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    "Stupid bug!" came Gloria's furious cry.

    Robin got up from his desk chair and peered at her from his bedroom door, which was down the apartment's long neck of a hall.

    Gloria was by the front door, having just returned from work. Her focus was not on him, but rather she glared at something beneath her on the ground.

    With one hand on the wall to steady herself, Gloria lifted her leg. She unzipped her boot, and hurriedly removed it. Then she stripped her foot of the sock that she wore.

    Wham!

    Gloria stomped barefoot on whatever insect had earned her ire.

    "Whoa," Robin exclaimed. He chuckled nervously.

    Gloria glared over at him. The fire in her eyes faded in the seconds that followed.

    "Why did you take your shoe off?"

    "I didn't want to muck up my boot," the woman said as she limped by him, waddling on her one heel. "Or mess up my sock. I need to clean my foot. Would you wipe the floor, dear?"

    Robin got a tissue to dispose of the bug.

    He stared at it. He could not even tell what kind of insect it had been. It was large, like a roach, but completely splattered.

    "Wow, you really murdered it."

    Down the hall, in the bathroom, Gloria laughed and posed—her hands became claws, as if she was Godzilla. "I'm a giant killing machine!"

    Robin laughed. "Oh, I hope we always live together."

    He lowered his hand to wipe up the bug's remains.

    That was when he noticed how its smushed corpse was in a sweaty imprint of Gloria's sole: an elegant curve, and five round little toes.

 

///

 

    Gloria patted Robin's head as he cried on her shoulder. "There; there."

    "I know it's a good thing. I know it's a good thing," he repeated between sobs.

    "It'll be okay."

    "I'll miss you so much. Too much."

    "Shh."

    "You're my best friend, Gloria."

    She squeezed him. "Let me get you more tissues."

 

///

 

    At his desk, Robin wrote a letter.

    He drew a heart at the bottom of it, signed his name under the words, "I love you with all my heart."

    Next to the piece of paper was a small coffin-shaped box, and two pills: one large and green, one small and orange.

 

///

 

    "Robin!" Gloria called. "Would you help me with my bags, dear?"

    Gloria frowned and poked her head out from her bedroom door.

    "Robin?"

    The woman patrolled the apartment.

    She sighed, and pulled out her phone.

    "So sorry to miss you," she messaged him. "I've got to go! Thank you for last night. I'll miss you. Come visit me soon, okay?"

 

///

 

    Highways lined the landscape like a spider's web.

    Long rows of palm trees swayed in the sun.

    "You're going to break your nose if you keep your face pressed against the window like that."

    Gloria turned and grinned at the woman, red-nosed.

    The woman raised an eyebrow. "You on vacation?"

    "No. It's a totally fresh start!"

 

///

 

    "What the hell?"

    There was an odd little coffin-shaped box in Gloria's suitcase.

    Taped to its lid was a folded piece of paper.

    She peeled it off, opened it up, saw it was a note—her eyes narrowed.

 

    My dearest Gloria,

    The years that we lived together have been the best years of my life. Your presence, and influence, have made me a better human being. You opened my mind and my eyes to so many things. I'll forever be in your debt. Every day, I can't help but be struck by all the ways I'll miss you, once you've left. Your wonderful laugh. The way when you're so happy you can't help it, you smile powerfully with all your teeth.

 

    Her eyes skipped downward.   

 

    Despite how hard I took it, I really am elated that you've landed this new job. I know that you've been ready for a fresh start for a while. I hope this new adventure that you're embarking on is everything that you hope for and more.

 

    And down.

 

    But... I could not bear the thought of being left behind. And you'll still need a roommate, after all! So, I did something rather rash.

    Inside this box, I'm waiting for you. I took a shrinking pill. You'll also find a small orange pill that will—

 

    Gloria slowly crumpled the page in her hand until it was a crinkled little ball. She tossed it onto the tiled floor of her new kitchen.

    She reached for the coffin.

    Removed its lid.

    Inside, an inch tall, was Robin.

    Gloria let the box lower with her falling hands—heavy sigh.

    She raised the coffin again. He was nestled there inside a nook carved into some foam molding, and wore a pair of plain white boxers like a doll might.

    "What are you doing here," she demanded.

     His tiny mouth moved.

    "I can't hear you," Gloria growled.

    Robin's lips trembled.

    "Does anyone else know you did this?"

    His little head shook.

     Gloria stared at Robin. . .

     The tiny man pointed toward the small orange pill that was tucked away in another compartment carved into the foam. He needed her help to retrieve it.

    Gloria stared at Robin—

     She lowered the box down to the floor, in front of her booted feet.

     Robin tumbled onto the tile.

    Near him, the orange sliver fell. He went for it.

     Gloria pressed her finger onto it, felt the pill stick to her flesh. She flicked it elsewhere in the room and lost sight of it.

     Robin gazed up at her, mouth agape.

    With one hand against the kitchen wall to balance herself, Gloria raised her leg. She unzipped her boot, and unhurriedly removed it. Then she stripped her foot of the sock that she wore.

     Gloria's bared foot hovered over Robin.

    He stared up at her with fear: from his inch-tall perspective, Gloria was a proper colossus; a deep frown turned down the corners of her lips; her huge sole was red and damp; her shining eyes did not blink.

     Robin shrieked and tried to run.

     Gloria laughed and aimed her toes at him; she pushed him over onto his front.

     He rolled over onto his back.

     Gloria's big toe settled onto Robin's stomach, pinned him. The toe flexed—

     Robin's hips crackled and flattened; dark crimson oozed around Gloria's toe.

     A long line of red squirted from Robin's mouth in an arc, as if he was a quirky fountain's spitting statue.

     Gloria's toe lifted, revealed the tiny man's pancaked midriff and waist. His limbs weakly squirmed; he gurgled; blood pumped out of Robin's mouth down his chin and chest, and pooled around his squished center.

     Gloria's bare foot hovered over Robin.

     He stared up at her with mortal terror: all of Gloria's teeth were revealed by her big, laughing grin; her smiling eyes bored into him.

    Dots and strings of lint spotted her rose-hued sole, he noticed, as it lowered and expanded in his vision.

     Until it filled his vision. . .

     A sharp socky stink clogged his nose. . .

     Heat. . .

     A blanket of hot, wet flesh. . .

     Soft. . .

     Firm—

     A malleable shape flattened under Gloria's bare foot, as all the hard bits inside of the bug-person shattered; all that crackling bone spawned pleasurable ripples across her sole, in waves.

     Gloria lifted her foot.

     That was when she noticed how Robin's smushed corpse was in the center of a sweaty imprint the shape of her sole: an elegant curve, and five round little toes.



Chapter End Notes:

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