Jane impatiently tapped her fingers against the fine mahogany table of the woman she intends to interview. With Hal and Susie, her cameraman and producer respectively, in tow, they awaited inside the fabulous residence of the interviewee: Jade Zheng.
Jade, the eldest of three daughters to Chinese immigrants, now belongs in the upper echelons of society, being part of the under 30 billionaire group. How one might ask? She created and patented shrinking technology, and selling it as a home security measure, with much help from her businessman of a husband that she met while in Italy. If someone broke into your home, the security measures would activate and locate the threat through cameras. Once the target is clear, one of the many shrink rays will aim and hit the target, rapidly reducing their size to whatever percentage it is calibrated to. This would effectively halt any would be robbers or violent felons looking to cause harm, keeping them entrapped in the home until law enforcement arrived.
Once the security package was made available, thousands upon thousands of people signed up to receive the shrinking system for their own property, practically making Jade a billionaire overnight. But the one things some have asked is about her technical know-how to make such a technological advancement. Whenever she was asked in a confrontational means, she would deflect and move on to where she was headed.
Jane has consistently begged for an interview with Jade to get the exclusive, first full length interview with her since she became a colossal figure. After a staggering amount of emails, Jade’s secretary finally responded back, saying she will allow them the privilege of asking her questions.
The day was finally here, and the three of them were inside Jade’s penthouse. They were allowed in remotely, being given access to the empty residence until she arrived. That was two hours ago.
Patiently waiting turned to impatience after the first hour. The three sat around the luxurious home silently, with Jane’s rhythmic finger tapping being the only noise.
“We were told the interview was going to start two hours ago. Where the hell is she?” Jane finally groaned angrily.
“I get the sense from the e-mails that she in begrudgingly doing this, so I’m thinking she’s dragging her feet,” Susie said.
“That’s fine with me,” Hal hummed as he continued marveling at the décor inside the home. “I don’t think I’ll ever see things like this ever again in my life.”
“Neither will I, but that’s the price I pay for seeking answers for the truth,” Jane mumbled.
A few minutes went by without another word until Susie saw Hal messing with a small vase.
“Hey, hey! Be careful with that!”
“What’s the big deal? I’m just looking at it.”
“That dumb little thing is probably more valuable than all of us combined, so don’t break it.”
“Fine…” As he sat the vase back down, he was not looking exactly where he was setting it as his gaze was towards Susie. Rather than setting it directly back where it was, it was on the edge of the table, where it immediately fell and shattered onto the hardwood floor. The sounds of it breaking made both women jump to their feet, shouting in unison at him.
“Fuck!” he moaned. “Do you think she’ll notice it missing?”
From the other end of the room, a whirring noise filled the air as a little roomba came to life, making its way to the source of the mess.
“Woah, would you check that out?” Hal said, amazed. In little time, the roomba cleaned up the shards, making sure to not leave the most minuscule speck behind before it went back to its charging station.
At the same time, however, the home shrinking security device activated upon the shattering of the vase. The humming from the device coincided with the humming of the roomba, leaving the three journalists unaware of its activation, up until it was too late.
“Do you two hear that?” Jane asked. The noise got louder, making them all feel uneasy. The last thing they did was huddle together before pain struck their bodies, throwing them into a sense of vertigo.
…
Some time passed before they began to stir. Their heads spun as everything felt … weird. Different kind of weird. Stumbling to their feet, they were all shocked at what they saw. No longer were they in Jade’s extravagant living room. Rather, they were in some massive chasm where the end was out of sight and the walls extended easily a thousand feet high with a foggy, white atmosphere past them. Mashed into the corners of the walls was some alien-esque looking dirt. Various foreign objects were mashed together to make the amalgamation, and neither of the three could even guess what they are.
“W-Where the hell are we?” Jane stammered.
“I think we got teleported,” Hal surmised.
“… N-No…” Susie breathed.
“What? Do you know where we are?” Jane asked.
Before she could answer, Hal let out a guttural scream as he pointed upward. The two women joined in his screams as they too saw what he was looking at. High above at the wall’s apex, a large alien creature was looking at them. Its gargantuan head bobbed back and forth, perplexed by the three people in the crevice. It was like a thing out of an old sci-fi serial from the 1950’s as it looked like a giant, mutated ant. Its antennaes twitched and its mandibles clacked from high above as it observed the weird creatures below.
“Oh my gosh!” Jane gasped as she felt the strength leave her legs from fear.
“What the hell is that thing?!” Hal asked.
Susie knew. Despite them all holding the knowledge about shrinking technology and being in Jade’s home, she pieced together first what happened and where they were. She opened her mouth to inform them of their predicament until a loud, echo-y beep swept across the sky. That was then followed by the noise of a squeak with claps of thunder directly after. The confusion did not stop there as with each clap of thunder coincided with a quake of the ground.
“What is going on?!” Jane asked hysterically.
The sounds of thunder changed to inconceivable thumps with the quakes growing in strength to where neither of the three journalists could keep their footing. The alien creature atop the wall looked away, most assuredly looking at the source of the disturbance before scurrying off in a hurry.
Darkness.
THUMP!
With no warning, the source of the noise appeared, encapsulating the whole chasm in darkness as it slammed down unforgivably. The quaking rumbles were so loud that none of the three could hear each other scream in terror. The ground around them creaked at the mass above weighed down, making them fear that everything was going to cave in on them. And just as soon as it appeared, it soared off as it crashed down elsewhere, sending out a seismic shock.
“What was that!” Hal yelled as the intensity of the quakes diminished. Susie was starting to hyperventilate as she hugged her knees. She was beyond answering their questions as she was frightened to her core. Hal taking notice turned to Jane. “Watch after her, I’m going to go climb up the wall to see where we are.”
“You’re going to do what!?”
“Listen, I’m scared shitless too right now, but step one is to see where we are.”
“But the giant alien is up there!”
“I know, but I don’t think it can fit down here, so if it shows up, I’ll quickly come back.”
Clambering up the mound of muddy dirt at the base of the wall, Hal started his ascent upwards to the top of the wall. Only after a few moments did he regret his decision to act cool in front of the women. He wasn’t necessarily fat, but he wasn’t necessarily athletic either. But with whatever happened from from just a few moments ago, his body felt lighter than normal. With each imperfection, he clasped and grasped his way up the whole length. After twenty excruciating minutes, he finally finished his feat.
His jaw went agape as now he too understood where he was and what happened. Through the foggy haze, he saw Jade’s living room, but now at an incomprehensible size. All the furniture was distant and massive, stretching high into the heavens. In any given direction, he could travel hundreds of miles before reaching the end. And as he looked around, he saw a crumpled mass a short distance away, no doubt pulverized under the giant foot. Slowly, he approached it as he could not tell what it was. After closing half the distance, he saw the familiar looking antennae sticking out from the heap. Zooming out, Hal was standing directly where the ball of Jade’s barefoot planted, leaving behind a faint, moist foot print, outlining the contour of her foot and toes.
All that commotion was from Jade simply walking into her home. The thunderous claps were from her high heels before she took them off, and the seismic thumps was from her bare soles pounding into the ground from her soft steps. Also the place the trio awoke in? The tiny gaps between the floor boards.
“Holy shit…”
“WHERE ARE THEY?!”
Jade’s voice rumbled through the atmosphere before the familiar sensations of rumblings returned. From countless miles away, the Chinese women adorned in a black dress that reached down to her knees turned the corner to reveal herself. Her dark hair was parted from her bangs and hanging down to her ample bosom. She stood there with her hands on her hips, seemingly displeased that her guests were no where to be found.
Being a guy, Hal’s eyes were transfixed to her curvy calves. Seeing such a beautiful woman at this scale made him feel weird and fuzzy instead, granted at such a distance too, her form was blurry through a white haze. Thankfully for where his gaze was, not being angled up sixty degrees to see her face, he saw her large foot swing towards his direction. It woke him up from his trance as he realized the immediate danger. However, he traveled too far from the chasm that was the gap in the floorboard, and the gargantuan Jade was swift. Hal was still at least another hundred yards from the gap when the shadow of her foot enveloped him.
Hal dove for the ground screaming as her pale sole came crashing down. The ground beneath him buckled under her weight, dropping him down a solid ten feet. Shocked to realize he was still alive, he opened his eyes and darted his head up to see how. Finding himself directly between her toes, his gaze traveled up her long legs into the shadow under her dress. He shook his head, knowing he needed to prioritize his safety first. Looking ahead, her toes arched over the gap, allowing him to scurry back to the chasm, quickly taking shelter back in it. As he tried to climb back down, Jade walked off, and when her foot lifted, so did the floor, free from her weight. The sudden jolt upward rip Hal’s grip away from the rough artificial wood, causing him to plummet hundreds of feet downward.
The two women down below, who were sheltering from Jade’s colossal foot knock debris down under a toe nail shard, heard Hal’s scream gradually getting louder. They looked out just in time to see him crash land on the muddy gunk plastered along the corner.
“Oh my gosh, HAL!” they yelled as they ran up to him as he rolled down. Kneeling at his side, they put their hands on him to inspect his body and keep him from getting up.
“Ah, fuck…” he groaned.
“Are you alright? Where are you hurt?” Susie asked desperately.
“… I’m gonna be honest with ya *cough* I don’t hurt that bad.”
“Bullshit!” Jane blurted out. “You just fell down from all the way up there. There’s no way you can be okay.”
“Maybe, but here’s the thing: I’m still alive and conscious,” he managed to say before he coughed out some blood.
“Oh no…” Susie breathed.
“We need to hurry and get back to normal,” Jane said, trying to keep her cool.
Susie looked to Jane with widened eyes. “How?” she asked, almost hysterically. “Do you realize just how tiny we are??”
Jane closed her eyes and took a breath. “I know… But that really is our only option now. Surely she’ll be able to figure out what happened to us, and she’ll rescue us.”
The familiar sound of the front door opening halted their discussion. Claps of thunder echoed and shook the ground, no doubt caused by even more giant feet dressed in heels.
“Ah Amber, how are you?” Jade asked.
“Compared to before you patented that shrink technology? Thousands time better.”
“Can’t let my sister live in poverty, now can I?” she giggled.
Amber Zheng was Jade’s younger sister, who now works as her secretary. She is dressed in a snazzy blazer suit and skirt, with the top unbuttoned to give ease to her bountiful bosom. Undoing her hair tie to release her hair, then taking off her heels, she asked, “So did those journalists come at all?”
Jade crossed her arms. “No, but I could care less if they had.”
“Yeah, I know, but they just would not let up.”
From the chasm of the gap, the three shrinkees saw the two oblivious giantesses appear as they walked deeper in the penthouse. Their combined footsteps continually shook the ground violently, and as their feet passed overhead, insane winds roared overhead with a strong gust blasting through the gap, threatening to throw the minuscule beings around.
“For as persistent as they were, I wonder why they’re not here..”
“Maybe they chickened out?”
“Perhaps… Hey, are you missing a vase?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you have a cute little vase over there on that table?”
“I did, where the heck did it go?”
“Surely they didn’t show up and steal it, right?”
Jade crossed her arms and buried her forehead against her right hand. “I’d like to think they’re smarter than that. I could easily look at the security footage to see them take it and have them prosecuted.”
Back down in the floor gap, the two women perked up. “Did you hear that?” Jane asked.
“Yes!” Susie said ecstatically. Hal however was conserving his energy as the pain was starting to manifest.
Amber sighed as she inspected the room. She bit the side of her lip as she scanned the décor and floor. “Surely not…” she said under her breath.
“Hmm?”
“Let me go check the cameras for you. You take the chance to rest.”
“Alright,” Jade acquiesced, plopping her ass onto the couch.
Walking into a side room that acted as a security room, Amber pulled up video recording software on the computer. Scrubbing back a few hours, she sped through the footage until the three journalists showed up. She continued speeding through until she noticed the guy pick up the vase that went missing. Witnessing the fate of the vase, informational text popped up into the CCTV feed, informing the viewer that the security shrinking protocol had been activated. Amber felt her heart rate quicken as she brought her teeth down onto her finger. The anticipation made her feel warm, knowing what was about to happen on screen. In a flash, the three diminished rapidly out of sight. Flashing on the screen, it indicated that the shrink ray was set to 0.1mm. Her lips quivered as her free hand subconsciously slipped between her thighs.
“Oh… my gosh…” she breathed.
A few moments later, Amber walked back out to the living room. Jade looked up from her phone and asked, “So, what’s the deal?”
“Turns out,” she said as she turned to the roomba,”They didn’t steal your vase. That did?”
“So they broke it?” she asked in an annoyed tone.
“Yeah, and rather face the consequence for that, they fled.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Jade sighed. “They really ran away for that? It was a cheap vase I thought looked cute.”
The three shrunken victims residing in the floor gap heard all of that. They all looked at each other which terror washed over their faces.
“What is she saying?!” Susie screamed, jumping up away from Hal’s side, turning in the direction of the two giantesses, despite not being able to see them over the gap’s wall. “HEEEEEY!!!!”
Jane was right on her tail to stop her from trying to climb up out of the chasm. Just as she made it up the gunky corner, ready to start climbing, Jane grabbed her.
“LET ME GO! WE CAN’T STAY LIKE THIS! WHY IS SHE LYING?!”
Her screaming tirade stopped when she looked Jane in her eyes. They were full of sorrow and fear, and ultimately: acceptance.
“Why..?” Susie teared up.
In their current emotional state, neither of them noticed Jade and Amber walking towards them until Amber’s sole slammed down above, throwing everything into chaos and darkness. Bits of dead skin broke free from her sole, raining down shards that ranged from basketball sized to giant boulders. Trying to take shelter from the raining debris, they only got two steps in before Amber’s foot lifted, thus launching the ground back up with the three germ sized people. Flung into the air, the two women crashed down harshly, being pelted by bits of skin of dirt, and whatever else inhabited the gap.
“Well, if they’re not coming back, I’m going back to the office,” Jade said. “You coming with me?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right behind you. I just need to use the bathroom before I head back myself.”
“Okay, see you over there.”
Giving each other a sisterly hug and kiss, Jade slipped on her heels and left the penthouse. Once out of sight, Amber spun on her heels and looked directly at the gap the journalists were residing in. Intentionally slapping her soles down as she approached, she got down onto her hands and knees to look down on them, even though they were too tiny to see with the naked eye.
They all looked up in horror at her face as it took up the entire sky past the gap’s walls. Her dark eyes scanned the chasm as her crimson painted lips parted to show her white, sparkling teeth. Stray hairs slipped past her shoulders, careening into the ground and sweeping through the gap.
“Look out!” Jane screamed as tree sized hairs, densely packed were sweeping through. There was no where for them to run as the hairs bashed through unchallenged. Just as the thick fibers were about to wipe them out, the hairs were lifted out as Amber brushed it back. She did not do that to save them, she simply wanted her hair out of her face so she can see the gap better.
With that crisis averted, Susie turned to the massive Chinese woman, screaming and waving her arms. “YOU BITCH! GET US OUT OF H-”
“Fufu”
A simple laugh and light exhale was powerful enough to throw the two women to the ground right next to Hal.
“I know you’re down here,” Amber giggled as she brought her fingers together. “All itsy bitsy sized like this.”
The three looked bug-eyed up at her as her own eyes scanned through the gap, occasionally landing where they are. Amber’s big smile never faded.
“I know you really wanted the scoop on how Jade came to possess the knowledge of shrinking tech. Truth of the matter is that I’m the one who did. I never was one who wanted the limelight and the fame, Jade however did. So I gave the patents for her to create the business empire laid before you, just like the other scientists I *disposed* off just like yourselves. Can’t have others hold the knowledge now, can I~?” She cooed as her smile widened. “Imagine my surprise when you stupidly shrunk yourselves. You did my job for me.”
The three now ex-journalists felt their bodies go cold, even in the presence of her warm smile. That monologue answered what Jane had been after this whole time: How Jade came in possession of such technology and patented it.
“I can’t have people like… wait. You’re not even people anymore. Hell, I don’t think you’re even dignified enough to be dirt. Nope, you’re just germs at our feet now, living out the rest of your pathetic days avoiding our powerful soles. You’ll be dying to eat the crumbs that breaks away from our lips that ultimately fall down between our toes.”
Opening her mouth, she let out a light exhale, which one would be barely able to feel. From the base of the gap, the three germs watched as a wave of moisture approach in fear. Bashing through like a hurricane, they were all thrown around, battered and coated in Amber’s moist breath. By some luck, neither were thrown high into the air like most of the debris to suffer a fall Hal had earlier.
Laid out, feeling completely defeated, they looked back up to their goddess, who still had a wide smile.
“That is my parting gift to you. Be sure to not waste any of my precious resource.”
Amber did indeed leave them something. Groggily looking around, her exhale coated everything in a film of liquid. They shuddered to think about what they’d have to do to continue to survive.
“I have to go pee now before I leave you. If my breath wiped you out so effortlessly, just think what would happen if you were up against me in the bathroom. Ta ta.”
With another giggle, Amber got back up to her feet, slowly passing her sole over the gap as she made her way to the bathroom. After the closing of the bathroom’s door deeper in the penthouse, there was just complete silence. Spread apart from the breath storm, neither could find the energy or will to get up. What was the point? Only one person knew they were shrunk, and basked in her power over them. Even if anyone asks about their whereabouts, the Zheng’s hold too much power and influence. No one would even know where to look, or at the very least, how to retrieve them. Their fates were sealed when they entered the home.
The sound of a flushing toilet and subsequent sounds of water flowing through pipes broke the silence. The door creaked open and the floor quaked. Amber entered back into the living room to make her way back to the front door. This time as she passed the gap the three were in, she didn’t even look down or acknowledge their existence. Her sole slammed down nearby, and as her other passed by, they all got to look up her miles long legs, almost reminding them just how diminutive they were, living amongst the dirt they laid across the landscape.
Without even a snarky goodbye, she strapped on her heels and exited the penthouse.
---
One month later…
Or was it a month? The concept of time became an afterthought when the struggles of surviving were top priority. Resources were scarce, and their shelter was shoddily made out of a nail clipping and gunk. Thankfully it seems to hold together just good enough when a goddess’s foot mercilessly steps down atop them, viciously and carelessly causing mayhem to the whole landscape. However it is welcomed. Every time that happens, at the very least a flake of skin will break free and fall down into the chasm, providing much needed nourishment. And if they’re really lucky, either goddess will be sweaty, which would leave a haze of humid air, leaving a thick film of moisture like dew for the germs to drink.
It was the bare minimum for them to thrive. Hal managed to heal from his internal injuries, but is unable to move like he once was able to. Jane has taken over as the unelected leader as Susie has become mostly despondent. The only reason why either of them haven’t fully given up yet is to be defiant to Amber, who presumably thinks they’ve all met their end. Little does she know that they are surviving off of her, but that most assuredly make her hot and bothered.
Most recently, Amber’s sock-clad foot left a chunk of lint that was larger than a mansion. After a rough month, the trio’s clothes were tattered and filthy. Finding use out of the lint, they extracted loose fibers to create new clothing, despite how primitive it looked. The black attire now covering them was reminiscent of cavemen dressed.
The lint resource didn’t last forever sadly. As Jane was trying to extract more fibers to use for their shelter, the familiar humming sounds of the roomba echoed in the atmosphere. The whirring of the rollers and rumbling of the tires grew louder. She wasted no time to jump off the lint and run back under the cover of Jade’s nail clipping, just as darkness enshrouded the chasm as the air pressure took a drastic change as the robotic sweeper sucked all the loose dirt and lint into its bowels.
Once it was safe again to leave the cover of their shelter, they examined the changed landscape as most debris was gone or rearranged from the roomba’s weak suction power. It became a normal occurrence, but they couldn’t help but feel dejected to be such danger from a cleaning device.
The ground quaked beneath them, which was second nature to them, and they could tell both sister’s were walking in their direction. It was far too late to run for shelter as the seismic earthquakes were far too superior. Splayed on their backs, they looked up and either sister were on opposite sides of the chasm, stretching twenty miles high in the stratosphere, clothed in frilly bikinis, no doubt ready to go enjoy the hot tub again.
“So when did you say those journalists were coming over for an interview again?” Jade asked.
“I scheduled them for 3pm tomorrow.”
“I hope they don’t run off and disappear like those last three did…”
“Surely that won’t happen again,” Amber said as Jade moved on.
Moving her gaze from were departing sister, Amber looked down at the gap at her feet with a devilish grin. “Hope you’re ready for company.”