Nothing could have prepared Mr. Harrison for this. Panic filled his body as his back pressed against the cold tile floor of his classroom. A silent panicked scream erupted from him as he saw the white-socked foot of Olivia hovering over him. He was trying to scream audibly, hoping to draw some attention to him or Olivia. Maybe even a colleague would rush in to see what the commotion was about. However, the only sound that could escape his lips was silence. The silent horror as her foot got lower and lower. Never had Mr. Harrison felt so hopeless. The inability to stop something like this had never occurred to him. The feeling of utter helplessness which exuded out of him was so foreign that it scared him.
He mustered the courage to lift his hands up. He pressed them into the dingy white cotton underside of Olivia’s socked foot. He pushed for all he was worth to ward off the massive appendage. The more he pushed and struggled, the more the sheer futility of the situation became apparent. Mr. Harrison could only watch as his arms were pressed lower until the musty, slightly dampened cotton sock pressed against his chest. He could feel his arms pinned down to the cold tiled floor. The desperation in him tried to kick his legs, but it was already too late, as the weight of Oliva’s foot completely immobilized his legs.
A sickening silence enveloped the classroom. Mr. Harrison had never heard his breathing so loud. He could hear his heart beating, which seemingly landed haymaker after haymaker against his chest cavity. The overpowering darkness assaulted and ravaged his courage and sanity, leaving only fear and hopelessness as he fought against the weight of Olivia’s foot. He wanted to be saved. He wanted to be freed from what must have been a nightmare. The only salvation he managed to get was the overwhelming darkness that surrounded him, along with the weight of his student, which bore down on him fully.
He knew this was going to be it. He wasn’t some little at any moment. He was going to explode across the underside of Olivia’s foot. As scared as he felt. As terrifying as the realization of one’s own mortality and life coming to an end. What he hated most was that Olivia was going to have to live with this. She was going to have to carry the burden of ending his life when society was more to blame and how they tore down the value of a little. A small life was somehow viewed differently than a big life. She was merely using what society at large had taught her.
As Oliva’s foot settled fully on the ground, Mr. Harrison just lay there for several moments expecting the end. He wondered if his life would somehow be worthy of making it into heaven. As the second ticked by, a new realization he finally allowed to form in his mind for the first time. What if he had somehow become a little? Olivia’s foot continued to rest atop him, asserting a dominance over him that seemed impossible.
“No,” was all Mr. Harrison could think. It was the only singular thought he would allow. That this wasn’t supposed to be happening. He was an educated man. He had gone to college. He got his bachelor’s degree and then his master’s. He had dedicated himself to the enlightenment of future generations. Even if they did not understand the gift he was providing them in the present, they would come to appreciate his teaching upon reflection in the future. He couldn’t be relegated and forced to live as some second-class citizen and certainly not to one of his students.
The weight of Olivia’s foot lifted off of him bit by bit. It started as the slightest shards of light peeking in from the side of her foot. Then, as her foot was raised higher and higher, he felt the pressure on his chest recede until he could breathe normally. The bright lights and cool air of the world around him assaulted him from every direction. It was hard to focus on the mass of shape and form of Olivia that still stood above him. The foot that forced him down to the ground and humiliated him hung in the air before he felt a gust of wind from her foot land next to him onto the cold tile floor. Instinctively he backed away from the foot.
“S-stay away,” Mr. Harrison stuttered meekly as Olivia bent down and smiled at her former teacher. She kept thinking that he would signal that it was too much, or she would feel him start to crack. A part of her never believed that he was a little. Looking down at her teacher, she couldn’t believe he would be her little. She would hold power over him for once in her life.
Olivia felt her heart race as she bent down, her eyes unable to pull themselves away from the small form of what is now her teacher. As her hand blanketed him, she could feel him struggling. She could feel his muscles resisting her touch. She was surprised at how cold he felt as her fingers curled around his diminutive form. Lifting up she glanced over at her bookbag and bit her lower lip. She couldn’t believe she was really going to do this. She was going to take this little, no, not this little, her little.
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