The little man sat down on the pillow and looked up to her, awaiting the questions to be asked. He
was actually really good looking. Just like his sister he had full brown hair, allthough his was cut
short to a brush. Compared to his body size he had big arms and long legs.
He looked like a well trained guy to Clara, only that he was really tiny. He wore trowsers and sort of
a west that appeared to be made from some sort of leather. She was curious. "What are your clothes
made of?", she asked. "Frog skin.", came the answer. He made it sound tough, as if he had said 'bear
pelt' or something. Clara was amused.
During their conversation Clara learned alot about the tiny people that had invaded her home. John
answered her questions thoroughly although he never told her something that she didn't ask.
His name was John the brave, his sister was called Lea.
Their tribe had come into her house two months ago after a clash with another tribe in the garden.
They lived on stolen food from the cupboards and crumbs from the floor, they also hunted spiders,
snails and cockroaches if they found them. As soon as Clara would come into a room, announced
long before by her thundering footfalls, all gatherers would hide where they could, that was also
how Clara found Lea.
Lea was very young and unexperienced in the gatherer regiment, an experienced gatherer would not
have been in a place where a sock was the only thing to hide under. "Imagine if you stepped on
her.", John said grimmly, "She'd be dead now." "That and pretty much flattened.", Clara laughed
out. John just stared at her in disbelief.
The careless way in which she said made something evil dawn upon him. Clara felt it again, the
power rush. To be able to do to them what ever she wanted. If one of these tinies would find itself
under her full weight at some point they'd be mush.
They were so tiny and helpless...she felt herself becomming aroused again. Her moral conscious
cursed her but this time she enjoyed the thought for a little bit longer. John was still staring at her,
jaw dropped. "Aww, you little guys are just too cute.", She cooed with a smile, "And most of you
live under the floor boards, yeah?"
John was obviously uneasy. His earlier trust in her was vaining by the second. "There is no light
under the floor boards.", John said, lost in thought over if he could trust her or not and how he
would get himself out of this situation, "we get lost under there, we have to stay up here, mostly."
"And what about the holes that I saw under the wardrobe?", Clara asked. John stared back at her in
shock. He had told her too much. "Oops", smirking, Clara continued, "where do they lead if you
can't really go under the floor boards?"
John didn't like where this was going. "They are dummies right? To fool me and Jasper should we
ever look under the furniture?" John was shivering again. "I just have to know what to look for...",
and with that Clara turned around and scanned the floor of the room. In the middle of the room
there was the bed, well, a slatted bed frame with the matress on top, clearly there could be some
under there. Under the Wardrobe, certainly, and under the drawers too.
Perhaps even behind and between the high book shelves that stood behind bed against the wall.
John's behavior told her she was on the right track. They weren't any cities under the floor boards.
They were all up here, hiding somewhere and they were all within her reach. In her head she
imagined every room in their house and she saw the possible hideouts imediately.
She had what she wanted. Now she could actually go hunt them. But could she be certain? Clara
went over to the Wardrobe and dragged it aside. She spotted the hole right away. The tinies had
carved in the floor boards so a few of them could easily lay in there there and Clara would not be
able to see them - from a position infront of the wardrobe that meant.
It was more a pit than an actual hole, they just made it look like one in order to keep her from
pursuing. From above Clara could see right into it but right now there were no little people to be
seen. Still, the grin was back on her face.
Clara was eager to go hunt, but if she left the room John would find a way to escape and propably
took Lea with him. Standing in the middle of the room she looked at them and John looked back.
He was pale, he propably realized what he had done. Clara could see his tiny lips form a word:
"Ogre." But not a single audible sound crept above his tongue.
As if John had looked directly into her soul, Clara started to feel guilty again. She didn't really
know yet what she would do with the others that she'd find, she had talked to one, and she'd hugged,
kissed and caressed another one. But there was so much more she could do with them. Her dark
fantasies were in battle with her moral sense now. And somehow John knew.