Entombed in darkness with no way to measure the passage of time, Dan began to lose track of where he was and how long he had been there. The unrelenting darkness of Fran's coin purse gave him very little comfort as the hard uneven surface he was dropped onto was like trying to nap on a bed of rocks.
“Francine? Let me out of here goddamnit!” Dan had all but shouted himself raw, crawling across the hard, uneven coin floor from one wall to another, clawing and slamming his palms into the unyielding fabric walls to no avail. “You can’t do this….” Dan’s own words felt like a papercut between his fingers.
This wasn’t Francine’s fault…not really.
Sure, she’d made the choice to abduct him rather than help him seek aid, but that was a consequence of a much larger screw up. No, the truth was Dan had only himself to blame for all of this, a harsh reality that bore a hole through his gut like a dull knife.
It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, in his excitement he believed he had thought of everything. He did the math, calculated how small he had wanted to become and made all the proper arrangements for Donna to find him afterwards. It was going to be a fun time, an intimate adventure between husband and wife, a chance for the two of them to explore one another like few ever have before, and he was so confident they would be closer for it. But ever since he had made his fantasy a reality, it had been nothing short of a complete nightmare.
Dan’s own stupidity caused his maths to be off, resulting in a far greater reduction in size than previously intended. As a result of this his beloved Donna had failed to discover him, now he was trapped in the clutches of the woman he hated the most, his condescending, meddlesome mother in law.
“How could I be so careless, so stupid…fuck what am I gonna do…think Dan think, there has to be a way out of this.” Dan tried to focus, to chase away the crawling, creeping, clawing darkness swirling strange imaginary patterns before his eyes. But it was useless, he couldn’t think of anything but the absolute stupidity that led him to where he was now.
Swept away with his mother in law, eaten, discarded, trampled on and now held prisoner in a coin purse, carried on her person like some knick knack or trinket. It was maddening.
“Gah, you fucking bitch!” Dan cursed, lashing out at the walls once more, clawing and smacking his body into the immovable surface. He stumbled back, then fell on his rear end, letting out a string of expletives before laying on his back and covering his face with his hands.
Anger was beginning to run its course, cooling rapidly to form an empty, frigid terror in the pit of his stomach.
“How am I going to get out of this…”
***
Francine’s heels clicked against the smooth concrete walkway as she approached the glass doors to her condominium building, her hand left the pocket of her stylish overcoat, sifting through her purse for the key.
“Good afternoon Mrs. Delmont.” A deep, jovial voice drew Francine’s attention, the familiar sight of Gus, the building's doorman greeting her.
“Oh, hello Gus.” Fran flashed a practiced smile, her hand abandoning its search, slipping out of her pocket to grasp the strap of her purse, possessively, greedily guarding her prize.
“How was your lunch with Mrs. Donna?” The cheerful man carried most of his weight in his robust belly, had an impressive salt and pepper beard, and an aged uniform holding it all together only just. He had softy grey eyes and a round, bulbous nose. He stood, holding the door open for Francine with a staunch sense of duty he could hardly contain.
“Oh, it was lovely.” Francine stepped into the doorway, long, purposeful strides leading her toward the elevator. If she was nervous, anxious, or even excited at the prospects of examining the prisoner in her possession, her stoic expression gave off only that of a woman at peace, completely undisturbed by anything whatsoever.
“Will you be attending the Tenant appreciation dinner, Mrs. Delont?” Gus shouted back as Francine stepped into the elevator.
“I haven’t decided.” Francine spoke plainly, the door closing slowly, bringing a sense of finality to her words..
Quiet at last, Francine let out a content sigh, her hand snaking down the strap of her purse to land on the mouth of her handbag, grasping it firmly, her eyes deadset forward.
She felt no guilt, no shame, certainly no regret. She had done what needed doing, in order to protect her daughter from an embarrassing and humiliating experience. What Dan had done to himself was depraved, it was pathetic and demeaning, only the workings of a sick, twisted mind could comprehend doing such a thing to themselves? No human being was meant to live such a life. Far worse, Dan had mutilated himself out of some strange misguided sexual desire, what else was he capable of? How long would it take for him to pull Donna into such things as well?
Francine patted the side of her purse, with a confident hmph, she waited as the elevator lurched to a stop at her floor, stepping out into the hall as the doors opened.
Donna would be able to move on, find a new partner and build an honest life for herself. She needed someone who could support her, protect her and father children. Not somebody she could blow away with a poorly timed sneeze or a deep breath.
Francine stepped up to her unit, reaching into her coat pocket for her key, one hand firmly around the strap of her purse, white knuckled.
Donna needed somebody with a clear mind, somebody who was right in the head, not…whatever it was she held in her purse.
Her face lit up with a confident smile, radiating a sense of pride and ease about what she had accomplished, as she unlocked the door and stepped into her condo.
***
Dan was tossed back and forth by the turbulent chaos of his captor's steps, the unmistakable distinct click of Fran's heels on the hardwood floor of her condo gave Dan some small hint as to his location. They had arrived, she was home.
She had carried him past so many faces, so many potential rescuers who may have been able to help, but he may as well be a world apart. Scream as he may, nobody could hear him, and nobody would find him stowed away in Fran’s coin purse. He was left with a feeling of impotence at his own helplessness. His stomach wretched and he felt a tight, gripping feeling choking his airway. His mouth felt cry, like he was chewing on cotton balls, and even though he was in total darkness, he could almost picture the smug grin on Francine’s face as she gloated over her victory.
She’d successfully reached her apartment, he was at her mercy now, nobody was left to get in the way, and he knew it.
"Time to come out, my little passenger." A terrible voice, deep and imposing yet horrifically familiar, resonated from all around him, muffled only just by the layers separating them. It was Francine, speaking directly to him, a much different experience than listening to her speak off to another giant.
Tone, emotion, pitch was all difficult to pick up on, her voice was so loud and imposing it was terrible and fearsome regardless of intent, but if he had to guess, he would have to say she was…amused.
An explosion of chaos erupted sending Dan tumbling back, scraping, crashing and metallic collision of alien objects was next, matching this was the shaking and rumbling of his prison as he could only guess Francine was opening her purse, rooting through it for her coin purse.
“No….” Dan whimpered, he wasn’t ready to face her. He couldn’t possibly defend himself, she couldn’t even hear him. How was he supposed to plead his case? He needed more time to think, to come up with a plan of action, some way of communicating with her and to force her to see his point of view.
Maybe he could bribe her? Beg her? There had to be something she wanted in exchange for his freedom. He just needed some sort of leverage.
Blinding, bright, unrelenting light invaded the darkness, lighting up the room around him. The floor he was on was a rough, uneven collection of nickels, dimes quarters and pennies, with a random bobby pin sticking out of the ground like the ruins of an ancient structure.
“I…Francine….” Dan’s eyes snapped shut. He brought his hand over his brow like a visor and struggled to look up, searching for Francine, still not accustomed to her visage taking up the entire horizon, like a mountain far in the distance or the sun rising over the horizon.
Dark grey eyes searched the coin purse for its sole resident, finding him cowering on the face of a quarter. “Ahh, there you are, Dan.” Francine spoke, her voice taking up a strange sense of calm and familiarity.
"Fran…where are we…why did you take me away from Donna like that.” Dan tried to find words, his eyes slowly adjusting to the new levels of light. Now the only thing stopping him was the visceral, primal fear that came with staring up at the face of God.
“Did you enjoy the ride?” Fran asked, her eyes wide with curiosity, her eyes betraying nothing but a natural expression.
“You have the power to end this, just bring me to Donna, we can say you found me. She doesn’t have to know about any of this. All you have to do is return me to Donna and…." Dan’s hands were cupped over his mouth in a vein attempt to better project his voice. His eyes were focused on Francine’s colossal face, not her massive thumb and forefinger intruding into his domain to fish him out. She was just too big to focus on more than one small part of her at a time. By the time he noticed what was about to happen, there was very little time to evade. Two walls of flesh closed in on him from either side swiftly.
"I suppose you are quite angry with me Dan, and that is understandable." Fran pinched Dan between her fingers, lifting him out into the light. The flesh of her fingers pinned him completely, closing around him completely. It was difficult to gauge her own strength in relation to something so small, insignificant and miniscule.
Was she holding him too tightly? Had she broken any bones? Crushed the wind out of him? It hadn’t been her intent, but he was small, gnat small, she could hardly be blamed. “My goodness, to see yourself now.” Francine stifled a laugh, shaking her head, a scoff tailing her laugh, “Arm bent over your head, face smooshed into my thumb…you’re a right old sight, Dan.” Fran set Dan down in the palm of her free hand. “Well that’s not much better, you’re liable to blow away if the air comes on, hmmm?”
"Gah…I couldn’t breathe like that, what’s your problem…are you listening to me?" Dan fell back onto his rear. Every time he tried to stand the simple ordinary movements of her palm and the uneven soft hilly terrain of her skin caused him to stumble and fall. This caused Fran to erupt into a fit of giggles, which did not help his case at all. “Fucking bitch, get a goddamn hearing aid!”
Fran's chin remained cast up, eyes tracking Dan’s movements as she watched him down through her nose. "You may as well save your breath hon, I really can't make out a word you are saying, didn’t we go over that already?" Fran sounded bored and unimpressed, “I see your size has done little to improve your listening skills?”
"Francine, bring me closer to your ear, maybe I can…." Dan's voice lessened in ferocity, replaced by desperation and fear. He felt his eyes begin to well up with tears. “She won’t help me, even if she could hear me…I’m fucked." Dan scrambled to his knees and clenched his hands together tightly. "I need to get a message across to her somehow. Maybe if I beg?" He began to beg, more visually than with his words.
"You really wanted this?" Fran seemed to ignore his emotional display, and watched him with a curious and pensive look. "What is it about this that you like so much I wonder?"
"I don't like it, I don't want it! It was a mistake and I was dumb! I just..." Dan was interrupted by Fran's louder and more commanding voice.
"You can't do anything for yourself; you can't even communicate your desires. For all intent purposes you are not even really a person anymore. How does this turn you on?" Fran sounded genuinely confused.
"Oh, no way am I talking about kinks and fetishes with you, woman." Dan was growing desperate for her to hear him, to find some way to communicate. But took some small comfort in being able to say whatever he wanted to her without consequence.
The two stared at one another in silence, Dan watching as Francine’s eyes watched him closely, her lips pursed in quiet thought for a moment before she broke the silence.
"I could put you out of your misery, you know? End your suffering with mercy, it might be nice to save at least a scrap of your dignity, yes? Would you like that?" Fran lifted a brow, waiting for Dan to react somehow to her offer. In the end she really wasn’t asking, it wasn’t up to him after all.
“Did she just say…the actual…no you can’t just kill me!?” Dan screamed, immediately springing to life, self preservation fueling him now.
Her thumb appeared over the horizon of her palm. An entire other hand the size of the platform he was standing on, attached to it a thumb hovering in the sky like a meteor ready to crush him into oblivion, able to snuff him out on a simple whim.
“Shh, don’t worry anymore Danny, I’ll take care of Donna.” Francine soothed, surprised herself at the wave of pity she felt as her speck of a son in law scrambled like a terrified ant, directionless and without hope.
Trapped in the palm of her hand, he had nowhere to run, no shelter he could take to protect himself and no hope of fending her off even if he could find the courage. It was ridiculous and utterly asinine, this wasn’t some monster or some trained killer, this was Francine Delmont, she shouldn’t be a threat she could hardly open a jar of pickles on her own, let alone snuff out his life without breaking a sweat.
The shadow of her thumb blotted out the sun sized face watching him scamper back, leaving the wrinkly pattern of her thumbprint in its way, slowly descending down toward him.
“Francine, there’s a cure for this! You can’t just kill me, please Fran stop….” Dan screamed, in a voice so high pitched and rife with terror his throat cracked. There was a cure, a way to reverse all of this, but she was going to kill him and wash the evidence down the drain. Time slowed and Dan found himself overwhelmed with grief and sorrow. He thought of Donna, the life they had, their trips to the beach and the silly way she ate chips by sucking all the salt off before chewing. He even missed the annoying habit she had of digging her icy cold feet under him when they were sitting together on the couch. He couldn’t believe what he’d given up, and what he had given it up for, least of all how it was all going to end, so simply and without fanfare or effort. Like an insect, he was going to be snuffed out of existence, under a woman's thumb!
"This is really for the best, Dan. Even if I take you to a hospital and they reverse this, how could you stand to look Donna in the eyes? How could you look me in the eyes? You spent time in my shoe, Dan? You crawled around in the dirt like a bug, you can't just walk back into Donna's life after that?" Fran lowered her thumb until she could no longer see Dan, until she could feel the flesh of her palm make contact with her thumb and by proxy the gnat sized man underneath, sandwiching him between fleshy surfaces.
"Hey! Just wait a minute, I'm still human, Fran! Fran? Waaaaaaa!" Dan panicked as the shadow of her thumb overcame him. He scurried backwards, rolling out from under the colossal surface as her thumb made contact with her palm. He could feel the indentation caused by her applying pressure onto her thumb, she hadn’t realized he’d managed to roll away, and was pressing down as if to crush him.
This wasn’t a joke, or a scare tactic, she was serious. He was witnessing what Fran believed was his death. “She’s gonna kill me, she’s really gonna kill me, she’s lost her mind….” Dan tried to use the brief moment of confusion to scurry away. Maybe he could climb up her arm, up her sleeve, jump for it, anything. He had to get off this palm before….
"Oh Dan, don't make this difficult. Have some dignity at least?" Fran sighed as she watched the insect scramble around her palm aimlessly. She had a birds eye view of him after all and a much larger field of vision than him.
“Leave me alone!” Dan cried, eyes hungry for an out, anything, but he had nowhere to go. "I don't wanna die…"
“Goodbye Dan, I’ll take care of Donna, just close your eyes.” Francine tilted her hand back a bit to impede his progress, and rolled her thumb onto Dan when he tumbled backwards, pinning him beneath.
Dan felt the pad of her thumb make contact with his back. He was instantly pressed against the skin of Fran's palm. He struggled and withered and beat his fists against her thick leathery skin, but soon the pad of her thumb covered every bit of him. “No…no don’t…no I don’t want to ….stop Fran, stop….St…mfmmmmpppt!”
"You were not such a bad person, but Donna needs a man not an insect." Fran sighed. "She would no doubt oblige your sick little fantasy, she's a people pleaser you know? That is why I have to keep you away from her Dan, for her sake. You understand don't you?" Francine began to apply pressure, unsure how much it would take but confident it wouldn’t take much.
Dan watched the light grow dim as he was pressed firmly into his monster-in-laws fleshy palm. He withered and struggled until there was no longer room to move. The heat and pressure was unbearable and he felt his body starting to give under the crushing force as flesh met flesh and all available oxygen was forced from him.
"In a way though, when you think about it Dan, you are getting what you want, right?" Fran could feel Dan's tiny body struggling for existence under her thumb, so much passion and energy all exerted in self preservation, while she was hardly burning a calorie, ending his entire existence. She was holding a human life in the palm of her hand, about to snuff it out with nothing but her thumb. The feeling of control and power was remarkable, almost…addictive. It was almost a shame then when his struggles began to slow, she could feel the fight draining, it wouldn’t be long now, and then her fun would be over ...unless….
Dan could hear Fran talking but he could no longer make out a word she said, all of it now sounded muffled under her thick warm flesh. He tried to picture Donna’s face, her eyes, her smile, her chestnut brown hair, if he was going to die he wanted the last thought to go through his mind to be of Donna, not Francine.
"Here lies Daniel Gillman, he wanted to be a bug in the word of the gods and died as he lived!” Francine laughed, “Hey come on Dan, you wanted a giant woman to decide your fate and that is what you got?" Fran began to roll her thumb in small circles gently, she was actually starting to enjoy playing with his small body. “This is a win for you then, when you think about it?”
Dan felt his limbs flail like a wacky-waving-infltable-arm-flailing-tube-man, as Francine rolled him about. He tried to stop her, to roll free, to brace himself, but it was like being rolled under a locomotive, he was mangled and twisted and bent into all sorts of unnatural positions, all at her whim and fancy.
Francine bit her lip, she could do whatever she wanted and there was nothing he could do about it. If she decided, she could spare him, or kill him all at a mere whim. It was her choice and her’s alone. "What you didn't take into account was who would be the giant woman deciding your fate? I guess that’s not up to you anymore though, right?” Fran lifted her thumb from Dan's small form only to smash it down on him seconds later. She continued this, over and over. Patting him and needing him like a tiny ball of dough.
Dan felt the incredible pressure threatening to squash him into a bloody stain suddenly ease up, buying him a brief second of reprise, and a sparkle of hope, before her thumb quickly crashed down on him once more. "Oof!” Dan gasped, the air knocked out of him leaving him breathless and squashed again.
“Oof…ack…gah…mffpt!”" Dan endured the relentless assault, trying and failing to protect himself by lifting his arms up, but Francine’s assault was devastating, his defenses meaningless.
Why was she doing this? He couldn’t fathom the mother in law he knew ever going to such lengths before. He may have had a strained relationship with Fran, but she had always treated him like a person, he never imagined she was capable of such kidnapping, assault, battery and murder. “Stop….” Dan pleaded, curling into the fetal position and tucking his head under his arms.
"I can do whatever I please. With no consequences, with no repercussions." Fran ceased her pummeling, resting her thumb on top of him once more. “That’s such a strange thing to want, to have done to yourself, isn’t it?” Francine furrowed her brow, connecting the dots quietly in her head, “Unless…well maybe….”
“That’s not true, you don’t und….” Dan was cut off again, even if she could hear him, she wasn’t listening.
“Dan, I was thinking over what Donna told me…about all that stuff she found on your computer. I don’t know if she figured it out, but I did. You wanted Donna to do all of this to you? Take care of you, treat you like some sort of little toy? You probably had a whole laundry list of stuff you wanted her to do to you?" Fran lifted her thumb from Dan and drew him close to her thick deep red covered lips. “And she would have done her best, I’m sure.”
“It’s really none of your….” Dan closed his eyes and shielded himself with his hands as Francine spoke, her hot breath washed over him, moist and dank, her voice like a rumble from the earth.
“But that would have eventually gotten boring. You would have needed more, wanted more, craved more. Incels like you, they’re never happy with what they have. They always want more, right?” Francine mused, tapping her chin with a long painted nail.
“Urg, I wish you’d shut up already!” Dan whimpered, coughing as his lungs still adjusted to air once more.
"You wanted me to find you. You wanted to be taken away from Donna. You wanted total surrender of power, total role reversal. Donna would have done whatever you wanted, but she’s a sweetie, she’s a good soul. Donna wouldn’t have what it takes to really fulfil this sick little fetish of yours, would she?" Fran's grin grew, “You needed more, you needed someone to be your giantess, your goddess?”
“No, I….”
“Maybe not right away…but eventually. This would have been the end result either way, and you know it…don’t you.”
"No, what…eww dream on you sociopath!” Dan tried to sit up, but felt a sharp pain in his side and toppled over in her palm, rolling into one of the lines in her palm.
"So, that said, I believe I’ll keep you, Dan." Fran's tone left no room for questioning.
Dan wanted to protest, argue his case, remind her he wasn’t some penny she found on the ground. He was a human being, he was a man! But she had bruised his ribcage good and all he could focus on was the searing pain left in her wake.
"You are going to watch as I help Donna tear down the wreckage of her old life and rebuild a new one.” Francine nodded, “A better one, without you." Francine stood up straight, looking down through her nose at Dan.
"Fuck you!” Dan whimpered, raising a hand into the sky, to flip-off the face of god.
"I am going to give you exactly what you wanted." Fran's eyes locked on Dan's cowering form and the wee message he was trying to send him.
Francine erupted into a deafening belly laugh that shook her whole body, Dan and the hand he lay on, "Oh Dan, am I ever going to play the part well…we’ll see how you feel about such broad gestures after what I have in store.”
"Wait…Francine…this isn’t what I want…honestly, I just want to go back to Donna, I just want this to…." Dan’s incessant mewling was cut off as darkness engulfed him. He looked up to find not one digit, but five closing in on him, as Francine closed her fist.
"Rest up while you can Danny! Because tomorrow we start taking your life apart! Piece by piece!" Fran gloated as she slowly closed her palm around Dan, a long confident stride taking her toward her bedroom, “I’ll be your giantess…ya’ little pervert…”