Dinner for One (Chapter 12)

Throughout Kayla’s disdainful homecoming speech, which was clearly meant to discourage Cody into stillness at this final hurdle, the micro-shrinker didn’t cease racing for even a second. Dangerous as it would now be to find the watch with her looming so close by, tracking him on her phone, and as dispiriting as it was to be reminded of the possible lifelong-shrunken fate that awaited him with so much of the giantess’s usual cruel sarcasm, he knew it was now or never to save himself. Cody couldn’t let her win. By the end of Kayla’s derisive ramble, he’d arrived back at the vague floor real estate where he’d so disastrously lost the watch while pressure-pasted to the bottom of Bri’s raunchy shoe-stripped ped – and only one godlike stride away from where his colossal tormentor currently stood, peeling her wet workout socks off her swollen sun-kissed feet. The transmogrifier had fallen from what felt like many stories above, which meant it could’ve bounced just about anywhere in at least a block-wide radius from Cody’s perspective, and that was assuming the device hadn’t already been knocked away in the week-and-a-half since he lost it here.

Despite THE pessimistic million-to-one odds, however, all Cody’s persistence ultimately paid off with one heart-stopping token of good fortune, when he spotted the watch right there on the ground, what felt like only twenty yards from where he stood. He blinked, believing for a second he was just hallucinating a miracle, and when the device was still visible, he didn’t waste another breath before taking off at top speed. It was so close now, he could almost manifest the sensation of it around his wrist, and the pre-emptive profound satisfaction he was going to get from giving Kayla her comeuppance after he was resized. Oh, how sweet it would be.

“Whatcha see down there, runt?” Kayla’s voice thundered suddenly from much closer than Cody had bargained for, as she dropped down to her haunches so quickly that the resulting gust from her body’s descent, even without touching him, toppled the micro-shrinker and set him back several paces like a human tumbleweed. Lying on her stomach beside the stacks of shoes, then, the giantess rested her chin against the floor, studying her mite-height prey from so closely that when Cody looked up at her breathtakingly humongous countenance – nearer and larger right now than he’d ever seen it – he could’ve almost sworn she was directly meeting his eyeline, even though that shouldn’t have been possible without a magnifying glass. Kayla heaved with laughter, then, while she licked her lips and scrutinized the surrounding floor. “Whoops! Fell flat on your ass, didn’t you? Hey, it’s not unsportsmanlike conduct unless I touch you, which I didn’t. I mean, I could do that if I want, since this is my game and I make up the rules and your insignificant little bug life is basically mine to play with now, but whatever. I think you should just… oh! WAIT a second! Is that…”

The elation Cody previously felt at spotting the transmogrifier watch before was immediately reversed to the polar-opposite of soul-reaping horror, upon tracking exactly where Kayla’s black-hole pupils were now pointed and realizing that, in spite of how amazingly miniscule the watch was in comparison to her, the titaness’s eyesight was sharp enough while she was positioned this close to the ground that she’d actually done it. She’d seen the one thing separating Cody from a lifetime in micro-shrunken floor-squished purgatory. Not willing to give up yet, but also wanting to scream in rage and denial before the inevitable came to pass, he leapt up and ran full force toward the device. Cody was so intensely trained on that spot as he sprinted that his senses actually tuned out everything else around him, including Kayla herself, right up until the behemoth pad of her thumb – glistening with fresh-licked saliva – compressed onto that spot with a hard thump and stole the transmogrifier away as easily as a grain of sand. Having been maybe three seconds away from reaching the watch, Cody could only crumple to his knees, stricken by all the fatigue and grief he’d held back in the name of survival. What was the point now, though? It was over.

“Oh, get over yourself already,” Kayla groaned, as her hand ascended well out of his reach, now with the infinitesimal transmogrifier viced between fingertips. “I’m not REALLY going to destroy it. God, what a gullible loser. Don’t get me wrong, I still could break it sometime if I want. If you get too boring for me to care anymore about where you are or how small you are or how hilarious it is to have you stuck to the bottom of my foot while I walk around. But I won’t, at least for now. That way, the game can keep on going. Only this time, I’m going to know where it is, you’ll just have to find it. And, I’m sure, the thought of having to hunt this stupid thing down AGAIN is probably making you feel just freaking starved for your favorite meal in the whole wide world… like all that stinky drippy sock-cheese stuck between my toes right now from the gym… but I think I know an even better place for you to try out the food. Just wait until you get a load of THIS!”

Cody hesitantly lifted his head again upon hearing the not-quite-trustworthy promise that their game was still live, and thus his destiny wasn’t yet sealed. He was just in time to see Kayla’s moist fingers plummeting again, this time for him, which meant he was immediately spit-stuck like a crumb at the corner of a mouth against her middle fingertip. One short but debilitating flight later, Cody was callously finger-catapulted straight into the dark pungent innards of a cavernous size-9 flat that directly neighbored the dance shoes where he’d been unknowingly jailed last time.

“Welcome to your new prison! Full disclosure, it’s a lot like the OLD prison, except even bigger and sweatier than Bri’s shoe, so… you’re welcome for that, too, because that’s what’s gonna keep you alive! Oh, and while we’re at it, we’re still playing the same game, but I’m adding a couple curveballs, just to keep things interesting. Trust me, keeping me interested in playing this game is in your best interest, bug. Anyhow, it’s already pretty funny that your body can only process stuff off our feet as food, but I decided it would be even better if it was your DRUG too. Think of yourself like an addict for our feet from now on, Cody. Get your fix, or you’re in for a bad time. I really wouldn’t try going cold turkey if I was you, either, or it’s only going to hurt worse. Anyway, go ahead and eat up. I’ll catch you later. Normally I wear these shoes once every couple days, but who knows? Maybe I’ll just randomly be in the mood to not wear them for a week. Whatever, the point is, drink your nasty foot drugs, and try to think up ways to be less of a loser in the game from now on, and maybe you’ll even get a chance to get out of there the next time I put them on! You know, just when I feel like it again.”

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THE END (of this one, but these characters will be back in another story later this month)