Ball Park Lunch

It was a scorching afternoon in a small town in upstate New York.

"Lets see... what should I get.." A sixteen year old muttered to himself as he examined the menu board on the back wall of the small concession stand ahead of him.

Darren visiting his town's public baseball diamond to watch a few of his friends play in a big highschool tournament game.

The sun was particularly brutal this afternoon, making the shade under the stand's wooden canopy a much needed relief.

Darren lifted the hem of his tee-shirt to wipe a bit of sweat from his forehead as the person on line ahead of him stepped away from the counter with their food.

"Uh sir? Did you want anything?" An antsy teenage part-timer asked from behind the counter.

"Oh!! Um.. sorry... can I just get a hotdog please?" Darren answered as his hastily stepped forward.

"That'll be three dollars" The concession worker requested as he handed over a freshly prepared hot dog on a flimsy paper holder.

Darren briefly thanked the cashier who had already turned away to restock on cups.

The hungry teen gazed down at the tasty looking hot dog as he placed his money on the counter. He carried the bunned frankfurter to the left towards the condiments counter when he suddenly felt a strange wooziness fall over him.

"aaugghh.. what the..??" He sputtered dizzily, dropping the hotdog back down on the counter. The world seemed to spin wildly for a moment as he slowly faded out of consciousness.

Nearly everyone in the nearby vicinity was either too busy working or staring down at their phones to notice as the wobbling teenager seemingly vanished from thin air.

-----

Darren woke up only a few moments later to find himself laying on a strange, warm, fleshy surface. Both the heat and smell radiating from beneath him were both incredibly intense for some reason. He awkwardly got to his feet and squinted as he looked over the colossal valley that he now found himself in. The ground under him appeared meaty and glistening, giving off a strong, savory scent that was almost overwhelming. It was a huge surface that extended out a vast distance in front of, and behind him. All together, it was probably around the length of two football fields. Looming over him to the right and left were two massive, beige-colored cliffs, which made it seem like he was at the bottom of a canyon.

"W-what...? Where the hell is this??? Where AM I??" He muttered to himself anxiously.

To add to his growing confusion, the sky far above the strange landscape looked like a huge indoor ceiling, a strangely familiar one at that.

"Is... Is anyone there??? HELLO???" Darren called out to the heavens.

Almost as if in response, everything suddenly shifted under his feet, sending him flat onto his face.

-----------

-Meanwhile, a little earlier-

"Moooom, can I get something to eat??? I'm staaarrvvinnngg!!" Whined a bored eleven year old sitting at the end of a row of bleachers. The woman sighed as she pulled out a five dollar bill from her purse and handed it over to her antsy son.

"Thanks!" The messy brown haired boy flashed a cutesy smile before snatching the cash and running over to the nearby concession stand. The energetic seventh grader was already contemplating what he wanted to eat as he ran around the corner of the stand.

"OUUfff!!~" The boy, named Danny, fell backwards into the dirt after accidentally bumping into the back of the person waiting at the end of the line.

"Oh! S-sorry!" Danny apologized to the older teenager.

"Hey, no problem, you alright?" Darren asked as he helped the boy back up. "What's the rush bud? You starving or something?? haha." He teased.

Danny simply just smiled with a nod as he began dusting himself off.

----

Immediately after Darren received his hotdog and walked away towards the condiments, Danny stepped up in line and began scanning the menu intently. Though he initially wasn't sure what he wanted, he ended up basing his decision on what the guy in front of him had ordered.

The concession worker seemed busy re-stocking cups so it took a few moments before Danny got his chance to order.

"Can I have a hotdog please??" The eleven year old exclaimed loudly as cashier returned to the counter.

"Sure thing." The part-timer responded as he took the boy's 5 dollar bill. After the quick transaction, the cashier noticed that one of the hotdogs that he had prepared earlier had been left sitting on the counter by the condiments.

"Huh?... How long has that been there..?" He thought to himself with confusion before leaning over and retrieving it.

Figuring that he must have just made an error with a previous order, the frazzled concession worker passed the misplaced hotdog along to the boy waiting on the other side of the counter.

"All yours~" The cashier smiled.

The hungry kid didn't seem to even notice the 'mix-up' as he hastily accepted the passed-along wiener. As his outstretched hands closed in on the paper hotdog holder, his stomach whined with a high-pitched squelch.

-------

Darren attempted to pick himself up off the smooth rubbery surface, only to be knocked back down by another massive quake. Upon lifting his head to identify the cause, his body suddenly tensed up. The vacant view above him had been replaced by a GARGANTUAN young face. It only took a second for Darren to realize it was the face of the kid who had bumped into him earlier!

The terrified high-schooler screamed as he looked up upon the unimaginably frightening sight. The giant boy's expression seemed to only convey delight as both of his unbelievably enormous hands reached over the hot dog towards something out of Darren's view.

The giant youth's hands returned grasping two huge building-sized tubes, one red, and one yellow. His eyes seemed to glimmer with glee as he aimed the tips of the tubes down towards Darren's direction, giving the two plastic cylinders a tight squeeze.

At that moment, everything clicked for Darren. The hot meaty surface under him, the bread-like canyon looming around him.

A hotdog...He was standing on a gigantic hotdog!! He didn't know how or why, but he must have shrunk! Judging from his surroundings, he was probably around the size of a small ant; maybe even smaller!

It was now strikingly clear what this giant kid's intentions were....

"W-WAIT!!...HEY!! WAIT KID! NO NO DON----!!" he began yell..

Thick torrents of ketchup and mustard came rocketing down from above as the young giant began to indiscriminately decorate the hotdog around the puny unseen speck.

After giving the hotdog two good squirts, Danny lowered the two tubes back to where he had taken them from.

The inside of the boy's mouth watered as he leaned over and breathed in the savory aroma; His dark-colored eyes were gleaming with hunger as he eagerly snatched up the hotdog.

As Darren struggled to pull himself free from the vicious condiments, he could feel the hotdog under him beginning to ascend upward. By the time he was able to wipe the stinging mustard and ketchup from his eyes, the only thing he could see beyond the messy expanse was the entrance of a huge dripping mouth.



He screamed in terror as he attempted to get onto his feet and run away. The action was futile as he quickly ended up slipped right back onto his hands and knees.

"NOOOOO!! NOOO!! STOP!! I'M DOWN HERE!!! DON'T!!!!!" Darren cried as he crawled away frantically. The ketchup and mustard were making it practically impossible to gain any traction on the smooth, fleshy surface. His pleading seemed to go completely unheard as the front of the hotdog was forcefully pressed up against the warm rosy surface of the boy's glistening tongue. Darren was only about the size of a mere breadcrumb, making his presence along the seven inch hotdog pretty much undetectable. With no way of warning him, the giant eleven year old was about to unwittingly consume the little guy right along with his lunch.....

"Hey! Wait!! KID!!" The cashier working behind the counter suddenly called out just before Danny was about to take a huge chomp.

Now staring straight into the dark hissing abyss of the seventh grader's mouth, Darren practically saw his life flashing before his eyes. The distant booming voice that had stopped the giant kid was like that of a guardian angel.

Pulling the hotdog away from his mouth, Danny looked over with confusion, almost as if breaking out of a trance.

"You forgot your change bud!" The cashier smiled as he reached over with a handful of change.

"O-oh thanks!" Danny responded gratefully as he accepting the assortment of nickles and dimes.

Darren's hopes were completely dashed as he watched the two giants exchange currency high above him.

"NO!! PLEASE LISTEN!! LOOK!!! I'M DOWN HERE!!!!!!" He felt tears beginning to form in his eyes as he cried out. It didn't matter how loud he screamed, no one could hear him.

With that out of the way Danny immediately returned his attention to the yummy looking wiener. He wasn't going to let anything distract him this time. He was ready to stuff his face.

("Chow time...") He thought to himself as gulped down the pool of saliva that had been forming in his mouth.

-----

Darren watched in continued horror as he was carried back up to the enormous face. Had he still been normal-sized, he would have measured about a foot taller than the colossal child that now loomed over him like a skyscraper.

All the energy he had spent trying to crawl away had left Darren utterly exhausted. His entire form was now completely lathered with the gooey red and yellow substances.

There was an atmosphere of utter dread as the boy's mouth opened wide. The inside of Danny's mouth became illuminated by the sunlight, revealing the hellish world awaiting beyond his lips. He could now see the entire tongue, glistening with a thick sheen of saliva, awaiting the yummy flavor of the hotdog to be pressed against its tastebuds. Three or four glimmering ropes of saliva were curtained across the cavern from pallet to tongue. Out of habit, Danny slowly inhaled a bit of air right before taking his first bite. It was nightmarish.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!! STOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!" The tiny teen cried frantically as the shadow of the mouth's entrance started to travel across the front of the hotdog. Danny's eyes were nearly half-closed and glassy as he peered down past his nose. The look of hungry intent spread across his face spoke for itself. It was unnervingly clear that the kid had just entered eating mode. Even if he suddenly began to hear Darren's screams, there's a good chance that he'd just keep on eating anyways.

*CHOMP*

Only a few feet ahead of the shrunken highschooler, the giant mouth suddenly snapped shut. Darren watched in morbid terror as the huge lips in front of him pulled away. 1/4 of the hotdog was gone, like that.

"Mmmmmm~" Danny hummed happily as he savored first bite. All the sweet and savory flavors washed over his tastebuds as he chewed.

Totally paralyzed with fear, Darren continued to stare at the boy's massive lips as he chewed away. The loud sloppy sounds coming from within the mouth only added to the sickening experience. Occasionally the lips would slightly pull away from each other for a brief moment, allowing him to see as the hotdog was chewed up into paste

Tilting his head back slightly, Danny gulped. His neck muscles contracted as a barely visible lump undulated down to the boy's collarbone; It made a horrible, wet, slimy sound. Darren could see and hear it all.

The innocent eleven year old gave pleased smile as he lapped up the globs of ketchup and mustard that had been left behind on the corners of his mouth.

Had Darren not attempted to crawl away earlier, he probably would have been a part of that lump... This kid would have actually just EATEN him without even knowing it!

Another horrific realization occurred as Darren looked over his shoulder at the vast expanse of hotdog behind him. There was no way he could possibly escape another bite. He wasn't even able to finish the thought as Danny began to open wide for the next mouthful. The first bite seemed to have altered the composition of the boy's saliva, as there were now thicker, more numerous ropes curtaining the inside of his enormous maw.......

---

"Sooo gooood~" Danny thought to himself as he swallowed. One bite obviously wasn't going to cut it though. He wasn't going to be satisfied until the rest of this hotdog was at the bottom of his stomach. His abdomen gurgled as he opened his mouth to happily devour all that remained.

Danny hadn't admitted it at the time, but the guy who he had bumped into earlier was right, he was STARVING.

---

"NOO!!!! NOOOOOOO!!" Darren cried as he passed under the mouth's shadow and a wave of the boy's hot breath settled over him.

Even if Danny could see the tiny person on his hotdog, it wasn't anything significant enough for him to be concerned with. The boy no longer viewed 'Darren' as a person he needed to respect or apologize to; He was now just a tiny added seasoning on his lunch~

*CHOMP*

Darren's screams were abruptly silenced as Danny closed his jaws.

"MMmfff~" The eleven year old began to chew away voraciously. This bite appeared just as good as the last. The various flavors and textures danced along the plateau of his slimy tongue.

The speck-sized teen immediately experienced complete vertigo as he was hit by wave after wave of gooey saliva and mashed up hotdog. Due to the darkness, he had no indication of how close he was to being mashed between the boy's house-sized molars. He could do nothing but pray for his life as he was carried along with the chewed up mass.

Completely obvious to the horrific scene occurring within his mouth, the boy continued to chew away happily as he looked out at the baseball game that was just starting.

Darren could barely breathe as he flailed within the horrible gooey mass starting to collect at the entrance of the giant boy's all-consuming throat.

Despite the unthinkable circumstance that Darren currently found himself in, he was still somehow alive. A small ember of hope was still lit inside him. Sure the situation was bleak, but maybe there was still a way out of this! As long as he held on to hope!

With every last ounce of his remaining resolve, Darren screamed out with all his collected heart and soul.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!!! PLEASE STOP!!!! DON'T EAT M---"

*GULP*

Not noticing anything different or special about the momentary mouthful, Danny proceeded to happily gulp down the chewed up glob as if it were any other. It only took a few more moments for the kid to scarf down the rest of his lunch as well. 

"Mmm-mm-mm!~~" Danny proceeded to lick off the remaining glops of ketchup and mustard from the inside of the paper holder.

The seventh grader released a cute, high-pitched burp before tossing the saliva coated paper into the trash.

His stomach sclorched as it began to digest.

Upon returning to the bleachers, Danny took a seat by his mom.

"Hey, have you seen Darren? Didn't he say he was going to be here?" Asked a random high-schooler seated in the next row

"Nope, that's weird though, he usually never misses a game." A friend next to him responded.

Neither the two juniors would have ever considered to think that their missing friend was being slowly digested in the stomach of the little kid sitting only a seat behind them.

The tiny fading screams within the seventh grader's abdomen would go unheard by all.