Nerea slept soundly with Alex between her soft arm and silk purple pajama shirt. Forcing himself to stay awake was excruciatingly painful for Alex, who had already been up for 3 hours since Nerea first kissed him goodnight. He was tired enough as it was, and Nerea’s calming heartbeat and gently rising chest made me feel at ease. 

But things weren’t at all at ease. Nerea was under the impression that Alex liked being her doll, and she wanted to keep him that way. His chest already ached from how much it’d hurt her when she woke up the next morning and saw that he was gone, but he couldn’t possibly stay her doll forever. 

He’d been away form his girlfriend for too long, if he didn’t return soon she might end her vacation early and leave without him. She probably wouldn’t believe him if he told her he was shrunk, but at this point he didn’t want to lie to her. Alex just wanted to be back with her. 

Nerea muttered to herself as she slept. It was cute, but Alex kept getting cold feet about leaving because he thought she was going to wake up. It was strange seeing her sleep so peacefully. There were points in the day where Alex compared her to an all powerful god— one with the powers to completely control him, destroy him, and give him life. But now, she only looked like a sleeping child. 

Alex planted both hands on Nerea’s arm. She held him tight to her chest, but it wasn’t hard to push himself free since she was sleeping. Alex tumbled on the bed, finding his bearings and slowly walking to the top of the bed. He pulled on an extra pillow to the end of the bed and pushed it off. 

The drop was intimidating, but if Alex could survive being sat on and stepped on he could survive a drop onto a pillow. He jumped, sinking into the pillow as he landed unscathed on it. 

Unlike the main door, the bedroom doors had a gap at the bottom big enough for him to squeeze under. He ran to Madre’s room, not wanting to waste any time getting there. Alex was lucky Nerea didn’t wake up when he slipped out from her grip, but he couldn’t chance that she wouldn’t sense he was gone eventually. 

While Nerea was peaceful in her sleep, Madre snored like a truck’s engine. Even at Alex’s small size the sound was ear piercing, but at least he knew she wouldn’t wake up. 

Earlier that morning, Alex was sleeping in that bed. He woke up next to a girl that wasn’t his girlfriend, and she gave him a pill that shrunk him and sent him on this entire journey. He was found by Nerea, the only person in the entire hotel who seemed to understand English, and he became her doll for the rest of the day. 

But now it was time to grow back. Walking under the bed, Alex took in just how much space he had to cover. The pill was small before, but now it was probably the size of an actual pill. Alex was small, too, after all. 

The dust caused Alex to sneeze. It made searching difficult as his eyes water and nose clogged, but at least that meant the cleaning crew hadn’t cleaned under here. Chip crumbs and even a dirty sock were under the bed, but Alex couldn’t find the pill. He knew he dropped it, but was it possible it was on the carpet outside the bed? Would it still be there if it were? 

The bedroom door opened. Alex turned to it as a pair of skinny legs walked in the room. “Shit…” Alex cursed. What was Nerea doing coming in her madre’s room? She had to be looking for Alex. He cursed himself again for telling her where the pill was, she knew exactly where to look for him. 

Nerea’s giant feet reached the base of the bed, but she didn’t bend down to look under it. The bed shook, and Madre stopped snoring. 

“Mija?” said Madre groggily. “Qué… What are you doing in here? You know I don’t like it when you come into my room.” 

“I had a bad dream.” Nerea’s feet disappeared from view as she climbed in bed with her madre, the bed weighing lower and creaking. It was still after sundown, Alex figured that was why they spoke english together. “I want our vacation to last forever. I no want to go back home.” 

“Why not?” asked Madre. Nerea didn’t respond, at least not verbally. “I know you don't like Jorge, but he’s not so bad. He’s trying his best to take your papa’s place, papa would’ve wanted you to have a strong man looking after you.”

The silence was deafening. Alex was definitely intruding on something personal. Perhaps in Nerea’s delirious state she forgot about Alex, which meant she wasn’t looking for him at all. He returned to searching for the pill as mother and daughter cuddled right above him. 

There it was! The pill wasn’t under the bed, but under the dresser a few feet away to the bed. Quietly as to not alert anyone, Alex walked out from under the bed. The pill was so close he could already feel it sliding down his throat. 

Alex heard a kiss sound. “Why don’t you let mama go back to bed? We both need sleep for tomorrow.” 

“Okay mama.” Nerea sounded like she had been crying. A shadow fell over Alex, though he barely noticed it in the dark room. The bed creaked, and Nerea’s foot fell right on top of him.

When Nerea lifted her foot to see what she stepped on, her face looked like a mix of anger and trying not to cry. She clenched Alex’s neck between her big and second toe and stormed out of the room. The bottom of Alex’s body was trampled by Nerea’s foot as she stomped back to her room.

Slamming her door shut, Nerea let go of Alex and turned her lights on. Alex coughed as he grabbed his neck. She almost choked him to death between her toes. 

“When I saw you left the room, I thought something was wrong,” hurried Alex with a lie, his voice raspy from being choked. “So I left and came looking for you.” 

“Mentiroso!” Nerea screamed, sorrow and pain in her voice. Alex flinched as Nerea walked past him. She pounded her pillow before screaming into it. It looked like she was mad at something more than just Alex. 

“r03;r03;Volevi lasciarmi,” Nerea yelled at him, too mad to remember he only knew english. “You were looking for that stupid thing weren’t you.”

Nerea was becoming hysterical, the best thing he could do was calm her down by backing up his lie. “I slipped from your arm and fell on the floor, you were having a bad dream right? I heard you crying with your mom and—”

“Liar!” Nerea didn’t want to hear any excuse he had. “You’ve been a bad doll. Bad doll!” Nerea’s leg lifted high behind her before swinging down. Her foot collided with Alex’s chest, her kick sending him flying across the room and slamming against a wall. 

Alex screeched and gripped his back as he slid to the floor. His back erupted in pain, but he didn’t have time to focus on that. Nerea was already stomping towards him. 

“You were so nice earlier, I thought you loved me too.” Her feet stomped on either side of him. Alex watched a tear fall from her cheek and soak the carpet. 

“I’m sorry, okay?” Alex’s lies weren’t working, but if he didn’t do something soon she could do something really bad to him. “I wasn’t trying to run away.” 

“You’re a liar!” Nerea screamed so loud that Alex was surprised her madre didn’t come to see what was wrong. 

Crying, Nerea placed two hands on the wall above Alex to support herself as she swung her leg behind her. “I hate you!” Nerea’s toes drilled into him and the wall as they swung into him. The air was forced from Alex’s lung as Nerea’s toes slammed into his stomach and Alex’s head made a dent in the wall where it banged against.

And she wasn’t done. Nerea brought her leg back, this time swinging at Alex faster. Her foot slammed into him, causing him to scream with her. The little girl’s toes hurt so much Alex thought his body was about to snap in two. 

Nerea swung at him again with no signs of stopping. As her foot slammed into Alex, she also swung into the wall. With a loud scream, Nerea brought her foot higher behind her than she had before, and the swing down hurt more than any swing before either. 

Blood flung from Alex’s mouth as Nerea’s foot pounded his body. She cried, falling to the floor and banging against it. Alex looked down at the blood he coughed onto himself and the floor. It was a dark shade of red, and the light above reflected against it. It still dripped down the corner of Alex’s lip and down to his chin as it stained his teeth. 

Alex touched it in disbelief that it was real. Nerea was only a 10 year old girl, yet she made him bleed with just her foot. Not only that, but his ribs were definitely sprained. She was only a kid, yet he was lucky that he was still alive. If Nerea had decided to stomp on him instead of kicking him, he would’ve flattened under the young soles. Did she do that on purpose, or did Alex just get lucky her punishment wasn’t fatal? 

Nerea’s screams subsided into a silent cry. She curled into a ball, sobbing to herself. Alex waited for a few minutes for something to happen, but she never moved. Her madre never came in to check on her, and if Nerea wasn’t comforted soon she might fall asleep crying on the floor. 

Her madre had to have heard her, why wasn’t she coming to check on her daughter? Alex already thought it weird how quickly she kicked Nerea out of her room, maybe the two didn’t have the best relationship. Or maybe she wasn’t the best mother to Nerea. 

Alex approached her hesitantly, still afraid of Nerea acting out against him. But she looked so sad, so pitiful, how could Alex not comfort her? She was mean, and at times a bully to him, but before a second ago she had never shown malice in the things she did. Even in punishing him, she was only sad that he tried to run away. Something was definitely up with her family, and Alex wanted to make her feel better while he could. 

Walking up to her toes, Alex wiped off the blood he had gotten on them. Her toes flinched as he touched them, Nerea had certainly hurt them when she was kicking him into the wall. 

Alex rubbed them gently, trying not to hurt them. He even kissed them, despite how disgusted that made him. It made Nerea happy earlier when she thought he was doing it, he hoped it’d make her feel better now. 

It seemed to work a little bit. Nerea’s cries faded, but she wasn’t back to her usual self. 

Wanting to do more for her, Alex rubbed his way down her foot. It was dirty, and dust clung to the ball of her foot. Alex brushed it off before kissing her foot, even going as far as to give Nerea a couple of licks. There wasn’t much sweat on her foot, but Alex licked it up when he saw it. 

Nerea liked this, and wiggled her toes in gratitude. She sat up, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Nerea made sure to keep her feet near Alex, and Alex continued to rub it.

“I do like being your doll,” Alex lied as he pressed his hands into her soft arch and kissed it gently. It was warmer than the other parts of her foot, and Alex tried not to show any signs of being grossed out. “I liked the way you held me as you fell asleep, could we do that again?” 

Nerea sniffled, wiping her eyes again. She nodded, picking up Alex in her fist. She climbed in bed, sliding slowly under the covers. Nerea rested her head on the pillow, holding Alex against her wet sleeve and heaving chest. 

Nerea kissed Alex on the head, and it didn’t take long for either of them to fall asleep.