In this chapter:    Ana and Miranda attempt to patch up their wavering friendship before the end of Ana’s exchange.  Natalie is given a different view of the city under Miranda.  Jessica takes Ana out to drink, spelling a bit of trouble for Toy Town.  Miranda is caught off guard by a tiny surprise.  

Day 305 – Anastazja

              Ana restlessly awoke, knowing her last days in the apartment were looming close her, weighing a bit heavy on her mind and dreams, tossing, and turning frustratingly against her soft pillows after a night of uneasy sleep.  It had been a couple of days since Lacy moved out and safely arrived in California with Ki, giving Ana a bit of anxiety, knowing she was leaving at the end of the week herself.   Ana curled up under the covers in the early morning for a few extra minutes, trying to soak in the comforting warmth surrounding her body, but the bright sun pierced through the slats in her windows as the insects and birds buzzed and hummed outside.  Ana grumbled into the fluff of her pillow, not wanting to become complacent in her last days in the US, forcing herself out of bed and tying up her frazzled bedhead-hair into a tight ponytail and changing into her running clothes and shoes for another routine morning jog. 

              She ran through the familiar pathways around the university like she had been all year, choosing not to wear any headphones for her music, just listening to herself breathe, the wind rustling through the greenery, the birds chirping, and her footsteps on the pavement and rocky dirt.  The humidity was grotesque as Ana felt like she was running through an invisible thickness in the air, her skin becoming sticky and sweaty shortly after she started her run, knowing she wouldn’t miss the swampy conditions of summers in the south when she went back home.   

              Ana continued to pump her legs, seldomly passing up another runner in the hazy, warm morning, ignoring their halfhearted waves or nods of acknowledgement towards her.  Ana feeling somewhat at ease and alone, her bogged-down mind free to wander.  Instead, her thoughts dulled towards the aspirations she had as a young girl of visiting America one day never coming true, her expectations crushed as she remembered the fantasy of her younger self, so excited to see Hollywood and the streets of New York City. 

 So elated a year prior, remembering when she signed the papers to become a foreign student in the US, her parents and family so proud and excited for her, she was going to study singing and win a volleyball tournament, she was going to learn about different cultures and appreciate her own even more, she had hopes of making tons of friends, trying new foods, and becoming a better person from it all.  Ana wiped a bit of sweat from her brow just before it trickled into her eye, flicking her hand out to the side to discard the salty substance as she slowed her pace a bit to catch some of her breath in the humid and heavy air. 

              Anastazja’s head was spinning a bit from the overwhelming and regret-filled thoughts as she tried to remain calm, just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, but it was difficult.  Ana realizing that her dreams of America were ruined, the fear of missing out on all of the experiences that she could have had instead, but she was cursed with the responsibility, or rather, lack thereof, possessing an entire microscopic country in her room.  Ana remembering the day she had disposed of her country in their entirety, flattening, crushing, and squishing millions of “people”, frantically rolling up the rug with Miranda’s panicked help and tossing the remains in the trash like a discarded failed science project. 

               Rounding her stride back towards the apartment complex, cutting her run short as she started to feel exhausted in the thick air, jogging steadily back down the path.  Ana balled up her fists while she paced as she thought of Miranda, their friendship so meaningful in the earlier days, Ana sticking up for her, defending her, talking Jessica down in bad situations, even flattening the full force of Jessica’s army underfoot during the war just to save Miranda from the embarrassment of losing, Ana feeling like she truly was her closest friend, until she started to drift away.  Ana cycled through her memories like a slideshow in her mind, trying to pick out where things went wrong, but Ana felt nothing, trying to rationalize her thoughts as it became more obvious that the stupid city that Miranda took care of was the priority over their friendship.  

              As Ana’s memories came flushing back, she thought of all the things she had missed out on, constantly seeing Jessica and Lacy revel in their power over the micros, part of her feeling jealous, Miranda too strict with her people, she would never have let Ana play with them or test out her curiosity on them, Ana started to flock towards the more fun personalities of Jessica and Lacy, who treated her with lively experiences and friendship along with a bit of banter.  When Miranda left for her family emergency, Ana had crushed part of Ashton City under her fingertip, seeing the micro people of the city sprawl away from her in fear and panic, the wake of flattened bodies and erased houses awakening a deep regret within Ana, realizing that she had wasted her chance to feel that rush over her own shrunken country, instead borrowing the power from Lacy and Jessica’s micros when she could, feeling the flow of total authority over lives significantly smaller than her, cementing her solidarity with the other two roommates more so than Miranda, Ana shaking her head during her jog at the thought of Miranda not caring, instead spending her days studying, working out, and just watching her city… just watching…

              Shuffling towards the front door, breathing heavily as she stepped into her room, undressing herself and sitting on her bed for a few moments, cooling off atop her bed while she stared at the floor between her feet, still deep in thought, Miranda and Jessica still seemingly asleep in the quiet apartment.  Ana stood up, leaving a small wet spot on her sheets where her sweaty backside was planted, washing off the sweat and grime from herself in a cool shower, running her hands through her long red hair rinsed with soapy foam.

 Ana missed the moments with Jessica and Lacy, the three of them propping their feet in the tiny sand dune covered outskirts of Toy Town, watching as tens of thousands of micros clambered on their toes and soles just to give the smallest sensation of a massage, the trio laughing and talking shit to each other.  Ana giggled a bit to herself in the shower, drowned out by the sounds of the water crashing on the bottom of the tub around her feet, remembering when she had let a group of micros from one of Jessica’s boxes crawl all over her large chest and back, waking up with them all crushed in her bed under her, until she remembered that she gave another group to Miranda as a reward, a token of her friendship, but Miranda didn’t seem to reciprocate the friendship in return.  Ana finished washing herself, drying off her body and hair and changing into some comfortable shorts and a tank top. 

She tugged her large luggage case and laid it out on the floor where her rug used to be, opening the case, and sitting on her bed, staring at the empty insides for a few moments.  Ana reached for her phone, checking her upcoming flight status, calming her nerves as everything looked normal enough, she was to board a flight to New York City, which felt like a slap in the face as she so badly desired to visit there, but her layover was less than an hour long, not giving her enough time to leave the airport to see any of the attractions, from there, a flight to Munich, then to Kiev where she would take a train back all the way to Odessa where her family would pick her up.  Ana placed her phone down at her side, and after 10 months of living in the US, stood up from her and started to pack her things, her shoes, some clothes, the few decorations off the walls and tables around the room, leaving what she still needed out to be packed up over the following few days. 

              Ana felt a grumbling in her stomach, realizing she needed to get some protein in her body, left her room, her long soles thudding against the cool floor of the apartment as she clanged a few pans against the stovetop, opening the fridge and grabbing some ingredients.  After a few minutes, her food began to sizzle and fumigate the kitchen space with spice and scent.  Ana ate at the bar, her fork clanking against the plate a few times as she chewed and swallowed bits of her breakfast, Ana bored, propping up her head with her hand, her elbow resting against the table as she lazily ate, a bit of sorrow in her eyes as she stopped eating about halfway through her meal, splashing her fork into the mushy eggs that were quickly becoming cold. 

              Suddenly, Ana heard the door to her left creaking open as Miranda stepped out, rubbing her eyes, shuffling into the kitchen by Ana, Miranda grabbing some cold water from the fridge.  “Morning” Miranda said following with a tiny squeak of a yawn. 

              “Morning…” Ana replied, disinterested, bored, teasing her fork through the food on half her plate, not even looking towards Miranda at her side. Miranda leaning against the wall next to Ana and taking a few swigs of the cold water from her bottle before closing the lid back onto the top with a few twists.

              “So, you’re only here for three more days, yeah?” Miranda asked.

              “Mhmm…” Ana mumbled, barely picking her eyes up.

              “Are you uh… ready to go and stuff?” Miranda sheepishly asked.

              “Yeah…” Ana mumbled again.

              “Are you like, excited to go home at least?” Miranda asked.

              “Sure…” Ana muttered, Miranda huffing a bit under her breath, frustrated at the purposefully dull conversation.

              “Ana… do you want to maybe talk in my room for a minute?” Miranda asked, removing herself from the wall, turning her posture towards her room.

              “What about?” Ana asked, picking up her attention.

              “I don’t know, like… catch up on some stuff, see how school went, see how you are, I guess” Miranda said, shrugging her shoulders. Ana caught in a moment of disbelief.   

              “Alright, just give me a moment” Ana agreed, pushing herself back from the counter as Miranda stepped into her room, leaving the door slightly cracked open. Ana washed up her plate, discarding the leftover food straight into the trash bin, Ana stepped around the corner and entered Miranda’s room for the first time in a long time, feeling the soft carpet sink under her feet. 

              “Could you close the door please for me, Ana?” Miranda asked. Ana gently closing the door behind her and stepping into the room, Miranda sitting on the bed as Ana plopped down towards the end crossing her arms over her chest rather impatiently.  “So… how are you? We like barely talked after Lacy’s graduation when we were out drinking and stuff” Miranda asked.

              “I am fine, just… a little tired from my run” Ana said dismissively. 

              “Oh, yeah, it’s getting pretty hot out lately heh…” Miranda nervously laughed.

              “Yeah, sure is” Ana said, looking off towards the door, contemplating why she was even in Miranda’s room, part of Ana hoping Miranda would talk to her about serious stuff, part of her didn’t, Ana just wanting the awkward silences to stop, maybe clinging on to the feeling that they could rekindle their spark of friendship, maybe just wanting to go home at the same time. 

              “Look, Ana… I’m sorry about… me… I just…” Miranda began, clicking her tongue as she struggled to find the right words to say, feeling a bit flustered and uncomfortable at the sudden shift in emotional dialogue. Ana curling her lips as she looked down towards Miranda at the other end of the blankets, uncrossing her arms and resting them behind her on the bed comfortably.  “I just felt weird, after the funeral… and I guess… when my mayor accused you of crushing part of my city, I refused to believe it, like, no way, I know you would never do that, but like… I just started to focus on myself, like… I got scared that I couldn’t protect my city again, so that’s what I focused on… me…and them” Miranda spoke, her voice aching with guilty as she pointed over towards Ashton City atop her desk. 

              “Miranda…please” Ana mumbled.

              “I’m so sorry, I feel like I let you down…but I just… their lives are so, so important to me, but you are too” Miranda sighed as Ana watched in silence, not showing emotion, but feeling validated on the inside of her feelings towards Ashton City still being more valuable than her.  “I know you’re not much for being around tinies, but… do you want to maybe, like… get our nails touched-up, like we used to?” Miranda nervously asked. Miranda having no idea the hunger for power Ana had experienced over the previous few months. Ana lips turned into a semi-forced smile as she nodded her head, thinking maybe this was their chance to patch up their feelings, but conflicted towards Miranda’s micros being involved. 

              “That sounds okay to me, Miranda, let us do it” Ana said with a friendly and fake smile towards her former friend, Miranda dropping her nerves as Ana agreed.

              “Oh… good, okay, I was worried that-“ Miranda started to speak.

              “Miranda, it is okay, I am just glad you are trying to talk again” Ana said, interrupting her, Miranda replying with a friendly smirk.

              “My littles have gotten pretty good at it, I’m excited you get to see it before you like, take off for forever” Miranda said, standing up from the bed.  “Oh no, we need another chair… hmm… you know what, Ana, how about you do it, I’ll just stand and watch” Miranda said.

              “Oh, that is okay, maybe we can just go-” Ana spoke, hoping Miranda would think of something else to do instead. 

              “No-no! You deserve it, and they’d be happy to do it, besides, I can get one whenever I want, and I owe you so much…” Miranda said, interrupting Ana.  Ana with a forced smile as she stood up and reluctantly sat down at the chair by Ashton City, scooting back a bit to compensate for her lengthy, toned legs.

              “Are you sure you do not want to maybe go to a food place later instead?” Ana asked, growing a bit frustrated, but not showing it.

              “What? No way! I get to see my littles with you again all happy down there, and we can girl talk too, right here” Miranda said with a wide smile, oblivious to Ana’s discomfort, Ana sighing disappointingly.

              “Okay... Ehh… toes or fingers?” Ana asked, giving up, trying not to show the disappointment in her face as she looked off and away, staring down towards Ashton City.

              “Whatever you want!” Miranda cheered as Ana scooted back, looking down at her toes as she saw the chips and fading blue paint, Ana kicking her legs up and over onto the edge of the desk, curling her toes downward to where they were level with the city, Ana keeping still as Miranda stood at the side of the city and Ana, crossing her arms over her chest with a forced smile, “Okay my little superstars, can you please take care of Ana’s toes for me? Show her how amazing you all are!” Miranda chirped, her words rolling over the city as the people began to wake up… 

***                                                                 ***                                                           ***

Day 305 – Ashton City

              Natalie was woken up by a violent pounding at her front door, barely dressed in a t-shirt, night shorts, and some slippers as she rubbed her eyes, seeing a military jeep down her sidewalk through the crack between the blinds of her window.  Natalie opened the door and before she could ask what was going on, she was forcefully grabbed and dragged through her yard, trying to scream, but was gagged from behind by a rag, it was still dark, the sounds of Miranda’s light snoring a few miles away from atop her bed.

 Natalie’s hands were bound before she was tossed into back of the jeep, rolling around the seats as she struggled and writhed to escape, panicking as she had no idea what kind of wrongdoing she had committed to have been put in that position, her emotions and stress so strong that she thought she was back in Biraal City, being kidnapped by the cult of Lacy as she panicked even harder, seeing Lacy’s gigantic dark, looming figure standing high above the city with her cruel smile and holding a lighter lit with fire in the distance before Natalie’s lifelike hallucination faded away back to a normal view of Miranda’s massive bedroom window. 

              She was driven though the quiet streets, resting her head against the window to see if she could spot any sort of attention from the night owls wandering around, but to no avail, instead just seeing the familiar, well put together streets of Ashton City rather than Biraal City which calmed her a bit, but only confused her more.  Natalie stopped struggling as her body became exhausted, the jeep coming to a rusty, squeaking halt as the two men in military gear dragged her out and down flight after flight of winding steps, and then through a few metallic doors as Natalie looked around wildly until she was brought into a large room surrounded by computer screens and advanced looking technology. 

              Natalie was sat down on a chair, her arms still bound as the soldiers waited, a woman sitting in a chair across from Natalie. “I saw your little news interview…” Sabine said, tapping her nails into the arm rests of her chair, Sabine nodded and pointed at the rag being used to keep Natalie quiet, the soldier ripping it away as Natalie heaved and breathed heavily for a few moments before catching her breath back to normal.

              “Are you… Sabine?” Natalie nervously asked.

              “Your assumption is correct” Sabine said.

              “What in the fuck is going on… aren’t you supposed to be Miranda’s mayor?” Natalie hastily asked.  Sabine looked at her two guards, waving them away, leaving Sabine and Natalie alone together, Sabine earlier dismissing the other workers in the bunker, not wanting her situation to become clear to anyone who was blindly loyal to Miranda.  Her two guards too dumb to question Sabine’s orders; they returned to their stations high above the bunker without as much as a peep of why they were ordered to take Natalie from her home in the middle of the night while Miranda was asleep atop her bed.

              “I am” Sabine confidentially said.

              “This is so messed up then, why?  Do you have any idea what I’ve been through?” Natalie pleaded. 

              “I do… and I’m sorry, but that’s why it’s so hard to see you flock to Miranda with such ease… the power these young women have is… dangerous, and you praise her just because she doesn’t torture you like Lacy did…” Sabine said.

              “I… just…” Natalie spoke nervously.

              “Miranda is a murderer, disguised as a pretty preppy girl, you should know better… you’re staying with me until you realize that” Sabine insisted. 

              “Please… just let me go back to the house, I swear I’ll never talk about Miranda for the rest of my life, nobody has to know about any of this, okay?” Natalie pleaded. Sabine sighed, feeling the emotion in Natalie’s voice.

              “I know… I know exactly what it’s like to be in your position, I was kidnapped and forced to work down here a long time ago, you get used to it though” Sabine crassly said, turning her attention back towards her monitor.

              “You’re… keeping me… here?  I don’t understand, Lacy crushed us for fun, she used us to fuck her girlfriend… she dropped hot wax on us!  You weren’t there, you don’t fucking know how much harder this could be if Miranda acted in the same ways as Lacy did…” Natalie begged. Sabine scoffed, turning her attention back towards Natalie.

              “Natalie, I know you’re young, but you have to realize that none of us deserve to be here, we had lives… we had families, you said it yourself in your interview, you miss your family, didn’t you?” Sabine asked.

              “Yeah…” Natalie said, lowering her eyes to the floor. 

              “And I miss mine” Sabine said.

              “Are they… back wherever you’re from, your world, your universe?” Natalie asked.

              “No, they’re dead… because of Miranda” Sabine said, peering down the young woman across from her.

              “Oh… I’m, so sorry, I didn’t know” Natalie sheepishly said.

              “Now you do know. They were erased… along with tens of thousands of other families in Ashton City, carelessly, by her, your preppy blonde savior.  None of the giants are good people and you’ll learn that, but I can’t have you out there saying Miranda is the best thing that ever happened to us, do you understand that?” Sabine sternly asked.

              “I do… I do get it, I get why you’re doing this, believe me, Lacy’s cult… they were fanatics, their loyalty for her was… wrong, but Ashton City has a real chance here, if we all work together maybe Miranda can-“ Natalie spoke.

              “Don’t… don’t give me that cheerleader bullshit about us all working together with a mass murderer, the people of the city love her because she’s pretty and nice, are you really willing to fall into that same train of thought because it’s convenient for you?” Sabine interrupted, Natalie trying to gulp down a lump in her throat with much anxiety, on the verge of crying.

              “I’m sorry…” Natalie said.

              “Don’t be sorry, I’m not dumb, I know what this looks like; I’m a crazy kidnapper who took you in the middle of the night… our situation is precarious, I can’t let you go right now until I know you can be trusted outside, I’m not a monster, you’re not going to be killed or tortured, you’ll be fed, given any supplies you want within reason, but you can also help me if you choose to” Sabine said.

              “How would I even help you; how can I even help you?” Natalie emphasized.

              “I’ll figure that out… for now, do you want to get some rest, food maybe, sleep in a soft bed?” Sabine asked as Natalie was skeptical. “I can see it in your eyes, you don’t trust me, I totally understand why, but my plan isn’t to hurt you, just teach you, okay?” Sabine said, nodding her head.

              “I just… I just want to sleep…” Natalie said dejectedly, barely making eye contact with Sabine. 

              “We have a nice living quarters set up for you, it used to be mine, at least, when I was down here in the early days…” Sabine said, picking herself up from the chair and unclasping the bonds on Natalie’s arms as she rubbed her hands over each other to relieve some of the soreness. “I’ll show you, come on” Sabine insisted, waving Natalie to follow her.  Natalie reluctantly following the older woman.  “And don’t try to run, there’s no way out and the guards will just bring you back to me anyway” Sabine emphasized.

              “Wow, that’s so nice of them…great…” Natalie sarcastically said as she stepped into the furnished quarters, Sabine sighed. 

              “I know what this feels like, but you’ll be treated like a human with me, and not a servant for Miranda out there, even if you thought you were safe, it would have just been a matter of time before you ended up helping her with a task and you wind up dead because she wasn’t careful enough” Sabine urged. “I’ll come get you if anything interesting presents itself, I’m so sorry about all of this, Natalie, hopefully we can work together if you want to, but… please understand why I have to do this” Sabine said, closing the door and chaining the door locked. 

              Natalie laid on the surprisingly comfy bed in a confused blur, thousands of thoughts turning over in her mind, the dim light overhead flickering just enough to be annoyingly noticeable, “what the fuck is going on…I shouldn’t have given that damn interview…  won’t people try to find me… no… no…” Natalie mumbled to herself, her eyes lowering as her lips quivered, sobbing quietly to herself as she curled up into a ball for some comfort, her blanket near her face starting to become damp with her tears, eventually crying herself to sleep. 

              A few hours later, Natalie was awoken again, gasping, panicking at first, her heartbeat rapid, not remembering where she was, feeling a couple deep rumbles underneath her bed shifting her weight around, the quakes of a giantess, the cell door opening shortly after as she was waved on by Sabine to follow her from the doorway, the two alone as Natalie’s heart still raced, her head feeling heavy from the lack of sleep as she felt herself still in a confused daze, her slipper covered feet skidding against the smooth floors of the bunker.  Sabine bringing her to a chair next to the main monitor where Sabine usually sat.  “How long did I sleep?”  Natalie asked, rubbing her eyes, her voice tired.

              “Only a few hours, just like my first night in there…” Sabine said, typing a few commands onto her keyboard, Natalie found herself curious enough to watch over her shoulder as she became more awake.  “This is good timing, let me show you what Miranda is really like behind that perfect smile…” Sabine said, scrolling the camera over the city, met with the view of Ana’s massive toes a mile away from the outskirts of the city’s edge.

              “OKAY MY LITTLE SUPERSTARS, CAN YOU PLEASE TAKE CARE OF ANA’S TOES FOR ME? SHOW HER HOW AMAZING YOU ARE!” Miranda’s booming voice rolled over the city. 

              “What does that mean?” Natalie asked.  Sabine typing a few commands into her keyboard, ignoring Natalie’s question. 

              “So, I just put out the call, anyone that registered as a volunteer will get a notification to come here to the base and our pilots fly them out with enough equipment to paint the giants’ nails” Sabine said.

              “Wow… that’s… different” Natalie said, crossing her arms in wonderment.  “I mean, I’ve seen Miranda use some people as tiny massagers, no different than Lacy, but for vastly different reasons” Natalie said.

              “Oh, this isn’t for Miranda, this is for Ana, the one who has killed many of us on purpose” Sabine said.

              “Oh… her, I saw her crush a building with thousands of people in it one night in Lacy’s room” Natalie said.  “Why her? why paint her nails?” Natalie asked.

              “Because Miranda asked us to… Miranda is asking me to send innocent people to their deaths” Sabine said.

              “Can’t they just refuse to go? I mean, they’re volunteers, right?” Natalie asked.

              “Yes and no, Miranda gets upset, which is not good for the city’s morale, so people volunteer to do whatever she says, no matter what, also, a lot of the men volunteer because they think they’ll get closer to Miranda, but she doesn’t care about them like that… I don’t think they realize they’re going to be working with Ana today either” Sabine said. “We’re getting a few hundred responses; I’ll tell the pilots to ready themselves” Sabine said. 

              “Can’t you tell them to stop?” Natalie asked.

              “I can, but Miranda is not in the talking mood with me lately” Sabine said.

              “I just don’t get it, I had to come to terms with giant women using buildings filled with people as sex toys and neighborhoods as their ashtrays, but why this…” Natalie said as Sabine half-smirked.

              “Exactly… and Ana here… this won’t be the first time our city has groomed her, people died painting her nails a long time ago, it was their first time doing it, too, so many people, younger mostly, squished like gnats all for a power trip pedicure” Sabine said with a low grumble in her voice.

              “That’s so terrible… does Miranda even know?” Natalie asked.

              “She’s never believed me when I’ve told her things like that, like when Ana crushed an entire neighborhood while Miranda was away, she refused to accept it, she won’t even acknowledge the finger-sized crater embedded in the city, thousands of families, gone… nothing left, do you understand?” Sabine asked.

              “Yes, I do… I’ve seen it, over and over again with Lacy” Natalie said. 

              “Right, so I’m making a decision, potentially sending these volunteers to their deaths because a sad Miranda means a depressed city, crime goes way up, people mope around, it’s rather sad, actually…so much of the city’s happiness depends on her happiness” Sabine said, the pair watching on the camera as the helicopters filled with passengers and lifted off towards Ana’s toes all the way across the city. 

              “Look how scared they look…all the volunteers, their faces…they’re horrified” Natalie noticed.

              “They all just realized Ana is the star of the show today, and they’re afraid of Ana, she’s left a brutal scar on peoples’ minds, much like Lacy with your mind, but they trust Miranda, and they trust that she won’t hurt them, at least, not by accident…” Sabine said. 

              “Lacy was-” Natalie started to speak.

              “Shh… let’s see how your new spoiled goddess treats her loyal volunteers…” Sabine insisted, pointing at the cameras showing the view of the helicopters touching down atop Ana’s toes, hundreds of people scattering across the blue surfaces of her nails…

***                                                                 ***                                                           ***

Day 305 – Anastazja

“What’s taking them so long?” Miranda said, impatiently tapping her foot into the carpet as she waited for her tinies to start working on Ana toes, not seeing any specks in the area. “Oh, there they are…” Miranda said, seeing a fleet of flying specks drifting across the city towards the front of Ana’s toes.  “Alright, Ana, sit still, remember?” Miranda giggled.

“I will try, yes?” Ana said, pressing her toes firmly into the surface of the desk. 

“Oh wow! They actually have your blue polish; they must have like, stored some from the last time you were here” Miranda said surprised, Ana and Miranda watching as the tinies spread out across Ana’s toes as Miranda watched from high above. Slowly, but surely, blue splotches started to shine and speckle across Ana’s nails as the girls watched on for a few minutes in an awkward silence. 

 “I missed this, Miranda” said. Ana feeling the tiny sensations of hundreds of micros on her nails, but Ana had other things on her mind, the micros just a distraction.    

“I did, too…” Miranda said with a warm smile.

“I don’t mean the people on my toes, I mean… this… you” Ana emphasized. 

“Oh… I didn’t know that’s what you meant” Miranda somberly said.

“I just wish you could have been there for me, Miranda, and I could have helped you through the trouble you had too if you just let me” Ana said with a disappointed smirk, peering around the angles of her legs to see the specks atop her feet, the city’s outskirts just a few inches back from her toes as she shook her head in disappointment. 

“I know, I know… but I tried to explain why” Miranda said, as the tension grew a bit heavier in the room. 

“I was hurt” Ana said.

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” Miranda asked, a bit of worry in her voice as her eyes grew concerned.

“I do not know, I thought you needed time to heal and, I had time to eh… think about my emotions and now I think I am ready to explain to you what it had meant to me all this time” Ana explained, struggling with her English words a bit.

“Oh… are you sure you want to do that with my people on working on your nails?” Miranda asked.

“Always about your people…” Ana sighed, “It is like all you think about, I am trying to tell you something serious and you keep staring at them” Ana said, Miranda taking her gaze off of Ana’s toes and towards her eyes. 

“I just don’t want anyone down there, like, getting hurt, chill” Miranda said, trying to relax the situation.

“If you only care about me like your city, then I could have actually talked to you” Ana said, the sadness in her voice apparent.

“That’s not true, you’re still my friend, Ana” Miranda desperately spoke.

“Barely… at least Jessica and Lacy had the care enough to ask me about my games, they took me out, they showed me fun, food, it is like when I watched your tiny city and you returned, you did not want to talk to me again, even after I ask you to so many times” Ana said, crossing her arms over her chest tightly, sending a small vibration down her body as the crews atop her nails braced themselves for the minor vibration.  The crews desperately trying to hurry, contemplating calling for a pickup even if they weren’t done as the giant conversation heated up above them. 

“Ana, you literally don’t get it, okay, you don’t know what it’s like to live in a place where two people constantly hate you all the time” Miranda scoffed.

“Nobody hates you; you make this all up in your head” Ana said.

“Jessica… she hates me, how can you be friends with someone like that when it’s so like, obvious” Miranda huffed. 

“She would have been your friend if you just try to have more fun…” Ana said.

“Alright, that’s it… after my people are done with your pedi, I think you should leave…” Miranda sternly suggested, placing her hands on her hips. 

“Oh, these people?” Ana said, picking up her posture and looking down towards the micros atop her feet.  Ana wiggled her toes, spreading them outward, seeing the specks fall between the cracks and spaces between her toes, Miranda watching on in horror as Ana locked eyes with Miranda, staring her down, Ana squishing and smushing her toes together as tightly as she could, feeling hundreds of tiny popping sensations all between her skin, Miranda turning her gaze back down, seeing little spurts of blood spray up from between Ana’s toes as all the specks disappeared into red mushes on her flesh as Ana continued to grind and wriggle her toes together, pressing them hard into the surface of the desk until there were no more pops or brittle crunches. 

“What the fuck, Ana!?” Miranda yelled, her voice nearly cracking with rage, rattling windows and setting off car alarms across the city. Ana scooted back in the chair and stood up, dramatically wiping her feet into the carpet and discarding the mangled bodies of the micros between her toes into the fibers of the floor along with a few wet streaks of blue nail polish that hadn’t yet dried, staring Miranda down. 

“Oh… now you care…” Ana sullenly said with a hint of sadness in her tone.  Miranda frantically looking around the empty part of her table, looking for any surviving specks by where Ana’s toes just were, but there were none that she could see, just little red droplets mixed with blackened and twisted bodies, Miranda’s mouth agape and her eyes lowering in apprehension. 

“What is wrong with you?!” Miranda yelled back up at Ana.  Ana not acknowledging Miranda’s words, stepping out of her room and closing the bedroom door behind her, leaving Miranda distraught and speechless next to her city. 

***                                                                 ***                                                           ***

Day 305 – Ashton City

              “Oh no…” Natalie said, gasping, covering her mouth with her hands. 

              “What?  I thought you saw worse with Lacy” Sabine unsympathetically teased.

              “I did! I just…  I can’t believe it” Natalie said with shock.

              “Because she doesn’t care… none of the giants do” Sabine said. 

              “Miranda was pissed though; she would have stopped her if she could have” Natalie said as Sabine scoffed.

              “But she didn’t, don’t you understand, she could have not ordered this at all in the first place!” Sabine yelled.  Natalie silent for a moment, looking towards the floor.  Natalie wanting to argue against Sabine’s logic so desperately, but she made a quick decision, knowing she couldn’t go back to her normal life, knowing that Lacy and Jessica were much worse, knowing that Miranda was trying her best to treat the citizens of the city as close to normal as possible, Natalie didn’t want to give up her newfound comfort.  Natalie decided to play along with Sabine’s plan, reserving her own thoughts on the matter and biding her true opinions. 

              “Fuck… you’re right, why make her people do it in the first place?” Natalie questioned as Sabine nodded.

              “Humiliation, slavery, too much power to even know how to handle it, that’s what spoiled princesses do, Natalie, that’s what Miranda is and has been this whole time, she thinks she has the right to do this to us because she pretends to protect us and treat us fairly, but does being squished between some girls’ toes sound fair to you? Does that sound fair to die for a false god like Miranda?” Sabine asked.

              “No… no, it’s not right” Natalie agreed. 

              “And it never was, what you went through wasn’t right, and what I go through isn’t right” Sabine said.

              “Then what do we do?  It’s fucking hopeless down here” Natalie said.

              “I’m working on that… in the meantime… would you like to share a meal with me?” Sabine asked, Natalie reluctantly nodding her head in agreement as she knew that she needed to eat something. 

***                                                                 ***                                                           ***

Day 306 – Jessica

              “Thanks for taking me out tonight, Jessica, I need it” Ana said, standing in the middle of Jessica’s room as she got ready to go out for a night on the town.

              “Duh… I’m gonna get you so fucked up; you won’t even remember who Miranda is” Jessica laughed as Ana sadly sighed.  “Awww, come on, no reason to be down tonight, girl” Jessica said with a smile as she tugged up her skinny jeans. 

              “Okay, I will try” Ana said with a half-smile.

              “Gonna need some nice heels for tonight first…” Jessica said, standing in the open doorframe of her closet, ignoring Toy Town on the floor and peering around her shoe racks for a pair of heels that would go well with her tight, dark jeans.  Jessica scanned across her heels, seeing a pair of strappy pink platform pumps that she never wore, Jessica shaking her head as she continued to scan and spotting a fancy pair of her mom’s designer black platform, high-block heels, Jessica grabbing the pair by the straps and purposefully dangling them over Toy Town before shutting the door behind her, leaving the light on for the micros for the night.

              Jessica sat at her bed, slipping her feet into the heels, and clasping the ankle straps securely before she stood up.  Walking around her room a bit as her feet compressed into the soft soles, standing next to Ana, “Look at this… 5-inch platforms and I’m still fucking shorter than you…” Jessica joked as Ana giggled for the first time that day. “You ready?” Jessica asked.

              “Yeah!” Ana cheered. The duo of girls left for the night finding themselves at a mildly busy bar, sitting down at a table and drinking their cocktails.  “There’s so many students still, I thought most of them would have gone home for sure” Jessica said.

              “Yeah, the semester is over, yes?” Ana innocently said.

              “I guess they have nothing else to do” Jessica said, taking another few audible sips through her straw. 

              “Why do not you leave back to California while there is no school?” Ana asked.

              “I don’t know… I guess part of me feels like I need to deal with Toy Town first… the other part of me just wants to say fuck it and go back home… I’ll figure out what I want to do soon” Jessica said.

              “You can go hang out with Lacy!” Ana cheered. 

              “We actually already have plans to smoke when I get back to LA haha” Jessica laughed.

              “I wish I could go with you two” Ana said with a small frown.

              “Awww… don’t worry giraffe girl, I’ll get you out to California someday” Jessica said with a smile.

              “Thanks… I think” Ana said, taking another drink. 

              “I just can’t believe you squished a bunch of Miranda’s people right in front of her, that’s amazing!” Jessica bellowed.

              “I am done with her and her dumb city…” Ana said, shaking her head and playing with the straw in her drink.

              “As you should be!” Jessica loudly emphasized. “I can’t believe we were almost friends… I really, really did try with her, ya know” Jessica said.

              “Maybe if she did not care about the tiny people, you would have been close, who knows…” Ana said as Jessica shrugged her shoulders.

              “True, she doesn’t see the micros like we see them, though, but that’s her problem, it’s not my fault she can’t have any fun” Jessica said as Ana nodded.  Jessica felt her phone buzz in her pocket as she pulled it out.

              “I do miss her being… my friend though… ehhh… I do not know…” Ana admitted, cringing her teeth and wincing her eyes as it appeared she was fighting with the thought.

              “No way, girl! That’s just the vodka talking” Jessica insisted with a small laugh.

              “Maybe… I am getting another drink” Ana said as Jessica nodded, pulling up her phone screen to her face, Ana’s looming figure standing up from the table as she towered over most of the students up to the bar.  Jessica laughing at a text from Lacy, seeing a picture of a tiny grey kitten in Lacy’s arms as she was smiling wide, “This apartment allows pets, so we got a new kitty, named her Elle!” the caption from Lacy’s text read, Jessica could tell that Lacy was extremely high in the picture, her eyes red and glazed over to the point where she almost looked asleep as Jessica placed her phone back into her purse. 

              “Look who I found!” Ana said, walking back with another drink in her hand as a much shorter girl stood at her side.

              “Oh my god, Victoria?!” Jessica said, standing up from the table and hugging the girl.

              “Ahhh!” Victoria and Jessica both yelled in glee. 

              “I haven’t seen you in forever” Jessica said, sitting back down as Victoria sat at another seat. 

              “I know, right?!  I’m not a sorority pledge anymore either, I’m a full-on sister for Epsilon!” Victoria shouted.

              “Congrats, girl” Jessica cheered, clinking her glass on Victoria’s, “Is Ashley around?” Jessica asked.

              “Oh, you didn’t hear?” Victoria asked.

              “No? what?” Jessica questioned.

              “Ashley failed out!  All of her finals… all F’s, she got placed on academic suspension and got kicked out of the sorority on grades requirements, she drove back home to North Carolina after the semester ended, nobody has really talked to her since…she doesn’t even post on Insta anymore either” Victoria said with wide eyes.

              “No fucking way… so… she’s not your big sorority sister anymore?” Jessica asked, trying her best to hide her gaping, satisfied grin.

              “No, Yasmin is my big sister now!” Victoria cheered.

              “Wow… I do not get it” Ana said, innocently chiming into the conversation.

              “This is great fucking news is all you need to know, Ana” Jessica said with pure joy in her voice.

              “Yay!” Ana cheered, not knowing what was going on, taking a big drink from her glass as she started to feel the beginnings of the alcohol take hold of her inhibitions. 

              “What about Samara?” Jessica asked. 

              “I think her rich ass parents took her on some fancy summer vacation” Victoria said, brushing part of her hair over her shoulders. 

              “Sounds like her… so, do you want to drink with us?” Jessica asked. 

              “Yeah!  I’ll go grab Yasmin” Victoria said as she scurried off towards the bar, bringing back the university cheerleader.  Jessica hugging Yasmin as it felt like a weight was lifted, the mood instantly elevating seeing her old sorority friends without the bitch that was Ashley trying to dictate everything. 

              “Why didn’t you two go home for the summer?” Jessica asked.

              “My parents suck… all that religious bullshit… I’ll just stay at the epsilon house with a few of the girls for the summer” Victoria said.

              “Wow, you’re a little rebel now after spending too much with Ashley, huh?  What about you, Yas?” Jessica asked.

              “I’m helping coach freshmen cheerleading this summer!” Yasmin yelled, raising her arms up in the air dramatically, “Wooh!” Yasmin shouted, flicking her head up as if finishing a cheerleading move, her long dreads flipping back down against her back as the girls all laughed. 

              “I’m sorry about the micros by the way, girls…” Jessica said, twirling her drink in her hand.

              “It’s alright, Ashley was the one that was really mad, she made me say that dumb shit on the phone to try and make you feel bad about it” Victoria said.

              “Thank you… I had a feeling you didn’t hate me for real” Jessica said with a smile. 

              “They were super fun to fuck with, but… it’s not going to change my life or anything” Yasmin said.

              “Do you still have any, Victoria? I know you had that little terrarium thingy in your room, and they were living in it” Jessica asked.

              “No… it got boring.  It wasn’t even fun poking their homes or squishing them anymore, so I drowned some of them in hot tea and I guess the rest starved to death because I forgot to feed them over spring break… whoops” Victoria said with a small giggle, taking a big gulp of her bright pink drink, “I dumped all the dirt and their homes into the trash and sold the terrarium glass to some weird theater student” Victoria said, shrugging her shoulders. 

              “Wow!” Ana exclaimed. 

              “Well… I guess that takes care of that… so… we’re trying to get my giraffe friend here fucked up tonight, you girls in?” Jessica asked as the sorority sisters joyously agreed, “Bueno! I’ll buy us shots!” Jessica shouted as she walked off towards the bar. 

              Jessica and Ana stumbled back to the apartment after a wild night of drinking, loudly stomping across the living room floor as they knew Miranda had to have heard it, playfully trying to playfully shoosh each other as they both hugged and said goodnight.  Jessica closed her bedroom door behind her, turning on the light and trying to wobble towards her bed, attempting not to trip over her expensive heels, but she stopped in front of the closet, taking a deep drunken breath as her vision was spinning a bit, looking down towards the handle as she opened the closet door, revealing Toy Town scattered across the floor. 

              Jessica placed her hand on the wall behind her, using it as balance as she carefully slid herself downward as she sat on the carpet, her heels stretched outwards towards her bedroom as she shook her head, squinting her eyes as she tried to concentrate her spinning vision on the city.  “The only reason I haven’t left for Cali yet is because… mmm… of you fu- fucking assholes” Jessica struggled to talk, her words slurring a bit, her breath heavy with the smell of alcohol.  Jessica laid down on her side, her upper body in the door frame of the closet as her lower half sprawled out across the carpet of her room.  “You’re all ju- just… so sad… where do you even… like… hide anymore, huh?” Jessica asked, shaking her head as her eyes nearly closed, trying to focus on all the buildings and neighborhoods, seeing the specks of people in the streets by her face across the sand. 

               All Jessica could think about was not throwing up, and trying to keep herself awake, not noticing the thousands of specks trying to retreat to a deeper part of the city, and out of her immediate view.  Jessica rested her head on the soft carpet for a moment as she heavily breathed between her pursed lips, licking the inside of her mouth as her tongue felt dry, closing her eyes as her head continued to spin, her stomach a bit upset as she leaned her body more towards the city, angling her abdomen downward into the carpet an attempt to relieve the nasty feeling building up within her stomach. 

              She smacked her dry lips, her hair all around her on the carpet as she slowly opened her eyes towards Toy Town.  Jessica, in drunken thought, realized that if she got some micros into her stomach, they would suppress the acid building up in the bottom of her throat.  Jessica reached her hand over the city, lowering it into a group of buildings and thousands of people as she gripped the debris tightly in her hand, watching as some of the grey dust and speck sized people dropped down from between the gaps in her fingers. Jessica taking the handful towards her mouth as she picked up her head from off the floor, opening her mouth wide as she placed the handful of city into her mouth and closed her lips shut behind them, swishing the debris and destruction around her mouth and tongue, tasting salty and feeling gritty and loose. 

              The drunk Latina tossed the debris and people around her tongue, feeling the vibrations of thousands of people screaming on the inside of her mouth as she rested her head on the carpet, feeling her saliva start to build up in her mouth as it returned to a normal moisture, satiating Jessica of her dry mouth, hearing the muffled screams of the people panicking inside her start to die off as the saliva started to encase the broken buildings and people caught atop her tongue and between her teeth.  Jessica began to chew the wettened chunks of the city, everything breaking apart with fragility and ease, the saltiness starting to taste a bit like blood as she felt the visceral pops of hundreds of micros exploding to pulp between her molars.  Jessica continued to drunkenly grind and chew the pieces of the city until it felt like a gluey gum in her mouth, swallowing the paste as she felt it sliding down her throat and into her volatile stomach that was tossing and turning with acid and fruity flavored vodka. 

              Jessica turned to her side, feeling her stomach actually calming down, the chewed-up city and micros in her stomach acting somewhat like an antacid, the gluey mixture of grinded down buildings and mushed up bodies soaking up some of the volatile acidity.  Her vision still spinning violently as she leaned her head into the carpet, nearly facedown with her arms out in front of her, using her shoulder as a sort of pillow, closing her eyes back shut as she concentrated on breathing out of her nose before drifting off into an uneasy sleep, unaware there were dozens of surviving micros that didn’t get chewed, or drown in her saliva, only to start dissolving in the lava-like acid in the pitch black hellscape of her gurgling, sloshing stomach. 

              She awoke a few hours later in the dead of night, her vision still spinning as she whirred, using her arms to prop herself as she groaned in pain and winced her eyes, nearly tripping over her heels as she tried to stand up, slumping back down to a laying position as she frustratingly unbuckled the straps around her ankles and kicked off her heels as they smacked the bedroom door with a few loud thuds.  She brought herself upright, tugging her pants down and ripping off her shirt as she stumbled back to bed, crashing atop her comfortable sheets and passing back out in the early hours of the warm morning. 

***                                                                 ***                                                           ***

Day 307 – Toy Town

              Asif stared down at his hands in the opened frame of his makeshift shanty house under Jessica’s pink strappy heels that had been keeping him safe and out of view of the goddess’ attention, but he was still shaken from the events of losing his friend during Ana’s massacre of downtown Toy Town.  Too distraught to notice his neighbors hiding, nobody around him in his view, Asif placing his hands at his side as he felt a few rumbles of Jessica looming closer.  Asif didn’t even bother to look up, his normal bubbly attitude seemed crushed, unaware that Jessica’s hands were gliding over the pink, strappy heels he was living under, Asif seeing the shadow of her hand skate across the ground beneath him as he scowled at the ominous darkness in the shape of her fingers. 

              He stood up, sauntering into the middle of the village center, alone, finally turning around to see Jessica dangling a pair of thick black heels over the city, almost teasingly as if she was about to drop them directly over the metropolis and call it quits on being a goddess over the decimated people she had tortured and enslaved for nearly a year, which sounded more like a relief to Asif than anything.  Watching as Jessica turned around with a smile and closing the door, leaving on the ceiling light for the night, yet again, fucking with everyone’s sleep cycle in the city. 

              Asif barely ate anymore, his neighbors tried to cheer him up ever since his friend lost her life under Ana, but it was no use, Asif spending the rest of that night wandering around the outskirts of the city depressed, thinking of better times in his life, but struggling at the thought, only able to pick out a few moments, not being able to get his mind off of the horrible memory burned in his mind of him witnessing the squelching wet squish of Ana’s finger falling onto the group of citizens his friend was lost under, the blood and guts exploding outward as their voices and screams were silenced in an instant.  Asif shaking his head as he tried to think of something else, but he just kept replaying the memory in his head, over and over, as he had been for a month. 

              Finding himself sat in a broken building reduced to rubble apart from a few floors cracked in half, Asif throwing rocks and small, loose debris across the gaps in the floors, the therapeutic sounds of rocks and stones clacking against the rubble down below calmed him a bit, giving something to take his mind off of other things, even if the action was dull and simple.  Asif watching as people roamed the streets below him up and down, scavenging for leftover supplies wherever they could, until he felt another low, familiar rumble. 

              Asif heard the goddess’ booming footsteps, only intensified by her thick platformed heels, not wanting to turn around to face the door, he continued to watch towards the wall, the massive shoe rack in the distance, the pink heels he called home, continuing to throw rocks as the massive door opened behind him, feeling more intense vibrations from the goddess as he did his best to ignore the trembling floor beneath him.  “THE ONLY REASON I HAVEN’T LEFT FOR CALI YET IS BECAUSE… MMM… OF YOU FU- FUCKING ASSHOLES” the goddess’ slurred words rocking over Toy Town as Asif continued to throw rocks.  Asif feeling the intense quakes of her adjusting her body to the floor, part of Asif hoping she would just crush him, so he didn’t have to deal with it anymore.  Asif shaking in the building, thinking it would collapse for a second as he braced himself during another huge quake as Jessica laid down outside of the door.  “YOU’RE ALL JU- JUST… SO SAD… WHERE DO YOU EVEN… LIKE… HIDE ANYMORE, HUH?” the words rolled over the city again as Asif heard masses of people screaming, Asif scowling, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes, a feint scent of fruit and alcohol wafting under his nose.

              “Please me…  please…” Asif whispered to himself, begging for death.  Asif felt the deep rumbling and grinding noises of the city being ripped apart far behind him, opening his eyes as he realized it wasn’t his time to go, turning around to see what was happening, peering through a torn out window frame, watching as the goddess lifted her hand from the city, Asif watching as dozens of people screamed and flailed through the air downward, falling from the gaps between her fingers and splattering into the city at random, chunks of debris from collapsing buildings and dust trickling down as well, huge puffs of grey smoke from ripped up buildings slamming back down into the city, crushing a few people in unlucky spots that were too slow to get away. 

              Asif scowling as Jessica reared her hand over her mouth and slid thousands of people buried under rubble and trapped in buildings behind her lips, wrapping her lips closed as she laid back down with a small quaking thud, Asif seeing the subtle, yet massive motions of her mouth, her cheeks slightly puffed outward to contain all of the city fragments. The audible noise of her spit smacking around within her mouth, rolling the people around and under her tongue, her jaw muscles twitching as she hummed a bit, her throat tensing as Asif could hear the horrifying grinding and crunching noises of her teeth working up and down behind her closed lips, imagining the horror happening within as she swallowed everything down her throat with a drunken gulp. 

              Only a few moments later was Jessica deeply snoring, her face turned away from the city, her loud roars coming from her nose and mouth keeping the citizens awake from the night as she laid down, passed out just outside of the door frame.  Asif staring at her upper back bob up and down with each deep breath she took, his eyes weary as he looked down towards the street, his weary eyes turning to a heavy, red welt as he began to cry and sob uncontrollably. 

              Asif fell asleep in the building, sat up against the wall, the low rumbling of Jessica’s snoring a few miles outside of the doorway was enough of a white noise to lull him into a dream, his eyes were swollen and reddened from crying.  Suddenly, he was awoken as the goddess stirred, Asif thought he was still dreaming for a moment as he saw a pair of heels fly by the frame of the doorway and out of sight, followed by the crashing of a massive pair of jeans and her shirt in the frame of the door, Asif’s heart pounded as he waited for a naked goddess to show herself and wreak havoc, but her booming footsteps died out heading in the other direction off towards her bed. 

              The dejected spirit of Asif laid back down against the damaged floor of his torn-up building, hugging himself as he stared outward across the destroyed city and towards the massive pile of discarded clothes, the scent of the goddess’ sweet perfume emanating from her clothes as he shivered at the sensation wafting through the air of the city.  Asif contemplated his life, truly wondering for the first time if he could keep going, keep living, earlier begging to be snatched up and ate by Jessica, but he wasn’t, he was left to question his will to live in the early hours of the morning as he faded back to sleep against the hard floor, just wanting anything else to happen in his life…

***                                                                 ***                                                           ***

Day 307 – Ashton City

              Miranda’s stress continued to build in her mind, losing hundreds of micros to Ana’s angry outburst, Sabine acting combative, and losing Ana seemingly as a friend, Miranda found herself at the university gym, taking her anger out twice as hard as she normally would have.   Suddenly, she felt a tight strain in her upper arm after picking up a weight off the metal rack, the painful feeling only worsening as she winced and grunted in frustration, barely able to move her arm without feeling a tight, debilitating spasm deep within her muscle, dropping the weight on the padded floor with a soft, dull smack, trying her best to hide the pain expressed by her face as she grabbed her bag and quickly left back to the apartment, blowing by the front desk student worker asking if she was okay. 

              She threw her bag on the floor of her bedroom with her other arm, walking back out into the kitchen and grabbing a small baggie from the pantry, filling it with ice cubes from the freezer as she carried it back into her bedroom, angrily slamming her door shut and locking it as she sat at her bed, pressing the ice against her arm as it continued to hurt, rapidly bouncing the heels of her shoes up and down against the carpet as she felt the strain deep in her muscle, struggling to move her arm up and down as she grunted with each subtle movement. 

The nursing student knew she had severely strained her muscle for a while, trying her best to ease the swelling and pain, but only frustrating her mind even more, increasing her stress level.  Miranda laid down atop her blankets, continuing to ice her arm as it slowly started to numb and feel slightly better, eventually taking a shower and gaining back some minor mobility in her arm, the hot water feeing good against her skin as she washed her hair and body. 

The sun disappearing behind the horizon as it turned to night, Miranda atop her bed in some pajamas, talking on the phone with her mom about plans to visit home for the summer.  “Mom… I can’t like, just leave, I… have summer classes” Miranda lied, trying to cover for the responsibility she felt as the guardian of Ashton City.  “I know… maybe I’ll come home for a few days around the fourth of July, how about that?”  Miranda continued to speak into her phone, her tone only growing more frustrated, “Yeah… I’ll be in the same exact apartment, no… no I already signed the lease… yeah, because I have to repeat the nursing classes I missed for the funeral…” Miranda said, sniffling a bit.  “Alright… I love you, too… bye, mom” Miranda said, tapping her phone off and rolling around in her bed, wincing at the dull ache deep in her arm. 

              Miranda unable to sleep later that night as she tossed and turned, her mind going haywire with stress and bad thoughts, imagining the micros squished between Ana’s toes, their last moments, the fear they must have felt as Ana’s flesh closed in tightly around them, maybe if she just listened to Ana, she could have saved a few hundred of her people instead of watching them pop between Ana’s long toes.  Miranda realized she couldn’t sleep, standing up and pulling her chair up to the city to watch over them in the dark glow of the night, the city lights lighting up Miranda’s upper body with a dull glow.   

              Miranda sighed as she watched her city with tired eyes, seeing a few thousand specks moving around the streets in the night as opposed to the tens of thousands she was used to seeing during the day, her arm at her side still in pain as she tried to concentrate on the positive things in her life.  Miranda relaxed a bit as she looked over her people, thankful for having them, seeing more and more lights pop on as she realized her just being that close must have awoken some of her sleeping micros. 

              She saw more and more lights turn on around the neighborhoods, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to wake everyone up” Miranda lightly whispered, a hint of embarrassment in her voice.  Miranda shaking her head as she realized her little whisper probably woke up even more of her tinies.  “Oh no… please go back to sleep, don’t worry… I just couldn’t sleep…I’ll leave everyone alone, I’ll be quick, I promise” Miranda softly whispered with a small half-smile, her tired eyes scanning over the city as she began to scoot back in her chair a bit. 

              Miranda looked over her people around the streets with a few more glances, following the red and yellow glows of speck-sized cars slowly making their way up and down the grid-like city, the stress in her head melting as she closed her eyes, imagining in her head if she had stopped Ana from crushing her people somehow, her mind wandering into an elaborate daydream. 

She pictured herself pushing Ana off the chair just in time before she clenched her toes together, the micros falling onto the table safely, making sense in her head, but rather impossible in real life.  She started to slide her hand down under the elastic of her panties’ waistband, curling her fingers over her lips and started to gently rub herself, leaning back in her chair a bit and resting her head on the back of the chair, focusing on the warm pleasure building up as a small, quiet gasping moan escaped between her lips.

              Feeling a bit weird at first but left with no choice as her other arm was nearly immobile, Miranda was using her non-dominant hand for the first time to pleasure herself, but the more she focused on the feeling and the daydream, the less she cared.  She imagined yelling at Ana, pushing her out of her room, the idea of seeing Ana on the floor begging for forgiveness for almost killing her micros made Miranda feel elated with warmth and pleasure. Miranda rotated the back of her head on the backrest of the chair, feeling the flush sensation around her pussy building slowly, keeping her mouth tightly shut as she didn’t want to wake up anyone else up with a moan, trying to keep her fingers moving slow around her clit under her panties. 

Miranda lost herself in the daydream for the next few minutes, feeling the fake power over an imaginary Ana, saving her micros from her toes as she felt close to finishing herself, her legs tingling and tightening a bit as her toes slightly curled into the carpet beneath the desk. Miranda reared her back up a bit in the chair, wincing her eyes tightly as she lost focus on the daydream, the overwhelming warm feeling between her legs reaching its climax as she heavily breathed a few times, relaxing her arms down at her side, her fingers glistening a bit with her wetness, taking a small, focused breath as she opened her eyes with a small grin on her face, feeling tired and ready to go back to bed, brushing the strange daydream from her head as she readied to lift herself off the chair. 

              Suddenly, Miranda felt a tiny waft of heat across the exposed skin of her arms, chest, and face, witnessing a small orange glow in the middle of downtown, an audible snapping pop following shortly after, sparkles of shattered glass all around the orange glow as it disappeared into a black puff of smoke followed by the squeaks of hundreds of micro screams.  Miranda in disbelief as she didn’t realize what she had just observed.  Miranda peering around downtown trying to figure out what it was, her mouth wide open as she squinted her eyes for focus, still feeling the pleasurable tingling inbetween and around her legs. 

Miranda could see tiny glowing orange flames around where the puff of black smoke was, realizing it was fire, seeing tiny specks trying to run away from the flames that were engulfing some streets as well as a few buildings around the explosion. Miranda panicked, rushing up and away from her chair and into her bathroom, wetting her hand that she had just used to pleasure herself in her sink and stepping back over to her city, lifting her wet hand upward over the flames and flicking her fingers downward over the embers, raining droplets of water downward on the city, the flames squelching out into grey smoke streaks soon after a few flicks of Miranda’s hands.  Stepping away, Miranda cleaned herself up in her bathroom, coming out of the doorway with a new pair of white panties, sitting back down on her bed as she breathed a sigh of relief, pleased that she had extinguished the fires in her city.  She reached for her phone with the intent to understand what happened. 

              “What the hell is going on Sabine, what was that?” Miranda quickly texted atop her bed.

              “It’s called a bomb” Sabine’s reply said.  Miranda’s heart began beating fast as her face twisted to a look of deep concern.

              “A bomb?” Miranda typed back.

              “Yeah, and your little firefighter heroics didn’t help either, dozens drowned or washed away because you dropped house sized globes of water on them, great going there, hero” Sabine typed back.

              “Sabine, please, what is going on?” Miranda desperately typed back. 

              “You really don’t understand, do you?  I knew you were dumb, but wow, you seriously need me to walk you through this, huh?” Sabine said, Miranda in shock as she held her phone between her hands unable to move her fingers to type.  “It’s your turn to listen to me, or else another bomb goes off” Sabine typed.

              “But… you can’t hurt me with that stuff, I’m too big… I don’t understand” Miranda replied.

              “Oh my… yes, I know that; you really are not too bright, huh?” Sabine typed.

              “Then why… do you want me to crush you like that evil general guy? Because I will if I have to” Miranda typed angrily as her mind started to connect everything. “Is this why you’ve been such a bitch lately?” Miranda typed.

              “If you try to crush me, I set off an explosion that will wipe out half the city in a split second…you will lose almost everyone” Sabine typed. Miranda gritting her teeth.  “Also… if you don’t listen to me, I set it off, really, you have no choice here…my finger is one the trigger, always…” Sabine typed.

              “There’s no way you would kill yourself, that’s stupid” Miranda typed.

              “No?  You took away the only thing I cared about, you murdered my family, I’m your slave along with the other million people in this city… I don’t mind sending myself to the afterlife in a fiery hell storm just for the chance to see them again, more importantly, I take away your people” Sabine typed. 

              “What do you even want?” Miranda asked.

              “If you tell anyone, if you utter a fucking peep about this being my fault to the city, I will set off the big one… there are other smaller bombs set up around the city, wanna see?” Sabine typed, ignoring Miranda’s desperate text. 

              “No!” Miranda typed quickly.

              “Good… as far as the city is concerned it was a gas leak turned accident… I’ve sent over some help to clean up the drowned bodies and to tend to the wounded, but for now, if you even come close to the city, I’ll set off a smaller one at random… got it?” Sabine typed. Miranda’s eyes began to welt, on the verge of tears as her lips quivered.

              “Yes…” Miranda reluctantly typed, pausing for a moment.  “Why would you kill people like that?” Miranda asked.

              “Don’t even pretend like you’re the angel here, a few dozen in a bomb versus tens of thousands you’ve killed… I’m doing this for our safety, the city’s safety” Sabine typed.

              “How did you even find a bomb; you’re supposed to be my little mayor!” Miranda typed, Miranda ignoring the strain in her arm as she gripped her phone tighter, clenching her teeth in anger.

              “I’m not your fucking mayor… and I’m not the only one in Ashton City that hates your guts, you murderer… remember what I said… not a word, or you’ll lose everything, and I can see my family again… goodnight” Sabine typed. Miranda staring at her phone screen, speechless, feeling like she was losing everything, motionless for a few minutes, trying to fight off the sinking feeling in her stomach and the lump in her throat.  Miranda curled herself into her bed, facing away from the city, huddling up into a ball, her eyes wide open as she stared at the wall in silence…

***                                                                 ***                                                           ***

Day 308 – Ashton City

              Natalie watched in the cameras as Miranda masturbated in her chair a few thousand feet from the outskirts of the city.  Natalie peering over Sabine’s shoulder as she sat just behind her, the screens surrounding the pair of women.  Natalie realizing that Sabine was looking at Miranda with a strange obsession, Sabine not taking her eyes off the goddess, the cameras only the showing the view of the giantess’ upper body, but her arm making small motions was suggestive of her sexual intentions.  “So, this is normal?” Natalie asked.  Sabine not answering.  “Okay…” Natalie said, crossing her arms, leaning back in her chair as she continued to watch Miranda through the screens.  “Still feels weird… doesn’t it… you never get used to seeing giant woman touching herself, but heh… at least she’s not using us like Lacy did” Natalie said, breaking the silence as Sabine continued to ignore her, just watching, Natalie nervously pivoting in her chair, feeling like she was in trouble with a parent or teacher.  “Looks like she’s getting close to… you know, maybe she’ll just go back to bed afterwards… oh wow, look at all the people watching on the other cams, thousands of them… reminds me of… no… it’s not the same” Natalie said, nervous as she made the connection between Miranda’s people watching her masturbate versus Lacy’s cult bowing down when she had sex with Ki. 

              Miranda heavily breathed a few times as she slowly opened her eyes in the screens, Sabine typing a few commands into the keyboard as one of the camera feeds of a downtown street district faded to grey.  Natalie looking over to another screen that had a camera pointed in that direction, seeing a bright explosion, the glass shattering as people ran away from the blast, fires engulfing nearby storefronts and buildings as the citizens screams, injured people crawling on the streets, others dead where they lay.  Natalie watching on in horror as a titanic pair of fingers dripping with cum and water rained white-clouded droplets of liquid down on the streets that were set ablaze from the explosion, witnessing dozens of people being washed away or crushed under the direct impact of the drop, others drowning in the white rushing liquid, pinning them under the upturning tide of water spreading out across the streets and into buildings. 

              Natalie sat in silence as the cameras showed Miranda sat atop her bed miles away, clutching her phone, watching the text communication over the screen between Miranda and Sabine.  The other screens pointed towards the city showing thousands of people rushing out to help the injured and recover the dead, flashing lights of medical vehicles treating burns and the rest of the casualties who were missing limbs, or even worse injuries caused by the blast. 

Natalie watching as Sabine strongarmed the blonde goddess through decisive conversation, her heartbeat racing as she felt glued to her chair, unable to move, watching the desperate messages come in from Miranda as Sabine cursed her name and continued to type into the machine, the conversation ending as Miranda turned away from the screen to lay down.  “That’s how you keep a city safe…” Sabine said quietly under her breath. 

              “You killed people…” Natalie nervously said.

              “Like I told Miranda, dozens of deaths don’t compare to the thousands caused by her, Natalie… I did this for us, for the city… I thought you would understand by now” Sabine dismissively said. 

              “But look at them!  They’re screaming in pain, burned, missing eyes, arms… look!” Natalie said, pointing at the screen, Sabine glancing up, curling her lips in disappointment, staring at the suffering people being tended to in the streets.

              “813 people died 3 days ago because of a pedicure… crushed like bugs by Ana because Miranda was selfish… that never has to happen again if my plan works” Sabine said, Natalie sighing deeply, worried a bit that she would be treated poorly if she argued too much.

              “I get it… but that couldn’t have been the only way to get her to listen” Natalie suggested.

              “Look at her, on her bed, not moving… she’s not going to tempt me… I can feel it, this is going to work” Sabine said.

              “Okay, so she doesn’t bother us anymore… what then?” Natalie asked.

              “We survive… maybe we find some people who can figure out how we got here in the first place, but for now… we can relax” Sabine said.

              “Oh, I get it now… you don’t actually have a big bomb that will blow us all up” Natalie said with a nervous laugh.

              “No…that part is true, Natalie, the yield would level most of the city and well into the suburbs” Sabine said, staring into Natalie eyes, Natalie didn’t detect an ounce of lie in her tone or body language as Natalie tried her best to not show her anxiety, realizing she was trapped, Sabine with her hand on the figurative trigger, ready to wipe Ashton City off the face of Miranda’s desk at any moment. 

              “Oh, well then we better hope Miranda stays over there, huh?” Natalie nervously laughed again, trying her best to blend in like she had done so well while living in Biraal City with Lacy’s cult. 

              “It’s okay to be scared, Natalie, I understand… but you’ll be fine in this bunker if I trigger the bomb, I’d rather die out there along with my fellow citizens, there would probably only be a few ten thousand or so survivors you can serve Miranda with after the city is gone if you so still choose to live under her… but… I can’t imagine a worse fate than being Miranda’s servant for the rest of your life” Sabine said as Natalie nervously nodded her head in agreement. 

              “I have to ask… why did you wait until she finished playing with herself to trigger the first bomb?” Natalie asked. 

“Because I wanted to make her feel the lowest low after the highest high… hopefully the people of the city don’t get too depressed, if she keeps her mouth shut about the bomb, they’ll think she’s just ignoring them and maybe we can get on with our lives as a normal people again…” Sabine said. 

“Alright… I see now… she can’t hurt us if she disregards us” Natalie said, pretending to agree.

“Exactly…” Sabine agreed.

“I think I need some sleep… it’s so late…” Natalie said, standing up from her chair as the two guards in the corner watched with a piercing eye to make sure Sabine was protected at all moments from Natalie. 

“Oh, Natalie… I know you’re nervous, I can tell in your tone, your body language… I know you still don’t believe me… I hope to change that one day, so… as an act of trust, I will make sure all of the people I injured will get the best medical care in the entire city, and…  I will say I do not have smaller bombs planted around neighborhoods… that was the bluff… the big bomb, yes, but I’m not a monster out to kill people, I’m trying to save them from a fate so much worse, but I will see my family again if it comes down to it… please just think about that, okay? Goodnight… let me know if you need anything” Sabine said with a guilty half smirk.  Natalie looked down towards the floor, then back up towards Sabine, nodding her head in agreement before shuffling off towards her quarters. 

Natalie hugged herself tightly in her bed, rocking herself back and forth slowly, still feeling the nerves shiver through her body trying to relax her erratic movements, witnessing atrocity after atrocity in her young life, her mind spinning with pain and traumatic stress as she had difficulty calming herself, growing even more anxious that Sabine could see through her façade of pretending to agree with her on everything to save face.  Natalie couldn’t sleep that night, eventually calming herself to a stillness, laying down on her bed, staring at the empty walls surrounding her, thinking of why her life turned from such promise to such hell, Natalie realizing that she had to do something different, the time for blending in was over…