In November 2020, 6 months after the shrinking virus first afflicted millions of people across the world, Kevin finally caught it. 

             He sat in the back of his sophomore year college classroom, too afraid to scream as he slowly dwindled in size. How small would he get? The majority of people ended up only 1 or 2 inches tall, but a lucky 10% can be 3-6 inches tall. But what if he ended up the unlucky 10% who shrunk down to microscopic sizes? He watched a cousin shrink so small one time that his own mother couldn’t find him. 

             The people around Kevin grew bigger, as did the desk in front of him and chair under him. Not wanting to limit his mobility or be accidentally sat on, Kevin hopped off his chair while he was still around 2 feet.  When had he gotten infected? Shrinking happens 14 days after infection, did it happen at the party? If it did, some of his friends might be shrinking too. 

             The when didn’t matter, because Kevin was no longer big enough to touch his seat. He had mixed feelings about being shrunk. For a long time, Kevin had fantasized about being shrunk by a girl and kept at her feet as a pet or slave. 

But that had just been a fantasy, when it actually started happening to people Kevin prayed it’d never inflict him. People who shrank instantly lost all of their rights. Parents didn’t even have the right to claim ownership of their children. If someone shrunk out in public, whoever stumbled upon them first could lay claim to them, or they could simply kill the tiny. There’d be no repercussions. 

Kevin stopped shrinking at one inch tall. He hugged the leg of his chair, praying that none of this was real and he was just passed out on his desk. But he could sense things he couldn’t sense in dreams. He felt the cold metal of the chair leg against his bare palms, the tension in his cheek that pulled against it. He heard every shift from the giants around them at intense volumes, as did he hear the coughs, scratches and brushes of pencil on paper.

And Kevin could smell stronger than he had before. As a man with a foot fetish, he knew the scent of body odor when it crept up his nose. He was on the floor in the back row of the lecture hall, was he smelling the foot odor of the two girls that sat next to him? 

The one girl, Amelia, sat two seats down from him. Kevin watched as her toes crunched in her open toed sandals. Her heel slightly lifted as she did, the sandal snapping up against it. Kevin had watched Amelia do this so often from afar, but at this size— the size he spent years dreaming about— it was something magical. He could actually picture himself fitting in between her toes, absentmindedly being crushed as the pretty giantess tried focusing on the lecture. 

Kevin would’ve loved to crawl into Amelia’s sandal under her toes, but he couldn’t trust her. He couldn’t trust anyone, really. Kevin's heart sank. He probably imagined himself being shrunk, kidnapped, and tortured by every single one of the girls in his large lecture hall, but he knew he couldn’t handle the pain. Kevin was the kind of person who flinched when somebody pretended to punch him, actually being at the whims of any of these girls petrified him. 

But even so, like a cartoon character after smelling a freshly baked pie, the aroma secreting from Amelia’s foot drew Kevin in. She was on the way to the door, Kevin told himself, that was as good an excuse as any. 

Kevin was right in front of Amelia’s giant toes. They shifted around in the sandal, Amelia obviously bored. Under the desk, there was no way that Amelia would see him unless she looked under it. But would she feel if he touched her foot? Kevin reached out a hand and laid it atop her bright pink nail polish on her big toe. 

Something poked at the inside of his pants, and for the first time in his life Kevin didn’t have to worry about hiding his boner. If anyone did see him, they wouldn’t be able to see his member. 

Kevin knelt down, rubbing the goddess’s big toe. It was slightly sweaty from the moist lecture atmosphere, but not too soft that it made the skin gross. The toe was far from rough, either, making it the perfect toe for Kevin to spend some time with. 

Even though Kevin was having a good time, he knew he should leave the classroom before the lectures went out. The last thing he needed was to be in a hallway swarming with thousands of university students. It was another scenario he’d touch himself to before, but not one he wanted to live out. 

However, just as Kevin was about to pull his hand away, Amelia scrunched her toes, holding his hand under it. “Ah,” Kevin yelled, trying to keep his voice down. If Amelia noticed him down there, he’d be screwed. Kevin pulled his hand back, but he couldn’t unlodge it from the giant girl’s toe. 

Desperate, Kevin wedged his other hand under the big toe as far as he could and lifted the flesh up. He wasn’t strong enough to move the toe, but he did manage to lift the skin up enough for his hand to shoot out from under it. IT was covered in sweat, and Kevin admitted to himself that he liked the feeling, but it was time to go. 

“What the?” A soft voice whispered. Kevin looked up, and saw the now giant Amelia looking down at him. It was time to go. 

Kevin ran for the door. He heard Amelia’s sandaled foot slam down just behind him. It didn’t hit him, but the gust of wind under it did reach him. He flew forward and landed on his face. He turned around, half expecting Amelia to be coming after him. 

But she wasn’t. She sat at her desk, her attention redirected towards the professor. It seems like just another shrunken person on the floor wasn’t that big of a deal to her. Kevin felt a small part of him feel upset that the girl didn’t pursue him, but he was happy he still had his freedom. 

Kevin passed several more pairs of feet and shoes on his way to the door. He was smart this time, only taking in plentiful whiffs as he passed and not risking touching any of them. There’d be a time and place where it might be safe, but that time and place was not now or here. 

The bottom of the door had an inch wide gap between the floor, which was perfect for Kevin to squeeze through. Before he could, however, he heard a voice. “Hey man, help me out here.” 

Kevin turned around. Sitting at the desk on the other side of the door, a short freshman with big breasts played with her long red dyed hair. On the floor at her feet, however, was a younger looking boy attached to her ankle. Pieces of worn out string were tied to both of his wrist and around the giantess’s ankle. He had probably been her jewelry for a long time. 

“Get me out of here.” The teen begged. “The string just needs to be sawed through a little with a finger nail. I’d do it myself if I could reach it.” 

Kevin took a step forward, determined to help the boy. But then he paused. It didn’t take much force for Amelia to be alerted of his presence, and Kevin was lucky that she hesitated before trying to kill him. Surely, the giant freshman would feel if the string around her anklet suddenly snapped off. The boy would end up in the same situation, and Kevin might find him in one too. 

“I’m sorry.” Kevin turned away, his gut wrenched in guilt. He walked towards the door. 

“Hey, come back!” The tiny yelled. “I’ll do anything, please.” His voice conveyed his broken spirit. 

Kevin held back guilty tears as he walked under the door. He really was a perfect one inch. He listened to the tinies pitiful screams as he walked further away from the door. 

Kevin recognized the freshman girl, even if he didn’t know her name. How long did she have a tiny person tied to her ankle? Kevin never noticed, yet he probably looked down at her feet every time he saw her. How many other tinies were in situations like that? How many were being tortured, unaware to anybody else?

How many other tinies were living through the reality of the stuff Kevin only dreamed of? 

None of that mattered at the moment, and Kevin was sure he’d learn the answer soon enough. His only concern should be finding a good place to set up shelter. He needed a good place to hide, something with access to food and water, but also one where he’d have the ability to be around feet. It might be safer to not include that last one, but if he didn’t he’d die of boredom. 

He just had to be safe so as to not get caught.