Madison fell forward with a cry, landing hard on the concrete sidewalk. Pain bloomed through her as she threw out her arms to protect herself, the jagged surface tearing her skin. Her vision exploded with flashing stars as her head collided with the heavy slab. The cold stone, damp from a recent shower of rain, pushed against the seeping heat that dripped from fresh cuts upon her hands and knees.

She felt sick, disorientated. Voices sounded in the distant, her memory fading beneath the growing glare of white light. Her stomach heaved, rolling against the dull ache that vibrated through her bones. Saliva pooled in her mouth, bile rising in her throat. She coughed and rolled onto her side, draping a bruising arm over her eyes.

Where was she?

She had lost her left shoe, her bare foot resting lightly on the rough concrete. Her dress was torn for sure, the fabric growing heavy as it soaked up the ambient moisture from the ground. A groan of pain escaped her pink tinted lips as she tried to sit, her rattled body alive with sensation. She retched again as her head continued to spin. The world around her was grey and featureless, empty save for a looming shadow beside her.

She scrambled to her knees, her head snapping in its direction, eyes wide with alarm. A black obelisk rose upwards, thickening as it stretched into the sky. Horror descended upon her as her vision cleared, the fog thinning to reveal a massive, black high heeled shoe. Her own.

Discarded mere seconds before the abandoned heel now dominated the landscape. She sat in its shadow, a sob forming in her throat. How could this have happened? She knew it did, she’d seen it on the news when it first started happening. People shrank all the time but she never thought it would happen to her. She ate right, she exercised, she was the picture of young health. This, this was impossible!

Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. This couldn’t be happening; she was dreaming she had to be. She pinched herself on the arm, hoping to rouse herself from this nightmare. She closed her eyes, opening them desperate to wake up but to no avail.

Slowly she rose to her feet, kicking off her remaining shoe, leaving it to lie in the shadow of its now giant twin. Her hand rose, trembling, as she staggered towards the towering platform sole that rested beside her. The suede was still warm.

The sob broke, the sound tiny and lost. What would she do? She knew what happened to those who shrank; everyone had heard the stories of the terrible fate that befell any victim of the unexplained phenomenon.  How many had she killed herself? The guilty thought swallowed her. How many little people had she tormented and crushed before now? Six that she knew of, tiny men and women who were reduced to a mere inch in height but how many more could she have trampled unawares? The most unfortunate, those that dwindled to almost microscopic proportions, lost among the fibres of carpets and the grain in floorboards. She could have walked over hundreds without even noticing their demise.

Was it karma, justice? She never considered it at the time. The helpless things were useless, the killing of them so frequent it was no longer even a crime. You could even buy them online, entertainment at parties or for personal use. She never thought that they were any more than mindless things, disposable and cheap.

And now she was one of them. What would happen to her, what could she do? Surely someone would notice she had left, come looking for her. A red stone wall rose on her right, to her left an open grey waste stretched towards a stained wooden fence that disappeared into the sky. Why had she come into the alley? Her memories raced from her. She had been in the bar, why did she come outside, how did she get here? How did this happen?

She considered trying to get back inside; if she could make it back onto the street then maybe she could get someone’s attention. One of her girlfriends would be looking for her, they had to be. If she was by the door then they might see her as they came outside. Either that or step on her without noticing. She shuddered. What if someone else found her, what if someone else just thought she was another victim, another Shrinky to be owned or killed as they saw fit?

Misery drowned her as she realised; she was just another Shrinky. She dropped back to her knees, her head held in her bloody hands as she wept. What would she do?

A heavy thud shook her from her despair. A shiver ran through the ground, rippling through her aching body. A sound like a single peal of distant thunder hummed in her ears. A second followed it and then a third.

Madison turned to its source, her eyes wide as she took in the scene before her.

Kirsty took a further step into the alleyway. The glare of a streetlight silhouetted her, casting a shadow that stretched before her. ‘Maddie?’ she called, flicking her dark hair over her shoulder with a wave of her hand, ‘Maddie, you back here?’

The shrunken girl cried aloud with joy, she was going to be rescued! She shouted her friend’s name, running from her shoe and waving her hands wildly.

Kirsty’s eyes fell on the abandoned shoe. Her orange heels clattered loudly as she hurried forwards, a look of concern painted across her pretty face. ‘Maddie,’ she called again, worry tainting her voice, ‘Maddie, where are you?’

A sudden terror overcame the miniature Madison as her friend ran towards where she stood. The earth shook as Kirsty covered in seconds a distance that would take Madison an hour at her new size. The sound of her titanic footfalls boomed in her ears. She squealed and dove beneath the arch of her heel as Kirsty’s foot slammed into the ground less than ten feet, on Madison’s skewed scale, ahead. In the dusky gloom she could easily be overlooked; an error that could prove to be fatal.

She poked her head out from the cover of her shoe, craning upwards at her friend who now stood over her. Kirsty’s legs seemed to stretch on forever. A distant canopy of sunset orange, the hem of her short skirt, circled them. There was a hiss of fabric as Kirsty crouched, moving with a speed that filled the watching girl with awe. How could something so impossible massive move with such speed?

Madison’s heel shook as Kirsty plucked it from the concrete with perfectly manicured fingers. She turned the shoe over in her hands, confusion pushing her lips into a pout. Thoughtfully her emerald eyes strayed to the damp ground and directly at the cowering and shrunken form of one of her closest friends.

‘Madison!’ she gasped, standing upwards before taking a step backwards in surprise. The shoe fell from her hands. At her feet Madison clasped her hands to her ears as Kirsty’s voice exploded around her. She looked upwards to see her shoe tumble from her friends grasp, racing towards her like a suede meteor. She broke into a run, diving forward as one half of her favourite pair of shoes collided heavily with the ground.

‘Oh my God!’ Kirsty whispered. Her ample bosom, the envy of all her friends, strained against the warm coloured fabric of her dress as she leaned forwards. She held a hand to her lips, her eyes wide with disbelief. ‘Maddie, is that you? What happened?’

Madison’s tears of despair turned to ones of joy as she smiled upwards. There would be time for sadness later, for now she was just glad to be safe. ‘I don’t know,’ she shouted up into the heavens, ‘one minute I was in the bar and the next, I was just out here, like this.’

A giggle seeped through Kirsty’s fingers. ‘You’re so tiny!’ she laughed, ‘I can’t hear a word you’re saying down there, c’mere.’

She stepped forwards and extended her hand, snatching her friend from the ground. Madison cried with fright as a flash of flesh whipped towards her before she was plunged into darkness. Her stomach heaved again as she rushed upwards through the air. The hand that completely enclosed her was soft, the skin warm and lightly fragranced.

Kirsty barely felt Madison within her fist. She was careful not to squeeze too hard. The idea that she could so easily crush one of her friends was surreal. A dangerous urge came with it, like the shiver that runs through your legs when you look down from a great height.

She held her hand close to her face and, slowly so as not to cause any further distress to her shrunken friend, unclenched her fist. Her fingers opened like petals in the morning sun. There, on the palm of her hand, Madison sat perched like a perfect little fairy.

Kirsty’s face filled Madison’s world. Her lips were pulled into the sly, seductive smile she always wore. ‘There, I got you, it’s ok,’ the faint scent of rum and coke filled the air as she spoke, ‘what happened?’

‘I don’t know, I just don’t know,’ the small girl started to cry again in her palm. That was the problem; nobody knew what caused the shrinking, not really.

‘Shh, don’t cry babe,’ Kirsty cooed, resisting the temptation to put a calming finger on her friends shoulder. At this size she’d probably snap her in two. ‘I just need to figure out what I’m going to do with you, I can’t let Helen or Abi find out what’s happened to you.’

Madison’s pink rimmed eyes rose. Kirsty was right; Helen was always vicious when drunk. She’d worn a pair of chunky ankle boots tonight specifically in case they encountered any Shrinkys. They’d found one already, a little guy about the same size as Madison was now, cowering beneath their table. Helen had caught him as he tried to sneak past Madison’s foot.

Helen kicked him, breaking his arm instantly as he landed on the wooden floor. They tormented him for a while, Madison included, teasing him and humiliating him. They’d forced him to kiss their shoes, to hurt himself, to worship them as they sipped their cocktails.

Abi had broken one of his legs, crushing the bone with her bare toe as punishment for some fabricated slight, but it was Helen who finished him off. She ground his body beneath the sole of her boot, crushing him as slowly as possible to maximise his pain. He was little more of a torso by this point, Helen having torn away his limbs one by one before forcing him to lick his own blood from the treads of her boot and demanding he thank her for her mercy.

Helen clearly got off on it. Her blue eyes filled with fire whenever she killed one. Madison guessed she had a goddess fetish and, despite their friendship, she would love to keep her as a tiny slave in all but name. She shuddered. That is assuming she wouldn’t crush her like the others.

‘What can’t Abi know?’ she asked, her voice seeming small in the presence of her gigantic friend. Abi was her best friend and the smartest of the group. They weren’t as close as they had been in the past but she would know what to do and would surely help her.

Kirsty giggled again, ‘Sorry hun, I promised Ab I wouldn’t tell you but to be honest I can’t see how it matters anymore. Abi never forgave you for the whole Matt thing. She didn’t want you to know she’s still pissed but, y’know, you’d be pretty easy to get revenge on now. Plus she tried to get a Swimmer for tonight but couldn’t find one in time. You know how she’s been dying to try it for forever. I don’t want to sound like a bitch but she is pretty mad, she might make you swim. You are about the right size.’

Madison’s face went white at the thought, her body shivered as fear settled upon her. Swimming was growing quite popular although she hadn’t been able to try it yet. Abi had wanted to use the guy from earlier but Helen beat her to the kill.

The concept was easy; you take a double shot glass, put in one of the smaller Shrinkys, filled up the glass with whatever alcohol you liked although it was usually tequila or rum and then drank the whole thing down in one. The idea was not to chew the Shrinky but to swallow them whole. That way, or so they said, you could feel them struggle as they go down. The experience was supposed to be amazing, indescribable.

She’d read in a magazine that some celebrities would pay thousands of dollars for drinks with more than one Swimmer. They’d put a bunch of really tiny people all in at once and drink the whole lot down.

Swimmers could stay alive for over an hour before they asphyxiated or were dissolved. Madison couldn’t think of a worse way to die and it would only be made worse by the knowledge that her best friend still hated her.

‘Yeah so I’m going have to hide you somewhere babe. I can’t risk leaving you anywhere though.’ Kirsty’s lips scrunched as she though upon the problem.

‘What? No, can’t you just take me home, to my house or yours?’ Madison pleaded.

Kirsty rolled her eyes, ‘obviously I can’t leave early, that would be too suspicious. I’ve already been gone too long and you know what I’m like under pressure. You don’t want them to find you do you, huh? Do you want to end up crushed or eaten or worse?’

Madison recoiled slightly in the face of her friend’s severe tone. Everything was so overwhelming, so massive. Her thoughts were still foggy, incoherent as her senses struggle to adjust to her new view on life. ‘No,’ she mumbled.

‘Look I’m sorry to sound harsh but you’ve got to trust me. It’s going to get really hard for you from here on out and you’re going to need a friend like me to watch out for you. I love you Maddie, I won’t hurt you but other people might and I don’t want that to happen.’ She smiled down at her forlorn friend. ‘So you’re going to have to go in my shoe for a bit.’

‘What?’ Madison stood suddenly, managing to remain upright on the spongy surface of Kirsty’s hand before falling against her fingers. ‘No, no, I can’t, you’ll squish me!’

Kirsty looked hurt, ‘I’m not stupid babe,’ she huffed, causing the girl’s hair to billow behind her, ‘where else am I supposed to hide you? This outfit doesn’t exactly have pockets you know.’ Madison clung to her finger as she tilted her hand ever so slightly forwards, allowing her to see the full expanse of her form fitting orange dress.

‘Wh, what about your bag?’ Madison panted desperately.

‘I don’t have one, all my stuff is in Abi’s bag and my phone is in my bra. Before you even think about it, you know I can never find a bra that fits these.’ She bobbed, causing her bosom to move within its confines. Her cleavage could have easily swallowed Madison at twice, maybe three times her current size. ‘I don’t want you to suffocate!’

Madison was a picture of misery as she resigned to her friends reasoning. Kirsty gingerly moved a finger towards her, brushing her side as lightly as she could. ‘Look, I know its not the ideal situation but these heels are Amie’s so are a little too big. I’ve been having to scoot forwards in them all night so there’s plenty of room for you to hide for say half an hour, an hour tops and then as soon as I can get away I’ll get you home. Besides, it’s not like my feet smell.’ She winked, raising a tiny smile on her friends face.

‘They totally do,’ Madison quipped with a smirk. ‘Fine, you’re right,’ she sighed, ‘just please, don’t be too long and be careful!’

‘I promise,’ Kirsty slipped her foot out of her heel and lowered Madison towards it. The small girl looked up at her friend as Kirsty’s hair fell about her, trusting that as horrible as the next hour will be she was lucky to have a friend who cared enough about her to take on the often difficult task of looking after a Shrinky. She was going to be one of the ones who made it.

Kirsty stood on one leg as she gently lowered Madison into her heel. The insole was silver and slick with a fine film of her sweat. Fortunately Kirsty was right and didn’t have a problem with foot odour. Despite that, beneath the scent of body lotion that filled the warm air inside the heel, the unmistakable scent of sweat played out her nostrils.

From this position it was hard not to be afraid. Kirsty stood over her, her foot raised and ready to slide back in the heel. Her toes were pointed down at her, her toenails painted the same bright red as her fingernails.

‘You ready?’ Kirsty asked, looking down at her friend that kneeled in her shoe, ‘remember, crawl right into the toe section and stay still, I don’t want to accidentally hurt you. Nod if you’re ready and I’ll count to ten before I put my shoe on.

Madison nodded up at her friend and crouched into the darkness of her shoe. High above Kirsty began to count aloud, the sound of the ominous countdown making her nervous. What if this was a mistake? What if there was not enough room? She could be badly injured or even killed. There must be another way.

She took one last look at her friend, at her beautiful smiling face, always so enthusiastic and full of life. Kirsty winked and urged her on. With a sigh, Madison headed deep into the shoe and pushed herself against the tan wall. She could make out toe prints on the floor, although she had no way of knowing whether they had been caused by Amie she admitted that it was probably the case.

A shiver of revulsion rose within her. That bitch! She would rather be stomped to death by Helen after four jagerbombs than run into Amie at this size. She was the worst, smart and pretty and utterly evil. She always managed to find more Shrinky’s than anyone and the things she did to them were worse than anything she could imagine.

She was obsessed with them. Even when she looked at normal people you could tell she was picturing what they’d look like; broken and terrified between her toes, worshipping her with their last breaths before she ground them into nothing but blood and paste or imagining hearing their muffled screams from within her mouth as she slowly chewed their helpless bodies.

She was roused from her thoughts by a movement near the mouth of the shoe. ‘Watch out Maddie, here I come,’ Kirsty’s voice giggled from above. Her world rocked as Kirsty’s foot slammed into the insole, sliding down towards her with terrifying speed. The approaching mountain of flesh blocked out most of the light but left enough for her to see it bear down on her.

Madison couldn’t help but let out a scream of fear. She scrabbled desperately at the walls of her prison, the air growing hot and humid as Kirsty’s massive foot continued to approach. This was a bad idea, she screamed for her friend to stop, to let her out. She hadn’t previously suffered from claustrophobia but as her surroundings rapidly shrank she began to hyperventilate. Kirsty’s foot muffled the sound of her pleas, the tiny girls voice too small to penetrate the footwear that enclosed her.

Kirsty lifted her toes as her heel slid slowly over the lip of her shoe. Inside the heel Madison was mad with panic as they arched over her, looming in the darkness. She fell against the exposed ball of Kirsty’s foot, pounding on the unyielding flesh. The foot stopped but did not retract. There was a thud as Kirsty settled her heel and the wall shot forwards just enough to knock Madison from her feet.

Kirsty smiled as she felt her friend flutter against her warm flesh. She lowered her toes, smothering her beneath them. She couldn’t believe it had worked. It was true what they said, Shrinkys really did believe anything. Lucky for her Madison didn’t know Amie was half a shoe size smaller than she was. She pushed down into the insole with her toes, feeling the first pops as Madison was broken beneath them. She lifted her foot and returned to the bar; hopefully Maddie would survive long enough for Abi and Helen to have some fun as well.