Shirley (tries) to get back to work

Looking back up after glancing down at her heels, Shirley continued walking down the hallway until she eventually returned to the reception desk, and the room she had just endured the mischief of the previous applicant. She took a seat at her desk once more, sighing as she crossed her left heel over her right knee.

Her feet felt a bit restless, and she chalked it up to the extra cup of coffee she had drank earlier. She ran her fingers down the side of her foot and it felt a little off, but she focused more on the work at hand on her computer monitor. But a moment’s time went by, and odd movements, slight twitches, and her feet bending at the ankle randomly made her eyebrows furrow as she tried to relax a bit.

“Hmph,” she scoffed, reaching for the heel. “these HAVE been pretty uncomfortable…”

She tried pulling it off, but it seemed stuck on her foot despite her efforts. It had always come loose with no problems prior to this, and had even been too loose at times, but now it seemed to not budge at all. A sudden, quick yank finally removed it from her sole, with Shirley being slightly out of breath with how much energy she had expelled just getting it off.

She set the heel down on the floor, and raised her other foot to her opposite knee and tried the same. With much effort and even more time spent trying than the other one, she couldn’t remove it at all. It seemed like the insole of the shoe was glued to the bottom of her foot, which made the receptionist sigh.

“Surely I can’t be going crazy…” she said, sighing and lifting her hands away from her lap. The slightest movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and her head quickly turned towards the heel she’d taken off earlier.

The blue-grey heel that had been resting on its side now stood up straight, with its opening facing the ceiling once more. A silent gasp came from Shirley, who now had her eyes locked onto the seemingly completely still heel. She had never seen that happen before, and was unlikely a coincidence since the center of its weight would make that impossible. Also, the heel had not been bumped by her or anything nearby, as it was placed next to her desk, not under.

She sighed once more and closed her eyes, rubbing her fingers on the sides of her temple. It had been a long day, and she was already on edge from the previous people who she had dealt with earlier. She was questioning a lot, yes, but keeping in mind all of her previous stressors all working against her incited her to just relax for a moment. A deep breath later, her eyes opened and she looked down at the heel. The heel remained in the same spot as before, but it was moving.

Moving.

Shirley yelped and jumped back, her chair rolling a few feet away from the shoe next to her desk. Her breathing got heavier as she observed very small, but certain movements coming from her black heel. The material stretched very slightly and its opening widened up and contracted, like a muscle flexing. The toe of the heel raised upwards, and flexed the leather audibly as Shirley watched from a distance. She watched a phantom foot’s sole develop and push down on the inside of the shoe in the shape of her foot. The damned thing lifted off the ground and stepped down again, mimicking a step in her direction, pointed directly at her exposed foot. Then another step.

And another.

Shirley bolted from the walking heel, nearly falling over and running sporadically towards the exit until a yank from her right foot stopped her dead in her tracks and caused her to fall over. She looked back at her legs while on the ground and saw the perpetrator, unsurprisingly being her other heel. She tried crawling away and her cries became quite loud when she felt her left foot become enveloped.

Her feet both had that familiar feeling return to them, but this time it was much more prevalent. On her hands and knees, she hastily turned around and tried removing them, pulling with all her might. Nothing. The once-moving leather now remained still, gripping her foot harder than before.

It wasn’t until she lost control of her legs that she realized how bad of a situation she was in.

Her entire lower half of her body had the feeling spread to it. Shirley ran her fingers against her calves, and sure enough, she couldn’t contract or control them. A twitch from her thighs made her freeze, and then her left leg knelt forward and the other pushed her up. She was standing in the middle of the lobby as stiff as a statue waist up, while her legs began to tap their feet and take small steps forward and backward while keeping the little dance consistent.

This situation seemed familiar. It didn’t take long for her to realize that she was just witnessing this fifteen minutes ago.

“My god,” she said, under her breath. “As if I needed another reason to despise that woman…”

Her feet halted after she mumbled, the last taps being stomps. Shirley looked down at her feet and they began rapidly tap-dancing sporadically and shuffling her body around while she struggled to maintain her balance. She gripped her left thigh with both hands to try to stop the movement, but their pace didn’t change a bit. In fact, their dance now turned to a stride, and she began gracefully taking steps around the lobby while her arms desperately flailed around looking for something to grab onto.

“Please stop this at once!” she cried out loud, mid-stride. Her heels gave no reaction, but shortly after her graceful strides halted at the suite door and her heels stood still, right in front of it like they were waiting. Shirley panted heavily as she was quite out of breath from her little dance routine. She looked down at her heels and where they planted her, and it didn’t take long for her to figure out what they wanted.

“Hah!” she chuckled, still out of breath. “You think I’m gonna leave this place like this? You’re crazy!”

No reaction seemed to come from her heels immediately. But after a few seconds, the left heel tapped on the floor twice, then raised her foot and tapped the door. Shirley crossed her arms, and scoffed at them. No matter how much she protested or resisted, whatever was controlling her heels had no regard for it. She thought maybe they weren’t capable of understanding her, but threw away that theory after her feet flew forward, dropping her bottom hard on the carpeted floor with her legs elevated above her, her heels trying to wriggle the door handle open. Shirley was stunned for a moment, but quickly realized what they were trying to do.

“NO!” Shirley yelled, pulling her legs back by hugging them and yanking backwards. It would look odd to anybody who could see this, but luckily for Shirley nobody had came to her suite so far during this conflict.

She tugged her legs back, and her feet would pull her to the door again. She resisted with all of her power, and she somehow was able to pull down on her shins to deter her heels from trying to get out. The sides of the heels now rested on the floor, actively wriggling against Shirley pinning them down.

“Gotcha little demons!” she said, gritting her teeth as she held them down.

The struggling soon came to an end, as the heels no longer moved on their own volition. Shirley still couldn’t move her feet, but she caught her breath as she continued to hold them down in case they tried any sudden movements.

A light touch was felt on her left sole. The touch was a quick one, but still made Shirley jump from it being unexpected. Another touch followed shortly after, this time on her right sole, lightly dragging against her arch making her gritting mouth curve into a slight grin.

“Ahh- no! Don’t!”

The touches soon enveloped both feet, and it quickly turned into a ruthless tickle as she began pleading.

“Wait! N-No, stop, please!”

“Ahhh! Stop it- please, I can’t take it!”

Nothing she said stopped the relentless feelings on her soles. Tears began to stream down her cheeks before she finally seemed to have said something to make them stop…

“Ahahaha, s-stop! I’ll open the d-door!”

Immediately, the tickling halted as Shirley caught her breath. She had makeup running under her eyes from the tears, and her hair became disheveled from all the struggling.

“Y-Yes, I’ll open the door, and we can leave,” she said, breathing deeply. “Please just stop…”

The heels pushed her upwards in a standing position again, making her nearly fall over once more. They tapped the ground in sync, seemingly eager to leave.

Shirley sighed. Her hand trembled while approaching the doorknob, and as soon as the door opened, she took off with each step quite audible as she strode down the hall.