Christmas day, 11:00am. It was a beautiful morning in the city. Snow lay on everything like icing sugar, sparkling in the sunlight. It was quiet, the most quiet day of the year.
A sonic boom ripped through the city. It emanated from the very middle of downtown, and windows shattered within a kilometer of the epicenter as a wave of force rippled outwards. A gale wind blew all the snow into a flurry, like a snowglobe, and then the ground shook.
The inhabitants of city feared it was an earthquake, on Christmas of all days.
But then they looked up. Fear turned to terror.
This was much more tragic.
Cathy, Suzi, and Lydia stood above the city, smirking, and wearing Santa hats and boots.
“Ho ho ho,” Cathy said.
* * *
“Hello honey, Merry Christmas.”
“Hi mom,” Autumn said into her cell phone.
“I’m sorry I won’t be there today. Business, you know.”
“Mhm.”
“I got you something though.”
“...You mean besides the yacht?”
“Yes, I mean besides the yacht. Do you remember when we stayed in the company hotel in Toronto?”
“Yes?”
“Do you remember what you ordered from room service, for your...bath?”
“Uh…yes?”
“Go look in the pool, dear.”
* * *
“Merry Christmas,” Jacqueline said. She was wearing a white, form-fitting dress that ended above the knee, and nude, platform pumps. They were standing in a hallway of her modern mansion.
Marlee was wearing her usual professional attire, a black, pinstripe business suit, black stockings and pumps, all with gold buckles. Today she wore a light, sparkly green scarf tied about her neck. She opened the small black box. “Oh,” she said, quizzically. “Thank you, Ma’am.” It was a tiny man, very proffesional looking.
“He’s for that tiny mutt you keep around,” Jacqueline said. “This one has been specially trained, and he’ll take care of it. Oh don’t give me that look, I knew you kept that dog, though I can’t fathom why. Knowing you, I bet you don’t have a clue what to do with a pet animal. Now you don’t have to worry about it, or take it on business trips with you anymore. You’re welcome.”
“Oh,” Marlee said, flustered. “Thank you.”
“I take it you found your Christmas bonus as well?”
“Yes Ma’am, ten million is very generous, thank you.”
“Oh hush. You deserve it.”
“I got you a gift as well, I hope you don’t mind,” Marlee said. She motioned, and a female assistant came forward with a white box.
“Unnecessary, of course,” Jacqueline said.
Marlee nodded to the assistant, who opened the box.
Jacqueline leaned and peered inside, lightly pushing her glasses up. “And who are these?”
“They’re five graduate students from the local university with degrees in biochem, mechanical engineering, and shrink physics. They were working together to produce independently made resizing machines that would be affordable to the public. We have the paperwork here, they even bought a company name. We’ve been watching them for some time.”
“I see,” Jacqueline said, a wide smile forming across her lips. She straightened and looked at Marlee. “Put them on the floor,” she said, addressing the assistant. “I think it’s time to squash this little business. Would you agree?”
“Yes Ma’am,” Marlee said.
The assistant plucked each little nude, two-inch person from the box and set them on the stained-concrete flooring. Indecipherable begging and screaming rose from the little figures, and Jacqueline merely studied them from above for several moments.
Eventually, she put her heel down in front of the nearest one with her white sole raised above them. It turned to flee, but before it could escape she pressed down. There was a crack and a shrill little cry, before Jacqueline lifted her heel and rolled her shoe forward, ending it with a crunch and a spurt of blood.
At the this, the other four broke and ran, while Jacqueline twisted her foot slowly on the student’s remains. Marlee showed no emotion in her demeanor, but her chest rose and fell slightly faster as she watched.
Jacqueline turned and walked slowly after another one, and didn’t even stop as she walked over the tiny human who crunched neatly, leaving a red patch on her sole. Jacqueline did this for the next two as well, simply walking over them as if she had forgotten them as soon as they dissapeared from vision.
The last one fell, begging and pleading upwards in a voice so small no words could be made out. Jacqueline stood with her hands on her hips over the figure for a while, and then lifted her shoe over it. She stretched her ankle a few times, and then slowly lowered her foot, the heel touching the floor first, and then the sole. Even before the little student was crushed, Jaqueline was twisting her foot back and forth, grinding him lightly for a second before he smeared into paste.
Apparently satisfied, she walked calmly over Marlee, and placed a light kiss on her cheek. “Thank you for the gift,” Jacqueline said. “It was very thoughtful.”
Marlee blushed slightly. “Thank you, Ma’am.”
* * *
“Wooo!” Molly cheered as the reindeer-pulled sled came to a halt in the snowy forest. “Does it fly though?”
“No my Queen, I’m afraid not,” Flannigan said. “They're just normal reindeer.”
“Fuck you, Flannigan,” said the reindeer.
“Oh well,” Molly said, hopping out. A flurry of faeries, leprechauns and forest animals swirled around her. She wore a Santa hat, thick and furry white jacket, green leggings, and grey Uggs. “That was fun. What else you got for me? My dad bought me a new car but it’s gloss black and I asked for matte charcoal, so I made him get in the trunk.”
“Right this way my Queen,” Flannigan said, bowing, and the huge tree next to her opened up a doorway. There was a spiral staircase leading down. She walked down and down and down, until it finally opened into a huge underground chamber, beautifully lit with golden faerie-lights and soft green and blue glowing mushrooms. The ceiling was vaulted with tree roots, from which decorations hung, all hand crafted. In the center of the room was a long table, laden with a feast. Roast pheasant for Christmas dinner, with more vegetables than Molly could recognize, all steaming hot. There was bread and gravy, nuts and berries, and sweet pudding for dessert. And the room was packed with forest folk.
“Merry Christmas!” they all chimed at once.
“Wowy woah, this looks amazing. I am fucking starrrving right now!”
Flannigan walked up to her, dragging a gift-wrapped box that was much bigger than him. “And for you especially, My Queen,” the leprechaun grunted, wiping sweat off his brow.
Molly grinned and tore open the box. When she saw the contents she gasped. “Are they… humans?”
Inside were five little people, each about four inches tall: Three men and two women, fully dressed in outdoor clothing. They looked scared and confused at hell. When they recognized Molly as a fellow human, they started shouting: “Help! Help us, please!”
Flannigan cleared his throat over their shouts. “Yes My Queen, we caught each of them poaching in your forest.”
“Poaching?”
“Yes. For trees. I believe you humans cut them down around this time for decoration.”
Molly frowned at the tiny humans, who suddenly cowered at the sight of a giant, pissed off teenage girl. She stepped forward. “You came to my forest to take Christmas trees?” she said in a steadily growing voice. Molly raised her boot over the box. “Uh-uh. Not in my forest.”
The little ones screamed.
Molly’s boot crashed down into the box, silencing some of the screams. She lifted her gory sole, saw some of them still moving amidst the splattered blood and entrails, pounded down again and again. The box ripped and flattened and stained red. Somehow, one little human raced out from the execution, unharmed but covered in blood.
“Stop that human!” Molly shouted.
Immediately a swarm of faeries descended on him, completely covering him so it looked like just a pile of little buzzing wings. They picked him up into the air and dropped him several feet. He landed and crumpled, and was then held down by several beefy leprechauns.
Molly walked forward slowly, an annoyed pout on her lips.
The tiny man said “Please, please, I didn’t know! I’m sorry!” to the very menacing giantess steadily approaching.
Molly dismissed her faery folk with a wave of her fingers, leaving the man alone on the floor. He crawled backwards fearfully, his leg looked broken. When Molly stood over him, frowning down, arms crossed, her blood-speckled grey Uggs towering on either side of him, he stopped.
“Please,” he said, breaking into tears, his hands raised in pity. “I have a family,I’ll do anything, just let me go.”
Molly raised her boot.
“No, nonono!” He screamed.
She lowered her boot steadily, until it rested lightly on him, just his head and arm protruding from the side by her big toe. His one free arm flailed and pounded at her boot desperately. Molly watched him struggle for a while. Then she pressed down slowly. Molly and the entire room watched and listened as the arm clawed at the rubber sole, as his lower body crackled and flattened, as his screams turned to gurgles when his insides were being forced up his throat. Then there was a wet crunch as he all burst out from under her, a splattering pile of guts. His arm was all that was left intact.
Molly crinkled her nose in disgust and raised her heel, grinding the remains into nothing but a stain on the floor under her boot. The forest folk watched silently for as long as it took.
Then, when she took a satisfied sigh and looked up at all the other little faces watching her, she said “What?”
Everyone cheered in unison. They threw Christmas confetti.
“Aw, thanks guys,” Molly said, almost blushing as she walked over the bloody cardboard box and sat at the head of the table.
* * *
Veronica stood outside the office building, cellphone pressed to her ear. She wore all black, a fur-lined jacket, hose, and high-heeled ankle boots with gold zippers. The night was cold and it was snowing, wet. A few feet away was a Santa Claus with a Kali Corp. donation box, and jingle bells.
Jingle jingle jingle.
“Yes Marlee,” Veronica said into her phone, “transfer eighty million from the Canadian account into the holdings, and tomorrow I’ll call you when you need to convert Jacqueline’s assets to-“
Jingle jingle jingle.
“-Yes, I said tomorrow I’ll call you when you need to convert Jacqueline's assets into the deconstruction firm-“
Jingle jingle jingle.
“Transfer the funds-“
Jingle jingle jingle.
Veronica spun around to face the Santa, pulling out a gun from her purse. “Will you shut the fuck up for one second!” she yelled, pulling the trigger. A burst of light emitted, and the Santa shrank almost immediately to a couple inches in height.
Veronica walked over, poised her boot over the tiny red figure for a second to make sure she wouldn’t miss, and then stepped down. She sighed as she felt the crunch under her foot. She twisted a couple times, and the dragged her boot back, leaving a barely visible reddish smear in the snow and slush, as well some tiny crumpled clothes.
She stared for a few moments, and then reached into her purse again. She held the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she started writing something down. “Yes Marlee, I’m still here. Let’s continue,” she said. She dropped a personal check for a million dollars into the donation box.
* * *
Frank lay in the bathtub, steam drifting upwards. The tiny apartment bathroom had green tile, dim yellow lighting, and was kind of grimy. He held a large bottle of red wine in his left hand on the rim of the tub, and a bottle of pills in his right. He sat there for half an hour.
"Okay Frank. Just do it,” he said, voice trembling. Then there was a knock on the apartment door. Frank frowned, and waited. The knock came again.
Frank sighed and slowly got out of the tub. He was in his thirties, had lanky brown hair, skinny arms and legs, a bit of a potbelly. His cheeks were puffy and unshaven, and his eyes rimmed dark. He wrapped a towel around himself and made his way to the door. He noted it was strange that he hadn’t heard the buzzer. It must be the landlord.
Looking out the peephole, he saw nobody. He opened the door and stuck his head out. Nothing. Then he looked down, and saw the present.
Frank shuffled into his dimly lit and messy living room. He stared at the gift wrapped box in his hand for over five minutes before finally pulling the ribbon and opening it.
There was a figure, standing upright in the centre of the box. He squinted and looked closer. It was so strange, it looked like a two inch tall man, standing in a towel, looking down at something it was holding. A box. Frank peered down even closer, his breath becoming shaky at this point. He recognized that bald spot.
Then the figure in the box looked up. Frank gasped and almost dropped it, because the tiny face had been his own, locked in an expression of pure confusion. Frank looked up.
He was standing in a giant box. The walls were dark and bare, the lid was open, his own ceiling was miles above. But there wasn’t a giant version of himself looking down.
There was a giant woman.
She looked kind. Not quite smiling, not quite frowning in sadness. Kind yet distant. Her skin was pale and soft-looking. She was slender and young. Her hair was a wavy, carefree bob, titanium white but with a streak of blue. Her eyebrows were dark and perfectly maintained. She wore eyeliner around ice-blue, piercing eyes. She cocked her head and gave him a slight smile. “Hello Frank.”
“H...hello,” he said.
“I’m Iris,” she said. “It’s Christmas. You’re not going to kill yourself.” Iris bent over slowly, put the box on the ground, and then stood to her full height. “I’m going to kill you.” She was wearing a big, white knitted sweater with a low neckline and a Christmas pattern. She had silvery-black capris leggings. She lifted one knee, revealing blue converse low-tops, and hovered her sole over Frank. “Would you like that?”
Frank stared up at the sole, his jaw quivering, legs shaking. He collapsed to his knees, and started sobbing. “Thank you,” he breathed.
“I thought so. Merry Christmas, Frank.” Iris lowered her foot slowly.
Between heaving sobs, Frank looked up and saw the rubber sole growing, descending. He cowered but did not run. When it was almost upon him, he reached up with one wavering arm and touched the sole. He gasped.
Iris felt her shoe touch the little bump underneath her. She waited a few seconds, and then leaned forward, putting her weight onto that foot. Frank burst under her, and her foot slid forward a couple inches on the wet remains. She lifted her she, revealing a lumpy red splotch and a bloody smear. Iris held her foot with one hand so she could check her sole. Embedded in the iconic converse tread was a patch of crumpled skin and some organs, and a towel. She smiled the same smile again.
Iris pulled out her phone and opened an app. She scrolled down a list of crossed-off names until she got to “Frank,” and tapped it, striking it off. She looked at the time, and then turned and left the apartment.
* * *
Krysten lay naked on top of Rachael, who was only wearing her boots, on the living room couch. The city lights spread from below the high apartment windows. “Mmm,” she said lazily. “It’s dark already?”
Rachael patted Krysten’s hair.
Krysten said “Hey… remember when you squished and ate those little old people?”
“Mhmm,” Rachael said.
“Remember when you fucked that dad to death with a candy cane and then stepped on those kids while the mom watched?”
“That was like, seven hours ago.”
“Yeah that was good,” Krysten said, and took Rachael’s nipple in her mouth.
“Mmm,” Rachael moaned lightly. “It was fun.” Then she lifted her head, looking at the tree. “Hey, I totally forgot that mom is still on the tree!”
“Oh my gosh, do you think she’s still alive?”
They went over to the tree. The tiny woman was still there, streams of blood had trickled down the ornament from where she had been pierced, and a tiny puddle lay on the floor beneath her.
“I dunno,” Rachael said. “She looks dead.” She put her finger to her thumb, flicked the little person.
It blinked.
“Oh God, she’s still alive!” Rachael said. “What should I do to her?”
“She’s probably almost dead, she’s lost a lot of blood. Wanna just step on her quick before she dies?”
“Okay,” Rachael said. “In these boots?”
“I love those boots.”
Rachael smooched her friend. “Okay. Shrink down. And start masturbating, there’s not much time.”
“This will be like, the fourth orgasm today…” Krysten said as she quickly dwindled down.
Rachael took the ornament off the tree, and carefully slid the woman up the wire hook and off. The tiny woman started to lose blood quickly, so Rachael put her on the ground beside Krysten and raised her boot. “Ready?”
“I’m not ready yet,” Krysten’s tiny voice wafted up to her.
“Well, you better be, because I’m gonna squash my little toy here like I did to her kids,” Rachael said, slowly lowering her boot.
“Oh god,” Krysten said, fingering herself quickly with one hand and pinching her nipple in the other. She was on her knees beside the pale, dying woman, who stared at her with empty eyes.
“You killed my family,” the woman whispered.
Rachael’s heel touched the ground, and the hardwood floor vibrated under Krysten. Her sole continued to lower, and she said “You better cum by the time she’s dead little girl, or I’ll squish you next.”
“Yes, please,” Krysten breathed.
Rachael’s giant boot sole touched the prone woman’s feet, and seconds later there was a wet crackle as they were crushed. Krysten masturbated furiously as the sounds of the woman’s legs crunching away rang in her ears. When the pelvis collapsed with a muffled pop, Krysten felt it in her chest. She was hyperventilating, so close to cumming, but it was eluding her. Then the ribs went, snapping one by one as the woman’s body got mashed from the bottom up. Blood gurgled up out of her mouth, her eyes bulged, her head twisting this way and that involuntarily as her body was destroyed. Krysten looked up, saw her titanic friend smiling down on her from above, and couldn’t believe she wasn’t cumming already. From beside her came a snap, and she looked just in time to see the woman’s skull collapse, her brains spilling out the top and her face crumpling before disappearing under the boot tread. An eyeball squirted out before Rachael’s boot pressed flat into the ground and started twisting.
Krysten couldn’t breathe, she was about a second from cumming when Rachael turned and lifted her heel up to show Krysten the bottom of her boot. Entrails hung from the sole, and limbs were stuck in the tread amidst a red slush. Krysten orgasmed finally, shuddering violently and gasping.
When she was done, she lay back on the floor and grew to normal size again, panting.
Rachael was standing beside her, hands on hips, smiling contentedly. “Turkey’s almost ready, but here’s an appetizer.” She raised her boot just above her friend’s mouth, who started lapping at the squashed remains eagerly. “Merry Christmas, again.”
* * *
Cathy, Suzi, and Lydia looked at the remains of the city. Entire city blocks lay in rubble, the streets were a slush of blood and snow, massive boot-prints steaming as hundreds of smashed human bodies cooled in the winter air.
“Look how the snow is starting to cover everything already,” Suzy said, leaning on Lydia’s shoulder. “It’s like Christmas is trying to clean up the mess we just made.”
“That’s beautiful, Suzi,” Lydia said with a wry smile.
“Bah humbug,” Cathy said.