Lauren fumbled with her keys in the lock as the taxi sped away. The door opened with a click and she fell through it, giggling as she caught her balance. She flicked the light switch, bathing the hall in light. Humming the last song she could remember she locked door behind her and threw her black leather jacket into a corner. She tossed her keys onto the high shelf and sashayed drunkenly up the stairs and into her room, her bag hanging loosely from her shoulder.

She dropped it heavily onto the floor as she sat on the bed, the springs squeaking eagerly. She yawned, tasting vodka on her tongue. The room span as she bent over to unbuckle the first of her heels. A dim memory fizzed through her drunken brain as she undid the clasp. ‘Oh yeah’, she muttered to herself. She shook her foot, shedding the shoe which clattered loudly onto the honey coloured linoleum.

As she turned and opened her top drawer there was a movement by her bag. A small man, no bigger than half an inch, crawled out from where he had hidden amongst the folds of fabric. He had squirmed from her grasp in the club and had so far remained undetected. A long cut from where her fingernail had scratched him extended from his shoulder to his groin. It slowly wept blood but was worse than it looked.

He approached the lip of her bag with caution. The massive foot bobbed on its heel before him, sending out small vibrations that hummed up his legs. Her peered out from his hiding place, watching as she lifted a black cell phone from an open drawer. She had her back to him.

The door lay on the other side of her foot. The bed’s solid frame extended to the floor, preventing him from running beneath it. Her cell phone lurked behind him, a guarantee that she would pick up her bag and discover him before she fell asleep.

He made a break for it. Her heel rested on the bed frame, forming a vast and deadly arch. He avoided it, opting instead to run a more exposed but less immediately dangerous route in front of her toes.

He surprised himself with how fast he could run and for how long. The man felt her body heat radiating from her foot as he passed not six feet on his scale from the merciless monster. Her automobile sized toes remained still as he tore past them, his brain focussed only on escape.

Lauren pressed ‘send’ and waited for the delivery success message to be returned. The cell phone beeped its confirmation and was shut off. She tore the battery from it and tossed the components back into the drawer. She would dispose of them tomorrow after her impending hangover subsided.

She leaned forwards and unbuckled her remaining shoe, drawing her foot out of it slowly. As she settled her foot onto the cool lino her eyes fixed onto the running man. ‘Little fucker’, she slurred.

The world shook as the gigantic foot crashed down in front of him, blocking his path. His heart leapt into his mouth as she addressed him, her impossibly loud voice tumbling down from on high. He turned on the spot, blind panic sending him sprinting back the way he came.

He barefoot caught him, her flesh breaking his bones as it bulldozed over him. He rolled into a sobbing ball as the toes passed over him; thudding on either side of his tiny, cowering form. He was trapped in a valley of pink flesh, caught between her first and second toe. The heat of her foot engulfed him, bleeding into his battered lungs with every laboured breath. The walls around him were moist with sweat, the inevitable result of a night dancing in a busy club. The acrid scent burned sickly sweet in his nostrils.

She filled the shaft of sky that was all he could see from between her toes. Drunken irritation played across her face, narrowing her eyes and twisting her lips into a sultry sneer. He stifled a moan, although whether it was from fear or pain he could not tell. She looked down at him coldly, regarding him as nothing more than an insect.

She yawned, rubbing an eye with the back of her wrist. ‘Beg me’ she commanded, almost absently. The man flew to her toe, knowing instantly what to do. His lips met her skin, kissing and caressing the sacred flesh. He drank in the scent and taste, revelling in worshipping her as his life depended on it. She was anything if unpredictable, that was part of what kept her captives in a state of such intense fear. The Goddess would hurt him, this he had accepted, but if he could win her over now he may just be allowed to live intact. The fact that she had been drinking could save him just as easily as damn him.

‘Please Goddess,’ he began, pushing his lips into her skin.

‘No’ Lauren muttered the word sleepily, pushing her foot forward and instantly turning him into a bloody paste of flesh and sweat. She wiggled her toes, smearing the remains of the tiny man between her unforgiving digits.

Lauren yawned again and flopped backwards onto the bed. She would sleep in her clothes tonight. A smile traced itself across her face as she drifted off to sleep, the sound of tiny people singing hovering just on the edge of hearing.