Chrystal, a 19 year old college student

Things weren’t going too well for Chrystal. Missing the bus was one thing, having an 8 a.m class on a weekend was a whole other ball game, and to top it off, she’d left her study materials at home.

“It’s Ok... It’ll be fine... I’ve got backups of most of my stuff on my laptop... just gotta get to class on time...” Chrystal huffed, catching her breath as she sprinted halfway across her college campus.

Her shoes didn’t make the situation any better either. Her pair of Red Converse had been so worn out and dirtied over time that every step she took sent waves of pressure shooting up her foot into her ankles. No padding, no socks. Just a pair of bare feet hastily shoved into the first pair of shoes Chrystal could find that morning.

As she sidestepped her way through waves of freshmen and seniors bustling through the halls of her college campus, she couldn’t help but feel that with each step, her feet felt like they were getting squashed by increasingly heavier weights, each ride and fall of her foot taking more effort than the last.

Thankfully, her marathon was coming to an end. As she leapt into the lecture hall, the bell struck 8, its resonance heard miles away. “Just in time.” Chrystal thought to herself, as she slapped herself onto an available seat and took out her laptop.

Within seconds, Chrystal had flung her red converse shoes off, airing out a pair of blood-red Asian soles, sweat literally dripping off her toes onto the carpeted floor beneath.

She carelessly rubbed her feet against the carpet to try and cool them off, but the dead sprint left even her as a member of the college floorball team panting for breath.

Yet, as she cooled down in the air-conditioned lecture hall, listening to a professor whom she wished would just shut the hell up and get along with things, she couldn’t help but notice that her feet weren’t getting any less sweaty, still radiating the same, if not more intense, level of heat as before.

As Chrystal turned to crack her back, she spotted two guys quickly turn their heads and avert her gaze as she looked in their general direction.

“Great. These assholes were eyeing my ass again. God, I should get a jacket to hide myself.” Chrystal lamented silently to herself.

“They weren’t looking at you.”

Chrystal looked up temporarily from her notes, but quickly

“She ain’t a smart one” Another voice echoed.

“Yeah”

“And she’s so full of herself too.”

“Who’s there?!” Chrystal blurted, causing the whole lecture hall, save for the professor, to face her.

Chrystal’s face immediately flushed red, as she skunked into her seat.

“Wrong Direction.” The voice croaked.

At this moment, her own left foot slapped itself onto her lap, causing Chrystal to recoil in shock.

The wrinkles on her sole coalesced to form the figure of a frowning face with no nose. From the wrinkles which formed its eyes, Chrystal could see the sweat drops dripping like tears off the edge of her foot, as if her foot was tearing up from the pain of her sprint to class.

As the haunting reality of the face captured Chrystal’s gaze in a flurry of fear and trauma, its “mouth” moved once again.

“Hello Chrystal. We need to talk.”