Vicky had just scraped a gross piece of melted cheese that was stuck to her sister's Marie shoe. She kicked it away in the corner and went back to work. It was starting to get busy now, so she, Sarah, Linda, and Marie started working at a faster pace. They stepped around to get the things they needed to make the door. Sarah walked back and forth between the sandwich grill and the sandwich station. Vicky stood by the staff entrance to the dining room, making sandwiches. Marie was over at the salad station. And Linda was at the counter setting up the trays to put the food on. 

With everyone working so fast paced, the floor was getting littered with pieces of food. Some large, some small, some gross, some grosser. But they didn't care. It just happened, they had to focus on the food they were making. The floor would be dealt with at a later time. Of course, they stepped on all sorts of things that were on the ground. Vicky had stepped on some old receipt paper, and it got stuck on her shoe. She was dragging it around. It was pretty annoying. Marie was stepping on some dressing soaked pieces of lettuce, but she just went on working. It was nothing. Linda had stepped on some small piece of avocado that was laying on the ground. Being soft, it splatter all over the sole of her shoe, coating a small portion of it a nice shade of green, and making her shoe more slippery than it should have been. 

"Ew, gross. What did I step in?" Linda asked to no one in particular as she lifted her shoe off the ground to get a look at her sole. "Ew, that's nasty," she said with a half laugh as she stared down at her now soiled shoe. She slammed her shoe back on the ground and started to scrape it off. She rubbed it over and over again on the tiled floor, often times pretty rough. Only some of it came off though. She lifted her shoe back up and took a look. "Damn, that didn't work," she said as she reached and grabbed a few paper towels. She then started to scrape the avocado mess off her shoe, before crumpling the paper towel up and tossing it in the trash can nearby. She then changed her gloves, and got back to work. Of course, a paper towel wouldn't be able to get everything, and there were still little globs of avocado stuck in the treads of her shoes. 

As fate would have it, Sarah stepped right on the exact same piece of cheese Vicky had kicked away not that long ago. The way she stepped on it caused a portion of it to get stuck in her shoe treads, however, it was hardened more now than before, so it didn't stick long. It did leave a few of it's own residues on the sole of her shoe though. And that is what has happened in the past few minutes or so. But where was Thomas during all of this? When we last saw him, he was in being peeled off Marie's shoe with the very piece of cheese Sarah had just stepped in. However, that is not where Thomas is anymore.

You see, when Vicky kicked the food away, she did so with a lot of force, especially for such a small piece of food. Thomas himself was not very well secured inside of it, so when she kicked it, he was sent flying out of it. He was free of his prison. Thomas was a free. For only about a moment. Before Thomas could even realize he was free, he landed face first inside of a relatively large, soft, green, mushy object. When Thomas stopped moving and got to his bearings, he took note of where he was, and instantly knew. He was in a piece of avocado that had fallen to the floor. Try as he might, he was unable to move or get out of it. It might have been soft, but as his size, it wouldn't give. Thomas was stuck once more. But at least he wasn't stuck to the sole of his coworker's shoe...right?

It happened again, the ground around Thomas grew dark, but again, it happened so fast he couldn't even register it. What he did register was the enormous object smashing into the avocado and splatting it all over the floor. The avocado was flattened and smeared, covering Thomas in a layer of green mushy bits. As if that wasn't bad enough, he felt the pain of force on him, as if a person was putting their entire weight on him, because well, that's what was happening. 

Thomas felt the force fly past him, going faster than ever before, being lifted high up into the air. This was different from before, he wasn't go straight up, it was more of a sideways life. And Thomas soon realized why. "Ew gross. What did I step in?" Linda said as she checked the bottom of her shoe. Thomas stared up from beneath a layer of green, and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Right there, right above him, his coworker Linda was staring down, right at him. Exactly at where he was. "Ew, that's nasty," Linda said. Thomas wanted to wave up to her, but found his arms were stuck. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. He was covered in avocado. He was a mere crumb compared to the green stain. To Linda, he was just apart of a gross mess that had to come off her shoe. Thomas didn't exist to her, there was no Thomas on her shoe. Just filth. Even if Thomas had managed to move, it wouldn't only achieve one thing - demoralizing him even more. 

Thomas felt the wind force again as Linda lowered her shoe towards the ground. Thomas could only watch as the red tiled floor came slamming in at unimaginable speed. His face and body were slammed hard into the floor, and that alone caused him a great deal of pain. But that was only the beginning. As Linda started to scrape her shoe across the floor, Thomas got the full brunt of it. The tile may have looked smooth to a normal person, but at this size, it was very rough and bumpy. Thomas endured rocky patches stabbing into him, but of course, no damage was done. He was immune to physical injuries, as much as he probably wished he wasn't. Linda scraped her shoe one more time, two more times, a third time. Each time giving Thomas the roughest ride of his life, but that wasn't all. Each scrape dug Thomas deeper into her shoe sole. He had no chance of getting noticed before. After this, it was literally impossible.

Thomas went for a ride once more as Linda lifted her shoe up once again to get a look at what he cleaning had done. "Damn, that didn't work," she said, upset that her plan didn't work. Oh well, she thought, it wasn't like it hurt anyone, right? Thomas again stared up at the face of his coworker. He didn't even bother this time. It was useless. She would never she him. Thomas looked at the bright side. She is looking at him. She's looking at him at what he is: filth on her shoe that needed to come off. He was found, but not as himself. Covered in green, and staring at her face, Thomas watched as she grabbed some paper towels and brought them down upon him. Thomas watched as the sky above changed from the slightly disgusted face of his coworker to an ugly brown colored sky of a paper towel. 

Linda started to scrape the paper towel across her shoe, picking up some of the avocado debris stuck to her shoe. Thomas didn't care anymore. He was stuck in her tread, he was lost. This was his life now. But when has Thomas ever been right? As luck would have it, as Linda was scraping the paper across her shoe, one of the maybe bits of avocado she scooped up was Thomas himself. On the last swipe, Thomas felt himself gripped by the paper towel and ripped from the treads of her shoe. Of course, he was still coated in avocado mess, but he wasn't on that damn shoe anymore. Thomas was beginning to hate shoes. Any hopes Thomas hadn't even begun to have were dashed as Linda crumpled up the paper towel and tossed it towards the trash can.

Of course, that isn't where Thomas ended up. When Linda tossed the paper towel, small bits of avocado were sent flying off of it in various directions. On of these bits was Thomas. Of course, it was too small for anyone to even care about. As for Thomas, he landed on the counter next to the sink. And it was the weirdest feeling for him. For the first time since this whole ideal began, Thomas was free. Thomas had control. He wasn't trapped underneath some big crumb, he wasn't wedged between some girls shoe tread. He was able to move on his own, and he was even had a reasonable height! He wasn't on the floor! He was about waist level with his coworkers. Thomas thought that he just might be able to get out of this situation. What Thomas forgot was that he was the size of an insignificant crumb. Even if anyone saw him, they wouldn't pay any attention to him. He was meaningless. And as if to prove this point, Thomas' freedom and control was taken from him almost as soon as he got it.

Marie had stepped over to the counter and placed her hand gently upon it for just a second. By sheer chance alone, her index finger landed at the exact spot Thomas was, squishing him against her gloved finger. Marie then went back and started making salads for more orders, this time with an extra crumb stuck to her finger. As Thomas was still coated in sticky, avocado mess, he easily stuck to Marie's gloved finger with ease. Thomas' hopes were drained in an instant as he felt his body rush upwards, now stuck to her finger as she went back to make food. Thomas' time in this position was short lived though, as Marie soon stuck her hand into the container full of lettuce. Thomas and the avocado mess was easily scraped off onto a random piece of lettuce. 

Thomas was now stuck to a piece of lettuce that was being picked up by Marie, and heading straight for a salad box. But this was not what fate had in store for Thomas...at least, not yet. The very piece of lettuce Thomas was stuck to ended up dropping from Marie's hand, and landing right into the container of caesar dressing. Now soaking wet, Thomas easily slid off the lettuce. Only now, he had to tread dressing else he drown. But that begged the question...could Thomas even drown? He didn't want to find out. All Thomas could do now was float inside this container of dressing and stare up at Marie as she made salads, knowing sooner or later she would get a scoop of the dressing he was in. He didn't even bother trying to get her attention. It wouldn't have been possible, and this time, Thomas was right. 

Of course, it happened. It had to eventually. Marie picked up the dressing ladle for caeser. Thomas now discovered that he was floating right in the center of it, and as such, he was lifted up along with a lake of dressing. Thomas felt the world tilting as he and the dressing were poured over a bed of lettuce. Thomas feel what felt like a long ways into the nice soft bed. Looking up, Thomas saw the face of Marie looking down at the salad he was in. This was much different than when he looked up at Taylor before. He was much closer. This was the closest Thomas had been to another person since this began. Closest he felt to being human. But that changed when Marie dropped a spoonful of cheese onto him and the salad, reminding  him of what he truly was now. 

Marie looked away for one second and Thomas was greeted to a new sight. A giant pair of tongs were heading down right towards him. Marie jammed them into the salad and started tossing it, spreading dressing, lettuce, cheese,  and Thomas, all over the place. He was flipped this way and that way, unable to do anything as the relentless tongs didn't stop, He was now covered in not only dressing, but tiny little shreds of cheese was well. Thomas might as well have been a piece of food. Marie finished tossing the salad, but it wasn't over quite yet as Thomas watched Marie open her hand and drop several, giant sized crouton bombs into the salad. Thomas was defenseless as they fell upon him, one even landed on him before rolling off. Thomas stared up at Marie's face one last time as she pushed the bowl aside to be given out, not know this might very well be the last time he would ever see her face again. 

Linda grabbed the caeser salad Marie had just made, put it on a plate, and set it on the counter. "Four thirty seven!" she called. Meanwhile, Thomas laid down inside of the salad, wondering how this could possible get any worse.