*Ding Dong*
Greg woke to the sound of his doorbell. His clock showed it was 7:00 AM “ who rings a damn door bell at 7 on a Thursday morning” he muttered to himself while putting pants on. It had been a few days since he escaped from Jamie and Ellie and while the nightmares hadn't stopped, he had found reading online stories about similar things helped relieve his mind and libido. Checking the screen next to the door showed his guest was non other Jamie herself. A chill went down his spine as he opened the door.
“ Hey Jamie whats up?” he said as he gave her a quick glance up and down, his eyes lingering on her flats for a second longer. She was in her usual attire for work it seemed.” Hey I'm sorry if I woke you. Its just that Ellie is kinda sick today and can't go to school, usually I would look after her but work is going crazy right now and my usual babysitter is out of town. Would you mind maybe just looking after her for until I get back, I shouldn't be more than a few hours”.” Sure thing, just uh let me get dressed first” he replied looking down at his half naked body. “I'll be over in 5”, “oh thank you very much Greg, I owe you one”.
As Jamie walked down the drive and Greg closed the door he was torn. He IS there to look after his neighbors daughter, I mean its not like he can just grow and shrink willy nilly around other people right?...
Jamie ran out the door as Greg knocked “oh hey thanks again umm Ellie is in her room, there is soup and medicine in the kitchen if she needs it, I shouldn't be too long thanks bye” her words trailing off as she jumped into her car and drove off in a hurry.
Greg shut the door and looked to his right, his heart skipped a few beats when he saw the white flats and mary janes among the other shoes sitting on the rack. Like he was in a trance he slowly walked towards the shoes, his hands extending towards the mary janes. Just before fully extending his hand he heard a cough, and quickly snapping to his left seeing Ellie standing there, wearing her light pink pajamas with bears all over them and a blanket draped over her head.
“Hey Greg, whatcha doin?” Ellie asked. “ Nothing, I thought I saw a bug on those shoes is all” he quickly replied. “Oh yuck maybe that bugs back again, me and mum tried to get it the other day but it got away, it ran into your yard maybe you saw it? Its big and black with a big humped back.” Gregs mind was in shock, he was having flashbacks of almost being crushed by the little girl standing in front of him.” Helloooo, earth to Greg?”, The sweet voice of Ellie snapped him back to reality. “Oh really, cant say I've seen it”.” Hmm okay, mum says she saw a little baby one in the lounge room a last week too”. Gregs brain quickly restarted itself and changed the subject.
“So how sick are you really, like are you sick or 'sick'” making air quotes with his fingers. Ellie coughed and weakly said “ sick” as she slowly turned then walked down the hallway to her room.
Greg followed her to her room. Walking in, it looked like a little girls room. Pink walls, stuffed toys about, a desk with a laptop, her school bag in the corner near a walk in wardrobe. Ellie climbed back into beg as Greg stood in the doorway. “Need anything?” Greg asked as Ellie picked up her remote and turned on the T.V. “Nah I should be fine for now thanks, I'll probably sleep soon, I'm still pretty tired”.”Ok, shout if you need anything” Greg said as he closed the door and head towards the lounge room.
Greg flicked through TV channels for a while, mindlessly looking for anything to watch, as usual there were 100's of channels and nothing on. Most people would probably start browsing their phone when TV is useless but not Greg. Doing things like mountain climbing and free running, Greg found that new smartphones tended to break easily, and although he could afford it, found it inconvenient to replace his phone every few weeks, so he still had an old phone without even a touch screen, they were quite durable compared to newer models. Useful only for calls and texts.
He stood up and wandered around the house, the kitchen was spotless with not a dish in the sink. He then made his way to the study. Inside there were large shelves with many books upon then. On the walls were pictures of Jamie and Ellie when she was a baby and different school pictures.
Walking back down the hall past Ellies room, He peaked in to see her fast asleep. Greg kept on till he was by the door and the shoe rack once again. He gave a quick glance back and strained his ear, hearing nothing but Ellie breathing peacefully in her sleep. His hands quaked as he moved towards the rack and reached for the mary janes. Picking one up he looked at the details of the shoe, the silver buckle that strapped over the foot, the minor heel on the bottom, the slightly worn pattern of three flowers on the sole. The insole seemed hardly worn, it had a lot of little flowers as the pattern. Gregs lips trembled as he moved his face towards the shoe. He could see his face in the reflection of the toe area, he moved the opening towards his face and breathed in. The smell was only of faint sweat and a slight fragrance. He breathed deeply getting in all through his lungs. “Nothing like those flats” he thought. Pulling it away from his face he then turned the shoe over to look at its sole.
The shoes sole was slightly worn near the heel but looked fairly new. He again moved it towards his face and extended his tongue. He moved the shoe up and down while his tongue licked the soles, the rubber was a weird taste that he didn't really like, but at the same time he couldn't stop. He covered the sole with his saliva, getting into the corners of the flowers and all. He pulled it away and looked at his achievement. His pants were getting real tight and there was only one thing to do.
With mary jane in hand Greg walked down the hallway quietly towards the toilet but as he approached Ellies door he heard little footsteps plodding along the wood floor. His eyes shot open, “how will explain why I have her shoe in my hand hand, it's too far to go back to the rack, what will I do?”. Then in a stroke of brilliance he slapped his watch and vanished just as the door opened.
–
Rubbing her eyes Ellie walked out of her room, “Greg?” she called out. She started off down the hallway towards the lounge room. She looked in and towards the couch but he wasn't there, she made her way across the room into the kitchen, he wasn't there either. She grabbed a glass and filled it with water then walked back to her room. Before closing her door she gave another “ Greg?” but no response came, but she did see a little bug slip under the door into the bathroom.
–
Greg gasped as an enormous slap of sound blasted him in the face, a huge barefoot landed just in front of him. “GREG?” the Beast yelled as another foot flew past and carried its owner down the hallway. Greg started running, he had to make it to the bathroom. Running while holding a shoe is kinda weird, but its not the strangest thing he had done today. As he got close to the toilet door the monster returned, her feet slapping down the hall onto the tiles. He pressed himself hard against the wall hoping to not be seen and after she passed he quickly crawled moved towards the door, hearing “GREG?” once more before crawling under.
Greg grew back to his normal size in the bathroom, with mary jane in hand. He looked again at the shoe, his reflection looking back at him. He gave another inhale for good measure then sat the shoe on the floor. As he went to reach for his watch the bathroom door flew open and in charged Ellie wielding the other shoe like a bat. Ellie blinked a few times and looked at Greg and the shoe on the floor. “ What are you doing?” she asked with her eyes wide open.” What are you doing, bursting in here while I'm in the bathroom?” Greg replied, trying to keep the sweat in his forehead from escaping. “ I saw a bug go under the door so I've come to squish it” she said proudly as she shook the mary jane in her hand. “Oh well I just got it under this shoe here, see” Said Greg as he triumphantly lifted the shoe to reveal nothing, then looked around in shock.”W-W-What, where did it go, sneaky little bug”, Greg once again putting on the performance of a lifetime. Ellie lowered her shoe and started laughing” Oh Greg, you are as bad as me and mum, those bugs are just too good”, “yeah, I bet it really BUGS you?” Greg quipped sending Ellie bending over laughing. “You look much better, wanna watch some TV?” Greg suggested as he lead Ellie from the bathroom with shoe in hand. ”Sure, I'll show you some funny youtube stuff I saw at school”. The two of them watch TV until Jamie came home a few hours later. She thanked him again and he went home.
Once more Greg walked across the lounge room, naked as usual. Slaps turned into thumps as a large titanic girl entered the lounge room, her bare feet making light work of the carpet fibers under them.“ Oh yuck, that bugs back again, just die already”, The words shaking him to the core as each footstep drew her closer. His legs entangled in the jungle of carpet didn't budge as her foot raised over him, her lightly pinked soles effortlessly dropped until … CRUNCH.