Jack and I spend the next half hour trying to restore everything back into it's place. Our "TV" fell from its hinges, down onto the floor, while our beds were upside down, pressed against the wall. The dressers that held our clothes spilled open as well. I assume the look of sadness on my face must have told Jack that something was wrong.
"Hey Micheal, what's wrong? Didn't you like your first day of school?" He asks.
"Yeah, but that's not what's wrong. When Selena was walking me home, I made her angry because I almost fell off of her hand. I guess, if something happened to me, she would be held accountable and she wouldn't like being blamed for something I did. Either that, or there's something else going on." I reply.
"Did she say anything?"
"Yes. She said... all she wanted was... a normal brother." I say it slowly, afraid I might hurt Jack's feelings.
"... what?" He asks, out of breath suddenly.
"I told her, I just wanted the Selena that I grew up with. The one that played with us, actually talked to us. Then, she spat those words out at me."
"She... she didn't mean it. Let's just go ask her what made her say that."
"I wouldn't do that Jack. Not yet, at least. Something happened to her at school. She seemed to already be in a bad mood on the bus. She's changing. Changing from the Selena we knew." A dismal expression covers Jack's face. Attempting to enlighten the mood, I change the subject. "Hey, is back from school?"
"Yeah.. she came home a little over ten minutes ago."
"You want to go... talk to her? I appreciate you talking to me Jack, but I just want to be held right now." My voice cracks at the end.
What am I saying? Why am I so emotional? I need to stop this, I'm not a child anymore, I don't need to be held.
" that. I'll just... talk to her. You coming?" I ask, walking over to the door that leads to the book stairs.
"I think I'll just stay and fix up all of our clothes. Just.. watch out, alright Micheal?"
"Why wouldn't I?" I ask with a chuckle.
With that, I walk down the steps of the bookshelf reading the titles of the books on the way down. I finish the flight of stairs and step onto the cold hardwood floor. The air around me smells faintly of perfume, probably a leaking bottle of Selena's. It might have fallen over when she shook the house.
The distance between me and the doorway seems farther than usual. The anxiety of my earlier conversation with Selena must be sticking around.
Nearing the door, curiosity forces me to look to my right. Selena's bed is there, and under it, several pairs of shoes. Converse, sandals, flats, the whole deal. Above me, her walls are adorned with posters of , obviously, and some of the movies she's enjoyed. I don't recognize any of the bands, their names are strange to me.
As I'm about to step onto the threshold of the door frame, I spot something behind her dresser. It lies on the floor with a dim gleam. Abandoning my path, I find myself in the middle of the open and approaching the object in question. The shining object gets closer and I think I can make it out now. It's a photo frame, covered in dust. I'm right in front of the frame now, and I decide to pull it out. Wrapping my hands around the edges, I tug on decorated frame. With some elbow grease and a few attempts, the frame is released from its dusty prison. Though, I begin to wish I hadn't decided to pull it out. My knees buckle and I collapse. The frame, with cracked glass and breeding dust bunnies, contains a photo of Selena holding me as a child. She's probably about 7 or 8, and I'm just a tiny little speck of a toddler. She's looking up at the camera, smiling. I try to wipe the dirt away, but to no avail.
How could she have left this down here? Does she not care about me anymore? The large quantity of dust on this is evident that our relationship has been crumbling for years. Suddenly, the doorknob wiggles. In this area, I'm practically asking to be stepped on. The door is pushed open, snapping me back to my senses. I stumble to get up and rush underneath the dresser. I slide under it, gathering dirt on my clothes. Corpses of bugs littered around me make me gag. I pinch my nose and look away.
All I see are Selena's flats entering the room, thudding with each thunderous step she takes. As she closes the door, it picks up momentum and flings whatever was on her dirty shoes my way. Mud particles and blades of grass come flying at me, with incredible speed. The sudden gust of wind aggravates the settled dust as well, sending it into my eyes and up my nose. I'm pelted with the lumps of mud and whipped by the grass, meanwhile I sputter and wheeze. I use my left hand to wave away the dust and use my right to wipe my eyes. My body attempts to ease the pain by making me cry, draining my eyes of the hurtful particles. Regaining my vision, I follow her feet as she walks to the foot of her bed. She gets on her bed, with her knees. She slips her flats off, revealing her bare feet. She uses the top of her left foot to rub the sole of her right foot, wiping off any residue of dirt or mud. The process continues, switching to using the top of her right foot to wipe her left sole. Then, sure she got all of the dirt off, her feet soar up as she falls onto her bed, flat on her stomach. She uses her elbows to keep her up. Her ankles rest on the edge of the bed, leaving her feet out in the open.
I need to talk to her. About why she said what she did. Unsure on what exactly I'm going to say, I crawl out from under the dresser and dust myself off. Patting my pants and chest, I'm sure I got all the dirt on me off. I rise to my feet and walk closer to her bed. From this height, it's difficult to see what she's doing. I see her thumbs moving rapidly on something. She must be on her phone. Maybe this isn't the best idea. Abandoning logic, I shout her name and she looks around. She looks unsure of where the shout came from. I call again and her head turns toward me, her eyes automatically losing interest.
"What do you want?" She asks, turning her attention to her phone again.
"Can you pick me up so I can talk to you better?" I shout.
She sighs, obviously annoyed. She turns onto her back and swings her long legs over me. She hovers her foot above me, the colossal sole blocking the light as it descends. She spreads her toes open and fits my head tightly between around her big toe and second toe. Before I can object, she pinches with skull-shattering force. I wriggle and twist and make muffled screams, as her toes are covering my mouth and nose. She tightens her grip on me, and my feet lose contact with the ground. I'm lifted from the floor, my neck tasked with the job of holding my body weight. I feel like my neck is going to tear apart, skin tearing slowly. With hope and oxygen running out quick, I lift arms and try to pry her toes open, as if that would do any good. The immense struggling only makes what little oxygen I had left , leaving me breathless. My lungs burn and the pain that plagues my skull remains in place, if not worsened. Then, light comes back as I'm released from her long warm toes. Vertigo increases my need to vomit, but I somehow manage to keep it inside. I hit the sheets with my back, slamming my head down with extreme force as well. The crude sheets scratch at my neck, as if I didn't have enough problems. The muscles in my neck feel like rubber that's been stretched too far, and they lock, limiting my head rotation. The ground starts shaking as I see Selena sitting up, holding herself up with her arms like a gorilla. Her muscles bulge, the while she crosses her legs under her. The enormous feet that just released me catch the fabric, pulling me closer to her than I'd like to be right now.
"There, what do you want?" She says again, no trace of remorse for her actions in her voice.
I manage to balance myself, though my knees threaten to buckle at any moment. The high pitched whining noise that filled my ears has disappeared as well. I turn around and look up at Selena. Her enormous face devoid of emotion.
"Selena, what's wrong with you?!" I shout, temper rising from the indignation I had to endure.
"What's wrong with me? What isn't wrong with you!?" She retorts.
"What are you talking about? What did I do to deserve this?!" I yell.
"Being born." She says, disgust written all over her face.
"What? How could you... Selena, please, stop saying these things! I know you don't mean them!
"I mean every word I'm saying."
"But why? What have I done?"
"Ever since you came into our lives, we had to be careful and take extreme caution taking care of you. You think I like having to constantly look down at the ground every time I step in something and hope it isn't the mangled remains of one of my brothers stuck to my foot! Mom has been a nervous wreck since you and Jack were born! How can she take care of FOUR children, when two are as as bugs! And now you want to go to school! Don't you care about her? She's worried to death that you'll come home scraped up from under shoe! God, why can't you be normal!"
"Selena... I... I know mom cares about, it's clear to see. But mom isn't always going to be there. We're brother and sister, we have to stick with together, through all adversities that approach! I... I love you Selena."
"Go use that feeling on someone who feels the same then." She says icily.
I stumble back, the words obviously impacting me. "Why is all this coming out now? I know we've been growing apart for years, but what could have caused this outburst?"
She glares at me before speaking, "Do you know what I've been called today? Words you've never heard, let alone understand. The friends I lost, the looks I received. All because I have a freak for a brother. No, not even that... a BUG, for a brother." She spits out.
"You don't think I wasn't called names too?! You're alienating your own brother, just because of the pain you've received in one day? Try being me for a day! You're lucky you can walk anywhere, without having to worry about being crushed by, I don't know, anything that moves!"
"You should stop talking before there's one more thing in this world that can, and will crush you."
My eyes widen and I take a step back. This is what it's come to. Threatening to crush me. She said it so plainly, as if there's nothing wrong with it. Suddenly, my body ceases to function and I'm riddled with fear. Fear of my own sister. The swift death she can deliver upon me. Her cold eyes shoot lasers through me, and I continue to back up. My foot catches a loose thread and I fall back. I can't hold it in. The mental damage I've held in collapses, breaking the dam of emotions stored inside. Tears fall down my face, blurring my vision.
"If you're going to cry, do it in your room." She says coldly, curling her warm digits around me and tightening.
She lifts me up and slides her legs off the bed, standing up. She strides over to the small house and stuffs me into it. Jack grabs onto the window sill he was standing near to keep from falling. Did he just see what happened? Her hand leaves me crumpled up in a pile on the floor. I lay there, watching her hand float away, and then feeling the ground shake as she walks away.
"Micheal! What's wrong?" Jack asks, running to my side.
"Nothing," I wheeze out.
I remain on the floor, using my left hand to half- wipe away the tears. The sound of keys jingling and the front door creaking open echoes down the hall. My mom calls out, telling us all that she's home.
"Come on," Jack starts, "we have to tell mom what Selena did!"
"No Jack, we can't. It's simple. Selena just... doesn't care anymore. About me, at least." I say, the very words leaving a foul taste in my mouth.
***
Time has passed and dinner has come and gone. My mother called us all over for dinner, and we all took our seats, and Selena getting there far before us. My mom was excited to see me, her eyes filled with curiosity and her mind racing with questions. That's really all she talked about during dinner how I felt on my first day, if I made any new friends, homework. All the attention was pointed at me, probably not aiding the predicament I'm in with Selena. She just ate her food quietly, never making eye contact with anyone. was awfully quiet too, totally unlike her.
After about the 15 question my mom asked, I sighed and said that I'm full and tired. She excused me from the table and I slouched my way to my house, not looking back. I could tell she was disappointed. She probably had many more questions for me.
I'm in my room now. Jack lays on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. I lay on my bed and do the same. The moonlight crawls through the window, illuminating the dark room. Selena lays asleep on her bed, face buried in her pillow, her bare feet sticking out from under her blanket. Her soles shine against the soft the blue light.
"Being born." The sentence replays again in my head. "Why can't you be normal?", "A bug." I turn onto my right side, laying my warm face onto the cool pillow. A single tear trickles down my cheek, finding a home in the cotton of my pillow. Why did I have to go to school? If I had just stayed home, just kept my mouth shut... Selena would still love me. If you can call what we had before love. It's better than being called a bug. Not even acknowledged as a human anymore.
My legs heat up under the thick blanket I have over me and I rip it off. I'm just in boxers. I slide my legs over the edge of my bed and sit up. My feet dangle, just bare touching the floor. I close my fingers so that the tips are touching the top of my palm, showing the knuckles on the outside. I rest my hands on my knees and look down at the floor between my legs. Another tear falls down, narrowly avoiding my legs, slapping the ground with a soft thump. The impact separated the single tear into even smaller droplets, splattering them onto my bare feet. The cold liquid makes me shiver, though there wasn't enough to feel very well.
I'm afraid to sleep. Afraid of who will hurt me in my dreams now. That nightmare, earlier, it was too vivid. Too real. Remembering it again, the scene plays again in my brain, with it's sickening clarity. The squelch of Jack's body being compressed into a mushy warm liquid. I close my eyes and fall back, letting the soft piece of memory foam catch me. I sink into the inviting foam, and curl my legs to my chest. I pull the blanket over my already suddenly cold body, and try to think of something pleasant. Tess' warm soft hands, her perfect smile. With the image of my high school crush floating around in my head, I drift into slumber.
Giantess World
