Chapter Five

Cliff watched the door close, leaving him trapped in a cramped dimly lit room. He began to feel a tingling sensation all over his body after a few minutes. The reality of the situation started to sink in. He was about to be alone in an execution chamber, with a real honest-to-God executioner. Cliff wondered who would be waiting for him when the small room's door opened again. Would it be his girlfriend, or maybe Creepy Kayla?

The anticipation of what was about to occur began to eat at him. Cliff wished the shrinking process would just hurry up, so his imagination wouldn't have time to run wild. He pictured Kayla waiting for him, ready to pounce. It felt like the room was getting warmer all of a sudden, making him sweat nervously.

As his mind continued to run off the rails like a runaway train, another thought pushed its way to the forefront. What did he want to happen? Cliff stared at the blank white wall in front of him, bathed in a dim red glow. Seriously, what was he hoping would happen with giant Kayla? He scratched his head, suddenly feeling like the world's biggest idiot.

"Uumm, I'll play it cool at first, like this is no big deal. Then maybe I'll give her huge foot a little kiss. I wonder if she'll even feel it? Yeah, a small kiss, she'll like that." Cliff realized he was speaking his thoughts aloud. "Jesus Cliff, you're talking to yourself. That's what crazy people do. She's turning you into a crazy person. I should hug one of her toes too, maybe the smallest one."

"Wait, what if she's wearing shoes? Damn, then I won't be able to kiss her feet or hug her toes. I'll make her take her shoes off. But she'll be huge! I can't MAKE her do anything!" The door started to slide open, interrupting his distracted mind. The wall behind Cliff began to slide forward, forcing him from the relative safety of the chamber he'd spent the last thirty minutes in.

He looked out into the much larger room, squinting through the brightness. His eyes had adjusted to the dim red light, now they were instantly overstimulated. Stumbling forward, he noticed the hard white tiles that made up the room's floor. The tiles were cold and sterile, smelling slightly of industrial strength floor cleaner. The air around him felt chilly.

He felt a tremor in the ground beneath his feet. It didn't take long to locate the source of the disturbance. Five huge caramel colored toes rested on the hard floor, not far from him. The nails were unpainted. A terrifying thought struck Cliff. Whoever this was, it definitely wasn't Kayla.

Looking up, he discovered a young hispanic woman towering over him. She was wearing an orange jump suit, like the ones the other prisoners wore. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight pony tail. She was pushing a mop around. Long white cables ran from her ears down into one of her pockets. "Crap, she's listening to music. She'll never be able to hear me. Do I want her to hear me?" He wondered if getting her attention would be a good idea. She was a prisoner, not one of the staff. What would she do with a tiny person?

Cliff watched with awe as her colossal foot lifted from the floor. It flew through the air, hovering over him. The sky above him became a ceiling of flesh. He stared at the soft wrinkled sole of this young inmate, wondering if this would be the last thing he ever saw. "No, WAIT!"

Her foot landed beside him with a soft smack, sending a wave of air saturated with the smell of her feet his way. He was close enough to reach out and touch her light brown skin. He slowly backed away from her arch. Looking around, he was determined to find a place to hide. The room was completely empty, except for the two of them. There wasn't any furniture of any kind, just a vast tiled floor. "What the hell is taking you so long Kayla!"

Cliff spotted something in the corner of his eye. It was the giant girl's discarded shoes. "No, I can't..." But there was nowhere else to hide. If he stayed out in the open, eventually she would step on him, probably without even realizing it. He didn't want to end up smeared along the bottom of her foot. He only had to hide for maybe another minute, two minutes tops. Kayla would be there soon to rescue him.

Cliff set off along the wall, running at a steady pace. The girl was looking in the other direction, paying no attention to him whatsoever. She bobbed her head along with the beat of her music, pushing the enormous mop back and forth across the tiles. Hiding was definitely the best course of action. Even if he got her attention somehow, she would probably think he was an insect. He was sure, at his new size, she would see him as nothing more than a bug.

Cliff approached one of her white canvas mules cautiously, expecting to be caught at any moment. She would mistake him for a bug, and that would be the end of him. Glancing back, she was still looking somewhere else. He seemed to be safe, unnoticed. Cliff climbed up the heel of her shoe, over the side. Dropping down, he slid into the deep impression left by her heel. His instincts told him this was NOT a safe place to be.

He made his way forward along the dirty insole, deeper into her shoe. My God, Cliff thought, I'm actually inside someone's shoe! As he neared the mouth of the immense cavern that held her foot, he was struck with a foul odor. The soggy air smelled of cheap canvas, tainted with a corny smell. He pressed his nose into his forearm, holding the sleeve of his shirt tightly against his face. With every step forward he took along the spongy insole, the smell seemed to thicken. This is good enough, he decided. I should be safe here for a few minutes, until Kayla gets here.

Kayla stepped through the door to the execution chamber. She wasn't expecting to find someone already there. "Oh no. What are you doing in here Luiza!?" She quickly scanned the floor, searching for Cliff, but didn't see him anywhere. "Oh God, did she already step on him and mop him up?"

Kayla felt her heart pounding in her chest. "Luiza! Have you seen Cliff? Luiza?" She noticed the white ear buds sticking out of the young woman's ears. She stepped forward, yanking at one of the cables hanging alongside her face. "Luiza! Where's Cliff?"

Luiza was startled by the sudden appearance of another person, dropping her mop to the floor. The wooden handle fell to the floor with a loud crack. "Whaa? Who?"

"My boyfriend, Cliff, he's in here somewhere."

"I no know Cliff." she said with her thick accent.

"He's here! You must've seen him."

Luiza glanced around the room. There definitely wasn't anyone else there. "No, no Miss Kayla. Only me, I clean. I clean."

Kayla checked Luiza's bucket of soapy water. There didn't seem to be any traces of blood. And the floor was its usual immaculate white. She seemed to be right, Cliff didn't appear to be anywhere.

"I leave now, come back later. Sorry Miss Kayla."

Kayla thought she heard a soft squeaking coming from somewhere in the room, but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. She searched around the room frantically, on the verge of panic. The squeaking seemed to get louder as she approached the northeast corner of the room, but there was nothing there, only Luiza's shoes.

"Kayla! I'm hiding in her shoe! Get me out of here!"

Kayla noticed something moving in one of Luiza's shoes. She watched in horror as Luiza slipped her feet back into her mules. "Oh shit! Luiza, STOP!"

Cliff stared at the massive foot descending from above. This was it. This was the end. He knew she wouldn't miss him this time. Her wrinkled sole would land directly on top of him. He was doomed. "Stop! I'm in your shoe! You'll crush me lady!" It was no use. She couldn't hear him. "Kayla! Help me Kayla!"

Luiza's long toes brushed against Cliff, knocking him onto his back. The giant caramel toes touched down in front of him, wiggling deeper into the shoe. Her soft sole lowered onto him, pressing him gently into the insole. Cliff watched her large round heel sink into the crater behind him. "Thank God I didn't stay in THERE!"

Her fragrant skin was stretched tightly over his body, pinning him down. The smell of floor cleaner blended with the pungent odor of her well worn shoe. "For God's sake Kayla, do something before she kills me!" Cliff wriggled against her tender flesh, trying to break free from her foot's iron grip. His whole world began to shake, then lifted into the air.

"Aaaaaaah!" Luiza squealed, lifting her foot into the air. She felt something squirming inside her shoe. The sensation of something tickling her sole, conjured images of some nasty bug crawling around under her foot. Something icky was touching her bare skin, she was sure of it. She would stomp her foot, crushing it, before it could bite her.

Kayla quickly grabbed Luiza's leg. "Hold still!" she shouted.

Luiza wobbled, balancing on one leg.

Kayla slipped Luiza's shoe off, revealing a very frightened Cliff. She held the canvas mule up for Luiza to see. "I found Cliff."

Luiza stared, blinking, with her jaw hanging open. Then a rapid string of incoherent Spanish burst from her lips. She mumbled something indecipherable while she backed away. "I not know! I not know!"

Kayla carefully lifted Cliff out of Luiza's mule, dropping it back to the floor. "Jesus Cliff, what were you thinking hiding in there?"

"There was nowhere else to hide! She wasn't wearing them. I figured it was better than waiting to be stepped on out in the open! What took you so long?"

"I know. This is my fault. I should've checked the room first. It was stupid of me not to. Sorry. Thank God you're okay." Kayla looked at Luiza sitting against the wall, crying softly. "Did you have to scare her like that Cliff?"

"ME? I scared HER?" Cliff had to stop and catch his breath. He was breathing so quickly, it hurt to try and slow it down.

Kayla walked over to Luiza, holding her hand out. "He's fine Luiza. See, he's fine. Everything's fine."

Luiza wiped at her wet cheeks. "Sorry Mister Cliff. I not know."

"It's alright. The floor's clean. You did a great job Luiza. You should probably move on to the next area." Kayla said, smiling, trying to calm the scared girl.

"Yes, I leave. I leave now." Luiza picked up her shoe, checking for any other unwelcome stowaways, then slipped it back onto her foot. She took her mop and bucket with her on the way out the door.

"Well this sucks." Kayla poked Cliff lightly with her finger. "I wanted to be your first giantess."