Clara never believed in the notion that time seems to slow down right before one dies. It almost certainly had to be some made-up scenario used to increase dramatic tension in movies and television shows. I mean, what were the chances that these directors and actors had gotten in right all these years?

A pretty good chance, Clara found out.

As Michelle’s 627’11” foot—a length on par with most of the cargo ships that Clara had seen—descended down upon her, Clara’s world did indeed slow to a crawl. In actuality, it took less than a second for Michelle’s foot to descend once it moved over Clara’s body. But to the shrunken women, it seemed like an eternity. During this eternity, Clara’s life flashed before her eyes…

And there was hardly anything to it. No close friends to recall, no luxurious vacations or gatherings, nothing. Sure, there were a couple of nice moments with her parents, but they were also the reason why there wasn’t much else for her to remember. The majority of her memories were simply standing behind her convenience store’s counter or staring up at the ceiling while lying on her bed.

That was all her life would amount to before she died.

As such, Clara couldn’t even find the energy to move even as Michelle’s left foot was a few inches over her head, relative to her size. She simply closed her eyes as she accepted her fate.

Right when Michelle’s sole connected with the top of Clara’s head, the shrunken woman’s body collapsed and fell right alongside the massive wall of flesh. Indeed, while the sensation of Michelle’s foot looming over Clara felt like an eternity, the sensation of it slamming onto Clara felt like anything but. Her miniscule body fell face-first to the ground as it gave in underneath the foot. In just a millisecond, Clara’s body was flat on the ground, with her stomach on the wooden floor and her back facing upwards. Her head was turned to her right, and her limbs were sprawled every which way.

However, for some reason… Clara was completely fine. Sure, her body was the slightest bit sore from slamming into the ground. But that soreness was all. There was no severe pain in her body that indicated broken bones or dislocated body parts. Just from lying flat on the floor, everything at least seemed to be in check with her body. But, why was that? Such a massive surface crashing down upon her… shouldn’t it have killed her instantly? At least, that’s what she was counting on.

But it was that exact surface that kept her alive.

Clara’s body was currently sandwiched between the wooden floor and Michelle’s sole. Sure, the wooden floor may have been hard, but the foot was extraordinarily soft. As such, it was as if Clara was being gently pushed down onto the floor by a weighted blanket. Clara felt the soft sole flesh meld and warp around her head, limbs, and torso. Again, a weighted blanket was almost the perfect descriptor here.

It was only almost the perfect descriptor due to the fact that weighted blankets didn’t immobilize people.

Even though it felt like Michelle’s foot was gently pressing Clara to the ground, the shrunken woman was completely unable to move a single inch of her body. She was unable to turn her head or move her arms in any direction. She couldn’t twist her torso or stretch out her legs. She couldn’t even twitch her fingers… Again, this made it clear that the foot truly was pressing down on Clara with immense force, but her soft sole was keeping her from harm. It was a softness that saved her life, but was working against her in terms of movement.

As such, Clara lay motionless against the floor for about ten seconds. After all, what else could she do? Her eyes were closed shut lest she receive an eyeful of foot flesh in her right eye, so there wasn’t anything for her to look at. This left her not only  immobilized, but also effectively blind. However, it was after these ten seconds that Clara began to feel something far more suffocating than the flesh above her:

The heat.

It hit her nearly all at once. In almost an instance, Clara was sweating from out her hair, her forehead, her armpits, and other areas underneath her clothes. If she weren't currently squashed underneath a foot, she would have definitely looked like someone who just finished sprinting a 10-km race without breaks. This muggy, humid heat didn’t match the dainty princess’s foot that Clara just beheld moments before. She was sure that if she were normal-sized, she wouldn’t have noticed any heat coming off of the slender foot. But of course, once that foot becomes hundreds of times larger than you, it’s impossible to not feel suffocated from even the slightest amount of body heat emanating from it.

It is this unbearable heat that finally knocked Clara to her senses and gave her the desire to escape from her current position. However, this was absolutely impossible, given that she was sandwiched between the foot and the floor.

This sheer extent of claustrophobia would be an extremely harrowing situation for anyone, but given that Clara was already on edge after being shrunk to a hundredth of her size, this served as a breaking point for her.

Having come to terms with the fact that her body simply could not move, Clara resorted to the only thing she could do. She opened her mouth in order to scream in pure distress, but before she could get even a single sound out… Michelle’s foot completely filled her mouth. Clara’s head was facing her right—not even angled towards Michelle’s foot. But due to the nature in which the foot effortlessly molded around her minuscule body, of course it found away into a brand new orifice as soon as Clara gave it the opportunity to do so.

Every single inch of Clara’s mouth from her lips to her backmost teeth was invaded by Michelle’s exceptionally soft foot flesh. And it’s not like Clara had any chance of pushing it out and shutting her mouth closed, either. Clara pressed up against the flesh with her tongue, but the massive wall wouldn’t bulge at all. She attempted to chomp down on the flesh, but her teeth were completely incapable of movement, her jaw being stretched to its limit by the invasive foot. As seconds passed that felt like hours, the only things that changed about Clara’s situation were the unpleasant sensations that seeped into her mouth.

As Clara’s tongue was forced to rest upon the fall of Michelle’s flesh after its tiresome attempts… Clara began to actually taste the foot. It tasted of flesh rain, similarly to how it smelled. However, while the mere smell of it was somewhat pleasant, the same couldn’t be said for the actual taste of it. A far more pungent aftertaste was mixed into the rainy taste—though Clara was unaware of it, this second taste was sweat. Whilst the minuscule amount of sweat on Michelle’s well-maintained foot was unnoticeable at a normal size, it was enough to produce an overwhelming taste for the shrunken Clara. However, it wasn’t just her giant assailant’s fluids that Clara was forced to ingest. Clara’s own copious amounts of sweat—seeping from her hair and head—were mixing in with Michelle’s. It was trickling down Michelle’s foot along with her own fluids, and entering her mouth through her open jaw.

If Clara were in the state to give it any thought, this mixing of bodily fluids might have seemed like quite a romantic gesture.

However, the only emotion in her heart right now was pure dread. What’s done was done—there was nothing she could do to dislodge Michelle’s foot from her mouth. While immobilized, she wasn’t even given the simple pleasure of being able to breathe properly. Right now, Michelle was the only one who could possibly change the situation she was in.

And Michelle didn’t even know that she existed.

Clara lay there for what seemed like several more hours. There was no way for her to check how much time had passed, nor was there any way to pass time. After she completely gave up on pushing the foot flesh from her mouth, all she could do was lie there and wait. Luckily, she hadn’t made the same mistake of opening her eyes as she had done with her mouth. Though they were already shut closed, Clara clasped her eyelids even closer together to prevent herself from crying. All she wanted to do right now was cry, and yet, she knew that if she did, there would be yet another unpleasant fluid surrounding her face that would make her current experience that much worse. This was yet another simple pleasure that Clara was deprived of, even though she was nearly ready to burst anyways…

But right before the first tear could breach her eyelids, something finally changed.

After seemingly hours of her body, mouth, and mind being subjected to the immense pressure of Michelle’s foot, that pressure suddenly relented. Attentiveness ran through Clara’s body as she felt the weighted flesh above her body relent, and then in an instant, her body was pulled into the open air. Clara’s eyes shot wide open as her head was snapped forward, and her mouth was freed from the flesh that had once filled it. She could now speak, yell, whatever! And what’s more, she could once again see! This all gave her a glimpse of hope, but just for a split second. Indeed, now that she could finally look at her surroundings, she could see that the wooden floor of Michelle’s flat was rapidly retreating from her. Or rather, she was retreating from it.

Her face may have been freed, but her body wasn’t at all. But why? She didn’t feel that suffocating pressure anymore, and the heat surrounding her had relented as well. However, one quick glance at her side was all she needed to discern what was happening to her. On either side of her remained Michelle’s foot, with pale flesh that seemed to stretch on for an eternity.

Whether it be due to how long she was pressed against her foot, or just due to how tiny she was in comparison to it, Clara was now undeniably stuck to Michelle’s sole.

However, she couldn’t quite ponder the exact reason as to why this was in the moment. It was now clear that Clara was moving upwards because Michelle was raising her foot upwards, and she was simply along for the ride. And though it may have been an extremely mundane action for Michelle, it was starting to make Clara feel sick. The height that Clara had risen since the start of Michelle’s movement already exceeded 600”, more than 200” taller than the world’s tallest roller coaster. If it was a natural reaction to puke on such amusement park rides, then Clara’s reaction to her sudden movement was more than warranted.

After Clara emptied out her guts—a tiny mess that would likely never be discovered on Michelle’s floor—she noticed that her ascent had somewhat slowed down. Rather than merely rising upwards, her tiny body was moving sideways along with Michelle’s foot. It was when the massive woman’s legging-clad knee came into view that Clara realized what was happening.

Michelle was simply in the process of resting her leg on her knee, unaware of the fact that she just made the tiny woman attached to her sole experience the worst motion sickness of her life.

Clara’s body was turned to face the walls of Michelle’s flat as her calf pivoted to its side, in order to rest horizontally against her knee. Once her movements finally concluded, Michelle’s ankle lay upon her right knee, with her foot hanging off of its side and her sole facing right.

Clara could tilt her head to her left and right, but that’s all she could do. Even while exposed to the open air, Clara’s body was intended into Michelle’s thick sole, giving her arms, legs, and torso no hope of escape. This meant that she couldn’t pivot her body at all in order to get a look at a single portion of Michelle’s body—other than her sole.

Now that she wasn’t pressed against the wooden floor, Clara’s mental state had remarkably improved. However, this was now working against her. Now that she could think properly, the fact that she couldn’t even see Michelle’s face only widened the immense gulf between them.

Clara was snapped out of her gloomy thoughts by further movements in Michelle’s body. Unbeknownst to her, the enormous woman was leaning over slightly in order to retrieve her smartphone from her purse. Clara realized what was happening once she heard a dull buzz emanating from Michelle’s direction. She was receiving a phone call, wasn’t she?

She figured that there was no harm in listening in, given that she can’t move a single inch of her body.

The phone stopped ringing once Michelle seemingly picked up the call.

“…Hello?” Michelle’s voice was exceptionally flat and emotionless. However, she started off with a hint of hesitation, almost as if she didn’t necessarily want to answer the phone.

“Hey, ‘sup?”

Seemingly alone in the comfort of her own home, Michelle had all the reason to put her call on speakerphone. As a result, Clara’s eyes shot wide open as she immediately recognized the voice that came from the other side of the line. Speaking cheerfully, as if she had done nothing wrong in the world, was Aleena.

“Hi. I’m just kinda…” Michelle responded with none of Aleena’s enthusiasm.

“Oh, wait—I’m so sorry! Don’t tell me I’m interrupting your…”

Clara’s eyes narrowed and brows furrowed as she noticed Aleena’s change in tone. Aleena sounded extremely apologetic and saccharine as she apologized for intruding on her sister’s date by calling. But she sounded too apologetic. Absolutely any average person could tell that Aleena was putting on an act—she didn’t seem to be very sorry at all. However, it seemed as if Michelle didn’t notice this at all.

“No, you’re fine. The person you set me up with… she, uh—”

“No way, don’t tell me. She stood you up?!” Aleena once again sounded far too shocked to be serious, her voice exaggerated in every single way. Clara wouldn’t be surprised if on the other side of the line, Aleena was sitting completely motionless with a blank stare on her face. That’s how fake her performance was.

And of course she would be faking it! Aleena was the only person on Earth who actually knew what had happened to Clara. She knew well that she had actually shown up at the location for their date! This solidified in Clara’s mind that Aleena shrunk her down because she didn’t want her dating her sister. Clara would have felt hurt that her crush’s sister didn’t like her for some reason, if only she weren’t absolutely livid at the moment.

“Yeah, she never sho—”

“Well, I guess this girl was never all that worth it if she couldn’t even bother to make it out to you. Right?” Once again, Aleena interrupted Michelle before she could finish her statement. In an instant, her apologetic voice had been replaced with her more enthusiastic tone. It wasn’t as if she was comforting her sister who had been stood up—it was more like she was trying to convince her of something.

“Yeah, I guess… but what if she just—”

“I mean, this is what, the third time this has happened, right?” There was that interruption again—to Clara, it seemed like Aleena didn’t care what Michelle had to say at all. “Someone says they’re interested in you, they ask me to set up a date, and they bail at the last second! And it was a girl this time, too… I thought that she would be different.”

Michelle sat quietly as she waited for her sister to finish, having learned from the previous times Aleena sharply cut her off. What Aleena was saying was true, though. In the past three months, Michelle had been notified on two separate occasions that a man was interested in going on a date with her. Michelle was more than happy to entertain these suitors—she had never been in a relationship in her life, so she looked forward to such new experiences. She knew that most people could perceive her as… strange. She was aware of the fact that she perceived the world around her differently than most, and that she had trouble outwardly expressing her emotions. She had largely given up on approaching others due to this, and as such, the prospect that men were willing to court her themselves filled her with immense joy. She could even look past the fact that both men felt that they had to go through Aleena first. Maybe she wasn’t that weird after all, and maybe, just maybe, a single blind date could result in a fulfilling relationship for both parties.

However, this obviously didn’t pan out, as she was stood up by both men. She was completely unaware of the fact that they had been disposed of by Aleena in a similar fashion to Clara. Just like Clara, both of these men had shown interest in Michelle for quite some time, and were then approached by Aleena, who proposed to set them up on a date. The rest is history for these two suitors.

When Michelle initially heard that the next person who wished to go on a date with her was a woman, she was rather excited. Of course, there was the fact that Michelle was interested in both men and women—a fact that Aleena was apparently aware of. But beyond that, Michelle believed that a fellow woman wouldn’t be so cruel as to stand her up, as opposed to the men who had done exactly that.

But it seems as if that wasn’t the case at all.

“Well, it seems to me that you just can’t trust anyone. Right?” Aleena continued. Michelle remained unresponsive. After a few seconds of silence passed, Aleena repeated herself.

“Right?” Aleena said in a slightly more forceful tone.

“…Yeah. Right.” Michelle finally responded. However, down from her foot, Clara picked up on the first hint of emotion she had ever heard in Michelle’s voice. It wasn’t hard to discern what this emotion was, either. Michelle sounded discouraged. Defeated. 

“Well, except for me, of course. You can always trust me.” Aleena spoke in an exact opposite tone as Michelle—the older sister was more chipper than ever. “And you know what I think, Michelle.”

“…What?”

“I think you just need to give up on dating. It’s clearly not something you’re cut out for. Got that?”

The room was completely silent. Clara could have sworn that she heard a sniffle break up that silence, but she couldn’t tell for sure. Aleena’s voice interrupted whatever noise she thought she heard.

“Got that, Michelle?”

“Yeah, got it.” Michelle's deadpan voice had suddenly returned, all traces of emotion stripped from it.

“Ah, great! I’m so glad you agree, too.” This time, Aleena’s enthusiasm seemed completely genuine. “We’ll talk about this more later, alright? Have a good night! See ya!”

With this, Aleena hung up. The heavy silence returned to Michelle’s flat as she sat there, motionless. It seemed like she needed some time to process what exactly just happened.

But Clara already had.

Rage boiled within Clara as she started fiercely squirming against Michelle’s tough sole once more. That Aleena was plain evil. She had really done this all before?! Systematically causing your very own sister to lose all hope in ever finding love… and not even to mention those two other men who had been shrunken down by her. Did they ever recover? Were they dead by now?!

Clara wouldn’t let Aleena get away with it. She would get Michelle’s attention now. No matter what any disparity in size or controlling sister had to say about. She wouldn’t give up until she let Michelle know that she was here. Not until she gave the woman her hope back.

However, Clara was still rendered almost completely immobile. Calling her actions “squirming” was generous. In the couple of minutes that Michelle was speaking to her sister on the phone, the indentation that Clara’s body made on Michelle’s bulbous toe had become slightly less deep. This granted her the ability to move her arms… about a relative inch in either direction. However, her torso and legs were still almost completely sunken into Michelle’s foot flesh.

But, there was hope! Her arms being freed even the slightest bit was progress. With just a bit more work, she could use her arms to work the rest of her body free as well. Sure, it was quite a bit of a fall if she were to accidentally fall, but it wouldn’t come to that. Clara would work herself free gradually enough so that she could turn herself around and climb upwards Michelle’s sole. The stickiness of the sole due to the sweat and heat surrounding it would work in her favor. Climbing it up to Michelle’s big toe would be a breeze. From there, she would beat on her skin until she felt something and grabbed her attention.

Surely she would feel something.

About two minutes had passed after Michelle stopped talking with her sister. This seemed like a much, much longer time to the shrunken Clara—despite her newfound determination, being stuck to Michelle’s foot still wasn’t a pleasurable experience. The smell of rain and sweat still invaded her nose, with no hope of escape. And she was still working on spitting up every bit of Michelle’s sweat from her mouth—she figured it would take her the entire night to do so. And that wasn’t even to mention the sweat—both hers and Michelle’s—that was still stuck in her hair, her ears, and on her clothes. The moment when she finally freed herself from Michelle’s sole so she could thoroughly clean herself from these fluids couldn't come soon enough.

However, Clara’s motions ceased when she felt Michelle herself move far above her.

What was she doing? She was most likely just setting down her phone, right? Clara’s suspicions were proven right as she heard a sound that sounded like an object making contact with the soft cushion of Michelle’s couch—crisis averted.

But she started to move again.

Right after the phone’s thud sounded through the air, Clara continued to feel motion throughout Michelle’s body from the sole of her foot. Her entire world was being shaken through intense vibrations, even though her foot was still completely still. So what exactly was happening that Clara couldn’t see?

Clara’s question was answered as Michelle's enormous right hand entered her field of view.

Wait, seriously?! Finally! She knew she liked Michelle for a reason. Clara had hardly been able to move an inch, and yet, Michelle managed to discern where she was! That was some commendable intuition, Clara had to hand it to her. Or rather, maybe Clara truly had created enough movements for Michelle to notice her? The shrunken woman had to remind herself to give herself a pat on the back for her own efforts. She was pretty great, huh?

Given that Michelle had clearly discerned her location and was rescuing her, Clara expected Michelle’s massive hand to shape itself into a position primed for plucking. You know, with the tips of her thumb and index fingers brough close together. It should be no problem for her to simply pinch Clara by her turtleneck and safely pick her off of her sole. Of course, she wasn’t even thinking about the fact that her slender index finger was 237 feet from her point of view, with her thumb not too far behind.

But as Michelle’s finger neared her own foot, it didn’t take on a “plucking” stance at all. Instead, all four of her longest fingers bent forward, a stance far more suited for scraping.

Or rather, scratching.

No way… did Michelle not find out about Clara after all? Was she just about to scratch her foot? As the massive hands neared closer and closer to Clara, this seemed to be the case.

Clara noticed that each of Michelle’s enormous fingers were exceptionally pale and unblemished. They seemed to be manicured, taken care of in a similar way as her feet. Beyond this, they were slender and long, as befitting of her 5’11” stature. It seemed that her index and middle fingers just slightly surpassed her palm in length.

But what was most of note about these fingers were the nails that they all gave way too. From her thumb to her pinky, pure silky, white nails extended about a fourth of an inch away from her fingers. They were long enough to be noticeable even at a normal size, but of course, to Clara, they seemed to be 25’ from the flesh of her fingertips.

That was the height of a two-story building. A two-story building suddenly slamming into her would most likely mean death.

But that wouldn’t happen, right? There was a lot of space on Michelle’s foot that she could be targeting—what were the chances that she would scratch right on top of a miniscule speck? Clara would have hated to think of herself like that in any other scenario, but she felt like it was an absolutely necessary mindset right now if she wanted to remain sane. Besides, there was the fact that she had survived being mercilessly trampled by Michelle’s sole in the first place. Sure, a fingernail was multiple times harder than foot flesh, especially flesh as maintained and pampered as Michelle’s. But, there was a chance, right?

Michelle’s right hand fell upon her sole like it was a meteor. Her light brown skin effortlessly blocked out any light that Clara was receiving from her current vantage point. Michelle’s four fingers first touched down upon the ball of her foot, above where Clara was suddenly stuck. As the fingers made contact, Clara’s world shattered as shockwaves surrounded her from head to toe. Whilst she had still lost all hearing in her right ear, that familiar ringing returned in her left ear. Her current situation could be described as being buried in the ground during an earthquake.

This sensations only got worse as the source of this metaphorical earthquake drew closer to Clara. Were her fingers scraping downwards? Clara decided that this was happening, but surely her fingers would stop before they reached her tiny body, right?

Clara still found it hard to believe that time slows down right before you die. And yet, it was happening to her for a second time that same night. Clara had no way of seeing the massive nail that was a relative few inches away from her, as she couldn’t angle her head up. But somehow, she could sense it.

Her final thoughts weren’t of her parents at home, the convenience store, or Aleena—the woman who ultimately led to her demise. Surprisingly, her thoughts weren’t off of herself, either. In the couple of minutes that her mind had granted her before her death, she never cursed the fact that she never managed to bag a girlfriend, or even have a fulfilling relationship. Sure, she deeply lamented that her date with Michelle didn’t go according to either of their plans. But she didn’t lament it for her sake at all—it was for Michelle’s.

Despite her best efforts, Clara failed to reach the hopeless romantic.

…

A few minutes after Michelle got off of the phone with her sister, she idly scratched her foot. Little did she know that the motion of her nails immediately turned the miniscule woman attached to her sole into a red paste.

Michelle would never even notice the splotch. She would unintentionally wash it off of her foot later that night in the shower, or it would even come off as she stepped against her wooden floor. No matter how it went, it would be completely cleansed from Michelle’s body in a couple of hours.

Not that the young woman was thinking about the near future at all. After she scratched her foot, she clasped both of her hands and leaned forward. She was thinking intently about her conversation with Aleena. Her older sister had always guided her and helped her through rough patches in her life. Her help was especially appreciated through complicated social situations. As such, she wouldn’t dare argue with her judgements to her face.

But, really? Was her dating life over just like that?

Well, she supposed that she couldn’t deny the facts. She had been stood up by three people now. She guessed she simply wasn’t desirable at all—by neither men nor women. She figured that her personality was the issue, given that these people always back out of a date after they’ve already proposed one. Her appearance probably drew people in, but they ran away after Aleena told them a little bit about her, right? Oh well. Her personality wasn’t something she was really capable of changing, so it truly was over, huh?

It was sad, but she would have to live with it.

Before she moved on, Michelle decided to spare a thought as to who her would-be date was. It was a woman this time around, she knew that. Michelle’s mind wandered to the various restaurants, shops, and stores that she frequented to discern which women she saw often enough for a crush to develop.

Oh, it was Clara Chung, wasn’t it?

Yeah, most likely. Michelle noticed her staring at her whenever she browsed her convenience store. In fact, she liked it. She made a habit of visiting the store every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, even though she certainly didn’t need to buy snacks that often. Michelle had hoped that Clara would make the first move all this time, and she supposed she did. She just didn’t follow through.

But, Clara was always so nice to her. Even though she stared at her, it never felt disrespectful in the slightest. Sure, Michelle was certain that Clara was indeed attracted to her, but it also felt as if she was politely admiring her. It was unlike any stare that Michelle ever received before. And when it was time to actually interact with her, Clara made sure to treat her with a smile on her face as she rang up her items and bagged them for her.

Michelle would have greatly enjoyed the chance to spend more time with her. She always wanted to get to know her better. Probably more than any other person she could think of. She found it hard to believe that such a nice woman would abandon her like that, but that’s exactly what happened anyway.

Michelle silently stood up from her couch and started walking towards her bedroom. She was going to bed early tonight.

She didn’t feel like going to Clara’s convenience store anymore. She would have to find a new place to shop at.