Ellie pulled her big lips to one side of her mouth and shook her head. “Nope. It shouldn’t be let go. I don’t wanna spoil dinner.”

Anxiety kept rushing through Bruce’s veins. “IT? DINNER?” he thought. “Does Ellie even consider me a human being anymore?! Does she want to fucking eat me?!” His desperate plea to be freed had failed. Ellie and Tina were not about to hear any arguments. Their minds were made up and he knew it. Bruce rushed towards Ellie’s foot and hugged it like a little boy running to his mommy.

“Ellie… Ellie, please. Please, please, whatever you’re planning to do, please don’t do it!... I… I only wanted to take you out to a nice dinner… I don’t wanna be eaten!”

Ellie kicked her foot forward lightly, throwing Bruce on his back again.

“Ugh, it’s so creepy. Tina, pick it up so we can get back to mine and start cooking.”

She then started walking away back to her car, completely dismissing the enormous human rights violation she was deliberately committing.

Tina reached down and picked Bruce up.

“You might as well try to enjoy it, asshole. I’ve been dreaming about this for months,” Tina said to Bruce, her eyes stabbing at him like knives. “You’re not the first jerk I’ve eaten, you won’t be the last, and Ellie has been DYING to try shrunken human! I’ve told her all about it, oh yes, she wants to try something really exotic.”

Bruce tried to get through to her again, but before even finishing a sentence she dropped the shrunken man into her handbag and met Ellie in her car.

From within the handbag, Bruce could feel the vibrations of the motor and the roughness of the road during the trip. Occasionally he’d feel Tina shift her legs around. It was dark and the air was thin. Every breath he took was deep, but it still felt as though he had run a marathon. He couldn’t tell what he was touching, what he was climbing over. Tina’s purse? Makeup kit? Pens? Her phone? It was zipped shut and he was going nowhere. That didn’t stop him from keeping up his begging.

“TINA! ELLIE! I CAN HARDLY BREATHE IN HERE! LET ME OUT!”

Ellie, driving the car, gave a little frown. “Will you shut that thing up please, Tina? I want to eat it, not listen to it wail.” She said it totally casually, no regard whatsoever for what Bruce was really going through.

Tina opened the handbag and rummaged through her belongings to find little Bruce. She saw him pinned under the frame of a pair of sunglasses, horror still in his eyes.

“Shut the fuck up, or you’ll regret it,” she said sternly, raising her index finger at him. Being flicked by it was sure to hurt like hell.

Petrified, Bruce quietened down. You could hear a pin drop in that handbag. Although he was full of fear, this paralysis was voluntary. Screaming and begging was not working. All he could do was wait and hope he’d see a way out of this predicament.

Ten minutes passed. Bruce listened to Ellie and Tina talking amongst themselves. What he found most astonishing was that none of the conversation had been about what they were going to do with him. They were engaging in the kind of chit-chat you’d expect from any other pair of friends; gossip, music, books they were reading and the like.

The car stopped. Bruce felt Tina walking as she carried her handbag. Wherever their destination was, they had reached it. He saw the light again as Tina opened her handbag. He watched as her colossal hand dug through the handbag yet again, looking for him. Then she felt him.

“Ah, gotcha,” Tina said.

She carelessly dropped Bruce, causing him to fall what was 20 feet to him. The impact jarred the joints in both of his knees and bruised his upper right arm. He looked around to see where he was. A cold granite surface; a sink nearby; utensils.

It was Ellie’s kitchen.