Mel sat, took up the telephone, and ordered several menu items in a quick flurry, as well as another round of drinks. Jennifer sat next to her, at the center of the couch. There was a small pile of red mush on the floor. Her eyes followed the small blood prints in the shape of her shoe as they led to her. There were trademarks in the blood, and everything was nearly the same color as the glossy floor. The blood near the center of the room was still slowly pointing a long thin trail towards the drain in the floor.

Jennifer’s body was alight with activity. She felt as if her skin was able to sense the vibrations of the room. Her thoughts were smooth and rapid. She first felt power, then worry at the lack of remorse. She tried to dig into herself to find the part that felt bad. But staring at the pile of viscera she could only feel anger. She saw the faces of the people who whispered about her in the halls. She saw the anonymous figures ridiculing her online. Her breathing became more rapid, and she felt like she could become the monster they thought she was. They think she’s just another terrible upper-sider, so why not?

“Jennnnnniffer.”

“Hmm?”

“I was asking if you wanted some more vanillas, number ones?”

“No. Order me some of the… spicy ones?”

“You got it. I’ll get some more free range too. They aren’t food grade but they’re fun to play with.” Mel turned to the phone and relayed the rest of the order.

“Can I.. have one of those knights too?” Jennifer blushed slightly, she quite liked the idea of a tiny chivalrous handsome knight.

“Good idea!” Mel smiled and finished the order, “One of the dragon slayers, oh and could you inquire about my guests? Yes. Excellent.”

Jennifer swallowed. She felt hungry again, the meals inside her had all but disappeared. If anything, they had primed her appetite. Combined with the booze, she was feeling ravenous. The shifted her toes around in her shoe. The nylon was a little sweaty, and there was a spot on her sole where the man had ended that still tingled. She removed the shoe and flexed her toes, examining the sole of the shoe. Still glistening with the remains. She thought how odd it was that this stupid little discount shoe squished him. She looked at her foot and pressed her thumb into it for relief. Splattered under a foot. So strange.

Jennifer took off her other shoe and stretched, the black sweaty nylon making an imprint on the cool floor. It felt good to kick her shoes off. She rose as Mel picked up her phone and began to text. Jennifer walked to the far table, her soft soles moving over the blood. She reached for the box. It was heavy and had a simple hinge. She lifted it and found a variety of small tools that looked like dentists’ tools. A large black battery sat at the bottom, with exposed contacts leading to long black wires. Jennifer tried to make sense of everything and couldn’t.

“What is all this… stuff?”

Mel looked up from her phone “Uh, Oh! Toys. You can bring it over here if you want.” Mel said, sounding a little bored before returning to her phone.

Jennifer closed the case, and as she walked it over to the couch a server appeared to deposit their order. They left two squirming glass bowls and a solitary caste on the tray, leaving the whole tray between them on the couch before leaving. Mel put her phone down and licked her lips. Muffled shouting could be heard at odd intervals.

“OK so food-grade tinies are naked, and the ones with cute little shirts are free range.” Mel pointed to each glass, shouts of fear emanating from each one as her hand hovered over them

Jennifer reached for a food-grade individual and withdrew a dark-haired woman who began to scream and beat at her fingers. The woman was shouting something, and the tinies in the smooth glass container tried to hold onto her. Once freed, Jennifer brought the woman to her face. She was shrieking in some unknown language, it sounded like nonsense.

“What’s the deal with these ones?”

Mel only shrugged. A pair of legs protruded from between her lips. They kicked and squirmed, their owner trying to free themselves. Jennifer looked at the woman in between her fingers. Tears streamed down her face, she was hysterical.

“Shhhh. It’s ok.” Jennifer cooed and gently patted the woman, “It’s going to be over soon.”

With that, her mouth opened and the woman screamed with increased fervor. Her voice was cut off as plush lips closed her in behind rows of teeth. Jennifer savored the woman, noting salty and umami notes. Her screams were disjointed, occasionally interrupted as Jennifer knocked the wind out of the little thing with her tongue. She maneuvered the woman to the back of her throat, and her struggles turned desperate. She shrieked once, suspended over the entrance to the digestive system. With a gulp she disappeared, her frenzied attempt cut short.

Mel was still suckling on the same one, occasionally slurping them back in as they tried to escape her. Mel was opening the box and maneuvering some of the tools While Jennifer watched. She attached a small metal rod to a handle wired to the battery. She withdrew one of the clothed tinies and dangled them above the bowl. Jennifer began to fish another morsel out of the bowl, her fingers causing them to flee as best they could. She closed in on a man with long hair. But her hand froze while grasping him in the bowl. The others tried to pry her fingers away as Jennifer was transfixed by Mel.

The tiny in her grip dangled by his legs, shirt flipping over his head, both his feet held fast by Mel’s thumb and forefinger. Her tongue slid out to once again reposition the tiny half inside her mouth. The metal rod device began to turn red, and Mel gently stuck it to the tiny man’s exposed ribcage. He began to scream and writhe, and a small puff of smoke emanated from the spot Mel prodded. Both of the bowls fell silent as they watched in horror.

“Please! Why!!?” He screamed.

The tiny man removed his shirt and tried using it as a barrier to push the metal rod away as it burned away his skin. Jennifer squinted. He looked familiar. She chuckled, then quickly put her hand over her mouth in embarrassment. Mel withdrew the rod, turned him over, and placed it gently on his spine. The man screamed again and struggled to get away in vain.

“AHH! God! Please! You! You said you’d! AHHH!” He locked eyes with Jennifer as he screamed and sobbed through the pain, smoke rising from his back.

“Wait… he’s the one we picked up?” Jennifer’s memory was jogged as she blinked away some of her intoxication.

Mel furrowed her brow, then sucked the tiny between her lips all the way into her mouth. Pressing them to her cheek, she spoke as she began to chew. She turned the dangling one over, holding them close.

“Huh.” Screams and squelches rang out in between her molars rising and falling, “Yeah.” Mel finished her mouthful and swallowed.

“Must have been a mix-up,” Mel stated nonchalantly.

“What should we..” Jennifer trailed off. She raised the squirming man to her lips, the sudden movement shaking off those trying to save him.

“Well, it might be a little late to do anything.” Mel laughed and prodded him again with the hot rod. He writhed and protested, dropping his shirt while yelling:

“Nono! No! Wait! AHHHHHH! No... Please… I won’t tell anyone. I just... I just want to live…” He returned to sobbing.

“Bullshit.” Jennifer said, waving the tiny man in front of her face, “You’ll be pulling some stupid shit online. We can’t trust you. Give him to me, I’ll put him out of his misery.”

Mel smiled and handed him over. Jennifer gently placed him on the floor next to her empty shoes. She scrunched her toes in front of him as he lay limp. He could barely move. Mel placed the little morsel from her other hand into her mouth and quickly swallowed. His sudden disappearance into her body caused a panic and he squirmed all the way down.

“Hold on, there’s another. That other one from earlier.” Mel interrupted, holding out another tiny woman in a white shirt. Sure enough, she was the one from the bus stop.

“How did you end up in here?” Jennifer addressed the tiny woman as she took her from Mel.

“You brought us here! You fucking monster!” She was delirious.

“Well, sorry. It’s got to end this way.”

“Don’t you fucking eat me you sicko! Fucking psychopath!”

“Eat you? No.” Jennifer laughed. “You aren’t food-grade.”

“Yeah,” Mel interjected, looking up from her phone, “You’re foot grade!” She laughed at her own joke and moved to the floor next to Jennifer. Sitting down, she held her phone near the floor.

“I’m not… fucking what?!?!” The woman protested.

“What are you doing?” Jennifer asked, lowering the protesting tiny woman between her legs.

“Cool if I film this? For my other account.” Mel said and reached over to grab another tiny to quickly pop into her mouth. A single frantic arm stuck out from between Mel’s lips as she focused in on the burned tiny looking towards Jennifer’s dark nylon toes.

“Yeah, I guess.” Jennifer lowered the erratic woman, swinging and kicking, to the floor. She immediately tumbled, stood, and began to run. The man watched as Jennifer’s foot descended upon her. The fabric encased the woman, and for a moment Jennifer thought she’d squished her.

“Let me get my shoes on first, jeez.”

Jennifer repositioned her foot, finding the hysterical woman still alive. Her toes pinned the woman to the ground without squishing her, and Jennifer pivoted on her heel as she raised her other foot to put her shoe on. She grabbed the left shoe, not yet bloodied.

“Let me go you fucking bitch!” The woman screamed from between her toes and under the nylon.

“You don’t have… I won’t say…” The man sat and barely formed words between sobs.

“I’m really sorry about this. You shouldn’t have missed your bus.”

Jennifer placed her foot on the ground, sliding her shoe on all the way with a ‘Thup’ sound as her foot squeezed into position. She did feel a little bad, seeing them on the floor underneath her. They probably didn’t deserve this. At least it would be quick. And, she thought, at least one of us will enjoy it.

Still sitting, she lifted her shoe, placing the heel in front of the man. She angled the shoe so it was pointing at an angle over him, and rotated the sparkly pump a little so she could see that he was still in position. She lowered her foot, the treads coming down with deadly force. Mel smiled and brought her camera in close. The woman’s face was visible in the background, tears streaming under the fabric of Jennifer’s big toe.

In a last moment of desperation, the man lept forward just as the tread was about to contact him. He did not leap far enough, and the toe of the shoe landed on his waist. In a mere instant, his bottom half was pulverized. Jennifer had already committed the stomp and didn’t realize she fell short until he was already nearly cut in half. Blood spurted from his sides as he screamed. The woman under her toes screamed too, and Jennifer just wanted it to stop.

The shoe lifted, and Jennifer found the flattened half was still attached to the front half. She dug the toe of her shoe into the ruined flesh and gently dragged him closer to her. Twitching and coughing up blood, the man was pulled into a pool of his own gore and looked up to the sole which still had pieces of him stuck to it. He whimpered and looked at the woman trapped under the other foot. They made eye contact, and he was about to mouth something before the black rubber embraced him again.

He became a squelch of blood, and Jennifer’s heel lifted slightly out of the shoe as she ground his wasted form back and forth to ensure the job was done. She scrunched her toes and deposited the woman closer to the bloodstained shoe. Mel rose slightly to get a better angle. As she held her phone, she was chewing very slowly as desperate cries for help occasionally escaped her lips.

“Hold still or this will take longer than it needs to.”

“You’re a monster!” The woman screamed and immediately began to flee.

Jennifer shifted her hips and planted her nylon foot on her again. This time the force was more than she had meant, but she was happy to still feel movement near her arch. For a moment she considered popping the little thing right there, but she didn’t want to get her nylons wet. The sensation of the woman scrambling against her sole gave her goosebumps, and she rocked her foot a little to disperse the feelings around her sensitive sole.

“It feels kind…of… good?”

Mel simply raised a thumbs up, then reached for another tiny. She opened her mouth, revealing an intact man with open wounds all over his body. He was panting, and could barely move. A woman was dropped alongside him, and the torture began anew.

Jennifer felt a small snap. A tiny release of pressure from the woman under her foot. She quickly withdrew and inspected her sole. She was relieved to find no blood and looked at the woman who was lying nearly flat in an unnatural position. Her back was twisted around, and while she was trying to crawl she was unable to move her hips or legs. She was desperately crying.

“Whoops. Sorry. I told you.”

The woman began to sob and hyperventilate as the shadow of the shoe fell over her. Blood dripped onto her, and she saw a chunk of flesh fall from between the threads to land with a wet plop next to her. The pain in her lower back was dulled by the horror of her impending flattening, and she felt dread well up into her.

Jennifer let her shoe drop, and her heel again rose out of the shoe to attain the leverage necessary to fully flatten her. A pop and a wet crunch later and she was gone. Jennifer lifted her foot to examine the damage, and being satisfied, removed the shoe before gently placing it off to the side.

Mel swallowed whatever she was still toying with in her mouth, and smiled.

“Awesome. That’s going to get a ton of views! Who knew you had it in you?”

Jennifer smiled. She didn’t feel great about it but she was glad it was over. They couldn’t have been allowed to leave here. It would look awful for lower-siders to see what goes on in here. She would never hear the end of it at school. It was better that the secrets stayed here, and it gave her a good feeling to finally work out her anger. Popping them like grapes gave her such a rush, and she felt like she was taking back the awful situation. She was healing, and it was just bad luck that they hadn’t made their bus or made the taxi home.

She reached into the food glass and withdrew a tiny man with almond skin. He was simply crying, eyes fixed on the stains on the floor.

“Don’t worry. You’re not going on the floor” She opened her mouth, and he began to scream as her tongue got closer and closer. Her lips sealed up, and his screams were muffled by Jennifer’s own sighs of enjoyment and relief.

Mel took out another clothed tiny man. His protests were cut off as she held him in her palm and addressed him.

“Hi, cutie. I’m Mel. What’s your name?”

“Please, you don’t have to do this!” The man yelled.

“Name.” Mel waved the red-hot rod in front of them.

“M…muhm..m… Mehmet.”

“Well, muh-muh-muh Mehmet,” Mel mocked his fearful stutter, “I would like to give you the option of how to die. Any way you’d like.”

The cold cruelty settled on his mind. His brow furrowed, and he looked around to the death that hung in the room. He steadied himself, standing up in Mel’s palm.

“Go fuck yourself, bitch!”

“Oooo! Interesting choice. Thank you for playing.” Mel smiled devilishly.

Mel stood, putting down the heating rod. She lifted the front of her dress slightly, just enough to get a thumb around the lip of her underwear. She noticed Jennifer watching with confusion.

“Don’t look! Perv!” Mel jokingly chided.

Jennifer blushed and averted her eyes. She heard the protests and begging of the little guy turn muffled, and then disappear altogether. Her eyes widened, and she looked back to Mel straightening out her dress.

“Did you just…”

“What? He asked!” Mel shrugged.

“Is that… safe?”

“Yeah it’s fine, you barely feel them anyways.”

“You’ve done this before…?” Jennifer was more impressed than shocked.

“Listen, cutie. These little toys can be a lot of fun. A. Lot. Of. Fun.” Mel punctuated her words and sat back down.

Jennifer felt the residents of her stomach struggle against her body’s claim on their bodies and she wondered how it would feel to take someone with her sex. How it might feel to know someone is struggling inside her where she has more sensation. She blushed and felt it wholly inappropriate to do something in the presence of company. She looked disapprovingly at Mel who was scanning the remaining food.

Jennifer sighed and leaned over to examine the tower. It had been quiet, and she gingerly stuck her hand into it to feel around. It felt like a little diorama inside, with tiny furniture and flimsy wood. She felt the slap of a dull sword and jumped. She laughed and reached her hand in again to quickly snatch the knight within.

He had long dark hair sticking out from under his visor, and the spots where his skin was visible showed a tanned and muscled body. He swung valiantly at her hand, each blow bouncing off with no effect. Jennifer laughed again, it almost tickled.

“Beast! I name you my enemy!” His voice sounded almost like a caricature.

“Oh, but what if I want to be friends?” Jennifer pouted.

“You cannot feel such emotions, fiend!”

“How do you know? Do I look like a fiend?”

For the first time, the knight faltered and looked up from where he was attacking. He lifted his visor, and with wide eyes saw Jennifer.

“What manner of trickery is this?!” He shouted

“No tricks. I don’t want to eat you. I want to enjoy you in other ways.” Jenifer leaned in and flashed a disarming smile.

The knight only stuttered. He dropped his blade and began to look all around the room, as if suddenly horribly confused. Jennifer laughed and looked at Mel to see if she was watching her try to seduce the knight. Mel was laughing too, a tiny man between her lips and a tiny woman in her mouth covered in blood. Jennifer stopped laughing for a moment and dropped the knight onto her lap. For a brief second, she saw a face she recognized. She suddenly felt very sober as she watched Xavi from class get sucked into Mel’s mouth to be ground to a pulp.

“Mel! Wait!”

“Hmm?” Mel’s eyebrows raised, while she idly chewed.

“Ss… STOP! Stop Chewing! You’re eating Xavi!”

Mel’s eyes widened, and she leaned forward to spit out her mouthful. A deluge of gore and saliva spilled out in between the glasses, several distinct body parts and one tiny Xavi, pink with spit and blood, coughing and yelling unintelligibly. He was spasming in panic, and threw a chunk of someone else off of him that landed with him in the pile. He tried to wipe the remains from his face and eyes but only shook and screamed.

“What. The. Fuck.” Mel said, wiping her mouth, “I can’t fucking believe this.”

“How did this happen!?” Jennifer was distraught, “I don’t understand.”

Jennifer stared at Mel in confusion, down at Xavi in horror, and back to Mel for answers. Her vision seemed unfocused and the lights suddenly seemed too bright.

“I can’t believe they put a fucking free range in with the food-grade. Unacceptable.”