The warm fibers of the welcome mat prickled beneath you as you lay there, panting, your mind racing with half-formed plans to get Chloe’s attention. The momentary quiet allowed you to catch your breath, but the peace was short-lived. Just as you tried to stand, you felt the faintest tremor—a vibration rippling through the mat, growing stronger. The door creaked, and your head snapped up. Chloe was returning, her towering form backlit by the hallway lights, filling the entire doorway.
As she stepped into the room, her Nike slides slapped softly against her heels, a casual sound to her but a thunderous one to you. Each stride shook the ground, the rubber of her slide compressing slightly against the hotel’s plush carpet before lifting off with a subtle suction sound. You’d barely taken in the sheer scale of her, your eyes traveling up her legs to her distant face, when her gaze fell, and she froze.
She’d spotted you.
Her eyes widened, then narrowed in a split second, her face twisting with clear revulsion. Her glossy brown eyes zeroed in on you with a look that mixed shock and disgust, a look that sank into your bones. You realized with a sickening clarity that she didn’t recognize you as a tiny person, but saw you as nothing more than a pest—a “roach” that needed to be dealt with.
“Ugh, a bug?” she muttered in disgust, her voice booming down from high above. Her words rumbled through you like a distant storm, louder and sharper with each syllable. “How did that get in here?”
As she took a single step forward, her enormous Nike slide came closer, filling your view, a mountain of sleek black rubber with the Nike logo embossed in white along the strap. The rubber sole was thick, sturdy, and covered with faint textures for grip, each ridge and groove now a massive obstacle to you. At this scale, the slide’s surface looked almost polished, but tiny smudges and scuffs hinted at recent wear.
Her foot hovered above you, so close that you could feel the warmth radiating from her skin, a humid heat that clung to you. The sheer size of her foot and slide was dizzying—her toes flexing subtly within the shoe, giving you glimpses of her nail polish, a soft pink that shimmered in the light. You threw your arms up, waving them wildly, hoping she might recognize the movements as a sign of life, as your life.
But to Chloe, it was nothing more than a twitch of an insect. She adjusted her stance slightly, the weight shifting from one foot to the other as she kept her focus on you, her face twisting in clear annoyance. Her foot lifted again, the soft scuff of the slide against her heel ringing in your ears, casting a shadow that washed over you, blocking out the ceiling light.
Desperation flared in you as her foot began to descend with calm, deliberate slowness. You threw yourself forward, reaching her slide, pounding your fists against the side of the thick rubber as hard as you could. It was warm to the touch, with a faint, plasticky smell mixed with the lingering scent of her skin. You punched and shouted, but each strike sank into the dense material, absorbing every ounce of strength you put into it. The rubber didn’t budge; her foot didn’t even tremble.
The foot continued its merciless descent, her heel pressing against the back of the slide, completely ignoring your futile efforts. You stumbled back, trying to get out from underneath, but the shadow had enveloped you entirely. Her foot was lowering fast, and you had nowhere to go. The next moment, the thick, ridged sole pressed down onto you, pinning you beneath its unyielding weight.
The world went dark, everything eclipsed by the dense rubber and the weight of her foot above. You were pressed firmly against the mat, your body entirely engulfed by the oppressive warmth and the weight of her slide. The rubber sole’s ridges pressed into you, the textured grip indenting the mat and holding you perfectly in place, a powerful reminder of her complete, unknowing dominance over you. The scent of the rubber was overwhelming, surrounding you on all sides, mingling with the faintest traces of her body heat as you remained trapped beneath her.
There was no movement for a moment. Chloe had paused, pressing her foot down just to be certain. She applied a bit more pressure, twisting her foot slightly back and forth. Each slight motion ground you into the mat further, as if she were squashing a mere stain on the floor. To her, that was all you were – a tiny disturbance, an unwanted creature in her room. She lifted her foot slightly, just enough to peer down and inspect the mat.
From your position, you barely had time to process anything but a flash of light before her foot hovered above you again. Chloe leaned down, squinting at the spot on the mat where she’d seen movement. Satisfied, she grabbed a tissue, the sound of her ripping it from the box impossibly loud, like a paper-thin thunderclap above you. She leaned down again, her enormous face filling your entire view, and you could see the faintest look of satisfaction on her lips.
“Disgusting,” she muttered, giving the mat a quick, thorough wipe, making absolutely sure nothing was left behind.
With that, she crumpled the tissue in her hand, turning and tossing it casually into the trash can. You watched as she straightened up, still grumbling to herself, her voice fading as she walked toward her phone.
Within moments, her voice carried across the room as she called the front desk. “Yes, I just checked into my room, and there’s already a roach or something on the floor. Please send someone to take care of this. Honestly, I can’t believe it…”
Her words echoed faintly as she walked off, her footsteps gradually fading as she disappeared into the adjoining room. The mat remained still and quiet, any trace of your presence wiped away, leaving only the gentle, ambient hum of the hotel room as Chloe moved on, unaware of the tiny adventure that had just unfolded underfoot.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author