Mike couldn't move.    

In the dark, dreary depths of the garbage bag he laid, but it was no peaceful position. His arms were spread wide, his legs split in the shape of a V. The side of his face was being mashed into the foul-smelling plastic of the garbage bag. He knew from experience that the trash bags his family used were white. It was such a pointless fact, both before his situation and during it. He assumed they were still white, but inside of the bag was pitch black, and his right eye was closed because of it's proximity to the bag. His left eye was only seeing black, but he knew it was the gum his body was trapped in. The gum prevented him from moving, at all. The phrase goes "don't move a muscle," but Mike really couldn't move a single muscle in his predicament.    


 The gum wasn't even the worst part.  


Sitting on top of the gum, and thus Mike, was an entire garbage bag's worth of various trashy debris. Food scraps, used napkins, other pieces of gum, nail clippings, and a variety of other junk including the very same loaf of bread Mike has tossed out just a couple days prior. It had felt like years. All of it was sitting atop Mike. And above that bag of trash was another, equally filled, bag of garbage. Mike was distraught. He was beneath garbage. Not just literally, he was metaphorically lower on the scale that garbage. He was a human being, but he was being treated like filthy trash, and it was his own sister that had done this to him. His sister tossed him into the garbage along with vacuum dust, and then his other sister took him out on the curb like the garbage he was.    

 And they had no idea they even did it.  

Jen, Molly, Leslie, even his own mother. They all thought Mike was at a friend's house, having fun, but he wasn't. He was sitting out on the curb buried beneath all the trash they had collected, waiting for the garbage collectors to come and take him away. Mike was no longer human, he was trash.    

The gum Mike was stuck in was still fresh. The weight of everything else pressed down tremendously on it, crushing it as flat as it could be. Any juices left in the gum had been squished out and now pooled at the bottom of the bag. Half of Mike's face was drowning in gum juice and spit, but the other half stayed above it and forced him to breath in air. The only solace Mike had was the fading scent of bubble gum, emanating from the gum. Most of the flavor had been taken away by Leslie, but some remained. The odor of the garbage was taking over though, and soon all Mike would smell is rotten food.   

It was nighttime, and nobody was coming to gather the trash until dawn broke, and Mike couldn't move. He had to be stuck there, for hours, thinking about what had occurred to him. Why it had occurred to him. He had a lot to think about, and a lot of time to think with.   

12am 

Why did this happen? There was no reason. It had simply happened. There is no special reason why it happened to Mike. There's no test, there's no game. It just happened. That was it. It sucks, but then, that is life.  

2am 

What had he survived so far? He had been crushed mercilessly by his sisters, their bare feet, their shoes. He had been ground into the muck on their soles. He had been nearly eaten, painted onto a toe nail, sucked into a vacuum cleaner,  and he was even surviving being in the garbage. He had survived too much. Why was he alive? That was what he wondered. Why was Mike not dead yet? Because he was lucky. Luck was on his side and allowed him to live though everything, or maybe it's unlucky? Maybe it was a miracle.   

4am  

Mike was ready to die. He tried drowning himself in the gum juices, but he couldn't move his head enough to do it. The gum was holding it in place. He would live.    

6am 

For the first time in several hours, Mike felt movement. It was still pitch black, but he felt weight lift off of him. The other trash bag had been lifted, and a second later he felt the weightless sensation take over him. Time was up, he was going to be deposited into the garbage truck. As the bag lifted, Mike noticed something odd: the juice was going away. Not moving around, it was falling out. No longer being smashed by the bottom of the garbage can, Mike was able to move somewhat, and helpfully, the juices had deteriorated the gum's hold somewhat. He looked down and noticed a small hole in the garbage bag that the liquid was escaping from. He had no idea where it came from, but he didn't care. It was a way out of this. For the first time in hours, Mike wanted to live. He frantically began to scratch at the hole as best as he could, and crawled and dragged himself through it.     

Everything happened in a split second, because that was how fast it needed to happen. Mike poured from the garbage along with the liquid and slammed down onto the black driveway of his yard. It was a miracle he had survived the fall without any injuries. A miracle, or something else.   

The menacing roar of the garbage truck faded into the distance as Mike stayed laying stomach down on the driveway. He was too terrified to move. Too worn out. He had just escaped certain death and a one-way trip to the dump and now he was safe...relatively safe. He was still outdoors, sitting in the middle of his driveway. Nobody parked in the driveway though, he would be safe. Mike realized how tried he was. Outdoors was a terrible place to sleep for a person of his size. Bugs would devour him, but he couldn't help it. He hadn't gotten any sleep during his time in the garbage, and he had gone the past day without sleep. He knew it was a terrible place to sleep, but his body didn't care. It forced him to sleep. So Mike closed his eyes, hoping he would get to open them again.   

Mike slowly opened his eyes, adjusting them to the bright morning sun that had appeared over the horizon. The sun wasn't what had woken him though, it was the rhythmic click-click happening nearby, getting louder and louder. In his grogginess, Mike looked backwards and saw his gigantic mother heading down the driveway right towards him. She was leaving for work, dressed in her nice suit, stockings, and pumps. There was nothing Mike could do, she was simply too fast. He followed her foot upward and saw the sole of her pump halt it's forward movement right above him. The soles had been worn down quite a bit from repeated use, and there was a relatively small glob of gunk stuck to the sole. It had been crushed flat to the sole from being walked on so often, but has also collected a lot of scraps. Several pieces of dirt, a strand of hair, one crushed ant, and so much other crud. As she set her foot down onto the driveway, the glob picked up one more straggler.   

Without even a second to prepare for what happened, Mike's face was smashed into the driveway as his mother's shoe pressed down onto him. His back was pressed into the glob of gook on her shoe and he knew instantly what had happened, and he couldn't believe it. After everything that had happened, everything he endured, he had managed to escape the garbage, and the very next thing that happened to him was getting stuck to the sole of his own mother's shoe. It was ludicrous. As his mother began her next step, Mike's faced was pressed full force onto the dirty pavement. Though flat, the gook had seeped into one of the small treads on her shoe, and thus was deep enough for Mike to get stuck in without being crushed flat by the pavement. He was along for the ride. The weight lifted and Mike went soaring along with the other dirt and debris stuck to his mother's shoe.    

 *        *        *   

Linda was getting ready for work in the early morning. There was something going on at her work today that would require her to be on her feet a lot, and so she wanted to wear something comfortable. She looked through her shoes and found a pair of pumps she's had for a while. They were pretty worn in and thus were comfortable on her feet, they would be perfect. She slipped them on her feet and finished some last minute preparations. She never looked at the soles of the shoes she put on, and so she didn't notice how worn out they were, nor did she see the glob of disgusting, nasty gook that she had stepped in quite a while ago.  If she had seen it, she might have opted not to wear these shoes. But why would she look at the bottom of her shoes? Unless there was a very good reason to look at the bottom of them, there simply was no point. The floor and ground where nasty and covered with dirt, and all that stuck to shoe soles, which just got them nasty and gross. The soles of her shoes were for disgusting filth, not for her to look at. Those were just her general thoughts though,  and as she slipped her shoes on, they, and especially the soles, where the farthest thing from her mind.    

Mike was up there in her mind, but as far as she was concerned, he was still at his friend's house. He was coming back later today, would probably be home when she got home from work. She thought nothing of his absence this weekend. Linda walked out the front door, being sure to lock it, and traversed down the driveway to her car, which was parked on the curb. She heard the clicking of her heels as she walked down the pavement. She always liked the sound. The walk to her car was the most normal thing for Linda. She had done it hundreds of times. It was so natural for her she didn't even think about it, she just walked.    

Linda had no idea that as she was walking, she had inadvertently stepped on her only son. She had felt nothing when she stepped down and stepped up, because he wasn't that insignificant. Linda kept walking, completely oblivious to the fact that her son was the size of a speck of dirt, currently smashed into a glob of gunk stuck to the sole of her shoe. The soles of her shoes were the farthest thing from her mind right now, but even farther was the idea that her son was stuck to them. The idea is so obscenely farfetched that it isn't even an idea at all. Mike is nearly six feet tall, she would be able to see him, and besides, he was off at a friends house. Linda kept walking to her car, unknowingly carrying her son with her, burying him in more filth.    

Linda got into her car and started it up. She placed her foot on the gas and began moving. She never thought about the dirt and grime that had accumulated on the pedal of her car. It was not something she gave thought about, it was a natural reaction. The car ride was uneventful, as it always was. She had gotten stuck in some stop-and-go traffic as per usual, but it wasn't so bad. Linda was just ready to get her day over with.   

Linda began working almost immediately. There was a lot that had to get done and she had to get it done. For several hours she was on her feet, walking this way and that way and this way again. It was a busy morning and she was getting tired. Her feet were sore already and she really needed a break, so she went a took one. Linda went to a small break room and popped her feet up on the chair. She wasn't really supposed to do that, but at the moment she really didn't care.     

"Whew, rough day," one of Linda's co-workers said, entering the room and taking a seat near her. "I see you're relaxing."  

Linda gave a tiny chuckle. "You know it April, I've been running around all morning, I can use a couple minutes off my feet."   

"Yeah, don't we all," April said. By chance, she glanced around. "Um, did you step in gum Linda?" she asked, pointing to Linda's shoe.   

"What?" Linda asked. She took her shoe off and turned the sole of it towards her face. Sure enough, there was some nasty, gross-colored glob of something stuck to them. "Ew," she said. 

   *        *        * 

The pavement rushed up fast as Mike was slammed down into it again. Tears welled up in his eyes. He had been stepped on already, even stuck to people's feet and shoes, but this was torture. Sure, even his mother had stepped on him earlier, but that had been inside, with the carpet. Now, Mike was being mercilessly smashed into the rough and rocky pavement with no remorse at all. His mother didn't even care that she was using all of her weight to crush him against the pavement, because why would she care? She didn't even know he was down there. She couldn't care about doing it because as far as she knew she wasn't. But Mike knew. He knew very well that it was his own mother doing this. The woman that was supposed to take care of him and protect him was stepping all over him like he was a common piece of filth.   

As driveway turned to road the pavement became more rugged and Mike was still uncaringly smushed into it. He hated this. He was free, and then got stuck again. It was awful. But it kept going. After several more steps, the pavement turned into a warm and soft fuzzy carpet. It was the floor of his mother's car. The warmth was short lived though, as a few seconds later Mike was lifted into the air again and slammed into the gas pedal. His face was pressed into clumps of grime that had gotten stuck to the pedal from multiple uses. It was even filthier than him, but now they were even. Mike's face was jammed into it and he was forced to smell the awful rubbery smell of it. It got in his mouth and the taste was unimaginable. There were simply no words to describe how bad it was. It was unfathomable how filthy the pedal had gotten over the years. Mike could do nothing but struggle to deal with it as his mother pressed on and off with the gas.   

Eventually she had to brake, and Mike was removed from the gas pedal. Some of the grime from it stuck to him and came with him as he was smashed into the brake pedal. It was just as disgusting. For an hour Mike was shifted from one pedal to the next without a care in the world. His mother was only driving. She had no idea that by doing so she was subjecting her son to such awful, horrendous conditions. That fact that she didn't know made it worse for Mike. If she had know, she might have been going easy on it, but she didn't, and she wasn't. His mother was going full force with it, because there was only filth on her shoe, not her son.  

The car stopped and Mike was removed from the pedal and smashed back down on the carpet of the car. It was not as warm as it once was, but it was better than the pedal. Part of his vision was blocked from stray grime that had covered his face. He could still see well, but it was just nasty. For a split second Mike was at peace. All was calm and as pleasant at it had been for a day. That didn't last long though, as Mike felt himself whipped over as his mother got out of the car. He was once again pressed into the pavement as she walked from her car to inside the building.    

Step after step after step Mike was smashed, and squashed, and squished into the pavement while his mother walked on unknowingly. He wasn't really sure what his mother did at work, but he hoped she just sat at a desk all day and didn't move. Normally she did, but not today. The pavement turned to icy cold tile when she walked into the building. Mike felt the difference immediately and was quite thankful for it. It was still an awful feeling being an insignificant piece of dirt stuck to your mother's shoe as she walked all over you completely oblivious to your situation. But it was better than the rough pavement.  

Hours passed with nothing but walking. It was just steps and steps and more steps and when she wasn't stepping she was standing with her full weight pressing down on her shoe. Mike liked the steps better. When his mother was standing all of the grime started to surround him and it made him feel even smaller, and he got a taste of what the nasty floor of her work was like. It wasn't good. At least when she stepped he had a extremely brief moment of freedom from being pressed into the floor. He savored those split seconds for all they were worth. He had been pressed deeper into the glob which softened the blow from her footfalls somewhat. It was still awful, but it was better. But it never let up. She kept walking and walking and standing and walking. Mike had given up all hope. He was never going to get removed from his mother's shoe. It had been a miracle the last times he had escaped this fate, but he knew it would never happen now. He was too far gone to be saved from this fate. When he didn't return home later they would know something was wrong. Everyone would go looking for him, first at his friends house, then elsewhere. Nobody would ever look at the sole of his mother's shoes. They would be looking for normal sized Mike, looking for a average human being. They would never look at the sole of a filthy dirt-ridden shoe because it was impossible for a human being to be there.  

But he was.      

The tile turned to carpet. It wasn't soft carpet, it was short, rough, shaggy carpet. Mike didn't care anymore. After a few steps on the carpet, Mike was lifted into the air again, but this time wasn't slammed down onto the floor. Mike looked around and knew what had happened. His mother had put her feet up! Mike was vertical for the first time in a very long time, and he was seeing the world as it was meant to be seen. He rejoiced as well as anyone in his position could rejoice. He could barely move his hands but he did so anyway. He knew it would only be a matter of time until his mother started walking again, so he was going to enjoy this.  

He saw an unoccupied chair in the distance, but soon it became occupied. He didn't know who it was nor did he care. That is, until he saw her point at him. It wasn't at him exactly, but it was definitely at the shoe he was stuck to. A feeling welled up inside Mike's stomach. Did that girl, by some miraculous chance, spy him inside of the gook on his mother's shoe? His mother's hand appeared nearby and grabbed the shoe he was stuck to. He felt himself lifted away and with a super quick whip he was turned around and was looking right at the face of his gigantic mother. 

Yes! A smile rose on Mike's face. He had been seen! Mike began waving his hands frantically, as best as he could, and shouting out to his mother. He was going to be saved from this hell. His mother would save him and get him back to normal. All of this would go away. Mike continued his celebration until he saw his mother's face contort into one of disgust. What was happened? She had seen him, right? Of course not. The smile on Mike's face vanished as he heard the word "Ew" uttered from his mother's lips.  

  *        *        *  

Linda looked at the disgusting mess on the sole of her shoe. It was a sticky, black color covered with freckles of brown dirt. She saw a strand of blond hair stuck in it as well as what she assumed were a couple squashed ants. It was simply repulsive. Linda had no idea that stuck inside that repulsive gunk was her son, begging for her attention. She didn't give it to him.    

Some guy entered into the break room, acting just a tad bit frantic. "Oh Linda, there you are. We need you for something quick," he said, and then left almost as quickly. 

"I'll deal with this later," Linda said, slipping her shoe back on. "See you later April," she waved goodbye as she walked out of the room. 

   *        *        *   

Mike was in tears. His mother didn't see him, she only saw disgusting filth stuck to her shoe. She screamed through the tears, waving his hands doing whatever he could to get her to see him, but she could not. There was nothing to see. He felt the shoe flip around and his view changed back to the girl he didn't know sitting in the seat. His mother had put her shoe back on. And if she did that, then she was going to.... 

Mike was smashed back into the carpet once more. All hope was lost. This was his fate. The last chance he ever had of getting out of this mess had only seen him as dirt. Mike resigned himself to silence as his mother continually walked over him throughout her day, never knowing that she was stepping on her son. Never knowing that the glob she had seen earlier was where her son was. Never knowing she was the one causing him massive amounts of pain and suffering. This was Mike's life, until the clock struck 4.  

  *        *        *   

Mike woke up in his bed. He felt horrible, awful, very groggy. Was everything that had just happened a dream? It was very vivid. He remembers all of it, every moment. He looked around his room. His phone was still on the table where he had left it. He quickly checked it to see the date and time. It was Monday at five o'clock. The weekend had passed. Then....everything did happened. But...Mike was normal sized again. None of it made sense to him.  

"You in here Mike?" Leslie said, busting open the door without knocking. One she saw him in bed, she turned toward the open door. "See, he's in here. Probably came in and slept without us knowing." She took another step closer to Mike and instantly regretted it. "Ew, nasty. Have you showered at all Mike? You smell was garbage. Yuck. Speaking of which, you're taking it out next time. I did it last night and it was nasty!" Leslie left his room, and Mike followed suit. 

He walked across the hallway and felt the freshly vacuumed carpet beneath his feet. He passed by Jen in the hallway and ignored he greetings. He instinctively looked down at her feet out of fear of what he had gone through.  

"You like my nails?" Jen asked. "I did them while you were gone, they looked better yesterday. They already started to chip."  

Mike kept walking, into the kitchen. He checked the trash can, and saw it was empty.   

"Mom, is this your shoe in the freezer?" Molly asked. She was looking through it for food, while Linda was making dinner. 

"Yeah, I stepped in gum or something and I read you can freeze it off. I figured I'd try it," she said.  

"Ew, that's nasty," Molly said.   

Mike stood silent for some time, long enough to start to worry his mother.    

"Is everything okay Mike?" she asked. "You can tell me sweetie, I'm not going to hurt you."  

Mike stood there, thinking about what he could possibly say to that. "It's nothing, mom. I'm just glad to be back home."