under the crevices of her toes, but there was nothing except lint from her sock. Curious, she inspected the sock in her hand until she finally saw the lifeless man who was stuck to the black cotton fabric.
“There you are!” she chuckled while she peeled the tiny man off her damp sock. She looked down at her palm, observing the two deceased bodies. They had clearly been dead for a while. She assumed they suffocated to death as many of her previous toe-warmers had. Maybe she should listen to her friend’s advice and go for the more expensive brand next time.
With the two deceased men still in her palm, Leslie walked over to the attached bathroom of her bedroom. After flipping on the light switch, she walked toward the toilet and pushed up the lid. Without hesitation, she turned over her palm above the toilet, sending the two men to the water below. A splash could be heard as the men quickly descended into the toilet water. With a simple flush, the swirling water carried the men away, never to be seen again.