Content
He had never thought this would happen to him. Sure, he’d heard the stories in the news- everyone had- but he’d never thought it would happen to him.
But it had. The kidnapping, getting knocked out, and then waking up like this… Now he sat in a nearly lightless box, thrown in with a bunch of strangers- now fellow victims- and being held against his will.
They had spent days worrying about what would happen next. The tiny bit of edible material they had been given- he wouldn’t quite call it “food”- had some of them worrying that they might starve, but most of them knew better. When shrinking tech was made public, one of the first points of advertising was how shockingly little shrunken people needed to survive. Food, water, even air; tinies could survive on practically none of it for days.
Now, though, he wished that their biggest problem was starving to death. After seeing what they had seen the other day, the only ones who had gotten any sleep last night were the ones who never woke up, and the young girl who had swallowed them- she had slept quite soundly if her snoring was any sign.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she had said. That’s what had been stuck in his head every minute since the box had closed. It was almost impossible to tell time inside, except that there were a few very small holes in the sides of the box. They were probably just big enough to let some amount of air in, but they also let in a tiny bit of light. That light had steadily grown brighter, but was now gradually fading away, signaling that it was getting later, and schools would be letting out for the day…
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the box grew thick with tension, so strong that he could somehow sense it even in the silent darkness. Quickly going on alert, he noticed what a few of the other tinies already had: the very faint sounds of a conversation. He listened intently, starting to sweat. He couldn’t even begin to make out the words, but it was definitely two women talking, and one of them sounded young, and neither of them sounded happy.
The voices stopped, replaced by a nerve-racking silence, and then the unmistakable thud of footsteps- getting louder as they approached. Then he heard the sound that finally confirmed all their worst fears; he heard the door open. A number of tinies around him gasped as he felt his heart begin to pound. There was no mistaking it now: she was home.
There was a series of footsteps and a noisy clatter of uncertain objects. Then the girl’s voice came through.
“Why is everyone such an asshole!?
‘Remember you have to get your homework done.’
‘Rachel! Why haven’t you done your chores!?’
‘I don’t know mom, maybe because I was doing my stupid homework like you said!’
‘I don’t want your excuses, I want the chores done.’
Ugh!”
There was another clatter as more items were knocked over.
“Like they even give a fuck about me!”
Great, she’s in a bad mood, he thought. He heard her take a deep breath to calm herself. For the next few minutes there was nothing else but dreaded silence, accompanied by a few random thumps as she walked around her room and rearranged a few things. Then suddenly their entire world jerked.
Like a crowded bus taking a sharp turn they were shoved into each other as their box was pulled out from wherever she had stashed it. No sooner had he picked himself back up than he heard the distinct sound of the latch clicking, and then the lid of the box rose up over them.
Looking up, he and all the other tinies were greeted by a familiar yet terrifying scene. The girl was looming over them once again, clothed only in her underwear and the flickering light of a candle. On her face was a particularly angry scowl. It was intense enough that, on a girl her age, it might have seemed comical, cute even, but not to the tinies. She cast one wrathful glance at them and then immediately reached down into the middle of the box.
He saw her hand withdraw, holding a single tiny. He caught the man’s gaze, terrified and trying his hardest not to scream. She made no ceremony of things this time, gave the man no second thought, just immediately tossed the tiny into her mouth and started sucking.
In a moment of sickening fear, he watched her expression gradually begin to change. The anger on her face slowly dissolved as she focused on the poor man undoubtably struggling inside. The corners of her lips began to creep upwards, forming into a spiteful grin. Maybe that’s what scared him the most, not only was she eating people alive, but she was enjoying it.
He watched her take another deep breath as she relaxed a bit more, the shrunken man still inside her mouth. Then she gave a clear, decisive swallow. As the tiny slid down her throat, her expression said it all. She was in control now; dominant, callous, vengeful, hungry. She turned her gaze back to the box, more composed this time.
“You know, there’s nothing like a tiny after a bad day of school,” she said. “You guys are surprisingly tasty.”
He stared up at her fearfully, as did everyone else. There was a short moment of silence.
“Good. You remember what I said last time about making noise,” she praised mockingly. She looked over her selection thoughtfully, and after a moment gently picked out another man from the corner of the box- his corner of the box. He was knocked down as the hand brushed past him and snatched up another tiny, who had been standing just an inch away.
This time though, she placed her prey down on her palm instead of raising the tiny up to her face.
“You guys are behaving so well, you’ve earned a little break.” She looked down at the man she had picked up. “I’ll go slow with you, give you some time to adjust first.” She brought her hand inward and pressed the edge of her palm against her midriff, just above her bellybutton.
“Why don’t you go up and get used to my belly,” she offered. The tiny managed to get as far as standing up before becoming paralyzed with fear, quivering nervously on her palm.
“Don’t be rude, I insist,” she said. She brought her other hand around and used a single finger to push him closer. Fearing what might happen if he declined, he shakily reached out and put his miniature hand against the girl’s warm skin.
“See? That’s my belly,” she encouraged. “But you know, that’s not actually where my stomach is. In there are my intestines. Those tinies I ate yesterday, they were going through there all day today. They made lots of loud gurgles in class, which was kind of embarrassing, so you try not to do that, okay?”
She let that tiny linger there for a moment, staring at the smooth, innocuous skin, imagining the horrors underneath. Then she abruptly pulled her hand away and started to raise it higher. But she didn’t bring the man up to her mouth just yet, instead she stopped at her chest, just below her bra. Somewhat gently, she put her hand against her skin once more, but then she turned her palm and pressed it flush, squeezing the tiny between her hand and her abdomen.
“This is where my stomach actually is,” she explained in a condescending tone. “Just under my boobs, right inside my chest. That tiny I just swallowed is in there right now, getting ready to be my snack. Can you hear him? He’s moving around a lot. He’s probably pretty scared, I think you should go inside with him and give him some company. I mean, wouldn’t you want some company if you were in there?”
She withdrew her hand from her chest and turned it palm up to see the tiny’s reaction. Unsurprisingly, he just lay there in a frightened daze, panting. She reached over with her other hand again and lifted him up by his cheap shirt, just enough to force him to stand. Then she brought him up to her face.
“Alright now, you don’t want to keep him waiting, do you? Here, I said I’d go slow, so I’ll even give you a chance to go in all by yourself- like a big boy.”
She opened her mouth wide and put her hand up against her bottom lip. Her warm, wet breath washed over the poor shrunken man, who stared in terrified fixation at the dark abyss, glistening with glimmers of red and white as the candlelight danced.
She held her hand there for a few seconds, but after a couple breaths it seemed clear that he wasn’t going to move. So she began to slowly stick out her tongue. He stayed perfectly still, frozen, right up until the moment the squishy muscle pressed up against him and ran its slick, sensitive surface over his tiny body. At that moment, he sprang to life. Moving on pure instinct rather than logic, he frantically turned and began to scramble towards the edge of the girl’s palm. He probably would have jumped right off, but Rachel never gave him the chance.
She quickly flicked her wrist, cupping her hand over her mouth and throwing him inside. She tenderly sealed her lips behind him and then slowly let her hand slide off her face and down her neck, letting it drift idly away as she felt her next snack begin to squirm inside.
That was almost me, thought the tiny man still in the box, only now getting the nerve to stand back up. He watched along with everyone else as the girl’s smile broadened. Once or twice, he thought he could even see tiny bulges against her cheeks- though he tried to believe they were just tricks of the firelight, not the desperate attempts of a man trying to avoid being eaten.
Unfortunately, there was no avoiding it. For better or worse, the girl did keep her word, letting the tiny flail around in her mouth for much longer than the others. But eventually, the watching tinies were treated to the sound of a gluttonous gulp, and then the man was no more; sent down to keep her first snack company while they digested together.
She took another moment to bask in the feeling, and for a second he dared to hope that she was done for the night, but then she looked back down to the box. But more than that, she looked directly at him. He wasn’t sure how to explain it, but from the second her eyes fell on him, he knew that she had singled him out.
He felt his heart skip a beat as her hand began to move. He wanted to try and run, but couldn’t think of anywhere to go. There was nowhere to hide. Instead he stood frozen like a statue as her fingers pinched his shirt and hoisted him up off the ground. She placed him on her palm like her previous victim.
“I guess it was silly to think he’d crawl into my mouth by himself, huh?” she asked.
He wasn’t sure if she meant it rhetorically or as a genuine question, but either way he wasn’t about to chance a reply.
“Well, I’m not gonna give you a tour like I did with him, but I will give you a couple seconds to get ready, just ‘cause I feel like being nice. Why don’t you take a good look at my body, you’ll be adding to it soon.”
There’s nothing I can do, he thought, his heart pounding in his ears. This is it… Oh gods, she’s going to eat me. He looked her once over, taking in the view of the body he would soon be trapped inside- where he’d be digested.
Then he let his gaze drift. He looked over the room: her bed, her dresser, her closet. They were mundane things, sure, but he took in each one with tremendous detail, because he knew they would be the last things he would ever see. He saw a number of random items scattered across the floor: hairbrushes and miscellaneous beauty supplies mostly, probably from when she threw her tantrum after getting home. His eyes eventually came to rest on the candle, flickering down below and just behind her. The firelight danced in his eyes, as if waving goodbye.
That’s when he finally noticed it. As soon as he realized what he was seeing, he instinctively panicked, and before he could stop himself he had already started blurting it out.
“Hey kid, be careful!!” he yelled, pointing towards the flame.
Rachel seemed very surprised by this sudden outburst, so surprised that she actually forgot to be suspicious and looked to where the tiny man was pointing. At first, she just saw the flickering candle, but then she noticed the other object nearby.
He saw her eyes grow wide for a second and thought he even heard her gasp, moments before she shot out her free hand and hastily snatched the metal can that had been resting innocently next to the low-burning candle. A second later, she dropped it with a wince. It landed between her crossed legs and the box of tinies.
After glancing at her hand to make sure it was okay, she looked down at the can. It was a container of hairspray, and it was burning hot.
Ironically, the tiny man in Rachel’s hand now watched her face as she stared down fearfully at the metal container, the reality of what had almost happened sinking in. If she had left that there any longer, it definitely would have exploded… right next to her.
It wasn’t until she happened to glance back at the tiny in her hand that she snapped back to her senses, realizing that he was watching her have a mini-freak-out right in the middle of her after-school snack. She started to feel a bit of embarrassment, realizing how stupid she must look, nearly getting herself killed with a stupid candle. She wanted to try and say something intimidating, but nothing would come to mind.
From his perspective, she was just staring at him with a blank expression. What was she going to do next? Punish him for making noise? Reward him for warning her? Maybe she would even spare him? He tried to suppress that last thought, to avoid getting his hopes up, but he couldn’t help it.
She looked away and scowled, seemingly angry at herself.
“Alright, I’ll forgive you for yelling. But I think you’ve had enough time to get ready.”
She started to move her hand upwards, closer to her mouth. His heart sank. He couldn’t believe it; she was still going to do it. He stared up at her, but her eyes were pointed away. She’s going to eat me but can’t even look me in the eyes!? Something inside him just snapped.
“Are you kidding!?” he blurted out. “I just saved your life, kid!!”
To his surprise, her hand abruptly stopped. He saw her grimace tighten, then she looked back at him.
“My name is Rachel!” she said with a glare.
Totally caught off guard, he just stared at her angry face for a moment and muttered a mostly automatic reply.
“Dave,” he said.
Rachel just continued to glare, somewhat awkwardly. She hadn’t really expected a reply, much less for him to tell her his name. Part of her wanted to just shove him in her mouth right then, just to get out of the whole situation, but another part held her back. She chewed her lip for a short moment as she argued with herself.
“Ugh! Fine, I’m not that hungry anyway. If you really want to spend another day in that box instead of in my belly, be my guest ‘Dave’. But just because I’m not eating you now, doesn’t mean I won’t do it tomorrow.”
Rachel moved her hand back over the box and unceremoniously dumped him inside, tossing him right on top of a number of other tinies. He saw her hand reach over them and grip the lid, and a moment later they were sealed back into darkness. But at least it was dry, relatively safe darkness, and not the wet, rippling interior of her murderous stomach.
As he got back to his feet, he heard one of the others nearby murmur: “She put him back…”