I felt so lost walking these city streets and yet, not completely. It was like my mind wanted me to know where to go but not without throwing me a couple of curveballs. I took a deep breath, rounding the corner and carefully placing my hand on the Jake, the small guy in my pocket. Yeah, that's not too weird, right? I couldn't say for sure I was falling for him, I was just... concerned for him. I wanted him to be safe. Okay, so that wasn't completely true... I kind of did have a thing for him which sounds crazy considering we just met but... ugh, life is crazy. No crazier than me being 4 inches tall not too long ago and now walking the streets and feeling like I had just escaped prison.

I know it's a different set of circumstances but it almost felt the same as an inmate being told they could leave. All of a sudden, everything they had known about their life, even in captivity, was gone and they had to adapt to being one of the "people" again. That's almost how I felt as I passed a mass of strangers.

All the while, little Jake napped in my pocket. He started dozing off while he sat up on my shoulder, just behind my hair. He told he he needed a nap so I let him rest, naturally. I'd pretty much let him do whatever he wanted at this point. Hey, get your minds out of the gutter.

The fact of the matter was, if we were going to get anywhere, we needed money. Not a lot, but I decided to check my debit card at the nearby bank branch that was still open to see if I had anything left. It would also give me a good idea of what the date was so that maybe I could kickstart some more reminders and remember just how long I had been in that museum as a doll sized person.

I didn't know if I planned to tell Jake about my real name. I had caught a glimpse of her ... well, me, when I opened my wallet earlier and saw my ID. I always just figured my real name wasn't Lillian and I don't know why I hadn't thought to look at my own license, I guess being 4 inches tall really takes its toll on a person. That's why I felt even worse about what happened to Jake. What was I going to do?? I would have to tell his parents, I would have to somehow find him help... they'd blame me. Everybody would point their fingers at me and say it was my fault... I could go to jail, I think frantically as a tear forms in my eye. As hard as it is to think of, I can't turn Jake in... to anyone. He was right at the museum when he said our best chance of finding help was to leave. Anybody who saw Jake as he was would either suspect me for it or "best case" scenario would abduct him for some kind of experiments. I just wanted to see him get better... and he doesn't need that kind of stress. Also, the poor little guy just got dumped by his girlfriend. I've been through my fair share of breakups (usually I'm the one doing the breaking up though, except with my last ex) and I know they can hurt. I couldn't imagine the pain the little guy was in, physically and emotionally. This was all my fault, I repeated in my head.

At last I arrived at the bank and walked up the few concrete steps to get inside. The only reason I kept one hand lightly pressed on Jake is so that he'd stay in place and wouldn't be awoken by my steps and from rolling around in my pocket. As I keyed my PIN number in on the screen, I worried if he'd be able to breathe in there with such a tight space, and if he'd even be able to tell me if he was having trouble breathing.

To my surprise, there was still some money in my debit account. I had been late on my last 2 car payments and figured my lien holder would've just sucked out what was left. Before they had a chance to, I decided to take it myself and ordered the full $120.00 out of my account in cash. I sighed deeply as the crisp 20 dollar bills fell into my waiting hand and I hastily folded them in half and inserted them into my wallet, leaving from the ATM branch quickly, eliciting a couple of stares from strangers. It must look weird when someone quickly exits an ATM like that. Especially someone who looked like me... shit, I looked like I hadn't showered in weeks and my hair was all mussed up like I had a hot night of sex and didn't have any other clothes to throw on. I was probably just overthinking it though, I doubted anyone had time to notice me, a random bystander passing through.

The memories kept coming to me though. Maybe it was the quiet time I had been given but for whatever reason I was starting to put it together, and remembered more and more about what had happened, and everything before that. I didn't have my purse on me that day, in fact, it might've been at my ex's house which is unfortunate because it had my phone charger, cosmetics, car keys, and more. That's right! My car! My purple Hyundai! Damn... they've probably had it crushed into a metal cube by now with how long I'd been missing... and what about dad? How long has he been looking for me?

"I gotta... I gotta... I gotta call my dad" I told myself, feeling really nervous all of a sudden. My phone was dead for the longest time but maybe Jake's phone still worked. Oh, who am I kidding? Jake's 4 inches tall, his cell phone would be the size of a button... but maybe I could somehow still use it?

I stop walking in such a frantic behavior and sit down on a nearby bench. I watch the crowds of people pass by, most of them not even making eye contact with me as I looked down at my recent receipt from the bank. The date was November 20th... it was winter already but the weather wasn't too too bad. It had been about 50 degrees out and the sun was starting to set so I would've guessed October or November for the time of year. I don't know why but I can vaguely remember it being the early stages of spring when Kevin and I had gone to the museum. It was so long ago it seemed, I can't even remember why we went there in the first place.

My stomach rumbled as I thought about the fact that I hadn't eaten in over a day. In general, I'm not sure how my body kept itself running on what little food I had managed to find. I began to become more and more aware of my actions from the past 6 or so months and it disgusted me. At the same time, I realized that when you're in a "must survive" situation you will do some crazy things to eat but I was beginning to feel mentally (and even physically) ill thinking of those nights I had to dig under tables for leftover food, or worse... the times I gave my body up to others for a chance at their potato chips. I felt so disgusting and violated... but never with Jake.

Jake... geez, I talk about the guy like I've known him for years. I don't know him, I don't know his real reason for being there. Maybe he was one of those guys looking for a 'good time'. Maybe one of the other males there told him about me and he went to see for himself. It's possible that maybe once he saw how pathetic I looked he had a change of heart.

No, no that's ridiculous. Nobody had ever offered to help me ... NOBODY. Let alone do what he did. Jake's a hero... a really tiny hero, but still a hero in my eyes.

Speaking of, I could feel my tiny savior gently nudge my finger as he began to move a bit more. I had sensed him moving in small increments (heh, some pun intended) earlier but wasn't sure if he was ready to come out or not. The idea of having this little man in my possession was honestly terrorfying. At first, I had some fun teasing him but what if this really was his life? Could I really care for another human being at that size? I struggled even keeping pets!

I could hear him trying to talk but it was barely audible. I glanced down with a half smile on my face. It was the kind of thing you do when your cat is trying to get into your room but the door is closed so he/she does something adorable to get in the room. You're not laughing at them, per se but you kind of are. That's what I felt like as Jake seemed to be climbing up my finger tips. I could feel his tiny motions as if an ant had found it's way onto my hands. It's a good thing I knew him, because I actually hate bugs.

I gently slid my finger all the way out of my pockets, keeping my other hand nearby in case I dropped him. He looked up at me with a sheepish smile. It was kind of weird actually, he appeared to have more energy than before. A lot more. And he had only slept for not even an hour. He beamed up at me.

"Hello, dear" I said with a nervous smile, "sleep okay?"

He nodded, as if this was a perfectly normal arrangement. I hope he didn't expect me to give him a bottle next because I have no maternal experience... far from it.

He began moving his lips but I still couldn't hear the small man so I raised him up closer, careful to keep him protected by curling my other hand around him so he were contained in a small makeshift cup between my hands.

"Lil..." he murmured, "What's going on? Any progress with...?"

"Um... yes, yes.." I said, nodding slowly and deliberately, trying to maintain my status as a "caretaker" as best I could. "...I um... actually found some money"

Jake raised an eyebrow.

"Found some money... geez, I must've been out longer than I thought" Jake said.

"Heh, no no, not really, not even an hour, Jake" I replied, "but it turns out my debit card actually still had some money on it, so I took some cash out and now we have something at least to eat and to get transportation"

"But where are we going?" Jake asked, "to your parents?"

"Umm... maybe... actually there's something I need to tell you" I said quietly, watching in awe as he stood attentively, not once breaking his focus on my overbearing eyes.

"Oh? Okay?" Jake said, looking worried.

"I mean... yeah, we can... we can go to my parents... but um... Jake, it's actually... just my dad" I said with an uneasy smile as I explained this to him.

"Oh? Your parents got divorced?" he asked.

"My mom died when we were kids..." I sighed, "I had a brother... well, have a brother, at least as far as I know. Assuming not much time has passed, my dad's still living in Valleydale and I know the address because well... I lived there too"

Jake nodded his head slowly, a sad look crossing his face at the news of my mom. I hadn't known her too well and didn't have much to offer him in terms of details. She passed when I was very young, probably 5 or 6 years old.

"I uh shouldn't talk in the past tense" I chuckled, feeling silly, "I uh... I'm still alive and so are you, so I shouldn't talk like... yknow, like our lives are over"

Crap.

What the hell had I just said that? Of course our lives weren't over! I just felt like I'd be starting over in so many ways, trying to talk to my dad and tell him what happened without starting a big commotion and maybe even trying to talk to Kevin again and see if he still even cares about me or if he knows what happened. I mean, of course he cared but... ugh, I still shouldn't have said what I said, even if our lives are different. It was Jake's life that I worried about. Was his live over?? I really hoped not. But if it was (which it may not be) I wanted to do anything I could to make him happy. Again... mind out of the gutter, people!

"Jake that was... that was stupid" I chuckled, trying to laugh away my mistake. Jake didn't feel much like laughing. He sat down in my hand in despair. I didn't blame him.

"No, I know... I know what you meant, Lillian and it's good... I know... it's not over, never over..." he said, his tiny voice trailing away as he talked, I looked at him inquistitely. I was beginning to lose the ability to hear him as he went into a mumble.

"Jake?" I asked, "I'm not trying to be mean when I say this but please speak up"

"Oh! Oh, yeah.. no, it's no big deal" Jake said, "yknow, just never give up... and we won't... and also I wanted to say something... well actually there's a lot I want to say to you"

I shot the tiny man a confused look back. What could he possibly have left to say to me at this point? After I ruined his life?

"I just wanted to say first though, that I'm really happy for you... I'm happy I could help you" he said, smiling briefly before peering down at my hand again. He seemed to not want to look at anything for a moment because I saw him close his eyes as if he were going back to sleep.

"Jake, please..." I said, choking up "You're going to make me cry and I didn't tell you any of this to make you cry... I don't know why I told you this to be honest... my point is, we can catch a subway, get to my dad's soon enough and maybe go from there? Or is there somewhere you need to go? Honestly, Jake, we can do whatever you want, I promise you. I.. I..."

I stopped short from finishing my sentence and for good reason. We were both getting emotional. I didn't want to overcomplicate things at this time.

"Um no, Lil, it's fine" he said, standing up and giving me a reassuring pat on the finger. I smiled a little bit. "The first thing we should do is yknow, get you back home, there are probably a lot of people wondering where you are right now"

"Yeah..." I said, my voice trailing off now as I couldn't even look at tiny Jake in my hand. "...a lot of people..."

"So? Where to, Lil?" Jake said, returning for the moment to his usual personality. He had a certain laidback quality to him that not too many people had. He wasn't laidback in the uncaring way but he was laidback when things got really bad and you really needed a laidback person to calm you down. "You're kind of my taxi for tonight since... well..."

"Oh? I'm your taxi?" I said, smiling as I got up off the bench, once again falling for his infectious sense of humor, "So then you owe me some money, huh? I've been walking you around for a long time, Mister..."

"Um... do you accept... really little money?" Jake asked, actually going into his pockets for his wallet.

I smiled and let out a chuckle. I decided to be more playful.

"No... but I accept kisses" I smiled, bringing him up to my face. He looked up at me puzzled. I let him pause a second before things got a bit awkward. Finally I blurted out "what? have you never kissed a girl before?"

Jake didn't say a word. Instead he planted a very small kiss on my cheek. The kiss was almost imperceptible but I could tell it had really made him happy. I brought him back towards my lips and eyes so that I could hear him better when he spoke.

"Yknow..." he said, his voice growing more michevious again, "You walked me a pretty far way and just ONE kiss seems kind of..."

"Oh stop it!" I said in kind of loud tone, bombarding the little guy with a blast of my hot breath as I spoke. He seemed startled and I quickly apologized as he got himself together. "S-Sorry... no, you were fine, dear. I was just messing with you anyway... you're pretty easy to mess with, huh?"

Jake nodded.

"My friends always found me to be easy 'pickings'" Jake admitted.

"Yeah but how many of them actually picked you up?" I asked with a smile.

"You're the first..." he laughed, "actually, Lil... um..."

I looked down at him questiongly as he stopped speaking.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I um... I have something else to say..." Jake said, sounding even more nervous than someone in his position would be expected to act.

"Okay, well go ahead... I'm right here" I smiled.

"Lillian I um... I know we don't know each other very well but I know you said or maybe I said... yeah it was me..." little Jake stammered, "I said I wanted to get to know you better and you seemed down with that, yknow?"

I nodded as he fumbled for the words in my hand, looking as cute as ever right now. Maybe I WAS falling for him. Who was I kidding? Of course I was.

"So I mean... I know we should get to your dad's and stuff..." he said, the small beads of sweat starting to form on his face, "but yknow... we're probably hungry too, I mean I know I am... and maybe we could grab a bite to eat? Y'know... just us?"

"Well, of course it'd be just us" I quipped, "not too many restaurants will seat little tiny gentlemen... but continue..."

"Heh, Lil... I don't know why this is so hard for me, but do you want to go on a...?" he began.

"A date?" I asked, my eyes a bit open with surprise. This was a bit more than I expected from him, but I had also said I'd do anything to make him happy and it would make me happy too to get to know him. It just didn't feel like the right time. But damn, he was so cute in my hand right now, asking me out. And I had been kind of hungry...

"Yes, Jake. Yes, I'd like that, let's do it" I exclaimed, "the date, of course... let's do.. the date. Let's go on the date"

It seemed all the tension dissolved off of him as he relaxed instantaneously.

"Really? Yes, awesome, yes, let's do this, and... thank you" he said, remaining ever so courteous as he almost appeared to be bowing in my hand. If we actually did hit it off, I might be bringing a guy home to dad... not exactly in the way he planned though. "Oh but... shoot, you know what?"

"What?" I asked.

"My wallet, all my money is useless... I..." Jake stammered.

"Oh my gosh, Jake, it's okay!" I laughed, "Obviously I'm going to pay for the both of us. Really, it's no big deal"

"Right..." Jake sighed, "but hey, as soon as I'm back to normal I can get you the money. Actually... yknow what? I have Bank of America... if we go somewhere with a computer, Ill give you my password, I can wire you..."

"Jake stop" I smiled, a wide toothy smile as I watched the little man attempt to be a perfect gentleman. "It's okay, seriously. I'm going to treat you, Jake, since you've been such a great friend"

"But it's still a date, right?" Jake said, quick to bring that question to the table.

"Yes, it's still a date" I smiled.

Guys.