He woke up. He still felt fear and frustration. His nightmare seemed strangely vivid to him. He still had the smell in his nose. Or It was how the air smelled like in this weird path he had chosen. Everything was black. the hills, the valley even the sky was black although its thinness allowed for the light to pass through it illuminating everywhere with a grey light. Everything was shaking and he heard weird loud noises. It was Sophie. She was probably moving on the bed while sitting and that was what had woken him up.

      Like she was looking for something on the bed. Then everything went quiet for a few seconds before he started slipping down with an increasingly fast pace. The light was coming in there from above. He landed in a water pit near the toe section. Sophie was wearing a skirt and a new puff sleeves shirt. As she lowered the nylon's mouth that she was holding with both hands he could see she wasn't wearing anything on her legs and feet. Her feet started to move in carelessly as he was trying to predict whereabouts of toes landing, but when the foot got in the gravity direction changed and he started falling towards sole section of the nylon. As he was rolling on the ground he saw the shadow of landing foot that was getting closer to him and then he hit back of the toe that landed in front of him.

     As she moved her foot in the sock to make it feel at home, he was robbed against its sole on one side and fabric of the stocking from the other side. He sighed with relief as the foot stopped moving and held him firmly against the floor on his back. He somehow felt warm and safe as her normal speed walking wouldn’t throw him around anymore. They didn’t feel gross like in his dream but nice and strong and protecting. When normal walking was over and she was putting her foot in her shoe. He slipped towards the toe section and before he knew the toe softly landed on him, holding him still. He expected a humid, airless, and dark environment when he was inside the shoe but he was in a moderately air conditioned, fresh place (as fresh as a used stocking got) with more light than his room in her place had.

     It was a little humiliating but surprisingly pleasant. She must be wearing her open toed heel he saw when he first entered her apartment. Who knew he would someday get a tour inside. As her walk continued His place became more wet and warmer. But to be fair it wasn’t anything dangerous or even gross. He remembered how repulsive this very toe could get when unattended so he could tell how hard she had tried to keep this environment pleasant, not that she knew it had visitors toady. Now that he thought about it was very well manicured too last time he saw the top of it. His train of thoughts was interrupted by Sophie’s voice greeting her friend. Her voice seemed somehow familiar and all he could see from her she was wearing a red heel and white pants with cotton socks. Sophie was crossing this foot of hers on the other one and was shaking it towards the other girl’s hanging foot. This kept Greg in a constant fear of getting crushed if those two careless floating mountains crash. “By the way, is there any progress? Are you ready to conclude the initial phase? It’s been weeks… the drug would lose it’s effect soon, and it will be all for nothing.”

“Don’t worry Carol. Today the second dose was consumed by test subject. You need to get me some time to get results back from him.”

“Naming our guinea pigs, and giving them human pronouns makes you attached to them. And you’re already too much personally involved.”

So she was Carol. Carol was a classmate of Sophie when she was in high school, she used to come to their home to see Sophie when Sophie still lived with them. He had a crush on her at that time but she didn’t seem to notice him. Just like now. But now was different. If she happened to find him, she found him so cute she would take care of her kindly. Or that’s what he thought. He vaguely remembered something about her mother disappearing or something but he had so much on his hand at this point that wasn’t a priority to focus on. [ Recognize Carol? :-) ]

“I understand.”

Were they talking about him? Was his shrinking part of their experiment or something?

“I’d be very excited if it finally works. we’re gonna be billionaires. This is revolutionary. On command mem...”

“Shsh. Queit.”

Sophie whispered the last word but Greg could hear it by sticking his ears to her toe’s low surface. When humans speak, the voice resonates the bones, and the wave goes through them losing more and more energy until it’s too weak to be detected by a regular sized human’s ear. But Greg had the right size for it.

Carol said with excitement: “Oh My God. It’s on you?? Can I probe it a little? For the sake of science of course.”

She whispered the last two sentences so Greg missed them. As Sophie changed her legs position and put both feet on the ground he slipped back to the sole section and was thrown in the empty curve of the sole and stocking’s ground. He couldn’t get out and was trapped in the soundproof, legitimately stinky, and dark cave. He started to punch the walls with all her force hoping to get her attention before he seriously gets hurt.

“I had to keep an eye on him. he’s too vulnerable to be left alone.”

He couldn’t hear anything but after a while everything started to shake insanely. She must be walking. Then it stopped. Then a crazy shift in gravity he couldn’t comprehend threw him around. And he was met with so much light that he was forced to cover his eyes with his hands for seconds. When his eyes got used to the light he saw Sophie’s face in distance through the fabric, looking back at him. Her face was huge even from this distance. She was putting her heel less leg in American four manner and looking at it, while scratching it gently with her two fingers. She was looking for something in her sock. Had she felt his struggles? He felt a chill down his spine after the two fingers grabbed him from sides and felt him for a moment. His world started to shake as she was taking the stocking off. And he fell into the toe section once again. And again the gravity was reversed and he started to free fall out of the nylon and before he knew he fell into palm of her right hand, right before her eyes. She was holding her palm close to her eyes when her eyes widened. “Are you a person?”

“Oh my god. Greg is that you?”

“I took my stocking away from you and you somehow did this to yourself to be able to smell my feet this whole time? That’s so messed up. How long have you been stuck in there?”

She was yelling and Greg had fallen on his back as he was shaking. He was more terrified than the first misunderstanding they had today. Two finger from her left land grabbed him and picked him up. Was she gonna crush him? Her voice was so mad, but her eyes weren’t that angry. She put him right below her nose. She smelled him and the strong air stream fully dried him. “Awh. Look how gross you smell Greg! I have to clean you now.”

Her voice smelled like frustration and pity. She was now speaking with a kinder voice :“I’m sorry sweety. That short walk must have be terrifying to you. Every step took shook your whole world. I don’t know how that happened to you but now it’s on me to keep you safe now.” Greg felt the danger was past him for now. He looked around the room. She was sitting in a bathroom stall. She must have come here to check what was bothering her in her stocking.

“But before I wash you Sister needs to use the bathroom so would you mind giving her some privacy?” Without asking she put him back in the stocking and carefully placed her sole on him. “Sorry dear. I have to put my shoes on too. I’d take you out when we get back home. But I promise I'd give you a bubble bath at home and it will wash away all this stink off your body.”

After that he couldn’t hear any noise from the environment while he was in there. She got her out of that later that night. He kept struggling and pushing back when the air got more toxic than his lungs could handle and then she would rescue her. Sometimes when he got super uneasy she pushed him back in a reaffirming manner, asking her to be patient. Sometimes she got heel of her sock containing him out for a little while so he could breath in fresh air, as she and her friend were sitting quietly on the bench, or talking about  enjoying fresh air in the park. And he found himself sort of enjoying this situation. He wasn’t even in control of his breathing yet the experience felt so friendly and exciting. When she started her walk his situation became a little more unstable until he saw the shoe kicked off. That's when he knew he was home.