Jennifer's Losers (Old Story)

Living in a shoe

« Hi Susan »

« Hi Frank. »

« You okay? »

Susan nods, visibly in pain. She sits up against the wall.  Frank then looks in the distance over to the other end of the shoe.  “I’ll go check on Dave, I think he’s in crisis again.” Frank says. He then smiles politely like he always does and walks away, leaving Susan and me behind. I could see, as I quickly glanced over to her that she looked quite hurt. Poor woman joined us last week, and I think she won’t make another.

Me….., along with Frank and Susan, Crazy Dave, Heely Michelle, the Johnson sisters, Ally and Mindy (they live by the Pinky), and the-old-man-in-the-insole (some say he’s been there from day one), are a just a few individuals of the little community that has sadly formed inside Jennifer’s left 4 inches high heeled black laced platform loafer of the 2000’s (great quality shoe for Jennifer’s barmaid job, honestly).  Yes. Inside her left shoe coexists a small community of 15-20 people, that number varying over the months. We live how we can.

Let’s see.

Frank’s story is a whole story by itself, but let’s just say with his 49 years old he is the second oldest wisest member after the-old-man-in-the-insole, who doesn’t talk much. Frank has been living in that specific shoe for at least 3 years. Of course, he’s been in other shoes before. He’s a caretaking man, often looking around to see if everyone’s alright.

Anyway, as for Crazy Dave, he lives at the tip of the shoe but he often wanders around creepily licking and eating sock lint and other gunk. He is a hardcore giantess and women’s foot, shoe and socks fetishist teen boy Jennifer shrank a few months ago. Some say he’s living in complete ectasy of being in his ultimate dream of living in a Jennifer’s shoe. He adores her, worships her and calls her Goddess. He’s in mad love with his tormentor… our tormentor.

As for Heely Michelle, she’s a brilliant woman who became alienated over the months after she was shrunk. She was one of Jennifer’s teacher when she was in college a few years ago. I think she’s in her mid thirties and she often hops from extreme cynism and fatalism to strong desires of rebellion and dreams of escape. She stays and lives in the heel section of the shoe, up the great arch slope and often comes down. She is known to regularly attempt to get free and out of the shoe but she always stays, claiming she cannot leave us alone to our fate. Heely Michelle often gives us news about the outside world events. As a matter of fact she’s the tallest of us, at 1/2 of an inch. We’re all closer to 1/8 of an inch. Heely Michelle is a giantess even for us all and always says “Afraid to get crushed?” Yeah right…. Heely Michelle keeps saying she’s seen “all of them” meaning all of Jennifer’s footwear collection and when she says that, she means, inside of them all. She claims that she’s seen all “the others”, those people living in Jennifer’s other pairs of shoes. She is our beacon in fact. She warns us when Jennifer is coming, usually for her work shift, so we can grab on to our lives and try to live through it. Michelle is also Jennifer’s Favorite. Jennifer tortures her regularly, for any reason, sometimes she does it just because she enjoys it. She won’t admit it, but we all know Michelle gave horrible bad grades to Jennifer when she was her teacher and that she was shrunk years later when the two met again in a shopping mall parking lot. We all know Jennifer is vengeful and she does make her former teacher pay for it dearly. She often is picked up, being tall enough to still be seen by our giantess, and dropped inside her socks or nylons trapped under her toes. Heely Michelle lives a terrible life. Frank often goes up to console her and help her heal and mend. I like Frank and Michelle they’e good people. But I like Michelle a lot because she also gives us news about the people of the Right shoe.

That’s where Simon, my boyfriend, actually is. Hmm hmm. …anyway.

I won’t talk too much about the Jonhson sisters, Ally and Mindy, nor about all the other inhabitants of the shoe I live in, because I won’t have time. Though I may, while I tell you all of this, talk about them later in the story. My story I guess.

Before telling you who I am, I must talk about Jennifer. Before she became a barmaid, maybe years ago when she was still in college, Jennifer found out she had the power to shrink people. Anyone. Anytime, by just touching them, and focusing on her powers. Don’t ask me about this magic or where it’s from, I don’t even know, and it’s not like we can actually get out and tell the world we’re the living proof of its existence. The world probably thinks we’re all dead anyway or missing, they don’t even care. Michelle told us she met a sheriff once. Jennifer shrank him and crushed him dead under some of her boots that Michelle was being in at that time. Inside the shoe they could hear the screams of the man being crushed under the boot sole.

….I digress….Back to Jennifer.

5 feet 7 inches, brunette with long hair down to her lower back, blue eyes, in shape with large rounded breasts and small thin shape. She weights approximately a 130 lbs, but over the months, all of this become relatively irrelevant. Jennifer is a mean, cruel woman, a confident bratty and spoiled woman in her mid twenties. She knows she’s sexy, she knows she’s beautiful, she knows she’s brilliant, and powerful above all, and….and I hate her from the bottom of my heart. I hate that women. She’s pure evil, often shrinks innocent people, puts them in her shoes forever, or just plainly kills them. She is a brilliantly twisted woman, and also a brat of the worst sort. She works in a popular bar until late in the night and sleeps all morning up to past noon. She goes to the gym, she gets out with friends, she lives a normal life in the normal real world pretty well. Her life seems to be rather eventful but she, sometimes, spend a few minutes or seconds to talk to us. Most of the time, Jennifer taunts us, degrades us, humiliates us, reduces us to mere objects or calls us “losers”. Sometimes it’s “the losers” it depends. Of course Crazy Dave just becomes even more ecstatic and crazy when she talks like that. He loves seeing the face of his goddess and catch a glimpse of her whenever he can and he loves being humiliated. Then, when she’s done toying around with us, Jennifer just wears us or leaves.

As I said before, Michelle often warns us when Jennifer is coming, so we can brace ourselves. The greatest disadvantages of living inside a shoe at 1/8 of an inch, is that you often have to share the wide and cavernous smelly space (which always seem to be closing down on us) with Jennifer’s left foot. And not only her foot is huge and taking most of the space, it is our ultimate enemy. (except for Crazy Dave of course). It is so huge and deadly, unforgivingly deadly, and when it comes in the shoe, we all hold on to our lives. Most of us wedge ourselves into the small “gutter like” space at the edge of the shoe’s insole, before the side walls. Michelle being taller she is very tough and can endure a lot of pressure, but we all know she does it too. She holds on for her life like everyone, wherever she is. She claims she can survive being crushed but I believe it’s bullshit. When Jennifer’s foot enters the shoe, we all have our own spot to hide into, live into and survive into, or little safe hole. But when the sweat becomes unbearable, and sinks into the insole and makes our little safe spot all soaked, almost flooded… we all try to just survive the way we can. About this part, Frank always tells the new people: “Avoid being squeezed, don’t go under the toes, don’t panic, and don’t wander around needlessly, unless someone needs assistance, even if you think Jennifer’s not going to move”. And he’s damn right. Sometimes Jennifer just stands for some time, or she sits, and it is tempting to assume there is time to, let’s say try to reach another safe spot or go for a stroll, but those cost many lives. If Jennifer only moves a bit, it can be deadly. We never know who it is going to be next, and it’s always a mess to clean, Michelle has to get the body out. People rarely are crushed to pulp, we’re all so small. People usually die knocked out or smothered under Jennifer’s foot skin, compressed into the insole, or strangled between nylon or cotton or polyester strings when Jennifer wears socks. On my second day in the shoe, a man got entangled in Jennifer’s sock string and was sucked out of the shoe with Jennifer’s sock and we never saw him again.

Did I talk about the darkness? Well, maybe I didn’t because there is nothing much to say about it other than it’s pitch black when her foot is in the shoe. Smell is also a factor. But as unbearable as it is, we’re all just trying to ignore it. Except Crazy Dave, he can’t get enough of her Goddess odor. Dust also is a factor. It’s everywhere and it sticks to everything. Nothing like a good cough when it seems to clog in the wide pipe. Life is all about holding on and wait… Fortunately, Jennifer’s work shift have an end and we get fresh air for the rest of the day. That’s when Frank does his little walk around the shoe walls to check on everyone. That’s when Michelle comes down and tells us about stuff. We have our moment’s rest, often after 10 straight hours of being shaken, stomped and kicked around.

Susan looks at me. She’s a newbie still, one week is not a lot. She’s in tears, sobbing and visibly in distress. Usually, we all try to care a bit for each other and support each other psychologically. I feel compelled to help her and talk to her, but I am shaken too, Friday nights are hard, especially when Jennifer dances on us. I let her sob and I just rest, also sitting against the still wet shoe wall. Faint light is coming from the shoe opening and cuts the mist of foot smelling gooey dust. It sticks on the skin. We’re all naked, and we don’t talk about it…we just accept it. But the stick goo mist.. we all scratch it off the best we can except Crazy Dave.

Before I tell you about me, you need to know that, in Jennifer’s left work heeled loafer, there is the-old-man-in-the-insole. He’s the first shrunken person who’s been dropped inside the shoe when it was still new. The most credible story about him is that he was crushed into the new insole and Jennifer broke his spine, rending him paraplegic and unable to move. Over the years he ended up where the insole has torn and opened like a small hole and he found his safe spot right there, turned on his back into the indentation under where the ball of Jennifer’s foot rests, the most terrible spot. Lucky he had not been killed, and over time, the man became part of the shoe. Dust and gunk formed around him and now, he’s just covered by it. His body is probably atrophied, trapped into years of foot sweat and sock lint and dust hardened black goo, and the shoe’s insole leather and other material intricately trapped. We can only see the outlines of his face, with good light, still poking out a pit of the insole, like a microscopic like old man’s face in the floor of the “shoe”. We know he’s still alive because he still breathes and it sounds like a hard rattle. Some say they’ve seem him blink, but his eyes are encrusted in the goo. Michelle sometimes walks on his face and kicks his flattened black nose to check if he’s alive. We all think she uses that poor old man’s face as a rage releaser, a punching back, but in this case, an old man’s face to stomp.

Now, before I continue, let me tell you a few things about me, and how I got to become one of Jennifer’s slaves. One of the losers.

There is no time

“Susan?” I ask her, stepping out of my safe spot and walking on the still damp insole up to the woman sitting her back against the wall of the shoe. We both know Jennifer’s asleep for a good while since it’s morning and she worked until late after 3 AM.

Susan looks at me, she’s all dirty, like all of us. She coughs and she coughs again then looks at me again with the eyes of a beaten dog. She’s been crying all night long during the work shift. Poor girl is resisting quite a lot. When Jennifer started dancing last night she was screaming her lungs out, I thought she was dying. Yet here she is, coughing foot sweat. I sit next to her.

“Don’t worry, she doesn’t dance on Sundays.” I tell her with a smirk. Clearly, my attempt to ease the tension fails as she’s not smiling nor even thinking about it. Susan has joined us last week, since then she’s been in crisis, panic attacks and anxiety. She’s been praying a lot too, I don’t know why cause nobody’s going to help us. I didn’t get the chance to talk to her much, Michelle and Frank did most of the job trying to reason with her over the last days. Now that she’s more calm, maybe she’s going to talk to me a bit. I try something else: “Maybe I should let you get some sleep.”

“Please stay.” She says, her low and fatigued voice trembling. She wipes some dust away from her eyes. I just nod, I then wipe dust away from my eyes myself. Seems like the longer you live in the shoe, the less you care about these details. The more enduring we all get, and honestly, I guess you can’t be too pathetic when instinct of survival kicks in. Susan dares a look in my general direction. For some reasons, she doesn’t seem like she’s looking at me. “I want out.” She finally says, before coughing some more dust.

I resist grinning, because I understand what she feels. We all do. Well, I am sure Crazy Dave would never want to leave the shoe but all the others at some point, we all had this phase in which we only wanted to leave. At some point, usually in the first weeks… we all become obsessed by our memories of the real world and how unfair Jennifer is. And then, the horror stories come in mind. Spiders, cats, mice, kids, insects of all sorts, giant shoes, and what not. Everything in the outside world can and will kill us. Every single thing outside the shoe is deadly and Frank and Michelle have seen their shares of what happens to those who leave us. They want to live like they did when they were not shurnk. But, being shrunk is like living in another time. Another dimension. People who leave....They die. At least here in the shoe, besides the always menacing Jennifer who can kill us any time, we’re relatively safe. We can survive. We are together. In the shoe, time si irrelevant. There is no time. There is only survival.

I bite my lower lip and I look at Susan again. I believe it’s best to be straightforward: “If you leave, you will die, Susan.”

The woman, who’s clearly in her mid-fifties replaces coughing by sobbing. “When does it stop?” she asks with a pinch of hesitation.

“What does?” I plainly reply.

“The ringing.”

Ah…yes. The ringing. I want to explain to Susan that, once there is a good stack of foot sweat dust gunk in our ears we’re less sensitive to the booming and all the extremely loud thuds and the pressure. I feel like I could tell her everything, she deserves it after all, but, I also remember when Jennifer shrank me and how hard the first weeks were. Sometimes it’s best just to get used to things by ourselves instead of being told everything. “It will stop eventually.” I say with partial indifference. That’s it, I will not say more. I look over in the distance, Heely Michelle is walking down the heel slope. Probably to check on us all, see if we’re all alive. It’s easier for her to walk up and down the slope since she’s four times our height.

Susan curls into a fetal position in her safe spot, between the insole and the wall. It’s a tight fit, she’s trembling and probably having terrible nightmarish visions of Jennifer’s foot coming into the shoe. I still think it’s the most terrifying thing I see every day, but, unlike Susan, I sadly got used to it. Over there Michelle walks to some other people, they’re at the other end of the shoe.

Before I tell you about me, I got to talk to you about where I live. My safe spot is near the heel slope, on the left side, not too far from the pinky toe where live the Johnson sisters, Ally and Mindy. The heel of the shoe is quite high, 4 inches in fact, and the slope is steep and Jennifer’s foot pressure areas do not really press in that specific spot. It’s more wide open. At our size, when Jennifer wears the shoe, there is still enough space to stand on the insole, but, it’s very dangerous and chances to slip under the ball of her foot are high. Very dangerous. But…I like my safe spot, I don’t get to be too crushed like the others on the big toe side. And I don’t visit them often, the smell gets stronger when you get there too. It’s a long walk as well. Susan found her spot close to mine, but only because Michelle, pushed her in on her first day last week. The poor woman was screaming and Heely Michelle just lift the girl, dropped her in the spot, and trampled her until she would fit in telling her to shut up if she wanted to live. I remember that scene quite well. It was somewhat surrealist. A tiny woman trampling a minuscule woman into a giant shoe until she fits in a safe spot. I still believe Michelle saved Susan’s life that day. Seconds later, Jennifer’s white socked foot was rushing in the shoe and Michelle dove under her toes, knowing it would be her best chance of survival. Michelle is the bravest woman I know, she risked her own life to save Susan.

“So hmm, how do you know Jennifer?” I am not good with diplomacy, I know… but Susan needs someone to talk to, or she will go crazy and do something stupid and get killed. She needs a friend, and, well, I guess I need one as well.

“She’s….” Susan starts but then she stops and wedges herself deeper in her safe spot.

I realize my question is bold. We all once looked at Jennifer in the eyes when we were normal size, some of us were even her friend, but this woman, she looks like her relation with our tormentor is clearly different. My guts start to twist. I frown and all of a sudden, I get the feeling I prefer not knowing the answer. I simply go with: “You don’t have to answer.” And naturally I feel the need to change subject. Think quick… come on, ah… well I guess it could be the right moment to let her know about myself a bit. “I huh… well, when I was normal size… I was…”

“HELP!”

I stop talking and I stand up quickly. Over the distance, Ally is running towards me screaming for help. Susan doesn’t even care, so I guess it’s best I leave her to her sobbing. I run on the insole towards the pinky toe spot, towards 14 years old Ally visibly in need. The insole is still humid but it’s slowly drying. I reach Ally after a minute, we’re both panting.

“It’s…. Mindy! She’s not waking up. Please…help!” We both get on running again. I look over the distance to the other end of the shoe, the faint morning light coming from the outside of the makes it more clear to see. Heely Michelle sees us and starts running too. Good. Where is Frank? Oh… I look over to the tip of the shoe where Crazy Dave lives. Frank is trying to calm him down. But, then, I see Frank looking over. He notices me and Ally running, and also Michelle, who can actually sprint across the insole quiet quickly. He leaves Dave and runs towards the pinky, we all converge. Ally and I arrive first. There is Mindy, 12 years old only, poor girl, she’s lying in her spot, unconscious.

Crap.. I hate when it happens. I kneel and try to pull the girl out. Ally is in sheer panic, she keeps talking, she keeps screaming, she does not want her sister to be dead and we all know how terrible it would be, I myself try to stay sharp but I know that it is possible. I manage to pull the girl out, she’s limp. I turn her on her back and I talk to her, I slap the kid’s face “WAKE UP!” I shut my eyes crisp and I try to focus.

I am shoved on the side by the giant hand of Heely Michelle. “Out of the way.” She says and I tumble away. Michelle takes over the situation. From the looks of it, she’s trying RCR maneuvers on the kid. I get nauseous and light headed. Seconds become minutes, more people gather around. I don’t know them all by name, they usually stay in their safes spot like I do. We’re all losers after all, we’re all resigned losers.

Frank is there too. “Everyone go back to your spots, there is nothing to see here. She’s alright…” He says to the others. I can hear cries, I guess cries of joy. I stand up and look over the scene, Mandy is alive. I hear discussions, but I don’t listen. I just keep staring at Mindy and Ally holding each other… and I can’t help but hate Jennifer even more. Stealing the life of two young innocent sisters. The Johnson sisters…just kids. They are too young for all of this, they did not deserve to be here.

I hate Jennifer

Considering our situation, it may seem useless to actually hate Jennifer. There is nothing we can do after all, we’re stuck here and hating can seem futile. But it’s not. Hating Jennifer is my way to get by and not fall into despair and madness. Hating Jennifer and cultivating that hatred is a good way to keep thoughts together and it is how I get to survive during the day. Fear, on the other hand, makes me survive during work shifts....during the night. I hate Jennifer just as much as I fear her. A terrible gut churning, heart twisting and mind wracking pure fear. I guess it’s best to leave the scene so I step up and start walking back to my spot.

“Hey…” I hear behind me. It’s Heely Michelle. I turn around and look at the giantess. “Sorry for pushing you….and thank you for your assistance.” She tells me. I just nod, trying to keep what’s left of my own sanity. “Don’t wander around too much today. Jennifer did not sleep at her place. She could get up anytime.”

Heely Michelle is always alert about Jennifer’s life.  I nod again turn around. I walk back to my spot, mindful of crappy thoughts about Jennifer. The day will be shorter. Jennifer will eventually wake up and wear us to go back home. I can’t help but think she probably got fucked by a man she met at the bar and who danced with her and brought her back to his place after her work shift. That means no shower.

I look over to Susan’s spot. Shit… not again. She’s not there. I quickly scan around the vast shoe and I notice the woman’s on all fours, climbing up the heel slope. Stupid woman, she’s going to get killed. My heart races. I turn back and wave in the distance to Michelle. “MICHELLE!” I scream at the top of my lungs. She doesn’t look in my direction. Damn it! I turn back to look at Susan, she’s quite far now. She probably decided to stupidly seize the chance to leave. We all did that. But Susan, she does it every damn day since she’s with us. “SUSAN, No! Come back!” I scream at her. I start to run to her but I hear a moan I know too well.

Us, inhabitants of the Jennifer’s shoes, all of us, we all know when we hear Her voice. Jennifer’s voice is part of our lives and we could distinguish it in a crowd. We hear it from above all the time, and it’s so loud compared to our own muffled tiny voices. I scream again, frozen and not daring to go further. “SUSAN!”

Fuck.

Tremors. Small at first. The fear is back. We didn't get much time. A few hours maybe...I look back at Michelle, she’s already sprinting as fast as she can and waving and screaming “Everyone to your safe spot now! This is an emergency!” Seconds later, the taller Heely Michelle is already running past me, “Get to safety!” she yells at me. No kidding, like if this was my first day. I look back, Frank is running, the girls are back in their safe spot. I reach my own.

Hard tremors. Jennifer is up and walking. We know. We all know. Damn it, why did she have to sleep at someone else’s place.

“OH GOD MY HEAD HURTS.” Jennifer says from up above. We maybe have 10 to 15 minutes tops. I shiver and I look over at Michelle. She's reaching Susan. minutes pass and I am in complete fear, but I can't help but watch Michelle's courage. She cares for us all, even against some of us's will.

There she is, majestic, running back with Susan, holding the tiny girl squirming and screaming in her arms. Michelle gets closer and drops the woman, who’s clearly in distress. Michelle looks at me with a mean dominant look and frowns, while she pushes on Susan to squeeze her in her spot. She adresses me again: “I said…get…to safety!” Michelle then stuffs sock lint in Susan’s mouth to shut her up and threatens to hit her if she does not behave.

“Once we’re back home, we’ll have to talk, Susan. You hear me?”

I hear Susan’s whimpers and muffled cries.

“Good.” Says Michelle. She stands up and looks at me. “Laurie… don’t make me do it for you. Get down. NOW! There is no time!” I quickly squeeze myself in my safe spot as I look at Michelle already running back up the slope to get to her own spot by the heel. I grab what I can, and I hold on to my life, waiting the excruciating minutes before the inevitable.

And when death is close, time seems endless.

But eventually, the whole shoe rocks and shakes and the light goes out.

Who is Susan?

Aside from the loud thumps and the ambient vibrations of the city bus and all the sickening tapping motion of Jennifer’s foot on the floor, all I can hear is Susan’s muffled screams and cries.  After the long night shift, which resulted in a short night of sleep, there is no doubt once we’re home, Jennifer will go sleep again all day long and we’ll have more time. One would believe that, after a complete week in the shoe you start getting used and resigned to your new life but Susan, no, Susan is desperate and broken. I mean at some point she…. Wait a minute….*sneezes*…ah…. sorry had some sock lint in my face…. Where was I? Oh yeah, at some point she will let it all go and accept her fate, but she’s still resisting, that’s usually how people get killed.

Huh…Bus stop. Jennifer is walking again. The pressure of her impossibly giant body is so unforgiving and omnipotent. I can only guess the shoe laces are a bit loose as the foot is not tightly pressed down and the heel seems to be lifting a bit, I can sense the air wooshes every step. That’s like a gale wind blowing intense musty foot sweat scented air in my face every step. The moist sock and humid air is not as stale and stagnant as yesterday during her work shift. I kind of enjoy it when the laces are a bit loose.

Almost done, she’s walking up the apartment stairs. She’s tired I can sense it in her way to climb, like if each step is higher than before. Working all night is hard. Here we go, she’s walking inside. I hear the loud bang of the door being closed behind. The jingling of keys being dropped on the table. A few more seconds and we should be good. There, Jennifer’s foot is moving out, I hold dearly to my safe spot as I do not want to get caught and sucked out. The cotton sock is brushing heavily against the inner walls of the shoe and finally, fresh air and light are pouring down into the shoe. I see Michelle tumbling and rolling down the heel slope and crashing down on the flat insole part of the shoe, in the middle. I was to get out of my spot but, I know better. The giant soap scented fingers of Jennifer grab the shoes (I see red fingernail polish today, not bad). The shoe tilts backward. I see Heely Michelle’s body tumble again and roll again but this time back up the heel section. It all happens quickly, I see the fingers disappear, but I know what is happening.

“YOU LITTLE FOOT BITCH, ARE COMING WITH ME” Says Jennifer. I know her giant finger nails are grabbing Heely Michelle’s body and she takes her out of the shoe, probably to torture her or keep her in her socks while she sleeps. Who knows what Michelle is in for this time, but all I know, is that we won’t see her until later, and that she’s going to have hell of a day. Being Jennifer’s favorite…..is not a title of honor.

Finally, the shoes are settled next to each other like usual, in the hallway wardrobe with the other boots and shoes Jennifer wears outside. We all wait a few minutes and listen to Jennifer’s footsteps. She’s talking to Michelle, probably in her hands. She’s telling her she’s going to spend the day in her socks while she sleeps and that she wants her to lick her toes. She also tells her she’s going for a jog later. “You’ll have fun in my sneakers with the freaks in there while I jog, loser. I know you love my stinky feet.” I shiver. We must be Saturday. Jennifer jogs on Saturdays when she finally gets out of bed in the afternoon. Anyway… That’s the last thing we hear Jennifer say before a loud bang, she closed her bedroom door. We’re safe. Poor Michelle, I do not envy her for nothing in the world.

I cannot help thinking about the people in her sneakers. I think about all the other communities of shrunken losers living inside all her shoes in fact. We’re so minuscule. Jennifer ignores us all, except Michelle who’s taller. I don’t even know if Jennifer can see us. She knows we’re in the shoes, she sometimes talk to us telling we’re losers and pathetic, but she does not really care. Michelle on the other hand, gets a lot of care… not in a good way. I look up the shoe opening. I think about my boyfriend, he’s in the right shoe. I hope he’s still live and that one day we can reunite, I miss him so much. In the first weeks, I would go up the heel slope and scream his name, but we’re so small, our voice don’t go far enough, it’s impossible to hear the others from such huge distance.

I focus back and cough some sock lint and then I look in Susan’s direction. I should check on her. I wedge myself out of my safe spot and I step on the insole to go look at my new friend. The woman is there, all squeezed in her hole, still crying. I can’t believe how many tears this woman got. It’s endless.

“Susan…it’s me.” I say with a calm voice. I kneel beside her and place a hand on her trembling shoulder. She’s not answering me, I can’t blame her, it is her right to ignore me and remain in solitude. Many of us prefer solitude, me included, but this woman is deep disarray I cannot help but feel pitiful for her. I want to somewhat help her, accompany her on the path of acceptation, maybe it is futile, maybe she will kill herself, but, I feel compelled to help. I sigh heavily and just wait, what is there to do huh? Michelle has been taken, we’ve got the day to do nothing but enjoy the fact we’re still alive. It’s Saturday, technically Jennifer is not working tonight so we’re good, we’ll have more free time. Whatever freedom is.

I see Mandy walking in our direction, she’s waving, but she’s not panicked this time. I stand and walk in her direction to make her walking distance shorter. Believe me, the shoe is so huge for our microscopic sizes, bigger than a football field to be honest. I greet the kid, she looks bruised.

“Frank wants to meet us all.” She says. I look around the shoe, people are all getting informed of the meeting call and some are already walking towards our normal meeting spot, where the old-man-in-the-insole is, cause he can’t move and we still want him to be part of the discussions. A meeting, not a bad idea after what happened earlier. I agree to Mandy. We both walk to Susan and help her out of her hole.

“Come on Susan, meeting is called, let’s go.” I tell her. She’s not resisting, she’s not fighting, she just stands, mind broken and desperate and walks nonchalantaly behind Mandy and I. We don’t talk while we walk. Usually we would, I like Mandy, but she had a rough time in the morning and Susan made a stupid escape attempt, there is nothing to say, nothing to talk about and small talk is irrelevant.

When we reach the old-man-in-the-insole, Frank and Crazy Dave were already there. Crazy Dave is just whispering to himself. Ally and Mandy stay together and poke the old man’s face with their small feet. I look at Mandy, she just can’t help but tease the man by walking and stepping on his face sometimes even trying to stuff her own toes inside his mouth but it remains shut. She just stands there on his face while more people start to get closer and Frank starts to talk.

“Hi everyone.” He says. “As you may or may not know, we almost lost two people this morning. I cannot express enough how we have to care about each other and stay strong. Jennifer does not care about us, and in my time in the shoe, I’ve seen many of us die, and it is with great concern that I today ask you all to be extra careful. We do not have Michelle today, so we’re on our own.” Frank looks at Susan. He continues. “Today is Saturday. Those who still have some strength should help clean the shoe. Nothing’s worse than living in a filthy environment. Get the lints to the tip, stuff the pebbles and the outside debris in the available spaces or under the insole where it is detaching near the big toe and by the ball of the foot over there. Take a moment today to consolidate your safe spots, and ….Mandy, will you leave the old man alone?” Frank gestures Mandy to move off the man’s face. The little girl nods and steps off, scraping her foot on his crusty face. The man rattles and breathes in, his eyes closed. “Thank you. Now, let’s pray for Michelle so she remains safe and comes back to us in one piece.” Frank joins his hands together and starts praying out loud. I don’t listen, I just walk away. I mean, I do pray for Michelle to return, but I don’t want to do it with the others, I do it in my head, in my mind, I think about her and I send her good vibes.

“Laurie, wait.” I heard Susan’s muffled trembling voice behind me. I turn around and Susan walks up to me, I understand she wants to walk back to our spots with me. We walk together in silence. Maybe half the distance done, I pick up a small crumble and I smell it. Seems like a it’s a tiny piece of potato chip, filled with dried foot sweat. I remove the cotton sock thread and offer the crumble to Susan. She refuses. I take a bite, it’s disgusting, but I did not eat in ages. We walk back to our safe spots. I show Susan how to use the found cotton sock thread to make a handle. I help her consolidate her safe spot but twisting the threat in the insole material and make some kind of safety belt like in a car. It will help her when Jennifer wears us again.

“Thank you Laurie.” Susan says. Her mood is better today. I nod. What can I say?... I would like to get to know her a bit more but I don’t know what to say. Susan seems to be a bit like me, she doesn’t want to be alone, but she doesn’t want to talk. She’s my neighbor tho, so I feel compelled to help her, but talking… not necessary.

We both try to get some rest.

Later in the day, we feel tremors. Over the course of the day we hear and feel tremors and Jennifer talking and living her normal life. At some point she leaves and I know she’s gone jogging. Everyone is calm inside the shoe, we’re all trying to recover. At some point, maybe an hour later or so, we hear Jennifer come back from her jogging. She’s panting. Then the unexpected happens. Heely Michelle is being dumped in the shoe and comes falling and crashing down the heel slope, all numb and bruised and soaked with sweat and we hear Jennifer’s voice, very close from the shoe opening.

“HOPE YOU ENJOYED JOGGING WITH ME LOSER. SAY HI TO MY MOM.” And then we hear Jennifer walk away with a giggle. I look over at the distance, Frank is running to help Michelle and aid her. Me, I just slowly turn my head towards Susan and I give her a heavy stare. The woman just looks away starts crying again.