I lost count of the steps it took Brittany to get to her car, because very quickly I was merely trying to stay conscious as she used the foot I was trapped against to pedal. She must have gotten onto a highway for wherever her destination was because I could feel her foot press hard into the accelerator several times. After an indeterminate amount of time though she pushed me into the brake hard, finally came to a complete stop and I heard her turn the car off.

Through the sneaker I could hear her grab her purse, and call someone on her phone while she stepped out into the cold air. “Yeah, I'm here,” she said over the phone, “You'll see in a second, jeez.”

Brittany then began to walk, each step like some sort of demented carnival ride to me. She stopped, and I heard a door open, a familiar voice came through the chuck, “God, bitch, what took you so long?”

Brittany giggled, “Shut up, slut, I'll show you in a second.”

I sighed, I only knew one person that Brittany traded faux-insults with like that, and I had no idea how she would react to me at this size. Brittany began walking again, and I now began to place the other girl's booming voice as her best friend from high school Nicole. They were prattling on, with Nicole continuously trying to turn the conversation back to why Brittany was late.

After I heard another door close, Brittany finally spoke, “I was busy because I was shrinking John.”

“What?” I heard Nicole say, “John, high school John?”

“Yes,” Brittany responded with a giggle, “I invited him over, he probably thought I was going to have sex with him or something.” Nicole's laugh reached me and I sighed as I realize the whole thing had just been merely a set up, I really thought that maybe Brittany and I had had something. “Then you know, gave him some drugged wine and shrank his ass.”

Nicole continued to laugh as she then asked, “So where is he now?”

Brittany laughed, “Right shoe!” I then felt her lift me off the ground.

“You bitch,” Nicole responded, “That's so mean.”

“Oh come on, how many guys have died in a pair of your boots?” Brittany retorted as she dropped her foot back to the ground, causing all of the air to once more escape my lungs.

“Yeah but they all cheated on me or something,” Nicole said, there was surprising hint of softness in her voice as she said, “John's just a loser.”

“Whatever,” Brittany said, “Do you want to see him or not?”

“Of course I want to see him!” Nicole replied.

I then heard Brittany untying her shoes and before I could even believe it was happening I felt the rush of cool fresh air as Brittany yanked me off of the damp insole and dropped me casually onto the floor. It took me a few seconds to orient myself as I saw Brittany slide her foot back into her sneaker and tie it up. Then I turned around and saw Nicole.

Nicole had been a good head shorter than me, which is why it was positively frightening to see her now stretching high into the sky. She was wearing a pair of black high heeled boots, blue jeans that looked more like they were painted on than actually worn, and then a plain brown sweater. Her face was craned down toward me so I could see its cute pixie-like features framed not by the light brown that she used to have in high school but now a deep black dye job, finally she was actually wearing her glasses the black frames of which neatly complimented her features. “Hey there, little guy,” Nicole said as she then raised her gigantic boot and brought it down directly in front of me with a thunderous crash.

I backed away from the point of her boot, my eyes noticing the laces that scrolled up the front of the boot presumably for show as I also spotted a zipper on the in-seam of the boots. Nicole was just casually watching me as I stared back up at her. I turned to see Brittany still sitting on the floor, her thin pink lips spread in a grin across her dimpled cheeks, long blonde hair resting comfortably across her shoulders. Nicole inched her boot forward as her thundering voice broke the silence, “Do you know what I like, little guy?” I continued to back pedal away from her boot until I realized I was only bringing myself closer toward Brittany's gigantic form. I tried to contemplate between which was worse, despite the old adage of the devil you know, that devil also had stuffed me into a sweaty sneaker for who knows how long. “I like to watch little men like you climb my boots,” Nicole continued as she planted her boot down in front of me, “Come on John, it'll be fun.”

I gulped turning back toward Brittany, whose blue eyes were resting on me carefully watching my every movement. Animal fear took over, I didn't want to be trapped in that twisted carnival ride of Brittany walking again. Even as I tried to contemplate it all; the heat, the sweat, the taste, the smell, the constant up and down in crushing. While it was all happening it was just a bad dream, one where I was constantly on the verge of passing out but as that sensation became memory I started to fear it ever happening again. I leaped onto Nicole's black boot and then gripped onto the laces trying to scramble up them like a marine on an obstacle course. As I was about halfway up though, Nicole turned and began to step away from Brittany. I let out a piercing scream as I clenched my hands down onto the laces I was holding, the lower half of my body swung back and forth unable to gain a grip as Nicole took three quick steps to her bed before sitting down on it and then swinging her legs up onto it.

My knuckles were white and everything below my torso felt like a giant bruise, meanwhile I could only hear the sounds of Nicole and Brittany laughing. Nicole was sitting up in her bed and staring down at me, “Did I say to stop climbing, little guy?” Nicole boomed down at me.

I heard the thunderous booms of Brittany's approach and then my world was cast in shadow as she loomed over me, “Yeah, Slave. Keep climbing, it amuses me.”

“And you better fucking amuse us, little guy,” Nicole boomed down toward me, “Or else.” Nicole then carefully lifted her other booted foot up above me, dangling it and twirling it around obviously to emphasize how easily she could just squish me with it. Brittany's laughter filled my ears as I slowly planted my feet on Nicole's boot laces again, and painstakingly unclenched my hands to continue my ascent.

With my climb renewed however Brittany lost interest, “Where's that Jack you said you had?”

“In my desk,” Nicole said gesturing toward the gargantuan structure I could spy in the distance. As Brittany cracked open the bottle of Jack Daniels and located shot glasses I continued to rise up Nicole's boot under her gaze. Finally, as Brittany and her downed their first shots, I reached the top. Nicole's soft white hand came down and gently picked me off of her boot and set me down on her nightstand. “What do you want to do with him while we're out?” Nicole asked Brittany while the taller girl poured another shot.

“I figured I could just stuff him in my shoes again,” Brittany replied.

“No, you'll just kill him while we're at the party,” Nicole stated as she downed her shot, then she gently began to stroke my body with her fingers that I had once considered tiny. “Besides,” she explained, “That's just too mean to do to, John.”

“Since when do you care?” Brittany asked, “I thought you hated him cause he was a creep.”

“He had his moments,” Nicole explained as she gently brushed my body, “And he liked me a lot, least I can do is return the favor by letting him not get crushed to death on his first night.”

“Fuck it,” Brittany explained, “I really don't care, I was going to crush or eat him eventually.” Brittany's hand stretched down toward me.

Luckily, Nicole swatted it away, “How much did you have to drink before coming here? He's a tiny guy, you should at least keep him till we make sure no one will think we're responsible for his disappearance. I'll put in the same place I keep all the men I shrink and then we'll head out, ok?”

“Whatever,” Brittany responded. I stared up at the giant girl, trying to figure out what had lead to her sudden lack of interest in me.

As Nicole picked me up with a big smile on her face though it began to dawn on me. Brittany had been expecting Nicole to treat me with open contempt, if not stomp me or try to eat me very quickly. Brittany glowered at me as Nicole carried me over to her closet where she pulled out a small hamster cage that she set me down into before latching high above me. As Nicole smiled at me and her thunderous voice called down, “We'll talk to you in the morning, little guy,” I could see Brittany just frowning at me in the distance. Both girls then walked out with booming footsteps as I sat on the floor of the cage.