Vignette #3 - Podophobe

Marco breathed in the fresh air of the mid-spring climate. Drawing it into his lungs always felt great, after being cooped up in his cubicle all morning. Indeed, it was now his lunch hour, an hour that he could spend doing whatever he wanted before he had to get back to the grind.

Of course, the main thing he had on his mind at that point was getting something to eat.

The city streets were litter with people, young and old, and most of whom likely had the same idea as he had. In fact, some were already carrying their own food purchases, some even holding enough for a small office gathering. Observing all of this made his mouth water even more, even if he could not see what kind of food they had.

On his way towards his own food stop of choice, he saw two young, very beautiful women approaching from the opposite direction, both of them engaged in a conversation with each other. Indeed, they were very attractive, blond, lean, youthful figures with decently-sized busts underneath their casual Friday, springtime attire. In any other case, Marco would have definitely stopped to chat or even flirt with them; who knows, it could have been the potential start of a new relationship.

Unfortunately, there was one problem, and it was one he noticed right away when they were still rather far away from him.

Both of them were wearing sandals.

And even worse, they were wearing those very revealing flat thong sandals that practically exposed almost the entirety of their feet.

He grimaced as they approached, but he tried not to make it obvious; that said, it appeared that the women were so engrossed in their own conversation that they did not pay him any mind, and they bypassed each other without incident.

"Women should have more class than that," Marco muttered as he continued on his way.

Those two ladies were far from the only ones exposing their feet. One quick look around the area would reveal that many of the women--and even a handful of men--were wearing sandals of some kind; even some of the women in his workplace were wearing sandals of their own. It was as if they awaited the very first opportunity for warm weather to toss their real shoes to the side and don these lazy, feet-baring abominations. Along with the blazing heat and the swarm of insects, it was one of the sure signs that summer was on its way, and like the heat and the insects, the sandals were what he hated most about the season. It would only get worse from there on, and he'd have to endure it all for several months before all three went away for a while.

If it were up to him, he would ban all sandals in public, except near the water. And even then, there were water shoes that kept feet hidden until it was time for a swim. The more he thought of it, the more he felt that there was almost no excuse for sandals and flip-flops and the like to be worn in the public at all.

...But he was getting off-track from his real duty: finding a meal. He would just have to try to ignore everyone else's feet while he ate. ...Or take it back to his cube and eat there.

~~~

Hours later, night had long since fallen. After a long day at the office, Marco felt the need to unwind. Though he did spend some time at his apartment after leaving his work, he ultimately decided that his Friday should be more fun than just lying around and watching whatever he could find on Netflix.

He paid his Uber driver the rider's fee before exiting the car. As the driver departed, Marco turned his attention on the building right in front of him, known as JJ's House. Loud music could be heard from inside the night club, as more people made their way inside, some in groups of three or more. Marco knew that, if it was not already packed already, it would soon become all but impossible to get inside in a timely manner, and soon there would be a line, and a bouncer. Therefore, he hurried inside.

As expected, the interior was full of people, all of whom were mingling, dancing, drinking, and otherwise soaking in the atmosphere. The club was so packed that he almost felt like a sardine in a tin case; moving around was rather difficult without shoving past some of the people in his way. He hoped that no one took it the wrong way and started a confrontation; he had seen something similar occur before, and the last thing he wanted was some meathead throwing punches at him.

The DJs were playing some of the hypest music they could get their hands on, and the music was blaring so loudly that he almost could not hear himself think. However, his thoughts were not completely drowned out, and he had but one real goal in mind: to find a nice lady to chat with and see where the night took them. Looking around, he indeed would have his pick of the litter.

Of course, he was cognizant of the ladies' choice in footwear. Due to how packed the club was, scoping this out proved to be somewhat difficult, but from what he could observe, a good portion of the women were wearing heeled, strappy sandals; quite disappointing, he thought. Even worse, some were even bold enough to completely shed their shoes and dance barefoot on a floor that was undoubtedly stained with vomit or other unpleasantness. How foul; to think that there were actually creeps and weirdos who liked feet. How anyone could find those dirty hooves attractive boggled his mind, though he supposed that they were creepy weirdos for a reason.

Nonetheless, he made a mental note to not even bother with any women who had their feet exposed. If she did not have enough self-respect to keep her feet hidden, then she was clearly not the woman for him. He knew that that would greatly reduce his options--and there were times where he went home alone--but he had manage to succeeded before, and he knew he would do so again.

Before he would scope the place out even further, he wanted to get a drink into his system.

As he headed to the bar, his attention was caught by a nice pair of feminine legs seated at a stool there. Even better, these legs were donning a pair of brown wedge pumps. Looking upward, past her white skirt and brown shirt, he found a very attractive young Asian woman, enjoying a drink.

"Why, hello there~!" Marco said to himself in a rather enticing tone. To think that he would have found a potential target so soon.

Her attention was drawn elsewhere, particularly towards a tall African American man chatting with a curvy blond woman. She sipped from her glass as she leered at the man, though as his back was turned on her, he had no idea of the look she was giving him. Was this man special to her? No, Marco thought; he doubted a man would be so bold as to flirt with another woman while his girlfriend was less than ten feet away from him. Perhaps she was waiting for her opportunity to take him for herself? That seemed more likely, though it was clear that, at least at the moment, the tall man had no interest in her.

That meant that it was time for Marco to make his move.

"If you keep staring at him like that, you'll burn off the back of his skull," Marco said as he reached the bar.

His words took the young lady by surprise, as she turned to face him. "Ah, you scared me!" Then she chuckled to herself. "I guess I was making it too obvious, huh?"

"A friend of yours?"

She shook her head. "I don't even know the guy. I was kinda waiting for him to stop talking with that blond girl, but they've been at it for over ten minutes. I guess I should give up."

"I'm surprised that they didn't notice," Marco stated. "But there's plenty of fish in the sea. Just gotta know when to reel 'em in."

"Right..." She then started staring into his face, her dark brown eyes almost getting lost in his. "Maybe I'll toss my hook in your direction."

'That was fast,' Marco thought to himself. "Hey, you're a prize catch yourself. Honestly, I think that guy is missing out ignoring a cutie like you."

The woman giggled. "Yeah, you're right. And you're pretty cute, too. ...Though you're more my friend's type than mine."

"Oh..." Marco felt a big dejected.

She placed her hand upon the side of his waist. "But I'm pretty open-minded, and I'm interested in getting to know you." She smiled.

"Sweet," Marco smiled as well, pulling out the empty stool besides her own and sitting down in it. "My name's Marco."

"I'm Valerie," she introduced. "I wanna know, out of all the frankly more attractive girls here, what drew you to me?"

"You want an honest answer?" Marco asked.

Valerie smirked. "You don't have Yellow Fever, do you?"

"No, nothing like that. It's... Well, you're not wearing sandals."

Valerie's eyes widened in bewilderment. "Huh? You don't like sandals?"

"It's more that I hate feet," Marco answered. "They're dirty and stinky and look ugly. They're best kept hidden away from view, but sandals defy all of that. These women around here don't get it, but you're a pleasant breath of fresh air."

"Oh..." Valerie sipped a bit from her glass. "Well, I'm glad I was able to buck the trend. I mean, if I hadn't, we wouldn't be here talking, right?" She smiled, and Marco could see a hint of rosiness in her cheeks, even with the multicolored lights of the club.

"You sure did," Marco replied with a grin, before turning to the barkeeper. "Barkeep! Get my friend here another drink. I'll pay for it."

"Alright," the barkeeper nodded, before turning to Valerie. "What will you have, miss?"

"Another lime martini, please," she replied.

"I'll take a Guinness," Marco told him.

"Coming right up," the barkeeper affirmed before he turned to prepare their drinks.

Marco and Valerie kept chatting it up, learning more about each other and trading flirtatious remarks. Valerie even made a few jokes at the expense of the other women in the club, which Marco found rather amusing. She seemed like a down-to-Earth person, not a diva or anything of the sort. Even if he was "not her type", as she mentioned before, he could tell that she was making a clear exception for him.

Once they finished their drinks, they both moved to the dance floor and spent quite a bit of time dancing with each other to the club music. It seemed that they really got into the spirit of the club's atmosphere, as they were grinding on each other rather intensely, though compared to everyone else, they did not particularly stand out much. After some time, they moved to a back hall where their passions led to them making out with one another, with Marco pressing her against the wall as their tongues tangoed with each other.

Needless to say, this eventually led to them leaving the club entirely and taking their party elsewhere. Namely: Valerie's house, at her suggestion.

~~~

Marco laid on Valerie's queen-sized bed, his naked body trying to catch its breath after the sexual workout he and Valerie had partaken in. She was on the bed beside him, and as he glanced over at her naked, fair-skinned, petite body, he saw that she too was exhaling intensely. ...Of course, just hearing her breathing could have told him that.

As far as Marco was concerned, it was a successful night. He not only got what he went out to look for, but also found it in the very attractive--and very carnal, as he learned--Valerie. In truth, he only planned for a one-night-stand, but after bonding with Valerie, he felt that perhaps this could be the start of something more.

"You're amazing," Marco complemented. "I have to admit, I didn't think you'd be so... wild."

"Why's that?" Valerie asked.

"Well, you seem so tiny and frail."

"Hey, you can't judge a book by its cover. Big things come in small packages."

Marco chuckled. "Alright, that's enough of the clichés."

"You know what I find funny," Valerie said. "You left your socks on."

She drew his attention to his feet, where indeed they were clad in his white socks. Besides his size 14-men's pair, Valerie's own size 5-women's feet were bare, though he did his best to ignore that fact.

"Well, I'd be a hypocrite if I wanted other people to hide their feet but not hide my own," Marco said. "I don't even like looking at them. I even sleep with my socks on most of the time."

"Wow, that's interesting. Sounds like you're foot-phobic than anything."

"Hm... Maybe. But anyway..." He turned his attention back to her face. "I had a really fun time with you tonight."

Valerie smiled. "So did I!"

"Sweet. Maybe we could hook up again. Or go on a proper date sometime?"

Valerie stared at him briefly, before chuckling. "Yeah, we're going to be spending a lot of time together."

Marco smiled. "Well, alright then. I guess that's a date!"

Valerie chuckled again, and the two of them shared another kiss before lying back onto the bed. They were both in high spirits; of course, why shouldn't they? They had found a new potential partner in each other, and it was clear that this would not be the last time they would see each other. Marco was looking forward to learning more about Valerie beyond the bedroom. Who knows; though it was way too early to be thinking of it, perhaps they could truly go the distance, traverse the road of life together.

As Marco stared at the white ceiling of her dark room, he started to daydream all of the things he and Valerie could experience together. Yeah, call it hunch, but he knew that she would be the one.

Suddenly, a flash of bluish white light filled his vision. It took him by surprise; was it lightning? The weather forecast did not mention any storms in the area. However, what was even stranger was the tingling feeling his entire body was feeling at the moment.

Then, he noticed it: the room was expanding.

"What!?" Marco quickly shot up from his lying position as he nervously watched as everything around him grew. He did not know what to make of it; had he fallen asleep at some point, and was he dreaming? And how long had he been out?

"What's going on?!" He turned to Valerie, who had been very strangely silent during this ordeal.

He was shocked to see that not only was she completely calm, but that she was also smiling, even smirking. The every-growing woman was reclining on her side, as her right hand was stretched towards him; the tip of her index finger was glowing with a similar light as the flash that he had seen seconds before.

It seemed that she was the culprit of whatever was affecting him, of what was--dare he think it--shrinking him.

"W-what are you doing!?" Marco shouted to her.

She did not answer; instead, she kept watching as his body continued to rapidly dwindle in size. Marco himself became extremely frightened at this turn of events. What was going on? What was going through the head of this young woman who until then had been a pretty pleasant soul to be around?

Soon enough, the room's growth came to an end, and he found himself sitting upon the now gigantic bed which looked more like a vast plain than what it truly was. That was to say nothing of Valerie herself, her body now truly massive compared to his. The glowing on her finger faded as she let her hand rest on the bed, and she still had that same smug smile on her face.

"What did you do to me!?" Marco angrily yelled at her. "Change me back!!"

"Oh, Marco," she purred as she rolled over towards him.

He went to brace himself from her body's weight, but found no harm being done to him. As he opened his eyes, he found Valerie hanging over him, her arms bending at their elbows as they kept her propped above him, her dark hair hanging down from scalp.

"Like I said," she spoke, "we're going to be spending a lot of time together." She let out a sinister laugh, one that made Marco's heart sink in fear. All he could do was scream as her hand reached for him.

~~~

It had been hours; Marco knew that because he could see the light of the sun gradually illuminating Valerie's room and banishing the darkness of night. In all that time did Marco not sleep even a little bit; his mind was a whirlpool of emotions and questions that kept him up all night. Why did Valerie shrink him? What plans does she have for the two of them? How long does she intend to keep him captive? Will she release him when she's done with him, or will she keep him imprisoned forever?

He shuddered upon thinking on the last question; he had his own life to live, and he did not want to spend it trapped inside of this woman's home. He wanted to escape- he KNEW he had to escape, but how could he do so? The walls of the cardboard box he was currently being held in were far taller than he could ever climb. Perhaps he could claw himself out, though he would probably accomplish more to skin off the tips of his fingers than make any headway through the box.

Although he could not see Valerie, he could hear--and feel the vibrations of--her moving about the house, first as she got off of her bed and walked around her room, leaving and returning as she saw fit. His stomach growled; he had not eaten anything since before he arrived at JJ's, and he had already relieved himself inside of the box. He wondered if Valerie would feed him; so far, it did not seem that she was very cognizant of his well-being; if she truly cared, she would have fed him by then. ...Then again, if she truly cared, she would not have imprisoned him to begin with.

It seemed that more hours had passed before Valerie returned to her room again. He listened as her footsteps carried her towards the bed, the sounds of the tremors becoming louder with each step, until it seemed as if they stopped right outside of his box. He looked up to see the tips of her fingers appear from beyond the box and grip it by the top of the wall. He then felt motion as the hand pulled the box completely out into the light, where the now-clothed Valerie was waiting for him. The playful smile she bore on her face made him even angrier.

"Good afternoon, Marco!" she greeted. "You have a good rest last night?"

"Valerie, this isn't funny," Marco protested as he stood up. "Change me back and let me go home!"

Valerie shook her head. "Not gonna happen, pal. If I did that, you'd just tell on me and I'd get arrested. There's no way I'm going to go to jail."

"Honest, if you let me go, I'll just forget this all happened and we can go our separate ways."

"I don't trust you. But then again, if I didn't break for the others, why would you be any exception?"

What did she say? "Others"? "Wait, there's more!?" Marco exclaimed.

Valerie nodded. "Yeah, there were, but you don't need to worry about them. Right now, it's just you and me..."

She then reached into the box with her right hand. Marco tried to run away, but soon found himself being plucked from the box and carried off into the air. Still, he struggled and flailed about as Valerie stood upright and walked a short distance to her bed, whereon she sat on its side and released him onto the carpeted floor in front of her bare feet.

Yes, her bare feet. Marco could not help but look at them now, for they were massive. This pair of utterly-wretched peds were now big enough to completely overpower and destroy him; he quickly shook that thought out of his head.

"Now," Valerie said above him. "I bet you're pretty hungry right now, right?"

Marco did not respond. Or rather, he did not know how to respond.

"Well, I'll give you some food I have, but you have to do one thing for me." She flashed a devilish smile. "You have to kiss my toes."

"WHAT!?" Marco exclaimed in sheer shock. There was no way he would do such a thing. "You're not serious!! Why the hell would I do that!?"

"Yes, I'm very serious," Valerie replied. "As for why you'd do it... Well, you can ask those other guys I mentioned." She tapped her right foot upon the floor.

Marco's mouth dropped in horror. "Wait... You don't mean..."

"If you don't want to end up like them--if you want to eat, even--you better do as I said."

"Please don't!" Marco pleaded. "I'll do anything else, just don't make me do that!!"

"That's the deal. Either you take it, or you'll face my wrath."

"Please, can't you think of anything-"

Valerie stomped the floor with her right foot, the vibrations being such that Marco nearly lost his balance. "Do you want me to stomp on you?"

Marco nervously looked up at Valerie staring him down from above, to her feet waiting right before him, and then right back up to her face again, it wearing an expectant, serious expression upon it. She was not playing around; she truly wanted him to go through with her task, even after he had told her his own aversions towards feet. Or perhaps it was because he told her about them that she is demanding that he service her feet.

"Now," Valerie said with a clear sternness in her tone.

Marco winced as her demand struck his ears. He truly hated feet, with every fiber of his being; just the thought of putting his mouth on them made him sick to his stomach. And yet... If he wanted to live, he had no but to play by her rules.

And so, he slowly staggered over to the big toe of her left foot, his socks dragging against the floor, a sign of the little energy he had in his body, due to both his fatigue and his sheer reluctance in carrying out the task that Valerie had ordered of him. He truly did not want to go through with this, but he knew that he had no choice in the matter, not when the alternative was the gruesome end of his life.

At last, he finally reached her toe, it nail left unpolished along with the rest of them. After a brief hesitation, he forced his face onto the flesh of her digit, puckered his lips, and sheepishly planted a kiss on it. He heard Valerie chuckle slightly as he peppered on more half-hearted kisses upon her toe, his spirit clearly not into the act.

"C'mon, you can do better than that," Valerie said from above. "And don't focus on just that one toe, either. You need to get to all of them."

Marco kept going on, pressing his lips upon her flesh for slightly longer periods than his initial kisses. Once he was done with the first toe, he moved on to the smaller ones, doing the same with those, kissing its skin on the front and sides of it and even pecking her nails.

"Don't be afraid to go between my toes," Valerie said. "And how about some licking while you're at it."

It seemed that her task just got even more disgusting. Licking? Going between her toes? If he was his regular size, he would not have stood for any of this.

Nonetheless, he did as she demanded, not only kissing her foot but also licking her skin as well. Like with the kissing, he started with weak taps with the tip of his tongue, until he worked up the nerve to lap upon her foot like a dog happy to see its owner. He squeezed between her gigantic toes and worked the flesh within. Tried as he might, his nostrils also pulled in the slight odor of her foot, and in combination with his acts, he felt his stomach churning. He did what he could to keep whatever was inside down.

One-by-one, he slowly worked on each of her left foot's digits, until he finished with her smallest toe at the end. Then, he half-heartedly ran over to her other foot, starting with its big toe, where the process began anew with Marco kissing and licking on and between each of her right foot's toes. All the while, Valerie giggled at this display and even occasionally wiggled her toes, perhaps to make his task even more difficult than it was. Marco of course hated everything about this, hated that he was forced into doing such a lowly task that no one but those foot-freaks enjoyed, and he hated Valerie for making him do it.

Finally, after a long and arduous spell, he completed his literal lip-service of her right pinky toe, completing the disgusting task that he had forced upon him. He back away from her foot and fell onto his bottom, the fibers of the carpet directly touching his bare skin. He fought to catch his breath while he tried to endure the taste of her skin that was stuck on his tongue. All the while, he shot her a furious look with his eyes, his mind still coming to terms with the fact that he was made to do such a nauseating chore.

"Not bad," Valerie said as she looked down on her feet, its toes somewhat damp with his saliva. "But... You missed a spot." She pointed towards her right foot. "Right there between my toes. Go on."

Marco grunted as he stood up and once again pulled himself over to her foot. He moved in between her right foot's big and second toes and began to kiss and lick the skin once more.

Suddenly, the digits clamped onto his body and lifted him up into the air.

"Wait, what are you doing!?" Marco cried out to Valerie, whose mouth was curved into an amused half-smile. He tried to pull himself out from her grip, but the pressure upon his body started to increase.

Soon, he started to scream out in pain as her toes squeezed his tiny body a bit more tightly than before. It was extremely painful; he could even feel his ribs bending under the pressure. Was she going to kill him after all? Even after the torment he had been through before? This woman, Valerie, was clearly out of her mind, a true psychopath who took joy in the pain of others. More than ever, he regretted speaking with her at all at JJ's the night before.

Mercifully, however, her hold soon weakened, and then her toes separated enough so that he freely fell down between them, plummeting towards the floor. However, rather than the soft carpet, he hit a hard surface; seeing the cardboard walls from before revealed that she had dropped him back into his cardboard box prison.

Marco clutched his torso in an attempt to nurse the aching pain he was feeling, as Valerie stood back up and stood over the box, looking right back down at him. This was the first time he had seen her from her full height at ground level, and it was a terrifying sight indeed. This truly was a woman who could have easily ended him like he was nothing but a bug at her feet.

"Alright, I think that's enough for now," Valerie said. "As promised, I'm gonna get you some food and some water. Hope you like ham and bread, because that's what's on the menu." She giggled.

Marco did nothing but glare at her with clear hatred in his watery eyes.

"So hang tight, and I'll be back with your meal." With that, she departed, her tremor-like footsteps becoming weaker as she ventured further from her room.

Marco remained on the ground, his body aching and his ego bruised. He still could not fully wrap his head around what was happening. How could this happen to him? How could this happen to anyone? Did he have any hope of returning to his own life? Or would his life end within the walls of her house?

His stomach growled in hunger. Perhaps food would provide a little of a reprieve from this nightmare. However, he still bore the aftertaste of Valerie's feet on his tongue. How could he choke down the food when the memory of the foul ordeal he had been through was still fresh in his mind? And would it be the last time he would have to orally service her feet? More than likely not, he determined; she could be coming up with even worse tasks at that very moment. Thinking about being so close to her feet over and over again made him sick, even physically. Before, he had to force what little was in his gut from coming up and spewing all over while he was kissing and licking Valerie's feet, and he fought hard to keep it down.

...But it seemed that that internal upheaval had returned, and this time he had not the strength to fight it.

And so, he allowed himself to vomit onto the cardboard floor.



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