Grant had to fight the urge to touch his chest as he lay in his fetid prison.

He had bounced along inside the dark slick world of Sadie's pocket as the girls finished their jog. Each stride felt like he was rocketing forward, braced against the hard wall of an enormous thigh, before he was suddenly freely swinging backward through the open air, only to be smacked again when Sadie continued forward.

It was the perfect kind of torture to keep him confused and off-balance but the worst part was that Grant doubted it was intentional at all.

When the sensation had finally slowed down and Grant desperately tried to piece together what was happening, he could hear the three girls talking about their day like it was any other. Doors had opened and shut while they complained about how thirsty and sweaty they were and then suddenly he was being yanked out into the light.

“Thanks, Summer,” his redheaded captor had thundered as she was handed something metallic by another gargantuan sorority girl who looked like she had just rolled out of bed. The giantess muttered something around an immense yawn before shutting the door to her room.

Grant had stared out at the vast house that began to blur by as Sadie strolled through it.

The spaces that she walked through with sweat slowly dripping down her milky skin were far more opulent than any dorm room he had been in. As she passed down a central staircase that could be best described as palatial, even if he wasn't viewing it from the size of a mouse, Grant realized that he had to have been inside the actual Gamma Phi Beta House on Sorority Row.

He remembered thinking that the mansion-like homes of the Sororities always looked far nicer than their Fraternity counterparts on the other side of campus, which while equally big and properly aged often looked to be in more desperate need of repairs. No matter what image they presented to the world though, Grant had always assumed that on the inside they would look like a normal house, if not downright dorm-like. Yet, Sadie was strolling through a place that looked like something out of a movie.

As the giant girl walked, her thumb began to run up and down Grant's body, making him squirm and yelp. He tried to shove against the powerful digit but that only made Sadie grunt in annoyance. The thumb pressed down harder and then dragged itself painfully across his chest. His shirt ripped and then half of it went fluttering through the air while her thumb pressed down against his legs. Grant tried to plead with the enormous redhead but as he looked up, he realized that her eyes weren't even on him.

She was tearing his clothes off through feel alone.

The thought made him go still and he looked away to avoid thinking about just how easily she could overpower him now. He turned his attention to the immense kitchen they passed through, which looked like it could comfortably be used by a small team of professional chefs.

A door opened onto a narrow staircase and the hint of must told him they were descending into a basement while the hollow sound that echoed from the carpeted steps below confirmed it. Sadie carried him through a finished basement that looked far more bare bones than the areas she had passed through above; the walls were primer coated sheet rock, the floor a plain red-brown carpet, and there were still a few exposed metal pillars to support the gorgeous mansion above.

The majority of the basement seemed to be some kind of rarely used game room. He spotted a pool table and a foosball table, both of which seemed to dwarf the campus's football stadium in his eyes, collecting dust in the center of the room. Sadie walked through an open door just past the foosball table and Grant was quickly dropped onto a neatly maintained desk while her hand grabbed a worn zippo lighter.

Grant had started to rise to his feet when he watched the redhead above him flip the lighter open and ignite it with practiced ease. The strange piece of metal in her other hand ran through the flame and as it started to turn cherry red, his body froze in terror.

The world shook as Cassidy and Tiffany stepped forward, both of them holding towels and shower caddies in their hands. “Wait, Sadie,” the blonde began, her booming voice wavering with nervousness.

Grant turned toward her, wondering what it was that the giant girl was trying to say.

And then he felt the worst pain of his life.

His body spasmed and flopped around as burning hot metal pressed against his chest. He could smell his own flesh cooking beneath the brand that was held against him. The little man was dimly aware of the gasps from the girls above but his vision wavered as he struggled to make sense of their vast countenances up in the heavens.

When the brand was pulled back with a sickening peeling noise, he could only lay there panting for air while his chest felt like it was still on fire.

“Fuck, it's crooked...”

The touch of Sadie's enormous finger near the wound made Grant involuntarily scream.

“That's why we normally tape them down,” Cassidy said softly.

“Well, Summer just gave me the brand...”

“I know she's your Big but Summer is kind of forgetful.”

“Just say that you think she smokes too much weed,” Sadie scoffed as she dropped the brand next to Grant with a clatter.

The vast wooden plateau shook as the girls walked off. The pain began to subside and Grant could feel his body stirring, the need to escape the horrifying living nightmare he found himself in mounting with every second.

And that's when Sadie's hand swept him back into the sky.

“You don't have walking around privileges yet, you little fuck,” was all she said as she dropped him into a dark tunnel.

Everything around him was soft and damp but it was only when his mind fully processed the smell that it hit him: Sadie had dropped him into her running sneaker. When he scrambled toward the light, despite the painful shocks that sent through his chest, he was met with a balled up white sock in his path. It squelched when his hands touched it and he recoiled back in disgust while somewhere outside Sadie's laughter rattled through the heavens.

Grant's chest continued to throb as he sat there, struggling to put together what had happened to him. No matter how many times he had played it over in his head though, it didn't make any sense. He had been standing there, minding his own business when a sorority girl had punched him without provocation and he found himself the size of an action figure on the floor.

A part of him wondered if he had somehow brought it on himself by watching them run by for the better part of a year. Maybe he did deserve to get popped in the mouth for ogling women. Grant had always felt a little guilty and creepy for it but he had never found the will to actually stop.

The more he thought about it though, the more he realized that the two were entirely unconnected. Sadie hadn't pointed to him in a 'how about that creep we all know' way, she had pointed him out because he was simply the nearest target.

Anybody who had stepped out to have a smoke at that moment would have ended up where he was: trapped in her shoe with an aching burn on their chest.

Laying there with the pain from the brand steadily dulling, Grant couldn't decide if the realization made him feel better or worse. On the one hand, it was good to know that none of the girls had ever noticed him staring. But on the other, that just drove home the obvious fact that he had been beneath their notice until Sadie had decided to shrink him on what appeared to be an annoyed whim.

“How does it even work...” he muttered, his fingers trailing his jaw once again.

One punch and he had wound up on the ground smaller than her foot.

It was clearly something they could all do, otherwise why would they have a brand? And why would Cassidy have said they normally taped people down?

“Holy shit, how long has this been going on...”

His mind raced as he wondered how many people over the years had been taken in the exact same way he had been. How many students that everyone thought had gone missing or simply dropped out of school for some legitimate reason had actually been victims of someone like Sadie? And if they could continue to shrink people when they left school then that would mean that there were potentially hundreds or thousands of 'missing' people who were trapped in some woman's shoe just like he was.

Grant shook harder and harder, his body naturally curling up into the fetal position as fear coursed through his veins. The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

Then he felt everything around him start to shake and he could make out the trio's familiar voices through the walls of Sadie's sneaker. Even with the fabric walls of the shoe muffling them, he realized that their voices still boomed like thunder to him.

“-mixer was canceled tonight, right?” Sadie's voice was the loudest, presumably because she was standing somewhere close to his prison.

“Yeah, and Leslie's apparently pissed about it,” Tiffany's voice rumbled in the distance.

“Why?” Cassidy's bright soprano sounded almost as far away as Tiffany's.

“You know how she is, as our Pan Hellenic rep she really believes in all the sisterhood stuff.”

“Whatever,” Sadie boomed, “The question is whether or not we should go to Fight Night at the Alpha Chi house instead.”

Even though Grant couldn't see it, he knew that the suggestion had made the other two girls suddenly grow still and quiet. Which meant that his heart was practically in his throat as he realized that 'fight night' probably didn't mean 'watching an MMA tournament on pay-per-view.'

“Sadie, we're not allowed to-”

“I know!” The redhead scoffed, “I wouldn't want to do that anyway. I need someone to clean my shoes after I go to shows. But it's still fun to watch...”

“I think it's a little barbaric,” Cassidy said softly, “And besides, I have a paper to work on.”

“Fine, what about you, Tiff?”

“Can't, a cappella tonight.”

“You two are no fun,” Sadie's voice grew louder and Grant's prison suddenly shook.

His eyes snapped toward the vast cotton ball blocking his view as the girl's powerful fingers pulled it free. Light and fresh air flooded into the narrow tunnel and Grant couldn't stop his body from scrambling toward it, which meant that he dove right into the giant girl's waiting fingers.

“Aw, did ya miss me while I was gone, ya little fuck?” Sadie giggled as she plucked him free of his prison and yanked him high up into the air.

Grant's eyes went wide as plaid pillars raced by, followed by a billowy black button up that was crossed with neon green lines. He found himself dangling in front of Sadie's bright blue eyes with his stomach feeling like it was somewhere on the ground far below him.

Her sneaker clapped against the carpet below and her pink lips twitched into a smirk when he flinched in response. “I'm Sadie,” warm minty breath washed over Grant as she lowered him to hang at jaw level, “But you can call me Mistress or Master or Goddess or whatever will remind you that I'm the one in charge here.”

Grant nodded his head rapidly, his whole body shaking as he whimpered, “I-I-I know...”

“You know what?” A thin red eyebrow arched with the question.

“I-I I meant that, I, uh,” Grant coughed around the lump in his throat, “That I knew yo-your name.”

“Yeah?” Her free hand reached down and a plastic wrapper on her desk rustled. She brought two peanut M&M's, both of which were slightly bigger than Grant's head, to her mouth and popped them in. Her bright white teeth smashed the candy apart and he could do nothing but stare at the way the food was torn apart in her maw as she spoke, “What'd we have a class together or something?”

Grant shook his head and his mouth kept going even though he knew it was a terrible idea, “N-no, I just, you all would always run by the dining hall...”

Her face scrunched together in distaste and she popped another M&M into her mouth, “Ew, what were you? Some kind of cringy little pervert?”

“NO!” He could feel the heat rising in his little body, “No, I promise, I just saw you all and heard you talk to each other. It gets boring working in the dining hall...”

“Yeah,” she cracked a fourth piece of candy between her molars loud enough to make him flinch, “Sure.”

“Please,” he whimpered, “I'm telling you the tru-”

“So here's how it's going to go, perv,” Sadie thundered over him while his body rapidly descended to her desk. “I'm going to institute a simple three strike policy for you. First strike, I just make you smaller. Second strike, you get to spend the day in time out with my toes. Third strike, you're out and I squash your bug-sized ass.”

Stumbling on the wood of her desk, all Grant could think was that being punished more severely each time didn't really feel like baseball but a single glance up at Sadie's firmly set face was enough to keep him silent. He nodded his head, “Y-yes, ma'am.”

“Ew, don't call me 'ma'am',” she sneered while sliding rings onto her fingers, “I'd rather be called, like, 'boss' than that.”

Grant nodded his head fervently, “Yes, boss.”

A surprisingly bright and genuine laugh echoed out and the giant girl shook her head, “Ok, I actually love that. From now on, that's the only thing I want you to call me.”

He could feel his knees grow weak and he dropped down to his knees while weakly nodding, “Yes, boss...”

Another musical giggle thundered across the sky as she bent down toward the floor.

Metal jingled below but Grant cast his gaze to the rest of the room in an attempt to see how her roommates were reacting to the strange scene. The room's furniture seemed to be an eclectic collection of pieces the sorority clearly didn't want displayed in the rest of the house; old white metal bed frames, pink trimmed wooden armoires, and three mismatched old writing desks along with more modern conveniences like a mini-fridge, microwave, and two dressers on Cassidy and Tiffany's sides of the room. All of it clashed with the barebones wall and cheap carpet but even with his current size distorting everything, Grant figured the room was far bigger than any triple that could be had on campus.

Tiffany was apparently already gone to her a cappella group, leaving only Cassidy seated at her desk. The girl had changed into a loose pair of jeans, a plain blue t-shirt, and matching blue socks with pink hearts on them. Pink noise cancelling headphones sat over her ears, which meant that his humiliating conversation with Sadie hadn't been overheard by the now gargantuan blonde.

Movement on the floor near the girl's feet drew Grant's gaze and he let out a faint yelp when he saw another shrunken man standing on the floor, gently tugging on the hem of her pants. His brand was planted vertically across his back, each letter now a dull white against his pale olive skin.

Cassidy looked away from her laptop and pulled her bulky headphones back from her ears, “Are you done with my sneakers already?”

“Yes, Miss!” The shrunken man's voice was weak in Grant's ears despite him yelling, “Did you want me to work on the flats you wore today or a different pair?”

“Hmm,” she tapped her chin in thought and then smiled, “I think I'll wear my pink converse later and probably tomorrow too, so make sure they're just perfect, ok?”

The little young man nodded fervently and then pressed his face against against the arch of her foot, “Yes, Miss!”

“Thaaaaanks,” she stretched out the word cutely while sliding her headphones back on, her attention already on her own work rather than the shrunken man.

Grant watched in horror as his counterpart jogged away from the girl to the underside of her bed, where he could just spy shoes lined up in neat rows. His head snapped across the room toward Tiffany's side, where a young woman was busy lapping away at the dirty soles of the giant girl's running sneaker.

His stomach churned and he doubled over, disgust and horror warring within his belly as he tried to process what he had just seen.

Then a thick metal chain looped twice around his waist before he heard a faint click.

“Wh-what?” Grant stammered while gripping the chain and then staring up at Sadie's retreating fingers.

“I told you, dude,” the redhead boomed as she stood up, her waist now higher than it had been when she first set him down, “You don't have walking around privileges yet.”

Grant watched as she unclipped a long chain that hung between two of the belt loops on her plaid pants and brought it down toward him. He tried to stumble to his feet and get away but her enormous hand moved faster than should've been possible for its size.

A metallic click echoed at his waist and then he was being dragged toward the edge of her desk.

“C'mere, you'll have to stay in my pocket till we get to Alpha Chi...”

With a flick of her wrist, Grant was suddenly swinging through the air, the world little more than a blur. He bounced and spun about with his stomach threatening to revolt, all while Sadie's laughter rang around him.

“Man, I should've gotten one of you things ages ago,” she boomed while he was hoisted up into the sky and then stuffed into the dark interior of her pocket for the second time that day.