The Cure - Chapter 2

The next days were confusing. I had that stomach churning sensation. The week-end passed by instantly. I couldn’t focus at school. I was mesmerized and mostly keeping to myself. My parents talked to my sister about the role she had to play in my treatment. She would often look at me with evil eyes, or maybe it was just me seeing things. The school felt like it was huge. I couldn’t stop looking at every of my girl friends and women teacher’s feet and shoes. I was trying to picture out the shape of their feet from the shape of their shoes, I was trying to imagine how it would smell inside those shoes and I was hardly talking to anyone. I refused to play with my friends.

“Is something wrong Samuel?” said the English teacher Mrs. Johnson. She was my favorite teacher, about 35 years old, very athletic and kind with everyone. She sat next to me during recess. I looked at her chunky hush puppies shoes. They looked comfortable. They were used and dirty.

For some reason I wasn’t able to hide it any longer.

“My mom will shrink me.” I said.

“Oh…” Quickly answered Mrs. Johnson. She was looking at the kids play, me, I was looking at her shoes. “I know, in fact. We received a memo yesterday about that. It’s a … recommended treatment you know, it will eventually work, even if it seems strange to you.” She said.

“Everyone say it’s for my own good.” I said back. “But I don’t wanna be shrunk.”

“I understand you Samuel.” She paused. “So you’re going to be in your sister’s shoe?” I nodded. She looked down at me. “Is that why you need the treatment? You like your sister’s feet?” She asked. Back then I didn’t know, but all teachers got said memo explaining why one of their students would suddenly be undergoing a treatment in which he would be shrunk. It detailed most of the situation at hand, and it was written by my mother. Me? I didn’t know that they all knew. Hell, I didn’t even know what was really going on.

I hesitated, and to her question I nodded again. Yeah… my sister’s feet.

“It can happen to anyone you know.” I looked up at her while she said this. “You have to understand it is not your fault. Don’t feel ashamed or guilty about it Samuel. It’s not your fault.” She explained. I wanted to cry. Finally someone who understood and saw that I was confused. I tried to hold on my tears and frowned. “Tell me Samuel….” She started. “Do you think about her feet often?”

“Yes.” I simply said.

“Do you also think about other people’s feet?” she asked, again looking at the kids play. We were literally just the two of us talking while looking at the other kids.

“Yes.”

“Only girls right?” she asked.

“Yes.” I answered again staring at her shoes.

“Okay.” She said. She paused again, probably trying to think about what she would say next. “Do you like these shoes I am wearing?” She asked. I hesitated. “It’s okay you can tell me.” She finally encouraged me. I nodded timidly. She smiled. I was trying to make me feel more open and comfortable to talk. She was skilled to make me feel better at least. I didn’t want to cry anymore. “Maybe… if you want, I can volunteer to help with your treatment, Samuel. That means I could be the one in charge of you sometimes. You understand?” She asked.

I nodded. “Yes. Mrs. Johnson.” I said.

“You know what that means, do you?” She asked. I was confused. I didn’t really know what it meant so I shook my head no. “It means that, when you are shrunk very small, you could be inside my shoes here. And you would have to smell my feet while I teach.” She explained. I got all red and shy. “Would you like that?” she finally asked.

I didn’t answer. I was red as tomato. I felt my face was boiling.

“It’s okay Samuel, you can tell me.” She finally said. So I nodded. She smiled at me. “Then I will volunteer. I really want you to be cured you know. If I can help, you know I will. You can always count on me. Besides, it’ll give you a break from Amanda’s feet, right?” she poked me and smiled, tried to initiate laughter. I didn’t laugh. I was shy and filled with emotions I didn’t even understand. “Do you when it’s going to happen?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “My mom is going to shrink me tonight.” I said.

“Okay. I’ll try to see what I can do, okay?” She said. I nodded. The bell rang, and she stood up. “Come on Samuel, time to go!” she said. I stood up and followed her then, ran to my place in rank. I was so confused. That conversation with my English teacher was very comforting but now I could only think about her shoes and her feet and couldn’t focus on anything else.

While we were walking in line to get inside the school after recess, I saw me sister, in the older groups. She was having fun like if nothing was happening and I just wanted her to place her feet on my face. That’s how I was comfortable. With her feet on my face. It was my comfort zone, I felt safe when she would do that.

And then I was pushed aside by a taller boy.

“Hey foot freak, you’re gonna be shrunk, hahahahaha!” he pointed at me and laughed. Some other kids chimed in and pointed at me and laughed. I felt so humiliated. I realized my sister had told everyone, and the rumor had spread quickly at school. I just ignored them and followed my rank and eventually got inside to finally go sit at my desk. And the more the school day went on, the more I was thinking about my predicament and how being shrunken in Amanda’s shoe wouldn’t be so different than being under her feet at full size. I tried to convince myself it wouldn’t be too bad and that maybe it would be actually fun and safe.

When school was over, I was bullied and laughed at again. I quickly joined my sister in the school bus and sat next to her.

“Did you tell everyone?” I asked her.

“Nah I only told my friends, but you know….” She said crossing her legs. “Now..you’re now the school’s official loser Sam.” I looked down at her shoes and I started crying. “oh, poor baby brother.” Said Amanda hugged me a bit. “It’ll be alright. Soon you’ll be all cured and you’ll be just fine.” She added. “Tonight Mom will shrink you and I’ll make you smell my feet so much that you’ll end up hating it and you won’t be a loser anymore. Got it?”

“I know…” I sniffled. “But it scares me.” I said. The school bus was driving us home and the very loud kids were just goofing around and all. I was holding my backpack on my legs next to my comforting sister.

“It’s okay. I promise it’ll be alright. Here… She then brought her leg up and removed one of her well worn sneaker she wore all day. She then brought it close to me and pointed the inside of it. She brought it to my nose. “Smell, it’ll make you feel better.” I smelled my sister’s shoe and it smelled strong and good, I loved it so much. I was scared people would see us, but nobody really looked. After a few minutes I really felt better. “See? You’ll be fine once you are in there you’ll love it.” Amanda told me, putting her shoe back on. I nodded, trying to get my composure back. We finally got back home and I immediately ran to my room and hid under my bed, scared to even see my own mother.

“Samuel, come here!” My mom said out loud. I refused to even budge an inch. I was crying under my bed, holding my teddy bear. Then I heard my mom come up the stairs and she entered my room, I could see her feet, encased in her work nylons and in her house mules. She walked to the edge of the bed and crouched, looked at me. “Samuel, it’s time, get out from under there.” I shook my head no. “Samuel, get out or I’ll call your father.” Damn it, she got the ultimate argument, I couldn’t let her do that, if my father would get involved it wouldn’t be so easy for me. I finally crawled out of the bed. Amanda was standing in the doorway, arms crossed.

“Remember what I told you Sam. You’ll be fine.” She said. I sat on the edge of my bed. My mother sat next to me, she was holding a remote control and some instruction sheet. She turned on the remote, it beeped a few times and there was a small screen on it, showing that all status was green or something like that. It scared me.

“Samuel, son, you’re a big boy now. It’s okay to be scared, but you have to understand this is for your own good.”

“I know, but everyone makes fun of me at school.” I said.

“Don’t worry about that, from now on they won’t see you, cause you’ll be with your sister, inside her shoe. The next time they actually see you at full size, you’ll be cured and all of this will eb a thing of the past we can all forget and move on.” Explained my mother. I was feeling like crap, I took a deep breath and sighed. “Now let’s see.” She looked at the instruction sheet and pressed a few buttons on her remote. “You’ll have to strip naked, Samuel.” She said. “Amanda, get out, and close the door.” She said to my sister.

“Good luck bro…” Amanda said before leaving and closing the door. She was sincere I guess. The remote beeped and showed a red light.

“Hmm, there is an error, I don’t know why.” Said my mother. I removed my clothes slowly. She pressed a few buttons and it beeped red again. Then she fiddled with it and it beeped green. “Ah, there it is, it should be working now.” She said.

“Mom are you sure this is necessary?” I asked, in my trousers.

“Yes Honey. We talked about this. We have to get you cured of this illness you got.”

“But I like Amanda’s feet, how can I suddenly start to hate them?” I asked. My mom sighed and frowned at me.

“It’s a process Samuel. You’re too young to understand, but it’ll work, you’ll see. You’ll be a normal boy again once this is over. You’ll become a successful engineer like your father.” My mom pointed at my trousers. I reluctantly removed them and stood bare naked in my room. “Okay, come here honey.” My mom hugged me with love. She was truly doing this for my well being and back then I couldn’t really see how loving she was. She then looked at the remote and pointed it at me. “This may feel a bit disorienting Samuel. You ready?”

“…” I nodded, taking all what was left of my already almost completely gone courage. She pressed the buttons and I started to feel very, very weird.