Llenwi (pronounced Clan-wee) was incredibly excited for tonight. It had been a weird few weeks since her grandma’s shoes went missing. A number of other things disappeared as well, but all of those could be replaced easily enough. Her housemates and herself were all happy to use each other's stuff. Meline in particular had borrowed tops, dresses, lipstick, jackets and basically just taken a bottle of foundation from Llenwi at some time or another across the year or so that they’d been living together. For whatever reason those shoes were never returned to her.
 
 
But Llenwi was happy to put all of that aside because tonight was all about the 6 of them getting out and spending some real time with one another. Jessica had left the house in June, she was a year older than everyone else and had graduated, many tears were shed in both wonderful celebration and woeful parting. This left a room available that was filled by Llenwi’s longtime friend Rondine and now, 3 months into the new school year, everyone was available for a night out.
 
 
Seemingly out of nowhere, Meline had burst into the kitchen that morning yelling about the cinema:
 
 
“We must go!” she insisted, her French accent was never hidden, but was far more pronounced when she was excited “These films are amazing and it’s the last day they’re showing here!”
“She’s right, you know” added Bhavna who’d followed Meline at a more leisurely pace.
“About which part?” Llenwi asked.
“Both.” Bhavna answered “They’re 3 loosely connected films that focus on their own themes-”
“Themes that are incredibly important to France and all of its people: liberté, egalité, fraternité” Meline interrupted, leaning all the way into her French roots to practically sing the words liberty, equality, fraternity. Words that Llenwi had become quite accustomed to.
“And directed by a Polish guy” Bhavna retook hold of the conversation and quickly moved on before Meline could cut in again “but yes, they’re called the Three Colours trilogy or Trois Couleurs.”
She continued “But yeah, they’re only being shown at the little art house and this is the last night.”
“Sounds like a great idea! Why don’t you 2 try and convince Tee and Em, I’ll talk to Rondine” suggested Llenwi.
 
 
Before anything else could be said Meline had grabbed Bhavna’s hand and rushed them both out of the room and up the stairs. Llenwi giggled at the sounds of Bhavna trying to catch her feet through the slanted ceiling, put down the dishes she was washing and headed upstairs herself. She passed by the rooms of Bhavna and the twins Tia and Maria, hearing a similar spiel to the one she received in the kitchen pouring out of Tee’s room, likely where all 4 girls were.
 
 
Everyone in the house was an absolutely fantastic and lovely person to Llenwi. She had met Bhavna at a literature social, she studied French, but loved a variety of poetry and introduced Llenwi to her flatmate Meline, a French girl studying Engineering abroad. Those 2 always got on so well, even if it looked like they were arguing. Bhavna hadn’t learnt a lot of French before Uni, though she did already speak Hindi fluently, but thanks to all the time she spent with Meline was improving quickly.
 
 
Meline was an equally sweet girl, though a little more rambunctious. She normally came across like a stereotypical nerd, shy with a love of sci-fi and sciences, but whenever France (or any part of Europe really) was mentioned, her ears would perk up. She regularly felt homesick, having to spend months away from family and it was in those moments that Bhavna and her much improving French was there for her. It wasn’t uncommon for Llenwi to come back to the sounds of the 2 chatting in French in Meline’s room at the front of the house. They were close enough that at this point Llenwi was wondering if/when one of them would ask the other out.
 
 
At first you might think Tia and Maria to be your standard set of identical twins, and both the twins and Llenwi would say you’d be right. Twins of any type are 2 people, not 2 of a pair. The only real difference is how close they are to one another, with twins literally growing up with a best friend that’s beside you 100% of the time. In that way Llenwi was a little envious of the 2.
 
 
At the moment the pair were actually feeling a little sad that they’d separated courses, having both picked the same classes their whole lives until now. Technically they’d been separated in 1st year, being placed on different floors in halls, but that hadn’t stopped them basically sleeping over with one another. It was there that Llenwi had met them, as Maria was just 2 doors down from her.
 
 
Tia, having come out as bi about 6 months ago, was feeling more confident in herself during the change and was ready to continue studying people via Physical Geography. By comparison Maria was a little more affected, beginning to really understand just how divergent their paths could be, but was also proud that she was finding her own lane in Environmental Geography.
 
 
The person that Llenwi knew the longest was Rondine. They’d been placed next to each other in Mr Rutherford’s dismal excuse for a Chemistry class years ago, though they didn’t click immediately. Rondine’s aloof and even uptight nature had made her hard to connect to. A few weeks in though, a girl in class had gotten Hydrogen Peroxide and Hydrogen Sulphide confused. She had hoped to bleach some of her hair, but instead gagged so hard at the smell when she unstoppered the beaker she’d spilled the rest of it over Llenwi. It was thanks to Rondine’s quick actions in dowsing Llenwi in water and leading her to the school nurse that she didn’t collapse somewhere dangerous from nausea. When she did wake up, it was to a warm-yet-worried smile, a gentle-yet-firm grip on her hand and the soothing question: “Are you alright?” coming from Rondine. Instant crush.
 
 
Life hadn’t been particularly easy after that. Rondine proved to be a well desired person, her half-Italian looks mixed with her cool demeanour led to a number of guys, a few girls too, asking her out. Possibly even more disheartening to Llenwi was the ease with which Rondine could brush off the emotions of so many people.
 
 
As the years passed Llenwi took the easy way out, deciding to just enjoy as much time as she could get with Rondine, acting like her little touches and flirty comments were just the casual banter of friends. Going to the same University continued the blessing and curse,
When Rondine moved in, Llenwi felt this all the more. Even sleeping in the room over proved a little challenging for the first week or so. With time Llenwi got used to it, but she would take a late evening run to tire herself out if she felt she needed it.
 
 
Llenwi made it to the top floor, walked past her room and knocked on Rondine’s door.
 
 
“Hey! You in?” she pushed the already ajar door inwards
Hearing the reply “Yeah, come in” from Rondine, Llenwi stepped into the room fully
 
 
Rondine’s room was relatively sparse when compared to the rest of the house. Rather than the tinkerer’s mess that was Meline’s, the adventure around the world that was Bhavna’s, or the odd war of similarities and differences from Tee and Em, like a spot-the-difference game. Instead Rondine allowed minimal colour, usually in soft pastels if any, and preferred to keep much of her stuff hidden in draws, closets or even in the cardboard boxes they were moved in. You couldn’t call the room spartan though. There was shelving to one side that held a couple dozen books and an extensive collection of surprisingly graphic East Asian DVDs, that Rondine had assured Llenwi were all classics. Even more obviously was Rondine’s desk, which was littered with the unnecessary odds and ends that she had been gifted by the girls: A small pot made by Meline, that currently housed a bluebell; far too many photos of the girls together, though the only one with all 6 was taken within the house; and a poetry book that Llenwi had bought her, that seemingly had made its home there instead of the shelf.
 
 
“Do you have any plans this evening?” Llenwi asked “Cause the girls, well mostly Meline, want to go see some French films together”
“I think I can’t” Rondine replied, turning in her chair to face Llenwi “I’ve got this silly paper due tomorrow and I put it off finishing it until the last minute like an idiot”
“Well if it’s silly it shouldn’t be a problem” Llenwi rebuffed “A night out with the girls could do you some good after a hard day”
Rondine scoffed at that “You know what I mean. This thing will be about 8 pages when done”
Llenwi huffed “Ok, but if you do finish in time let us know. It’d be great to go out together.”
“Will do” Rondine smiled, swivelling her chair round again and returned to her laptop
 
 
  - - - - - - - - - - - -
 
 
The rest of the day was pretty normal, Llenwi finished up some laundry and continued work on her dissertation: The Women That Made Science Fiction. The 6 of them did have lunch together, Bhavna had been kind enough to make a huge pot of a stew called Pav Bhaji (and even kinder to tailor the spice levels to Llenwi’s soft palette). Which gave the 5 of them an opportunity to gang up on Rondine, pestering her on her progress and whether or not she’d be joining them. Sadly, to no avail.
 
 
Llenwi made one last attempt, a half hour before they were leaving to persuade Rondine to join them. Some modest but noticeable make-up on with one of her favourite tops, a light sweater on top and her choicest pair of jeggings (they showed off her butt the best), she headed to Ronidine’s room. She didn’t normally dress up much for the cinema, but it had been so long since she’d gone out properly and she hoped that her look might sway Rondine in some way. Seeing Rondine hunched over her desk in loose fitting sweats and typing away fervently frustrated Llenwi.
 
 
“Awwww, c’mon!” she pouted “We haven’t gone out as a house together since you moved in. The closest we got, Tee and Em drank themselves under the table and couldn’t even crawl out the door”
Stopping her typing for a moment, Rondine replied “You know I can’t do it tonight. This paper is 20% of my grade and is due tomorrow.”
“20%! That’s not that bad'' Llenwi lied and looked away, unable to meet Rondine’s unrelenting gaze “You just ace everything else and you’re fine”
“Any other night would be fine” Rondine retorted “Literally tomorrow would be fine. It is a Friday, we’d be able to try clubbing again”
Llenwi considered this, her face scrunching up in the process, but gave in “Tomorrow, ok!” She insisted “I’m telling the others!”
 
 
She rushed out the door, heading down to see how the rest were doing, if they needed any help and to update everyone’s calendars for the next evening.
 
 
Despite the slow process that was Tee and Em getting ready, the 5 of them were in the little foyer at the door on time. This was mostly due to Meline being extra active in readying everyone else, an unusual sight after more than a year of questionable punctuality. They all shouted goodbye up the stairs and when they heard one in return, made their way out the door. It was then that Llenwi noticed her bag was feeling a bit light. She’d forgotten her phone. Not the most important item while at the cinema, however they weren’t sure if the film would be popular and had discussed booking their seats. Meline was certain it would be packed and insisted they all buy tickets beforehand. It was the wiser decision either way.
 
 
Llenwi apologised to the others, explaining the situation, that they should head on and she would catch up to them, all the while Meline frowned, but was the first to move. Llenwi turned around quickly before the door shut, headed inside and closed it behind her. She didn’t want to disturb Rondine now that she was so focused on her work, so Llenwi opted to move quietly through the house and then run after the others once she was outside.
 
 
By way of padded tip-toes Llenwi made her way upstairs to her room, where she was certain she’d left her phone. Arriving at the top of the stairs she noticed that both of their doors were open. It was a little odd for Rondine to do that, but more confusing for Llenwi who thought she’d closed hers before going downstairs. It didn’t matter though. She waved those thoughts away and cautiously hurried into her room, only to be met with the back of Rondine, who appeared to be sniffing her rose-pink, flowery halter dress.
Too confused to make a sensible decision, Llenwi adopted a terrible cockney accent
 
 
“And what’s all this then?” she stepped into the room as Rondine spun around, surprised.
 
 
She looked pale as snow.
 
 
“Are you ok Ronni?”
 
 
Llenwi noticed that the dress wasn’t pressed to Rondine’s nose, but that the straps were in her mouth.
 
 
“What are you doing with my dress?”
 
 
She then realised that Rondine was slowly inching forward, the straps popping out of Rondine’s mouth as her hands dropped.
 
 
“Y’know it’s ok. As long as it isn’t too weird” Llenwi laughed, trying to ease the tension
 
 
She decided to try and change the subject
 
 
“I just came up to get my phone. See I left it on the desk” she clarified, pointing behind Rondine.
 
 
Rondine was right in front of Llenwi now, breathing much more heavily and she was looking at Llenwi like she desired something from her.
 
 
Llenwi repeated herself “Are you ok?
 
 
Finally Rondine spoke, softly replying “I need you” She then dropped the dress, lifting her hands up to cup Llenwi’s face, closed her eyes and leaned in.
 
 
A lot was going through Llenwi’s head at that moment, mainly questions. What was Rondine doing? Was she about to kiss her? Did that mean Rondine liked her back? What would she tell the others? She was still confused about what Rondine had been doing up until that point, but wanted this so much that she was willing to put it all aside. She decided to follow suit, closed her eyes and tilted her head up to try and meet Rondine’s lips with her own.
 
 
Only they didn’t meet.
 
 
Instead a warm circle, that she guessed were Rondine’s lips, wrapped around her face. Llenwi’s brain completely paused on her. She no longer had any idea what was going on and was too disorientated to make any decision at all. Her head began to feel like it was being drawn into Rondine’s mouth somehow. In the meantime Rondine’s hands left Llenwi’s head to allow more of her to slip in and took hold of her shoulders.
 
 
From here, Llenwi’s instincts managed to override her short circuiting mind and she began to struggle. It didn’t matter how Rondine was doing it, what she was doing was terrifying to Llenwi and she needed to get away. She tried swinging her arms and pushing Rondine away, but it quickly proved useless when Rondine just slid her hands down Llenwi’s arms and held them in place, gulping more of her down in the process. Her upper body trapped, Llenwi tried kicking instead, landing a solid hit against Rondine’s left shin after a couple of misses. While this did get her to yelp and shift her position, it didn’t slow Rondine’s hungry assault. Rather, Llenwi felt another swallow drag more of her in, her chest almost entirely past Rondine’s lips.
 
 
It was then that she realised just how odd the sensation of being eaten was. Her body was being squeezed in, not just into a tight space like you’d expect, but as if the parts that were approaching Rondine’s mouth were tapering in to make her easier to get down. She couldn’t pause for long though, Rondine’s hands were just in reach of Llenwi’s bottom and were beginning to grasp for even greater leverage.
 
 
Remembering where she had been standing when this began, Llenwi stretched her legs backwards. Finding what she’d hoped for, she kicked as hard as she could off the door frame. This time she was successful, Rondine was completely thrown off balance and tumbled backwards. Llenwi could tell from the way her legs were tossed around that Rondine had landed flat on her back, though this did not help the way she had wanted it to.
 
 
In contrast to the Llenwi’s plan to knock Rondine out and then crawl out backwards, the landing after the fall had knocked even more of Llenwi down Rondine’s throat. Not only that, but Rondine had sat up again almost immediately. Without any other ideas coming to her, Llenwi just kicked as wildly as she could and writhed as much as possible. In the end this proved fruitless too as Rondine just sat there squeezing and stroking Llenwi through her own flesh.
 
 
At this point Llenwi’s head was feeling a little less tight. Apparently she had arrived at Rondine’s stomach. This too made little sense, Llenwi was definitely smaller than Rondine, but not so much that only her calves and feet would still be outside at this point, she could only imagine what she looked like from the outside. It wasn’t long before Rondine’s mouth closed behind Llenwi’s feet, a single finger tracing their slow descent, while the other hand roughly massaged Llenwi’s head and shoulders as they entered the fleshly pit.
 
 
The 2 of them sat there, not that Llenwi had much of an option, as she regularly tried to push out against the stomach walls confining her, to little success. Once the rippling of Rondine’s throat pushed the last of Llenwi into her gut, Llenwi truly realised just how tight of a space she was in. Llenwi could barely move at all. The muscles surrounding her were pressed in as tightly as they could, having turned her right-side up in the process of depositing her here, squashing Llenwi into a foetal position, arms and legs tucked in to the point that some of her joints were already aching.
 
 
“Why did you do this?” Llenwi yelled as loudly as the restrictive space would let her “What did I ever do to you?”
She received no reply other than the rippled tapping of fingers across her pink prison.
 
 
Partially accepting her situation, but not giving up, had allowed a new realisation to sink in. Llenwi was in a horribly moist and noisy place. The entire experience had been so confounding, as Rondine had snarfed her down like some wild animal, that Llenwi hadn’t noticed how disgustingly wet and humid everything had been. From Rondine’s mouth with its wandering tongue and scraping teeth, down the sickly tight tunnel that was the throat and now into the crushing pit that was the gut.
 
 
Suddenly her world shifted as Rondine decided to move. From what Llenwi could tell Rondine had crawled somewhere and then, based on the sounds coming from above her, had started swallowing something. She wondered what on earth could Rondine be eating now, but was honestly too insulted at the idea that she wasn’t filling enough to care. Though she found out soon enough that Rondine was eating her halter top from earlier. Apparently what Llenwi had caught her in the act of.
 
 
It didn’t stop there though, Llenwi felt Rondine get up, take a couple of steps and then began swallowing more of Llenwi’s clothes. Unceremoniously dumped on top of Llenwi were more of her summer outfits, wonderfully frilly and fun dresses and tops that were ruined by the same unnecessarily savage treatment that Llenwi had received. These were then followed by her warmer clothes: jumpers, hoodies, jeans, sweatpants and a longer coat that had gotten her through the past few Winters. Soon the rest of her closet was devoured, shirts, trousers, pantsuits and some smarter jackets, outfits she was hoping she might wear should she get a job in an office someday. This was looking less likely.
 
 
Next thing Llenwi heard was a metallic jingling followed by an odd grunting sound that reverberated around her and then more noisy gulping. Bent and twisted coat hangers landed in the expanding mix that was Rondine’s gut, a few hitting Llenwi. One of the hangers that fell on Llenwi ended up poking her in the face. This gave her an idea. She was physically limited, but managed to grab hold of one of the hangers and straightened out the hook. Using this, she mustered as much strength as she could and thrust the makeshift weapon at the stomach lining most easily available to her, right above.
 
 
The response was immediate. Rondine was already on her knees, presumably to get at Llenwi’s shoes, but fell forward in pain, one hand pressed on her stomach where the hanger had struck, the other catching her fall. At the same time a guttural roar surrounded Llenwi like being stuck in a cloud during a thunderstorm. She pulled the hanger back and readied another attack, but before she could, Rondine struck.
 
 
Both sides of Llenwi slammed into her as Rondine’s seemingly gigantic hands tried to crush her.
 
 
“Food doesn’t fight back!” Rondine’s voice resonated around Llenwi
“I’m not food!” Llenwi cried back. Getting an opportunity she aimed the hanger at the same spot and stabbed again.
The result was even better than before: a jarringly loud growl and even a sickening retch were Llenwi’s reward. Though her punishment was also compounded. This time Rondine’s hands hit so hard they nearly pulverised Llenwi and they didn’t let up like last time, instead continuing to squeeze until Llenwi passed out.
 
 
  - - - - - - - - - - - -
 
 
She didn’t know how long she’d been out for, but by the time she awoke Llenwi was restricted even more than before. Rondine was clearly still in the middle of her binge as Llenwi could hear more swallowing noises, though they were even more echoey than she previously remembered. She was surrounded by far more of her belongings and everything was much wetter than earlier. Her shoes, towels, bathrobe and bathroom items like toothbrush, hairbrush and personal sponge were all in sight. She was pretty sure her books were in there too. Mangled and moistened to the point they were illegible. The nerd in her couldn’t believe that Rondine would do that to Emily Dickinson, but here she was and there they were. She had no idea how much else was in there, but she was sure it was quite a lot.
 
 
She could no longer see any part of Rondine herself, instead she had been moved and manoeuvred by all manner of her own things away from the stomach lining. She was so pinned in place that she could barely even wiggle. Left with nothing else she tried begging again:
 
 
“Rondine! Please! You don’t have to do this!”
 
 
If Rondine heard Llenwi, she didn’t respond. The rumbling sounds of eating were all she could hear. All she could do was cry.
 
 
Rondine continued devouring Llenwi’s belongings, for another half an hour or so, as much as Llenwi could guess. Once Rondine had finished, Llenwi felt her lay down and relax, likely on Llenwi’s bed, if she hadn’t eaten that too, stroking her gut, massaging herself after her ridiculous meal. After a while a gurgling came from under Llenwi and her horribly moist and unbearably hot world got even tighter.
 
 
Llenwi, along with everything she owned was kneaded, squeezed, squashed, crushed and then... Consumed.