I could never explain why it happened, though I remember the process exactly. I was waiting for my girlfriend, Katya, in her living room, when I started to feel sick to my stomach. Very soon after I got dizzy, but when I tried to call out to her my mouth simply would not open. All I could do was stand there, my head swimming, while the pain gradually became more intense.

That was when I noticed everything around me getting bigger. It was subtle at first, like the base of the windowsill being higher than it was, or a lamp being shoulder-high instead of chest-high, but rapidly accelerated. Within seconds the light switches were over my head, and the leather armchair could fit three of me sitting side by side. I blinked, and that same armchair was the size of a building and I would have to climb if I wanted to sit in it at all. The fibers of the circular woven rug in the middle of Katya’s living room engulfed my shoes, and the tufts on the ends of the threads reached up to my ankles. Standing frozen in the middle of the living room, I realized I had shrunk.

Once the shrinking stopped I could move again, and I immediately clutched my head and began panicked screaming. How small had I become, an inch? Half an inch? Even smaller? There was no way to tell exactly on my own, but it was clear that I was incredibly small. I was not sure whether I would be readily visible to a normal-sized person, let alone distinguishable as a person who was just very tiny.

A crash from the hallway broke my train of thought and I stopped screaming, turning my attention to the doorway. Another crash came a moment later, followed by a third, and a gargantuan figure appeared in the frame. Long, straight blond hair flowed down to its chest, with straight bangs stopping just above a pair of dark blue eyes. It was light-skinned, borderline pale, with dark red lips and a bulbous nose, and beneath the waterfall of hair I could see a pearl stud in each ear. Its body was well-toned, with abs visible under a black tank stop that was tucked into a flowing red skirt. One leg, encased in shimmering black nylon, stepped forward, while the other shifted to push it ahead, the black leather flat at its base contorting around the toes. I realized to my shock that the monolithic person coming toward me was Katya.

The next time Katya’s flat hit the ground I felt a small quake run through the ground before I heard the resulting boom. She placed an open palm on the top of the doorframe with a thud and ducked under it to avoid hitting her forehead on the wood when she entered the room. Katya was exceptionally tall, a hair over two meters, but nowhere near the human skyscraper I was looking at now. She must have been a thousand times my size at the very least.

I stood transfixed as she walked toward me, her white, smooth soles alternating with the matte black of her flats. My awe made it difficult to process the intense noise that accompanied every step, getting louder each time, or the quakes radiating from the impacts. It was not until she reached the edge of the carpet that I realized I was in danger of being squished under my girlfriend’s shoe. Panicking, I darted off perpendicular to her, hoping I had started running in time.

Katya’s heel landed some distance away, and I was not prepared for the rest of her foot to come swinging down. It landed with a muffled thump, displacing enough air as it descended to give me a firm shove forward and throw me off balance. An intense seismic event followed, and the trembling floor erased what was left of my balance and sent me tumbling onto my face. While I fell the overwhelming cacophony of her step hit my ears, temporarily overwhelming my sense of hearing. My ears rang, and I knew I had just avoided getting accidentally squashed by my girlfriend by mere millimeters.

I pushed myself onto my back, my skins scraping against the rough fibers of the rug. My vision swam, and I barely registered the impact of her other foot setting down behind me, much more softly than the one that had nearly crushed me. With great effort I pushed myself off the ground, my shaky elbows struggling to get me up to a kneel. Katya twitched her toes, and the sound of creaking leather bled through the ringing while I caught my breath. Pressing my hands against the floor I tried to stand back up, but my knees, weakened by all the shaking, could not support me just yet. Desperately, I threw my arms forward and just managed to catch myself against the immense leather wall of Katya’s shoe.

For a moment I simply leaned against my titanic girlfriend’s enormous shoe, resting. The strong smell of cured leather intermingled with the scent of her perfume, creating a mixture that, while strong, was not overpowering and was even a little pleasant. I looked up at Katya’s colossal body looming over me, her toned legs stretching hundreds of feet upward, and became disheartened. Cast completely in her shadow, whatever minuscule chance there was of her seeing me from such a high vantage point was erased. My view of her from down here was the same as an ant’s, and I certainly felt like one in comparison to her.

“Katya!” I yelled as loud as I could. “Katya, down here, in the rug! I shrank, help me!” With not even a twitch in response, I cupped a hand around my mouth and tried again. “Katya, look down by your shoe! I’m here but I’m tiny, something shrank me and I need your help! Please, just look for me Katya!” Katya looked down and began to move one of her humongous arms, and my heart leapt at the idea that she had heard me.

Instead, she reached into the small pocket in her skirt and withdrew her phone. “Where could he possibly be?” she said to herself. Even amid the deep rumble of her low voice I could hear her strong Russian accent. “He did not send a text. I did not hear him leave. He must be here somewhere.” She raised her phone toward her head, blocking my view of her face.

That was it! I may have been too small for her to hear, but if my clothes shrank with me, my phone must have too. My hand shot into my pocket to grab it, but found only thin cloth. For a second I was confused, then it came rushing back. I had taken left it out in my car while I ran in to get Katya, expecting it to only take a few minutes. Had I known that I was about to shrink and that phone would be my only lifeline to my gargantuan girlfriend towering over me, I would have thought better of it.

“Katya!” I tried to get her attention from the floor one last time. “Katya, please, look for me on the floor! I don’t know what happened but I shrank to the size of an ant, please help me!” She shifted her weight between her powerful legs, making the tight nylon covering around them bulge slightly differently. “I’m begging you, Katya, if you can hear me, just look down by your shoe!” Not even a twitch from the long fingers cradling her phone. I would have to find another way to get her attention despite my puny size.

I looked up at the tremendous wall of black leather looming over me presented by Katya’s shoe. To my left, near her toes, were deep creases running its whole impressive height from frequent bending. Over to my right, the shoe’s negligible heel may as well have been a tower to me, and was smooth enough that I could not find any significant blemishes in it from where I stood. Immediately above me, the instep of her shoe was marred by minute imperfections from the leather’s grain, almost imperceptible at normal size, but easily visible at my shrunken stature. Though I was not a very strong climber, and was actually not strong in any physical sense, the only chance I had to get her attention was to climb on top of her foot.

Summonong what resolve I could, I reached up to grab the indentation where Katya’s sole met the rest of her shoe only to find it was just out of reach. With a quick hop I was able to slip my fingertips into the groove, and I kicked against the sole to get further up. Planting one foot flat against the solid surface, I shot one arm upward to find a handhold in the leather. My fingers slipped into the small ridge and I pulled myself upward, sliding the toes of one foot into where my fingers had just been.

Pressed this close to Katya’s flat, the smell of leather became overpowering.   It was strong enough to make me recoil, but I kept my fingers firmly dug into the supple surface of her shoe. There was a long climb ahead of me, and I could only take it one minute ascent at a time. I moved one hand up to find its grip, then drew up that leg to find somewhere suitable for it to rest. Keeping three points of contact at all times would make climbing Katya’s foot take an excruciatingly long time, but I had read that it was the safest way to go. If I took too many risks I would never reach the summit, and I would never be able to get Katya’s attention.

I began to get tired about halfway up Katya’s insole, with the silver fringe around the opening of her flat still far away. While I took a quick breather, the foot I clung to suddenly lurched upward, lifting me along with it. My stomach jumped to my throat with the movement, and I dug my nails in to keep my position. Just as suddenly as it started, however, the movement reversed, and I found myself plummeting to the floor. Knowing my life depended on it, I held on as well as I could during the brief, violent trip, just hoping it would be over soon.

Katya’s foot slammed back into the ground with the force of a meteorite, and a shockwave of tremendous power ran up the length of her leg. The force of it alone was enough to make me lose my grip, but as it coursed through my fingers it enervated the joints enough that I would not be able to grip anything solidly for a while anyway. Contoured leather raced by on my way down to the floor, where I landed on my back amid the carpet.

“What, has he decided to ghost me?” Katya boomed, her powerful voice resonating in my ear canals. “Does he think he is too good to reply to my texts?” She raised her foot again, and I briefly saw the white, flat expanse of her sole before it impacted the ground again. An enormous quake emanated from the contact point, accompanied by the horrific thunder of her footfall.

“He has not even read my message!” Katya stomped her gigantic foot again, and I felt the shockwave of her anger in the roots of my teeth. My ears were ringing so loudly that the only things I could hear were there horrifying footfalls of her stomps and her shouting.

“Katya, please, I’m down here!” I managed weakly, though I could not hear my own voice over the din she had caused.

“If he wants to play games, stand me up, and ghost me, I can do the same,” Katya declared with terrifying volume. “He will come to regret his decision to ignore me.” She lifted her gargantuan foot and slammed it against the ground several times, each one making a stronger earthquake and a louder crash. It felt like my body was being shaken apart, and it was a surprise I could hear anything at all. My vision was blurry, and the only thing I could focus on was Katya’s monolithic form towering over me as she repeatedly stomped in frustration.

“That fucking asshole!” Katya raised her foot again, and this time the vast expanse of her white, hard sole drifted over me. I knew what was coming, though there was no way to avoid it, and could not even raise my arms in a futile show of defense. Katya’s tremendous sole grew to consume my vision, blocking out everything else. It struck me with horrific force, moving at incredible speed, and before I could even register it hit me my body had been splattered against the bottom of her shoe. My girlfriend had squashed me in a fit of misplaced rage, not even knowing she had done it.

Katya inhaled and exhaled deeply several times to calm herself. She was getting worked up over someone who was not worth it. If he thought he could do better than her, then he was a fool. Still seething, Katya went to the kitchen and poured herself a drink. On the way there, her steps pulverized what was left of her now ex-boyfriend and wiped him off on the floor. No one would ever learn what happened to him, and she would never learn just how crushed he was by their breakup.