Babysitters: Gamer Girl, Part 4

Joshua had been laying on Madison’s slipper for almost half an hour. She’d been correct that it didn’t smell as bad as her shoe, since it wasn’t worn as often and the opening was a lot larger. But it was a slipper. It still had a distinct foot smell, and as much as he tried to ignore it, the slipper’s musky aroma lingered around him and was hard not to notice.

He was laying on his back in the center of the slipper’s insole, which was slightly matted down and had a gray tinge from months of use. Every so often, he’d scoot his body a few feet away from the shoe’s entrance, closer to the heel section, in hopes that the smell of his babysitter’s slipper would be just a little less perceptible. And it was—but not enough. Joshua was tired of laying around doing nothing. He was bored. He’d agreed to go along with Madison’s idea because he thought he’d be able to watch TV on her phone while she played her game, and although he understood the threat of Casper discovering him, Joshua was still restless and frustrated.

Sometimes when he got in trouble, his parents would take away his electronics. They wanted him to just lay in his room, alone with his thoughts; boredom was his punishment, basically. And now, stuck under Madison’s desk and waiting for her to finish with her tournament, he felt like he was being punished again, even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. But it was worse than his parents’ punishments, since Madison’s sentence brought with it the omnipresent smell of used footwear. I hate this, he grumbled. I just need a break. A little bit of fresh air.

Having made a decision, he stood up and stretched his muscles, looking around at his surroundings: Madison’s computer, an assortment of wires, a few crumpled up pieces of paper and garbage, and her other slipper. Peeking behind his fuzzy cave, he could see Madison’s little brother sitting on her bed, seemingly lost in whatever game he was playing. When Joshua looked up, he could see the bottom half of Madison’s body. She’d taken her socks off to get more comfortable, and was now sitting criss-cross on her gaming chair, leaning over her desktop to focus on the final few minutes of her warm-up match. Figuring he could at least take a few minutes to stretch his legs, Joshua turned back around and hopped off the slipper.

Although he turned around a few more times to make sure Casper’s attention hadn’t been drawn, Joshua spent several minutes walking around under the corner of Madison’s desk, trying to find interest where there wasn’t any to be had. He wasn’t even entirely mad at her, since he could tell she’d done her best with what the situation had given her, but he was a bit upset at himself for having agreed to come with her in the first place. His parents had instilled in him a respect for promises though, so despite Madison asking if he was OK with being shrunk down, Joshua still felt like he’d had to since he lost his bet with her. Never betting her again though. Of course she beat me; she likes games and she’s older than me. Ugh. At least, now that he’d walked away from the slipper a little bit, the smell of Madison’s foot was barely noticeable now.

A weary sigh from overhead rang through the cavernous bedroom, as the teenage girl who was supposed to be watching him for the weekend set down her headset and stretched her arms, swiveling around in her chair. The first round of the tournament was in just a few minutes, so she was taking a break before having to head into the thick of it. “I’m sure you already know this,” she told her brother, who looked up from his gaming device, “but you can’t interrupt me if I’m in the middle of a match. I mean, that’s always pretty much normal gaming etiquette, but now it’s super important since there’s money on the line.”

“I know,” Casper nodded, and then glanced at the area under his sister’s desk. “Just to let you know though, I think I saw a bug under your desk a few minutes ago.” Joshua froze, and a chill ran through his body. He was under the desk; did Casper think he was the bug? Joshua was standing behind an empty Cliff Bar wrapper at the moment, so he knew the other boy couldn’t see him, but Casper must’ve seen him at some point while he was walking around. “I didn’t wanna interrupt you earlier, but I thought maybe you should know.” His eyes scanned the floor, but everything was still and silent under Madison’s desk. “I can’t see it anymore though.” He set his Switch down and climbed off his sister’s bed, heading over to help her look for it.

Realizing that it was almost certainly Joshua that her brother had seen, Madison quickly swiveled her chair back around and practically leapt to the ground. “Uh, that’s okay,” she said shakily, knowing her brother was literally seconds away. “I can find him on my own… I mean it. I’ll find it.” Her panicked eyes noticed Joshua behind the wrapper, and she lunged her arm out to snatch the two-inch boy up, clumsily trying to make it look like she was simply getting on her hands and knees to look under the desk. She saw Casper’s feet stop in her peripheral vision, so she gingerly backed up, grabbing her slippers so she could discreetly drop Joshua’s tiny body into one of them while her brother’s gaze was elsewhere. “Actually you know what, I kinda wanna use the bathroom before the first round starts,” she croaked, sliding the slippers onto her feet as she stood up. “You can try to find it if you want while I’m gone.” Casper nodded, so with a sigh of relief, she slipped out her bedroom door to head to the bathroom.

As soon as Joshua realized he was in danger, he froze exactly where he was, looking up at where Madison was in hopes that she’d save him. Not that he thought her brother sounded like he’d be mean to shrunken people, but Madison’s anxiety over other people discovering the boy had seemed to rub off on Joshua. Casper seemed somewhat shy, but it was only a little while ago that he’d ratted out Madison for kicking him out, so Joshua could easily imagine Casper tattling about the shrunken boy beneath Madison’s desk too. Despite his time spent with her foot, Joshua still trusted his babysitter, and didn’t want anyone else interacting with him until he could be regrown.

When Madison had spotted him and grabbed him into her hand, he did his best not to fidget or struggle as if that might aid in him not being discovered. But then he could feel Madison’s fist hurling through the air, and when it opened, Joshua suddenly became reacquainted with the girl’s slipper, tumbling down the insole until he fell to a stop at the bottom. Delirious and without his sense of direction, he’d turned his head to the light for just a brief second, before the slipper’s entrance darkened, as Madison hastily inserted her bare foot into Joshua’s cave, her massive toes brash and seeming to ignore him as the pushed his little body against the fuzzy interior. He was securely pinned in place inside the furthest recesses of Madison’s footwear as she set her foot on the ground, and then somehow pressed even deeper into the toe section as the girl started walking, initiating a pattern with her foot that alternated between easing its tension and pushing against Joshua’s body, in line with her footsteps moving backwards and forwards.

He felt contrasting emotions during Madison’s brief walk to the bathroom; he was obviously safe and once again hidden from prying eyes, but he was also now in an even worse position than he’d been in just a few minutes ago. Safety at the expense of comfort. But his teenage chaperone soon reached the bathroom, pulled the slipper off her foot, and reached inside to grab Joshua back out and hold him beneath her gaze as she sat on the toilet seat lid.

There wasn’t a fury or sense of rage behind Madison’s eyes despite how close Joshua had come to getting discovered (and consequentially, most likely getting Madison in trouble). But clearly, Joshua’s actions had registered something with her, and she only had a few minutes with him before she had to get back to her computer for the first game. Joshua felt a pit in his stomach though; he knew he’d broken Madison’s trust. And now he’d have to face the consequences.