As Judy and Aiden drifted to sleep in post-coital embrace, Paul steeled himself for another encounter with the man in white. His view of a man’s leg, all Paul could see since Judy fell asleep stroking him against Aiden, faded and he once more found himself sat in an immaculate white office. He was made to wait, but he didn’t mind so much. Just being back in a body he had some control over was great. He was in the middle of scratching his nose, something that seemed inconsequential, but was like a dream for Paul, when the spirit entered the room.

“Ah, Mr Mathieson. I hope you’re in a more agreeable mood this evening” He smiled and took a seat at his desk in front of Paul.

“Oh yes” Paul said, his eyes narrowing “Much more agreeable. You see I realised something today”

“I hope it was an epiphany”

“You could say this it is. I realised that you can’t keep me like this. People would notice I was no longer around”

The spirit laughed “Yes, well they’re not going to look inside your so-workers socks for you, are they”

“That wasn’t my point” Paul said smugly. He knew he had him. “There are people who’d be greatly affected by my disappearance. My Sister, my Father, my cousins. They’re innocent in all of this. How can you punish them for something you perceive I have done?”

“Of all the insolent…” The spirit shouted, looking angry for the first time “All you need to do is show some empathy then you’ll be back to normal. Just realise how your behaviour affects people like poor Judy-”

“Poor Judy” Paul spat across the Spirit “That bitch is a fraud. Why should I feel sorry for her?”

“You’ve spent the last two days as a part of her. Exactly how is she fraudulent?”

Paul had no answer, so decided to get back to his main argument “My point is, you’re gonna have to turn me back sooner or later or you’ll violate your whole ‘true justice’ mantra”

The spirit glared at Paul “it’s clear to me that anything I try and teach you will not penetrate your thick skull. I think it’s best if we end our relationship here. But don’t worry Mr Mathieson. I’ll see that ‘true justice’ is done”

The office faded out of existence leaving Paul in darkness once more. As an alarm blared out breaking any silence, Paul knew that he was still Judy’s foot. The spirit was trying to scare him, but it was no matter. Paul knew he was rattled, he knew the spirit couldn’t keep him here for long. He’d only have to endure a day or two more of this then he’d be back to being human. And when he was there’d be hell to pay.

Judy awoke slowly, rising next to Aiden, who was still fast asleep. He could sleep through a tornado, she mused as she slid out of bed. It wasn’t like he was due anywhere, he had the next week off after his business trip. Judy slid her feet into her slippers and put on her dressing gown and went to make herself breakfast.

Paul had experienced two days of this hell, but the first step was always the most unpleasant. It’s as if he’d been away from the floor for so long that being pushed back into it was an unwelcome good morning. At least he was back in the soft slippers which cushioned him somewhat. When she stepped on him with no protection it was like getting a close up on her gross carpet. My sight was mostly black, but as I was raised as Judy walked, I got glimpses of light. It mostly just put into definition what I was being pressed into. The original white colour had become darkened to Paul’s outline… Judy’s foot’s outline. He was not a foot… well he wouldn’t be for much longer. As the pounding finally ceased, Judy flexed her foot, allowing Paul to see where he was. He didn’t like being flexed, his whole body strained, but it allowed him to get some light. From an upside down perspective, he saw he was in Judy’s kitchen again. Her schedule was very consistent and mundane. He’s go mad if he had to stay like this for much longer…

Judy grabbed the toast out of the toaster and went to butter it. As she did her mind began to wander. For the last few days she’d noticed something quite odd. One of her feet felt quite funny. Not bad funny, but funny in a good way. Usually after a workout, she ached all over, but after her treadmill session the other day, only one foot ached. The other was fine and actually felt pretty good. Curious, she lifted the affected foot out of her slipper and inspected it, bending her knee so she could see the sole.

Paul couldn’t believe it, he was face to face with Judy for the first time since he’d become a foot. She was staring right at him, she must know something! She must see him as part of her foot, but all Judy could see was her regular old wrinkled sole. Nothing unusual about it at all. Judy massaged the foot gently with her thumb, hoping to find what was making that foot feel so weirdly good, but found nothing. The massage made Paul feel good, which made him more annoyed. He didn’t want to feel good like this. His mind recalled last night, when Judy orgasmed and waves of pleasure coursed through him. He’d never felt anything so pleasurable… He snapped himself out of it. No, the cons outweigh any pros of this situation. As if there were any pros…

As Paul internally argued with himself, Judy slipped the foot back into her slipper and finished buttering her toast. If anything, she hoped that the other foot would follow suit and take on the eerie comfortableness as the affected one had. She finished her breakfast and glancing at the clock, realised it was time to get ready for work. Going back to her bedroom, where Aiden was still lost to the world, and picked out a blouse and leggings for the day. It was warm out still, so she didn’t want to wear anything too thick. After she had put on her clothes, she grabbed her reliable old black flats from under the bed then set them in front of her.

As Judy lifted him up, Paul wanted to scream at the sight in front of him. Getting closer to him were the disgusting old flat shoes that Judy wore most often. They were black leather and had a lace bow above the toe section. Paul could see the beige insole was stained black where he was going to be in a matter of seconds. His face slid across the disgusting surface, the toes, which Paul was still not used to having as part of him, sat snugly inside. The walls of the shoe sealed against him entombing his face inside this toxic prison. The smell was repugnant, the mustiness of age mixed with recent sweat. Paul recalled being disgusted by the relatively tame smell back when he was human. What he wouldn’t give to be back in that situation.

Judy finished putting her shoes on and after a few rolls of the ankle, inspecting them was happy. She didn’t really care anymore about snide remarks from certain co-workers about them, Judy loved these shoes, she loved how pretty they made her feet look, from the cute bow to the hint of toe cleavage they were perfect for her. With almost a skip, she kissed the sleeping Aiden on the cheek and left her apartment heading to her car.

Being inside them when walking was even worse. The grime build up was awful and to make it worse, enough light was able to get in from Judy’s arch that it wasn’t just blackness he could see detail and it disgusted him. Unlike with the flip flop, he wasn’t dizzied by the outside world’s motion, everything was in focus for him. This was like the worst combination of attributes from all the other shoes he had been placed in. Plus, the sole of this shoe was so thin, he was hardly being cushioned at all from being pounded into the ground. He actually longed for the thick insole of the sneaker. Yes it stank, but at least it didn’t hurt him so much when he was pounded into the ground. Paul was relieved as he felt the world vibrate and realised Judy was now in her car.

The drive to work was uneventful for Judy, who was still musing about the weirdly good feeling in her foot. Unconsciously she flexed her toes inside her flats, making Paul feel stretched then squashed. Unknown to Judy, the action was actually collecting grime from the shoe and squeezing it into Paul’s body. Arriving at work, Judy grabbed her bag and left the car, walking to her desk. After some early morning chat with her colleagues, being relieved that Paul once again seemed absent, she settled at her desk and started work. She crossed her legs and started dangling her shoe absent-mindedly.

Paul was now staring down at the office carpet. The shoe he was trapped in for the morning was now hanging of the toes of his body. Paul tried to muster some will power, some control over his body to make the toes drop the offending shoe, but he was just a prisoner in this body. He had no say in how it operated. Judy then started to rock her ankle, swinging the shoe off her toes. Paul saw the horrible slimy insole creep closer to him as it swung freely. As Judy rocked her foot harder, the shoe smacked into Paul several times, each impact transferring more dirt from the shoe onto Paul. It didn’t do anything for the smell either, as the swinging shoe’s aroma caught the air and surrounded Paul. At that moment he didn’t know if it wasn’t himself that was producing the smell.

Judy switched positions as she tried to work out how to conclude her report. Placing both feet back on the ground, she plucked her feet out of the shoes and rested them against the floor. Paul could now see the desk that was rightfully his, if Judy hadn’t trapped him. Angry, he reminded himself he just had to bide his time. A set of man’s legs blocked Paul’s view, Judy turned to see who had come up behind her.

“Paul” She sighed “Sorry I’ll-“

“No I’m sorry” The man she recognised as Paul said “You might have noticed I’ve not been around for the last couple of days. I’ve been doing a bit of soul searching and I realised that I’ve been a jerk, especially to you Judy.”

“Er… this is a bit unexpected. It’s okay though”

“No it’s not okay. I wanted to think of some way to apologise, so I’m giving you the week’s holiday in California. You deserve more than I do anyway. I’m going to speak to Sanderson and get it all sorted out”

“Paul, thank you. I don’t know what to say”

“You don’t need to say anything Judy. I’m sorry” He smiled and returned to his desk. Judy couldn’t believe it. How had he had such a change of heart? Was he visited by three ghosts or something? She smiled and returned to work. It was a pleasant turn of events to an already good week. Now she had a holiday to look forward to.

Paul couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Who was this imposter! He was Paul and he would never give Judy the weeks’ vacation! How could nobody see that this fraud wasn’t him. He silently raged, still able to see his desk as the imposter sat down at it. The man calling himself Paul then turned and look directly at Paul and winked. He knew. It was at that moment that Paul knew he had lost. He would be a foot forever. He wanted to scream, but his now permanent home lacked the facility to convey his dismay. His world had ended. As Judy replaced him into the shoe, she raged against his fate. He returned to blackness once more.

Epilogue

The new Paul was a vast improvement on the old one. He was hard working, friendly and eventually got a promotion. He had become good friends with Judy since their heart to heart and even earned himself an invite to her wedding, following Aiden’s proposal during that magical week in California. On the big day Paul, with his plus one, a new girlfriend, beamed as Judy tearfully read her vows to Aiden. A strange thought came to her as she did so, she thought back to her foot, which had started to feel so good all those months ago. She realised that since that happened, everything started to go right for her in life.

Inside her shoe, her foot was repeating a mantra ‘keep her upright, look pretty inside her shoe, this is her big day”. It was unusual for a foot to have a mantra, however this foot wasn’t usual. It had long since lost it’s identity, it was now just a foot, a special foot, but nothing more than a part of Judy.

Somewhere outside of normal existence in a white office, with white furniture a man dressed in all white smiled. “Justice” He mused to himself.