A loud slap startled me awake. Once I realized where I was, I poked my head outside of Fulda’s belly button to look around. One enormous hand laid next to me, pressing into her abdomen, forming a curved, tanned wall with her fingers. I looked up the trench formed by her abs, and over the great black hills I saw her chilling blue eyes staring back at me. Her auburn hair was tousled and pressed down on one side, with loose bangs spilling into her face.
“We need to talk about last night, so get up,” Fulda said, and the whole world around me rumbled. It felt amazing, like my whole body was getting massaged simultaneously. I wanted to luxuriate in the feeling and warmth, so I remained curled up inside her navel. “Did you hear me? Get the fuck up before I dig you out.”
“I heard you,” I replied. “Don’t worry, we didn’t do anything.”
“I know we didn’t, otherwise you’d be a smashed mess inside me right now.” Although she was becoming more irritated, I did not want to get out just yet. Her voice making the world around me shake was too good to give up. “This is what I was worried about.”
I gave her a long, confused look and blinked twice. ”Pardon me?” I asked, resting my chin on the rim of her belly button. Even though she was ridiculously fit and a regular-sized person would be hard-pressed to find anything soft on her, it gave me ample cushioning.
“I’ll decide whether you deserve one.” Fulda flicked her tummy beside me, making a loud thud when the tip of her index finger slammed against an ab. “You think that just because I like you, you’re special. You don’t have to do what I say because you mean something to me.” She pressed down, deforming the wall around me so I slid partway out of it. “Let me make this clear: it’s a big world, and you are very small. If you make trouble for me, I won’t hesitate to end your insignificant life. If you defy me, I’ll crush you without a second thought. The second you become inconvenient I’ll smash you like the bug you are. Am I clear?”
With the whole world shaking in a surprisingly erotic way it was difficult to focus on what she was saying, but I got the gist of it. “I’m not sure you will.”
“Are you willing to bet your life on it?” Fulda growled. “Right now I could squish you with just a finger and I’d be cleaned up when I shower in five minutes when your puny, smashed corpse gets washed down the drain. I’ll give you one more chance: get up or be put down forever.”
From her glare, I could tell she was not joking. At the very least, she must think I was challenging her right now and would not stand for it. Sheepishly, I crawled the rest of the way out of her belly button and stood in front of her finger, using the slight overhang of her fingernail as an awning.
“Good. Pull that shit again and you won’t have time to regret it.” Fulda rolled onto her side, and I slid over her abs until the slide turned into a drop. I landed on the broad plain of blue sheets and she continued rolling over, then she swung her feet over the edge. They landed with a loud crash, then Fulda stood, and I felt utterly insignificant as I gazed up at her. She walked toward the door, muttering to herself as she went. “Lousy insolent bugs, thing they don’t have to listen to me.”
Fulda closed the door behind her, leaving me to think on what had just happened. There was no doubt that, physically, she was capable of smashing me. She was hundreds of times my size, and if nothing more than her finger set down too hard on me I would be splattered. I was no longer sure she could bring herself to do it, however. There were few people Fulda liked, and I could not see her grinding one to paste on a whim. Not only that, but there may be some influence from the Fulda who dropped me in here stopping her. Both Fuldas talked tough but seemed hesitant to do any lasting harm to me.
I was also not sure who I was within the context of this universe. Being its creator was meaningless if I had no control and was forced to live as my creation’s toy. More precisely, who was I to Fulda? She clearly had some relationship with the person whose life I had assumed, but the time before the story started was poorly defined and that could mean anything. Had we been friendly? Enemies? Was I her favorite bullying target? With all the changes Fulda had made to the foundation, anything I could base my guess on was useless.
Thumps from beyond the door grabbed my attention, and I spun to see it swing inward. Fulda entered, wearing nothing but a towel that barely covered her privates, then pushed the door shut with her heel. Long strands of damp auburn hair clung to her neck and broad shoulders, and her tanned skin glistened with remaining moisture. The whole room shook while she strode toward her dresser, completely unconcerned with me. While I would never tell her for fear of further inflating her ego, she looked exactly how I imagined a goddess should.
Fulda pulled out the exact same outfit she had been wearing the day before then slammed the drawer shut. I imagined every drawer was full of the same arrangement of shorts, tank top, and ankle socks, all gathered together so she could just grab it and go. Unless she was doing something special, that was what she wore. I had described it so many times that it had manifested as the only outfit available to her for daily wear.
She reached into the towel, and with a flick of her finger dislodged the small flap holding it together. The towel dropped to her feet, leaving Fulda stark naked. Freed from the cloth holding them together her breasts pushed out and dropped, her pink areolas bobbing with their bouncing. Though they looked enormous, they were perfectly appropriate for her frame – and more than capable of engulfing me. My eyes traced down the line of her chiseled abs to the strip of dark red pubic hair still far above my head. If she had been more forceful last night I would probably still be inside her vagina, regardless of my morals, though it was questionable whether I would still be breathing.
Fulda quickly got dressed, pulling the black sports bra on then sliding a pair of black panties up her legs. Her wide thighs made her work to zip and button her shorts, and she had to pull down hard on her tank top to keep it from exposing her midriff as it hung neutrally. She plopped down on the bed, making the mattress slope toward her when the springs compressed under her weight, and pulled her clean white socks onto her enormous feet.
The sudden change in landscape took me by surprise, and I fell toward the center of the temporary crater. I tumbled down the steepening slope, clawing at the surface of Fulda’s sheets for something to stop me, but my fingers slid uselessly over the stitching. Down I went, getting faster as the slope got steeper, until I crashed into the side of Fulda’s toned buttock. My body bounced off the rough layer of denim pulled tight against it, and I came to a rest against the gold stitching around her pocket.
From the thuds coming up from the floor, I surmised Fulda was putting on her shoes, no doubt the same lo-top Chucks I had described her in a thousand times. When she was fully dressed and shoed, my red-headed owner stood, making the distorted surface I laid on react violently to the absence of her. It sprung back into place, launching me into the air so that I flipped head over feet several times. Though it seemed like I was launched into orbit, I did not even reach the bottom of Fulda’s shorts, but my landing back on the mattress was still hard enough that I bounced several times before stopping.
Fulda turned around, and I gazed up her immaculate body to see her cold blue eyes staring back down at me. I tried to glean some emotion from her expression, but she wore a perfect poker face. “Lucky you,” she boomed with her voice of velvet thunder. “You wouldn’t be the first person to get accidentally smashed when I sat on them.” Of course, that was something which entirely avoided the question of whether she would. If Fulda were to accidentally step on me, her lack of intent would not stop me from being crushed. I had written enough endings like that to know an unaware giantess was one of the most dangerous possible forces for someone my size.
A soft, high-pitched squeak came from the corner, and Fulda’s head snapped toward the bookshelf standing there. “Speaking of people getting smashed,” she muttered, then reached a hand down to pry me away from her butt. Her index finger pushed me along her bedspread until I rested on her fingertip, then her thumb clamped down, pinching me. In a single movement she lifted me off the fabric and stood, making the world rush around me while a lack of blood to my head made me light-headed.
Fulda’s footfalls thundered against the floor as she walked around the bed, making my entire world shake along with the rushing pendulum sensation of her swinging arm. Everything came to a stop, punctuated by the loud slap of her palm against wood. She lifted me to her shoulder level so I could see. Below, cast in her long shadow, was a small box with two tiny people standing inside it. They stood transfixed looking up at her, as in awe of her size and power as I was.
“Which of you was that?” she demanded, and they momentarily recoiled from her booming voice. A flurry of squeaks answered her while they pointed back and forth at each other, lasting until Fulda loudly cleared her throat. “Typical shrunken cowards. As it is, I’m going to mash both of you into red paste in two seconds. However, if one of you comes forward, I might show some mercy and let you live to see another day.”
Both of their hands shot up, but one was slightly quicker. Fulda chuckled then reached into the box, seizing one of the men between her thumb and forefinger. He did not resist as her digits fastened around him, and his friend watched as he was plucked out of the box. Grinning, Fulda held the man up to her eyes. I could just see him from my vantage point; he looked almost exactly like an ant she had lifted out of the grass.
“I do like stupid shrinks,” Fulda began, “and you definitely fit the description.” A quiet yelp cut the silence, then Fulda’s fingers opened, releasing him. In an instant he plummeted down the length of her titanic body, landing somewhere by the tip of her Converse and getting lost amid the carpet fibers.
Her cold eyes flicked over to me and she boomed, “You’re a stupid shrink, too, but a trainable one. I’ll let you watch, so you can see what all this ‘no’ shit results in.” With that, her fingers around me opened as well, and I raced toward the carpet. In a blink I was below her waist and speeding along her thigh, then before I knew it I impacted the soft, white carpet below. It seemed like a long drop due to my minuscule size but it was over very quickly, and I quickly settled beside the white rubber of her shoe’s toe.
“I hope you’re watching, pipsqueak,” she growled. “This could be you next time.” The toe of her titanic, low-top Converse raised slightly, then shot forward so the sole was well over her victim. He squealed for a second before Fulda’s foot came hammering down and the diamond-patterned brown rubber sole completely engulfed him. I had often described a light crunch when someone got crushed, but if there was one, it was inaudible, drowned out by the immense thud of her foot.
Fulda raised her toes and I could see a small red spot where he had been standing. That was all that was left of him. A member of the universe I now dwelt in had been reduced to pudding beneath Fulda’s gargantuan foot. This was not some character I was writing about as a lark. Rather, this was a person, as far as I was concerned now, and the same could just as easily happen to me.
“What are you staring at, bug?” Fulda asked, and I looked up to see her staring directly at me. “Want a close look at my sole, too?” I shook my head no, and her mouth twitched to the right in a smirk. “Didn’t think so. Why don’t you get lost while I clean up this mess?”
I looked around for somewhere I could get to or somewhere I could go on my own and came back empty. When I looked back at Fulda, she rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. “Fine, I’ll get your little car down for you if you promise to drive it out of my room for a bit.” She reached behind the box containing the doubtlessly terrified student and pulled out a tiny blue car gripped between two fingers. Fulda knelt, then set the vehicle on the carpet in front of me before taking a single long step over me.
I slipped into the car and, once I had adjusted the seat, found that it was the perfect size for me. A set of keys was in the center console with the fob attached, so all I had to do was press a button and the engine turned over. The sound of it turning on was overwhelmed by the incessant pounding of Fulda’s footsteps, and even the door’s creaking hinges were louder than it running. After opening the door just a crack Fulda came back toward me, and the car bounced on its suspension due to the quakes emanating from every footfall.
When Fulda was back in place, I put the car into gear and started driving. It was much more challenging than I expected, and the car bounced back and forth as the tires moved from one carpet fiber to the next. As I was tossed about in the driver’s seat, I chuckled at the speedometer. It said I was going 20 miles per hour, but after several seconds I had just moved the length of Fulda’s shoe. Between the rough terrain and the car’s minuscule size, it was going to take me a while to get anywhere.
Five minutes later, I finally turned the corner of Fulda’s door so I could look into the hallway. She had opened it just wide enough for the car, so I carefully navigated my way through the crack and over the threshold. The instant I was outside of Fulda’s room the door slammed shut behind me. Through the rear view mirror I could see there was not enough clearance under the door for me to get back in, so I hoped she remembered to come get me when it was time.
The area beyond Fulda’s door was a nice, wide open space, with only a large armoire that stretched to the ceiling as the only piece of furniture. Aside from the one behind me there were two doors leading off from it, and a stairway in front of me and to the left. Any trip down that was sure to ruin my car and an excursion to one of the other doors was sure to ruin me, so I supposed the only option available to me was to simply drive in circles until either Fulda came for me or I ran out of gas.
Driving out here was even more difficult than inside Fulda’s room. Without feet constantly treading back and forth there was nothing to mash the long, thick carpet fibers down, and I had to carefully navigate around several of them that were tall enough to lift the car off its tires. I also had to go slower so that the constant jostling would be tolerable, and my makeshift goal of the armoire did not seem to get any closer.
Despite the complexities of driving a tiny car on mostly fresh carpet, I did eventually acclimate to it and settle into a rhythm. Without needing to focus on the task immediately at hand, I could reflect more on my current situation. Not only had I been shrunken and taken captive by my own creation, but she had taken control of this universe from me then plunged me into it. Was this Fulda the same as the one who had done that, or was she going to develop into the same person? Could I deter her from that course, and if so, what would it mean for me? It still was not clear whether I had taken the role of a person adjacent to her who already existed, or if she had created a role especially for me.
Thundering footfalls on the stairs pulled me out of my train of thought. I was a bit over halfway to the armoire, and whoever was coming up the stairs would be here in a matter of seconds. That was much too long for me to either press forward and hide in the furniture’s shadow or turn back and seek refuge inside Fulda’s room. As I considered my effectively non-existent options, the crashing footsteps drew closer and louder, signaling the shortening time I had to do something hopeless.
Another thump from the stairs, and a cap of platinum blond hair ascended into view. The ground trembled again, and pale blue eyes appeared just above the top of the stairs. As the earthquakes grew in intensity more of her face was revealed, and I realized I would be dealing with Gina. Of the two possible outcomes, I had gotten the worse of them. Knowing I needed to move quickly if I was to have any hope of escaping her notice, I pushed the gas pedal to the floor, and the engine roared to life.
Immediately the car went airborne, and when it came back down the front was partially embedded in the carpet. Tremors from Gina’s footsteps became stronger with each passing second, and I repeatedly mashed the pedal, pleading with the car to move. All I managed to accomplish was making the engine rev in vain. If anything, my frantic attempts to dislodge the car only made it more stuck.
The intermittent earthquakes stopped when a titanic foot clad in black cotton set down some distance in front of me and to the left. Horrific laughter emanated from above. Through the window I could only see up to her ankle, but I knew Gina was staring down at me. I tried one more time to free the car, and Gina’s laughter continued while it helplessly wiggled in place.
“What’s this?” Gina boomed. “Fulda’s itty-bitty boyfriend is out for a joyride in his teensy-weensy car? I never would’ve imagined it.” My only chance was to escape on foot. “It looks like you’re stuck, though. Let me help you up, then we can talk terms.” Simultaneously I unbuckled the seatbelt and flipped the lock on the door, then reached for the handle.
Metal squealed as the doors were pushed inward by Gina’s fingertip just when I went to push the door open. The car pitched forward and sideways and my stomach leapt to my throat when Gina lifted it off the ground. She stood, and in less than a second I had ascended hundreds of feet almost straight into the air. Her hand rotated, and I found myself between a pair of gigantic, light blue eyes squinting at me. There was no more hope of escaping this situation.
A vast, flat surface opened above me, cut by the wrinkles lining Gina’s palm. She lowered me onto the pale skin, and the car bounced on its suspension when she released her hold. Gina lowered her hand until it was roughly level with her chin so she could properly look down at me and grinned.
“Why don’t you get out of your puny car before I tear the door off and yank you out?”
There was nothing else I could do. The door creaked when I forced it open, and I had to push so hard that I fell out of the car once it gave way. I landed on the smooth, warm surface of her palm, and Gina’s hot breath blasted me when she chuckled. The deep whorls of her fingerprint circled above, and I watched helplessly as the tip of her index finger drew inexorably closer.
I began scooting on my butt toward her fingers and her smile widened. Gina’s tremendous fingertip closed in, eclipsing her face, and hung over me. “Come on, Gina, let’s be reasonable and- “
Her fingertip landed on top of me, and I felt the powerful vibrations of her laughter travel down her arm and shake me. Gina pressed down slightly, pinning my arms against her palm. “Such a small, pathetic voice,” she boomed. “Such a small, pathetic man. Hey pipsqueak: why are you so smaaaaall?”
I knew it was coming. Independent of whatever universe we were in, that would always be her favorite question. “I, uh, had a reverse growth spurt a few years ago.”
“Cut the shit, insect,” Gina shot back. “No one believes that moronic ‘reverse growth spurt’ story, it’s just very convenient to go along with it. Now, tell me why you’re so smaaaalllll, or I’ll apply just a bit more pressure and squash your puny body into nothing.”
Unless I wanted to sacrifice myself for the worst-kept secret of my universe, I had to come clean. “Fulda shrank me,” I admitted. “She did it a little bit at a time to make her story more convincing, but I’m small because of her.”
Gina burst into cruel laughter, spraying an unbearably warm fog over me. “My little big sister shrank you? I was just fishing for some groveling, but that’s way more interesting.” Her finger shifted to the side and her thumb set down beside me, and her digits lightly pinched together around me. She lifted me out of her palm and dangled me upside down between her tremendous light blue eyes, considering me with a look of mirth. “My gut tells me to ask her about this immediately, but I’ve got a better idea: you’re going to do everything I tell you to do from now on, or else I’ll tell her you let her secret slip.”
“You’re going to blackmail me?”
“It’s more fun than always threatening to crush you and gives me somewhere to escalate. If you don’t want me to though, I let Fulda know you told me her secret right now. She’s very understanding.”
“No, that’s quite all right.”
“Good.” Gina shook me from side to side and watched while I gradually came to a stop like a pendulum. “I could play with you all day, but we don’t want Fulda getting suspicious, do we? Or jealous.” She squeezed me, and I winced from the increased pressure gripping my body.
With a mere two strides of her unbelievably long legs Gina crossed all the ground I had covered in a dozen minutes with a car. She knocked thrice on the door with the hand holding the car, and an irritated voice answered, “What is it? I’m busy!”
“I have something special for you!” Gina replied, shaking my body dangling beneath her fingers. Muffled groaning came from the other side, then the lock unlatched and Fulda jerked the door open.
“Well, if it isn’t my little big sister!” Gina declared, and my eyes rang from the boom. “Looks like your shrinking is really getting noticeable, at least to me. You should start wearing heels a lot more.”
“Is this what’s so important?” Fulda asked, crossing her arms under her breasts.
“Aw, is widdle Fulda embarrassed that her kid sister dwarfs her now?” Gina teased. “Better get used to it, since Jess will soon, too. I think I’ll call you pint-sized. Wait, no! Fulda Fun-size!”
“I don’t have time for this.” Fulda went to close the door, but Gina wedged her toes inside the doorway, blocking it.
“The real reason I’m here, my incredible shrinking sister, is that I found your boy-toy and his puny car out here just now. You should really keep better track of your toys, or someone big and strong like me might break them.”
“Well, thanks,” Fulda replied, offering up a hand for me. “Though you did choose to do it in a particularly annoying way.”
“No prob, little sis!” Gina said with enthusiasm and lowered me into Fulda’s waiting palm. She set my head down inside the skin’s wrinkle, then released her grip so I fell along its length. Once I was settled, she placed my dented and beaten car along the base of Fulda’s fingers. “His little pipsqueak-mobile got a little banged up, but it should still work.”
Fulda curled her fingers over me and my car and pulled her hand back into her room. “And if you ever want to be honest with us about your shrinking, we can help! Jess and I still have a really nice dollhouse and the cutest clothes waiting for you.”
“Move your foot, dweeb.” Gina gave one big, loud laugh before complying, and Fulda shut the door after her.
Now that we were in peace, Fulda opened the loose fist with me and turned her attention downward. “Why couldn’t she have just smashed you?” she lamented, walking over to the bookshelf and tilting her hand so the car rolled off it. “I guess you’re lucky you fucked up so early, there’s still another shrink in line ahead of you.”
Fulda unfurled the fingers on her other hand, revealing the surviving shrunken person dangling between her thumb and forefinger. “I wanted to draw this out, but it’s a pretty good way to show you what’ll happen to you if you keep pissing me off.” She tilted her head back and raised her hand, centering the other shrunken person over her mouth. When she spread her pink, glossy lips, a chorus of high-pitched, incoherent screams started from her other hand. Paying his begging no mind, Fulda opened her fingers, and he immediately dropped the foot or so straight into the dark cavern below. Fulda’s lips closed behind him, sealing him inside, and a lump jumped in her throat when she swallowed.
Fulda looked down at me and opened her mouth wide, lifting and waggling her tongue and bobbing her head so I had a complete view of the inside of her mouth. There was nothing aside from great, sharp teeth, her gigantic pink tongue, and the dangling uvula over her gullet. She had swallowed him whole with absolutely zero difficulty. “There’s no better snack than a shrunken man, and I’m always a little hungry. You catch my drift, twerp?”
I gulped and nodded. “Yes, Fulda.” It was all she wanted to hear from me, and in fact, all she would allow me to say. Fulda pinned me down with a finger and spun on her heel, carrying me back to my too-big dollhouse.
She crouched in front of the structure, which did not even reach halfway to her knees, and lowered her hand into the house. Fulda took her finger from atop me and rotated her wrist, dumping me onto the floor. With a self-satisfied smirk, she reached to the side and grabbed the roof. “And I don’t want to hear a single peep or rustle out of you until it’s feeding time, got it?” I nodded, knowing her demand started the moment she said it. “Good.” She set the roof back on top of the house and it snapped into place on the walls with a resounding click.
My windows were filled with bulging Converse when Fulda stood, then one of them raised into the sky. A moment later there was a bang on the roof, followed by loud creaking under immense weight. Thuds emanated from both sides of the home and the walls shook while Fulda repeatedly struck the house with the toe and heel of her shoe. Her foot nearly stretched the entire width of the house, and I imagined Fulda was sizing up how many times she would have to stomp to utterly destroy it.
After a few minutes the banging stopped, most likely because Fulda got bored, and I watched her walk off toward the door, grab something, and come back to her bed. Springs creaked when she sat down on it, and I rushed to the window facing her to watch. She swung her long, powerful legs onto the mattress and slid her Converse off with one loud pop each, and opened the laptop lying on her stomach.
It had been amazing to see Fulda in action, and just as terrifying as I had imagined. She was utterly ruthless, giving no quarter to people whose only offense had been following her directions, and made it clear I could just as easily meet the same fate if the whim struck her. Yet, I still found her incredibly beautiful, maybe even because of her capacity to annihilate me with a single movement. One thing was clear: I needed to stay as close to whatever passed for her good graces if I wanted to live long enough to figure this world out.