The box was full of tiny people.

Ann was so shocked that she just froze right on the spot. The tinies looked to be very surprised as well, and for a few seconds, the group of people and her just stared at each other, unable to make a sound.

Then she placed the box on the floor and, still on her knees, uttered: “Is this… for real? Are you real?”

Some of them simply nodded

“For the love of god, this is so fucked up” she murmured, covering her face with her hands.

“Ann! Is that you?” Someone shouted. Ann uncovered her face, got nearer to the box and noticed a single tiny waving his hand

“Rick! You’re alive!” Then she noticed Al and Dan, right near him.

She felt so relieved that she started to cry softly “Thank god you’re okay… “

As she calmed down, Al asked “Where are we? We can’t see anything from here, and we can’t even get out because the cardboard walls are so high. Actually, can you get us out of this box? It feels pretty cramped” 

Ann answered “Yeah sure, i’ll do it right now” 

She thought about it for a moment and then she simply slowly tore off a side of the box, as she thought someone could be injured if she just flipped the container.

As the miniaturized people cautiously got out of their former prison, Ann stood up, looking at the room a bit more thoroughly.

The walls were white and perfectly smooth, dimly lit with neon lights. The floor was also smooth and clean, of a light grey tone.

She looked up and saw that the ceiling was at least 5 meters high, even if the room itself wasn’t big. In fact, it seemed roughly a rectangle of 3x5 meters.

Then she noticed another door, apart from the heavy and armored one of the entrance.

After a quick inspection, it turned out to be a simple, small but clean bathroom, with a toilet, a shower and a sink.

Much to her surprise, both the sink and the toilet had tiny stairs, going from the floor up.

“Just what kind of prison is this... “ she muttered while getting back to the box.

As she approached the tinies, she noticed that they were staring at her.

“What’s up?” she asked, bending down.

Rick answered “Weeell, it’s nothing really, it’s just that you look even more gigantic when you’re standing up. It’s actually pretty scary, you know”

He looked really nervous.

Ann looked at the group: around 50 people strong, composed of kids, young as well as grown men, and every single one of them was visibly intimidated by her size.

Some of them actually looked seriously scared.

She blushed :”Oh i’m so sorry, i didn’t consider how you could feel, it’s just that from my perspective it’s you people that are small. Don’t worry, i have absolutely no intention of hurting any of you, just don’t be scared of me, please”

Her smile, albeit a little more nervous than usual, worked its magic as always.

After things calmed down, Ann sat with her legs folded in front of her 3 friends, while the rest of the group roamed across the room. 

“So, how did you shrink?” Ann asked

“Clueless” Al answered “We woke up in that box just a minute before you opened it”

“Damn those bastards… “ Ann muttered.

“Calm down, we just need to find a way out of this. Maybe it’s all a misunderstanding, they’ll let us out soon. Probably” Rick proposed

“Yeah right, they reeeeeally looked like friendly and understanding people. More importantly, we need to find a way to bust out of here” Al retorted.

Dan thought for a second “there must be some kind of air conducts, or something like that”

They all looked around, until Rick spotted two square holes on the wall, almost at the top of the ceiling “We could have Ann throw us up there!” 

“Sounds like a plan” Al agreed

Dan sighed "You guys are always like this, you really need to think about the consequences. Given that we don’t go splat for the impact, Ann would need a 100% launching accuracy with 60 different people. One miss and that person is a goner.  Also, i doubt they’re that stupid, there has to be a grid or something like that. Besides, how is she even going to get out of here?”

They fell silent. After a while, Ann murmured “So, we really are stuck here?” 

“Looks like it” Dan answered grimly.

Sensing that the mood was getting quite dark, Rick tried to change subject: “Daaaaaaaaaamn it’s so cold, my hands are getting numb”

“Really? I think that the temperature is okay” Ann answered “I don’t even have heavy clothes”

After all, it was spring. She just wore white low top all star shoes, black leggins, a white t-shirt and a short denim jacket.

“I’m cold too…” Al admitted

“It’s probably for our size, we get cold faster” Dan supposed.

With that, Ann said “Then we need to find a warm place for you all to sleep in. If we close the box, and enough people get in there, do you think their body heat will be enough to keep them warm?” 

“Probably” Dan mused “but that’s not enough, it’s too small for all of us"

“But there isn’t any other place!” Rick pouted “if we sleep near Ann, we’ll definitely get smeared all over the bed"

After a few seconds of silence, Ann said, blushing: ”Well, i do have my shoes…” 

Al and Rick suppressed a chuckle, but after a moment the idea made more and more sense.

“A shoe is pretty isolated after all, if we add the sock i think it’s going to be okay” proposed Dan, definitely having another goal in mind.

“But they probably smell…” Ann muttered, even if she was the one who suggested it.

“Trust me, between freezing outside and sleeping in your sweaty sock, i would definitely do the latter!” exclaimed Dan, not realizing he wasn’t helping at all.

Fortunately, Ann took it as a compliment, and smiled at him, giggling.

"Then, we are all set” she said, and got up to explain their ideas to the others. 

“I’m glad we could cheer her up. She looked upset before” Rick said

“She’s always quick to change her mood” Al added “almost like a child. Alright, let’s go with her.”

After the explanation, a few people mysteriously volunteered to sleep in the shoes, while the rest was chosen randomly.

Around 40 people could fit in the box, so the remaining 10 had to sleep elsewhere.

Ann sat on the edge of the bed, sighed and muttered: “here we go… “ and began to remove her shoes.

Her feet, clad in snow white short socks, slid out of their prison, and a strong but kinda pleasant smell began to permeate the room.

“S - sorry” she blushed “alright, now i’m going to pick you up and put you in, okay?”

Everyone nodded, so Ann slowly began to place the tinies inside the shoes.

The first 6 went in the left one, then only 4 remained: a kid and her three friends.

As Rick saw the gigantic fingers approaching, his instincts were screaming to run away, but he held fast, until the massive digits plucked him up and carried him in the humid and damp cavern.

After he was placed inside, he felt almost dizzy, as the smell was really strong, but still not unpleasant at all.

“Jeez, how perfect can she be? Not even her feet smell bad” he thought walking to the end of the shoe, to the area where the toes usually were, and then nestled himself in the biggest toe print, feeling the warmth of her lingering body heat.

After everyone was inside, Ann removed her socks as well, muttered “Good night guys” and tucked them into the shoes. 

She paused to look at her bare feet. She always thought hers looked kinda cute, and a lot of guys complimented their looks.

They were slender and extremely soft, with long and cute toes that ended with perfectly shaped nails. 

She would have never thought that someone would sleep in the same place where she kept her feet.

With those thoughts she got into the bed, and the lights instantly dimmed. After the initial surprise, she started to drift off to sleep, the exhaustion getting the best of her