“Heeeey little sis! Happy birthday, girl!” The sing-song voice came through loud and clear from the moment Christine answered the phone.

“Stephy! Thank you so much! I wasn't sure you were gonna call today!”

“Hey, I'm not, like, interrupting anything, right? It's past five over there, right? I think I got it right but time zones can be such a pain to keep track of! You're not still at work, are you?” “No, no, it's fine. It's, like, five fifteen over here, you got it right. I just got off work and I'm on my way home now. Trying to, anyways. There's some kinda protest going on, haven't moved an inch in like five minutes. I think it's the teacher's union today. Can you hear the honking?” “Yeah, I can. That sucks! Sucks even harder that they didn't give you the day off. They are giving you this next week though, right?”

“Yeah, that's right.”

“Great! I'm so glad your birthday gift won't go to waste!”

“My gift? What does that have to do with it?”

“Guess!”

“Uh... Is it a concert ticket? No? Oh, just tell me! Sorry but I don't have a lot of patience right now.”

“Okay, okay! I got you... A plane ticket!”

“A ticket? Ticket to where?”

“To here! It's been so long since I saw my little sis, and I was thinking you should come over this year! It's first class so you'll be riding in comfort! The plane leaves tomorrow morning; I'll text you the deets after we hang up.” “You want me to visit you? Why not fly over here instead?”

“Christie, come on. You really want to spend your vacation at home? What is there even to do over there? Ugh, it's so boring! There's a reason I left, you know. And it's got nothing to do with you and mom, don't get me wrong. Miss you two all the time—mwah! But here in Dublin? You. Would not. Believe. How beautiful everything is! I'm telling you, you'll love it so much you'll want to live here! You're not gonna flake out on me or something, are you?” “No, no, I just... wasn't expecting this. You said it's just one ticket, right? So I'll have to go by myself?”

“Uh... yeah. Were you thinking of bringing Carlos too? You're still with him, right? What am I saying, of course you are. I saw the pics on your Instagram. On his Instagram. Whatever. Sorry, sis, I'm not made of money! No way I could afford to take you both to all the places I got planned.” “Riiiight. Well, Stephy, how about you go ahead and send me the deets? I'll call Carlos so he can get things ready for me in case this protest takes too long.” “Sure thing, sis! Hey, happy birthday again! See you tomorrow! Buh-bye!”

“Bye, Stephy,” Christine said, and hung up the phone. As soon as the call was over, she sighed and rubbed her face, trying to tune out the sound of that ceaseless honking. She shook her head; typical Steph, going ahead with her ideas without consulting anyone or even planning things out and expecting everyone else to go along with whatever she came up with. Christine had been tempted to refuse the invitation just to teach her sister a lesson, but she really did want to see her big sis again, and she welcomed the chance to travel.

Stephanie's message arrived a minute later. Christine opened the attached file, and groaned when she saw that the plane was departing in two hours. The way things were going, would she really be able to make it? Whatever the case, she had to call Carlos to let him know. He'd be disappointed to hear she wouldn't be spending the day with him, but she was sure he would understand. He was just that kind of guy. She'd really have to make it up to him once she got back.

Christine called him right away. The phone beeped a few times. A few more times. Few more. She hung up and thought for a moment before calling another number. “Hi, mom. How are you? Are you coming to visit today? Sorry, I'm stuck in traffic right now, don't know when I'll be able to make it. Listen, Stephy just called me and...” -----

Mary had already been making her way to Christine's home before her daughter called. She arrived just minutes later and pulled into the drive way. With still no sign of Christine's car, she went up to the front door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. The house was quiet—didn't seem that anyone else was here. That was good. The last thing Mary wanted was to see that good for nothing Carlos. If there was one person who never failed to sour her mood, it was the man who had taken her youngest daughter away.

Mary's heels went clacking against the floor tiles as she made her way to the bedroom, where she pulled out Christine's suitcase and proceeded to pack it full of everything her daughter had mentioned before rolling it down to the living room and going to fetch herself a cup of water—she almost grabbed some wine when she saw that bottle sitting out in the open, but it was too early for that. Afterwards, she resolved to sit down and wait calmly for Christine to arrive, maybe watch some TV in the meantime. Back in the living room, though, a flash of gold and silver caught her eye. Not the real stuff, just a gift box. It sat on the sofa, right across from the TV. Mary grabbed it and put it on her lap when she sat down, turning over the gift tag to see who it was from.

Even before seeing the sharpie-wrought signature she had already guessed it was from Carlos. Though, who it was for, the label didn't say. Christine would have been the obvious choice, but she had mentioned that Carlos had gotten a gift for Mary too, and told her to open it up if she saw it. Well, this was the only gift she could see; did that mean it was hers? There was an easy way to find out.

-----

The gift was Christine's, though Mary had no way of knowing it. A pair of trendy black leather flats. They were a bit on the pricey side, but he was happy to pay if it made his girlfriend happy. That was only one part of the gift, however; the second part, waiting in the box along with the shoes, was Carlos himself.

Days ago, the 29-year-old had implanted himself with a peculiar device which allowed a person to shrink as small as three inches. It had cost what felt like a small fortune, and it still sounded crazy to him, but as with so many things, he did it anyways to make Christine happy.

He had known for a while that she was into domination. She had told him as much before they moved in together. Carlos had never been too interested in it, but she convinced him to try it out. It didn't do much for him, but it wasn't a turn-off either, and he did like how happy it made Christine, so he went along with it and in time even grew to like it. Even so, he hadn't known she had a thing for sizeplay until very recently. She had first brought it up after that shrinking implant made it to market, not really admitting to anything, just testing the waters to see what he thought, but gradually she became comfortable enough to confess that she sometimes dreamt of having him be all tiny so she could dominate him more than ever. It was obvious that she wanted him to get the implant, but she didn't push him into it or really bring it up much. They started bringing size scenarios into their roleplay, and she seemed happy enough with that. It was Carlos who had made the decision to get the implant for her sake.

Since then he had tried it out a few times to make sure it was safe, but so far he had managed to keep it a secret. He had meant for this to be Christine's big birthday surprise, and so he'd put himself in this box for her, carefully climbing inside and putting the cover on while he was shrinking down to wait for her. Even since he heard someone enter the house, he'd been anxiously waiting for Christine to see the box and open her gift. He was all ready to shout “Happy birthday!” when the lid on the box started going up, at least until he saw Mary's mature features meet him in place of Christine's.

By the look on her face, she was as surprised to see him as vice-versa. She must have been wondering if he was real or not. Did she even know about the shrinking technology?

The two of them stared at each other in silence, until she reached inside for him. It was Carlos's first time seeing another human being at this size, and while he might not have been too scared if it had been Christine who found him, seeing that giant hand approaching with Mary's stern face behind it made him terrified. He couldn't find the nerve to scream, but he backed away from that hand, scrambling over the pair of flats until his back bumped up against the back of the box. He wished he had his phone with him so he could use it to grow back, but he had left it outside on the coffee table.

Mary looked even more stern than before as her fingers curled around Carlos's tiny body, holding everything from his shoulders to his thighs and keeping his arms flat against his torso. Each of those wrinkled fingers felt so thick and powerful beside him—even the pinkie was at least as strong as his legs. He only made a small effort to escape, but that was enough for him to realize that he would never be able to escape her grip by his own strength, not at this size.

Mary brought him out of the box, and looked him over with a critical eye. Finally her lips curled into a sneering smile. “Hello, Carlos,” she said, tightening her grip on him.

“H-hello, Mrs. Flores.” He smiled back nervously and wriggled a bit in her grip, more by reflex than anything. “Is Christine home yet?”

“My daughter was stuck in traffic the last I heard of her. A protest was holding her up. Still might be. She won't be back for some time yet. Why do you ask?” “Ah, well... N-no reason. I just thought she'd be back by now.” Carlos looked around, and saw his phone on the table still. If she would just drop him for a few seconds, he could reach it and grow himself back. But Mary didn't seem to be in any hurry to let him go. Her grip was still firm, and while he wriggled a bit from time to time, he wasn't really moving much.

Mary snorted and put the shoe box aside, shifting in her seat. “You know, when Christine told me that you had a gift ready for me, I wasn't expecting it to be you. What? Do you expect me to forgive you stealing m daughter away just because you put yourself in a little box for me?” Was that what she thought this was? Carlos had bought her a gift, but that was still stashed away in his drawers. He considered telling her the truth, but he wasn't sure how she would take it, or if it would make a difference. Instead he gave her the best smile he could muster. “It was worth a try,” he said.

“Hmph! You stupid, stupid man!” Mary said and squeezed him twice more. “Just the shoes would have been a better present than your horrible face. But, since you went to the trouble to gift yourself to me, I guess I might as well make the most of it.” She held out her hand, holding Carlos above the floor. When she let go of him, he screamed and flailed his arms and legs before hitting the ground. To him it seemed a three-story fall, but he wasn't hurt when he landed, just a bit winded.

Before he could even sit up, a heavy weight pressed down on Carlos's lower half, pinning him firmly in place—a giant foot, at least as long as he was tall. Its heat seeped into his body and its smell wafted over him. Carlos struggled in vain to escape from it, twisting this way and that; when that didn't do anything, he grabbed the heavy toes resting on his gut and tried to push them away, until they curled over his stomach and emptied out half his lungs.

Up above, Mary looked at him with perfect disdain, as if she were looking at a cockroach that needed to be crushed. Despite his fear, Carlos couldn't help but think that she looked great. Carlos didn't know her exact age, but he knew she was older than 60. Even so, she looked like she was only in her mid-forties. Not because of any plastic surgery—she just took very good care of herself, keeping active and taking regular trips to the spa to preserve her beauty. If Christine aged even half as gracefully as Mary had, he would consider himself a very lucky man. She was still slim and decently fit, not bony in the least, and not very wrinkly at all. The red and white floral dress she was wearing really helped to bring out her figure, and so did this angle he was seeing her from.

Still, any attraction he felt was buried under the sheer panic of knowing that he was now at her mercy. Supposedly it was safe for shrunken people to be stepped on, but it was still terrifying to think that it might not be.

Mary slid her foot over him, until her sole covered him from head to toe. Just its weight alone already made it hard to breathe, and that was before she started pressing down on him. He struggled against it like a mouse caught under a cat's paw, but he could hardly move under all that immense pressure. “Scared down there? Well you should be,” Mary spat, stepping on him with so much force that for a moment Carlos nearly passed out. “You worthless waste of a man. I wonder if you know how many times I've fantasized about having you right where you are now—under my foot, where I could crush you any time I wanted.” She twisted her foot left and right, grinding him down mercilessly. Again Carlos felt on the verge of losing consciousness. “This is where you deserve to be—you and ever other man in the world. If I could press a button to make all of you this size forever, I would press it in a heartbeat.” Suddenly, Carlos's phone rang, and the pressure on him relaxed. Mary stepped over him and grabbed his phone, looking at the screen until it stopped ringing. Carlos sat up in the meantime and was breathing heavily. He thought about running away and hiding somewhere, but he was still recovering from Mary's abuse. Besides, he didn't want to leave his phone behind when it was the only way to get back to normal.

The phone beeped a couple more times afterwards, telling him that he'd received new messages. “Hm. Looks like Christine's traffic jam is clearing up.,” Mary mused, sounding much calmer now, and came back to sit on the couch. Her feet thudded heavily next to Carlos, and her toes slid over to his legs, holding them down so he couldn't escape.

“Oh, that's good,” he said. “I guess that means she'll be here soon.” Mary only grunted in response. “Excuse me, Mary? Don't you think you should grow me back for when she gets here? She'll be wanting to see me, I'm sure.” His throat felt tight speaking to Mary, especially after she shot him that withering look. Maybe bringing up Christine to her wasn't the best idea, but it was the only one Carlos had. “There's an app on my phone, you should see it on the home screen. It can grow me back to normal. If you could hand it to me, I'll use it right away.” “An app?” Mary tapped on his phone a few times. “Here it is. Hm. So this is how you did it, then. Well, let's see how it works.” Mary was smiling as she pressed on the screen again and swiped left. At once, the microchip implanted in his belly started to tingle as it emitted an energy field over his body. That gut-wrenching sensation took ahold of Carlos, who was helpless to do anything but watch as everything around him grew even larger. Mary's toes rested even more heavily on his legs, expanding until a single big toe covered his entire lower half. He was just three inches tall then. That was the absolute smallest that the implant could make him—and a good thing too. He was sure that Mary would have shrunk him even smaller if it were at all possible. As it was, she was already smiling wide at the sight of him.

“So, it really does work.” She curled her toes around Carlos and dragged him closer. “Good! Now you can be the worthless bug you've always deserved to be! I'll make you pay for taking my daughter from me!” She turned Carlos around so leave him under all her toes at once. The heavy flesh pressed down on him from top to bottom, and when he tried to wriggle free, he could barely budge any of them. The five digits battered Carlos with heavy blows, and squeezed him like a bunch of pythons. He tried to push them away, but he really was no match for them.

Mary laughed, and after a while she gripped Carlos with her toes and lifted him up. Her grip on him was unbreakable as she carried him somewhere else. Carlos couldn't tell where to with her toes smothering his face, but before long she lowered him onto another surface and pushed him along under her toes still.

It was the now-familiar smell of leather that told him where he was: in one of the shoes he'd bought for Christine. “Well, would you look at that? A perfect fit. I guess even a worthless man like you can do something right once in a while,” Mary said. She wore the same shoe size as her daughter, after all, so these flats might as well have been bought for her.

Carlos tried to move again, but the shoe was so tight with both him and Mary's foot inside that there was hardly any room. Even so, he kept on trying until a sharp squeeze from Mary's toes emptied out his lungs and put an end to his squirming. “That's enough!” Mary's voice came through a bit muffled, but more than loud enough for Carlos to understand it. “If you think I'm letting you out to see my daughter before she leaves, you can forget it right this instant! You'll get to see her only when I decide you can, and that's if I ever choose to let you! If you don't behave, I might just keep you like this forever!” Carlos lay perfectly still. He didn't know how serious Mary was about her threat, but he wasn't taking any chances with it, not when it would be so easy for her to go through with it.

“Now then, this is how it's going to go. In case you didn't know, Christine is going on a trip to Dublin to be with her sister. She's leaving tonight, and won't be back for a few days. If you can behave yourself and show me that you're not a total waste of space, I'll grow you again when she gets back. Understand? If you do then lick my feet like a good dog.” Carlos didn't wait too long before sticking out his tongue and dragging it over Mary's toes. He was kinda used to licking feet, or at least Christine's feet, after all the domination play they got up to, and had even grown to like it a bit. Even so, he wasn't expecting to find it so exciting when he licked Mary's. Maybe it was because her foot tasted a bit like Christine's, but after that first lick he just kept going while his heart pounded with a mix of fear and arousal.

“There we go. That's a good dog. Now just keep quiet and keep licking when my daughter gets here. I don't want to hear the slightest peep out of you, or I swear I'll make you wish you were never born.” Carlos licked her more vigorously to show he understood, and she wiggled her toes slowly, almost gently, over his body. Just like she told him, he kept quiet and kept licking, at least until Christine arrived a few minutes later.

As the car motor died down outside, Mary stood up, bringing even more of her weight to bear on Carlos. Thankfully it wasn't too bad there under her toes. The pressure eased up when she lifted her foot, but Carlos barely had an time to appreciate it as he was soon swinging rapidly forward along with her foot. He let out a a yelp in that brief moment, and tried to hold on to Mary's toes. When her foot came back down half a second later, the impact knocked his breath away and the clap of the shoe against the floor hurt his ears. He started fidgeting when Mary stopped at the front door, but a squeeze from her toes settled him down again. “Christine! Happy birthday, honey!” Mary said.

Carlos couldn't see what was going on outside, but from the sounds and movements he had a good sense of it. Mary and Christine hugged and the both of them stepped inside. They sat in the living room where Mary asked Christine about her day at work, and Christine complained to her about the traffic jam. At some point, Mary crossed her legs, lifting the foot that held Carlos way up off the floor and bouncing it wildly up and down while he held on to her toes to keep from bouncing too much.

“Mom, have you heard from Carlos? I kept calling him but he still hasn't answered or picked up the phone. He told me he was going to be busy until really late, but it's still strange that he hasn't even texted me.” When she mentioned his name, Carlos started fidgeting again. He felt so bad for lying to her about having to stay late. He'd only told her that so it would be a bigger surprise when she found him in the box, but now it meant that she wasn't going to look for him. Again he started fidgeting, then Mary crossed her legs the other way around, smothering him underfoot while she chatted with Christine and criticized him for not showing up, telling her that she needed to dump him and find herself someone else, or better yet, come back home with Mary. At least Christine sounded like she wasn't buying it.

He wished he could have told her what had happened, and maybe even go with her—at this size she could might be able to smuggle him on the plane—but she was gone before he could work up the nerve to try anything, and so too was Mary, driving away with him tucked under her toes. Carlos wondered if he would ever see his girlfriend again, or if Mary would keep him shrunk down no matter what he did.