It was 12:15 am on the train and the carriage was empty. It was a quiet ride aside from the mechanical noises of the wheels clanking and grinding on the rails. It was a late-night ride on an unpopular route so silence was expected on this carriage as most passengers would travel near the end and front of the train so they can get to the station departure quicker. From an external view, it seemed like a lifeless carriage.
However, deep inside the seat padding cushions, a roaring civilisation can be found with a close eye, residing near the back edge of the seat, under the backrest, away from where the giants commonly sit down. The people within this microscopic civilisation average at around a height of fifteenth of a millimetre. Their society has adopted a nocturnal lifestyle where during the night they will forage and gather all their food and resources within the centre areas of the cushion and return before the morning when the giants return. This safe and well-planned daily routine has served the civilisation well for several years, however recently the queen has ordered that gathering times are extended so that they can fuel their innovations in science and technology to match that of the giants.
It was a typical night for the gatherer villages near the edge of the safe zone as the able-bodied men and women prepared to head out through the blue, red and purple forests of strands and fibres that protected their society from the elements and greater threats. They double-checked all their provisions such as food, water, and gathering packs, as well as their beasts of burden - tamed dust mites - were well fed and properly equipped with saddles and packs. Finally, all eyes of the gatherers were on the digital clock next to the display showing the current and future stations, waiting for it to hit 12:25 am to head out and forage for the prosperity of their nation until 5 am; this schedule is a change from their typical 1 am to 4:30 am shift was rolled out a week ago by the demands of the queen.
Meanwhile…
Linda was heading back home from her six-hour shift, working as a cleaner for a bank building. Linda was a 39-year-old hardworking lady who was the first generation from a family of Vietnamese migrants who came to Australia for a better life. It was a typical work night for her as she started heading to the station on her way back home. Usually, she would sit near the front of the train so that it would be quicker to get to the exit, however, she saw a pack of hooligans over on the side of the platform, so she opted for the centre of the train. Linda got on the train and headed to the bottom compartment and sat down on the seat second on the right.
It was only ten minutes of gathering before a giant came and sat down on the seat. The tinies were well acquainted with this occurrence; luckily the fibres of fabric would prevent any tiny inhabitants below from being crushed, however, the main risk was the obstruction of the light from above, a vital element that is required to be able to see resources or predators. Fortunately, with this problem, comes the benefit of the radiating body heat of the giantess warming up the landscape, a welcome change compared to the chilly air-conditioned carriage. Ignoring this new threat, the gatherers within the unobstructed landscape press on with their mission, knowing that the giantess wouldn’t be of much threat despite a few of their kind being crushed by her fingers that dug past the threads.
After about ten more minutes of Linda scrolling through social media, she decides to save her data for the rest of the month and puts her phone back in her pocket. After looking around the empty carriage and considering how unlikely it is that anyone would hop on, Linda took out a device she bought from a pharmacy earlier in the day, an electric foot skin grinder. She takes it out of the packaging and is pleased to find it comes included with batteries. She turns it on, and the grinder starts spinning and making a whirring sound. She took her barefoot out of her non-slip flats and put her ankle on her leg, with the foot hanging off to the side. She rubbed her rough and slightly crack heels with her fingers and pressed the grinder against the worn skin.
The tiny people below have become adjusted to the mechanical sounds of the train and platforms, and the buzzing from the spinning wheel of the grinder was a new ominous and terrorising sound that brought fear. Then they saw the giantess bring their foot over their leg and above where a majority was gathering in the centre of the seat. The grinder was pressed against the toughened heel and a flurry of dead skin and dirt rained down into the forest of threads below. Left and right, large chunks would crash down and land on the unlucky gatherers like boulders, releasing a stench of sweat and odour, which caused the air to become thick and hard to breathe. When the grinder was moved to a softer part of the foot, smaller skin chunks would fall like hail or snow, refreshing the land with new food for the beasts and humans to gather and consume.
After a few minutes, Linda was satisfied with the results turned off the grinder and blew away all the skin that was still hanging on the grinder wheel. Most of these bits fell and bounced off the arch of her sole, causing an itch to stir and irritate Linda. She brought her hand down and scratched her arch with her short, thick nails, causing more dead skin to be scraped off into the seat below causing more havoc for the inhabitants.
Shortly after, Linda heard the auto-announcement call out her station as the next one, so she slipped her foot back into her flat and got up to exit the train, unaware of the chaos and resources left behind for those she had no idea existed.