Toetally a pebble *short story*

Michael felt like he couldn't breathe.

He was sealed within some form of dark, damp prison, with a powerful odor that seemed to assault his respiratory system relentlessly. It was pitch black, to the point that Michael occasionally couldn't tell if his eyes were open or shut.

His body was unable to move, on account of the heavy object that rested upon him. At some point in time earlier that day, the heavy object had pound his body to the point that he'd fainted from the trauma. Currently, however, it remained fairly static above him. Occasionally it would shift around a bit but these gentle movements were welcome when compared to the more volatile ones from before.

With nothing else to do, Michael began to wonder how many others had been in the same exact predicament he currently found himself in.

That is, being trapped within a woman's shoe. At the very least, he imagined that any one else unlucky enough to find themself imprisoned within a shoe would feel terrified. This however, did not entirely hold true for him.

There was something about being tiny that he always found enthralling, and that opinion was unaffected by the current situation. In fact, this predicament wasn't too bad at all in his mind. The idea that things that once seemed trivial and mundane now dwarfed him not only in size, but also in importance, was fascinating. Though, to be fair, the same idea was also very much completely dehumanizing and humiliating. However, despite the existential crisis brought upon by this shift in perspective, Michael found himself still enjoying the experience for the most part. The object above him, his captor's sock clad foot, began to push down slightly more upon his body. Wincing at the increase in pressure, Michael held his breath as the enormous toes atop him curled. They held a tight grip upon his body, then released him.


Above, the owner of said foot, Marissa Kim, sat in a desk, a laptop out in front of her. The young woman was in the middle of a lecture, and had been slowly falling asleep. Her subconscious toe scrunching was of no consequence for her, but almost sealed the fate of the tiny passenger in her shoe.

It didn't take much to crush a shrunken person. Especially when that person is stuffed inside of a sneaker, and forced to endure the weight of a full sized human as they walked and ran about all day. The only reason Michael was not already ground to a dark red paste in Marissa's shoe was because he'd been laying under her toes.

Upon each step, comparative tons of pressure would be placed upon the ball and heel of her foot. Had Michael been in either location, he'd have been a goner for sure. Marissa's toes however, are arched slightly, creating a small area where he could fit beneath them. This location was not completely ideal either though. At any moment, she could apply pressure to that part of her foot and crush him under her toes. For now though, Michael seemed to be safe, aside from the unexpected toe scrunch a few moments ago.

Movement again.

"I spoke too soon!” Michael thought, as the gargantuan digits once again curled around him.

They seemed to scrunch together even more than last time, scraping the tiny young man's face against the fabric of Marissa's sock, and cutting off circulation to his limbs.

"W-what's going on?” He thought. "Has she finally noticed me?

Marissa had in fact, not noticed the puny passenger. Despite her usual penchant for downsizing and dispatching of individuals, Michael's situation was no fault of hers. Being so fascinated by the shift in perspective that accompanied shrinking one's self, Michael had done so of his own volition. He didn't even know much about his oblivious captor. The link he had to her, was sharing a class prior to the she currently sat in.

Michael had walked into class, and when no one was paying attention, shrunk himself to a miniscule stature. He had no plans of entering Marissa's shoe either. She was the closest person to him, sitting right in front of him that day. She'd popped her heels out of her shoes as she quite often does, and a breeze from an open window had blown him from the top of his desk, straight into said shoe. The comical nature of it all still made Michael smirk when he thought about it. Little did he know, had he just crossed in front of her at that size, as he'd planned to do initially, she likely would've crushed him on sight. That's just the type of woman Marissa is, not that he'd live long enough to learn that for himself.


Her immense toes were not letting up this time. Michael felt his arms begin to creak and buckle under the pressure. His mind began to race. Would this be how he died? Crushed between a random girl's toes? In his mind, he was certain she had felt his tiny form underfoot, and began to grind him out purposely. This theory was far from true though, and gave him too much credit. In fact, Marissa was still completely unaware she was squeezing out the life of a classmate.

"Alright class, I can see some of you are dozing off on me, we'll pick up again next time."

Marissa was relieved to hear those words. She stretched her arms up and kicked her legs out, spreading her fingers wide and curling her toes tightly. A light pop was stifled by the sound of her toes cracking.

"Finally." She thought. "That was really killing me."

Down underfoot, Michael had just met his end. As she curled her large uncaring digits, his body was crushed between them. A series of crunches, snaps and pops went unheard as the young man was effectively squashed like a bug.

Marissa began to pack up her belongings with a yawn, unaware of what had just taken place in her shoe.