Harsh lighting and spartan design meant there was nothing for Derrick to focus on as he waited in the consultation room. More a year had passed since he’d been diagnosed and begun a four-times daily regimen of Amplidine. The drug itself was provided free of cost to him through OligPharm’s charitable arm, OligFam, but the associated treatments and medical services necessary had bankrupted him.

Not that Derrick had much in the way of assets prior to beginning to shrink, but his house had been mortgaged three times over, his car was gone, and while he’d managed to continue working at the distribution center for a few weeks, an incident involving a falling pallet of pillows had earned him a visit with the company doctor, a tape measure against his back, and a pink slip for his six years of good performance.

Derrick was left with a cramped studio apartment that he’d just barely managed to qualify for through some state-based intervention, an archaic television that worked about a third of the time he wanted it to, a cell phone from the late nineties provided free of charge through a religious organization, and a wardrobe that fit looser and looser every day.

Even now, in the medical gown that had been provided to him by the OligPharm staff, he felt the collar slip over his shoulders and threaten to slide off him if he didn’t pull it back up every few moments. He made a note to ask for the smaller size next time. His feet dangled from the examination table, which would have been the case even prior to his shrinking, but now he had no hope of dismounting the table gracefully or climbing back up to it, should he need to get down.

The clock, one of the only non-medical features of the consultation room ticked loudly enough to remind him that he’d been waiting for over an hour to see Kirti and Amanda, his medical and account agents respectively, and worryingly enough, was rapidly approaching the scheduled time for another dose of Amplidine.

With nothing else to work from, Derrick began to descend the examination table. Thankfully it had steps, made for children no doubt, but usable enough that he could manage to climb down without slipping, falling, or landing awkwardly enough to break anything. Once down he fished through his clothes, sloppily folded on one of the chairs meant for family, for the amber bottle that had cost him so much over the last thirteen months. The bottle itself was nearly empty, only five pills clattered in the plastic. Derrick struggled with the top, but was able to get it pressed, twisted, and opened after a brief, but embarrassing, fight, and flung one of the very large oblong capsules into his mouth, replacing the cap.

It was only then that Derrick realized, to his horror, that he had nothing to aid in the swallowing of the pill. The bottle was tossed back onto his clothing and he immediately began to search for anything that could be used. There was a sink, and even a stack of paper cups to drink from, but Derrick had already learned that normal sized counters were his nemesis. Still, in the panic of the moment, he flailed futilely against the side of the counter, trying to reach the faucet. When that didn’t work, he resorted to what he’d always done, pulled an empty chair next to him closer and climbed on it. It still wasn’t easy, and by the time he’d secured a cup and filled it, he’d already soaked the front of his medical gown. Drinking from the cup just ensured the entirety of the gown had some water in it.

It was then that the door opened and the only two faces he recognized at OligPharm walked in. Amanda Chamberlain, his case counsellor, and Kirti Narayan-Noles, his medical adviser, came through the door. Normally Amanda led the pair, but this time Kirti was ahead of her, although that didn’t stop Amanda from laughing as she saw him standing on the chair, dripping water, with a tiny cup in his hands that, paradoxically, looked normally sized given his stature.

“Mr. Scleretii, get down from there!” Kirti said with urgency and annoyance. “The last thing I need is to have you falling and breaking your head open!”

“Sorry… I just needed to take my Amplidine, and I didn’t have any water.” Derrick said.

His attempt to climb down from the chair was met with immediate and almost catastrophic disaster. His bare foot slipped on the chair’s plastic seat, made slick by the water he’d spilled, and he felt his leg shoot out over the edge of the seat, sending him into an ungraceful tumble. Derrick heard a gasp from both Amanda and Kirti, but as the world around him rolled, he couldn’t focus on anything. For a brief moment he was certain the fall would be his end. A short drop and a quick stop on hard vinyl flooring would be too much for his shrunken stature and his obiturary would read something about a three and half foot fall to the ground.

The impact never came. A blur of white fabric, brown skin, and dark hair caught his vision before he found himself being cradled in the arms of his OligFam medical adviser, who had made an impressive lunge-and-catch as he fell from the chair.

“Nice catch, Kirti!” Amanda said, now recovered from the shock and laughing. “You really don’t want to have to start over do you?”

Kirti’s face, already a potent mix of worry, frustration, and exertion, shot a hateful glance back at Amanda.

“If you’re not going to help with the evaluation, just sit by the door.” Kirti said.

“Fine, fine.” Amanda conceded before doing just that. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“If you need something to drink, Mr. Scleretti, next time either bring it with you, or wait for OligPharm staff to assist you.” Kirti said.

“I… but… Y…you’re right. I’m sorry.” Derrick said, defeated. “I’ll get back up on the table.”

“No.” Kirti said, setting Derrick down on his feet. “We need to confirm some measurements, so just stand there and don’t do anything.”

Derrick obeyed, hanging his head in shame. Kirti returned from a drawer with a chart and tape measure in hand.

“Stand up straight.” She commanded.

The tape measure, a bright white thing unlike the kind used for industrial or construction applications, was almost silent as Kirti ran out its length next to Derrick. More than ever, even when standing next to unaffected people, being subjected to a quantification of his condition made Derrick feel small. It was bad enough that Kirti’s hips were above him, but to see the limited amount of tap needed to measure him made it worse.

“It looks like your current height is around seventy six centimeters, or two feet, six inches.” Kirti noted on the chart.

“What? You can’t be serious!” Derrick whined. “Can you measure it again?”

“It looks like the nurse already checked it twice before at your insistence…” Kirti said dryly. “A fourth time isn’t likely to grow you any inches. But this is good!”

“Good?” Derrick asked. “How is this good?”

“Well, it shows the drug is delaying the final onset of symptomatic reduction.” Kirti noted, not looking up from her notes on the chart. “With a bit more data we may be able to develop this into something genuinely useful.”

“I thought Amplidine was supposed to stop me from shrinking!” Derrick protested. “What’s the point of all this if I’m just going to shrink anyway?”

The two women shared a glance with each other.

“Mr. Scleretti, without treatment you would have already progressed through the normal stages of the disease.” Kirti outlined, a bit of uncharacteristic frustration in her voice. “Had you not been taking the drug, you’d likely already have experienced what patients refer to as ‘the drop’ and been reduced to stable size, likely not more than ten or fifteen centimeters. Um, a few inches at most.”

The dread epiphany, the sudden unvarnished understanding that he might still dwindle to ‘a few inches at most’ hit Derrick hard, enough to buckle his legs from under him, and hang his head where he sat on the floor.

“But I…” He began.

“There has not been a single case of any infected patient reversing or even completely halting the shrinking process.” Kirti said firmly. “We have seen it delayed, and slowed, but never completely abated.”

The medical attache stood from where she worked at the computer in the consultation room and walked over to Derrick. Completely contrary to the rest of her hygienic and very meticulously groomed self-presentation, Derrick was a bit taken aback by the state of her sneakers; ancient things that looked like they had outlived their useful lifespan two or three times over. But he didn’t have long to contemplate her footwear as her hands slid under his arms and lifted him effortlessly up. In one motion, without any struggle on her part, Kirti lifted him from the ground to the chair’s seat where she deposited him.

“You’re going to need to understand that you’re not going back to the way things were, ever..” Kirti said, pulling another chair in front of him, sitting down, and pulling his chin up to face her. “And you’re going to need to come to understand it sooner rather than later.”

“But this can’t be happening to me!” Derrick protested. “I’ve been taking the Amplidine every day!”

Kirti looked over her shoulder at Amanda who’s bored expression didn’t change, save for a raised eyebrow and a shrug.

“You said I wouldn’t shrink anymore!” Derrick whined. “Why am I still shrinking?”

“I didn’t say you wouldn’t shrink more.” Kirti said, a tinge of anger seeping into her voice. “I said ‘Amplidine has been effective in slowing the symptoms of the disease in trials compared to the placebo’. There’s a huge difference.”

“Let me talk to someone else!” Derrick demanded.

“There’s no one else to talk to.” Kirti said, her eyes narrowing behind her thick glasses. “Amanda’s your case counsellor and I’m your medical adviser, we’re the only two in the company who even know what’s going on with you…”

“I don’t care!” Derrick said, moving to dismount the chair.

“Stay seated.” Kirti ordered. “We still have tests to run.”

“No! You can’t keep me here!” Derrick shouted back.

Kirti’s hands shot up and pushed him back into the seat, shocking Derrick and sending his eyes wide open.

“What are you doing?” He practicly screamed.

“I said ‘stay there’.” Kirti reiterated. “I don’t want to have to tell you again.”

“Let me out of here, or I’m calling the cops!” Derrick threatened.

Kirti didn’t move, instead she pulled herself closer, blocking off an easy exit for Derrick from the chair. As she did she reached over to the last of the chair, the one containing Derricks clothes and picked up the cell phone from where it lay on top of the pile. An ancient thing, provided to Derrick free of charge by a religious non-profit, it possessed the ability to text and make calls, and little else. Derrick watched with pained envy as Kirti effortless slipped the back of the phone off, almost incidentally reminding Derrick of how much he struggled to even use the phone at his current size, before popping the battery out of the phone. Derrick could do nothing as she pocketed the battery, and tossed the phone into the garbage can.

“G…give that back!” Derrick cried.

“No.” Kirti said flatly. “I think it’s time you accepted your position in life. And if you’re not able to accept it on you’re own, I’ll have to help you understand it.”

Kirti leaned back in her chair and for a moment Derrick thought he might have a chance to make a break for the door, ignoring the fact that Amanda still sat by the door, watching him and her coworker with a kind of a bored detachment. His dreams of escape were cut off, however, as Kirti swung her legs up, and dropped her ratty sneaker-clad feet, ankles crossed over each other, into Derrick’s lap.

“What are you doing?” Derrick screeched.

Kirti’s sneakers kept him very thoroughly pinned in place. Already the soles and sides of the shoes were rubbing grime off on the gown he wore, but worse still as he fought to dislodge her feet from his lap, his hands and arms were getting dirtier. He couldn’t managed to push the sneakers off him, nor could he wriggle out from under them. The heavily worn soles of the sneakers, their tread almost completely gone, waved slowly in his face as Kirti adjusted herself on the chair across from him.

“I’m doing what we need to do.” Kirti said flatly. “This is for your own good, Mr. Scleretti.”

“How can this be for my own good?” Derrick protested, his hands slipping off the toe of Kirti’s shoe.

“You’re going to continue shrinking, and nothing is going to stop that. At some point, you’re going to find yourself at the mercies of someone much less… “ Kirti looked back over her shoulder to where Amanda was still watching intently. “forgiving than I am, and in that situation, you’ll need to be able to perform for them without hesitation and up to their expectations, if you hope to avoid the worst. Now, less talking, and more untying my shoes.”

“What?” Derrick screeched in disbelief. “I’m not…”

He was cut off as Kirti pressed the toe of her shoe into his face, and against the back of the chair, easily overpowering him and digging what little tread remained on the shoe into his cheek. He screamed under the pressure, but Kirti didn’t relent for several moments, instead letting him feel the difference in their strength in absolute clarity.

“You will.” Kirti said flatly. “Or it will get much, much worse for you. Now hurry up and untie them.”

Kirti didn’t give Derrick the chance to relax, keeping the pressure on him as his hands worked relatively blindly around the sneaker to grab at the shoe’s laces and pull. Fortunately for Derrick, the shoe was in poor enough condition that almost anyway he pulled hard enough on the lace would dissolve the knot, and sure enough he felt the laces come free.

“Good. Now the other.” Kirti instructed.

Derrick fought with the laces of Kirti’s other shoe, but eventually managed to pull it off. With both laces on both shoes hanging limp, Kirti idly moved each shoe to inspect them, still preventing Derrick from moving from underneath her stacked feet.

“Not bad, now I don’t think you’d have the strength to take them off, so just stay there.” Kirti ordered. “If you move, I’m going to let Amanda revoke your eligibility for the program and make sure she’s there when you do finally go through the drop.”

Derrick sat stunned, both at the threat and the sudden change in demeanor from Kirti, but it didn’t stop him from watching as she lifted one foot up off the other, digging the toe of the shoe still in his lap into the heel of the raised up and, with the practiced ease that came from doing it thousands of times before, kicked off the elevated shoe.

Immediately Derrick recoiled in horror and disgust. To his shock, and further dismay, Kirti hadn’t been wearing socks. Exposed to the air, her bare foot showed signs of having been confined in the dilapidated and grimey shoes for far too many hours. Wrinkles formed in her sole and toes from long exposure to the sweat soaked environment, and the stench was nigh unbearable. Only inches from his face, and nearly half as large as his entire body, Kirti’s sole had the kind of offensive smell that normally pushed even the laziest of people into completing a load of laundry and a thorough shower. Instead it seemed Kirti had left the house in a hurry, sockless, and without a care for what might come of her feet in the coming hours.

She flexed her feet, wriggling the toes above Derrick’s face as she sighed in relief. Derrick tried to retreat from the glistening sole in front of him, but the moist flesh was inescapable in the chair. Her toes passed dangerously close to his face as she aired them out, leaving him nowhere to run from their acrid stench.

Just as he thought it couldn’t get any worse, Kirti’s feet shuffled around in his lap. The still sneaker-clad foot swapped places and he found the sweaty, stinking sole nestled firmy in his lap, it’s sweat already soaking into the medical gown. He didn’t have any time to process this indignity before her freed big toe wedged itself behind the heel of the other shoe and kicked it off with even more ease than she had removed the first.

The second sole was much the same as first, that is to say, almost dripping with sweat, wrinkled from the heat and moisture of long hours contained in poorly cared for footwear, and radiating the kind of smell that could stop a person’s breath with a single whiff.

“God, Kirti!” Amanda exclaimed from the door. “What did you do?”

“I don’t get paid to worry about how my feet smell.” Kirti shrugged. “Besides, we have a mant here who’s going to help me clean them up.”

“I’m not a mant!” Derrick screamed, forced to turn his head to avoid contact with Kirti’s idly waving feet. “I’m not a mant!”

“You will be.” Kirti said flatly. “And that’s as good as already being one.”

With that, Derrick’s horror came to full fruition, a slight adjustment of her legs was all it took to bury Derrick’s face, as well as most of his entire body, in between her soles. Kirti spared no part of him, or her soles, as she rubbed her feet over him. The medical gown quickly failed, and with a surprisingly deft display of dexterity from Kirti’s toes, was clenched, ripped away, and discarded, before her feet returned to the task of assaulting him.

“My boyfriend has a pretty strong aversion to feet for some reason…” Kirti said.

“Can’t imagine why!” Amanda chimed in from beside the door, laughing as she did.

“Shut it.” Kirti retorted over her shoulder. “So, anyway, my boyfriend’s really opposed to giving me a decent footrub. Since you’re going to have to get used to this kind of treatment I want you to finally be of some use and massage one foot while licking the other clean.”

“No! I’m not…” Derrick sputtered and gagged as Kirti’s toes found their way into his mouth. The taste was unlike anything Derrick had ever experienced, and only reinforced the agony of being subjected to her feet.

“You will.” Kirti said. “And if you continue to fail to follow my orders, I will make sure that the next few weeks are even worse than this for you.”

Derrick’s vision began to blur with water in his eyes, he lied to himself and told himself that his eyes were watering from the smell of her sweaty feet coating his face, or the taste of her toes in his mouth, but the tears still slid down his face unabated. One set of Kirti’s toes had invaded his mouth and were busying themselves with his tongue and lips, she couldn’t fit all of them in his mouth at once, and so alternated, ensuring he could taste all of them. The other foot had clutched his hair with her surprisingly effective toe-grip, not only soaking his hair through with her sweat, but keeping him in place.

“What’s it going to be, mant?” Kirti asked, pulling her toes from his mouth and holding them in front of his weeping face. “Are you going to accept your place, or am I going to have to invite the lab staff in here to get their relief as well?”

Now openly weeping, Derrick almost felt his tongue move of its own accord. Slowly, his tongue slid from his mouth, even just brushing by his lips he got more of Kirti’s sweat and gagged. Still, her threats weighed more on his mind than the smell and taste, and with his tongue fully hanging out of his mouth, Kirti’s toes pulled him by the hair into her other foot. It some how tasted worse, a combination of the salitiest, most bitter, noxious taste he’d ever sampled, and when combined with the scent that now clung to him and seeped into his very skin, the nightmare was almost enough to knock him out.

“That’s better.” Kirti said, her toes releasing his hair. That foot found its way back into his lap. “And don’t forget the footrub.”

Derrick’s hands found Kirti’s other foot in his lap, despite that fact that he could see nothing through his tears, or through the sole his tongue was attending to. The feeling was everything he’d come to experience from Kirti’s assault on his face, somehow still excessively sweaty, excessively hot, and the kind of damp flesh that only came from a foot freshly freed from a ratty sneaker.

“Well, I suppose it goes without saying that this little experiment’s going to have to be altered.” Amanda said, finally willing to approach as the stench from Kirti’s feet had at least abated, though Amanda still covered her nose with a sleeve.

“No. We can proceed.” Kirti observed. “The subject has been taking the experimental drug without missing any scheduled doses, and the effects are still observable…”

“Experimental?” Derrick said, momentarily forgetting his task. “You mean I’m not taking Amplidine?”

“Quiet!” Kirti ordered, forcing her foot against Derricks face and compressing his entire head between her sole and the back of the chair. “People are talking, mant.”

“But he knows now…” Amanda noted. “Won’t that throw everything off?”

“It’s not ideal…” Kirti conceded. “But like I said, he’s been taking the new drug without fail, and it’s showing promise, even at the reduced dosages we’ve been giving him. Plus, we already own his home, his car, and he’s broke too. We can just move him to one of the observation cells in the basement for the remainder of the experiment’s duration. It’s not like anyone’s going to miss him. And if someone ask’s we’ll say he finally succumbed to the disease and vanished from there. How many mants go missing everyday? No one will ask a second question.”

“Not a bad idea!” Amanda said. “You can still get your data, and I can still make a ‘successful’ OligFam charitable action! Kirti, you’re a genius! A stanky genius, but still…”

“Hey! That’s no way to talk to a genius.” Kirti laughed, kneading Derrick’s head against the chair until his mouth was again working on her sole. “Why don’t you go put in the request for one of the observation cells to be prepped, I’ll spend some time here making sure my feet are a bit more presentable before I have him moved down there…”

“Perfect!” Amanda said before leaning in to where Derrick had resumed licking Kirti’s soles. “And Derrick, I just want you to know, once you reach your final height, I’ll be happy to help you get adjusted to your new size. Be seeing you, Derrick!”

With that Amanda exited the room, leaving Kirti and Derrick alone. Kirti pulled her feet away from Derrick, only to swap their positions and almost immediately press them back into him. His hand soaking with footsweat slipped on his own saliva coating the other foot, but he tried to resume rubbing even as a renewed stench and taste invaded his senses.

“That’s better…” Kirti observed. “Once we’re done here, I’ll show you to your new home in the basement. Until then, I’ve got nowhere to be, so let’s take as much time as we need to really get those feet clean.”

Derrick’s tongue could taste his own tears mixed in with Kirti’s feet as the door to the examination room closed behind Amanda and locked shut automatically.