"Alright babe, I'm going to make a quick stop at work first, but after that I'm heading straight to you. It'll be a few hours. Alright, love you! Bye."

Thomas was ready to tackle the day. He had worked the past four days and was ready for a day off. And he wanted nothing more than to spend it with his girlfriend, Rose. They had met a year ago and went on a couple dates until Thomas finally asked her to be his girlfriend. She of course said yes. Now they've been spending most of their free time together. Thomas was actually thinking about getting an apartment together. 

Thomas, being in his mid twenties and holding a full time job, wanted to get out on his own, of course "own" means with his girlfriend. Thomas was never one for being able to do much by himself, he's always needed someone there for him. That's just the kind of guy he was. 

Thomas grabbed his cell phone, wallet, and iPod and headed out towards the bus stop. Despite his age, Thomas never learned how to drive, even so he didn't own a car. He never really cared for having to deal with all the traffic and road rage. Public transportation was more time consuming, but a lot less stressful, and Thomas was okay with that.

Thomas turned on his iPod and looked out the window as the bus drove him towards his destination. He works at a bakery-cafe, a rather popular place which serves a variety of foods: bagels, sandwiches, salads, pastries, and more. It was still pretty early, only eight in the morning, so breaskfast was still going on. 

Breakfast and lunch usually got pretty hectic, but Thomas loved working then because time always went by so fast. He didn't much enjoy having to take the customers orders, but he liked the other aspects, such as making drinks, or sweeping the floors when they got dirty. He was good at it, and his bosses liked him, that's what really mattered. 

Thomas was entering into his work now. One of the perks of working there was that employees got free drinks, so Thomas took advantage of that whenever he could. He planned on just being in and out. 

"Hey Big Tom," one of Thomas' co-workers said when she saw him come in. That was her nickname for him, since he was tall...at least taller than most of the girls he worked with. Thomas was one of the few male cashiers that worked there, as such a lot of the heavy lifting and reaching high places was pushed on to him. 

"Hey there Rachel," Thomas said. "Just getting a drink real quick before I go and see Rose." 

"Cool cool, come back here and get it yourself alright. I gotta go do something real quick," Rachel said as she walked away towards the back. 

Thomas headed around the corner and behind the counter. Since Rachel just left there were no cashiers at the moment so he was free to do as he pleased with no interuptions. Thomas made himself a large lemonade real quick and turned back to head around the counter again. 

As he starting walking past the registers Thomas blacked out. It was for only a second but it was the most important second of Thomas' life. When he came back to there was something very different about where he was. He looked around, the ground looked similar, but he was much closer to it than before. And there were crumbs all over the floor, the same crumbs that always litter the floor at this time, only now they were the same size, and some even bigger than Thomas. 

In fact, everything was bigger. No, that wasn't it. Everything was the same size, Thomas was the one who got smaller. Much smaller. For some unexplainable reason, Thomas was now the size of a small crumb on the floor, and the only person who knew he was here already assumed he had left. 

Thomas was alone. 

"What the hell..." Thomas said as everything was sinking into his head. "That's a crumb...a crumb! I'm the size of a damn crumb!" Thomas couldn't really register anything beyond that. It was quite a change for someone to go through in such a short amount of time. Fortunately, Thomas' clothes had shrunk with him. Not that people would really notice if they didn't, he was pratically inivisble without extensive looking, and even then he could easily be mistaken for just another crumb. 

His clothes kept him warm though, and that was helpful. Thomas knew that warm air rises, and on a regular basis for normal sized people that's just a nice little fun fact. But at this size it was a major thing. Warm air was way above Thomas, meanwhile all of the cold air sunk to the ground, the same place Thomas was standing. At his height there really was little warm air to heat up his body, so his clothes helped him quite a bit. 

Looking in front of him Thomas saw his large cup of lemonade. For whatever reason that also shrunk with him. If not for the situation, Thomas probably would have a made a joke about it being a "large" cup, but he had more important things to worry about. His drink had spilled all over the floor, creating a rather sizeable puddle in relation to Thomas, of course it was almost nothing to the normal eye. The spill meant that Thomas had no more fluids, unless of course he wanted to lick it off the floor, but he decided against that. 

Although his drink spilled, at the very least he had dropped it in front of him, on the floor. Thomas had made plenty of lemonades in the past and he knew that any drink that spilled got pretty sticky, and got that way fast. If it spilled on him at this size, with no way to clean it off, he'd end up as a sticky mess as well. Who knows what would end up stuck to him at this size. 

Thomas started looking around him at the now huge shelves and equipment. To his left were the registers. There were two right next to each other, he was standing right near the bottom of the second one. Right where someone would stand if they were taking a customers order. To his right was an imposing metal rolling shelf with three layers. The bottom layer was extremely high for Thomas at this height, so the top one was near impossible to gauge. But on the top housed the slicer they used to cut the bagels at the cafe, as well as the toaster. At least he assumed it was still there, at his height he couldn't even see it. 

Right next to the metal shelf was the plain brown trash can. Looking at it from this size made Thomas realize how much garbage was in there. A lot. The bottom area around the trash can was littered with huge crumbs, gigantic bagels that had fallen, and more used tissue papers than he could count. Thomas decided it was best to stay away from that area. Further down in front of him, and way above of him, was the bagel shelf, where all the bagels were stored. Thomas normally had no trouble reaching the bagels at the higher end of the shelf, but now he couldn't even reach the bottom of the fridge that sat underneath the shelf. 

Thomas turned the other direction and saw the counters where he had just made his lemonade, as well as several other drinks were made. There were a couple more refridgerators which were huge to Thomas, and up above them sat the lemonade cooler. In addition there was the espresso machine, which Thomas had used several times to make hot drinks. There were also a few blenders to make the smoothies, as well as a sink. At the far end sat a large cooler to house all the ice. It was kept there so it wouldn't melt, of course. Thomas' eyes traced up along the far wall until they finally focused on something--the phone. 

Of course! Thomas reached into his pocket, past his wallet and iPod, neither of which would be very useful to him anymore, and grabbed his phone. All he would have to do is call the store, and tell whoever answered about his predicament. Then everything would be fine. As he started searching his contacts for the number to the store, Thomas felt a shiver run down his spine. If Thomas had actually drunk his lemonade, he probably would have peed in his pants. 

On the far wall near the telephone his co-worker Rachel was standing. Only she was absoluetly massive. Rachel was in her upper forties, and was really working here to support herself while she search for a husband to help her finacially. Of course she could take care of herself, no problem. Only because he was standing so far away could Thomas see her fully. She wore her usual blue collared shirt, mostly covered up by the apron all employees had to wear. Her black pants stretched all the way down her long legs and draped onto the floor, easily covering the shoes she always wore to work. 

Thomas was frozen at the sight of Rachel. He had never seen any living person this large before, but here she was. Right in front of him. Fortunately for Thomas she was at the end of the counter chatting away, and right next to the phone! Thomas awoke from his paralysis and went back to his phone. While he started to call the store, he was completely unaware of his other co-worker approaching his location from behind him. And she was apporaching fast. 

Everything that proceeded this happened extremely quickly when compared to Thomas and his new size. He barely had time to register it before it was all said and done. Thomas' call had successfully gone through, as the phone in the store starting going off. As soon as it started though an enormous running shoe smashed down to the close left of him. The impact created-to Thomas-a large quake that sent him off balance and hurdling towards the ground. Of course to his co-worker Ellen, whom the shoe belonged to, there was nothing noticable at all. 

As Thomas fell his phone flew out of his hands and skidded across the ground in front of him, a long way in front of him. He was still on the ground recovering from the quake as he watched the other shoe of his co-worker come down firecely on the ground in front of him, which just so happened to be the same place his phone had skidded to. Thomas watched in complete shock and horror as the small dot that was his phone, along with a plethora of other small crumbs and debris, get crushed beneath the large shoe. The shoe to the left of Thomas was also shortly lifted up with such extreme speed and force he couldn't believe it. Something that large moving that fast. It didn't seem possible. But it was. 

The phone was ringing and as Rachel was standing right next to it, she picked it up. There was no response. After a few seconds passed she hung up, thinking it was probably just a miscall or something like that. It's happened many times before. She in no way thought that the call was from her co-worker Thomas who had been shrunken down to a speck and was sitting on the floor right in front of her. She and Ellen started talking some more about whatever it was they talked about. 

Meanwhile on the ground, Thomas was still laying there, in complete shock. His only means of contacting someone, his phone, had been completely and utterly destroyed by the shoe of his co-worker, and she didn't even know about it. Thomas was now aware of the enormity of the situation he was in. These girls, they could kill him. With complete ease. And they wouldn't even be aware of it. His life he lived so much of up until this point could be ended with an action of a co-worker simply walking. And there was nothing Thomas could do about it anymore. He was, to put it bluntly, screwed. 

Thomas was brought back to reality as he heard Rachel greet a customer who had entered the building. That was when it happened. Rachel and Ellen turned around and where heading straight towards the customer, straight towards the register to ring them up. Straight towards Thomas, who was still slumped on the floor. And within a second they were already upon him. Thomas watched as the two pairs of shoes lifted from the ground and headed straight for his miniscule form. 

Rachel had just answered the phone to find no one was there. Assuming it was a wrong number she hung up and started talking to Ellen again. She and Ellen were basically best friends, When she saw a customer come in, Rachel greeted her in her usual, outgoing way. She and Ellen walked over to the register and started to take the customer's order. Rachel was all about the jokes and being expressionate, so like always when she and Ellen made a joke when talking with the customer she started stamping her feet in joy. It was just one of her things. Meanwhile Ellen was getting the customers order ready. It was basic, a toasted bagel with cream cheese. She grabbed the bagel off the shelf, sliced it, toasted it, and put it on a plate with the cream cheese. And it was done. Simple, easy, and done with. No trouble at all. The two stood off to the side and started chatting some more. 

Thomas watched as Rachel and Ellen's shoes lifted from the ground and headed straight towards his insignificant body. Rachels standard black work shoe landed not far in front of him. The impact shook the ground for Thomas and, had he been standing up, would have surely fallen down once again. She twisted her shoe at a ninety degree angle so it was pointing towards the registers. The movement was so quick Thomas barely had time to register it. Shorly afterwards her other shoe landed causing another quick tremor for Thomas. A loose string from Rachel's pants, which reached past her ankle touching the floor, was laid out before Thomas. Even the loose string was large compared to him. 

Thomas looked up and saw just two large walls of black reaching up. He was laying right between both of Rachel's legs. He didn't have much time to really take in what he was seeing as next to him Ellen's running shoes landed, creating even more tremors for Thomas. Ellen went running almost everyday, so she always wore her running shoes to work. It just made things easier. Her shoes were a bright blue color and really stood out. Like most shoes the toe section didn't reach the floor unless someone was taking a step, so Thomas had a clear view undeaneath it, showing off the large treads with lots of gaps. Thomas didn't care much for running so he never bothered to care why it was like that, he just knew he wanted to stay away from it right now.

Far up above Thomas heard a loud noise pierce the sky. It was the sound of Rachel laughing. At the same time Thomas was cast in shadow. Rolling around he saw Rachel's shoe hanging miles in the air. Thomas worked with Rachel enough to know what she was doing. He knew what was coming, and he braced himself. Within an instant Rachel's shoe came crashing down several times in rapid succession. She always stamped her feet when something was funny, but to Thomas this was anything but fun. 

The constant quakes made it impossible for Thomas to control his movement. He was at the total and complete mercy of gravity and momentum. He was being tossed this way and that along with lots of other crumbs scattered around the floor. To his horror he found he was slowly approaching the landing zone of Rachel's shoe, which was also moving around and not staying in one place. Thomas screamed as he was nearing her shoe, and with one final stamp Rachel slammed her shoe down.

Thomas didn't have any time to react as her shoe impacted the ground only a few feet in front of him. The impact sent Thomas tumbling backwards. Somehow, Thomas suffered no injuries throughout that, but he had no time to catch his breath. Laying on his back and staring up, Thomas screamed as loud as he could as he watched the sole of Ellen's shoe descending rapidly towards him. He had no time to do anything. All he could do was scream and watch as his co-worker stepped right on him. 

The impact send Thomas bumping into a bunch of walls with little give. It was completely dark with no source of light. And there was an overwhelming smell of rubber all around him. Thomas knew where he was. As luck would have it he landed right between the treads of Ellen's shoes, because of the large gaps in them there was plenty of room to house him. Thomas had somehow managed to survive again without any injury, although he was certainly scared out of his mind. He was tired of having little control over what happened to him, of course he really didn't have any control over that.

Light flooded Thomas' eyes as Ellen lifted her shoe and turned around. She had just gave the order to the customer. She and Rachel then stood near the registers while Thomas was left to himself at the base of the metal shelf, far below the bagel slicer. He wasn't sure what to do anymore. He had nearly gotten crushed twice within a couple of seconds by his co-workers. Twice he had almost died and neither of them even knew about it. He had no idea what to do. His only means of communication had been destoryed, and here he sat along with all the other discarded crumbs on the ground. He was nothing to these two girls. To everyone at this point. And that was when Thomas remembered there were more than those two. Thomas got another shiver down his spine as he looked over towards the drink station. 

Thomas saw two pairs of shoes come from around the corner and into the path of the bakery. Thomas traced the pair of white keds up towards his co-worker Grace. And the other pair of black keds belonged to his co-worker Taylor. Both of them were younger than Thomas, only barely twenty years of age. His girlfriend Rose was always a tad bit jealous because she thought they were pretty and were going to win over Thomas' heart, but he always denied such things. And he was telling the truth. 

Both of them walked towards Thomas at an alarming speed. Before he realized it Grace and Taylor were upon him. Grace had taken occupancy at the other register. Taylor had unforunately stepped down right next to Thomas. Being a rather light and skinny girl, Taylor didn't cause much of a tremor to him, but at this size anything was noticable. This close to the ground Thomas could take note of all the dirt and who knows what else stuck to the sides of Taylor's ked. It was a little gross, but then again Thomas was laying on a rather unclean floor surrounded by a bunch of crumbs and other assorted droppings. 

At his height he couldn't really hear what they were saying, and so he had to rely on looking around and basing things off their actions. He saw Rachel talking to Taylor, followed by Taylor reaching into the chubby hole and grabbing out a brush. It was a brush used to clean out the bagel slicer from all the crumbs. Thomas felt the same shiver down his spine as he knew what was coming. 

He watched, as best as he could, as miles above him Taylor opened up the hinge of the bagel slicer and started to brush it. Way, way above him, Thomas saw an unimaginable amount of crumbs, small, large, and gigantic, fall from the slicer. Right towards him. Thomas picked himself up faster than he ever had in his life and ran. He didn't know where he was running to, but anything was better than here. He knew it was too late though. He simply wouldn't be able to run fast enough at this size. And sure enough, he was right. 

Crumbs started to rain from the sky all around Thomas. Some of the smaller ones hit Thomas on the head and, despite their size and material, still hurt him quite a bit. It was the larger ones that really screwed over Thomas. Seasme seeds the size of cars bounced around on the floor all around him. Small bits of chocolate chips coated the floor. Plain crumbs were bouncing off of everything making it impossible to guess where to run to. And enormous cinnamon crumbs all stuck together from the stickyness impacted the ground and broke apart. One of which tripped Thomas up and sent him spiraling to the ground once more. 

Staring up Thomas watched as the endless amount of crumbs kept falling. After tripping Thomas had no chance of getting back up as the crumbs kept pelting him over and over. He had to watch as he slowly got covered in them. All the while he was non-stop screaming at anyone, any of his co-workers, but really at nobody, to get them to stop. But the crumbs kept falling all around the floor with loud impacts, small little tremors, and still more crumbs landing on and around Thomas. 

And almost as quickly as it had started, it was over. The aftermath looked worse than a natural disaster. Crumbs were everywhere. There was very little floor left visible. Although he was getting buried during the assault, most of the crumbs had fallen off Thomas, except for one rather large and pesky seasme seed. It was sitting right on Thomas, and was pinning his body and arms to the ground. That wasn't what worried Thomas though. Usually when he or others cleaned the bagel slicer like this, they dumped the crumbs right into the trash can. There was only one time when they dumped it right on the floor, and that was what scared Thomas more than anything at the moment. Thomas felt the faint quakes as Taylor walked away, leaving him stranded under the seasme seed. 

Under the instruction of Rachel, Taylor had grabbed the brush and dumped all of the crumbs from the bagel slicer and shelf onto the floor. She then went to the back to grab a broom and dustpan. 

Thomas didn't know how long he had been laying on the ground, trapped beneath the sesame seed. In reality it had been all of one second, but it felt like six months. He knew what was coming, he had seen it just happen. Taylor had just swept all of the crumbs from the bagel slicer onto the ground. Onto Thomas. And then she left. Thomas didn't need to hear what they were saying to know where she was going. Taylor was getting a broom. She was going to sweep up the floor, sweep up the crumbs. Sweep up Thomas. 

Thomas laid underneath the sesame seed, and contemplated what had happened to him today. Not even ten minutes ago he was talking with Rachel, the girl who now towered above him, and nearly stepped on and killed him already. How fast had things changed. Was this the rest of his life? Being the size of a crumb? Was this all Thomas was anymore? All these thoughts and more ran through his head, as up above Rachel, Ellen, and Grace all did their job, nonethewiser. 

The longer Thomas laid under the seed, the more it dawned on him how he was going to die. Taylor was going to sweep the floor, and him along with it. Thomas was going to be swept into a dustpan, and tossed away like a simple piece of trash. That's all he was, wasn't he? Trash. Meant to be thrown away, discarded, eliminated, dumped. If he survived the fall into the trash can, he would soon perish beneath the massive amounts of other trash acumlated by workers here. And even then, if he survived all of that, what was his ultimate end point? Someone would change the trash, and Thomas along with. Brought to the back, tossed in the dumpster. Taken to the dump to live whatever time he has left with his fellow pieces of trash. 

No, Thomas would not have that. Now he watched up above as the three girls moved around. He hoped more than anything they would step on him. Crush him. End his life before he became the trash that he was destined to be. But it didn't come. All Thomas saw was the faces of his co-workers, miles above his insignificant plight, going about their day with concerns of great important---to them. They did not have to worry about being crushed, or thrown into a trash can. Just work issues, and school exams. Thomas missed that life. Thomas missed ten minutes ago. 

Thomas realized why his co-workers weren't stepping on him. He looked around and remembered he was in a vast field of various crumbs and debris. Thomas has seen this before. It looked big when standing at full height. At his size, it was absouletly massive. And he was nothing more than a speck, hidden undearneath another speck in this massive pile. Multiple times Thomas saw Rachel, Ellen, or Grace glance down in his general location. He couldn't help it, he got a little excited. But his arms were trapped, his body was stuck, and he was nothing. They were simply trying not to step on the pile of crumbs, the one thing Thomas wanted to end this all before he became trash. But that was not to be.

It had only been thirty seconds since Taylor had left to get a broom. 

Thomas looked to his side, and he saw the familar black keds coming back towards him. Taylor had returned, and Thomas saw her holding the thing that would be the death of him--a broom. Taylor approached him with overwhelming speed. Thomas had zero time to react. But in that timeless zone, he wished beyond belief that Taylor would this. Unfortunately, Thomas could only watch as her giant ked shoe soared overhead of him and the pile of crumbs. Thomas could make out various pieces of dirt and crumbs and whatever stuck to the sole of her shoe. She probably didn't even know. Is that really what Thomas wanted? To be like those crumbs? Has his life degraded so much that that is the optimal scenerio? Thomas really didn't want to be dumped in the trash.

Taylor reached the far side of the bakery and started to sweep the floor. She brushed pretty strongly, more so flicking all of the crumbs towards the other end. It simply worked better than slowly sweeping. It would take much longer, and wouldn't be as effective. Just add a touch of force, and the crumbs go to where they need to be in the end. It's not like it's hurting anyone doing it that way.

Thomas watched Taylor at the other end of the bakery. She seemed so far away now. It reality she was about three or four steps, but to Thomas, it seemed like forever. Thomas was afraid now. Terrfied. And yet, he started to laugh. He thought of the predicament he was in. Here he was, an adult, a good job, a great girlfriend, everything going well. And now he was stuck underneath a fucking sesame seed. A fucking sesame seed. It was hilarious. The whole scenario was so absurd, so unbelievably ridiculous, that Thomas couldn't help but laugh. This was just some crazy dream, wasn't it? Thomas would wake up once he got swept up, and then go see his girlfriend. Probably tell her about it and have a nice laugh, then get some lunch. Hahaha, yeah, just a crazy dream. This kind of thing doesn't happen in real life. Thomas watched with an unexpected amount of glee as Taylor forcably swept crumbs towards his miniscule body. That was when it happened.

A rouge crumb from what down where Taylor was went hurtling towards Thomas and the sesame seed. It was bouncing like crazy, but I'm sure up above it wasn't even noticable. The crumb landed on Thomas' exposed legs pretty hard before continuing it's bounce further back. It hurt like absolute hell, but his legs didn't seem broken or anything. Nothing sprained, no issues. Just a lot of pain......Except, if this was a dream, it shouldn't hurt so much...Or the pain should have woken Thomas up. But here he was. Still underneath a sesame seed. Legs in a lot of pain, but slowly numbing away. Still staring down at the impending broom shooting crumbs his way at a pace Thomas didn't think possible. There was one reason, one explination for why this was happening still. This wasn't a dream. Thomas really was, for lack of a better word, screwed.

Taylor was getting ever so closer to Thomas, and more and more crumbs were sent flying past him as the pile grew larger. Thomas didn't have any glee anymore. He now wore a face of complete and utter horror, and could do nothing but scream as more crumbs were sent shooting towards him. Towards the only thing keeping him safe, and the only thing killing him: the sesame seed. 

Thomas saw Taylor plant the broom at the base of the crumb pile. He was huge to him, but it wouldn't even take a second for that broom to go hurtling into him. Thomas didn't even think about the impact of the broom. Those straws could be deadly. Thomas didn't have much time to think about this, as Taylor brushed the broom into the giant pile of crumbs from the bagel slicer, and sent them flying towards the end of the bakery section.

Thomas blinked and the next thing he knew he was being pushed violently by the straws of the broom, along with thousands of other crumbs, bigger and smaller than him. When the broom straws let go of all the crumbs, Thomas felt himself going faster than he ever felt in his life. Not even cars went this fast. He couldn't even open his eyes it was so fast. Thomas felt pain all over his body. He was rolling and bouncing and spinning and everything else. Repeatedly hitting the hard floor on the bakery, going along with his crumb friends, towards the end. He was in a lot of pain, but again, nothing was broken. There was only pain. Why was that happening? Under any normal circumstance, Thomas would be dead. But Thomas himself had already answered why...this was no ordinary circumstance. People don't normal survive crashes like that, but neither do people shrink. That's just how it was.

When everything settled down, and Thomas felt himself no longer moving, he still hesitated to open his eyes. But nevertheless, he did. Thomas was now laying belly down in a pile of crumbs and other debris. Once again, there was something laying on him, keeping him trapped and pressed into the ground. That was when Thomas noticed it. Sitting right in front of him, as if staring him right in the eye, taunting him, was a dustpan. A huge, giant, black dustpan. And inside Thomas could see gross, disgusting marks left from previous sweeps. That would be Thomas soon. 

All the while, Thomas is being pelted with more crumbs as Taylor continues to sweep the floor. It isn't long before this finishes, but it's far from over. Before Thomas can relax from the pelting crumbs, the broom appears again and begins sweeping the surround crumbs into the pile of debris Thomas is in. Unfortunately for Thomas, he wound up near the center of the pile, and so there's no need to brush where he is...yet. 

Thomas takes the chance to look up, miles up. He sees the face of Taylor looking down, seemingly right at him. But Thomas knew that wasn't the chance. She wasn't looking at him, she was looking at trash that needed to be swept up and tossed. In a way, then, she was looking at Thomas. He looked into her eyes. She was innocent looking. Thomas always thought she was cute, but he had a girlfriend, and he would never, ever think about doing something with someone else. Now he just wanted to live.

Taylor had just finished sweeping the bakery, and moved the crumbs into a nice, neat pile. With the dustpan already near, she prepared to sweep them into the trash. 

Thomas looked back at the dustpan. He saw Taylor put her giant ked onto the dustpan for support. She always did this. He thought it was pretty cute, now it meant the end for him. Thomas screamed one last time as Taylor used the broom push all of the debris towards the dustpan. She swept up near the pan again to catch any stray crumbs before she lifted it up, and tilted it over, dumping all of it's contents into the nearly empty trash can. 

Thomas felt himself flying at high speeds again. Rolling along the ground with a few other crumbs. There was pain, yes, but Thomas was not hurt. For whatever reason, Thomas could not die. He was simply immune. He could feel pain, but his bones would never break, he would never suffer any damage. It was just pain. And even that would vanish soon. The pain, would vanish. And there would be nothing left. 

As chance would have it, when Taylor was sweeping the dirt pile into the dustpan, she did so with a little force, and not exactly straight. It hardly matter, most of all the crumbs went into the dustpan as desired. However, unbeknownst to Taylor, a few rouge crumbs, along with Thomas, were sent hurtling just past the edge of the dustpan, missing it completely and stopping in the middle of the floor. These were insignificant. Nobody would notice them, and they'd probably just get swept up later anyway. Who cared? Taylor lifted the dustpan, and dumped the debris into the nearly empty trash can, then returned to her work. 

Thomas was lying on his stomach again, though for the first time in a bit, there was nothing on him. He was free to move, but, he didn't. Thomas was nearly crushed by his coworkers, then he was almost swept up and thrown away. Thomas had accepted these things. He didn't want them to happen, but he accepted them. And now, neither of those things happened.

Thomas laughed. He thought for sure he was dead, but here he was. Alive and well in the middle of the floor. A big open area in the back of the counter. A place people did things, moved about. It connected the other areas of the store. So it was nice, big, and empty. Thomas was glad he wasn't swept up, that dustpan looked absolutely disgusting. It would have been gross ending up in there. What Thomas didn't know, though, was that pretty soon, he was going to be wishing he had ended up in the trash. Thomas wasn't aware there could be something worse than that, but there was. 

Thomas looked back over at the bakery. He couldn't even see it anymore. It was only about five feet away, but Thomas was much too small, and much too low, to see anything. So he turned his attention elsewhere. Looking forward, Thomas saw the line. That was where the workers made the food people ordered. Sandwiches, salads, soups, all of it. Thomas worked there occasionally, and knew all the people who worked over there, but he mainly worked over in the bakery. That's just how it went. 

Thomas looked over at who was working. He always liked to read everyone's schedule, even on days he didn't work. Plus he could always remember it, basically, he knew who was supposed to be working. Over on the line he saw three people. There was Linda, a girl just a month younger than Thomas, but already with a husband and two kids. There was also Vicky and Sarah. They were twins who always worked together. Thomas looked at the three of them chatting and working, it reminded him of when he worked there. Thomas hoped to get back to that soon. He was tired of this...............

Wait, three people? Thomas knew that wasn't right. There were supposed to be four people right now, but even at his limited size he could clearly and easily count only three. Where was the four person? Thomas knew who it was. It was Vicky and Sarah's older sister, Marie. If she wasn't on the line, then she must be...

If Thomas had bothered to get up and move around, or if he was looking for danger instead of staring at people, he might have been okay. But as fate would have it, Thomas decided to lay on the ground and not move. While he was figuring all of this out, he was unaware that his coworker was now heading right towards him. But, he was a small target. An insignificant crumb in the middle of a wide, open floor. The odds of someone stepping on him would be slim to none, right? Possibly, but not for Thomas. 

Before he could even contemplate what was happening, the area around him started to grow dark. It happened so fast Thomas' mind couldn't even register what had occurred. Marie was in the back, getting something for the line. Once she had it, she returned to the line, walking past the bakery. It was a normal, average, boring day for Marie. If she had any idea of what she had just done, she might have felt some kind of remorse, or grief. But she felt nothing, as she knew nothing. After all, to Marie, she had simply stepped on some crumbs. Meaningless crumbs that stepping on amounts to nothing. She didn't even know she stepped on them. She simply went back to the line and started working. 

For a second, everything was dark for Thomas. It was as if the sun itself had vanished. Pitch black. Thomas would have heard a soft squish happen behind him, but the overbearing sound of rubber slamming and squeaking against tiled floor drowned out everything else for him. Thomas also instinctively noticed the smell. It smelled of old rubber. The kind shoes are made of. Without even thinking, Thomas made the connection. He had been stepped on. But just as before, he had landed right between the treads of the shoe. There was also an awful smell Thomas couldn't quite pin, but it smelled like a mix of a lot of things. Gross, nonetheless. However, all of this was for a second. Thomas didn't have time to think, didn't have time to guess. Didn't have time for anything. 

Thomas felt the whizzing of air flying past him. Felt the sensation of flying. He felt as light as, well, a crumb. Opening his eyes, Thomas saw the red tile floor far below him, and he saw the pathway to the back of the store, which was just behind him. Thomas saw all this in just a fraction of a second, as he soon saw the red tile floor full on, and it was getting closer. And closer. And closer. Then too close. Thomas felt the enormous force as he was pressed hard into the tile floor. It felt like the weight of an entire person was crushing him into the floor, because, well, it was.

What Thomas didn't know was that he was now stuck in between the treads of his coworker Marie's shoe. Working on the line gets rather messy, and food spills all over the ground. It gets busy over there, and it would be obnoxious to try and avoid every little thing on the ground. Most people just walk all over it. For some, this causes pieces of food to get stuck and trapped between the treads of their shoes. That is Thomas. He had been fortunate enough to land in between the treads of her shoe, but maybe that wasn't so lucky? When Marie stepped down, she squished poor Thomas into the particles of food debris stuck in her shoe treads. Thomas was covered in them, one with them. As she continued her step, Thomas was now apart of what was stuck in her treads. Thomas was brought up with her shoe, and carried along for the ride. 

That was were Thomas was now. Face pressed against the gross tile floor of his work. Body surrounded and coated in filth previously stepped on and mashed into her treads. And stuck as an insignificant piece of crud between the treads of his coworker's shoe. It happened again, Thomas was lifted up into the air before slamming down hard into the floor again. Each step would last no more than a second. It was so fast, and so disorienting. Thomas didn't even know what was happening after the second step. He just wished it was over. Thomas would not get his wish.

Step after step after step Marie walked towards the line. It was really only about ten steps away, but it felt like a hundred. With every step, Thomas was squished deeper into the disgusting remnants of food, but he was never submerged. He would never get so lucky. He had to endure the force of being pressed with an entire body weight into the gross floor, and body squished harder and harder into the crud. 

By the seventh step, nothing had changed. Only able to feel some pain, Thomas was never lucky enough to lose consciousness. He had to endure each and every step as they came, fully. He was doing what all crumbs did, be meaningless. But he was self aware of it. He was conscious of his life. He was a living crumb. Eighth step. Ninth step. Tenth step.

The line had just recently been swept, so it wasn't that dirty, but it had already accumulated some scraps of food on the ground. A small piece of avocado lay on the floor. A string of melted cheese sits in the middle. Various crumbs and other assorted food particles. Linda, Vicky, and Sarah just ignored them. It was just some harmless piece of food on the ground. It wasn't going to cause harm to anyone. It would get cleaned up sooner to later. Whatever, not a big deal.

Marie had just gotten back to the line after getting something in the back. She wasn't looking where she was walking, so there was no way she could have known she stepped on a piece of stringy, sticky, melted cheese that lay on the ground. But why would she ever care? It was just her shoes, her work shoes, no less. And not even that, just the soles of them. Who really cared about that? It wasn't like it was her hand, or her arm, or hell, even her feet. It was the soles of her dirty work shoes. They didn't matter. As long as it was nothing really big and gross, then it was meaningless. Just some filth that would come off later. That is why once she stepped on it, Marie continued to go about her work. 

On the tenth step, Thomas was the same as always. Onto the eleventh. He felt his body rise once more with the shoe. He was starting to get accustomed to this. He watched as the red tile sped past him, but this time something different appeared. Thomas had no time to even consider thinking about it as his faced was slammed hard into a pile of gooey white stuff. It was still fairly warm, but also sticky. Thomas could feel it sticking to his skin. As luck would have it, not only did Marie step exactly on the piece of melted cheese, she did so at the exact spot Thomas happened to be. 

Thomas' head was still free, barely, as the melted cheese started to cover his body, and the surround area on Marie's shoe. Thomas felt his body lift up again, only this time with an added passenger. The cheese had much more mass than both Thomas and the crud he was now apart of, but it wasn't smashed into her treads like everything else. Thomas now felt force coming from both sides. As Marie stepped down, his body was impaled deeper into the crud, and cheese plastered more onto his body. As she raised her foot up, and mass of the cheese started pulling off Marie's shoe, and taking poor Thomas along with, away from the food particles. 

With Marie's rhythmic stepping though, neither force won, and Thomas had to suffer between being pushed and pulled by two pieces of food that were bigger than him. If Thomas had any sense of humor left, he would laugh. He was getting played tug of war with between two pieces of food, while stuck instead the tread of his coworkers shoe. It was hilarious. Except no one was laughing.

Thomas was rooting for the cheese to win. He didn't want to stay as a piece of crud underneath her shoe forever, so he wanted the cheese to pull him out. For once, things went Thomas' way. Marie raise her foot and set it on the floor vertically, toes planted on the ground, sole facing out. The gravity then started causing the cheese to pull away from her shoe, and with it's grip on Thomas, pulling him out of the crud as well. It was a slow process, but it was working. Thomas started smiling for the first time in a while. His eyes close, he had  grin on his face, he was going to get out of this hell that was Marie's shoe treads. Thomas opened his eyes and prepared to see the world again without having to be condemned to darkness every other second. What Thomas got instead was the image of an enormous shoe heading straight toward him, pressing into the cheese, as well as himself, with a great force.

Vicky and Sarah were talking when they finished making the food they had to. By complete chance, Vicky had looked down and noticed a rouge piece of cheese hanging slightly off Marie's shoe. Not wanting Marie to have that stuck to her shoe any longer, Vicky positioned her shoe at Marie's sole, and helped scrape the cheese off. It fell to the floor with a little inaudible plop, before she flicked it away somewhere else, and went on with her work. Within a few seconds she had forgotten all about that piece of cheese.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Thanks," said the woman as she grabbed her salad off the counter and brought it to her seat.  Thomas felt the salad bowl he was in start to move, and then descend a bit. The girl was carrying her plate lightly pushed up against her abdomen, so staring up, all Thomas saw were her breasts taking up most of his view. He was unable to see who it was that was going to be the one to end his life. But it's not like it mattered. Thomas had given up, there was no way he was going to get out of this. He was now in the dining room, away from anyone he knew. Even if by the impossible chance someone noticed him for a human, there's no telling what would happen since they wouldn't even know who he was. But that was pointless thinking, Thomas wasn't human anymore.

The girl set her plate down at the table and looked down at her food, ready to dig in. When she did so, for the first time in a long time, Thomas showed any sense of humanity, shock at what he was seeing. Of all the salads that were made, for all the hundreds of people who came in today, he happened to wind up in the food of someone he knew, someone who actually worked here before. Thomas was staring up at the face of his previous co-worker Kat, but his shock soon faded as he saw grab a fork in her hand. It didn't matter who it was. Thomas was simply food.

Kat had used to work at this place about a year ago, but she still occasionally went back there to get food every now and then. She still kept in touch with a few of the people that worked here, Thomas being one of them. She was half-hoping she would see him today, as they hadn't talked in a while, but it seemed that he was off today. She figured she would just text him later today or something. Whenever, they were cool, but they weren't the best of friends. Of course, Kat had no idea that by digging into her salad, she was condemning the same person she was just thinking about to a fate he never thought he would have to encounter.

Thomas felt a tinge of humor at the contrast that was the larger-than-life, bubbly, happy, face of Kat staring down at him next to the gigantic, four-pronged steel tipped death stick know as a fork heading right for him. But he didn't budge an inch. If it was going to stab him, then he'd die. At this point Thomas was hoping that would be the case, but he knew it wouldn't. Nothing had hurt him thus far, why would anything do so now? But, that made him wonder...what would happen? Now was not the time to find out, as the giant fork missed Thomas and entered into the salad to his left. It got under him and tossed him and the lettuce he was on far away amidst the salad. Flicked away like the tiny bit of food he was, Thomas went sailing inside the bowl and landed atop a humongous crouton. 

The crouton itself was like a wide empty field to Thomas, a dark, tan color, covered in bumpy hills and deep holes. Thomas' admiration for nature was short-lived as the fork returned and once again tossed him and crouton elsewhere in the salad. Looking back up, Thomas saw Kat wasn't even looking at her salad anymore. Instead, the sky was replaced with a large black object she was fixated on. Kat was on her phone surfing the web with on hand, and randomly stabbing her salad with the other. She was pretty hungry, she didn't really care what she was eating, as long as it tasted good and got in her mouth, she was fine. She took a quick glance down at her food, and saw a lone crouton sitting there. She wanted it. She kabobed a few pieces of lettuce, squished on the crouton, and got ready to eat it.

Thomas' view of Kat was cut short as the salad was tossed around again, knocking him down on his stomach. While in the process of getting up, a flying crouton landed right down on poor Thomas. Although made of bread and extremely light, a crouton can be quite heavy for someone the size of a crumb. So heavy, in fact, that Thomas was simply mashed under it, and had no chance of getting out from under it. Luckily for him though, those holes in it stopped him from becoming a crumb pancake. There was pressure, of course, but fate was not having Thomas die in this way, much to Thomas' disappointment. Thomas lay underneath the boulder on top of him, until he felt a familiar force pushing down on him, squeezing him more into the folds of the crouton. As such, when the crouton was lifted up after being impaled by the fork, Thomas was lifted up along with it.

For the first time since this whole ordeal started, Thomas felt equal with another human being. He was able to look Kat in the eye directly. At least, he liked to think he did, it made him feel better. Thomas wasn't really looking at Kat's eye. He was looking at her glossy lips, the entrance to her carnivorous maw, the very place he was level with, and his next destination. Thomas could do nothing but stare as he saw her shiny lips part, revealing the grim truth that lay behind them. Strings of saliva hung from tooth to tooth, breaking apart in an instant once they reached their limit. Portions of caeser dressing lay spread across her moist tongue, painting in a different color, but was soon washed away as the saliva did it's job. In her molars he could see mashed up bits of crouton and lettuce sitting there, waiting to join their brothers. A small piece of food was stuck in between her second and third teeth. Despite everything that had happened to him so far, Thomas knew one thing. He was staring at the face of death.

As her maw opened up more, and Thomas felt himself being moved closer and closer towards it, it made him realize something. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to live like this. This whole time everything was out of his control, but was it really? Or did Thomas just not try hard enough to get out of the situations? He himself realized he had done much of anything lately, just let things happen time and time again. Not anymore. Thomas wasn't about to let this happen. Thomas wasn't going to give up. Thomas wasn't going to be eaten without even trying to save himself. Not anymore. Thomas readied himself, and with everything he had to offer, shouted "KAT!" at the top of his lungs." The fork stopped. Her mouth closed, and Thomas saw her face look away from her phone. 

He did it. Thomas had done it. He felt happier than he ever did this entire day. This was it, he was going to be saved. With the biggest smile on his face that there ever was, Thomas prepared once more to shout up to Kat, to let him know where he was. Thomas noticed Kat's head tilt slightly to her right, and a smile grew on her face, proceeded by a friendly wave. Looking over, Thomas saw why. As it turns out, Kat did not hear Thomas' pitiful excuse for attention. At the same time, a friend of Kats was passing by and said hey to her, to which she responded with a nice smile and a friendly wave. 

Thomas was speechless. He had nothing to say. He simply looked forward again, and saw Kat's cavern of a mouth open up again, showing the same deathly details it had before. Thomas was wrong. He thought by simply shouting he could get someone's attention. But that simply wasn't the case. Thomas was much too insignificant for that to happen. He was doomed to live like this, however short that would be as he approached her maw once more. 

Kat shoved the food that was on her fork into her mouth, and proceeded to chew it very well. She made sure each piece of lettuce and the crouton were thoroughly mashed and destroyed by her teeth before swallowing them and preparing her next bite. She felt something stuck in her teeth, but didn't bother with it now, she would deal with it later. 

As it turns out, the distraction Kat's friend provided may have saved Thomas' life. He was simply too distraught to notice, but he had been slowly peeling off the crouton for some time. If Kat's friend hadn't appeared, Thomas would have become food, but as luck would have it, he simply fell off the crouton before it reached her mouth. Thomas and a few drops of dressing had ended up falling, all the way down onto the thigh of Kat's pant leg. Thomas now stared up at Kat as she ate her food, but this again was short lived as she soon noticed, and once again, Thomas's sky was field with brown, as Kat used her napkin to clean up some dressing which had spilled on her pants. She then tossed it on her plate and went to finish her salad.

Thomas was picked up by the napkin, getting smeared with more dressing, but at this point, what wasn't he covered in? Thankfully, when she tossed the napkin to her plate, Thomas was dislodged and landed a few inches away from it. Unfortunately, he was in the center of the plate, with the edges far away. It would take him some time to traverse the plate. Time he no longer had as Kat finished the last of her salad. Thomas had only managed to stand up when Kat grabbed her things, and lifted her plate up, causing him to fall down once more. 

Thomas' view was blocked once more as Kat carried her tray over to the waste bin. She placed the salad bowl into the dish tray, before dumping the napkin and other crumbs into the trash can. Once everything was clear, she said her goodbyes and headed off to do her own things. The world had stopped moving for Thomas when Kat lifted the large yellow bowl he had just been in and placed it elsewhere. The world Thomas was on then started to tilt, and Thomas knew exactly where he was heading. Looking down, he confirmed it. He was staring into the depths of dining room trash can. The plate titled more causing Thomas and the other crumbs to slide faster. With nothing to grab onto, Thomas could only wait as he was launched off the end of the plate, and flipped downward into the trash can filled with used napkins, half-eaten food, and other things he didn't want to know about. 

Thankfully for Thomas, the trash can was mostly filled, but it was still quite a drop for one as small as Thomas. He landed in the napkin he had just been tossed with and looked up, getting a short glance of Kat as she was leaving. His vision was soon replaced by disembodied hands dropping more debris inside of his new home. Soiled napkins, giant plastic cups, used lemons, scraps of food. All of it rained down upon Thomas in the next few minutes that passed. Thomas knew that the safest place to be in this trash can out be the far side, as the hole caused food pile up on one side. Thomas rushed his way over there, but not before someone dropped an open cup of soda into the trash, spilling it over Thomas, coating him in even more sticky solutions. 

Thomas sat in the corner of the garbage can. It had happened. He was trash. He was garbage. There was no denying it. Kat had thrown him in here along with the other trash. He was being bombed with more scraps as time passed. He was no longer human, he was trash meant to be taken to the dumpster. And that's exactly where he was going to end up, and he knew it. Thomas didn't mind the garbage so much, he had been covered in worse things already, but the smell bothered him the most. A combination of all sorts of old food that had been sitting here for hours, and various sugary drinks made for one nasty odor. But there was nothing he could do about it, this was his home. 

It was ironic that the place Thomas has been the most relaxed thus far was the only place he didn't want to end up. But as if to taunt him, the second he was starting to get comfortable, things changed. The entire trash can started shaking around, causing the pile by the hole to collapse, and fall right towards Thomas. He could do nothing but watch as the mountain of discarded food fall towards him. He was pelted with bits of deli meat and lettuce, napkins bounced off of him, more liquid than he could ever want spilled over him. He was garbage the second he fell into this place, but now he at least looked and smelled the part. But this was the least of his issues. 

When the trash avalanche subsided and the garbage leveled out, Thomas was unburied and could once again breath. The light from the ceiling shone upon him, previously being blocked by the case the trash was in. Once he adjusted to the light he saw what caused the disturbance. His coworker, Danielle, working in the dining room, had come to change the trash bag. Danielle's nose winced at the smell of the trash, but otherwise made no indication about it, because why would she? It was simply trash meant to be thrown away. 

Thomas saw Danielle lift the edges of the trash bag from the can, and noticed all the garbage start to converge into the middle. Danielle was a pretty petite girl, but she still had the strength to lift the large bag of garbage out of the can, and set it on the ground. Thomas' world was rocked once more as the bag was lifted and dropped to the ground, causing him and other trash to be tossed around. Thomas looked up once more as Danielle's face appeared, looking down at him and the other garbage with complete disinterest, as she quickly tied the bag shut, sealing Thomas in, and sealing his fate. 

Danielle quickly replaced the can with another trash bag, before grabbing the large bag of trash she just removed, and half-dragged it to the bag. She discarded the bag on the ground, it's weight causing it to tip on it's side, as she left and went back to work. As the trash bags were starting to grow in number, it was about time to toss them all into the dumpster out back. Ruth, the dishwasher, and one responsible for taking the garbage out back, opened up the back door and started tossing the bags outside. 

Thomas was running. Running as fast as he possible could, towards what he assumed was the light. After Danielle had left the trash bag in the back, it tipped over on its side, causing the garbage and Thomas to roll over and flatten out. Once he oriented himself, Thomas looked out and saw a familiar sight: the red tile floor. As it turns out, when Danielle was quickly tying the trash bag, she left a gap where the innards could escape. Of course, no one would care enough to do anything about this. It's not like the trash itself was going to escape, it wasn't even animate. However, it this one specific trash bag, there was one animate thing: Thomas. And that's what he was doing right now: running towards the exit. 

Ruth, the dishwasher, was gathering all of the trash bags that had accumulated over the course of the day so far, and was dropping them outside, to take to the dumpster. She started with the bags furthest away from the door, and one by one got more and more bags tossed outside. Meanwhile, inside the closest bag to the door, Thomas continued to run. On multiple occasions he slipped on various scraps of food. Giant slices of half-eaten deli turkey acted as a slide, causing Thomas to trip and fall. A normal-sized puddle of liquid, that to Thomas was a lake, had pooled with the bag tipped over. One on such trip, Thomas was unfortunate enough to slip and fall right into the pool. Not only did this waste valuable seconds Thomas needed to escape, it was disgusting. A mixture of soda, broth, and iced tea, and who knows what else all coating his already soiled body. Thomas was amazed he hadn't puked yet. 

Splashing around, Thomas managed to get out of the pool of liquid and continued on running towards the exit of the bag. Up above, Ruth had only a few more bags to gather up. As Thomas was running, he looked back for the briefest of moments, and in that time he managed to run straight into a large noodle from mac and cheese. Not only did it completely halt his momentum and cause him to fall down, it covered the front of him with old, cold, and gross cheese that was coming off the noodle. At this point, Thomas didn't even care about what was covering him, he just didn't want to become it. The cheese, however, did cause him to slip a few times while getting up, wasting more seconds. He finally managed, and once again broke into a run. By now, his shins were killing him. He had never run this much in his entire life. He knew nothing bad would come of it, but damn did it hurt. All he wanted to do was stop running and take a break, but he knew that would be the end of him.

Up above, Ruth dropped another bag of trash outside, and turned back. There was only one more bag left. She walked over to it, and bent down to pick it up. Down below, Thomas could see the end of the bag. He was right there. Freedom from this trashy hell was right there. But something else was entering that hole as well. It looked like...Fingers!! Someone was picking up the bag! Thomas sprinted all he had, and once he was close enough, he leapt towards the exit. Ruth grabbed the bag from the side, and titled it back right side up. She lifted it up, brought it to the door, and dropped in outside in a nice smack against the hard pavement. She then went to carry them all to the dumpster. What she didn't know, was that one of those bags had one less crumb that it did just a few seconds ago.

Thomas laid on his break, breathing heavily. His legs protesting in pain, he couldn't even more them anymore. But he didn't care. He had escaped that trash bag. He was escaped becoming garbage. Thomas was still Thomas, although he certainly did smell bad at the moment. Catching his break, Thomas thought about what time it was. His phone was the only source of time he had, and that was gone. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but he assumed soon, if it hadn't already past, would be the time his girlfriend Rose would be expecting him. Except he wouldn't be there, and she would be unable to even contact him. Thomas wondered what she would assume, but soon dropped the subject, there was no way he would know at the way things were going. He would explain everything to her once everything was back to normal. If...things ever went back to normal.

Legs still unwilling to move, Thomas laid on the ground even longer. Since he was already soaked, he was unable to tell that the ground itself was covered in a thin layer of water. At his size, the entire floor looked the same, and as such, he wouldn't know what was about to occur. Ruth had just finished taking the rest of the trash to the dumpster, and returned inside. Looking at the floor and seeing it covered with water, she decided it was time to mop it up some so it would dry.  Thomas saw Ruth enter and walk past him. It had been awhile since he'd seen another person from his view on the ground. He had forgotten how huge they looked. She absolutely dwarfed him, making him feel like the crumb he really was. As he had learned from before with Kat, even that close to her face she couldn't hear him, so there would be no way he would be getting anyone to notice him while on the floor. Not to mention what happened the last few times he was here. And also what was about to happen. Being lost in though, Thomas didn't notice the dirty, wet, mop head aiming straight towards him until it was too late. 

Thomas was helpless as the pole sized mop thread slammed and smushed right into him. Due to his size and general stickiness from everything coating him, he was quickly and easily adhered to the thread of the mop. As Ruth began to mop the floor, Thomas was carried along with it. The mop glided smoothly across the floor, evening out the water and allowing it to set and dry. Thomas meanwhile scraped and bounced again the wet floor, feeling each individual bump he came across. If he wasn't already soaked with other liquids, he would have felt that as well, but at this point, it was mostly just cleaning him off.  Back and forth across the floor the mop and Thomas went. It wasn't fun at first, and by the end, Thomas still wasn't enjoying it. Thomas felt himself being lifted high into the air, before settling down as the thread he was stung to dangled in the air.

Once Ruth was finished, she turned the mop over, and set it into the floor drain with the other few mops, and proceeded to go back to her work. A minute or so later she greeted Ellen as she came to the back to get a mop so she could clean the bakery floor. Thomas was still suspended from the mop thread, dangling upside down for what seemed like hundred of feet in the air. Look down, he saw he was placed above the large drain. Possibly worse than the garbage, that was the one place he really didn't want to end up. But, as it so happens, the mop had done it's job well, and removed quite a lot of the sticky solutions that had coated Thomas. As such, he felt himself slowly peeling away from the thread. He knew if he were to fall now, there would be no way he could hold on himself, he would simply plummet. But that thought soon left his mind as he was now staring face to face with his coworker Ellen upside down. She was staring right at him, but she really wasn't, rather simply looking for a mop. And she found one. 

Thomas' world started to move and he was quickly lowered and flipped rightside up again. While Thomas was glad he was freed from the danger of falling into the drain, he knew what was coming. Ellen usually mopped the bakery once it died down, just to clean any dirty spots. It seemed like once more Thomas was about to play the part of the mop. Thomas felt the familiar plop as he and mop squished into the ground, and started being dragged back and forth against the dirty floor. Unlike last time, the floor here wasn't wet, so the constant brushes against the floor were much more unforgiving, and easily knocked the threads of the mop around. It was then no shock when the thread Thomas was still attached to was flicked over and he found himself now staring up at the huge Ellen was she was mopping. That was, until she stopped. Even at his low angle, Thomas could tell she wasn't finished, but after a second of though, he knew why she did, and he was hoping he was nowhere near it.

Thomas had seen it many times before. While Ellen is mopping, if she encounters some patch with a lot of dirt and other stuff stuck to the ground, she always ground the mop into it with her shoe to lift it off the ground. Thomas knew that's what was happening once he saw Ellen take a step towards the mop. But the mop was pretty big, there were lots of places the spot could be, Thomas would be safe. What were the odds the dirt spot was in the exact place Thomas was anyway? Really good.

Although fairly loosened from the repeated mopping, Thomas was still adhered to the mop thread, and could do nothing as the giant sole of Ellen's running shoe descended upon him, all the while he stared into her face, knowing she had no idea what she was about to do to her coworker. Not lucky enough to end up with the gaps in the tread this time, Thomas took the full force of the dirty sole covering his entire body and smashing him into the mop thread. The overpowering scent of rubber was combining with the smell of dirty mop water, but smell was the last thing on Thomas' mind. Ellen started to grind her shoe back and forth right on top of Thomas, smashing him into the mop head, but not pushing him deeper, forcing him to endure more and more as the dirty sole assaulted his body, and ground him repeatedly. It seemed like forever as Ellen's shoe never let up. Back and forth Thomas was forced. He wanted to scream out as the pain was getting a little too hard to bear, but all that he achieved was getting a mouth full of dirty mop water and the taste of rubber coating his tongue. In reality, it was only about ten seconds, but it was one of the longest ten seconds of Thomas'  life. Once Ellen was finished, she lifted her shoe off the mop, taking Thomas with him. This was short lived, however, as he was soon tossed off and landed on the already mopped area in front of her. Thomas was finally free of the mop.

The disgusting taste of rubber and dirty mop water still filling his mouth, Thomas finally puked all over the recently cleaned floor. Thomas' troubles were just beginning, however, as once he got to his bearings and recovered from throwing up. Another pair of shoes appeared around the corner in front of Thomas. A pair of sperry shoes sat in front of him on the floor. Only one person he knew that worked at this time wore those. Looking upward, his suspicions were confirmed. Standing in front of him was his fellow coworker Christine. She had been on break when Thomas first arrived here, but clearly she was back on now and working, as she was quickly approaching Thomas' place on the floor. Remembering the ordeal he went through under Marie's shoe, Thomas instantly broke out in a run as fast as he could. It was futile though, and he knew it, as Christine's massive sperry had already caught up with Thomas and was already making its decent towards his minuscule body. 

Christine had just returned to the bakery after getting something from the back. She took a few steps in before stopping, as Ellen was still mopping the floor. Once she was finished, Christine continued on her way to the registers to help a few customers. She had a habit of putting her foot toe down, standing the sole up vertically, sometimes even moving it about. That's what she was doing now, but where was Thomas? 

As it turns out, luck was Thomas' side just this once. As the massive shoe of Christine's descended upon his minuscule form, Thomas had managed to wind up in between the small treads of her sperrys. As she didn't work on the line, the treads of Christine's shoes were relatively clean, and thus, Thomas found he was not stuck to her shoe as he was before. Thankful though he was, it was a tad demoralizing to be reminded of how insignificant he was that a tread as small as this one could fit him easily. He was encased in darkness for some time before light was returned to him as the massive shoe lift from the ground and departed from him. Thomas couldn't believe it. He wasn't stuck to her shoe. He never thought he would ever have a reason to be happy about that, but there's a first for everything. 

This was short lived though, as soon after Christine had come from the back, another coworker of his was also approaching him. A titanic white ked slammed down several feet to the right of Thomas, shaking his world, and making him slightly tumble. Looking upwards to see the source of disturbance, Thomas was greeted only to the sight of  the other shoe coming down right at his tiny being. The white keds actually belonged to his coworker Grace, who had just returned from the helping a customer take something to their table. She then picked up some dirty trays in the bakery, and went to the back to hand them off to the dishwasher.

Thomas was in a lot of pain. The keds Grace was wearing didn't have very many distinguishable treads, rather just being a flat sole. Thomas, therefore, was taking in the full brunt of her weight on his mini form. Of course, he wasn't actually hurt, but quite literally carrying her entire weight on his shoulders. And every other part of his body. His face wasn't being pressed into the dirty tile floor this time, but for better or worse, was now being pressed into the dirty sole of Grace's shoe. The overwhelming taste of rubber invaded his mouth and nostrils, but there was nothing he could do about it. Then the familiar sense of weightlessness took over, as Grace took her first step towards the back.

Although he avoided this fate with Christine, Thomas was once again stuck to the sole of his coworkers shoe. Though a part of that might have been the involuntary gripping his hands did since he was under a lot of pressure at the moment. He could tell, though, that he was nowhere near as stuck to her shoe as he had been in the past. The weightless ended once Grace had reached the top of her step, then the rushing wind occurred as Thomas and the shoe started approaching the ground, slamming into ir with the weight of his coworker. Once she took her other step, Thomas felt the pressure on him increase, as the weight wasn't being distributed as before, now laying solely on Thomas. Step after step this occurred, each time Thomas feeling more and more pressure as it got harder to bear. Meanwhile, he also felt himself easily detaching from her shoe with each step. At this pace, he would be flung off any second now.

And that's exactly what happened. During one of Grace's many steps, a tiny speck of dirt was thrown off her shoe towards the floor. Of course, she would never notice this, but regardless, it happened. Thomas was sent careening off Grace's shoe and was fast approaching the ground. He started to bounce along the ground similar to when he was being brushed by the broom, which felt like forever ago to him. As then, his eyes were closed, so he had no idea what he was approaching. When he finally stopped moving, Thomas was laying on his back, staring upwards, arms out and palms down. It was a wild ride, but he was glad it was over. Opening his eyes, he saw the giant Grace standing at the dishwasher station setting down the trays. Once she was finished, she turned back and started heading right for Thomas again. Wanted to get out of the way, as best as he could anyway, Thomas went to stand up, but found he was unable to move at all.

As it turns out, when Thomas was bouncing along the ground, the only reason he stopped was because something else had made him. One of the sticker day dots used here to make sure food is not expired had been laying on the ground, sticky side up. Of course, that's exactly what Thomas landed on. And now he found himself completely and totally stuck, unable to move any body part at all. Before, he could at least move his arms, or crane his neck. Thomas, now, was nothing more than a speck of dirt stuck to a much larger, albeit still small, sticker. And Grace was heading right for him. 

Grace was quickly heading towards the small sticker on the ground while Thomas could literally do nothing but watch. He watched as the the sole of the ked he was stuck on just a few seconds ago, approached him once more. Only now things were different. The giant shoe of Grace's slammed down, partially on the sticker, leaving about one third of it exposed, the rest obviously sticking to her sole. Looking at her phone, she was completely unaware that this object was now stuck to her shoe, and continued on back to the bakery. 

While fortunate enough to not be on part of the sticker now beneath Grace's shoe, Thomas was still forced to go along for the ride as she walked back to the bakery. Although not his go-to choice for fun activities, the trip back was nowhere near as bad now, as he wasn't being forced and pressed into the floor, or someone's shoe. In a way, it was kind of calming and fun. But he'd rather be having a boring day than do this, but in more ways than one he was stuck with this. 

Once Grace returned, she got on a register and started to help the customers. She set her foot up, balancing on her toes, tilting Thomas' world upside down, and causing all the blood to rush to his head. He was tempted to call it a little unpleasant, but after everything else he had endured in the past few hours, this was nothing. In fact, Thomas, if even for the briefest of seconds, thought it was getting just a tad boring. Well luckily for Thomas, it was going to pick up again for him, whether he liked it or not. 

Grace set her foot down leveling Thomas out as Christine came up next to her to check if she needed any bagels or pastries to get the customer. As she did, the stepped just a tad too close to Grace and set her shoe down right on top of the exposed part of the sticker stuck to her shoe. Thomas was looking up at the ceiling when it was replaced by the sole of Christine's sperry aiming right at him. It easily covered him and squished him even more into the sticker, removing any chance he ever had of getting taken off of it. Christine stepped off, but took nothing with her. Although sticky, the majority of the sticker was still with Grace's shoe, so it stayed with her. She did, however, leave several specks of dirt from her own shoe on the sticker. Whereas Thomas was a lone, black speck on the exposed part before, he was now just one tiny speck out of a dozen, some even larger than him. He couldn't see them from his angle, but if he could, he probably would have felt even smaller than he really was. 

Noticing her receipt machine was out of paper, Grace walked over towards the cafe side of the registers, located right next to the line, to get some more paper. As she was bending down to grab a roll from under the counter, she saw some rouge sticker stuck to her shoe. Thomas was going for another ride as Grace started walking once more. It was hard for him  to judge where they were in the store, as his view was limited to straight up, and she simply moved too fast for him to really get a good look. After several steps, things came to a stop and Thomas was able to get some bearings. From what he could tell, he was at the other registers, a thought confirmed when he saw Grace start to crouch down. That's when it happened. He saw Grace look in his direction. She had seen the sticker, if only he could move he could signal to her, not knowing that he wasn't even the largest thing on the sticker. And even if he was, it wouldn't matter. 

Thomas' view changed to a wall of tan flesh as Grace's thumb pressed down on his position to rip the sticker off her shoe. Thomas felt completely insignificant as her thumb itself was massive, and covered his entire world in pressurized darkness, pushing him even harder onto the sticker. This was short-lived though, as Grace took no time at all discarding the sticker by tossing it to the floor. She didn't even take a second to look at it, but really, why would she? It was nothing but trash. She got the receipt paper roll she needed and headed back to the bakery. The sticker she had just tossed was quickly fluttering towards the ground, before landing right in the middle of the path, sticky side up.

Not that long ago, at somewhere else in the world, Rose was getting tired of waiting for Thomas. They had planned to meet maybe ten minutes ago, but she received no word that he would be late, or any word at all. A little mad, she decided to call him, but found his phone wasn't working. That explained the lack of any notice, but where was he? Not wanting to just wait and see if he came, Rose called his mom and asked if she knew anything about what as going on, as she knew they were close. As it turns out, she knew Thomas was going to head to his work first. Curious and a little worried, she got her stuff ready and headed to where Thomas worked, to see if anyone there had seen him.

Linda had stepped off the line to get some things they needed, but she was heading back now. Walking a quicker pace, she had no way of knowing that she stepped on a sticker that was now stuck to her shoe as she walked back to the line. Laying, still stuck, Thomas could only watch as his coworker Linda approached him. Remember not that long ago when he was stuck to her shoe with the avocado, the last place Thomas wanted to be right now was under her shoe again. Well, he partially got his wish. As Linda stepped down on the sticker, a majority of it was placed under her shoe, but a small sliver was left exposed, the small sliver Thomas was on. He was, however, right next to the side of her shoe, and being this close, he could see just how truly small he was.

Thomas was basically right next to Linda's shoe, if he could move his arm, he could touch it. But true to what he wanted, he wasn't under it. Looking up, he only saw a giant wall of black that was her shoe lifting high into the way on his left. It eventually meshed into another black which was her pants. Thomas was unable to see anything else at his place. Although he couldn't really see it, Thomas was positioned right next to one of her treads. He was large enough to fit him along with a whole host of other assorted bits of food and crumbs, which it did, of course. Thomas felt the same movements of walking he had felt many times before, only much more rapid as Linda moved about much more while working. Again, he was thankful he didn't have to endure any more time under her shoe.

Of course, things don't go well for Thomas, and things change. Slowly and unnoticeable at first, the sticker stuck on Linda's shoe was getting further and further pushed to being completely covered by her shoe. Her constant moving had been pushing the sticker further in. While Thomas didn't noticed this at first due to the constant moving already happening to him, once the black wall on his left started getting closer he become more aware of what was happening. Little by little Thomas' view was replaced by the underside of Linda's shoe, until it covered him totally, and the sticker was now completely underneath her shoe. 

Thomas now found himself still stuck, and within the tread of Linda's shoe. With the giant sticker blocking out most of the openings, it was very dark, but Thomas didn't need light, nor did he want it with where he knew he was. Being pressed up against Thomas was more bits of food that had been wedged in Linda's tread. Based on the stiffness of it, and the fact that is smelled like spoiled food, Thomas assumed this wasn't knew, and this junk had been stuck in her shoe for some time. He felt the urge to puke once more. The faint scent of avocado hung in the air for Thomas, but it did nothing for him

All the while, Linda goes about her work unknowing of the torture going on beneath or shoe, or on a larger scale, a simple sticker stuck to her shoe. She was simply focusing on her work. Each step she took pushed Thomas into the food bits stuck in her tread, sometimes even forcing some of it to enter into his mouth as he winched in pain. At one point Linda had even stepped on something, during which Thomas' entire body was pushed into and submerged into the food particles. For a few seconds to Linda, but what felt like several minutes to Thomas, he was inside of days old food, forced to smell it and taste it, until he was finally taken out of it when the sticker was no longer being pushed up as much. Of course, several bits of it stuck to the sticker around him, and to him as well. 

Thomas wondered how long with would go on. Possibly forever? Maybe this was his life now? He knew that Linda would be the first one to get off and go home. What if she didn't noticed the sticker before that, and she left for home, taking Thomas with him? It was a Friday, and Thomas knew she didn't work on the weekends. Would be be stuck to her shoe for two days? Forced to look at and smell this awful food? It scared Thomas even thinking about that. He just wanted to be with Rose and be a normal height. He was so concerned with what has happening now, he didn't think much about the next days. What would happen to him? Would things ever return to normal?

Thirty minutes had passed.

Linda had just been told she could leave a little early as it wasn't that busy. She then went to get her things from the back and clocked out. She then headed to take the exit located closer to the line, as that was where her car was. She said her goodbyes to the other people on the line and went to head out the door. She stopped though. She had almost forgotten, there was something on her shoe that was annoying her slightly. She lifted it up and noticed a really gross sticker. She'd probably been stepping on it for a while. She quickly ripped it off and tossed it on the ground, then left to head home.

After being so sensory deprived for thirty some minutes, Thomas wasn't even able to tell that Linda had started walking normally again to get her things in the back. Everything to him at the moment was just a smelly, awful black. That was his life, and he was starting to accept that would be his life forever now. Not long after he thought this, his world change as he felt himself go flying upwards, though still dark, he couldn't see anything. He was bathed in light though, now almost blinding as it had been forever since he had seen light. Before he could even adjust his eyes, he and the sticker started their decent towards the messy ground, landing peacefully on the floor. Opening his eyes once they were adjusted, Thomas saw the last thing he wanted to see in this predicament.

Scraps of food, small portion bags that used to hold food, and giant crumbs all littered the floor, as well as one very dirty sticker that was just stuck to someone's shoe. And at the far end, heading right for Thomas, was Vicky, holding a broom. Thomas struggled as hard as he could to get off the sticker, but no matter what he did, it was futile. He was stuck, and that as the end of that. Vicky's giant shoe crashed down next to the sticker as she readied the broom and began to sweep the line. 

Thomas was thrown forward and rolled around the ground before he ended up facing skyward right behind Marie. Without even paying attention, she took a step back and landing directly onto the very dirty sticker, covering Thomas in more dirt and grime that was just previously on her shoe, before stepping off to get something else. At this point the sticker was so dirty that it had lost most of it's stickiness. Except for what was stuck already to it, that was never coming off. 

Vicky continued her sweep sending some discarded sticker further ahead to the waiting dustpan. She then swept some more and launched part of a tomato slice which just so happened to land on the same sticker. A big piece of chicken had landed on the floor, she made sure to sweep that up as well. A couple of used portion bags laid on the floor as well, she got those as well as the vast amount of crumbs on the floor. She swept them all into a neat little pile in front of the dustpan, and got ready to sweep it all in there.

Although his body wasn't really moving, he still felt like he was and felt all the force associated with the sticker moving. It was still a terrible feeling overall. To add even more insult a giant red, slimy object landed on top of it, covering him in it's juices. Though it didn't really taste bad, he had to admit. He didn't have much time to enjoy it, however, as the broom swept him and the sticker once more, sending him colliding into a large circular pile of trash and other assorted bits of food. An as the sticker landed on it's side once more, Thomas was greeted to a familiar sight. He was once again staring into the depths of a disgusting dustpan, one which would be the end of him. 

Thomas struggled with everything he had, but it was useless. He was hopelessly stuck. Vicky's giant shoe crashed down, and Thomas knew his time was over. He started pleaded, with no one in particular. Anyone who would listen, he supposed. He was pleaded to not have this happen. For something to occur. He didn't not want to end up in the trash for the second time in a day. Once was already bad, but twice? Thomas did the only thing he could do, and pleaded, as Vicky brushed through the pile into the dustpan. 

Almost everything in the pile had ended up inside the dustpan, except for a few small crumbs, and one sticker which had avoided it and went off to the side. Thomas was full of glee. His pleading worked! He wasn't in the dustpan! He started laughing and crying with pure joy. But he forgot something very important. While Thomas himself was still just an insignificant crumb, he was stuck to something much larger, and much more visible. As such, he should not have been as shocked when Vicky maneuvered the broom to pushed the sticker  in front of the dustpan, and quickly swept the sticker and the tiny Thomas on it into it along with all the other garbage. She then quickly lifted it up, and dropped all of its contents into the nearest trash can, before getting back to work. 

Thomas was inside of the dustpan, still attached to the dirty sticker, as it titled and sent him falling backwards. He had one last look at Vicky as she lifted the dustpan and Thomas' world titled once more. He was now facing the innards of a trash can and was quickly approaching it. Being weighed down by the other pieces of trash, the sticker and Thomas fell at a fast paced before landing softly on top of all the garbage. Thomas was forced to look upward as the giant black butt of the dustpan was squished down into the trash can to push all the trash further in. While still large compared to Thomas, the trash can he was in now was much smaller than the one before. It felt even smaller to him as well since he was now incapable of moving. All he could do was stare upwards and wait for the inevitable trash to fall down upon him. 

Thomas wondered which trash can he was in, but he didn't have to wonder long as the giant face of Danielle appeared far above him. She looked down at the trash inside with complete disinterest before her face was replaced with a giant metal object dropping a white parchment carrying thousands of wet, hot, dark objects, all of which splattered onto Thomas and the rest of the garbage, covering him entirely. He couldn't see it, but once more it happened, and he felt himself getting buried even deeper, with absolutely no way to do anything about it. Thomas knew where he was. As it was, Vicky had tossed the trash she swept up into the trash can near the coffee brewing station. Those hot, wet, objects covering Thomas and the rest of the trash were used coffee grounds. And Thomas knew there would be more where they came from. A lot more.

Thomas had no idea how long we was underneath all of the coffee grounds. He thought he would have died a long time ago from a lack of oxygen, but the more Thomas thought about it, the more he realized the issue. It wasn't that he was somehow managing to breath down here, it was more like he simply didn't need to breath. He had no need to breath, and he couldn't get hurt. Thomas didn't like where this was going. He simply wished his consciousness would go as well, but that stayed with him. 

In reality it had been about fifteen minutes, but in that time Thomas had two more rounds of coffee grounds poured over his trashy body, burying him beneath a massive amount of grounds. This predicament made it impossible for him to feel that the entire trash can was moving. Now being about half filled, Danielle took it to the back to change the trash bag. The amount of grounds in there made the bag get heavy quickly, so it was recommended to change it often. It wasn't until the entire trash bag itself started shifting did Thomas know something was happening.

As the walls of the bag caved in, the insides moved about, and Thomas felt himself and the sticker slide off to the side. Thomas was pressed up against the plastic of the bag and was being squished into it from all the heavy trash behind him. He noticed something though, he started slipping. As it turns out, the hot, moist nature of the coffee grounds had loosened him from the sticker, and he now found himself separated from it...and slipping right towards the bottom of the bag as Danielle was removing it from the trash can. 

Thomas now found himself falling to the bottom of the trash bag, and into  a pool of liquid that had formed from the used coffee grounds. Thomas made no effort to stay afloat, as he already determined he didn't need to breath. He assumed that meant he could survive submerged in liquid as well. And he was right. It was short lived however as Danielle dropped the bag and caused the massive amounts of garbage to collapse on top of Thomas and the pool of liquid. While it easily spread out, Thomas was not liquid, and was smashed between the plastic bottom of the bag and the heavy trash above him, again, unable to move. 

The liquid returned as the trash on top of him was lifted, submerging Thomas once more. Outside, Ruth the dishwasher was once again taking the trash out to the dumpster. It accumulated pretty fast, as there were quite a few trash cans in the place, and a lot of trash was being produced. She started with the heaviest bag Danielle had just brought, and began to take it to the back door. The door is slightly raised above the ground, with the few stairs leading down to make it easier. Ruth dropped the bag off the little platform and let it crash to the ground. Thomas was once more smashed beneath several pounds of trash and used coffee grounds as he winched in pain. Some of the liquid and old grounds entered his mouth.

Ruth dropped more and more bags down onto the pile, growing it even larger. With each bag Thomas was smashed even more beneath even more pounds of garbage. He was at the bottom of it all, taking on the weight of several bags literally on his back while still inside a pool of gross liquid. Ruth dropped the last couple bags onto the pile, and went down the stairs to bring them to the dumpster. As the last bag fell, Thomas heard a loud pop and felt the sensation of movement. A strong current was pulling him somewhere, but in the darkness beneath all the garbage he couldn't tell where. It wasn't until a few minutes later when Ruth picked up the heavy bag of coffee grounds that Thomas understood. With all the weight that was on top of it, the bag he was in finally ripped. It was a small one, and only allowed small amounts of liquids at a time and the occasional ground of coffee. One of those that escaped was none other than Thomas himself.
Light returned to Thomas' world, blinding him temporarily. When he could see again, he found himself in what seemed to be an alien world. But as he concentrated more, he realized it was no alien world, it was a familiar world. A loud noise behind him caused Thomas to look back, and take in the gigantic form of Ruth standing above him, moving up the stairs. He watched as she dissipated above him, followed by the sound of a huge door slamming shut. And then Thomas came to the realization of what had occurred. He was no longer at his work. He was no laying in a small puddle of liquid, on the cement sidewalk outside of his work. He thought of it more. He was outside, and he was only the size of a crumb. He was doomed. 

Millions of thoughts went racing through Thomas' head. It was impossible for him to get anyone's attention while inside. How in the world would he get anyone's attention now that he was outside? What if any bugs came? He would be an easy snack for them. What about the weather? Thomas looked up and saw cloudy gray skies on what was supposed to be a nice spring day. What if it rained? He'd be washed away into the storm drain. What if it got windy, and he was just blown somewhere else? What if a car ran him over? Thomas didn't want to think about this anymore. He had to find a way of getting back inside, no matter what. Even if it meant getting stepped on once more. There was simply no chance of survival while outside. 

Looking around, Thomas saw the jagged, rough, and bumpy surface of the concrete sidewalk. He found himself in a valley of sorts formed by the small hills that were unnoticeable bumps. The small puddle of liquid he was standing in had pooled here as well. Looking further, he saw the same thing stretch out for what seemed like miles. It was basically a grey desert for him. At the edge of the grey desert, Thomas saw it transform into another object. Looking at it by itself, he was completely confused. Once he looked more upward at the entire picture, he saw it was in actuality a car. It was absolutely massive compared to him, as it should be. He saw an object sticking out of the desert, and decided to head towards it. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to really go towards.

Thomas thought to himself that be had made great time getting to the object, but he really didn't know. He wasn't even sure what time it was. It was all for himself. Once he got to the object he realized what it was. Just a lousy cigarette butt that someone had crushed, and probably been stepped on more than once. It gave Thomas an idea though. If he stayed on this, someone was bound to step on it at some point. He could then hitch a ride inside! Thomas thought of the ridiculousness that was him now wanting to get stepped on, but he brushed it aside as he waited, wanting to think less of his predicament. He didn't want to wait long as looking forward he saw a girl coming right towards him. She had on a nice pair of brown boots that still looked fairly new. Thomas thought that if he was going to get stepped on, those seemed like a nice pair to have it happen. He again quickly tossed these thoughts aside. 

Thomas tried not to get excited, because there was only a small chance she would step on the exact spot the cigarette butt was. But his entire day has been about small chances, hasn't it? Maybe this would work out. She was now only a step or two away. Thomas prepared himself for the crush he knew was coming. But it didn't come. The woman's right shoe landed just right of Thomas. Her left shoe to the left of him. And she stopped. Before Thomas even had a chance to look up at her, a giant, cylindrical object, still smoking, fell from the sky right next to him, causing him to trip. It then rolled right over him, pinning him to the ground, with the burning, ashy side right next to his face. Looking past the object and upwards to see what the hell was going on, all he saw instead was the dark sole of the girl's boot approaching him fast.

The still slightly lit cigarette butt was smashed into Thomas. The hot part was pressed into his body, and small ash crumbles fell all over his face, causing him to cough violently. His world was plunged into darkness once more as it started to move left and right in rapid succession. He back was being ground into the already crushed cigarette butt he was laying on, with the new one smashing into him even more, coating him with all sorts of disgusting materials found in cigarettes. This continued for just a few more seconds, but for Thomas it was basically hell. The smokey ash was all in his eyes, his nostrils, his mouth, and he was sure that's all he smelt like now. While he was sure he wasn't injured from it, he could feel the searing pain that was the burn the cigarette butt was pushing into him. And finally it was over when the girl lifted her shoe from the crushed cigarette butt.

Although it wasn't over. A few tiny, insignificant pieces of ash, and only small, worthless Thomas, were lifted up along with her shoe, slightly adhered to it, as she took her next step. Thomas could do nothing as he was once again lifted up into the air with his ashy brethren, before feeling the same downward motion as he was pressed hard into the rough, jagged sidewalk. Before, the old cigarette butt cushioned his back as he was being crushed, but now he took the full force of the sharp, jagged pieces of concrete sticking out, causing him immense pain, which only increased as the entire girls weight shifted to the shoe he was under. He was lifted once more, the pain decreasing, but still present. It hurt, but he had to acknowledge the fact that he did get exactly what he was hoping for. His back was once again slammed hard into the rough sidewalk and once more the entire girls weight pressed him deep into the concrete. This time, however, there was no rising, as once he opened his eyes he found himself still within the ridges of the sidewalk, as the girl continued on her way. He was still outside.

Cursing his luck, Thomas looked around once more. Although an unpleasant experience, and didn't achieve what he wanted, he was at least closer to getting back inside. There was that. He was standing there thinking of how else to get back inside. He was closer now, he could walk there. It would take awhile, and he had no way to open the door, but maybe he could just slip under it? As lost in thought as he was, he didn't notice the ant approaching him until it was too late. The ant was bigger than Thomas, though not by much. It was, however, much bulkier than he was, and was easily able to overwhelm him. Thomas was tossed on his back as the ant crawled over him. He could swear he saw a smile on the ants face as it got ready for the kill, as if it finally succeed. He was simply personifying though. He really wondered what would even happen if the ant tried to eat him. He honestly didn't want to find out. As Thomas was busy underneath the ant, and the ant was busy on top of Thomas, neither one of them noticed the girl approaching their spot, until her red flip flop was falling directly on top of them.

The ant was smashed immediately and grossly, spewing guts and body parts all over the sole of the girls flip flop, and all over Thomas, who remained unharmed, although slightly grossed out. As her weight shifted, the sole of her shoe and all the ants innards were pressed into Thomas. He had been through this routine several times already today, so he took it as no shock when he was lifted up along with the girls flip flop, obviously stuck to by the sticky guts of the ant. Although disgusting, and more nasty than with the cigarette, his goal was once again being achieved as the girl was heading right towards his work. Thomas had to endure the horribleness that was insect guts, and the occasionally twitching body of the destroyed ant, but it would be worth it once he was inside. Wouldn't it?

Thomas could tell the girl had went inside, because of her movement. And what happened next. As she went to step down, Thomas felt his body get attacked by rough, bumpy straws that made up the ground. They attacked him all over his body and seemed to be pulling him, grabbing him from the girls shoe. And that's exactly what happened. As her flip flop lifted this time, Thomas felt himself pulled from her sole, along with the broken pieces of the ant, before falling a short distance into a dark, dank forest. It took Thomas a second, but he knew where he was. He was now inside the mat placed at the front entrance, used to scrape dirt and other debris, like Thomas, from people's shoes so they wouldn't track into the store. Looking around, it was confirmed. Thomas was surround by giant mounds of dirt, fuzz, and the dead carcass of the ant he was attacked by, all surrounded by giant, thick trees that made up the mat. Thomas had walked on this mat countless times coming in and out of the store, but he never knew it at this level. From his view, it really needed to be cleaned, it was getting pretty gross. Looking up, Thomas found it hard to see anything aside from the giant strands, but he was able to see the very top of the door, and possibly anyone who came in or out. Though looking up like that really hurt his neck. 

The strands were thick, and the paths were all clogged with dirt and other crud. Thomas could only wonder one thing: How the hell was he going to get out of here and get someone's attention. But hey, at least he was inside!

Thomas found himself in the middle of a forest. A dark, dank, brown forest filled with dirt, debris, dead insects, and other assorted crud that gets stuck to people's shoes. He said it once more to confirm that what he just thought was true. He was the same size, no, smaller, than the dirt that gets stuck to shoes. And he was now in a dirty mat that collects all of this. He truly was no longer human, he was a simple piece of dirt. And not even a big piece. 

There were hills made up of hardened dirt that had fallen from the shoes above that blocked a lot of the pathways between the rug strands. It was amazing how dirty this had gotten already. The employees were supposed to vacuum these mats every night, but it was already filling with crud. It scared Thomas, wondering just how much more dirt could fill this place in. And what if he was stuck here until night? What if someone started to vacuum this mat before he could escape? Thomas didn't want that to happen. But how was he supposed to get out of this? Craning his neck all the way, he was barely able to see the location of the front door, so to get inside he just has to go opposite that, right? Except down in the mat, everything looked the same, plus the paths were all cluttered, he couldn't just go straight. He could try and climb on top of the strands? They were made of a fiber of some sort, and he was certainly small enough to climb them. Yeah, he would try that.

Climbing the strand was much harder than he thought. Being placed at the front entrance, the area got a lot of traffic. As such, Thomas had to deal with a steady stream of people coming in and out, with the door shaking the area each time, causing Thomas to lose his balance. And of course when people stepped on the mat things shook like crazy. Thankfully, the strands were strong enough to support the weight of people, so the strands weren't instantly crushed to the bottom, but the higher he got, the more vulnerable he was. But he was finally able to reach the top. The strand wasn't all one thing, rather a combination of many, small strands, so at his size he found it hard to really stay atop one, but he managed for the second he was up there. Once he was settled a giant force pressed down on him, sending him plummeting back down into the depths of the mat, landing on the giant mound of dirt before rolling off. He was helpless as fresh dirt clods, all of them the same size or bigger than him, rained down from above all around him. 

One of the dirt clods had landed on Thomas, but fortunately for him, it was a smaller one, only about the size of him, and was relatively easy to move as it was a nice sphere shape. Still, he pushed it off of him and only proceeded to get mad at it. He was really made at his predicament. This was really the first time Thomas actually had any control over his situation, but here he was, stuck at the bottom of some disgusting mat filled with shoe dirt. He instinctively looked at the bottom of his own shoe. That was him. That's what he was. It was ridiculous. And even after he managed to finally get out of the first of strands, he was easily and instantly knocked back down to the depths because of someone taking a single step. Thomas was taking out his anger on the dirt ball in front of him, until he had calmed down, and started thinking things over rationally again.

Yes, his situation was terrible. Yes, he was probably screwed. But he was able to move, and that was more than he could say for the rest of the day. He had control over his body. And his actions. And he was in a place where the people who had no idea of his existence couldn't step on him once more. And he was no longer outside. Thomas did the one thing he wasn't able to do before: Think about his next move, as it was his to make. It would be hard to think as dirt continued to rain from above, but he tried nonetheless.

Thomas was once again climbing the strands. His plan was probably bad, but he thought of it himself and that was enough for him. This time Thomas climbed up near the center of the strand, having to climb inside of the tiny threads it was made up of, but this way, he would be much more secure if someone stepped down on him again. Once up top, he would look for the exit, and make his way over there. Thomas had to get seen, but there was absolutely no way he would be seen when below the strands of the mat, so his first order of business was getting out of here. Of course, all of this was meaningless, as fate just loved to taunt Thomas. Crashing down right in front of the mat were the shoes of Danielle, as was another dustpan, and in her hands one of the small straw brooms used to clean mats in the dining area. She had some to clear the various leaves and debris on top of the mat, the same place Thomas now was. Thomas cursed at himself at his terrible luck.

A terrible, grating scratching noise assaulted Thomas' ears as Danielle brushed the broom about the top of the mat. He was rather annoyed at himself. If he had stayed below the top for a few moments longer, he would be safe from the broom, but now he was a prime target. And it soon took over him. The grating noise rushed up behind Thomas as he felt his entire body bombarded and pushed by the straw broom, sending him flying. He could picture it already. He was going to be sent flying right in front of the dustpan, and once again be brushed up inside of it. And once again be dumped inside of the trash. Thomas was getting really annoyed with the trash. No one should ever have to be inside a trash can once in their life. Thomas would have been inside three, in one day. Thomas cursed once more as he landed hard. Except it wasn't where he thought it would be.

Thomas now found himself at the very edge of the mat, looking outwards to the open floor. Of course, a lot of his view was currently being blocked by Danielle's shoe, but it was the open floor nonetheless. It turns out the broom had tossed him to the exact spot he was wanting to go. Looks like things were working out for him after all. First he had to get out of the mat, then find a place to hide until Danielle passed. Starting to feel happy again, Thomas made to get out of the mat. But his happiness was gone once he realized he couldn't move. Thomas looked at his legs, and to his horror, found they had been jammed into a large clod of dirt. Though to a normal person, it would appear as a small piece of dirt. He tried to force them out, but at his size, he simply was not strong enough. Thomas now had to stare out at the open floor as he was stuck in a stupid piece of dirt. 

Legs trapped in their prison, Thomas could do little but watch as Danielle swept the leaves and debris from the mat into the dustpan as her shoes moved about. At one point, her enormous shoe landed right on the spot Thomas and the dirt clod where at. He begged to anyone listening to not let the dirt get stuck in her tread. He really didn't want to deal with that. And he didn't. Her shoe lifted off and he found himself in the same predicament, legs trapped, but otherwise safe. He watched as Danielle left leaving him alone once more.

He wasn't alone for long though, as a giant object fell right beside him, scaring him. He didn't have time to calm down as a giant fleshy wall smashed into the dirt clod he was stuck in, and he found himself rising. And rising. And rising. Then lowering. Then swinging back and forth. Thomas was getting dizzy. As it turns out, the object that had fallen was some girl's phone, and as she went to pick it up, he finger brushed into the mat, and took with it a small piece of dirt. She was completely unaware that this small dirt clod was stuck to her finger, so there was no way she would notice the even small human being stuck inside of the dirt. But he wasn't human anyway. 

While stuck to this girls finger, and in between the movement she was making, Thomas saw something that would change his entire demeanor. Entering into the door right now was his girlfriend Rose. While hard to tell with the constant motion, Thomas was sure. It was Rose, and she was here. She had come to ask if anyone had seen him. Little did she know, he was closer than she even thought, as she stepped behind the girl whose finger was holding the piece of dirt with Thomas on it. 

Thomas knew for a fact that it would achieve absolutely nothing, but he did so anyway. He couldn't help himself. He had to try. Thomas started screaming out Rose's name and waving his arms back and forth trying to get her attention. But nothing happened. He noticed her take a quick glance down at his position, and went wild screaming at her, but he quickly looked back seeing nothing of interest. The girl whose finger he was stuck to walked up to the register and started to order. As she did so, he brushed her fingers together and knocked a piece of dirt off onto the counter. 

Thomas felt himself free falling as he and the dirt clod fell into the hard counter. Thankfully, it broke apart and freed Thomas was the prison. Collecting himself, Thomas saw the girl move away, and Rose approach the register. Here she was. He was literally right in front of her. Right below her at waist level. He could do this. If anyone would notice him, it would be Rose. Thomas was going to be saved. He once again started to scream her name and wave his arms. It was still futile, however, as he was simply much to small. The only reaction he got from Rose was the simple action her putting her hand on the counter, nearly crushing Thomas with it. 

Thomas started crying while waving his arms. She had to notice him. It couldn't end like this. She was just playing with him. Yeah, that was it. She knew he was right next to her and was messing with him. Any second now she would look down and rescue him from this hell. Any  second now...Except, it didn't happen. The truth was Rose had absolutely no idea the very person she was looking for was right next to her. Quite literally, right next to her finger. If Thomas had actually done something, he might have been able to make her look down in his direction...but maybe he truly was just that insignificant? Either way, it was too late now, as Rose had no idea she was about to cause hell for the very person she was looking for. 

With one motion, Rose placed her finger tip flat on the counter, and inadvertently crushed Thomas in the process. Thomas was now physically touching Rose! This was it. This, he knew, was his chance. He opened his mouth as wide as he could while under her finger, and took the biggest bite he could of into her skin. And absolutely nothing happened. Rose felt nothing on her finger tip as Thomas bit once more. He truly meant nothing to her now. Not even worthy of an irritation on her skin. And with one subtle motion, Thomas found himself being flicked away from Rose, towards the other side of the counter, to his coworkers once more. Thomas slid across the counter until he was once more stopped by being pressed under the fleshy skin of his coworkers finger.

Rose had entered into the building and went to one of the cashiers there. She inquired about Thomas, and if anyone had seen him, but got nothing. Maybe he didn't come here after all? But if so, then where was he? She would have to keep looking. But first, she was thirsty. She was worried, no doubt, but needs like that come first, and since she was here anyway...Rose decided to purchase a smoothie. They had pretty good ones here, Thomas always got them, she wanted to try one herself now. It reminded her of him. As she was ordering, one of the associates came up to behind the cashier and saw the drink, and then went over to make it. 

Thomas was pressed into his coworkers finger and noticed he was stuck. He wasn't sure why or how, but he was stuck to her finger and was now being dragged away from Rose. He screamed out one more time in vain. Grace, meanwhile, had yet to wash her hands from the last time she made drinks just a few seconds ago, and thus still had some sticky residue on her fingers. She would wash that off soon. Seeing that this girl had just ordered a smoothie, she went to prepare it, getting the puree mix and yogurt from the fridge. She got the blender, poured in the correct amount of puree, tossed in some yogurt and ice, and set it to blend.

Thomas was going all over the place while stuck to this girls finger. He still wasn't even sure who it was since everything was moving too fast. He thought she went to grab something from the fridge, as the temperature got cold for a second, but he wasn't sure. All of his questions would be answered soon, as in a couple seconds Thomas found himself hovering over an open blender with an pink ocean inside - the smoothie mix. Of course, now was the time Thomas felt himself peeling from his coworkers finger as he started to free fall into the ocean and land with a nice splash. 

Thomas was instantly covered in the pink, gooey smoothie mix, already making the impossible to see speck even harder to find in the mess. Looking up, he saw who he was stuck to, as the uncaring face of Grace looked down at him as if he didn't exist. Her face was replaced with a giant mound of white as the scoops of yogurt dropped into the blender. The first scoop missed Thomas, but created a large splash sending mix everywhere. The second scoop splashed right next to Thomas sending him careening into the side of the blender. It didn't end yet as he looked up once more to see a mountain of hard, rocky ice cubes drop into the blender, scraping up against the side and dragging him down into the ocean below. Thomas looked up to see one last glance of Grace as she put the top onto the blender, and set it on the machine. 

This was it, Thomas thought. This was how he was going to die. He knew he had survived a lot of things before this, but this was a blender of all things. He would be torn to shreds and the person drinking this would....The realization hit Thomas. Grace was making a drink for a customer, and the last customer Thomas saw in line was....Rose. No, that wasn't possible. He screamed one more time as Grace hit the button, and sent Thomas into a whirling hell.

Grace waited until the blender stopped, and then took it out of the machine. She got the cup ready, and pour all of the smoothie into the cup, and placed a lid on it. She grabbed a straw from the container, and called it out, giving it to the girl known as Rose. 

Thomas saw from within the pink coated walls of the blender Grace's hand approach and press the button to blend the smoothie. He was sent flying into the wall by a tidal wave of gooey mix that continually splashed up against him over and over again. The grinding noise of the blender working was loud even to a normal person, but Thomas swore he was going deaf. But it didn't end. There was still five more seconds left for blending. Thomas felt himself being pulled down towards the blade at the bottom. He felt himself be submerged into the gooey mix that now resembled a full-on smoothie. And he got closer to the blade. And closer. Until finally, he was spit out once more, barely missing the blade, and tossed upwards and against the side of the blender as the time got to zero, and the machine stopped. 

Grace took the blender from the machine, got a cup ready, and poured the smoothie into the cup, before putting a lid on it, and handing it to Rose. After the world stopped for Thomas, he found himself still plastered to the wall of the blender along with a lot of other smoothie that got stuck. His world was titled on its side as Grace poured the smoothie into the cup, but Thomas found himself not sliding as far as the rest, rather being still stuck to the wall, until the cup was filled, and his world returned right side up. The cup disappeared and Thomas was left stuck inside the blender, as Grace picked it up, and placed it in the sink beneath the faucet.

Thomas was gone. He had shut himself down. What was the point anymore? Whether or not that drink was for Rose didn't matter, she was gone at this point, and he was still just a pathetic little crumb at the mercy of his coworkers. She had literally touched him, and didn't even know he was there. People have looked directly at him, and still he went unseen. There was no hope for him, Thomas was never going to be found. He was never going to get big again. He was going to be stuck like this, for the rest of his life, which at this rate, was going to be always, since he just wouldn't die. So he shut himself down. Why did it matter? Wherever he went now, it was all the same. There was no Rose. He would never see his family again. He was no longer a human, no longer alive. He was simply a crumb, that was going to get washed away into the drain, as Grace turned the faucet on and started to fill the blender with water.

Thomas was aware that the blender was filling, but he didn't nothing about it. He simply stared straight and let it happen. The water soon lifted him from the side of the blender, and his motionless let him float upon the surface. He absentmindedly stared up at the face of Grace looking down upon him as the true worthless speck of existence that he was. To himself, he silently said goodbye, not to her, but to the world, as she tipped the blender over and all of its contents, Thomas included, spilled into the sink, and proceeded downwards into the drain.

Thomas was plunged into darkness as he and the water slid down the bending drain pipe towards the end. Thomas still made no motion, no reaction, nothing. He was only playing his part. Thomas hit the sides of the pipe on occasion, but no longer winched in pain. He wasn't sure if it was because he could now longer feel pain, or because he no longer care about it, but, was there really a difference? A small amount of light was entering towards the end, much too soon to be the sewer already, but Thomas made no reaction. He instead went flying towards the light, and zoomed out of the end of the pipe, and onto the lower part of the counter where the registers are located. 

As Thomas fully well knew, but had completely forgotten about when his mind shut down, the drain in the sink doesn't lead directly to anything, except for another drain located beneath the registers, where the cashiers would store spare things like lids and cups. Normally, the liquid from the sink would easily land in the wide gap for the other drain, but Thomas was not liquid, and thus had a different mass and went flying differently then his liquid friend, and that was how he found himself laying face down on the counter as he continued to slide from his wet body. And he slid, and slid, until he fell back upon the floor, back where this entire ordeal started. Back to the beginning. But he didn't grow this time, he simply stayed the size of a crumb. That was his life now. Thomas made no motion whatsoever as Marie entered the bakery to get something from their they needed at the line. He made no reaction as she stepped down upon him just as she did before. And he did absolutely nothing as he was once again squished into the treads of her shoe, and brought along for the trip she was making once more. This was his life, and he accepted it.

For another thirty minutes, Thomas simply existed within the treads of Marie's shoe. He was again buried in days old food particles wedged within her treads, and was constantly being coated and covered with more crud as she walked along the line preparing food. Multiple times Thomas had pieces of food, and other gross objects smashed against his body, along with the constant movement of Marie, but Thomas did nothing. He was home now, this was his home. What better place for a lowly crumb like himself than the nice, warm confines of someone's shoe tread. It was perfect for him, and he was happy, he told himself. He didn't have to worry about problems like school, or work, or taxes, or family issues, or anything. He didn't have to worry about anything. He simply existed beneath her shoe as she went about her life. She didn't even know about him, and that was how he wanted it. 

After thirty minutes had passed, Marie was getting off work. She went to the back to get her things, and change her shoes, as she only wore the ones she had on now when working, and left the work shoes in her locker while she wasn't here. She would leave them in there all weekend now since she was off until Monday. Marie took her old shoes off and left them on the ground while she put her normal shoes on. She then lifted her work shoes up. Thomas felt his world lifting, but not the same kind of lifting as before. He didn't care. He just went with it. His world was titled on its side and looking forward, he saw another shoe sole facing him. He was mildly confused, but did nothing about it. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have had time as he was forcefully dragged into the sole of the other shoe, the two soles colliding with a large smack, slightly loosening Thomas from within the filth he was trapped in. This happened a few more times until finally Thomas was shot out from within the tread and launched elsewhere, as Marie finished getting any loose crud out of her shoe, and placed them in her locker as she went home. 

Thomas was flying through the air. He was a tad upset that he was so violently removed from his home, but he didn't care. He would find a new home, a better home, and continue to live his meaningless life as a crumb. Thomas finally landed inside a tiny glob of red jelly atop a large yellow plate. If he even bothered to move, he would have found he was stuck. Thomas was titled forward as the plate he was on was being loaded onto a rack. He was now facing towards Ruth the dishwasher while he still did nothing. Thomas simply let the world happen as the plates were pushed into a cube area, and the giant metal door surrounding him closed, plunging him into darkness and starting the torrent of water around him. 

The dishwasher did it's job was the jelly glob and Thomas were easily removed from the plate and sent spiraling down into the pit of dishwater below. They easily sank and went into the drainage pit, before getting stopped by a giant grate. The jelly and Thomas were stuck as all the water drained past them before filling up again. Thomas had found a new home, and he had plenty of friends as well, as all sorts of discarded bits of food were stuck to the grate as well. Some people would say it was completely disgusting, but to Thomas, it was his home and it was fine. 

For a couple hours Thomas stayed there, stuck to the grating as countless gallons of water rushed past him, plastering him more to the grate, and more bits of food kept getting stuck as well to keep him company. This was a good home, he thought. Better than a shoe tread, that was for sure. He had friends now. That was until his home was lifted from within the pit of water, and Thomas now found himself hovering over a gigantic trash can. A giant metal object came scraping by, knocking half of his friends into the depths of the garbage below, making Thomas sad. But he soon joined them as the object came back and now scraped the rest of the food bits and Thomas himself into the gaping maw of the trash can below. 

For hours Thomas laid in the garbage with his buddies as more and more half-eaten food was tossed in upon him, burying him further in the mess. Thomas couldn't, nor did he want to, do anything as the bag of trash was lifted out of the can, and started being tied. He was simply along for the ride as it was tossed outside much mater in the day, in preparation for being tossed in the dumpster. Thomas only felt the trip that was him being dragged, and lifted, and tossed into lasting darkness along with six or seven other bags of garbage into the dumpster, and it was closed off, sealing Thomas' fate for the rest of his life. But he had already accepted that.

In the days that passed, Thomas' parents and Rose began to wonder what had happened to him. It was as if he had simply vanished. They put out a missing persons report, but he would never be found. They questioned how they could lose a normal human being, but they weren't looking for a human being. They were looking for an insignificant crumb, and they would never find it. If they had gone to check out the dumpster outside Thomas' work, they would probably never find him, as the bag he was in was now buried under dozens of bags of garbage, awaiting the dump truck to come and take them to the dump. 

Thomas never showed up to work, confusing his coworkers, as he was always there. They were left in the dark about what happened, assuming something terrible had happened to them, completely unaware of the accuracy of their assumption, and completely unaware of the part they all played leading to his demise. If they had known they might have felt guilty about it, even sadder knowing what they had done to him. But they didn't, and they went about the lives they still had, unlike their missing coworker.

Thomas was sitting inside the trash bag with his so-called friends that were really bits of days old food that had started to rot and smell terrible. But Thomas would never insult his friends. He had forgotten about the girl named Rose, his parents, his coworkers, his friends. That wasn't his life anymore. He got excited when the dump truck arrived and turned his entire world upside down, dropping the bag he was in down towards the belly of the beast. And it drove away, towards the dump, before dropping its load off into a landfill, where Thomas would spend the rest of his life. 

Forever.