I woke to the warmth of her skin. I lay in bed, Alice curled up beside me, in our shoe-box apartment beneath Annie's bed. I lifted her limp hand from my chest, kissed it, and moved it aside. She nuzzled her head against my chest, still not awake. I gently freed myself of her grasp, and set about getting dressed. Some dim light spilled through the crack of the cardboard door. I stepped through the doorway into Annie's massive room, and began to walk. I was careful to stay under the bed, and out of the open, where I knew Annie's feet could come down without warning. I've found that spending so much time in my shrunken state has given me a unique set of instincts about the giant world.  

  The air smelled fresh and cool. The bed rested against a wall of cinder block, thickly coated in dull cream paint. Four square columns of light pine held up the bed, one at each corner. Annie's shoes were parked neatly beside one of the columns at the far end, and her yellow flip-flops were set more carelessly nearby. I wandered towards the foot of the bed, eager to walk the sleep out of my limbs. I found myself heading towards Annie's sneakers, the only notable landmark in view.

  I stopped a pace from the side of the right shoe. I had become acquainted with this particular set of shoes two years earlier, when I had stayed a month over at Annie's. I had used their toes as chairs on a few occasions. I had even fallen inside one while trying to climb her bed. I felt like I was seeing old friends again. They were well-worn, their color faded through contact with the many elements encountered on their journeys. Three stripes of pink ran diagonally across the off-white wall in front of me, indicating the gender of the shoe's Olympian wearer. The shoe's highest point was about two feet over my head. That put me at about three inches tall. I stepped closer. I placed my hand against the leather, marveling at the texture of the monumental, mass-produced article of footgear. It was tactile contact with everyday objects like this that reminded me how extraordinary it was to be shrunken.

  I ran my hand along the surface as I walked to the front of the shoe. A lace vine hung in my path; I swiped at its plastic baton end and continued walking until I stood in front of the toe. Shoelaces criss-crossed up from the top of the toe to the tongue that bore a pink Adidas logo. Curious, I stepped up to the textured plastic shell. I placed my minuscule fingers under the rubber lip below the toe and tried to lift. I felt the pliant sole bend slightly, but that was all I could manage before my arms started to shake. It was heavy. Not that I was surprised. I knew from experience how the weight of common objects was affected by size changes. Shoes, even unworn, started to become noticeably heavy at about this size.

  I was walking back to the shoe-box when the mattress creaked above me. I froze. Annie drew in a full breath, and released it slowly. As I heard her continuing to stir, possibly preparing to leave the comfort of her bed, my eyes caught her flip-flops again, sparking an idea. Acting quickly, I ran over and grabbed the rubber toe-strap of her left flip-flop and began to pull. Thankfully, it was much lighter than her sneaker. I dragged it about ten feet backwards. I stepped onto the toe section of the foam platform and waited.

  Before too long, Annie's heels descended into view, dangling briefly before her bale soles plopped against the linoleum floor. She turned around to face the bed, and extended her right foot under the bed to retrieve the sandal, grasping its strap between her toes. She slid it out and slipped her toes through the strap. She sent the other foot forward, its toes groping in vain for sandal number two. At one point, she came within an inch of her target. I let out a soft chuckle. Frustrated, the girl got on her hands and knees, and peered under the bed. When she spotted me, standing on the yellow bed of foam rubber, she rolled her eyes, and extended her arm. I grabbed onto the strap as her pudgy fingers gripped the heel of the sandal, and dragged me carefully out into the open.

  “Hang on tight,” she said.
  I did.

   She inched her fingers up the sandal, gripping it more securely, and lifted it, carrying me upwards. Annie's body and the dorm room rushed dizzyingly downward. My stomach tossed with every jerk and tilt of my unconventional aircraft. Annie turned, and her hand set its cargo on the desk next to the bed, allowing me to climb onto its cluttered surface. Once I had stepped off, she collected her flip-flop, and lifted her leg in the air, shoeing the one foot while hopping on the other. She managed to get it on just before she lost her balance, and her grip on her foot, which hit the linoleum with a reverberating snap.

  While Annie slipped on her blue hooded sweatshirt, I took a minute to survey my surroundings. Above Annie's desk was a bookshelf that held about twelve books. Among them were How to Draw Anime Characters, a graphic design textbook, and the novel Demian. On the wall across her bed was a window, open slightly. The morning sky glowed softly, and a leaf sailed by now and then. A mechanical pen lay on her desk near me. I placed my foot on top of the rubber casing near its tip, rolling the pen forward and backward, clicking its pocket clip against the pine desk surface. Annie pulled out the chair, and sat at the desk in front of me, somehow managing to look ominous despite her sleepy eyes.

  “So, how'd you sleep?” she asked.
  “Great!”
  “Did you like your room?"
  “Yeah, Alice and I were impressed with the work you did.”
  “I'm glad.”
  The titanic teen stretched her arms up, and let out a yawn. She looked down at me again, blinking, with a smirk on her face.
  “Did you guys have sex?”
  I fumbled for a response, taken aback by her question. She broke into laughter, amused by her own bluntness.
  “Oh my God! I knew it!” she said, taking my stammering and evasive eyes for a “yes”. She poked my stomach sharply.
  “I knew you were a little stud.”
  Not wanting to dwell on the subject, I quickly looked for another one.
  “Where's Liz?” I asked, noticing the empty bed on the other side of the room.
  “Saturday class.”
  “Bummer.”
  “Alice is really cool. I like her.”
  “She likes you, too, Annie.”
  “How did you guys meet? How did she discover her powers?”
  Annie became more animated at the mention of my girlfriend.
  “When she wakes up, you can ask her.” I told her. “She loves to tell those stories.”
  “I can't wait! I'm sure she has some funny stories about you!”
  She poked me with her finger again.
  “Hey, careful with that thing!”

  She smiled defiantly, and lifted her hand over my head, fingers spread. Though I trusted her, I couldn't help but wince a little as she dropped it suddenly, her palm stopping in the air just above me.

  “Gssh!”

  She leaned forward, resting her head on the desk, and stuck her tongue out at me. Her beach-ball-sized eyes bulged comically. I returned the gesture, regretting it when I saw her hand approaching. I held my own hands up defensively, only to find my arms folding as her meaty fist enveloped me. I was just tall enough for my head to poke out the top of her curled fingers.

  “Annie – e-e-eugh!”

  I let out a high-pitched whimper as she clenched me tightly. She pulled her hand away, startled and giggling at the noise I made.

  “Oh, sorry!” she said with sympathy. “I didn't mean to do it that hard!”
   “Yeah, sure, Annie...”
  I turned my back on her playfully.
  “Aw, don't be like that, Will. I only try to hurt you a little bit... 'cause I like you.”
  “You have a lot in common with Alice.”
  “What's that supposed to mean?” she asked, an intelligent grin on her face.
  “Uh, nothing... forget I said that... Hey, um... speaking of Alice, we weren't... making a lot of noise last night, were we?”
  She shook her head “no”, and smiled. “I'm a heavy sleeper, remember?”
  I was somewhat relieved to hear that. She scooted the chair away from the desk and stood up.
  “Hey Will... I'm gonna go brush my teeth.”

  She flip-flopped out of the room dramatically, abandoning me. A few seconds later, she leaned her head into view from behind the door frame. Her eyes caught me, and I began to grow rapidly. I hopped clumsily from desk to chair, then to floor as I reached my full height. Annie stuck her tongue out once more, and winked before making her exit.