Moving On (Patreon)

Lainey, Jamie, and Caroline have been a trio for as long as any of them could remember. As kids, they’d hang out every chance they could. And now, even as adults, they’d do their best to get together at least once a week. They were the friend group other friend groups were jealous of. They had no drama, and were always there for one another.

That is, until the dynamic changed.

For a reason Lainey and Jamie couldn’t guess, Caroline began dipping out of get-togethers rather frequently. The excuses were always ‘Oh, I don’t feel good today.’ Or ‘I’m sorry, I’ll be busy today.’ Whenever they asked for any kind of elaboration, Caroline would simply leave them on read.

It all came to a head when they decided to do an impromptu visit to her house. They knocked, but there was no answer. They called her phone, and still no answer. Getting a real sense of concern, they grabbed her key out from under a rock near the front door, and entered.

The place was dusty. Dishes were laid out on the table, and the T.V. was left on. Caroline was nowhere to be seen.

“Caroline?” Jamie hollered, to no avail.

“Caaarooliiine!” Lainey joined.

“This is super weird,” Jamie said nervously.

“Yeah, it so is.”

Lainey creeped into Caroline’s bedroom and stopped at a sensation under her foot. She lifted it up, spotting a tiny figure plastered to the underside of her sock.

It was Caroline.

“Oh my god!” She gasped aloud.

“What, what?!”

Lainey reached down and peeled her friend off her foot.

“Jamie, Caroline shrunk!”

“No fucking way!”

Caroline was in shock and horror. Try as she did, she couldn’t hide her shrinking for long. She knew how Lainey and Jamie felt about mants. Her life was over.

“Caroline, you are so damn small!” Jamie chuckled.

“Like a itty bitty toy,” Lainey said. “Can’t leave you around my cat.”

Caroline was crying.

“C’mon, let’s head to my place.” Jamie said.

Lainey nodded, shoving the tiny Caroline in her hoodie pocket.

~

The next time the mant saw any light was when she was picked from Lainey’s pocket and laid on a cushion-y piece of furniture on Jamie’s deck

The two giants eagerly removed their socks and shoes and sat together in front of her, their legs stretched out and their soles mere inches away from their tiny friend.

“I seriously cannot believe you hid this from us, Caroline,” Lainey began, her sweaty soles wiggling vigorously. “I guess I can see why, though, what a pathetic little thing you are now.”

Jamie’s feet swayed back and forth gently.

“Yeah,” he said. “Y’know, me and Lainey were getting pretty annoyed at your flakiness and were thinkin’ about cutting you out. But now? Now we can move on!”

“Well?” Lainey crossed her arms. “Start worshiping these feet. We’re, like, you’re new Gods, now.”

“Yep!” Jamie said. “Doesn’t matter whose you start with, you’ll have covered every inch of both of our feet before the day is done.”

The two giants rubbed their soles together, mixing their sweat and dirt, in some cruel mockery of Caroline.

She gave no argument. She had no rebuttal, or escape plan. She’d already given up completely by the time she was snatched up by her giants. All that was left to do was worship her former friends as they lived their lives, unphased by the torturous life they created for her.