The Residents
By Edmund

"Anyways, that's not the really good news", exclaimed Kara to her mom, sister and 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 class anymore. 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, when I was your age--" Libby, Kara's older sister, cut in. "I know, I know when you were our age you school day was fifteen hours long-"

Jonathan, dad to Kara and Libby interrupted, grabbing some jam. "Your mom is right. 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 for fourteen years now. She closed her eyes while her shoulders were rubbed, continuing to direct her voice to her daughter. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. If you 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 few moments 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 you three tonight".

Jonathan, while in nowhere near the enviable position of his wife, was relatively happy with his lot in life. Beautiful wife. Great kids, even though they were brats sometimes. I could definitely be worse.

"Oh. I forgot, Suzette smiled at the two girls, one of who was already heading to her room, Libby, come here for a second".

Libby returned and stood impatiently for what would undoubtedly be another bit of useless information. Sure her mom was almost a judge (in some ways she was very much a judge), but that didn't mean she should carry that legalese home with 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 Tupperware container that had an opening in the top, as if for a straw. She carried it towards 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 looked directly 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 count for anything?"

Suzette grinned, "Yes, it does. Why do you think I'm deliberately doing something that will make him angry?"

All three girls looked down at the container. It was opaque, making it difficult to see what exactly was inside, though whatever it was, it did seem to move occasionally. Kara knew what it was, so did Libby. Both of them eagerly waited 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 their attention. "As I was saying, it can stay with the others, but don't have it out when he's home, okay?". Her mother turned for a moment, thinking, then turned back, "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, which said 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. Her hands were upon the container, gaining leverage by pulling it to her stomach and then wrenching the top off with considerable speed.

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The figure inside the container was sweaty. It had been hours since having been outside, 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 first things to be noticed at this size was how blurry things had gotten. How seemingly small, slow movements now induced a sense of nausea.

Just a brief second ago, the container had been lifted and seemed to be carried to another location before being set down. Words were heard from overhead and then very suddenly, the container had been snatched away, immediately pulled upward and towards a large, dark object that held it tight in its grasp. The inhabitant had attempted to stand on its feet, but was immediately knocked backwards where it fell on its rump. The tiny form craned its 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 what had happened to her. She didn't have too long to ponder that very question as a huge face loomed into view from above. A HUGE smiling face. A young girl with blonde hair stared down at her, her chin lowered to her chest. There was a brief moment 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-like proportions. Inside the container, Heidi collapsed again and was flung from one side to the other, bumping her head. As she slid along the bottom of the shallow container, Heidi managed a look upwards and realized that the girl - her giant captor - was jumping up and down.

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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 getting ready for work. "You like the surprise?" It was obvious that even Libby was delighted as she smiled at her mother. "Listen, I'm late. I'll see both of you after 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, you understand that, right?" Both girls nodded again. Truth be told, they had heard this almost a dozen times in the last three years. Every time their mom brought home a visitor…she sounded like a broken record.

With that, Suzette left the house, leaving a small, forgotten person in the capable (if not unpredictable) hands of her two daughters. It had worried her the first few times, but still, she had to give them credit. In the years since they had begun this little ritual, no one had found out. That's just the way she aimed to keep it too.

All told, Heidi was the ninth (or was it tenth?) person she had brought into their happy home. Some (the first few) she had gotten to know and to a certain extent, 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.

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She was sliding. Heidi was sliding towards the open end of the container as it was turned on a severe slant, not unlike that of a cheap amusement ride she had visited as a child. As she had already discovered, things moved fast at this size. Too fast for her liking. Several images flew through her head as well as several smells, chief among them was…

Bacon.

No sooner had she thought this, then she had emerged from the now open container and gently coasted to a stop on a large, off-white surface, coated in a 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 monstrously huge. She was talking to someone who was already leaving, or at least that's what it looked like. Heidi's heart froze when the girl once again turned her attention downward, staring at her, beaming.

"Can you stand up?"

Heidi held still for a second, not that she didn't hear the girl (for truth be told, she'd heard quieter voices being broadcast at a stadium concert), but rather, a plain stunned feeling had set in. A moment later, she looked up again to 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 not yet accepted that fact. Heidi fell again into the muck, the contents of which she was still uncertain.

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With her mother now gone, Kara felt free to play. Missing an hour from her morning at school seemed like a small price to pay.

Gently, she tipped the container forward, then at the absolute last moment and fearing that the tiny occupant would land on a piece of cutlery, moved it so it was positioned over her mostly empty breakfast plate.

The tiny woman slid into view, making her descent look kind of fun and reminding 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 to see the tiny woman) walked in the other direction, but not before seeing what her 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 on her half-finished breakfast plate near a half chewed piece of bacon fat. Looking closer, she noticed that she was having difficulty maneuvering since she was surrounded by small globules of liquid bacon fat. "I know. I will. I'm just playing, okay?"

After staring for a moment, Kara said, "Can you stand up?" The tiny woman just stared at her. It wasn't untypical. Though they had only ever had one other woman of this size in their house (the rest being men), she'd noticed a few things. Namely, the women were far less aggressive. Men would typically be trying to counteract their terror (and it must be terrifying at first, she thought), whereas the woman, the one she had seen anyway, seemed more docile at first. 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 the woman.

"Step on it"

Heidi moved to the torn napkin piece and eventually managed to stand, wiping her feet and leaving small, almost un-noticeable greasy footprints as she moved to 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 this tiny 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 to disobey her young, giant subjugator.

* * *

Heidi was dizzy again. So much so, that she felt close to throwing up. The dizziness seemed never ending as it came, wave upon wave.

Though the giant girl claimed to value and cherish those much smaller than her (her tone used with her mother had suggested this), Heidi felt that she was being treated rather rough. What made matters worse was when she would try focusing her eyes on something - anything, that the immediate effect was one of nausea. Presently things were moving far too fast for her eyes to focus on anything at all. So she clutched her head and closed her eyes, praying that this ordeal would end quickly.

The girl's voice was heard from above, though Heidi wasn't sure whom she was talking to since her attention was focused on not throwing up. Several short groups of words were distinguishable though: "…stairs are very, very steep…" as well as "…can talk about that later…".
Then again, with all of this careless jostling around that knew whom she was talking to? The upturned fleshy palms of the giant smelled strongly of fragranced hand lotion. Heidi recognized the smell and recoiled at its intense proximity and how overpowering it was.

Things seemed to be slowing down now, thankfully. In the midst of her dizziness, Heidi recognized the color blue and the faint smell of talcum powder. Suddenly her stomach seemed to rise further to her throat as she suddenly dropped downward at an incredibly abrupt speed.

When would this end?

____________________________________________________________

The tiny woman lay prone in Kara's cupped hands. Kara was being extra careful with her, making sure that her movements were as slow and calculated as she was capable. Her journey from the kitchen to the hallway to the stairs took almost double the time it would normally take her; all because she was afraid of upsetting the woman whose fate now lie in her hands. She knew from previous experiences, 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 flight of 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. She looked 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 into her 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 (her sister, 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 had lived 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 and sister at one point, well maybe not that close, but close, still.

Carl had disappeared on a Thursday evening. It could have been earlier, but that's when she had first noticed him missing. What struck Kara, as most unfortunate was the fact that she never knew what happened to him. Although she wished him no harm, she would actually of preferred to know of his demise. That would be better than not knowing at all. As it was, he went missing and that was the end of it. She had told Libby of course and the two of them had concocted a story 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 up involved the two of them finding Carl on the floor, dead. A definite lack of detail 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 had absolutely 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 they were 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 it involved a great deal of secrecy. Smuggling criminals from their supposed jail time had to carry a pretty stiff penalty. Kara rationalized the white lie they had told their mother since it wasn't all that far from what she had done to her employers. This irony wasn't lost on Kara.

Kara bent her knees and lowered her cupped hands to the floor. She noticed that the woman was writhing more than she had been. Kara recognized the movements 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 tilted her mammoth fleshy hands at an angle. A moment later, the small woman tumbled a very short distance onto the carpet.

___________________________________________________________

Heidi stood to her feet amongst the protruding carpet fibers. The feeling was not all together uncomfortable, for they allowed her feet a slight, albeit awkward, padding. After standing for a moment, she dropped once again to all fours and immediately threw up. This went on for some time as her vomiting rid her stomach of practically everything in it. Even with her head lowered she could sense the movement from above. Something large - very large - was walking around 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 by the nausea. A few moments later, Heidi found the strength to stand but immediately sneezed. Once. Twice. Three times. That was the clincher. With the headache, the empty stomach, the extreme dizziness that continued to this moment, Heidi collapsed face down on the carpet.

____________________________________________________

Time had passed, though Heidi was not sure how much time. The bright light from above (whatever it was…the sun? a lamp?) was no longer emitting any light, at least not as far as she could see. Though it wasn't dark where she was, there was not a lot of light. Heidi stood to her feet, immediately noticing that the majority of the spinning room effect that had dominated her head for the last bit 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 surface that 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 way she remembered - a giant girl?), she was happy to still have what she did. She looked down to see the traces of a barf stain that was still on her smock from before she passed out. Oddly, the smell of the barf, although in near proximity to her face and her nose, wasn't the primary smell she detected. What she smelled now was bigger somehow. It was all encompassing too, almost like it was coming from all around her. It smelled vaguely of a few things, though the images that were conjured in her head hardly made any sense - musty clothing…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 from inside the house - even a compact car parked out front, several meters from where she now stood. A small wave of relief came over Heidi though something wasn'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 continued forward, step after step, looking above her head where a noticeable lack of light made it impossible to see higher than twenty or thirty feet. Her gaze fell once again to the house. It was a two story with the light coming from the second 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 normal car by any means. It was an older make, a Plymouth maybe. It had deep scratches on it, like it had been scuffed. Also, there was a surprising lack of detail on the car, making it look all the more like a toy than anything else. As her mind reeled to figure this out, a figure emerged from the shadow. Heidi shrieked and jumped 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 was ready 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 thumping sounds, but like they were being magnified by a sound system or something. Alec had stepped into the light. He was a man in his early thirties by the looks of it and not at all bad looking or out of shape. It was obvious by the look on his face that he was somewhat apprehensive.

"What's that noise?" Heidi asked, clutching her head with her hands. Alec was close 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 for a brief moment. Sometimes things are seen with the human eye that require time to 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 it down, is a lot of time considering Alec was already hurrying in another direction.

It was a door. Plain and simple. A door was being opened and Heidi was being bombarded by the bright light from the other side of the door. That was the normal part of the equation. The abnormal part was what it was that opened the door. Though Heidi couldn't make her out just yet, she knew who it was. The tall silhouette stretched upwards for what seemed forever. A flood of thoughts entered Heidi's head. What she hoped was a nightmare turned out to be all too true.

Kara's words came down from far above, "What do you make of the house? Like it?"

Heidi looked over her shoulder to see Alec still hurrying away, but trying to look like he wasn't hurrying, that he just happened to be nowhere close to where she 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. Things were blurry for a moment as Heidi tried to figure out where to look. Giant jean-clad-legs moved into view and stepped past her, turning and suddenly elevated 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 close to 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 throat dry, but saw that the foot wasn't coming for her, but headed towards Alec. Heidi saw and studies Kara's face for the first time. Unless she was sitting or bending over, her face seemed to disappear into the sky not to be seen over her pelvis. 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 was moving. It had found Alec and was nudging him backwards like an over-sized football 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 his back. Kara's moved in quickly, pinning and covering most of his body with her enormous foot.

Heidi couldn't watch any longer. Was she going to kill him? She was prepared to yell at Kara, but stopped as Kara's foot lifted off of him and slowly elevated 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 looked to 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 reverberation to run through Heidi's small, fragile body. 'I actually felt that' she said to herself. Kara's left leg immediately stretched out, extending far, far off into the distance and over Heidi and Alec's head. A moment later she was gone. Her thundering footsteps trailing off into the distance.

Heidi turned to Alec who was also walking towards her. She looked very confused.

"Who…what…uh-"

"That's Kara, he looked around, this is her bedroom"

Heidi scarcely believing this, looked around, high into the air, high enough that her neck strained. Bed posts, desk, closet. It was true. Now that the light was on she could see that it was true. It was a bedroom. Her glance turned downward to see the "house" and "car" she had wandered towards. Fake. Not even that 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 you should-"

"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 them where they were. It was crudely made, looked plastic like the rest of it, but definitely 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 cares now…"

"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 be hiding?"

The thumping grew louder as Kara sprung up the stairs.

"Wouldn't matter if you did. She'll find you. Listen, he said, turning once more, 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 far above. Heidi watched as her eyes immediately settled on Alec. A massive sock-enclosed foot sailed past Heidi, landing dangerously close to where Alec was standing. He tried not to flinch, but couldn't help it. Seeing him next to her foot allowed her a quick comparison - her foot was roughly the size of a long gas-guzzling car. It pivoted and flexed normally, like any foot would, but did so with terrifying potential as it moved past Alec and turned as she leaned upon 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. She nodded but doubted that Kara would even notice. Alec wandered closer too, he himself hungry. Kara bent forward and slid down the side of the mattress until she was squatting. Her giant knees protruded over (and even bent) the wall barrier as she settled. She didn't seem concerned though. Her long arm was suddenly coming towards Heidi, the plum moving into clearer detail. Kara held it for 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 in everything (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. Heidi noticed a trail of bubbled saliva that coated the rim of the bite mark. Had she been sucking on it? Heidi didn't care. She moved towards it, looking to Alec who would assuredly want some too.

But Kara was already upon him. In a dazzling, effortless display of casual abandoned 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 offer one. Instead her hand traveled downward as she leaned forward, grabbing a dirty sock that had been dropped earlier inside their walled perimeter. Showing very little 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, but Kara's giant fingers stuffed him downward until he slid to the very bottom. With that, Kara stood to her full height and took two steps, leaning forward and hanging the sock on the handle of a drawer, so that it hung far above the ground.

"You can sleep there tonight" Kara said absentmindedly, almost like she wasn't thinking about what she was doing. A blur of movement as Kara strode past Heidi 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 a bite of the plum. Since she couldn't break the skin herself, she took a bite from the exposed section, her head leaning into the bite marks and mixing with Kara's saliva. The plum tasted amazing.