**This story will be told from a first person perspective, as if it were being written in a diary.

My name is Paul. I live with my Mother and 5 sisters. Apparently, my Mom and Dad must have loved baby making, but thank God after six kids and their only son, they finally decided to stop. My Dad died shortly after I was born, in a horrible car accident. Thankfully, our family has stuck together ever since, and we’ve been very close. We were all born pretty consecutively, Megan being 22, me being 21, Sarah being 20, Ashley, 19, Julie 18, and Rosie 17.

Megan and I both go to the same University, and we actually have one class together, advanced Biology. God that professor is smoking hot, I’d love to get a piece of that! Sarah goes to a different university, so doesn’t interact too much with the rest of us. Ashley isn’t so smart, she got left behind in High School for a year, so she’s a senior, alongside Julie. Rosie is a junior in the same High School. All 4 girls except for Rosie came out to be beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed girls. You’d think they came out of some kind of Swedish Model magazine, stunningly hot, and great bodies, though I’d never think of my sisters that way, it’s gross to even think about it right now. Rosie has straight black hair, as black as the night-sky in the middle of nowhere. She is beautiful in her own right, but wear a lot of heavy black makeup.

Rosie was a bit strange…at some point in High School, she got in with a really bad crowd. No, not the type of crowd that does drugs and parties every weekend. This was the type of crowd that does black magic and witchcraft. She is always carrying around this spell book. According to her, the stuff is real, but I don’t really believe it.

Anyways, this all started one day at home. It was Friday, our movie night. Me and my sisters all got together to watch a movie in the family room. It was really more of a guest room that had a huge bed spanning basically the whole width of the room. Usually after the movie my sisters would all sleep in the bed, but I find it kind of awkward for me to sleep in there, so I just avoid it all together, and sleep in my room. We were all chatting before the movie started, except for Rosie, who was in the corner reading her book.

“Hey Rosie! Why don’t you stop reading that stupid book, magic isn’t real anyways.” I told her.

“Hey Paul, why don’t you mind your own business before I use one of these spells on you!” She retorted.

“Go ahead! It won’t work anyways. Hahahaha. You’re so stupid Rosie, I dare you to use any spell in that book, I guarantee it won’t work.” - Paul

“Oh Paul. You’re going to regret this. I have just the spell for you. It’ll shrink you down to one inch. You won’t act so big then! You’ll be as big as my big toe!” – Rosie

Julie chimed in here, “Be careful Paul! One of us might step on you if you were an inch tall!”

Now Ashley chimed in, “Gross. Could you imagine being an inch tall, stuck under MY foot? The smell would probably kill you” Ashley giggled as she held her tight grey socked foot out, which was clearly a bit moist from her foot sweat. This caused all the girls to laugh.

I immediately wanted to change the subject. Nobody knew about it, but I have a huge phobia of feet. Specifically girl’s feet. Girl’s feet are supposed to be clean and smell like butterflies, but living with 5 girls has taught me otherwise. All of them can get pretty horrible with their feet, but nothing was more disgusting than one incident with Megan’s feet. It was a hot summer day, and I really don’t know why she decided to wear her most over-used pair of black flats, but she did. When she took those things off, the smell basically exploded into the whole house. She had to go wash her feet and put the flats in a bag, but it was too late, the smell lasted for at least a day. Anyways, I can’t let them know how uncomfortable feet make me feel.

“Well I guess you better hope the spell doesn’t work Paul. Otherwise you’ll be stuck in a house with 6 people who can stomp you flat!” Rosie said confidently, and then proceeded to continue saying something in Latin.

Honestly she sounded ridiculous. I wanted to contain my laughter as she read those stupid words from that stupid book.

“Shrink huius anima immortalis!” Rosie finished loudly.

               There was just silence in the room…

               “See! What did I tell you! Nothing!” I yelled triumphantly.

               Rosie just stormed out the room, with a completely confused look on her face, wondering why her spell really didn’t work. She went to her room and locked the door.

               “Can we just start the movie already?!” Megan complained.

               “Good idea” I said. We all laid back on the bed, and started the movie. I was right dab in the middle.

After a few hours, the movie was over.

               “That movie sucked!” Ashley complained.

               “Damn right it did!” Julie continued. “I just want some quality sleep at this point.”

               “Yeah, you’re right” I said as I started to get up to go to my room.

               “You’re not going to stay and sleep with us?” Megan asked, genuinely concerned.

               “Nah, I think I’d rather sleep in my bed tonight.” – Paul

               “Oh come on! Can’t you just sleep her one night?! It’s our tradition! Movie night means we all sleep together! As a family!” Ashley complained.

               After thinking about, I decided to appease them just this once. I figured maybe it’ll actually be nice.

               We all began getting organized into the bed. I was till right in the middle. The order from left to right was, Megan, Ashley, Me, Julie, and Sarah on the end. Rosie was still gone, and there was no sign that she was coming back. As we all started getting ready to sleep, Julie complained,

               “Uhhh…What are you doing?”

               “Going to sleep?” I replied, confused.

               “You have to sleep on the opposite side of the bed, that’s how boys and girls are supposed to sleep.” Julie explained.

               “What?! No way! I’m not sleeping down there!” I yelled back. There was no way I was going to sleep down with their feet, gross!

               “What’s wrong, are you afraid we’re going to kick you in the face while we sleep?” Julie asked as she brought around her leg, encased in black knee-high socks, and quickly planted her foot on my face. Instinctively, I inhaled, which turned out to be a big mistake, I could clearly smell the foot sweat that had built up in her sock. It wasn’t too bad of an odor, but it was definitely there.

               “What the FUCK Julie!” I yelled as I harshly knocked away her foot. As I pulled back, Ashley had brought up her foot and lightly tapped my cheek. With her foot I could feel the disgusting dampness on my cheek. “Gross! Stop! What the fuck is wrong with you guys!” I yelled.

               “Oh come on, what’s the big deal. They’re just feet” Julie said as she held up her foot and wiggled her toes in her sock that could barely contain her foot as they clung tightly to the shape of her toes.

               “Fine, I’ll sleep on the opposite side, it’s no big deal.” I said in an attempt to conceal my phobia.

               Finally we turned the lights out and pulled up the covers. Here I was, lying in bed, with my head in between Ashley and Julies feet. Thankfully, they kept their feet far enough that I didn’t have to see them or, god forbid, smell them. I didn’t really have any control of the blanket. Megan had it tucked under her on one end, and Sarah tucked it under her on the other end. It was just like a tight sheet that sealed me in. I was just hoping I could survive it for the next 8-10 hours. Under the covers I looked to my left and right to see Ashley and Julie’s feet resting there like menacing monsters. I had to be very sure not to wake those beasts.

               Meanwhile, Rosie was in her room, studying her spell book to find out why her shrinking magic didn’t work.

Narrator takes over

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

               “This doesn’t make any sense! That asshole should be an inch tall by now! I should have him packed tightly underneath my sweaty fucking toes.” She thought as she stomped her foot, imagining Paul beneath it. She had a strange obsession with imagining Paul underneath her foot. Nobody knew it, but her desire to make Paul inhale her foot odor was so strong, it was a borderline sexual desire. How ironic that Paul’s worst fear is feet, and Rosie’s greatest desire is to have him smell her feet.

               “Wait a second…Oh my god! It’s right here! It says…..he needs to be exposed to his worst fear! That’s the activator for the spell. So it did work! But what’s his worst fear?” she pondered.

               Rosie figured that was enough for one night, and decided to go to sleep as well.

               Meanwhile, in the family room, as the night progressed, the room got hotter, due to the lack of air conditioner. At around 3AM…

Back to Paul

               It seems I slowly started waking up…My eyes were still closed, but I could feel the heat of the room making me sweat. There was also a rather sickening smell wafting into my nose. It smelled like….feet! Oh god! My eyes burst open to see a horrible sight, Ashley’s foot was right next to my face, resting on my pillow. Julie had bent her knee and was resting her foot on my stomach. I moved my hand and pushed Ashley’s foot way from the pillow, successfully moving it away from my face, but I could still faintly smell it. I tried to move Julie’s foot and leg off of my stomach, but it was heavy. As I exerted more force, I managed to move her leg entirely off of me. Just as I did this, she must have felt uncomfortable in her sleep, and began to extend both her legs. One of her legs landed on my right arm, pinning it down. The other leg, extended over my body, with her foot coming straight towards my face. It landed with her heel touching my chin, and her foot extending upwards, inches from my nose. I freaked out, and went to move it with my unpinned arm, but I bumped into Ashley’s leg with enough force that it caused her to stir in her sleep as well. She began to shift her legs as well, but more violently than Julie. Just as my luck would have it, one of her legs landed on my other arm, and her foot landed on my left shoulder. So here I was, both my arms pinned under their feet, with Julie’s foot making contact with my chin, the smell so easily wafting into my nose, and Ashely’s foot resting on my shoulder, the smell also wafting into my nose. I was just about to freak the fuck out. This was way too much. My body felt weak as I began to have a mini panic attack. I started hyper-ventilating, and feeling really light headed. I recognized this feeling, I was about to pass out. The last thing I remember before passing out was the disgusting sight before me of sweaty socked feet, and the odor that was basking me in its horridness.

               The next thing I knew, it was morning. I thought I had dreamed it all. The lights seemed especially bright in the room, and I almost felt cold. As if there was a constant large amount of airflow around me. I opened my eyes to see what I thought was the most impossible thing on this planet. Megan, Ashley, Julie, and Sarah were all looking at me. Except there was one problem. They were incredibly huge. They were towering before me like skyscrapers. I tried to imagine their height, and figured I must only be about 1 inch in height.

               “OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED?!!!” Megan yelled.

               “NO WAY!” Ashley followed.

               “Holy shit. Rosie’s little magic thing actually worked…” Sarah added.

               “MOM! ROSIE! GET IN HERE!” Julie yelled.

               Maybe it was the fact that I was an inch tall, or all the talk stomping me the day before, but I had a really bad feeling about my new position.

Mom and Rosie came running into the room.

               “What!? What is it?!” Mom yelled

               “Look!” – Megan said as she pointed at me. The simple act of her pointing her finger towards me caused me to fall flat on my ass in shock. How could something that big move so quickly? It was like everyone else was still in regular speed, but I was just tiny.

               “Oh. My. Goodness. Is that….Is that Paul? Is that my baby boy? WHAT HAPPENED?!” Mom said as she grew increasingly worried and unstable.

               “We have no idea” Ashley answered, “We just woke up and saw him lying there sleeping. Like that. All tiny. He can’t be more than an inch tall.”

               “Well, things like this don’t just happen! Somebody poisoned my baby! I’m going to call the police right now!” Mom started panicking really bad now.

               I tried yelling out to them but they clearly couldn’t hear me.

               “Mom, calm down.” Sarah said in a soft tone, to try and get her to relax. “I’m sure he’s fine. He’s just tiny. I really don’t think anyone poisoned him.” – Sarah

               I don’t get it. Why wasn’t anyone telling her about Rosie’s magic. Rosie was remaining quiet. The look on her face genuinely scared me. It looked like she was plotting something. A very faint grin was formed right across her face.

               “Ok. Ok. You’re right. But we have to do something about this. The nearest hospital is over an hour away, and the doctor is out until next Monday. If he have no choice but to wait, all we can do is hope that maybe he’ll get back to normal in the meantime.” Mom said as she finally calmed down.

               On the other hand, I was not calm at all. WHY HAS NOBODY TOLD HER ABOUT THE MAGIC. Then again, I guess she wouldn’t believe that kind of nonsense. But still! This was Rosie’s fault. She should get in trouble for it. I began jumping up and down to try and get someone’s attention. They clearly couldn’t hear me at all. Sarah noticed and reached her hand over to pick me up. Her fingers were very soft, but it still felt extremely weird to be picked up like that. She carefully rested me on her palm and brought me to her ear.

               “TELL MOM ABOUT THE MAGIC!” I yelled into her ear.

               “Oh Mom, Paul says he’ll be just fine. Not to worry about him, and that we can wait for the doctor.” Sarah lied right to Mom’s face, right in front of me. Why would she do that?

               Mom was clearly still frazzled. She seemed uneasy, like she really just couldn’t believe it.

               “I need to get out of here, please guys, take care of Paul for a bit while a calm down.” She said, exhaling as she walked out of the room.

               Now it was just me, and the 5 of them in the room.

               “Well, congratulations Rosie, your little spell worked” Sarah mentioned, almost completely uncaringly.

               “I told you guys it would!” Rosie yelled triumphantly.

               It seemed like Megan was the only one here with a level head, as she was the only one who looked worried and slightly angry at everyone else’s complete disregard for the fact that this is a serious problem that needs to be fixed. Megan stormed right over to Rosie and got in her face.

               “Listen here you little shit. I don’t know how the fuck your little magic stuff works, but you need to figure out how to turn him back to normal immediately. I don’t care how you do it. I have to leave for work now, and when I get back tonight, you’d better have an answer.” Megan told her very sternly. She then looked at me, “Sorry that this happened Paul, I hope Rosie gets her shit together and fixes it.” She then looked over at Ashley, Julie, and Sarah. “You guys need to take care of Paul. Keep him away from Rosie until she comes up with a way to fix this.”

               Megan seemed to already have her stuff ready to go, and pulled out her purse from under the bed, along with those horrid black flats, which she stuffed her feet into.

               “I have a 12 hour shift today guys, I’ll see you tonight.” – Megan

               She then hurried out the door.

               Rosie, completely red-faced and infuriated also quickly left the room.

               “Well…what do we do now?” Ashley asked.

               “Let’s ask Paul” Sarah said, still holding me in her palm. She brought me to her ear again.

               “I want to go to my room. I need to think for a while. Just leave me on my bed.” I said into her ear.

               “He says he want to go to his room. I guess we’ll just leave him in there for a bit.” Sarah complied.

               I sat in her palm as she walked to my room. To be honest, the breeze felt nice, and her face truly was beautiful. She just had this plain expression all the time. One would think she was a robot. She didn’t care about a lot of things, and kind of just existed…I always wondered what her deal was.

               “There. Now try not to fall off. I’ll come back in a bit. Until then, entertain yourself somehow.” Sarah said, still with those piercing uncaring eyes, as she dropped me on the bed. I landed with a bounce, and freaked out a little bit still not used to my new size. She proceeded to walk out of the room, and close the door behind her. I sat there, wondering what to do now. Why hadn’t they told mom about Rosie’s magic. Could they just have decided it would be pointless? Or did they not want to freak her out any more than she already was? I have no idea. I decided to just…go to sleep.

               I woke up after what felt like several hours, only to be disappointed by the fact that my shrinking was, in fact, not a dream. I was extremely hungry, and in desperate need of doing something. Anything, I was so bored. But I was stuck on this bed, how the hell was I supposed to get down? I looked over the edge, wondering if I could maybe use the blanket as a rope until I got far enough down. Damnit! Where’s Sarah?! She was supposed to be here…

               I decided to go for it, I didn’t want to wait here all day, so I got a pretty firm grip on the blanket and began making my way down. The floor seemed like it was a mile away. I shimmied my way down, admiring how interesting this new world looked. Being shrunken really gave me an appreciation for how intricate the everyday details of life are. I was only about an 1/8 of the way down when I realized how exhausting this was. My muscles felt like they were going to give out. I was actually frightened, I didn’t think there was any way I was going to make it down, and I was too tired to climb back up. I kind of just held on there for a bit. Suddenly, my door swung open.

               “Paul, where are you?” Sarah asked out loud.

               I tried to yell loud enough for her to here. They weren’t really words, just a series of mangled sounds that I belted out from my diaphragm, which was apparently loud enough for her to hear.

               “What do you think you’re doing? Did you really think you were going to be able to make it all the way down? Come on now, use your head. Did the shrinking make you stupid?” Sarah said as she extended her hand under me.

               I dropped down safely in to her palm again.

               “Come on, Ashley, Julie, and I are watching Jeopardy. We’ve got some pizza too. I bet you’re hungry” – Sarah

               I can’t believe it…Sarah was actually being nice? She usually just ignores me. She usually just ignores everyone, though I think she has a soft spot for Rosie. That’s about all the emotion I can manage out of her.

               She carried me over to the couch in the living room, where Ashley and Julie were already sitting down. She proceeded to sit down on the last remaining cushion of the couch, and began to lower me onto the floor. I wasn’t sure what to do. There’s no way in hell I wanted to be dropped on the floor. Suddenly she stopped—

               “Oh wait, I can’t just drop you on the floor, here you go” Sarah said as she put one of the square couch cushions on the ground. She plopped me right on top of it.

               To be honest, it really did help. All three of them had their feet on the ground, and I didn’t want to be anywhere near that, not that the couch cushion was the perfect spot, it was just better than the floor. So I just sat there, bored, watching jeopardy with them. I smelled something familiar. I looked behind me to notice that all of their feet were still there, resting, giving off their disgusting presence. That sickly odor that didn’t seem to go away. It was thick in its essence, and kind of cheesy. 6 pairs of feet were waiting behind me, like watch dogs, making sure that I didn’t move an inch. My heart started beating faster. I tried to distract myself with something, or find a way out of this situation.  Then the hunger hit me big time. I forgot all about the pizza.

               I got up, and began jumping up and down, waving, and yelling. I wasn’t sure they could understand me, but they sure as hell could hear me. They looked down at me…

               “What does he want?” Ashley asked, genuinely curious.

               “Not sure, but I don’t feel like caring, I really enjoy my jeopardy, I’m doing really good so far, I’ve got almost all the questions right.” Sarah said.

               This pissed me off. She promised me pizza, and here she was ignoring me. We were only 5 minutes into jeopardy, meaning there was still 55 minutes left. I wasn’t going to wait down here stuck in the slight presence of foot odor, for about an hour, waiting for my pizza. I just yelled louder, jumped up and down some more.

               “Looks like he’s getting impatient” Julie said.

               “Uggh..Stop being annoying” Sarah said, clearly bothered by my actions.

               No way, I just kept up my antics, I wasn’t giving up until I got my pizza, and a one way ticket out of here.

               “Damnit! Shutup! I can’t focus with your little squealing!” Sarah finally yelled.

               She lifted her foot slightly and tipped the pillow I was standing on towards here. I lost my balance and rolled down the pillow. It was a smooth transition onto the carpeted floor, but I continued rolling for a few more feet. Gravity feels a lot more in effect when you’re used to being normal height, and then shrunk down to 1 inch. I stopped rolling on my back, and laid there for a second to regain my senses. Upon opening my eyes, I saw something that might as well have caused me to want to commit suicide right then and there. Sarah’s giant, wet, socked foot, hovering several feet above my body.

               I stared in complete awe for a moment. I could see every little detail. How the sock clung tightly to her foot. It outlined it completely, perfectly shaping her toes and toe crevices, cascading down her sole and down her arch, finally coming up at the heel. The sock was grey, and it looked rather moist, which I can only guess was from foot sweat. Seeing my greatest fear like this, tiny and vulnerable was bad enough, but the worst thing my mind couldn’t handle, was the smell. It hit me like a ton of bricks. It definitely smelled of rotten something. Maybe garbage, I wasn’t sure. It also smelled sweaty. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it was clearly the smell of sweaty foot. And it was strong. I felt like a deer in headlights. I didn’t know what to do or how to react.

               Within a few seconds, which felt like hours to me, my body reacted and I immediately started getting up to run away. Instantly, almost like lightning, Sarah began to bring her foot down on me. To her it was a completely causal movement, but to me, it was like an F-22 Jet fighter breaking the sound barrier. She brought her heel down a ways beneath my feet, and “slowly” brought the rest of her foot down, with the ball of her foot aligning perfectly with my body. From my perspective, it looked like I was about to be buried alive, although I think I’d rather be buried alive than be forced to endure what was about to come.

               Her foot finally made contact with me, and compressed me down into the ground, and into the bottom of her foot. All she was doing was resting her foot, but the pressure felt immense. It didn’t feel like pain or anything of the sort, it was just like being wrapped really tightly in a giant wet mop. A really giant, wet, stinky, mop. I could barely breathe, and every breath was full of thick foot stink. I tried flailing my arms and body, but all I accomplished was popping my head up into the crevice beneath her toes. All of the loose sweaty sock here only served to wrap around my head and consume me in stench. The thing is, at normal height, her foot probably would only hold a very faint odor, even if a person were to stick their nose right in between her toes and take a big whiff. But at my size, the scent was magnified at least 10x. Thank god they only smell this bad, which was already ungodly.

               It’s only been about 30 seconds, but I was now extremely tired, and being forced to take deep breaths while trapped under your sister’s sweaty sock is as much of a nightmare as it sounds. I began crying. I felt so helpless. It took her 0 effort to pin me under here. This was quite literally the worst thing that could happen to me ever. My greatest fear, manifested into reality. I could hear jeopardy play in the background, while she just sat there, as if she didn’t just drop her smelly foot on me. At first I thought it must be some kind of joke, she’ll let me up soon, but after a few minutes, I got really scared again. Why hasn’t she moved yet? How long is she going to let her foot rest on top of me? Does she not understand how disgusting this is?

Narrator takes over

Meanwhile, up on the outside world, Ashley and Julie were in slight shock.

               “GROSS! That’s disgusting Sarah. Are you just gonna keep your foot on him like that?” Julie said surprised.

               “Yeah Sarah, that’s gotta be rank. He’s so tiny, you can’t just drop your whole nasty foot on him.” Ashley added.

               “He was bothering me. I just want to finish the show. He can handle a little foot stink for the next 45 minutes.” Sarah said, uncaringly, as she scrunched her toes a little bit, causing some foot sweat to be excreted from her sock and onto Paul, who was still struggling.

               “I’d really hate to be him” Ashley commented, finishing the conversation, with Sarah still uncaring, and Julie and Ashely with somewhat disgusted looks on their faces.

Back to Paul

               It’s been about 30 minutes now. It’s gotten really hot, and even smellier than before. I can’t take this anymore! Knowing that she’s just nonchalantly watching tv, with her foot resting on me. Does she even remember I’m here? Are Julie and Ashley just not paying attention, do they not care either? What happened to my caring sisters? Why aren’t they helping me? I bet Sarah wouldn’t let them help me even if they tried. God it REEKS. The reality of the situation seeped in, and my phobia just came in for another round with my psyche. I burst into tears again, I couldn’t handle this. It was too much. But nothing in this situation was bad enough to make me pass out. I just wanted to disappear at this point. I didn’t care where. I just wanted out of this smelly hell.

               After 15 more minutes of this, I finally heard the ending song. Finally, it’s over! I felt the giant moist weight lift off of me, introducing a new appreciation for fresh air that I never thought I would experience. It washed over me like a beautifully cool breeze, cleansing my soul. I took deep breaths, which was still stained with the stench of Sarah’s foot, but at least it wasn’t as bad. As I looked up, Ashely and Julie had already left, and Sarah was barely looking down at me.

               “Try not to bother me next time, twerp. By the way, all the Pizza’s gone. But I guess you were too busy stuck under someone’s foot. Sucks for you” Sarah said as she just got up and walked away.

               I curled up into a ball and just laid there for a bit, soaked in her foot sweat and drenched in the odor. I just wanted to die. I somehow managed to sob myself to sleep.

               The next thing I heard jolted me out of my depression induced slumber.

               “Oh my god! Paul! What happened to you!?” – It was Megan’s voice.

               I explained what happened to me to Megan. She told me that she would keep me safe, and decided to let me stay in her room until they find a way to grow me back to normal. She dropped me on her desk and went to go scold Rosie, and see if she found a way to turn me back. As I was waiting in Megan’s room, her door opened, and Mom and Sarah walked in.

               “There you are sweety! I’ve been looking for you. Mommy’s been worried sick” Mom said with concern in her voice. As usual, there she goes using those pet names.

               “I’ve been thinking about how we’re going to accommodate you at your new size. You can’t sleep on your bed because you might roll off, and if you sleep with someone else, they might roll over and squash you. We need something that has walls that can hold you in, is comfortable, and is warm. Something where you can’t accidentally get out of without our help.” Mom trailed off, trying to think of the perfect “bed” for me.

               “Oh! I have a pretty good idea.” Sarah said as she reached down to her foot and bent her knee upwards. Apparently in the few hours since the movie, she had taken off her socks and was walking around the house in a pair of fur-lined moccasins. “This seems like it matches all of the criteria.” Sarah said as she handed Mom the moccasin. I grew wide-eyed as I watched Mom’s face light up upon taking it. I watched in slow motion as Sarah had pulled it from her clearly sweaty foot. Her foot was slightly reddish from being trapped in that shoe, and there were bits of fuzz locked in between her toes, furthermore, there was an outline of dirt or grime of some kind on her sole, in the parts that take most of the brunt of walking.

               “Great idea Sarah! It’s warm, soft, and he can’t fall out of it, the walls are a high enough.” Mom said, ecstatically.

               I turned around to run away. I already knew where this was going. I didn’t care where I went, or if I fell of the desk, or even if I died, there was no way I was going to be put in that sweaty death trap. Sarah’s FOOT has been in there. It’s a freaking shoe. It’s meant for FEET not people. How could she think this was a good idea at all? I thought I was making great progress, when a hand landed right in front of me, blocking my path. I fell backwards in shock, awe, and fear. 

               “Now now sweety, I know you might be scared. But I’m trying to protect you. Mommy is always thinking about what’s best for you.” She said as she picked me up and held me over the moccasin.

               It felt like she was about to drop me in a steaming cauldron. I looked below and saw the disgusting shoe. The heat from the shoe rose up and bathed my body in its embrace, as if it were ready to swallow me, and make me a part of it forever. I could see the fur had been matted down after years of use, and it had clearly been tinged a dark color in the areas where the foot would press down. I always wondered what that dark stuff was. Was it some kind of disgusting ooze that came from feet? Some kind of foot grime, or all-encompassing toe jam that just grew from smelly shoes. I always noticed the mark specifically in girl’s shoes, as they always seem to over-wear shoes like flats, moccasins, TOMS, or really any kind of slip-on. And these were the shoes that always got the stinkiest. Speaking of the smell, it wafted up from the shoe along with the heat, further supporting the idea that the shoe was a living entity, and was excited to have me as its permanent guest.

               “MOM, Please don’t! Please Mom! NOT IN THERE! I CAN’T GO IN THERE!” I pleaded. The only option I had left was begging.

               Just then, Megan walked in the room, and was immediately shocked at what was transpiring.

               “Mom! What are you doing?!” She yelled.

               “I’m keeping Paul safe. Sarah so nicely offered to give up her comfy shoe so that Paul could have a nice home until he grows back to normal height.” She said, as if this completely made sense.

               “Mom that’s gross! You can’t put him in there!” Megan yelled back. I was so thankful she was defending me.

               “Oh relax Megan. It’s the perfect bedroom for him. It might smell a little bit, but he’ll get used to it.” Mom told her, almost nonchalantly.

               “But—“  

               “That’s the last I’ll hear of this Megan. And so help me god if you remove him, I will kick you out of this house! Is that clear!?” Mom told Megan, clearly getting a bit angry.

               “Fine.” Megan said, as she accepted defeat.

               Mom finally let go and I plummeted into the waiting maw that would swallow me whole, and force me to endure its heat and stench.

               I landed with a sickening bounce. The second I touched the floor of the moccasin I could tell it was soaked in sweat. The landing caused me to roll a bit, causing sweat to ooze up and completely coat me in its thick, slimy embrace. Every part of me was soaked in it. Even my face. I tried wiping it off with my hands but that didn’t do anything because my face was coated in it as well. The smell was horribly cheesy, thick, and rotten. I also tried putting my hands on my nose, but that was also useless as my hands smelled just like feet.

               Each step I took caused more sweat to ooze up from the ground. Which also seemed to activate the smell more, or maybe it was the fact that I was getting closer to the toe area. I immediately turned around and stayed as far away from that section as possible. It looked like the smell would get really bad down there.

               I looked towards the walls to see if I could climb out. Unfortunately, they really were too high. I tried to see if maybe I could climb the fur, but it was too slippery with foot sweat. The air in this place was heavy, it almost felt like it was trying to attack me.

               “Sarah, why don’t you take your brother to your room, make sure he stays safe Ok?” - Mom

               “Yes mom” Sarah replied.

               “And Megan, I hope we understood each other well.” –Mom said as she walked out of the room.

               Sarah carried me and the shoe into her room.

               “Mom said to keep you safe, AKA don’t let you out of that shoe. So wait here” Sarah said as she placed the shoe on the floor and went to go get something.

               “This one is only 3 days old, so it shouldn’t be too bad” Sarah said as she held up a thick black sock. It looked crusty, like she had sweat in it and then let it dry.

               Then she held it a little close to her nose and took a small whiff. She immediately crinkled her nose and held it back.

               “Actually, I take that back, you’re in for a doozie little guy. I’d run further in if I were you, you do NOT want to get trapped under this ol’ thing. Come to think of it, you keep ending up at my feet. Guess it sucks to be you.” Sarah said as chuckled and began balling up the sock and brought it closer to the shoe.

               I panicked. There’s no way this is happening. This all has to be a nightmare. It CAN’T be real. IT JUST CAN’T. I pinched myself, even slapped myself really hard in the face. Nothing. That giant crusty sock was still coming my way, to seal me into this wet, cheesy, disgusting, foot-smelling tomb. There was no option left. I had to run. So I did.

               I ran further into the shoe, towards the toe section, where the disgusting grime increased. It oozed profusely out of the dark areas where her sole had been. The stench increased exponentially. It almost felt like it got harder to run as the air grew denser and denser, more humid, and more acrid. I got winded very quickly, I just couldn’t handle this scent. It was too much. Sarah had finally shoved the sock into the opening of the shoe, sealing the exit, and the fresh air. Before the light was gone, I crawled to the only area that wasn’t coated in dark foot dirt, the area where the underside of her toes would be. I’d rather be here than actually touching that stuff.

               The air was truly something remarkable. How could something this stinky exist? And to think, I wasn’t even smelling anyone’s foot. This was just the potent odor of the after-effect of feet, not even the real thing. I laid there, and prayed to God that I’d never have to experience the real thing. But within this dark, stinky cave, I had a sickening feeling that God couldn’t hear me.

               The burning in my lungs became very painful, and the smell didn’t just go away, nor was I getting used to it. I started tearing up again, from the smell, and the fear. I still couldn’t believe this was happening. After a few minutes, I got very light-headed. I really just couldn’t handle this stench. The situation was just too disgusting, and I simply….passed out.

Next Morning

               I was jolted awake by a loud voice.

               “Crap! I’m late! I’m so late!” I couldn’t tell who it was right away. Whoever it was sounded like she was in a huge rush.

               “Oh hey! These look cute” they said.

               Suddenly, a huge beam of light invaded my space. The sock was pulled out. My immediate instinct was to get up and run, but I felt restricted for some reason. It felt like the sludge-like foot sweat from yesterday had dried all over my body and formed some kind of foot sweat glue cocoon. I peered up as far as I could from my angle, and briefly saw a face before being lowered back to the ground….It was Julie. Where was Sarah? Why was Julie messing with Sarah’s shoes?

               The reality of what was about to happen set in. Oh God. No. No. Julie. Please do not do what I think you’re about to do. Just then, 5 shadows loomed over my only source of light….

There I was, face to face with the one thing in this universe that I would rather die than experience. Here I was, 1 inch tall, trapped in my Sister’s sweaty shoe, about to be worn by my other sisters’ undoubtedly stinky foot. Five, sweaty, wiggling toes appeared. As they wiggled and spread, I could see the toejam that had built up in between them, fresh and gooey. I was hit with a wave of new foot stench, before her foot was even fully in the shoe. This mix of Sarah’s and Julie’s foot odor was deadly. It was even more oppressive, and thick than I could ever imagine. The toes got closer and closer until they finally scraped over my body and landed a little in front of me. I was trapped laying down right under the gap on the underside of her toes. It was tighter than I would expect. Unfortunately, I was facing up so my face was being pressed deep into the toe flesh. I imagined myself having room to move, but there was no such thing. Had I been under the ball, I would’ve most likely been crushed, but here it was just like being pressed on all sides by disgusting foot flesh. The odor was unimaginable, not to mention the toe jam that I knew was resting right above me.

               As soon as it hit me that she was going to school, I struggled furiously to escape. I would be trapped in here the whole day, as her foot got hotter and hotter and sweatier and sweatier, and worst of all, stinkier. I couldn’t stand the thought. She would walk around the whole day, a seemingly completely normal day, and nobody would know that deep within her shoe, a human being was trapped underneath her sweaty foot, fermenting in her toejam.

               She must have felt me, she must have felt something, there was no way she couldn’t feel it. Although my arms are pinned at my sides, my worm like wiggling must have caused some kind of effect. Wait…Did I really just compare myself to a worm? A worm trapped under my sister’s toes? I felt like throwing up right then and there, but my stomach seemed empty. I actually hadn’t eaten in the past 2 days. Jesus Christ. How was I even alive right now?

Up above, Julie felt something in the shoe as she was putting it on.

               “Gross, these shoes feel so wet, Sarah must’ve been sweating in them for a bit. Oh well, they’re cute! But what the hell is in here. It feels like a big ass pebble. Or maybe it’s a bug. It almost feels like it’s….moving? Well I’m late anyways, no time to deal with bugs. That poor bug is gonna have to smell my stinky foot all day.”

               I’m exhausted. She keeps scrunching her toes every time I try to fight this foot cage. The smell is already getting worse, and it’s only been about 5 minutes. I don’t think I’ll be able to survive this. I’m surprised I’m still awake, I figured the scent of her foot would knock me out, just like the scent of the shoe alone knocked me out, but it looks like I’m getting immune to it. I wish that meant it smelled less bad, but it wasn’t that, I was just more resistant to the passing out, it really didn’t help the stench. In fact, as each second passed, it felt like the pure foot odor was consuming my body. It was getting thicker, more potent, and more humid.

               The situation progressed in this manner for quite some time. I figured I might get some fresh air at some point if she ever plays with her shoes as most girls do in school while sitting at their desk wearing slip-ons. Even just a heel-pop, anything that could remind me what air that was untainted with stinky feet smelled like. At some point during the day, it seemed she was playing with her shoe, but it was just what I imagined, a heel-pop. She never completely removed her shoe, so while there was plenty of fresh air getting in under her heel and arch, I was still trapped under the cage known as her smelly toes. It was almost like the universe was teasing me, saying ‘here’s what you could have, but instead all you get is soiled foot air.’ After about an hour of simply laying there, inhaling foot odor, breath after breath without break, it finally became too much and I passed out.

               When I woke up, my whole world was moving quickly. I could barely get a breath, it was like breathing through a soaking rag. Anytime I inhaled foot sweat, I choked on it which caused me to open my mouth and get mouthfuls of foot sweat, and then breath in deeply forcing me endure the odor even more. It was like an endless loop. I figured she must have gone to gym class, and didn’t even bother to change into appropriate gym shoes. The heat was incredibly. It was like an oven, being trapped inside a steamy moccasin. And still, no one would know about my plight, I was probably just some pebble to her.

               Why couldn’t I just die? It would be way better than enduring this fate. Surely no one in the history of ever has had to endure this kind of torture. I was the only one. Why me? Why did I have to be the one to experience sweaty, stinky feet? It just wasn’t fair. There are so many people in this world. Why me? Then I remembered. It was Rosie’s fault! This was all because of her! Her and her stupid fucking magic! If I ever get free from this predicament….NO….WHEN I get free from this predicament, I’m going to hit her. I’m really just going to hit her. But then again, she’s the only one who can make me normal again. What if she decides to shrink me back if I get too angry at her?

               Oh god. Wait a second. How could I have forgotten this? It was so many years ago…Her journal! I remember her journal! I only read a little bit, but is it possible she’s been planning this for this long? She had a pretty sick journal entry about me being shrunken down to 1 inch, and being stuffed into her smelly UGG boot. I can’t remember…but I could have sworn it also said something about me being forced to smell her feet in the after-life…or something. Jesus Christ. What in the hell was she thinking? She’s fucking sick. She belongs in a psych ward. What kind of girl thinks about about shoving her shrunken brother into her stinky boot?

               The heat was still rising inside this moccasin, as was the sweat and smell. At this point, I had to drink foot sweat just to make sure there was enough room for me to breath. Suddenly, it seemed like she jumped high, and then landed really hard. I momentarily felt completely weightless, and then suddenly, her foot put enormous pressure on my body. This caused her toes to really press down on me, but worst of all, was that it squeezed some of her toe jam out from in between her toes, and downwards, right on to my face. I couldn’t move my arms to wipe it away, and I couldn’t wipe my face on her foot flesh, considering all the toe-jam that came down had coated my little pocket of foot air that I had been surviving from. I tried to blow it off of my face, but the second I opened my mouth, the thick, sludge like substance flowed right into it. The taste was something out of this world. It tasted as if someone had taken cheese so rotten it formed into a paste, and then wrapped it in a sweaty sock. It was chewy, and gooey at the same time. Not to mention how horrible it smelled on its own. I tried spitting it out but that just filled my mouth with more of it. Would I really have to swallow this stuff? Is this was my life has come to? Swallowing my little sister’s stinky toe jam? Living under her sweaty toes? What had I don’t that was so horrible that the universe would put me here. Reluctantly, I swallowed the toe-jam, feeling it drip down my throat, and I felt some kind of ethereal wave across my body that made me feel like the more I swallowed, the more I became a member of the realm of feet. Soon enough, it was again, too much for me to handle, and I passed out.

               When I woke up, I was still exactly where I was last time, stuck under Julie’s toes. But it seemed like she was at rest. I couldn’t exactly tell. She was just…sitting down. She must be home now, sitting on the couch. When is she going to take these damn shoes off?

               I can’t even open my mouth right now. There’s toe-jam crusted over my lips, sealing them shut. It feels like it’s crusted on various parts of my body as well. As I look up, I can see her toes, resting, and I can see in between them, new toe-jam being formed. It’s a miracle I’ve managed to survive those damn toe-jam factories for the past 8 hours. A whole school day. It seems I don’t have panic attacks anymore, so my phobia must be going away….but I still find this situation utterly disgusting, and probably the worst kind of torture a person could think of. I’d rather burn my whole hand than have to spend another second in here. Suddenly, I heard 2 thumps near me…something had just dropped on the floor next to me.

               “Ashley, can’t you do that somewhere else, your soccer cleats and “lucky” socks STINK” I heard Julie say.

               “Well! What do you expect! I haven’t washed them since the season started a few months ago. It’s unlucky to wash them. I have to get ready for my game. I wish I could take Paul with me, we always win when he’s in the stands.” I heard Ashley respond.

               “Hey, speaking of tiny things” Julie said as she giggled, “I’ve had this rock stuck in my shoe the whole day.”

               I heard Julie take off one of her shoes, the one I wasn’t in.

               “MY SHOES STINK?! Jesus Christ Julie, that’s gross. I mean, it’s nothing compared to my post-game feet, but that’s definitely a killer stench” Ashley said as she covered her nose.

               “Well, I mean, I think Sarah wore these for a bit, and then I just borrowed them, and without socks, so yeah they probably smell pretty bad” Julie replied as she looked into the shoe without getting too close so she wouldn’t have to inhale her own foot odor.

               I then felt my whole world lift up. Gravity had shifted sideways. She must be resting her foot on her knee. She pulled of the shoe and began to inspect that one as well.

               “What the hell, I KNOW it was in here” Julie whispered to herself, confused.

               I finally felt the fresh air that I had longed for. But only on my back. My face and body was still stuck to the underside of her toes.

               “Oh. My. God. Julie. Look under your toes.” Ashley said suddenly.

               “What?.......OH MY GOD….Is that…..PAUL?!” Julie said, reminding me very much of the first time they saw me shrunk.

               After a couple seconds of silence, the girls burst out in laughter.

               How the hell did they find this funny? Get me the fuck out of here you stupid bitches. I tried wiggling my body a bit, but all the toe jam and sweat had really plastered me to the underside of her toes. They were finally calming down in laughter.

               Julie plucked me from her toes, and held me up to her face.

               “Have you been stuck in there all day Paul?” She asked me. I nodded my head yes, as it was all I could do.

               “That had to have stunk. Stuck under my sweaty toes all day, wow, I don’t envy you one bit.” She continued, still somewhat giggling.

               She then brought my body over to her toes, holding me like an action figure. She spread her toes apart and brought my face in close to the area between her first and second toe.

               “I mean, look at all that toe jam, that had to have been horrible. You were even in there during GYM CLASS.”

               At this point, she had brought me close enough where I was not actually touching the toe jam, but if she clenched her toes, my head would be caught in between them. Suddenly, she did just that, and closed her toes around my head.

               “Whoops, sorry Paul, hard to control my toes” Julies said as she slid me out from in between her toes, without unclenching them, causing me to be brought out with a giant clump of toejam on my face and all around my head.

               “Oh gross Paul, here, let me put that toe jam back where it belongs, in between my toes” Julie said as she brought my head in between her second and third toes and repeated the same process with the previous toe gap. “Wow, looks like your head is just a toe jam magnet. Well, since you’ve already accumulated this much, might as well finish the job” Julie said as she repeated the process with all of her toe gaps, on both feet. Sometimes she rubbed my head in there slowly, performing multiple passes. The toe-jam was forcing its way into my mouth again. All I could do was cry. I was powerless. No way to stop Julie’s sick game. Where was Megan? I needed Megan.

               Meanwhile, Ashely looked like she just had the greatest idea ever.

               “Wait, Paul…I need you.” She said. “Do you think you could come with me to my game? I mean, it looks like you’ve proven that you’re pretty travel size.”

               I thought about how she is completely ignoring the fact that I’m basically half dead, and covered in foot sweat and toe jam.

               She then continued, “I could just stick you in my sock, and you could ride with me the same way you did with Julie…under my toes. It’ll stink a lot worse, but I REALLY have to win this game.”

               Before she had even finished the sentence, she was already un-balling her sock, getting it ready for me. 

It was too late to do anything. Ashley had already scooped me up and I was tumbling down the damp, humid shaft of doom. Her sweaty soccer sock. Being dropped in this sock was unreal. Even in my current, disheveled state, it felt like I was breathing underwater. The air was so thick with foot sweat it was basically condensing on my face. And the smell. The STINK. It felt like it this odor had consumed the whole universe. It had certainly consumed my universe.

Ashley began to slip her foot into the sock. I couldn't even move. I could watch as I saw her sweaty toes come closer and closer. Things were moving in slow motion as those disgusting appendages got closer and closer. I just wanted to die. God. Please just let me die. But again, no such mercy was available to me. Her toes impacted me head on, so slimy and sweaty. She hasn't even started doing anything yet...Was this just the natural state of her feet? I can't believe this.

    I didn't even have to do anything at all to get myself in a comfortable place. Ashley tugged on and twirled my body with her toes until I was in a secured place. She stuffed her shoe on right away. This time, instead of being tucked under all the toes, she put my body tall ways across the sole. My chest down was stuck under the ball of her foot, but as my luck would have it, she tucked my head in between her big toe and second toe, shoving my face into a world of sweaty foot stink and gooey gunk.

    "Stay still now Paul, all you have to do is lay there and breathe, thanks for doing this!" Ashley says as if I chose to be in this position. I hate her. I hate them. I hate all of them. The only person who has helped me is Megan. Fuck everyone else.

    There really are no words left for this experience except for revolting. Looks like she's started playing. Unlike previous times, my body wasn't safe from the crushing effects of feet. I've never felt anything like it. And for some reason it felt weird. Her sole was crushing my whole body from the chest down, but I only felt a little pain. It was mostly an immense pressure that was pressing my body down into the insole. I felt like I was becoming part of her foot AND part of her insole at the same time. Was this my fate? To be trapped under the very thing I hate the most? My sister's smelly foot? I refuse to believe this. I refuse! I will escape this! I will get big again!

    I feel like my thoughts are racing at 1000 mph, but considering most soccer games last around 2 hours accounting for everything, and it’s only been 20 minutes, this is only the beginning of my suffering. The smell had gotten so bad I couldn't even breathe anymore without coughing immediately. I couldn't handle it. I could feel myself slipping. It’s over. My eyes closed, and I passed out. To think, I would ever faint strictly as a result of smelling Ashley's foot.

    I woke up sometime later. But the game still wasn’t over. Looks like my body had just gotten used to the new level of stink again. Breath after breath of poisonous foot odor seems to only make sure that I can inhale more and more of that foot odor. It was like a sauna inside her cleat. My entire lower body felt squished flat and spongey at this point. I could barely even feel it. It was completely drowned in foot sweat, which I managed to escape as my head was still stuck in between her toes, though it wasn’t a much better fate considering all the toe jam that had built up and had forced its way into my mouth. How many people in the world can claim to have eaten not 1, but 2 of their sister’s toe jam? Probably just one. Me.

There was really nothing I could do. I was simply forced to lay there for the next hour, continuously inhaling. At some point, I could tell the game had died down. Ashley was moving a lot less, but had grown rather fond of wiggling her toes, rubbing stinky toe flesh all over my face, as if to keep me awake and keep the toe jam fresh. I couldn’t hear much, but it sounded like they had gone back to the locker rooms, and the girls didn’t sound too happy. Ashley pulled off her shoe, allowing me to feel cool air on my squished and disgustingly soaked body.

“Ashley! What the fuck was that? You played like trash out there” – I heard some girl yelling at Ashley

“But---“ – Ashley replied right before she was cut off by a different voice.

“ALL OF YOU ARE GARBAGE. CLEARLY YOU’VE LEARNED NOTHING. I WANT EVERYBODY HERE TO GIVE ME 20 LAPS. LET’S GO. JAZMINE, YOU’RE UP FIRST” – I heard the person who must’ve been the coach say. She stormed out of the room right after that.

“This is bullshit!” I heard one of the girls say.

“Yeah totally! We had them! How did we lose?!” Another girl said.

“I guess I’ll go do my laps” – Said the girl who I’m assuming is Jazmine.

“Wait!” – I heard Ashley say. “I think I know why we lost. See, usually, my brother roots for us to win, and when he does that we usually win! But this time, I don’t think he was rooting hard enough, or at all. I think it’s his fault that we lost.” – I couldn’t even believe what she was saying. First she sticks me in her sweaty fucking socks and shoes, and then says it’s MY fault that we lost. Suddenly, I felt even more cool air on my back.

“Look at him.” – I heard Ashley says.

“I don’t want to go into details, but long story short, my sister cast some kind of weird spell on my brother and shrunk him down. I took the opportunity to use him today as a good luck charm. I figured he would be safest in my cleat, even though it is rank in there. But clearly he wasn’t hoping for our victory.”

The locker room was dead silent. I began trying to peel myself away from her foot, but all I could manage to do was pull my head out from in between her stinky toes. That’s when the gasps started.

I could hear a bunch of things being said now….“What the—“, “Ewww”, “Gross”, “Is he real?”, “Why in her shoe?”,“That’s disgusting”.

 Jazmine came to look at me closer, “So you’re saying it’s this punk’s fault that we lost?”

“Yupp. Totally his fault.” – Ashley said.

Suddenly I felt fingers grasp at me. I thought it was Ashley, until I noticed I was being pulled away from her. It must’ve been that girl Jazmine.

“Ok you little freak of nature. Since you made us lose, you’re going to join me on my 20 laps. And you’re going to join everyone of us on our 20 laps. Hear that girls? This is a direct order from your team captain. When you do your 20 laps, stick this little piece of filth into your shoe. No questions!” – Jazmine assertively commanded the team. She must be the team captain.

The girls around the room sounded grossed out and uneasy.

“Bu---“ – One of the girls tried to say.

“No questions!!” – Jazmine answered back right away, not even letting the girls finish speaking.

I don’t even know why I bothered at this point to try and escape. It was a natural reflex to not want to be stuck in the stinky shoes of 11 sweaty girls who just got done playing a game of soccer. But, once again, even with all my fighting, there was nothing I could do. Jazmine simply popped her heel out of her cleat, and tossed me in. She tilted her foot forward a little bit, causing me to slide down the length of her insole. This time, my face was directly under the ball of the foot. This was it. She was going to crush my skull. This is where I die. Finally, freedom from stinky feet. I’ll embrace death. Maybe I’ll finally get to see God.

Jazmine shoved her shoe back on, stepping on my head full force. But….I didn’t die. Even after she started jogging. I was certain her foot was crushing me…but instead it was just flattening my head too, just like the rest of my body. From this position, I was completely at the mercy of the constant onslaught of her foot sweat. I really couldn’t even move now. I was basically a part of her foot, or maybe her shoe, I wasn’t sure anymore. Was I even human? Any human would die from this. Why was I cursed to endure? The stench was unbelievable, and there was nothing I could do about it. It was so unbelievable hot.

After Jazmine’s 20 laps, she passed me to the next girl, who didn’t even bother to look at me before dropping me inside her shoe, and sealing me in with her foot. 1 down, 10 to go. I didn’t even think I was recognizable at this point. Smashed like putty, covered in toe jam and foot sweat, smelling like death. They might as well have been passing around an old piece of insole.

I had a glimmer of hope. It was already late, which means Megan might be home, and she would be looking for me. She’ll find me and save me from this. She’ll tell Mom and finally Ashley and Julie will get in trouble. I can’t wait until that moment. I only have to endure 10 girls’ more stinky feet. Just 10 more.

And so girl after girl, hot, damp, smelly shoe after shoe, I endured. I managed to hold on to my sanity. At this point, I was sure I’d be smelling girl’s foot odor for the rest of my life. Finally, the last girl took me out of her cleat and handed me back to Ashley. All the girls cleared out of the locker room while Ashley lingered behind. She finally spoke to me.

“Sorry little bro, I played like crap out there. No way could I let the girls blame me. I’m sorry but you were just the perfect scape goat. I didn’t expect them to put you in all of their shoes, but, thank God it wasn’t me. I know how bad this locker room smells after a game, I can’t imagine what it’s like to be inside those shoes. Let’s get you home and washed up.”

Every time she spoke it made my blood boil. I wasn’t just some kind of piece of trash that you could use whenever you want you stupid bitch. I AM A HUMAN.

“Sorry, but you’ll have to take a little more of my foot funk, I don’t want to lose you, so I’ll just keep you in this sock for a little till we get home.”

Great. Just great. I can’t wait until I’m fully grown once again. I will rain hell down on these people. I don’t care anymore.

Upon arriving home, it sounded like there was some commotion going on. I heard my mom yelling, and Megan yelling at her to calm down.

               “Sarah, get off the fucking couch and help me look for your brother!” – Mom yelled.

               “I’m sure he’s fine. Probably stuck under some foot right now. Hahaha.” – Sarah replied, chuckling at the thought.

               Julie was the only other person to know where I was, she must not be home if they don’t know where I am.

               “Mom! Calm down! I have him right here! I used him as a good luck charm for my soccer game!” Ashley frantically told her.

               She pulled me out of her book bag, and dumped me out of the sweaty sock she tied me into on to the dining table.

               “ASHLEY! WHAT THE FUCK! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR BROTHER! GO TO YOUR ROOM IMMEDIATELY!” Mom yelled at Ashley.

               Ashley grew really red in the face and walked away without saying anything. She’s always been the one to do something stupid, and then not be able to handle the Mom yelling at her. Sarah has never cared about anything. Megan is too good to ever get in trouble. Julie is just way too sneaky, and Rosie…nobody ever really sees Rosie that often, aside from movie nights. That dreadful night. That’s when this all started…

               “Paul, are you OK?! What happened to your body?! You look like a mess!” My mom yelled over me, not realizing that at my size her voice was so loud I could hear it even if she was whispering. She began to poke my body, which I still had a hard time moving.

               “You’re really….flat….and squishy…and you smell horrible! Come on! Let’s get you washed up. I’ll get you a nice bath ready.” –Mom

               I must have looked like a cartoon character to them.

               “Sorry I wasn’t here to help you Paul, I promise I’ll protect you from here on until you get back to normal size” – Megan told me as Mom was getting ready to wash me off.

               “Mom!! Wait!!” Rosie yelled, suddenly bursting into the room.

               “I found out how to reverse the spell! I can make Paul big again!” She continued.

               “Really?! Oh Fantastic!” Mom exclaimed.

               For some reason I was somewhat skeptical. I also noticed something peculiar about Rosie. She has been wearing the same boots for the past 3 days….I also haven’t seen her around much. I figured she’d be one of the first people to try and torture me. I’m almost certain that my phobia of girl’s feet originated from her. Ever since we were kids, she would try and stick her feet in my face. It was like a weird obsession she had. And that strange journal entry…..It sends shivers down my spine. She freaks me out in general.

               “I need to take him into my room alone for a few hours.” Rosie told Mom.

               “OK sweetie. Just be careful.” – Mom

               I can’t believe this. How could she just give me away to that demon like that? Then again, she has no reason to distrust her. But anybody should be able to smell the evil on that girl. Megan gave Rosie a stern look as Rosie picked me up and took me to her room.

               Rosie locked the door behind her and sat down at her desk, with me in her hand. She proceeded to roughly drop me on her desk, and immediately grabbed some tape from the corner of her desk and taped me down. She covered my entire body up to my neck in tape. I struggled furiously, but really, at this point, I felt so powerless. I just….just want to close my eyes. I tried to sleep. Tried to hope that this was still a nightmare.

               “Wake up loser!” Rosie’s voice pulled me out of my trance.

               “Please Rosie. Please. Just. Don’t.” I tried to plead for mercy.

               “Hahahahahaha.” Rosie just laughed. She then continued,

               “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this, Paul. How long I’ve dreamed of this. Do you know what I want from you, Paul? Do you know what I want to do with you?”

               I didn’t answer.

               “I can’t explain it, Paul. But for so long, I’ve wanted you, specifically you, to smell my feet. Not just my feet, as many girl’s feet as possible. This should be your fate. Your destiny. But now it’s not just a wish, it’s a reality. You’re all mine and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

               Still I did nothing. I said nothing. I just wanted to disappear.

               “You know, I’ve been preparing these boots for a few years now. I wear them really often to get them nice and sweaty, and let’s not forget stinky! Perfect, just for you. It’s going to be your new home, you know. You’ll learn to love the smell of my feet. Just kidding! You won’t. You won’t ever love the smell of my feet, and that’s perfect you’ll suffer with every breath, inhaling my disgusting foot odor, knowing that nobody is going to save you. After all, who’s going to look for you in my stinkiest pair of UGG boots? Nobody, that’s who.”

               At this point, almost involuntarily, tears began streaming down my face.

               “Why are you crying bro? You should be happy. This is the beginning of your new stinky life. Think about it. Feet. All day. Every day. Non-stop. Sniffing, licking, eating toe-jam. Doesn’t it sound great!?” She proceeded to laugh to herself maniacally. Even in complete despair, I couldn’t help but believe that Megan would come rescue me at some point. Maybe, just maybe.

               “Before all of that, however, I want to play a game. This is unlike any game you’ve ever played bro. See, in this game, the stakes are really high. Fun fact: I’ve been practicing my magic quite a bit. I think I’m pretty good at it.”

               Rosie proceeded to grab a plastic bag from the corner of the room. It was tied up and it looked like there was a couple of black things inside.

               “I knew I could never find a way to do this with Megan around, so I took the opportunity, and stole these babies” She said as she pulled what was in the bag out.

A horrendous odor exploded out from the bag, instantly filling the room. It smelled like old sweaty moldy cheese of some sort, but with that unmistakable scent of feet. It is truly the worst scent that I’ve experienced up until know, and I couldn’t even see what it was.

“You see, I really think you should spend some time in these. By now, we all pretty much know about Megan’s foot odor problem. I don’t know why she doesn’t replace these flats, but hey, I’m not going to question it.”

Rosie said as she held Megan’s signature black flats over my body, still taped to the desk. She slowly brought the opening closer and closer as if to mentally torture me, telling me that there is nothing I can do to escape the wrath of that hot, humid, wet, rancid smelling footwear.

“My magic can do more than just shrink you bro. As you might have noticed by know, your body is pretty durable. That was also me. I can’t have you popping before the grand finale. Before that, I really want to play this game.  See, Megan thinks she’s so strong and authoritative, but I’ll show her, and you, how useless it really is to deny your feet smelling fate.”

What the hell is this woman going on about? There’s no way she can take Megan from me!

“I’m going to cast a curse on you. This is a pretty special curse, with rules and regulations. This is the part where you get excited bro! You’re going to become a part of Megan’s stinky flat! You’re literally going to become the insole of her flat. And guess what. You’ll still be able to breath and everything! You’ll smell her whole foot ALL the time! AND you’ll taste her foot ALL the time. All that nasty grime on the insole will feel like you’re chewing on it. Here’s the rules of this game. The game lasts for 1 full week. If Megan takes you off for more than 30 seconds, you’ll be free from the flat. But if Megan doesn’t let you breath for a mere 30 seconds, you’ll get sucked into her foot, and live there forever. You won’t be dead, you’ll just be stuck living under her stinky foot for the rest of her life. You see bro, this is why you exist! I won’t let anybody kill you, that wouldn’t be any fun. I’ll always care for you, under foot!”

               “Rosie you fucking bitch! Fuck you! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE! YOU’RE GOING TO DIE BITCH! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU AND YOU’RE GOING TO BURN IN HELL!” I lost it. Completely. I want her dead. Now. The tape finally started coming lose. For the first time, I felt some strength. I really felt like power was returning to my body. Maybe this was it! Maybe I would finally be free!

               “You’d better run Rosie, I’m coming for you. You’ll get what’s coming to you.” I felt my body grow warm. I could visibly see light coming off of my body! I….I felt it…..I was growing! Growing! Yes!

               Rosie started to back up, with a worried look on her face. I was growing so fast. 1 foot, 2 feet, 3 feet, 4 feet, 5 feet….until I was finally at full height. I stood up in complete fury and pushed Rosie to the ground.

               “Wait, bro, calm down! It was just a joke!” Rosie pleaded.

               Just then, Megan burst into the room.

               “What’s going on in here!? OH MY GOD. Paul! You’re back to normal!” – Megan yelled excitedly.

               I turned around, surprised. I was happy to see Megan. With Rosie down, Megan in the room, and me at full size, I was overjoyed. I don’t think anything can undo the psychological torture I’ve already had to endure, but this was a start. Megan was coming to hug me, and I turned to her. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I dropped my guard. Before I knew it, Rosie had swung her hand around my face with Megan’s flat in her hand.

               She pressed the opening of the flat over my face, leaving the hot odor with nowhere to rush to but my unexpecting nose. Before I could react, she shouted another strange incantation, “anima ad corigium.”

               This spell didn’t seem like it would work like the last one. This one was happening instantly. That same hot feeling as the first time was rushing over my body. I felt like I was blacking out. I tried yelling but it suddenly felt like I was completely out of breath, I could only exhale with a small sound.

               “Rosie what are you doing!! That’s my shoe! Stop that!” Megan began shouting.

               My vision grew blurry, and finally I passed out.

Paul proceeded to lose consciousness. Rosie could feel Paul’s body beginning to slump over, which meant this was the most important part of the spell. She pressed Megan’s flat harder into his face. Megan was still shocked, and wasn’t sure how to react. She began angrily walking over to Rosie to stop whatever it was that Megan thought she was doing. Something stopped Megan right in her tracks…Paul’s body began giving off steam. A lot of it. It kept increasing. More and more, faster and faster. Very quickly, Paul’s body seemed to waste away into nothing but an ominous white smoke that hung in the center of the room like a cloud. Megan was shocked beyond words. She simply stood there, wide-eyed and confused. Rosie donned an evil grin on her face, as she held up the flat high in the air. The cloud began forming a funnel shape, like a tornado. Whereas tornados typically touch the ground, the tip of this small tornado touched bent towards the flat and touched down on the insole. Then, like water being flushed down a toilet, the funnel began to drain into the shoe. In a matter of seconds, the whole cloud had drained directly into her flat.

               Nothing was left. Not a single trace of Paul could be noticed. The flat seemed like any other normal over worn piece of rancid footwear. Rosie then threw the flat in front of Megan’s foot.

               Normally when I sleep, I have really great dreams that I reflect upon immediately upon waking up, even before I open my eyes. I felt like I had just woken up, just like any other normal day. But for some reason I felt like I didn’t have any dreams. Not one good dream. Only one giant nightmare. One I really didn’t care to reflect upon. How I wished that I would just wake up in my bed, like nothing ever happened. Finally, I was ready to open my eyes, ready to start a great day in my wonderful life, with my wonderful family.

               What I opened my eyes to, was not my wonderful life, and wonderful family. There was something above me. And next to me. And under me. It was everywhere. Wherever this is, it’s not my bed. This place was some kind of cave. The opening to cave was a little but further down, and light shown in really brightly.

               It wasn’t until now, that I noticed I couldn’t feel my body. I only noticed now because I started to regain some feeling…except, it didn’t feel like my body at all. I felt so…2 dimensional. One by one my senses started coming back to me. Sight must have been the first, and then feeling. My sense of smell is coming back. I’m starting to wish it hadn’t. Whatever odor was present, it was the worst odor I had ever smelled. Rancid in nature, thick in consistency, infinite in volume. What could it be?

               Just then, my memories all flooded back to me. Could this really be reality? Was that really not a nightmare? There’s just no way that Rosie had actually sucked me into Megan’s flat, and yet, I somehow knew deep down that this was a reality.

               My sense of smell kept getting stronger and stronger. The odor growing worse and worse. Utterly disgusting, I needed a way out, a way to get away from this stench. I’ve never wanted a breath of fresh air more than I want one right now. But I just couldn’t move. Why could I breathe so easily? I’d never breathed this easily in my life. This odor, I can’t do it. This is the part where I pass out, but I didn’t feel tired at all. In fact, I didn’t feel eyes at all. I hadn’t closed them since they opened. Now that I try, it seems like I CAN’T close them. What kind of hell is this? What the fuck is going! DID ROSIE REALLY SUCK ME INTO MEGAN’S STINKY FUCKING FLAT? IS THAT POSSIBLE? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?

               I can’t move, this odor is unbearable, I can’t close my eyes. Oh god! No! My sense of taste is returning. What is this flavor? If there was a flavor for a girl’s sweaty stinky foot, this would definitely be it. It tasted so much like Ashley’s and Julie’s toe jam. It had its own signature flavor of foot sweat though. My senses were returning even quicker now. My whole body felt soaked and dirty. It felt tired too, like I had been beaten down a weakened piece of filth. The taste. THE TASTE. This is impossible. Every time I think it can’t get worst, it just does. Not just the taste, but the smell and taste together. It’s UNREAL! How can I stay like this? God, please have mercy. What did I do to deserve this? Enough of this sick twisted game. Is Rosie truly this evil? She tried to tell me it was a joke…Is that all she saw this as, some kind of funny game?

               Now my sense of hearing was coming back. I could hear yelling. What’s going on? FUCK! I can’t think straight through this reeking foot odor. What are they saying?

               “Rosie! What the fuck did you do to him?!” Megan yelled.

               “It’s understandable that you would have questions. I’ll explain it to you. See, I’m in control of everything now. I win. I transferred Paul’s entire being into that smelly flat of yours. Great job working on that odor by the way! It’s killer! I bet Paul’s really having a great time in there right now! Anyways, his entire being is that insole. My spells are great aren’t they? This spell has some rules that you might want to stick around and listen to.” – Megan began explaining

               Megan’s eyes were open almost as wide as her jaw, as she looked back forth between Rosie and her own rancid shoe that now lay before her.”

               “Here’s the rules. Paul is going to be stuck like that for 1 whole week. But it’s not that simple. See, if he gets 30 seconds of fresh air of any kind, his being will automatically be transferred directly into your foot. He’ll be stuck, kind of like a tattoo on the sole of your foot, except he’ll be alive. Alive and breathing. Breathing in all of your nasty foot stink, and tasting all of that grime between your toes. He won’t be able to speak though, sucks to be Paul right now. You’ll have to supply him with constant foot company inside that old flat if you ever want him to live again. If you can keep him nice and toasty in there with your foot, then he’ll be release from the shoe. Get it? I’m not explaining again” – Rosie finished speaking.

               Wait a second…those aren’t the rules shoe told me! She told me that Megan had to give me fresh air for at least 30 seconds for me to go free, but she told Megan that she can’t give me any fresh air for 30 seconds. If Megan doesn’t know the truth, I’ll get sucked into her foot forever! This can’t be happening! This can’t be my life! IT CAN’T!!!

               “And by the way, those 30 seconds are cumulative. If you take the shoe off for 15 seconds at any point in time, you only have 15 seconds left for the week. The spell has a few safe-guards. If any harm comes to me or my spell book, it will be as if you failed, sealing little Paul’s fate. If you try to tell someone about this, same thing. Oh, and by the way, if I were you, I’d put that shoe on right away. You’ve only got 11 seconds left.” Rosie said as she laughed. God her voice sounded so evil. How could my own sister do this to me? Why? I just don’t understand.

               “Rosie, you--!” Megan tried to interject

               “Ah ah ah, now now, remember the rule. You can’t talk about this, not even me, or Paul’s life as your stinky foot tattoo starts immediately. Another couple interesting facts I forgot to mention, if you fail, and Paul really does get sucked up into your foot, nobody will ever remember that Paul existed except for me, not even you. And also, I tacked on an additional spell. Your foot is going to get really stinky. And I mean utterly vile. Paul might think he’s smelled feet before, but this will be on a whole new level. I’ve used this spell on my own boots a few years ago. I just keep the smell locked in pretty tight with a barrier. You might say I’ve become quite the witch! Also, 7 seconds left, better hurry up sis.”

               Megan looked back and forth at the shoe and Rosie even quicker than before. She wasn’t sure what to do. She was so worried, she brought her foot close the shoe, but she suddenly felt a breeze blow past her toes, it came from the shoe. The shoe was sucking in air! She instantly realized, everything Rosie said is true! Paul really is stuck inside her own disgusting shoe!

               “Tick tock tick tock, big sis, he’s running out of time. Are you going to let your only brother become you’re life-long foot sniffer?” Rosie added

               Quickly, Megan shoved her foot into the shoe, feeling around with her toes, feeling for something different. But she didn’t find anything different. Nothing was out of the ordinary except the constant breathing she felt from the shoe. She could still feel a downward draft through her toes, and could clearly envision all of her horrendous foot odor being drawn directly into poor Paul.”

               Megan knew that if she ever wanted to save Paul, she had to play by Rosie’s rules. She had to subject Paul to her own foul foot for 1 whole week.”

               Words can’t describe what it feels like to exist in a space that was only meant to house a foot. This is the world of feet. Not the world of humans. The inside of a flat, a place meant solely for a girls foot. It served no other purpose, until now. I now shared the purpose of providing a place for a girl to drive all of her foot odor, toe jam, foot sweat, and foot grime into. Me. That was me. That’s why I currently existed. To just take everything Megan’s foot had to offer. She’s the last person whose foot I’d ever thought I’d have to sniff, and her foot Is by far the worst. Leaps and bounds worst. I can’t understand how, but the smell is getting even worse by the moment, and I don’t think I’m going to pass out anytime soon. Would I even need to eat? Doubt it, insoles don’t eat, unless sweaty foot counts, in that case I have plenty to last me. Could I even sleep? Also, doubt it, after all, I’m just a smelly insole, anticipating the day I receive mercy from whoever it is that currently controls my pathetic life. I’ve had it. Enough is enough. The next chance I get, if there is one, I think I’ll end my life.

The pressure was immense. The strain unbearable. It’s so difficult to find the words to describe what it’s like to be an insole. There’s so much more to it than a person would normally think. Not that any normal person would ever imagine what it’s like to be an insole. People go about their daily lives in the above world, never really paying attention to a girl’s simple footwear. Millions of girls around the world wear flats, its typical female foot wear; nobody would ever stop to wonder what it must be like inside those flats. I never really understood why girls like to wear shoes like flats, and they wore them without socks to top it all off. I’ve overheard on multiple occasions that footwear like that make their feet stink, and yet they still wear it. I guess they’ve never had to worry about somebody being forced to smell all of that horrid odor. Somebody literally existing as the ground that they walk on.

               It’s only been a couple hours since the event that would seemingly cast me into foot hell occurred. Megan hadn’t even attempted to contact me. I wonder what she could be thinking. Not that it would be entirely successful, everything sounds muffled from under her foot. It’s really tight. The only thing I can really hear is the sloshing of foot sweat with each step she takes. Maybe she’s ashamed. She should be. It wouldn’t be as bad if she took better care of her feet, but this is ungodly. Her feet are literally filthy. Disgusting isn’t even the word. There are two different types of foot grime. The type that accumulates from walking around barefoot a lot. That’s foot dirt from the ground. But then there’s the type that accumulates from the sweat and natural dirt from a girls foot after wearing her shoes for a really long time. Hers is of the latter type, but it’s even more extreme. How could a foot really be this horrid? All she has to do is let me breath for 30 seconds. 30 measly seconds and I’ll be free! And yet, she believes the opposite.

               The stench only grows worse with each passing moment. I feel disgustingly drenched. It feels as if I’m trying to break through the surface of a pool of water, but there’s a giant weight on top, and I can’t quite get the breath that I need in order to live. That feeling is constant. And yet any breath I take is tainted with the rancid odor of Megan’s foot. It’s really not fun, always feeling like you’re being suffocated, and any air you get is straight from your own sister’s furnace of a foot. The heat is unbearable. If someone were to ever wonder what hell is like, I’d just tell them to imagine being trapped inside a girl’s flat, with no hope of escaping. I still can’t stop wondering why fate as made it so that I am the one to experience this hell.

               I could feel the disgusting sludge that accumulated over the years in this flat all over my whole body. It was thick and slimy, and felt as though it would never end. The taste of it was absolutely out of this world. It would be like eating literal garbage, and not being able to spit it out, ever. Always chewing on toe jam, but without a stomach, it just sits on my taste buds, allowing me to savor the flavor of whatever physical activities Megan likes to do on her spare time in these flats. I really just couldn’t imagine. Does she ever take them off? Guess now she really won’t be taking them off.

Normal people let their shoes air out. If the odor was already this thick, humid, and cheesy within a couple hours, I can’t imagine what it will smell like in a single day, or 2, or 3, or 4, or 5, or 6, or 7. It felt like there was so much time left, I had only just started this torture but it already feels like I had been here for months.  I can’t help but constantly wonder if Rosie was serious about what happens if I fail this curse. Would I really be stuck under Megan’s foot for the rest of her life? 1 week is nothing compared to decades of foot sniffing. I think I would just die, but then again, I can’t. I’d just have to suffer. Each and every single day, sniffing her grimy, sweaty foot.

Meanwhile, Megan was weighing all the possible options. She sat in her room, sitting on her bed, being very careful not to accidentally perform so much as a heel pop. She wanted to make sure her foot was sealed in that flat with Paul for the full week in order to save him from what anybody would consider a fate worse than torture before death.

“What could I do…how can I fix this?” – Megan thought.

“There’s no way he can survive in there for a full week...but then again, he isn’t really alive, he’s the insole…always smelling my foot”

Megan proceeded to take off the flat that didn’t contain Paul, and held it up to her nose. Immediately she wrinkled her nose and scrunched her face up, pulling the flat away from her nose. She began looking at the bottom of her foot, noticing the sweat, dirt, and grime that had built up from many 12-hour shifts at work. She spread her toes and noticed the toe jam that seemed to grow from nothing. Her foot was always covered in miscellaneous foot grime and sweaty foot lint. She shuddered at the knowledge that Paul had to endure all of that for an entire week without any break or any hope for respite.

“There has to be something I can do…but unfortunately, I have to go to bed now so I can wake up for work tomorrow” – Megan thought as she prepared herself for bed and changed into sleeping clothes….except for her flats.

“I can’t have my flats slipping off of my feet while I sleep…poor Paul” – Megan continued to think as she grabbed a role of duct tape and securely affixed the shoe to her foot. Unfortunately for Paul, the duct tape had sealed any potential open areas where fresh air might get in. Not that any fresh air would get in, but the duct tape only served to further seal in the acrid stench of Megan’s feet.

As Megan tried to sleep, she couldn’t shake her hatred and disgust for Rosie. How could she do this to her own brother?

“I really can’t believe it…right now…this second…I can feel Paul’s breaths on my feet and in between my toes. He’s smelling my stinky feet right now. What if I fail? What if Paul really does get sucked into my foot, and I don’t remember it? He’d really be stuck sniffing my dirty foot forever.” Megan thought as her face twisted with disgust.

“I promise I’ll find a way to save you Paul. I swear it! Maybe if Rosie’s magic was able to do this, some weird magic will be able to undo it.” – Was Megan’s last thought before she was finally able to sleep.

And so with that, the night continued on, Megan sound asleep, and Paul wide awake, still experiencing the fiery hell that was the inside of a girls sweaty shoe.

I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this! It was the only thing I could think over and over, breath after breath. There really was no way to make this situation any better. I’ve tried breathing slowly, trying to not think of anything, and meditating, but nothing can get rid of this nauseating odor. It hasn’t even been 24 hours…I don’t think I’ll make the whole week before I go insane. There’s just no way. It’s not possible.

I feel like I can’t even breathe, and yet I can’t turn the breathing off. I can’t even close my eyes, it feels like their glued open, and the taste seems to get progressively worst. I would think that I wouldn’t be able to see in the pitch darkness, and I don’t know if this is some strange effect of Rosie’s spell, but for some reason I can see Megan’s entire foot even in pitch darkness. It’s constantly there, always forcing me to look at it, as if to further my torture. The perfectly rounded heel, the perfectly shaped arch, the disgustingly spongey ball of her foot, and the sweaty, jammy, monstrous toes, always watching me, preventing my escape. 30 seconds is all I need to be free.

What if Rosie actually told Megan the real rules and me the fake rules. Then how do I know what’s the right way to escape this hell? Is this part of her sick fucking game? Well….at this point it’s a 50/50 chance.

This is such a fucked up situation. A 50% chance of attaining freedom that should have been mine anyways, or a 50% chance of sniffing my sister’s foot for every second of every day for the rest of her life. God I wish I was dead.

The night passed as constant thoughts of suffering passed through Paul’s mind. Megan slept soundly, as if nothing in the world was wrong, but saving her brother was her first thought upon waking up. Megan got up and dressed for work, skipping a shower so that she wouldn’t have to wear her shoes in the shower. Just as she was about to leave, something stopped her in her tracks…

“What is that smell??” – Megan said under her breath as she sniffed around the air. She continued smelling around for a bit before finally realizing…

“Oh god! Is that my feet? How can I possible smell if from all the way up here!?” Referencing the fact that she wasn’t even bending over anywhere near her own feet. Megan proceeded to spray herself with a light perfume, specifically spraying extra perfume around her feet, none of which actually made it into the shoe, just the surrounding air. If somebody were to sniff around her feet, they’d smell nothing but perfume, but little would they know that sealed within her flats was a hell that no human could stand to experience, unless of course they were a human transformed into a living, breathing, insole.

An entire day passed by, with Megan sweating profusely into her new insole. For Paul, this only furthered his drowning sensation, and caused the odor to grow to astronomical heights. For Paul, the scent of Megan’s foot was so disgustingly powerful that each breath actually caused him pain.

God it feels like the worst migraine in history! How can this be?! How can something smell like this?! How can one girl SWEAT this much!!??

During work, Megan had been researching the ins and outs of black magic, and possible ways to reverse spells. Her research had led her to small shop inside their town, full of mysterious books and strange items. One day however, wasn’t enough. She needed to do more research. She needed to fully know everything if she was going to ever defeat Rosie at her own game.

“I’ll save you Paul, I promise I will!” – Megan thought, as she prepared for sleep again at the end of the day, ready to begin day 2 in the morning.

Meanwhile, Rosie seemed to be plotting something ominous….

7 days had finally passed. 7 terrible, stinky, sweaty days for Paul. The odor had consumed his entire being. It’s all he knew. He simply breathed in and out, in and out, the infinitely repulsive odor of Megan’s feet. The sweat had seemed to have soaked into his very soul. Paul, in his disheveled state, began to hear yelling up above.

               “That’s it Rosie! The week is over! Let Paul go!”

               “Oh sister. You’re right. The week is over. And you passed. But you see, I gave each of you different tasks. Your task was to not allow Paul 30 seconds of fresh air. Paul’s task, however, was to try to get at least 30 seconds of fresh air. You succeeded, congratulations, Paul won’t be trapped in your foot forever! But he failed, and he has to deal with the consequences. “

               Megan’s flat began to glow, and a light shot out from it. That light shot onto the floor, and began to fade away. What was left behind was a shrunken Paul. His body looked waterlogged from the intense torture he just experienced. He laid on the ground, taking deep breaths of clean air for the first time in one week.

               I opened my eyes. My vision was blurry, but I could see the two giantesses standing on either side of me. Suddenly, an odor I knew so well, re-entered my being. The odor of a girl’s sweaty, stinky, foot. The view that I had caused me to wish to be dead, was right in front of me once again. A huge, smelly, moist foot was looming over my body. The toes were raised above my face, and I could see through the gaps in between them. It was Rosie’s foot. Why did this seem like some kind of grand finale? Like I had been waiting for this moment for so long. One by one, I was subjected to each of my sister’s feet, and finally I was at the feet of the one who caused this all. Looking at her face from this position, caught under her toes, as if I was trapped in a cage of her feet. Her toes were like bars in a prison cell.

               Something inside me started to reason again. I started to become so afraid. What if this was actually my life from now on? Always trapped, like a prisoner, a life time of torture at Rosie’s repulsive feet. No one to save me. She would never have mercy on me. She’d just wear me in her boots the whole time. Oh god, I don’t think I can handle that. Why can’t I just die? No. She won’t let me. She wouldn’t let me escape this torture.

               After a seeming eternity of having these thoughts, which turned out to only be a few moments, I heard Rosie speak.

               “Just back up Megan. Or I’ll squash him like a bug. He failed his assignment, so he has to be punished. Another week of torture. He’ll be spending this week inside my boot however, the one that I’ve been preparing for years. Then he gets to go free, I promise.”

               “You’re sick, you know that Rosie. Sick. Fine. 1 week more. But I’m going to tell you this now, you’re never going to get away with this. You’ll get what’s coming to you.”

               “Whatever you say, Megs. You can leave my room now.”

               And with that, Megan walked out of the room, fuming.

               “Now, for you my precious little bug. I know you heard me. You get to spend a week inside my boot. But don’t think this is like anything you’ve experienced thus far. My boot is different. My foot is different. I’ve been preparing for this for so long. The moment when you’d finally have no choice but to inhale my foot odor in its entirety. No way out, just my stinky feet for so long little bro.”

               Rosie moved her foot out of the way and just looked down at me. After she moved her foot, I couldn’t believe what I had started to think. I wanted to run. What was the point? I thought I had given up on life. On ever escaping this hell. Yet here I was, wanting to run away, wanting to chase some glimmer of hope that I might get free. And so I did just that, I got up and started to run.

               “Where do you think you’re going? *sigh*. I thought by now you would have learned. There is no escaping this. You’re GOING to sniff my sweaty feet!”

               Rosie just walked over a few steps and stomped me down hard. She rubbed me hard into her sole, and then lifted her foot.

               “Plastered to my sweaty sole, right where you belong. Now get ready, this is going to be the best time of your life. This boot could clear a whole mansion, and would definitely make a person pass out. But not you. Oh no. Not you. You’re going to stay awake the whole time, and be engulfed by the repulsive odor in these boots that I’ve been preparing just for you.”

               Rosie simply lifted her foot, and began slowly putting on the years old, overused UGG boot. As I entered I could feel the extreme humidity and heat inside her boot. It was like walking into a green house. Hot and muggy. Being plastered to her foot made it worse. Like I was just a part of her foot. A part of the natural process of her inserting her foot into her disgusting boot. The odor was intense. It was unlike any of the rest. This odor somehow seemed….evil. It was unbelievable. Each time I think it can’t get worse, it does. It was like an explosion in my nose. It was like I could literally feel the odor seep into my nose as if I were inhaling a liquid. It smelled so fiercely. It had the usual scent of my sister’s sweaty, smelly feet, but it smelled so horridly sour. I could literally smell the dampness. Yes, this was definitely exactly as she said, prepared for years. An odor so vile could only come from years of nonstop usage. Finally, her foot settled into her boot, my back becoming instantly soaked in foot sweat from touching the bottom of the boot. My face was plastered directly into her sole, and so the torture began.

               One week? I think that’s what she said. Why do I still have hope? I still have some hope that I’ll be able to escape. That after this week she’ll finally end this cruel joke, and let me go. Turn me back to normal.

               And so, each day went by, one by one. Her feet getting sweatier and sweatier. My body getting soggier and soggier. I don’t know how I managed to tolerate the stench. I frequently bounced back and forth between wanting to return to my old life, or just killing myself to escape this. Even though I knew there was no escape. She got me. She shrunk me down, made my body durable, and forced me to sniff her feet. Rosie actually won. Now the question is, would she let me go? What else was there for me? Would she really keep me in her boot for the rest of my life? No way.

               She began pulling her foot out of the boot, me with it, still plastered to her soft, stinky sole. I felt the cool air grace my back. It felt incredible to be semi-free once again. I cried with joy. But…. Was I really crying from just feeling some fresh air on my back while still plastered to her foot? Is this what it’s really come to?

               She used her other foot to peel my body off of her foot. I flopped down to the ground, and landed like a wet sponge.

               Rosie just started at Paul for a bit. She was thinking very hard. Paul was trying very hard to catch his breath. To inhale as much clean air as he could, although it was still tainted with the rancid odor of Rosie’s feet that had expanded into the room and consumed it.

               “I need to play my cards right” – Rosie

               “If I do this right, I can really get him to do it. Then, everything will be done. I can’t wait!”

               “Hey Paul! How’s it going down there? Did you enjoy your week long vacation? Don’t you love your BIG sis for letting you hang in her stinky boot for a week?

               Paul did nothing but look at her.

               “Face it Paul, I finally got you right where I want you. I win. Now, I want you to prove to me that you understand that I win. Kiss my foot. I want you to kiss my foot and tell me ‘Rosie’s feet own me.’ Then you can go free.”

               Is she being real? If I kiss her foot and say whatever the fuck she wants me to say, will she really let me go? I mean, how much worse could it be?

               Rosie brought her foot over Paul, placed her heel down at his feet, and began to lower her sole down closer to his face. The stench permeated Paul’s world once again.

               So all I have to do is kiss it, and tell her that her feet own me? Alright, whatever, like I give a fuck. Wait…What the hell? What’s that on her foot? Is that a star? When did she get a tattoo on her foot?

               Paul had noticed a symbol on the bottom of Rosie’s foot. It was an inverted pentagram, but Paul just saw it as a weird star.

               “There’s no way he’ll actually do it. He wouldn’t be that stupid. Oh well, I guess I had my fun!” Rosie thought.

               Suddenly, Rosie felt a small peck on her sole. It was Paul’s kiss.

               “No way, did he actually just kiss my foot?”

               There, I kissed her stupid foot. Finally, I tried to yell up to her, “Rosie’s feet own me!”.

               Rosie removed her foot from above Paul, looking at him wide eyed.

               “No way. Did you actually do it! Oh my god! YOU ACTUALLY DID IT! YES! YOU GAVE IT ALL UP.”

               What the hell is she talking about? Turn me back you dumb bitch.

               “You’re in for it now foot slave.”

               Rosie lifted her foot again. She hovered it right over Paul.

               “Say bye bye to fresh air little bro. You get to enjoy my feet FOREVER.”

               That weird star on her foot started to glow. What the hell is it?

               Suddenly, a beam of light shot straight into Paul, causing his body to glow as well.

               What the hell?! What the fuck is happening to me.

               Paul got up and began sprinting in the direction of the door.

               “Oh no little bro, you’re fate is sealed. Just as the spell was going to run out, you actually completed my ultimate spell! Now get back here, there’s no escape for you. Your fate is sealed.”

               Rosie quickly chased after him. Just as he was about to make it to the door, she stomped right on him with her still sweaty foot.

               “Hope you enjoy me sweaty, disgusting, toe jam-y, stinky foot bro. You get to enjoy it for eternity.”

               Rosie squished Paul flat, hearing him scream one last time, before her foot finally made contact with the ground. And just like that, Paul had disappeared. His body was completely gone.

               “Have fun Paul. It’s where you belong.”

               Where the hell am I? I’m trapped. Crushed, clearly under Rosie’s foot. It feels like when I was in her boot. I can’t move, I can only inhale. GOD THE SMELL. THIS IS UNBEARABLE. It’s so sweaty. How did I get here? I’m not in her boot. I don’t remember her putting me in there.

               Just then, Paul heard a voice. Rosie’s voice.

               “Listen up, Paul. I’m only going to explain this once. You’re not alive anymore. You’re not on Earth. You’re in a special….foot dimension. A foot afterlife. I call it foot world. It probably feels like you’re in my boot right now. Well, kinda. The dimension is about the size of my boot. And that is certainly my foot on you. It’s pretty sweaty and stinky huh? Guess what? It’ll only get sweatier and stinkier. Your life is over. This is it Paul. You’re going to be trapped there for eternity. Not the rest of my life, not the rest of your life, not until the Sun explodes…Eternity! Forever, never to escape. Just an eternity of drinking my foot sweat, and sniffing my disgusting foot. It’ll keep getting stinkier, and stinkier.”

               Paul immediately burst into tears. This couldn’t be real, he thought. He began to wildly thrash about, only to not move a single millimeter. His body was contained tightly, pressed under her foot. Under him, the floor seemed to be another foot. He seemed to be sandwiched between two of her feet, forming a kind of eternal foot coffin. As Paul was thrashing about, a torrent of foot sweat forced its way into his mouth.

               “Nuh-uh Paul. The more you fight it, the worst it gets. You are never getting out of there. I should also inform you, you will never lose your sanity either. That way you can keep enjoying my smelly feet forever! Bye Paul!!”

               This can’t be real. What did I do to deserve this? I have to be dreaming! I have to be! Please! Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP!

               The odor merely increased in response to Paul’s panic. Of course, it was not a dream. Paul was truly sealed. Why? All because he was afraid of feet. 

Fin

And so, just like that, Paul’s fate was sealed. However, this was not the end. Megan woke up the next day, and continued her research on magic. She continued reading a spell book that she had bought, containing all the knowledge she could possibly need, including the knowledge on how to reverse other spells. Megan figured she could use it to grow Paul back to normal size.

               Megan left her room, and went to go make some coffee. As she walked over to her dining room table to drink it, she froze in place, dropped her coffee on the ground, shattering the cup. She stood there, standing in front of a portrait of the family that hung on the wall. It was a normal family portrait like any other, but something was wrong with this one. Paul was gone.

               Megan quickly ran through the house, looking at every portrait, finding their wonderful family of 5 daughters…and no son. She even went to his room….it was empty. Megan quickly ran to Julie’s room. “Where’s Paul?!” She shouted. Julie woke up in a daze, and groggily answered, “Who???” She asked. Megan slowly backed away, and began to tremble, unsure of what to do. She experienced a variety of emotions in quick succession. Confusion, fear, sorrow, and finally, pure anger. She walked back to her room, her mind made up. This was going to end now. She picked up her own spell book and marched over to Rosie’s room.

               “Wake up!!” Megan roared, holding back nothing in her voice. Rosie woke up immediately, also seemingly in a daze. “What the hell?!” Rosie sleepily yelled back. “What did you do to him?! I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll kill you!” Megan continued yelling. “What are you talking about, where is who?!” Rosie also yelled. Megan slammed the door behind her closed and walked over to Rosie, who was still semi laying in her bed. Megan looked at Rosie straight in her eyes, and rammed her hand into her neck, grasping it tightly, clearly with lethal intent. She began squeezing tighter, all the while not breaking eye contact. Rosie tried to pry up Megan’s hand, unsuccessfully. She then tried to cough up words, “Meg….*cough*…an…*cough*…..Ok….Ok….I’ll…*cough*…tell you”. Megan released her grip and backed away. “Where?!” she yelled again.

               Rosie sat up in her bed, coughing and trying to recover from Megan’s grip. She swung her body around, her legs now hanging off of the bed. She then lifted her foot into the air, Megan recoiling a bit from the obvious odor of her foot. Megan looked at her sole for a moment, and saw it. The pentagram that sealed Paul. “He’s somewhere that you can’t reach. There’s nothing you can do, Meg. Nothing. He’ stuck, sniffing my disgusting foot forever.” Rosie calmly said.

               Megan was, yet again, shocked beyond comprehension. “Why? Why? I just…don’t…get it. How could you?” Megan said, as tears began to well up in her eyes. “No, NO! I won’t let you!” Megan gripped her spell book tightly, and took a step back. Rosie opened her eyes in shock, not having noticed the book until just now.

               “TRANSUERSO” Megan shouted. A latin word meaning ‘reversal.’ A light shot out of Megan’s palm and flew directly into Rosie’s sole. Suddenly, the pentagram began to glow brightly. “I won’t let you do this!” Megan shouted. Rosie wasn’t sure what to do. The look of shock on her face grew more severe every passing millisecond. After about 5 seconds, Rosie gave up the act, and simply smiled. Megan was now confused, “Why are you smiling?!” she shouted. “Because you’re so silly. You don’t have the slightest clue how these spells work. I’ve been studying this for years, and you think you could pull one over on me after a measly week?! Get real! That spell reverses the last spell that was used on the target. Guess what, your target is gone. Paul isn’t here anymore. He is literally in a different dimension, my own personal foot world. All you’ve done is erase the mark on my foot. Thanks. Now I don’t have a tattoo on my sole.”

               The bright glowing faded, along with the pentagram. Megan was lost yet again. She was completely defeated. Unable to do anything. Suddenly, Rosie shouted, “TRANSUERSO”, firing it directly at Megan. “I know you cast a protection spell on yourself. It’s the only way that you remembered Paul. With this last spell, Paul is truly gone. But before you go, here’s a glimpse.” Just then, Megan started to see images of Paul, sandwiched between two gigantic soles, being Rosie’s. He was crying and writhing around, and the soles simply pressed him tighter, smothering him more. Megan burst into tears. “I’m sorry Paul! I’m so sorry!”

               Megan woke up, again, in her room.  Megan left her room, and went to go make some coffee. As she walked over to her dining room table to drink it, she stood in front of a portrait of the family that hung on the wall. It was a normal family portrait like any other, and she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.