The ResidentsBy Edmund"Anyways, that's not the really good news", exclaimed Kara to her mom, sisterand dad. "The really good news is that I get Mondays off from now on".
Suzette, Kara's mom, wiped her mouth with a napkin. "You what?" Kara grinned,but tried to look like she wasn't grinning. "Monday's. We don't have classanymore. If you don't believe me, you can call the school and check".
"Oh, I believe you all right, I just don't believe that school. I mean, whenI was your age--" Libby, Kara's older sister, cut in. "I know, I know when youwere our age you school day was fifteen hours long-"Jonathan, dad to Kara and Libby interrupted, grabbing some jam. "Your mom isright. It was tougher then". Both girls began to laugh at their dad. "Yeah,right".
Jonathan rose up from the table and gently massaged his wife's shoulders.
"Whether you believe us or not, it's true. You kids have it easy. Not like us.
Not like your mom". Suzette worked for the prison authority and had done so forfourteen years now. She closed her eyes while her shoulders were rubbed,continuing to direct her voice to her daughter. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Ifyou have Monday's off, you have them off. End of subject". She turned her head,"Jonathan, hand me my jacket, will you?" Jonathan turned. "Not now, she grinned,after you're done rubbing my neck". Jonathan continued to do so for a fewmoments but then looked to the clock. "I'd love to keep going, but I should-""Yes, I know. Go. I'll see you tonight".
He kissed Suzette's cheek and turned to grab his jacket and shoes. "See youthree tonight".
Jonathan, while in nowhere near the enviable position of his wife, wasrelatively happy with his lot in life. Beautiful wife. Great kids, even thoughthey were brats sometimes. I could definitely be worse.
"Oh. I forgot, Suzette smiled at the two girls, one of who was alreadyheading to her room, Libby, come here for a second".
Libby returned and stood impatiently for what would undoubtedly be anotherbit of useless information. Sure her mom was almost a judge (in some ways shewas very much a judge), but that didn't mean she should carry that legalese homewith her.
"What is it? I have to go" "Me too, her sister jumped in, can't it wait?"Suzette turned and reached below the sink, pulling out a small Tupperwarecontainer that had an opening in the top, as if for a straw. She carried ittowards the table and towards her two daughters.
"Guess what this is"Kara was already smiling - a big, toothy smile which couldn't be held back.
Libby, just barely two years older, refrained from such a ridiculous display,but even she had to bite her lip to keep from grinning like a complete idiot.
Suzette placed the contained down onto the table, inhaled deeply and then lookeddirectly at the two girls.
"Your father doesn't know about this one. He doesn't want anymore".
Kara's smile faltered, albeit briefly, "yeah, but we do, doesn't that countfor anything?"Suzette grinned, "Yes, it does. Why do you think I'm deliberately doingsomething that will make him angry?"All three girls looked down at the container. It was opaque, making itdifficult to see what exactly was inside, though whatever it was, it did seem tomove occasionally. Kara knew what it was, so did Libby. Both of them eagerlywaited her overly officious mother to finish with her rules and regulations.
"I know it's tough, but I don't want your father finding out about this one,got it?""Girl or guy?" Libby asked, trying to remain blank.
Her mother looked at her with resignation in her eyes. "Be careful with it.
It may be the last for a while".
"Girl or guy?, Libby asked again, tell me".
"What's a while?" asked Kara.
Suzette looked at both her daughters again, holding her silence for theirattention. "As I was saying, it can stay with the others, but don't have it outwhen he's home, okay?". Her mother turned for a moment, thinking, then turnedback, "Okay??"Both girls nodded.
Both girls looked downward at the container once more.
Kara looked to her older and just slightly taller sister, as if to say, "wanna?"Libby, trying very, very hard to remain the older sister, gave her a look, whichsaid that she wasn't as curious as she was (when in truth, she was).
"Yeah, go ahead. It's yours""Serious?" Her sister nodded again. Kara didn't wait another moment. Herhands were upon the container, gaining leverage by pulling it to her stomach andthen wrenching the top off with considerable speed.
____________________________________________________________The figure inside the container was sweaty. It had been hours since having beenoutside, before being dropped into the container. There was an air hole, yes,but it hadn't stopped the considerable accumulation of sweat. One of the firstthings to be noticed at this size was how blurry things had gotten. Howseemingly small, slow movements now induced a sense of nausea.
Just a brief second ago, the container had been lifted and seemed to becarried to another location before being set down. Words were heard fromoverhead and then very suddenly, the container had been snatched away,immediately pulled upward and towards a large, dark object that held it tight inits grasp. The inhabitant had attempted to stand on its feet, but wasimmediately knocked backwards where it fell on its rump. The tiny form cranedits neck upwards, trying to see, trying to fathom what or who was holding it.
A moment later the question was answered.
Heidi Chambers stared upwards in incredulity, trying to grasp exactly whathad happened to her. She didn't have too long to ponder that very question as ahuge face loomed into view from above. A HUGE smiling face. A young girl withblonde hair stared down at her, her chin lowered to her chest. There was a briefmoment where the two stared at each other and then the container began to shake.
At first it was just a tremble but quickly built to seismic earthquake-likeproportions. Inside the container, Heidi collapsed again and was flung from oneside to the other, bumping her head. As she slid along the bottom of the shallowcontainer, Heidi managed a look upwards and realized that the girl - her giantcaptor - was jumping up and down.
____________________________________________________________Libby stared at her sister. "What? What??" Kara continued to bounce up and down.
"Are you going to tell me or-?"Kara stopped hopping for a moment and then happily sang out, "It's a girl!"Suzette's voice could be heard from across the room as she continued gettingready for work. "You like the surprise?" It was obvious that even Libby wasdelighted as she smiled at her mother. "Listen, I'm late. I'll see both of youafter work. Don't mention anything to anyone, right?" Both girls nodded. "Kara?"Kara averted her eyes from the container ever so briefly and looked to her mom,still nodding, "Yes, mom, I won't. I mean, no, won't say a word".
Suzette continued to stare at both of them. "I could loose my job, youunderstand that, right?" Both girls nodded again. Truth be told, they had heardthis almost a dozen times in the last three years. Every time their mom broughthome a visitor…she sounded like a broken record.
With that, Suzette left the house, leaving a small, forgotten person in thecapable (if not unpredictable) hands of her two daughters. It had worried herthe first few times, but still, she had to give them credit. In the years sincethey had begun this little ritual, no one had found out. That's just the way sheaimed to keep it too.
All told, Heidi was the ninth (or was it tenth?) person she had brought intotheir happy home. Some (the first few) she had gotten to know and to a certainextent, tried to care for. Libby and Kara had certainly helped out, eagerly so,offering to watch them, care for them, etc. This worked for a while,but…accidents happen.
____________________________________________________________She was sliding. Heidi was sliding towards the open end of the container asit was turned on a severe slant, not unlike that of a cheap amusement ride shehad visited as a child. As she had already discovered, things moved fast at thissize. Too fast for her liking. Several images flew through her head as well asseveral smells, chief among them was…Bacon.
No sooner had she thought this, then she had emerged from the now opencontainer and gently coasted to a stop on a large, off-white surface, coated ina thin, strongly smelling and slippery substance.
"Breakfast time", called a voice from above. Heidi, on all fours, looked up,sputtering and trying to keep from falling completely on her face.
"Get her off that, another voice said, that's disgusting".
"I know. I will. I'm just playing, okay?" the voice said again.
Heidi caught another glimpse of the girl above her. Truly she was monstrouslyhuge. She was talking to someone who was already leaving, or at least that'swhat it looked like. Heidi's heart froze when the girl once again turned herattention downward, staring at her, beaming.
"Can you stand up?"Heidi held still for a second, not that she didn't hear the girl (for truthbe told, she'd heard quieter voices being broadcast at a stadium concert), butrather, a plain stunned feeling had set in. A moment later, she looked up againto the patient, smiling face and then did what she asked, she tried to stand.
Heidi managed to hold it for just a second before beginning to reel backwards,looking like a skater who was in the process of losing her balance, but had notyet accepted that fact. Heidi fell again into the muck, the contents of whichshe was still uncertain.
____________________________________________________________With her mother now gone, Kara felt free to play. Missing an hour from hermorning at school seemed like a small price to pay.
Gently, she tipped the container forward, then at the absolute last momentand fearing that the tiny occupant would land on a piece of cutlery, moved it soit was positioned over her mostly empty breakfast plate.
The tiny woman slid into view, making her descent look kind of fun andreminding Kara of the waterslide they visited during summer break.
Without even thinking, and unsure as to its ironic effect, Kara blurted out,"Breakfast time".
Behind her, Libby, willing herself away (for she too very obviously wanted tosee the tiny woman) walked in the other direction, but not before seeing whather sister was up to. "Get her off that, she said, gesturing to her plate,that's disgusting".
Kara stared downwards, completely transfixed on the woman. She had landed onher half-finished breakfast plate near a half chewed piece of bacon fat. Lookingcloser, she noticed that she was having difficulty maneuvering since she wassurrounded by small globules of liquid bacon fat. "I know. I will. I'm justplaying, okay?"After staring for a moment, Kara said, "Can you stand up?" The tiny womanjust stared at her. It wasn't untypical. Though they had only ever had one otherwoman of this size in their house (the rest being men), she'd noticed a fewthings. Namely, the women were far less aggressive. Men would typically betrying to counteract their terror (and it must be terrifying at first, shethought), whereas the woman, the one she had seen anyway, seemed more docile atfirst. At least she was. Later on she would prove a colossal pain in her butt.
"Whatever happened to her, Kara thought briefly, oh well".
Kara laughed as the small woman eventually tried to stand, but fell again.
"Oh, that's terrible, here, let me provide some assistance"Kara tore off a small piece of napkin and put it on the plate close to thewoman.
"Step on it"Heidi moved to the torn napkin piece and eventually managed to stand, wipingher feet and leaving small, almost un-noticeable greasy footprints as she movedto the edge of the plate.
"That's it, good girl"Recent history had proven to Kara that she could watch these things for hours- how they react, how they cope, what would they do if…etc, etc. Watching thistiny woman would be just the same, she thought, maybe better.
"Wipe yourself off and I'll show you around, okay?"Heidi did what she was told, thinking it may very well be a mistake todisobey her young, giant subjugator.
* * *Heidi was dizzy again. So much so, that she felt close to throwing up. Thedizziness seemed never ending as it came, wave upon wave.
Though the giant girl claimed to value and cherish those much smaller thanher (her tone used with her mother had suggested this), Heidi felt that she wasbeing treated rather rough. What made matters worse was when she would tryfocusing her eyes on something - anything, that the immediate effect was one ofnausea. Presently things were moving far too fast for her eyes to focus onanything at all. So she clutched her head and closed her eyes, praying that thisordeal would end quickly.
The girl's voice was heard from above, though Heidi wasn't sure whom she wastalking to since her attention was focused on not throwing up. Several shortgroups of words were distinguishable though: "…stairs are very, very steep…" aswell as "…can talk about that later…".
Then again, with all of this careless jostling around that knew whom she wastalking to? The upturned fleshy palms of the giant smelled strongly offragranced hand lotion. Heidi recognized the smell and recoiled at its intenseproximity and how overpowering it was.
Things seemed to be slowing down now, thankfully. In the midst of herdizziness, Heidi recognized the color blue and the faint smell of talcum powder.
Suddenly her stomach seemed to rise further to her throat as she suddenlydropped downward at an incredibly abrupt speed.
When would this end?____________________________________________________________The tiny woman lay prone in Kara's cupped hands. Kara was being extra carefulwith her, making sure that her movements were as slow and calculated as she wascapable. Her journey from the kitchen to the hallway to the stairs took almostdouble the time it would normally take her; all because she was afraid ofupsetting the woman whose fate now lie in her hands. She knew from previousexperiences, that their stomachs weren't as strong as she would have guessed.
Seemed like they were always throwing up or complaining of dizziness.
"That was the kitchen and we're coming up on the hallway. I know, exciting,isn't it?" Kara turned the corner and gently rose up the small-carpeted flightof seven stairs.
"These stairs are very, very steep. Not a good idea to try going down them.
We can talk about that later". Kara continued, three more steps to go. Shelooked downward to her hands again and noticed that the woman hadn't moved.
"Almost there, okay?" Kara arrived at the top of the stairs and then turned intoher bedroom, which had recently been painted a bright, flamboyant blue.
"Here we are"Things were good. It'd been a while since they'd had a new resident (hersister, Libby had coined that phrase). Five weeks? Six? She wasn't sure exactly,but it was too long. Carl had been the last. Carl Swath (?)Carl…Something-or-other, she couldn't recall his last name exactly. Carl hadlived with them for some time, over seven months. He'd been a good, good man.
One that Kara had taken a distinct liking to. They were kind of like brother andsister at one point, well maybe not that close, but close, still.
Carl had disappeared on a Thursday evening. It could have been earlier, butthat's when she had first noticed him missing. What struck Kara, as mostunfortunate was the fact that she never knew what happened to him. Although shewished him no harm, she would actually of preferred to know of his demise. Thatwould be better than not knowing at all. As it was, he went missing and that wasthe end of it. She had told Libby of course and the two of them had concocted astory of sorts, for if their mother learned that one of the residents was MIA,she wouldn't have brought anymore of them home…ever! The story they made upinvolved the two of them finding Carl on the floor, dead. A definite lack ofdetail was provided, but since both were mortified at the thought of his demise,Suzette assumed that his death was an accident.
She would never know that Carl had never been found and that Kara hadabsolutely no idea where he went (Libby was another story).
Much of their efforts went into coaxing their mother into a sense of security- that it was okay to bring more of them home, that it was okay because theywere safe, not cradled and pampered by any means, but safe just the same.
Both of them knew and completely understood what their mom's job entailed;firstly that it was far more important than that of their dad, but also that itinvolved a great deal of secrecy. Smuggling criminals from their supposed jailtime had to carry a pretty stiff penalty. Kara rationalized the white lie theyhad told their mother since it wasn't all that far from what she had done to heremployers. This irony wasn't lost on Kara.
Kara bent her knees and lowered her cupped hands to the floor. She noticedthat the woman was writhing more than she had been. Kara recognized themovements as those brought on by nausea.
"I went as slow as I could".
The woman who was on all fours was tipped onto her side since Kara had tiltedher mammoth fleshy hands at an angle. A moment later, the small woman tumbled avery short distance onto the carpet.
___________________________________________________________Heidi stood to her feet amongst the protruding carpet fibers. The feeling wasnot all together uncomfortable, for they allowed her feet a slight, albeitawkward, padding. After standing for a moment, she dropped once again to allfours and immediately threw up. This went on for some time as her vomiting ridher stomach of practically everything in it. Even with her head lowered shecould sense the movement from above. Something large - very large - was walkingaround above her, coming and going. THUD, THUD, THUD.
Clicking noises. Sounded like lego.
Heidi's eyes fluttered open, her head pounding with a dull ache brought on bythe nausea. A few moments later, Heidi found the strength to stand butimmediately sneezed. Once. Twice. Three times. That was the clincher. With theheadache, the empty stomach, the extreme dizziness that continued to thismoment, Heidi collapsed face down on the carpet.
____________________________________________________Time had passed, though Heidi was not sure how much time. The bright light fromabove (whatever it was…the sun? a lamp?) was no longer emitting any light, atleast not as far as she could see. Though it wasn't dark where she was, therewas not a lot of light. Heidi stood to her feet, immediately noticing that themajority of the spinning room effect that had dominated her head for the lastbit of time had reduced itself. Though a little wobbly, Heidi proceeded forward,noticing first that she was on a different surface now. A shiny black surfacethat looked like asphalt almost. Didn't feel like it though.
Heidi had been dressed in a white smock and light, cheaply made shoes.
Consider what she had recently gone through (if in fact it had happened the wayshe remembered - a giant girl?), she was happy to still have what she did. Shelooked down to see the traces of a barf stain that was still on her smock frombefore she passed out. Oddly, the smell of the barf, although in near proximityto her face and her nose, wasn't the primary smell she detected. What shesmelled now was bigger somehow. It was all encompassing too, almost like it wascoming from all around her. It smelled vaguely of a few things, though theimages that were conjured in her head hardly made any sense - mustyclothing…sweaty socks? Go figure.
Heidi squinted into the dim light and put one foot in front of the other.
Then again. Slowly and in the distance an image arose.
It was a house.
There was a tree (what looked like a tree, anyway), a light coming frominside the house - even a compact car parked out front, several meters fromwhere she now stood. A small wave of relief came over Heidi though somethingwasn't exactly right. Nevertheless, her tired body spoke on behalf of her brain;urging her forward to seek out a possible refuge - a bed maybe. Heidi continuedforward, step after step, looking above her head where a noticeable lack oflight made it impossible to see higher than twenty or thirty feet. Her gaze fellonce again to the house. It was a two story with the light coming from thesecond floor. Heidi sneezed once more. She wondered how terrible she must look,not that it mattered all that much at this particular moment.
Finally she approached the car, noticing that it was certainly not a normalcar by any means. It was an older make, a Plymouth maybe. It had deep scratcheson it, like it had been scuffed. Also, there was a surprising lack of detail onthe car, making it look all the more like a toy than anything else. As her mindreeled to figure this out, a figure emerged from the shadow. Heidi shrieked andjumped backwards, almost falling down the stairs.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to-are you okay?" The figure walked towards her.
"Who are you? Let's start with that". Heidi had clenched her fists and wasready to do battle. Tell me or I'll-""Easy does it" The figure stepped into the light. "It's okay. I'm Alec""Stop right there, Alec and step into the light a bit. So help me-"The shape of Alec brought his finger to his face. "Shhh". He stopped.
"Listen".
Heidi did listen. There was something, yes. Getting louder too. Loud thumpingsounds, but like they were being magnified by a sound system or something. Alechad stepped into the light. He was a man in his early thirties by the looks ofit and not at all bad looking or out of shape. It was obvious by the look on hisface that he was somewhat apprehensive.
"What's that noise?" Heidi asked, clutching her head with her hands. Alec wasclose now; he put his hands on her shoulders. He spoke quicker now.
"Listen to me, okay? Do what they say. Don't be spiteful. Go along with it,no matter what it is. Trust m-"His words were cut off as white light filled her spectrum, blinding Heidi fora brief moment. Sometimes things are seen with the human eye that require timeto sink in for them to be absorbed - that's exactly what was happening here.
What she saw took some adjusting. A full four seconds, which, if you break itdown, is a lot of time considering Alec was already hurrying in anotherdirection.
It was a door. Plain and simple. A door was being opened and Heidi was beingbombarded by the bright light from the other side of the door. That was thenormal part of the equation. The abnormal part was what it was that opened thedoor. Though Heidi couldn't make her out just yet, she knew who it was. The tallsilhouette stretched upwards for what seemed forever. A flood of thoughtsentered Heidi's head. What she hoped was a nightmare turned out to be all tootrue.
Kara's words came down from far above, "What do you make of the house? Likeit?"Heidi looked over her shoulder to see Alec still hurrying away, but trying tolook like he wasn't hurrying, that he just happened to be nowhere close to whereshe herself was.
A thud was heard as Kara took a step inside the room. "You met Shrimp?"A light was flicked on and suddenly the whole space was illuminated. Thingswere blurry for a moment as Heidi tried to figure out where to look. Giantjean-clad-legs moved into view and stepped past her, turning and suddenlyelevated themselves off the ground as Kara sat on her apocalyptic-sized bed.
Springs were heard as she bounced slightly, excited by what she saw.
Heidi just stared, her mouth open but no words coming forth. She felt closeto crying, but didn't, no yet anyway.
The giant's eyes quickly glanced upon Alec. "Weren't bothering her I hope"Alec stared upwards, looking resigned.
Kara's sock enclosed foot suddenly moved forward. Heidi swallowed, her throatdry, but saw that the foot wasn't coming for her, but headed towards Alec. Heidisaw and studies Kara's face for the first time. Unless she was sitting orbending over, her face seemed to disappear into the sky not to be seen over herpelvis. But now she was in clear site, in fact, she was looking directly at her.
"Feel any better?"Heidi contemplated an answer, looking over to where the giant's foot wasmoving. It had found Alec and was nudging him backwards like an over-sizedfootball player would do a defensive line. Alec flew backwards every time she"nudged" him. Occasionally she would stop, allowing him to strike at her feet,which he did, repeatedly, each time to no effect. Kara's eyes darted to Alec,but remained mostly on Heidi.
"Alec's been bad, haven't you?" She nudged him again and Alec fell onto hisback. Kara's moved in quickly, pinning and covering most of his body with herenormous foot.
Heidi couldn't watch any longer. Was she going to kill him? She was preparedto yell at Kara, but stopped as Kara's foot lifted off of him and slowlyelevated back into her cross-legged position high atop her bed.
"I have food. Are you hungry?" she said down to Heidi.
Out of the corner of her eye, Heidi saw that Alec was getting up. She lookedto Kara and nodded 'yes' to her question.
"Thought so. Hold on a second".
Kara jumped off the bed, her feet landing on the floor causing reverberationto run through Heidi's small, fragile body. 'I actually felt that' she said toherself. Kara's left leg immediately stretched out, extending far, far off intothe distance and over Heidi and Alec's head. A moment later she was gone. Herthundering footsteps trailing off into the distance.
Heidi turned to Alec who was also walking towards her. She looked veryconfused.
"Who…what…uh-""That's Kara, he looked around, this is her bedroom"Heidi scarcely believing this, looked around, high into the air, high enoughthat her neck strained. Bed posts, desk, closet. It was true. Now that the lightwas on she could see that it was true. It was a bedroom. Her glance turneddownward to see the "house" and "car" she had wandered towards. Fake. Not eventhat good a fake actually now that the light was on. Plastic crap.
Alec now stood directly in front of her. "She'll be back in a second but youshould-""What do you mean she'll be back? Can't you leave? Can't you just run away?"A sorry, pained looking smile crossed his face. He shook his head.
"No where to go. The entire village as she calls it…is sealed off"Heidi spun in all directions, only now noting that a wall barricaded themwhere they were. It was crudely made, looked plastic like the rest of it, butdefinitely would be tough to get over top of.
"So…you just stay here?"Alec nodded. "Yup. Not much else to do really". He glanced over to the house.
She likes us to stay in the house…or liked us to. Don't think she much caresnow…""Huh?""She doesn't really have that long of an attention span. Know what I mean?"The thumping sound began in the distance.
"Listen, I'll be over at the house. We'll talk more later, alright?"Heidi turned and pulled him back. "Wait. What's she going to do? Should I behiding?"The thumping grew louder as Kara sprung up the stairs.
"Wouldn't matter if you did. She'll find you. Listen, he said, turning oncemore, I gotta-""Here's a plum" came a voice from above. It was Kara.
Heidi turned and craned her neck upwards. Kara held something in her hand farabove. Heidi watched as her eyes immediately settled on Alec. A massivesock-enclosed foot sailed past Heidi, landing dangerously close to where Alecwas standing. He tried not to flinch, but couldn't help it. Seeing him next toher foot allowed her a quick comparison - her foot was roughly the size of along gas-guzzling car. It pivoted and flexed normally, like any foot would, butdid so with terrifying potential as it moved past Alec and turned as she leanedupon her giant bed mattress.
"Want some?" she called down to Heidi.
Truth was, she did want some. It'd been a long time since she had eaten. Shenodded but doubted that Kara would even notice. Alec wandered closer too, hehimself hungry. Kara bent forward and slid down the side of the mattress untilshe was squatting. Her giant knees protruded over (and even bent) the wallbarrier as she settled. She didn't seem concerned though. Her long arm wassuddenly coming towards Heidi, the plum moving into clearer detail. Kara held itfor a moment, tilting it back and forth (like Heidi had never seen a plum)before setting down on the carpet. Heidi saw an immense amount of detail ineverything (revealing that the skin on Kara's fingertips were dry and coarse).
The plum had a small bite mark where Kara had already indulged herself. Heidinoticed a trail of bubbled saliva that coated the rim of the bite mark. Had shebeen sucking on it? Heidi didn't care. She moved towards it, looking to Alec whowould assuredly want some too.
But Kara was already upon him. In a dazzling, effortless display of casualabandoned speed, Kara's hand grabbed Alec roughly.
"No food for you 'til tomorrow"Heidi waited for an explanation to be given to Alec, but Kara didn't offerone. Instead her hand traveled downward as she leaned forward, grabbing a dirtysock that had been dropped earlier inside their walled perimeter. Showing verylittle sign of caution or the least bit of gentleness, she stuffed his body,face first inside the sock. His arms quickly wrapped around the edges, butKara's giant fingers stuffed him downward until he slid to the very bottom. Withthat, Kara stood to her full height and took two steps, leaning forward andhanging the sock on the handle of a drawer, so that it hung far above theground.
"You can sleep there tonight" Kara said absentmindedly, almost like shewasn't thinking about what she was doing. A blur of movement as Kara strode pastHeidi again before moving into the squat position from earlier.
"You're not hungry?"Heidi thought back to what Alec had said and looked over to the hanging sock,the bottom of which looked noticeably darker and dirtier than the top section.
Alec's body writhed inside the soiled sock while Heidi leaned forward and took abite of the plum. Since she couldn't break the skin herself, she took a bitefrom the exposed section, her head leaning into the bite marks and mixing withKara's saliva. The plum tasted amazing.
* * *Libby bounded up the stairs, trying not to sound too excited.
"You home?""Up here, Kara's voice replied from inside her room, c'mon in".
It was now nine fifteen at night. Libby entered the room filled withanticipation, not as much as her sisters, but a fair amount just the same. Shewas still dressed in her work clothes from the office where she was a juniorsecretary.
"How's everything?""So far so good", Kara answered, a tiny trace of her mischievous smile stillvisible on her face. Libby sat on the bed, dangling her legs and her high heelshoes over the edge.
"You didn't go to school, did you?"Kara looked over her shoulder up at her sister who sat above her and grinned.
"No. I will tomorrow though".
Libby rolled her eyes the gestured to the tiny woman who was on the carpetnext to her giant sister. "She's okay then?""Fine. Hasn't talked yet. Or. If she has I haven't heard her". She laughed toherself, "other than that no problems".
____________________________________________________________Heidi sat on the carpeted section of the floor inside the tiny barricade thatKara had erected. Though it was a tight fit, her giant captor managed to fitinside the barricade if her legs were crossed. A similar thumping sound camefrom beyond the door. Seconds later the giant's sister emerged. She, dressedquite differently than Kara, walked in immediately and sat onto the bed.
Heidi thought about the movement of the two giant girls and how it blew herlargely imaginary perception of size clear out of the water.
In her mind's eye she assumed that if something was larger than you, that itwould also move at a slower speed (look at an elephant, she thought. Don't seethem running too often).
Maybe it was the cartoons she'd seen as a child where the large, usually evilminded giant would clamor after someone clumsily, trying their very best butfailing to catch their smaller, more agile prey. Those in pursuit would outwitthe giant with their physical agility; darting left and right and leaving themonstrous giant confused and unable to catch up.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
These girls were fast. Not purposely so by any means, but their eyes, theirhands, their feet and most of all, their reaction times seemed to go againsttheir large, often grotesque, proportions. Heidi first noticed it when the giantgirl had set her eyes upon Alec, deciding to pick him up. She simply reachedforward and grabbed him. Alec barely had a chance to utter a single word beforethick, dry fingers were closing around him.
The two girls talked briefly, Kara picking Heidi up at one point and staringat her closely. Heidi stared back (given little choice), and took in the detailof what, under normal circumstances, would have been a pleasant and no doubtpretty young face. Try as she might though, all Heidi could see were the flaws,which due to her size, were magnified considerably. She saw the roughness in thegiant girl's skin, the light hair growing on her upper lip (by no meansnoticeable unless you were as small as she was) and the tiny bit of toast stillimbedded in the corner of her mouth. All of it was as clear as day. This wouldtake some getting used to she thought, but until then she had to try very hardto not envision this young girl as a monster.
Heidi quickly learned to breath through her mouth, since inhaling with hernose intensified the smell of giant girl's breath, which wafted from her mouthlike a warm furnace. It wasn't bad breath per se, but unpleasant enough thatHeidi's first instinct was to recoil, squirming in the fingers of her giantcaptor. Once again, she could smell far more than she desire: peanut butter,toothpaste, milk, etc.
"Is my breath bad?" Kara wrinkled her nose then chuckled at her own question(as if the mere notion of her breath being anything but sweet was simplypreposterous). She continued looking at Heidi very closely all the whilecarrying on with her conversation with Libby. When she spoke or smiled, as wasoften the case, her white teeth shone and glinted in Heidi's direction, eachtooth as big as one of Heidi's old handbags. There was even a small seed stucknext to one of them, so small that Heidi doubted it the giant girl would evendetect it.
Finally, Kara lowered Heidi to the ground, but this time set her between hercrossed legs, giving Heidi the less than desirable position of standing directlyin front of her mammoth sized crotch. Kara continued her conversation with hersister with absolutely no mention of Heidi or where she had been placed, addingto her humiliation. 'I'm staring at a giant girl's nether region', she thought.
Looking up at her, trying to find her face proved too great a strain on herneck, so she did the only thing she could do, she stared at Kara's denim coveredpelvis, observing the bulges and ripples of the denim as they folded over thecontours of her young body.
A new smell had entered Heidi's senses. There had been a variety of them, allunpleasant, but this was new, or at the very least, stronger than anythingbefore. Heidi looked up from the towering crotch of her captor to see the darkbrown contours of a single high heel shoe that dangled from the edge of the bed,gently swaying back and forth. Heidi recognized the smell instantly: foot odor.
It wasn't rank by any means. It wasn't like she hadn't washed in three weeks oranything, it was the size difference. The smell of musty leather andperspiration continued to assault her senses as if someone was waving it in herdirection. Heidi looked up (as best she could) to Kara, wondering if she, sinceshe was much closer to her sister's shoe, had noticed anything, but since theirconversation continued, she figured that she hadn't.
The springs on the bed squeaked slightly and a soft, barely audible grunt washeard. A second later Libby's face crept into view from high above. A momentlater, Kara's own face leaned forward, her chin lowering to her chest as shestared down at Heidi who remained imprisoned between her own crossed legs.
Libby without taking her eyes from her sister said, "So, have you doneanything?"Kara's face quickly averted its eyes, her cheeks flushed red. She reachedover her shoulder and hit her sister's leg.
"No! Give me a break (and then, in a quieter voice), she just got here".
Both faces again locked their eyes on tiny Heidi who found that after a fewseconds, that the penetrating stares of two fifty to sixty foot tall girls(hadn't been able to judge an accurate height yet) was more than she could bare.
"Well, Libby said, pushing herself off the bed, her high heel shoes landingwith a thud on the carpet, let me know what happens". With that, she stood toher full height and smoothed out her black skirt. Libby stretched high enoughinto the air that Heidi could scarcely see her face over her protruding pelvisand gigantic legs. One bare leg stepped forward, crossing the small pile ofdirty laundry to land solidly on the floor, close to the dresser drawer. Heidiwatched her move, finding it a truly frightening, humbling experience as theknowledge sunk further in that she, a grown woman in her thirties was now fullyat Kara and Libby's disposal. She was a speck of dirt on the carpet. She wasnothing.
Libby's voice was heard from far above even though Heidi couldn't see herface. "You done with this?"Kara nodded, looking quite disinterested in what her sister was doing, butrather re-focused on Heidi.
Libby pivoted and stepped over the barricade like the toy it was. Heidicraned her neck to see what she was carrying and in doing so, saw up Libby'sskirt. Her long legs were bare all the way up to her underwear, which, like thewalls in Kara's room, were blue. Heidi's first instinct was to turn away, thatshe shouldn't look. Her second instinct told her this was absurd. From hervantage point, there would no doubt be a lot in the coming weeks that sheshouldn't see, but would anyway. Besides, it wasn't as if either of themappeared to care overly. I mean she was still trapped between Kara's crossedlegs!As Libby turned to face her sister, Heidi saw that it was the sock she hadtaken. The same dirty sock that Kara had shoved Alec inside of, more than threehours ago.
"G'night", Libby said to her sister and closed the door.
Alec tumbled roughly onto a hard surface like he had so very many times before.
He looked around; quickly trying to get his boundaries while the giant Libbycrossed to another direction in the room and began taking off her earrings. Aleclooked downward - her dresser - he was on her dresser. Alec sighed to himself,pulling bits of sock remnants from his hair and clothing. He wondered what histask would be this evening.
It had been a long time for Alec. His time here felt longer than his threeyears in prison. Anyway, time didn't mean what it once did. When you relycompletely on your senses to tell you what month and time of day it is and havelittle access to a clock, you quickly loose track of things (being in a sockdoesn't help either!).
There was a brief time, three or four days as he recalled, when he thoughtthat being taken to this house was a golden opportunity. He wasn't in prison anylonger, had avoided facing his accusers and pretty much had the run of theplace. The giants (two girls, a mom and a dad) seemed delighted at first withtheir new resident (their had been others he was told). The dad wasn't everaround. Even when he was, he didn't bother with "those things", saying that theymade him uncomfortable. Fine thought Alec. He'd be around the girls and the mom,all three of whom were quite cute. No problem. They seemed nice enough and fromwhat he gathered, the mom had gone far, far out of her way to bring him here -may have even been against the rules from what he'd observed.
That was then, this was now. What began as a novelty quickly crumpled to himbarely being remembered and then, worse, made to do things, disgusting, inhumanethings, some of which he didn't even want to think about. However, worse thanall the things he had done, was the fear that their boredom, which seemed to beon the increase, would one day render him useless. Would he disappear like Carl?Alec watched as Libby put down her earrings and then slid her short-sleevedshirt over her head. Next, she unzipped her skirt, letting it fall to her highheel shoes before stepping out of it, leaving it (much like in Kara's room) in aheap on the floor. Libby, like her sister was fairly thin, but not overly so. Infact, Alec remembered the first time he had seen her parade around in her briefsthat she was a "babe" (as he had then put it). That was no longer how he felttowards her however. Things had changed considerably.
She used to talk to him, that is to say, engage in conversation. She stilldid, but it was usually just her who spoke and he who listened. Alex watched asLibby, clad only in high heels, underwear and bra crossed towards him, gettingcloser and then closer. Her eyes looked past him as she took off her watch andthen picked up bottle of hand lotion and squeezed some onto her hands.
"What should I do?" Alec called to her, straining his voice to be heard.
Libby didn't answer him (maybe she didn't hear, maybe she didn't care) butinstead moved back across the room and picked up her phone. It felt good not toanswer. All day long, she had to answer people's questions; to wait on them, tocater to them, this was different. If she didn't want to, she didn't have to.
It was then that Alec noticed Heath who was wandering slowly across the floornext to Libby's giant feet.
Heath was another man trapped alongside Alec. Had been here for a long whiletoo. Though Alec had never asked, Heath was much older, maybe even in his lateforties. Because of this, he couldn't match Alec's speed never mind hisendurance when it came to the girls and their games.
Libby stepped over him, her high heel shoes landing on either side of hisminiscule form. She stopped, her arm springing downward and instantly grabbingHeath in her hand. With her other hand, she dialed a number on the telephone andwaited for an answer.
Heath didn't struggle, he knew better than that. Instead he just lie there.
This seemed to annoy her as she sighed out loud, a long drawn out sigh thatcould be heard across the room. What good was he if he didn't try to fight heroff? Her eyes fell on Alec and instantly moved towards him. In two giant stepsshe was there.
Libby let Heath tumble roughly onto the dresser next to Alec and then spokeinto the phone. "Yes. I'm looking for Robin?" She covered the receiver and spokequietly to the two men atop her dresser, but looked at Alec.
"He's too old to be any fun, don't you agree?"Libby's attention diverted between the two men and the phone, which shecradled between her shoulder and face. A moment later, she cupped the phone thenreached for Alec, easily grabbing him then raising him atop a small jewelry boxfrom which he would have difficulty getting down.
Next, she moved forward so that her chest was right up against the rim of thedresser. Heath saw what was coming and took a few steps back.
"Hi, she said into the phone, her eyes looking elsewhere for a moment, youstill up for tonight?"Libby's hand shot forward and effortlessly grabbed the older Heath,imprisoning him inside her fingers. She set him on the edge of the dresser thenmoved closer to him, raising on her tip toes slightly so that one of her breastscould lower over top of him.
Alec suddenly stood on the jewelry box.
"Libby. Don't!"Libby flashed him a grin, but was mostly involved in her phone conversation.
"Yeah. No, you should drive. I always drive…"Libby lowered her height a bit so that her breast fell softly on top ofHeath, who immediately began to struggle.
"Well that's why you should drive, she laughed quietly, you're better withdirections…"She removed her other hand so that all that was holding Heath in place washer large, fleshy bosom (which upon normal proportions wasn't all that large atall, but to Heath, it certainly looked like it).
"Libby, Alec called again, he can't take it. Please! Don't!".
Libby listened into the phone.
"It's no one. It's the TV."She leaned further forward, her breast oozing out of her bra slightly as itcompressed and completely settled on the tiny man, engulfing him.
Libby grinned widely at Alec atop the jewelry box, showing all her frontteeth.
"Think he can last ten seconds?"Alec, fearful that this would be the end of Heath looked to the edge of thejewelry box and contemplated jumping down. He had done so in the past, butalmost broke his leg.
"Okay, so fifteen minutes? Twenty?" she said into the phone before coveringthe receiver and looking gleefully at Alec.
"Ten, nine, eight…"She looked down at Heath whose arms could be seen protruding from underneathher breast.
"…Seven, six, five…"Libby moved forward further, her breast seeming to expand even more, almostmaking the tips of Heath's hands completely disappear.
"four, three two and…"Heath stopped moving.
"…one…"Libby slowly (too slowly) leaned back, slowly exposing Heath who lay face upon the top of the dresser, his face beet red.
"See? He's not dead, she whispered, he might be in a second though"Heath's chest rose slightly, expanding with much needed air. Alec watchedhelplessly, thankful that this was over.
But it wasn't.
Libby reproached the dresser and grabbed Heath in her hand, turning andheading back towards the bed.
"What are you wearing by the way?" she said into the phone, breaking thesilence.
Really?" She laughed and dropped Heath onto the bed. Heath bounced slightlyand then lie mostly still on his back.
Libby covered the phone once more then stood with her back to him and herface towards Alec.
"Hey, she said to Alec, watch this, okay? Look right at me."Alec did.
Libby sat on Heath.
It wasn't drawn out like before, it wasn't slow and torturous, but quick. Herpanty-covered bum lowered onto the bed and from Alec's perspective, completelyengulfed Heath's tiny body, smothering him.
Libby's eyes remained on Alec who remained standing on her jewelry box. Libbylaughed extra loud into the phone on purpose, too loud in fact, grinning likeshe'd just won the lottery.
"Okay, she said into the phone, never mind, I'll see you soon".
Libby lowered the phone but continued staring at Alec.
"What do you think of me now, she asked him, her smile fading but notdisappearing completely, still like me?"She scrunched forward and gyrated a bit as if she was squashing and smearinghim into her mattress.
Alec couldn't speak. He knew the day would come. He'd seen how she treatedhim and no doubt how he himself would be treated sooner or later. Heath was justthe easy choice since he was the oldest and weakest.
Libby stood and put her hands on her hips, still looking at Alec.
"Well, I gotta go, she said, moving towards him and out of the way of thebed. Heath was still there and not squashed at all. She'd fooled him.
"Didn't do it, did I? she said, I will though. One day. He's too old foranything else". By anything else, Libby meant her weird taste for sexualencounters, once describing Heath as "old enough to be my dad" and thereby,"Gross".
Libby dropped her underwear and unclasped her bra, soon standing fully in thenude. She liked this feeling, so much that she stretched her long, slim armshigh into the air, groaning out loud in pleasure. Nudity was such a taboo thing.
Couldn't walk around at work nude, not at the streetcar either. At home, in herroom though? She could do whatever she wanted. And all the tiny men (and soon,women, she hoped) could do… was watch.
"I'll be in the shower if you need me" Libby strode out of sight, her breastsbouncing with her every step.
Alec stared at Heath on her bed. He had started to move and eventually satup. They couldn't hear each other from across the room so a conversation wouldhave to wait.
________________________________________________Heidi sat on the giant Kara's bed, having been there since one in the morningwhen Kara had finally fallen asleep. Prior to that, the games had been numerous,none as great however, as Kara's never ending fascination with Heidi's reactionto her 'new world'. Since her sister had left the room, Kara had undergone a twoto three hour show and tell, convinced that Heidi would be as fascinated as sheherself imagined her to be with her new surroundings.
There had been games, yes. None of which Kara had forced her into (not yetanyway), but certainly ones that she was being shown the beginnings of, as if tosay that they would be revisited in the near future. At one point, Kara, nowdressed in pajama bottoms and t-shirt, lay on her side, her hips jutting highabove Heidi's head, politely asked her if she would like to climb on her. Heidiseemed perplexed that this girl, who was easily in her late teens, maybe evenearly twenties (it was tough to tell) would entertain the notion that Heidiwould ever desire such a task.
"That's fine, the giant had said, there's time for that later".
'Later?' What does that mean. The thought chilled Heidi's bones, as shedidn't want anything to do with this girl, or any of the others for that matter.
Kara eventually explained that on the off chance that she might get hurt,that she would remain tied to her finger while she slept. Heidi's first reactionwas one of disbelief. "You're not tying me to your finger-" she had started tosay (the first time she had spoke to Kara, actually) before the giant girlabruptly sat up, bounced off the bed only to return seconds later with a thinpiece of string. Heidi was pulled with great force to Kara's awaiting hand(having been grabbed from behind), where she dexterously tied one end to her ownfleshy finger. The other side had a noose of sorts.
"You'll go through here, she said, can't get hurt that way".
Heidi felt the loop fall over her body, settling on her waist and then pulledrather snug by the giant, probing fingers. Once finished, Heidi had about twentyto thirty feet (by her standards, not Kara's) of slack to play with.
"G'night, little woman", Kara had said with a slight trace of unintentionalcondescension in her voice.
So there Heidi sat, staring at the giant girl for a number of minutes,waiting for her to drift off. Once she did, Heidi immediately stood walked tothe end of the string's slack. It was no coincidence that she had tied it thelength she had, since it wasn't enough to reach anything else. Kara knew thatthere was no way down.
The sound of Kara's raspy breathing went on, non-stop through to the earlyhours of the morning. Heidi stared at the gigantic girl, herself unable tosleep, as Kara sputtered, coughed slightly and then turned over, her belly nowin partial view, expanding and retracting, again and again. Heidi fixated on hernavel, since it too was exposed. It was huge. Heidi imagined that she couldeasily stick her entire head into it. Not that she wanted to of course, butstill, the curiosity associated with her grotesque proportions was there.
_________________________________________________Alec, dead to the world, lie face up, lying on top a scrunched up used Kleenex.
Things change.
What once would have repulsed him beyond belief and offended his very nature,was something he now took for granted and often relied on. Libby, ever thedomineering giant young woman, derived amusement from arrangingless-than-satisfactory sleeping quarters for him, as often as she had the timeand inclination. Memories that stood out as her favorites: sleeping in one ofher sweat socks, sleeping in a container of her dirty, soiled laundry and mostrecently, sleeping on the top of her wastebasket, where he rested precariouslyon the built up volume of thrown away items, discarded food remnants, used dirtyKleenex and an over abundance of body hair, which she pulled and discarded fromher hair brush. Given this (and because of it, maybe), Alec slept rathersoundly; never knowing how long the sleep would last.
A laughing sound from above.
Alec strained to open his eyes, groggy as ever.
More laughing.
A thick, sticky twap sound was made as an enormous drop of fluid slapped hisface from above. Alec immediately opened his eyes and was stung by an acidic,burning sensation. The liquid covered his face and immediately spread down tohis chest. More laughing, louder now. Alec wiped his face and got on his knees,but the burning only grew more intense, stinging his eyes considerably.
"Don't ever complain you don't get enough vitamins again, okay?" the voicefrom above warned, still on the verge of laughing.
Alec managed to look up, past the feet and calves of the giant to her waistand then to her arms. She was holding a section of orange rind and had squeezedseveral drops of the juice on top of him.
_________________________________________________Libby always enjoyed these moments. In a cynical world, she was amongst the mostcynical to live in their house. Still, the little pleasures in life alwaysbrought a well-deserved chuckle. The very first experience she had had was witha man named Carl. He was the second or third resident at their house and hadbeen the unfortunate one to experience first hand, her often mean spirited senseof humor. After displeasing her by not successfully moving her dirty laundryinto a specific section in her room (as per her instructions), she had dribbledplum sauce on top of him from a bottle. It started as merely funny, but soon hadher convulsing in hysterics, laughing, almost crying at his degradation. It wasperhaps the first time that it had truly donned on her that they were hers to dowhatever she wanted to.
Truth be told, it sometimes took what she considered to be a great deal ofrestraint from just doing away with them all together. Every week or so, visionsof smashing them to bits under her massive clenched fist had entered her head -it would be so quick and so fun, she thought. But despite the short livedpleasure it would no doubt give her, Libby was old enough to realize that longterm pleasure is always more desirable. So with that in mind, she resolved tokeep them around as long as she could, if for no other reason than the pain inher (giant) ass it had been to explain the eventual disappearance of Carl.
(***If requested, more light can be shed on Carl's disappearance and postedseparately).
Besides, she thought, her newfound pleasure was found largely in her ownrestraint. Knowing…fully realizing that she was capable of prolonging, or if shedesired, ending their undersized lives, gave her enough satisfaction to keepthem alive…though she didn't know for how much longer.
Squatting over the two men, both of whom were still rubbing their eyes inpain, Libby reached over to the side table and took her mug of tea that she hadmade for herself. Since she had made it long ago, it was no longer hot. In wenther fingers, pulling out the softened, still warm tea bag. She set down the mugatop the side table then ripped the bag open with her fingernails, gentlyexposing the black grains of torn tea leaves that still steamed slightly andsmelled wonderful.
Heath was now looking up, seeing what she was about to do, for she had doneit before. On previous occasions, she had made them consume some of thetealeaves, pushing their faces down into the bag, so that, she said, "we can allenjoy the tea".
Heath started to back up and must have uttered something to Alec, since hetoo stood and moved towards the sound of Heath's voice, his eyes still burningfrom the orange juice droplets.
"Oh no you don't, she said, it's tea time…"With that, her enormous fingers lowered the bag towards them, the grin on herface turning upwards, but only slightly (it wasn't quite as fun as it used tobe).
"C'mon, it's not that bad, is it?"With that, Libby's door opened and in walked Kara, still in her pajamas andbare feet.
"Do you want the woman for a while, she said, I'm meeting Cindy for a coffee"Libby looked up at her, trying not to look too excited.
"Are you bringing Cindy here later on?"Kara moved towards her sister then sat on her bed.
"Maybe, yeah""Well, tell her again, that she can't talk about these things, okay? I'm notsure she got the point last time"Kara nodded.
"What are you doing with the tea bag?"Kara had no idea what Libby did with the people she brought into her bedroom.
Alternately, Libby didn't know what Kara did with them either. Both suspectedthe other as having "fun" with them as they put it and had even brought up thenotion that they do it together sometime, but the sometimes-cruel ways of thegirls (most notably, Libby) wasn't up for discussion.
"Just fooling around.""So, do you want her or not?""Yeah, Libby responded, I want her".
The door opened and a moment later Libby, the giant girl's older sisterwalked into the room, wearing loose fitting jeans and a snug t-shirt.
"Hello?" she said aloud, too loud in fact for Heidi's tiny ears.
Libby stood still and glanced around the room, first to her feet and thefloor and then up to the bed.
"She said you were in here. I'm supposed to get you something to eat".
Libby took a step forward, being careful where she walked.
"You do want to eat, don't you?"____________________________________________________Heidi would stay where she was. The thought of announcing herself had crossedher mind, but she thought against it.
"Come out, please? her voice said from somewhere above, I'm not going to hurtyou".
There was silence for a moment, causing Heidi to briefly open her eyes and tolook up in the direction of the giant girl. Libby looked to be contemplatingsomething. The giant then turned and closed her sister's door behind her,carelessly butting the edge of her sister's tiny barricade with her foot,practically toppling it.
"If you let me see where you are, I'll give you a treat" she said, her voicenow quieter.
Heidi's heart thumped in her chest as she contemplated being found. Oh, howshe truly wished this would not happen.
Libby turned to the door, as if to leave, but stopped, her backside facingHeidi. Slowly and quietly, her hands dropped to her side and fumbled around herwaist. Heidi began to wonder what she was up to, and then heard the distinctsound of a belt buckle - then the fly of her pants being unzipped. 'What couldshe be doing?' Heidi wondered with intense curiosity.
A moment later her answer was provided.
Libby's jeans began to slid down her hips slightly, not too much at first,just enough to reveal the top 1/3 of her underwear. Libby's hands found theirway to the closed door and snaked up almost as high as they could reach, bracingher body and leaning forward. S
