She cried desperate and scared for minutes until she couldn't cry anymore. Her body felt totally drained both physically and emotionally. The situation was almost impossible to believe. She was just over an inch tall and trapped in her shoe. She felt like just giving up, calling it quits. Yet, as hopeless as she felt right then, she knew she had to try to do something, if only to get away from the smell of the shoe. Looking up, she noticed that her sock still hung out over the opening of the shoe. She figured that she might just be light enough now to climb up the sock without pulling it down into the shoe with her.
As she grabbed hold of the fabric, she noticed that, at this size, it seemed like a thick knit blanket to her now. The upside of that was that she could now hold onto the individual threads of the fabric with her fingers and toes and use them as easy hand holds. She climbed little by little, and luckily the sock didn't slide down with her weight.
As she progressed upwards, she was reminded of the few times that she and her friends had gone out to climb an indoor rock wall for fun. Those happy memories quickly depressed her. She wondered if she would ever see her friends again. Even if she did see them, what then? She was the size of a bug. She doubted they could even hear what she was saying even if she shouted at the top of her lungs. What sort of life could she have if she stayed this small? At best, she would be some curiosity or toy. Certainly, she wouldn’t have anything resembling a normal life. Again, she felt depressed. Why bother? She shook her head to clear away those dark thoughts and continued climbing.
When she reached the top edge of the opening of the shoe, she sat down on it to rest, straddling the wide expanse of sock fabric and leather between her naked legs. From there, she had a good view of the landscape around her. The bookshelves seemed to be over 300 feet tall now. It felt to her like she was in some very wide street in the middle of New York or Chicago surrounded by 50 story buildings. Even the books seemed 10 stories high to her now. The ceiling above felt as far away as the sky.
Next to her was the vast crumpled expanse of her giant clothes, which formed an undulating landscape reminiscent of dunes in a desert. Next to that was her bag that sat open like a large hill of leather.
Her bag! Of course!
Her phone was in her bag. If she could get to it, she might be able to send a text message to someone to come rescue her. It was only three feet away, but to her, it seemed like she had half a football field to cross. Her clothes lay in her path to the bag, which meant that she had more climbing ahead.
She wondered if she would have the strength to even push the buttons on her phone, but nevertheless she would have to try to get to it. It was her only hope now. Feeling stronger and more resolute, she decided she had to keep moving.
She slid down the sock to the floor next to her shoe and headed out on the hard, hilly journey to her bag.