Vignette:Choreography

Anya rolled her eyes. In a few minutes, she would have to reteach her clueless classmate and dance partner Ryan the moves for their upcoming performance, which he would inevitably find a way to screw up. Rather than give another annoying lesson, she decided she would use her magic to shrink him. If Ryan went missing, she wouldn't have to teach him a thing!

...

Ryan rubbed his eyes and looked up, his face paling at what he saw. There was Anya's pretty figure standing like a titan above him. This had to be a dream, he thought, and pinched himself until his arm turned red. It wasn't.

Anya squinted down at him as if looking down at an insect. That was all he was to her now: a bug. She could do whatever she wanted. She could even crush him right now and no one would notice. With a smirk, she lifted one leg and flexed her nimble toes within her flats to remind him of this possibility.

Consider Ryan reminded. His eyes went wide and his heart raced. Ohno ohno ohno! She thinks I'm a bug and she's gonna squish meeee! Ryan scrambled away as fast as he possibly could, arms swinging in time with his heartbeat. He didn't make it far before a heavy object smacked him in the rear and left him sprawled out on the floor. He tried to get up but couldn't—something hard was pressing down on him. He craned his neck and perceived Anya's flat covering most of his body. "Unh!" he groaned as he squirmed beneath her shoe, but it wouldn't budge. I can't believe this is happening to me, he thought. Doesn't she realize by now that I'm a person?! The floor and 'ceiling' seemed to be getting painfully closer together now. Is this it? Is she going to crush me? Suddenly, the cover lifted.

Anya raised her foot. No, she wouldn't end him like this. For one, some bloody, mangled corpse might draw attention if it slid off the bottom of her shoe or left a stain on the floor during rehearsal. Plus, being a lover of irony, Anya could think of a better fate to bestow on the boy.

Ryan hadn't had much reprieve before the shadow of doom returned, this time cast by Anya's bare foot. Her pretty big toes wiggled mockingly. Was she teasing him? A glance up at her far smiling face confirmed it. Anya sure liked to rub it in that she had all the power. But she still thinks I'm a bug, Ryan rationalized. Surely she wouldn't treat me so mean if she knew I was a human. "Hey!" shouted the pipsqueak, both of his flailing arms vying for the giantess' attention. "Anya! It's me, look, Ryan!" Anya's smooth feet waved back at him, while her voice said something that froze Ryan's blood.

"I know it's you, my annoying little classmate." No sooner had anyone lost all hope than when that last syllable was pronounced. Ryan's arms fell to his sides. "I didn't feel like watching you mess up again today," continued Anya, "so I decided to get rid of you. Now I'll have a solo part! Don't worry, you can still come to rehearsal!" Ryan would soon find out what that meant when he found himself in the clutches of her toes and then dropped inside one of her cream-colored flats. The smell struck on impact—the scent of so much use—of sweat, perfume, and a beaten insole.

The tiny gazed at his impossibly huge surroundings, realizing that he too would soon become a part of that insole if he could not escape. Panicking, he whirled around and ran for the rim, but Anya's pale, ambitious toes were already snaking over the top, casting their dreadful shadows on him. A second later, her foot had covered the exit and wound its way inside, trapping the tiny boy beneath it.

...

For Anya, practice went as it normally did, minus the annoyance that was now safely stowed in her shoe. She occasionally felt a tickle here or there as the tiny thing squirmed, but a little extra pressure was usually enough to stifle him. Dancing was much more fun without that pest in the way, but his presence in her shoe was not so bad. In fact, it amused her to hear the little snaps and squeaks as his body broke down over the next hour and a half, and the final pop that came when he finally bit the dust.