Mike tried to calm his nerves as he spent the next few minutes waiting at the most crowded spot on the train platform. Being rush hour, he knew there was definitely going to be a crowd waiting to get on. He grabbed one of those free newspapers just sitting there on the platform and pretended to read it, while really staring at the feet of everyone nearby, in hopes of seeing someone with shoes he could easily grab onto at a moment's notice after he decided to shrink.
He found a good candidate as a well-dressed woman in her mid-30s approached the platform. She was dressed in a business suit, with her black hair pulled back in a bun. She was very pretty, but what drew Mike to her was her heels, which had an ornamental bow on them. Mike decided that what he’d do is shove past her when the crowd forms, shrink himself down to an inch or two, and hop onto her foot. As long as he could hold on for a couple of titanic footsteps, he could then let go and wander around the train with impunity. Mission accomplished! Worst-case scenario, the woman might have time to notice someone in front of her and then see him vanish, but Mike figured that even that worked too: it would make her more likely to slow down, and make him more likely to be able to grab on. Perfect plan.
Soon enough, the moment of truth arrived as the train pulled into the station. Everyone began to crowd around, waiting for the doors to open, and Mike felt like his nerves were about to kill him him. He felt the gun in his pocket for reassurance; since his plan was to point it at himself, there was really no need even to take it out. He positioned himself behind his target, a little to her right so he could push in front with his shoulder. He hoped this works.
The doors opened, and the crowd first let departing passengers exit. Then everyone crowded back around, itching to get in. Figuring it was either now or never, Mike fired the gun and shrunk yourself down to one inch. Having never done this before, the woozy feeling and the shock of being shrunk threw him way off balance. In reality, it wasn’t that bad, but Mike was completely unprepared for it and stumbled to the ground for a few precious seconds. He pulled himself up, partly out of his drive to get on the train but mostly because the woman must be long gone, and anyone behind her was liable to step on him.
Ultimately, Mike’s plan worked too well. The woman did freeze in confusion when he vanished right in front of you, but so did three or four other people who also saw him do it. Mike looked up for the first time as a one-inch-tall man and saw a bunch of titans standing motionless. He could hear them say comments like "He was just here, right?" and "He vanished right in front of us." His jaw dropped at the sheer size of all these people. He could barely see up to their waists, and now they're talking about him. What if they find him?
Sure enough, he saw a man glancing around on the ground, probably wondering if Mike had fallen. In a panic, Mike sprinted to his original target and jumped on her shoe, grabbing tightly onto the little bow. He realized a moment too late that maybe she could feel him hop on, especially since she was paying closer attention at that moment to what was going on around her. Mike thought ruefully that he really should have planned this out better.