So there I was. On the ground. Helpless. My sister and protector was totally unaware that I’d fallen from the safety of her pocket; and I was staring at Courtney’s enormous feet. I should have been used to the sensation of facing down feet in this way by this point; given that all my life I’d had to contend with Ashley constantly forgetting where I was, knocking me over and squashing me with her feet. Courtney’s feet on the other hand were something else though. She definitely wore those Birkenstock’s a lot, as the skin on her feet was just as tanned as it was on her pretty face. She had also painted her nails. Bright red. I paid additional attention to the movement of her toes. She was clenching them together and releasing them back and forth as though she was making a ‘fist’ with her foot, rubbing the skin on the bottom back and forth on the rubbery surface of her sandals. She would also occasionally a single foot off the ground and use her toes to clap the dangling rear of the sandal against the heel of her foot. One thing was certain; Courtney was a huge fidgeter and any opportunity to fidget with her own feet was taken, be it conscious or not.

Although I had no fear for my safety given my indestructibility, I was not in a rush to find myself in any uncomfortable positions based around feet. Oh please, anything but feet. I looked up, both of those giant girls standing together on either side of me and still engaged in conversation. They were laughing absent-mindedly and completely unaware of the predicament that Ashley’s negligence put me in. I had to get out of it somehow, but a sink feeling ran down into the depths of my guts. I’d screamed out in the past to absolutely no avail with Ashley at home. How was I supposed to get her (Or Courtney’s) attention outdoors, in the chattery jungle of a public high school?

“Ashley! Down here! You’ve dropped me and happened to leave me very close to Courtney’s feet! Would you mind picking me up before something bad happens?!”

With all my might, I yelled up at her. But it was futile. Those two girls were totally fixed on their own conversation about the guy’s they were crushing on. The fire alarm could have gone off and they would not have noticed. Then something happened that really caught my attention, triggering intense unease on my end.

Courtney had slipped the sandal off of her foot entirely, placing her tanned foot on the hard floor. She continued to fidget with her sandal by shuffling it about the ground and swinging it by the strap between her big and index toe. Those movements were frightening enough, but what truly terrified me were Courtney’s occasional stomps about the floor. Whether this was another part of her fidgeting or her unconscious maintaining of her balance, I didn’t know and frankly, it didn’t matter. All I knew was that the space between those two girls’ legs was open water and Courtney’s foot was a hungry shark on the hunt for prey.

“Ashley!” I yelled up again, “Pick me up, please! This really, really, REALLY is not the place I want to be right now!”

Like before, this was a pointless act. They kept talking, almost unaware of the masses of other students passing them in the halls; the impending ring of the school bell to signify the beginning of the learning day; or me on the ground between them. Then… it happened.

SLOMP

Courtney’s bare foot came down on top of me. I was squished between the ground and her metatarsals. Although the pressure of the hard bones in her knuckles were intense, I couldn’t help but take notice of the smoothness of Courtney’s skin. Even at what should have been one of the roughest and most calloused parts of her body, it was surprisingly soft. None of this was any relief for me however. Then the foot lifted up. It was a fairly warm day and Courtney’s feet had been sweating a great deal. The sun offered little in terms of evaporation for all the sweat that she was producing. It stuck me to the bottom of her foot like glue. She lifted me up and I watched despairingly as the ground got further and further away. Then Courtney swung her foot around, positioning it above her sandal. Then I started to move downward again, at an intensely accelerated pace towards her sandal. It was like being in a speedy car without windows.

BOOM

I landed face down in the shoe. Although the sole of the shoe was much softer compared to the ground, it did nothing to relieve the intense pressure that functionally kept me immobile. The sweat was real. The weight was real. But I felt no pain. I only felt anguish over my total lack of control over my own body. I was involuntarily put under the mercy of Courtney’s monstrous foot. To think that this foot now dominated my entire world, Courtney remained totally ignorant of it all. Courtney lifted her foot up again slightly and waved it around. The flickering movements shifted me around. I was able to breathe properly again for a brief moment. This was shortlived, as Courtney curled her toes over and over. The lubricated sweat and these movements reoriented my entire position. Before I knew it, I was nearer the end of her foot by half an inch and my face was pressed deep into the crevice between her second and third toes. There was a foul and accumulated deposit of toe jam in their that was soaked in the growing ocean of sweat coating Courtney’s feet. I couldn’t believe I’d found myself in this position. Despite all my bad experiences with Ashley’s feet, none of them compared to this. Courtney’s feet were unbelievable. Literally! How could a girl with some smooth skin and polished nails have been able to overlook a rank pile of toe jam growing right in front of her like this?!

Courtney looked down at her foot. Her toes were still scrunched together, holding little Tyson in place. She couldn’t help but take notice of the odd sensation down there. “I must have picked up a pebble” she thought to herself. It felt really nice and would no doubt serve as something else to play around with in math class. Anything to lightly massage her beautiful feet and stimulate her amid the grand boredom that was schoolwork was welcome to her.

“I’ll see you at recess!” Courtney exclaimed to Ashley.

“Love you, girl!” Ashley replied with equal enthusiasm.

The two girls hugged. In doing so, Courtney lifted her opposite foot up, placing all of her body weight on the other for a few seconds; totally unaware of the immense pressure she imposed on Tyson.

Tyson couldn’t help but feel as though all his senses were being violated by Courtney’s foot. It was so wrong. He tasted and smelt nothing but sweat and toe jam. He was blinded by the wall of foot. Every sound was either muffled like he was underwater, or a loud boom. Every foot step echoed in his eardrum like thunder. The worst of all was what had happened to his sense of touch. Every neuron for this sense was in overdrive right now, urging him to get out of this sticky situation. A situation he was powerless in correcting.

Courtney’s walk to math class felt long to Tyson. Every step added and reduced pressure on him as her foot went up and down. When she finally got to class and settled, he remained trapped at the base of her toe. Though the bulk of her weight was taken off him, she continued to play with him like the nice pebble she believed him to be.

It would be a long lesson.