Interview Series: Elizabeth (Commission) (Patreon)

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I unlock the door to my car and the young girl climbs inside. It’s a public place, in the middle of the day, and I still feel a bit awkward doing it despite these factors, there are some things about this project of mine that I’ll probably never get used to.

“Thanks for coming by, Elizabeth!” I say with a smile, turning the AC up a few notches to fight the heat coming through my windshield.

“Yeah not a problem, like I said on your blog post, I’m eager to get the word out about this issue.

My smile widens and I’m sure she can feel the excitement radiating from me at this point.

“Yes! You were a bit cryptic, but I’m more than happy to help get the word out about how difficult things can be for people dealing with this disease! It’s my whole reason for undertaking this whole interview project after all!”

She raises an eyebrow, “Really? I got the sense that maybe you might not agree with what I had to say, I figured you were just being professionally unbiased or something?”

I frown slightly. “Wait, what? You’ve seen my stuff right? I’m totally pro-Micro or whatever you wanna call it?”

“Exactly!” She says as she begins to slide off her tennis shoes, “But i’m here to make sure all your readers and listeners know just what a hassle they can be!”

“Uhhh….” I’m at a loss for words, Elizabeth however, plows right on as though I’m not there.

With her shoe off, the AC begins to blast the smell of sweaty feet all over the interior of my car and my eyes get a familiar tingle, the beginnings of my tear ducts working in response to foot odor.  

“Okay, I know how this goes by now, my name’s Elizabeth, I’m 20 years old, and I’m a full-time student at the moment, and this-” Her fingers are pinched on the fabric of her sock, which she peels away, wriggling her toes as the cool breeze carries their scent to our noses, “-is my little brother Garth!”

I stare at her foot and see a familiar sight. A tiny Micro boy, looking to be 18 at most, shouting and waving from between his older sister’s sweaty toes.

“Your brother-?”

“Yes my little brother the Micro, who my mother has decided is my responsibility from now on since she’s tired of having to step lightly with him under her feet.”

Her tone is full of annoyance and exhaustion.

“So your-?”

“Yeah so, my mom basically dumped him on me once she got tired of pulling her flats off at work all the time, I’ll bet her co-workers complained about the smell or something, but to hear her tell it, this is supposed to be a ‘bonding experience’ for us.”

Her eyes roll and her words are dripping with sarcasm, suggesting this has done anything but bring these siblings closer together. 

“I uh...take it you’re not happy with this arrangement then?” I ask, surprised I was able to finish my sentence this time.

“Not. At. All.” She states it coldly. 

“Well why-”

“Are you kidding!? Imagine having to walk around with a fragile little egg in your shoe or something, sure that at any moment you’re going to step on it and break it and that when you do, your mom will go ballistic and ground you for a month, even though she’s the one that made you put the egg in your shoe in the first place! It’s ridiculous! It’s unfair! It’s so. Fucking. Annoying!” 

“Okay but-”

“And the smell! I swear to god, something about having him down there makes my feet stink worse than they ever did! You can smell it right? That’s not on me, that’s him! Ouch!”

She suddenly jumps and then glares down at her foot, at tiny Garth, still struggling for fresh air on his sister’s giant foot. 

“What now you little shrimp!?” She shouts. My ears are ringing, I can only imagine what’s happening to Garth’s tiny eardrums.

“If I had to guess…” I say after a moment of the both of us trying to discern speech from Garth’s tiny squeaks of complaint, “...he probably wants a break from your feet.” 

That makes two of us…

“Well tough shit! Mom wants you down there, 24/7 little bug! It’s not my fault you make my feet sweat and stink so bad!”

I don’t think i’ve felt so strongly for another Micro, not recently anyway. Poor kid.

“You see!?” She asks, returning to me, “This is what your followers need to see! What a burden Micros are on us regular people!”

“But Elizabeth, Garth didn’t ask-”

“Ouch! You little fucker!” 

She shouts down at Garth again and I worry what the people near my car might think is happening in here. 

“It would be so easy you little shit, so easy for me to….ugh!”

She turns back to me once again. 

“Can you honestly tell me you don’t empathize with me? Even a little? Look at this! It’s like there’s a little gnat biting my toes! So fucking gross!”

“Elizabeth, maybe we need to just calm down, your little brother-”

“Ouch! That’s it!!!” She screams.

It happens in slow motion, or at least, that’s how I picture it as it replays in my mind. 

Elizabeth grits her teeth in a snarl. My hand reacts instinctively, going for her ankle, somehow knowing what’s about to happen. Her toes twitch and close inward, pressing down on the ball of her foot. Her sole transforms, the smooth surface begins to ripple and shift as wrinkles begin to form with the force of her toes, spreading in waves from her heel, to her toes. I hear a sickening, audible squelch as Garth’s body is pulverized under his older sister’s giant sweaty toes scrunching on top of him.

“No!” I shout, my hand frozen halfway between us.

“There! Fuck! God that felt good to do, sorry you had to see that Jake”.

Elizabeth is speaking to me but I can’t hear her. I’m in shock. I knew this was something that happened nowadays, I’d even heard of worse fates, but that doesn’t make it any easier. 

Elizabeth keeps talking, apologizing casually as if she’d bumped into me on accident or something minor like that. I hear her mention explaining to her mother that accidents happen, that something like this was inevitable for Garth, but I don’t care, I don’t even realize she’s gone at first, my passenger door wide open.

I put my car in drive and just pick a direction, I don’t even know how to process this. I pull over a few minutes later and vomit on the highway asphalt. I get back in and just sit with my hazards on for a while, shaking. Shaking at just how much Elizabeth reminded me of my own sister...