The sun was just beginning to creep over the horizon, painting everything in an eerie glow as Ryan stepped out of his apartment building and into the cool morning air. He breathed deep. He reached back, pulling the door closed behind him as he started down the steps. He hoped he was leaving early enough.

“It’s Saturday. Surely she’ll be sleeping in a little today.” He said to himself.

His best friend Veronica was nearing graduation from The University of Akron School of Law. And she was in study overdrive. Ryan had decided the night before to sneak over to her place early and make her breakfast. He felt that she deserved a nice surprise to help counter the mounting stress of her upcoming final exams. He wasn’t much of a cook, but he’d do his best.

Ryan was 31 years old and Veronica 57, but despite their age gap, had forged quite a friendship. They had met online over a decade before on an internet message board for racing fans. And had remained friends ever since. So strong was their friendship in fact that when Ryan had hit a rough patch in his life a year ago, she had suggested he leave his home state of Illinois to come live near her in Ohio and try a fresh start.

Ryan took her up on the suggestion. He spent the first few months living on her sitting room couch while he found employment and got his feet under him. Once he had gotten comfortable, he found a place of his own. It had proven to be a great choice. He was healthy, happy, and his mind was as clear as it had been in a long time.

He smiled to himself as he walked, looking back on the prior months. He turned the corner and onto Veronica’s street. As he approached her house, he was pleased to see that the lights were all still out. She didn’t appear to be awake yet.

“Perfect!” He whispered.

He silently opened the gate that led to the side path off the driveway and alongside the house. He slid through, sliding the gate closed once again. He crept along the side of her house to her backyard. He tiptoed up the steps. As he reached into his pocket and pulled out his spare key, he looked at the dark houses around him. He realized he probably looked like a home invader creeping around like this. He hoped none of the neighbors were watching.

He slid the key into the lock and turned. He was as gentle as possible, trying to make as little noise as he could as the lock opened. He carefully opened the door and entered Veronica’s kitchen. He softly closed the door behind him. No sooner had he taken his first steps into the kitchen that something happened. A sudden, searing pain burned in his head. A sharp, stabbing wave that pulsed behind his eyes. He pressed his hands to his temple, massaging it, trying to relieve the pain of the worst migraine he’d ever felt. He reached out with his left arm, finding the countertop and using it to steady himself. He opened his eyes again but shut them immediately as the entire room began to spin around him. The gig was up. He needed help.

He opened his mouth to call out for help but before he could, he slipped into unconsciousness. He was vaguely aware of his hand leaving the countertop as he passed out.

Ryan awoke. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he collapsed, but some time must have gone by, because light was now streaming through the kitchen windows. And speaking of the windows, something seemed wrong. They seemed oddly distant. But Ryan quickly chalked it up to his eyes needing to adjust. He sat up slowly, being careful to not move too quickly in case something had happened to his body. He looked around and frowned. He was sitting in some sort of ditch. Or rather, a small depression in the ground. Dirt and debris littered the ground. A smooth tan bank sloped up gently all around him. He stood up, swaying slightly as he found his balance. He stepped out of the indentation and looked around, still confused. He was certain he was still in Veronica’s kitchen, but the visual data streaming into his head wasn’t making any sense.

“Am I dead? Is this a hallucination?” He asked himself.

He closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths. He then pinched his right forearm.

“Ouch!” He exclaimed.

The pain told him he was still alive. He opened his eyes once more. A lump caught in his throat as he looked around again to see the scenery hadn’t changed.

“Something’s very weird here…”

His voice trailed off as he looked up. A massive white structure rose high into the air above him. There was no mistaking it. It was Veronica’s refrigerator. All around him, the familiar furnishings of the kitchen loomed over him like skyscrapers. Somehow, someway, Ryan had been shrunk. The indentation he had been lying in earlier was nothing more than a small blemish in the surface of the tile floor. Without any way to scientifically measure it, Ryan couldn’t even begin to estimate how small he was. But he was tiny, that was plain.

“How did this happen? What am I going to do? How do I get back to normal?” Ryan asked out loud in rapid fire fashion. A million questions raced through his head.

“Veronica! She’ll help me! She might know somebody at school who can fix this!” He clapped his hands and exclaimed in triumph.

A small, nagging thought crept into his mind. Veronica had no idea what had just happened to him. Hell, she had no clue he was even coming by to visit. And even though the thought was incredibly amusing, he knew there was no chance in hell her first thought upon entering the kitchen would be “Gee, I’d better carefully check the floor for my shrunken friend!”

He tried to push the negative thoughts out of his head. The only way he was going to get out of this mess alive was by keeping a clear head and not panicking. His only chance of survival rested with somehow getting Veronica’s attention and alerting her to his presence. He looked around and assessed his surroundings. He knew his chances of getting her to notice him were slim to none if he stayed on the floor. He had to get to higher ground.

“Think, Ryan, think!” He said out loud to no one in particular. “You know her routine.”

He knew Veronica was likely to enter the kitchen after waking up and get herself a cup of coffee. After that, she might get some breakfast, but she’d likely sit at the table to drink her morning brew. And so, he settled on a plan. He would find a way to get up onto the tabletop and wait for Veronica to seat herself. From there he’d do whatever interpretive dance he needed to catch his friend’s eye. He knew it wasn’t a great plan, but it was the only one he had now. He looked in the direction of the table. The gigantic wooden structure seemed miles away. He started his trek across kitchen. The tile floor spread out around him in all directions like some strange tan savannah. Every now and then, he would pass boulders that he knew were nothing more than small rocks that accumulated on the bottom of his friend’s shoes. Ryan felt oddly exposed while he was out in the open like this. Even though he was well invisible to the regular world. But he didn’t know what might be watching him from his world. Veronica wasn’t fond of bugs, and she kept her kitchen clean, but still. Ants, spiders, roaches…anything would be a deadly predator to him now.

“Oh yea, coming soon to Discovery Channel: ‘Micro Safari!’ Ryan joked despite his predicament. He put on his best narrator voice. “Join us this week as our host flees in terror from a rolly polly!”

Ryan laughed. He found that being positive kept him moving. He was just beginning to make up lyrics to a theme song for his theoretical nature show when he froze. He could hear sounds coming from somewhere in the distance. He turned to face the source of the noise. The doorway to the hall loomed in the distance, still bathed in a dark, windowless gloom. He couldn’t be sure, but it sounded as if Veronica was waking up. He could hear what sounded like drawers opening and closing, and maybe a closet door. And then there was no mistaking it, a bedroom door opened.  He could see a mammoth black shape in the distance, coming more into focus as it moved in his direction. The ground beneath his feet rumbled, becoming more and more pronounced as her footfalls drew nearer.

“Well, time to see what I’m up against.” Ryan mused to himself.

Veronica stepped through the threshold and into the kitchen. She flipped on the kitchen lights, fully illuminating Ryan’s surroundings and revealing the true scope of what his best friend had become. Ryan was stunned by the view of Veronica as she towered over him. She was enormous. So impossibly huge that Ryan struggled to even take her entire form in at once. The irony of all the short jokes she had endured from him over the years was not lost on Ryan. Karma was indeed a bitch.

Ryan remained rooted to the spot as Veronica took a few steps forward, the floor now shaking violently as if in an earthquake. He struggled to keep his balance as Veronica pounded across the floor, finally being granted a reprieve as she stopped just before him. Ryan craned his neck back as far as he could as he looked up to his friend’s face high above him. She was looking around. Vertigo forced Ryan to look away. It was the same dizzying sensation one got when staring directly up the side of a skyscraper. A foul odor assailed his nostrils. The familiar sour smell of stale sweat. It was radiating from Veronica’s fuzzy gray slippers, which were matted from many years of well-worn use. It was probably barely discernible at regular size, but it was amplified many times to his miniscule nose.

Ryan looked up again. Throwing caution to the wind, he started to wave his arms over his head and jump up and down in place.

“Hey, Veronica! It’s me, Ryan! I’ve been shrunk!” He screamed at the top of his lungs.
Veronica yawned, a sound like a distant jet engine. She gave no indication she had heard Ryan. He continued to wave and yell, although he was quickly realizing it was useless.

“Veronica! Help me! I’m down here! Look down here!”

But his microscopic vocal chords would never be able to produce a sound loud enough to reach Veronica’s ears. She was totally oblivious to his presence. He was nothing more than a speck of dust at her feet. He watched as her eyes fell upon the kitchen counter. Her immense slipper clad foot lifted into the air and sailed over his head, and Ryan instinctively ducked. She stomped over to the counter and opened the cabinet, pulling out a container of Folgers dark roast and a filter. Ryan continued to watch in amazement. Something so large should not move so effortlessly. The difference in scale was astonishing. Every subtle movement was cartoonishly exaggerated to him. He watched as she filled to coffee pot with water and scooped grounds into the filter. She started to brew to coffee. She then turned around to face the kitchen. She scanned the floor. Her eyes even fell upon the very spot where Ryan was standing. He chanced a wave with one arm, but she looked right through him. She was only absent mindedly looking around.

“Who designs a kitchen and puts the cups so far away from the coffee pot?”

Ryan immediately put his hands over his ears and winced as Veronica’s voice exploded through the air like thunder. He had not expected such a sound to come out of her. It boomed and reverberated through the air, seemingly filling the entire universe with the sound.

As Ryan pulled his hands away, ears still ringing, another problem quickly presented itself. Veronica’s foot lifted into the air. He watched as she started across the room toward him again. Ryan started to run in the direction of the table. A shadow fell over him. He looked up as he ran and saw nothing but the bottom of Veronica’s slipper. He pushed himself for everything he was worth.

“She’s gonna step on me she’s gonna step on me oh shit oh shit oh shit!” He panted.

At the last second, he dove. Veronica’s foot crashed to the ground behind him, and the sudden displacement of air sent Ryan’s tiny body tumbling away like a pebble in a volcanic eruption. He slammed painfully into the ground, skidding to a stop. His entire body ached, a reward for barely avoiding becoming a small red stain on the bottom of his friend’s slipper. He lay, drawing quick, ragged breaths as he watched Veronica walk up to another cupboard on the opposite side of the room.
She opened the small wooden door and pulled out a white ceramic mug. It was emblazoned with the Akron University athletic logo: a kangaroo and the word ZIPS. Ryan couldn’t help but smile. Slowly, he pulled himself to his feet again. Veronica started toward the table, reaching out to set the mug upon it. But she moved too fast, and the handle slipped out of her fingers. Ryan watched in horror as the titanic coffee mug plummeted toward the ground. Once again, he found himself on the run.

Somewhere behind him, the mug hit the floor with an earth-shattering crash. Huge shards of sharp ceramic scattered in all directions. One skittered across the floor to his right, so close to him that Ryan felt the breeze. Then, another larger piece emblazoned with a large letter O hit the ground a few feet in front of him. He slid to a stop, his shoes skidding on the floor. He spun on the spot, looking up once again at his giant best friend as she surveyed the mess she had made.

“Fuck! That was my favorite mug!” She exclaimed in disgust, once again causing Ryan to clap his hands over his ears as her deafening voice boomed like a cannon blast. “And now I gotta clean this mess up!”

Veronica opened the closet door immediately to the left of the cupboard and reached inside. Ryan’s blood turned to ice as she turned around, her hand wrapped around the long wooden handle of a broom.

“Oh, this just keeps getting better!” Ryan yelled, panic setting in.

He ran as Veronica thumped across the floor toward the scattered remains of the coffee cup. He abandoned his plan to reach the table. He needed shelter, and he needed it fast. He made for the fridge. He knew if he could get under it, he’d be safe, as there was no chance Veronica would bother to move it to check underneath it. Behind him, he could hear the familiar scratching sound of broom bristles dragging across the floor as Veronica started to sweep up her mess. Such a mundane sound, but to him, it now sounded like a death siren. He looked behind him and saw Veronica making huge arching movements with the broom. He faced forward again and looked to the refrigerator in the distance. He was never going to make it.

A shadow passed over him. In the distance in front of him, a wall of brown slammed down. The huge, redwood tree like bristles of the broom head started toward him at alarming speed.

“No!” Ryan screamed, and immediately turned to run in the opposite direction.

But his view was filled with an immense pile of dust, small rocks, and ceramic pieces. And behind that, like a stealth bomber coming in for landing, the huge dustpan lowered into view, held in Veronica’s mammoth hand. Ryan was trapped, caught between the dustpan and the broom. He turned just in time for the broom to collide with him. Ryan saw stars as the bristles pushed him, the static cling caused by dragging up and down the floor holding him in place. A cloud of dust, invisible to the naked eye, made Ryan cough and sputter. Veronica effortlessly swept the remaining bits of clutter and Ryan into the pile and then moved the whole pile into the dustpan. Ryan was dislodged as Veronica lifted the broom and remained in the pan.

Ryan could only watch as Veronica stood up once more to her full, immense height. She leaned the broom up against the side of the table, and then reached down. Her long fingers wrapped around the handle of the dustpan and Ryan’s stomach lurched as she lifted it into the air. He lifted his arms over his head and waved once more.

“Veronica! I’m here! Please don’t throw me away!” He yelled, but she didn’t look down. Even if she did, Ryan was covered in dust. He probably blended right in with the rest of the mess in the pan.
The dustpan bobbed up and down gently as Veronica carried it to her destination. He knew without even being able to see. She was heading for the trashcan. She was going to discard him like a piece of garbage. Ryan felt his shiny plastic vehicle stop, and he braced himself for what was coming next.

He felt his entire orientation with the world shift as the dustpan began to tilt forward. He began to slide down one of the grooves in the bottom, slowly at first but gradually picking up speed as the pan tilted further. He tried anything to slow his descent, but all that got him was a painful burn in his hands. And then the bottom dropped out. He was freefalling through space. He barely had enough time to curl himself into a ball, hoping it would lessen the impact. He was fortunate though, as he landed somewhat softly on a discarded paper towel. He watched as chunks of the shattered coffee mug landed all around him. He could only hope one of them didn’t land on him. Fate smiled on him again as the onslaught ended and he hadn’t found himself crushed under the falling debris. He looked up to see Veronica’s face looming above him like the full moon. Her once friendly visage was filled only with contempt though, her face framed by her long gray hair streaked with some of its original brown. She frowned as she finished emptying the dustpan’s contents. And before Ryan could react, the lid of the garbage can slammed shut, casting him into darkness.

Ryan looked around. It was difficult to see, but there was just enough light bleeding through the rim of the garbage can to give him a basic outline of his surroundings. The landscape was a hellish looking mix of old bits of food, crumpled paper, and other mundane garbage. The smell was nauseating. Before he could stop himself, Ryan leaned over and vomited.  After taking a few moments to compose himself, he started to look around for a way out. He would have to try and climb the side of the bag and reach the rim. He was likely small enough to squeeze between the gap between the lip of the can and the lid. He searched for a way to reach the side of the can.
The solution presented itself in the form of an old plastic drinking straw. It was leaning across a gap between a discarded magazine cover and the side of the can. Carefully, so as not to cause a collapse in the ground beneath him and bury him deeper in the mountain of garbage below his feet, he sidestepped across the old paper towel until he reached the magazine. He clambered up onto the surface. ESPN The Magazine. Fantasy baseball preview. The memory of just a few weeks earlier crept into his mind. He and Veronica had enjoyed a fun night of drinks and player selections.

He could hear movement outside his garbage can prison. Cabinets opening and closing. The clink of metal. Drawers in use.

He crossed the surface of the magazine until he reached the straw. He tested it, making sure it would support his weight. It flexed a little but seemed sturdy enough. He was once again reminded of just how pathetically small he was, as he was able to walk up the straw like a great fallen tree. He was nearing the halfway point in the gap when he felt the straw begin to move beneath his feet. It was starting to bend in half.

“Oh man, I knew I shouldn’t have ordered Chipotle yesterday!”

Ryan threw caution to the wind and started to run for the opposite side of the gap. It was becoming more difficult as the straw angled upward, collapsing under his weight. When he reached the end, he was forced to take a running leap, reaching out and wrapping his hands around the loose plastic of the garbage bag. He held tight as the straw fell away, disappearing into the inky blackness.

“That was close!” Ryan grunted, struggling to gain a stronger hold on the bag.

Looking up, he was pleased to see that he wasn’t far from the top. One hand over the other, he gradually pulled himself up. He reached the rim of the can and with one last, desperate heave, pulled himself over the ridge. He lay on his stomach, taking a moment to catch his breath. He then heard the thump of footsteps getting close to the can again. Light blinded him as the lid opened once more.

As his eyes regained their sight, he watched as Veronica discarded the huge used coffee filter. She then regarded the can’s contents.

“Might as well just empty this now.” She thundered.

And Ryan watched in terror as her arms reached out, one hand grasping the far side and the other taking hold just a few feet away. He acted instinctively, knowing he had very little time. He jumped to his feet and ran at Veronica’s hand. He jumped in the direction of her wrist, reaching out and grabbing hold of a loop of thread on the sleeve of her sweatshirt. He wrapped his feet around another loop and held on for dear life as Veronica finished pulling the plastic bag free of the can. She tied the top of the bag into a knot and set it beside the back door. Wind whipped at Ryan’s face, causing his eyes to sting and water in the onslaught. The smallest of movements made the task of keeping hold of the sweater extremely difficult.

Veronica reached into the box of new bags on the floor next to the garbage can. She placed it in the can, then picked up the old one once more. She opened the back door and stepped outside. Ryan felt the warmth of the sun on his skin as Veronica strode across her backyard, swinging the garbage bag over the fence and onto the patch of grass between the fence and the back alley. She turned and started back toward her house. Ryan could feel his grip beginning to loosen on the fabric he clung to, but he dug deep and held on tighter. Even if a fall from this height didn’t kill him, he wouldn’t last five minutes in a suburban backyard at this size. Something would pick him off in a second.

He was granted a moment of respite when Veronica stopped. He looked around to see what prompted the pause. He saw that her neighbor Susan was walking up to the fence separating their yards from each other.

“Hey neighbor!” She called to Veronica.

“What’s up?” Veronica responded.

He could tell Veronica was annoyed with the interruption and wanted to get back inside the house quickly.

“Hey, I thought I saw your friend Ryan out on your back porch earlier. Looked like he was getting ready to let himself in. Have you seen him?”

He looked up at Veronica’s face. A look of confusion appeared on her face.

“No, I haven’t heard from him since last night.”

Susan frowned. “Oh well, maybe I was seeing things. It was still kind of dark.” She chuckled. “And this was before coffee!”

Ryan couldn’t help but be annoyed with Susan. He thought about a few hours earlier when he stood on Veronica’s porch. He had hoped no neighbors had seen him. But now that his life depended on Veronica getting any clue to his location, she was flaking on what she saw.

“Yea, well, have a good day Sue!” Veronica said and resumed her trek back to the house.

She stomped up the porch steps and reentered her kitchen. She trundled up to the kitchen table and rested her hands upon it. Ryan let go of his hold on Veronica’s sleeve and stood up on the table. It had taken a little detour, but he reached his destination in the end. He looked up into Veronica’s eyes, but she was looking in the distance. He could tell she was pondering what Susan had said. But after a few moments of contemplation, she shrugged.

“It can wait until after breakfast.” She said, turning from the table and walking to the counter.
Ryan watched as she pulled a bowl and box of cereal from the cupboard. Cap’n Crunch with Crunch berries. One of the few cereals he knew Veronica would eat. She poured some cereal into the bowl and then pulled a jug of milk out of the fridge. After topping off her breakfast, she returned the milk, pulled a spoon from the drawer, picked up her bowl and coffee, and sat at the table to eat.
Ryan started to walk in Veronica’s direction. She ate her cereal, pausing between bites here and there to sip from her coffee mug. Occasionally she’d glace down at something next to her bowl and interact with it. Ryan realized it was her cell phone.

“Her cell phone! That’s it! I need to get onto her phone screen!” Ryan exclaimed.

She was already looking intently at it. If he couldn’t attract her eye there, then there wasn’t any hope for him. He took off at a jog, finding a burst of energy with this new-found plan. After a few minutes, he reached the phone. A Galaxy S8 Plus. Thankfully, Veronica kept it in a case with rubberized edges. It gave him something to grab. After a short climb, he stood on the vast, flat surface of the glass screen. He decided to try and get to the messaging app icon. It was a long shot, but he might be able to cause a reaction on the capacitive display. He would try to type some sort of message to Veronica, to alert her to his bizarre predicament.

He was halfway there when the phone’s display lit up and an earsplitting musical tone threatened to shatter his ear drums. The phone was ringing. He looked down to see who it might be, but he was much too close to the screen, rendering the letters unreadable. Then he looked up. Veronica was looking down at the phone screen. He hopped up and down and waved madly, but once again Veronica stared through him. He watched as her huge hand came into view, her fingers stretching out around him. She grasped the sides of the phone and lifted.

Ryan was caught off balance but steadied himself, resuming his crazed bid for Veronica’s attention even as the phone rose steadily. But as it drew near to Veronica’s face, it began to tilt. Ryan stumbled and fell flat onto his back. As the phone’s pitch increased, he began to slide down the smooth glass surface. He tried to stop himself, but nothing would slow his slide.  For the second time, Ryan felt the ground below him give way to nothing but open air.

He fell, tumbling through space as the world around him spun madly. He shut his eyes tight to avoid vomiting again. This was it. Any second now he was going to collide sickeningly with the hard wooden surface of the table, spilling his guts all over his friend’s furniture. But it never came.

Splash.

Ryan was plunged into cold liquid. He tried to open his eyes, but they burned with a blinding light. He shut them again and kicked his legs, reaching up with his arms and swimming desperately in the direction he hoped was up. Finally, his head broke the surface. He coughed violently, expelling the unknown fluid from his lungs and drawing air back into his body. He wiped his face and opened his eyes. It didn’t take him long to realize with dread where he was.

All around him, rough golden boulders bobbed gently on the surface of the liquid, interspersed with many multi colored round ones. A sweet, fruity smell hit his nose. The liquid itself was white, and deep. Ryan had to kick his legs continually to keep himself afloat. An opaque plastic wall rose into the air all around him, like something out of Game of Thrones. He had just landed in Veronica’s cereal bowl. Panic seethed through him like a surge of electricity. This was bad.
And then he looked up. Veronica had slid her finger over the answer icon and moved the phone to her face.

“Hello?” She answered. She waited for a response. “Oh, hey honey!”

Ryan couldn’t make out what the voice on the other line had said, but he recognized the voice. It was Veronica’s daughter Sarah. His attention was returned to his immediate situation. He had to get out of the bowl. If not, he had just booked a one-way ticket down his best friend’s esophagus and into her stomach, where the acids would dissolve him like a tiny piece of meat. That is, if he wasn’t masticated in her mouth by her huge teeth first. Veronica looked down into the bowl at her breakfast. Ryan tried to signal her again.

“Veronica! I’m down here in your cereal!” He pleaded desperately, waving his arms over his head. But his tiny voice was swallowed up by the vastness of the bowl. He was little more than a crumb afloat on a sea of milk and cereal.

He saw it appear over the side of the bowl. The colossal spoon. It silently glided down and slid below the surface of the milk. Ryan looked around, wondering where it had gone. It burst up from below the surface of the milk a few yards in front of him. The turbulence created in the milk caused Ryan’s tiny body to be over taken by small waves in the liquid. When he surfaced again, he looked up in time to see the spoon vanish between Veronica’s lips. She pulled it out clean, the cereal crunching audibly in her mouth. He watched as she chewed and swallowed, a lump disappearing down her throat.

“Time to go!” Ryan yelled to himself, and he started a furious swim to the side of the bowl.

Above him, Veronica was engaged in her conversation with her daughter as she ate her breakfast. Ryan wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying, his focus squarely on his destination. The spoon entered and exited the bowl several times as he swam, causing more and more turbulence in the milk. His journey was becoming more and more difficult. Huge waves tossed him about, sending him careening into titanic cereal pieces. His clothes were soaked and starting to weigh him down, causing him to have to exert more energy just to stay afloat. Several times, Veronica just barely missed taking him up along with her cereal. He was getting close though. He thought he might just make it.

But the spoon was relentless. It splashed down into the milk somewhere behind him and Ryan felt himself dragged along in its wake. Veronica was using the spoon to gather cereal pieces together as they became more widespread as she ate. Ryan had been sucked below the milk surface once again in the turmoil. He surfaced again and was dismayed to see that he was once again near the middle of the bowl. All the progress he had made was gone with one quick flick of Veronica’s wrist. Exhausted, he took hold of a blue crunch berry, using it as a floatation device to keep from drowning.

“Yep, I’ll be done soon, then I’ll get ready!” He heard Veronica boom from above.

He looked up again. Veronica ended the call and set her phone down. How could it come to this? His best friend, a loyal and trusted confidant for years, was drawing closer and closer to ending his life. And she didn’t even know it. The spoon lowered again. This time it was heading right for him.

“No Veronica!” He screamed and let go of the cereal piece.

He started to swim away but it was far too late. The spoon sank below the surface, and Ryan felt himself being drawn backwards. He knew the suction the spoon had created was pulling him into its basin. And then it erupted from below the milk, lofting him into the air as Veronica scooped him up along with a few cereal pieces. He rose slowly, passing the huge letters spelling out AKRON on her sweater. She leveled it off at her lips. The spoon remained poised in midair for a few moments, giving him a chance to make one last, desperate bid for rescue. Veronica’s eyes fell upon the spoonful of cereal before her.

He splashed. He waved his arms feverishly. He screamed.

“Veronica! Under your nose! Your best friend is in your spoonful of cereal! Notice me!”

But there was no recognition in her eyes. For the final time, nothing he had done had made a difference. He was nothing to her anymore. Not her best friend. Just food.

The spoon began to move forward. Everything was happening in slow motion. Her huge, fleshy pink lips parted. A wave of hot, foul breath, smelling strongly of sour milk and coffee washed over him. Her tongue resembled a pink whale, glistening in the light of the kitchen. Her teeth, like orthodontically perfect stalagmites, loomed large and ominous over his milk-soaked head. In the back of her mouth, her uvula hung like a huge wet medicine bag over the black recesses of her throat.

“Veronica! Not like this! Don’t eat me!” He screamed his throat raw.

But the spoon passed through her lips like the gates of hell. It collided with her tongue, sending Ryan flying off and landing on the spongy, wet surface of her tongue. She closed her lips around the spoon, and the last light Ryan would ever know went out. It was pulled backwards, leaving its contents behind. Ryan could barely breathe in the thick, stifling humid air of her mouth. He felt the tongue below him buck like a mechanical bull, tossing him and the cereal pieces onto the bottom row of her teeth. Ryan accepted his fate. He closed his eyes and waited for the end.

Veronica chewed quickly and swallowed, the last of her breakfast going down. She picked up the bowl and drank the milk. She dumped the last of her lukewarm coffee down the sink. After placing her dishes in the dishwasher, she walked back to the table and picked up her phone. She needed to get ready for her girl’s day trip to the Ren Faire with Sarah. But first, she dialed Ryan’s number.