My body felt like it was on fire.  As soon as her arms went around me, a warmth enveloped my body that sent me even further into shock than I already was.  It was hot.  Too hot at that.  All of my nerves suddenly went wild.  Every nerve end on my fingertips, toes, arms, all started to sting.  It was like when you sleep on your hand overnight, but more painful.  Tears continued to gush down my face and that split-second felt like a lifetime of torture.  Mere seconds of her holding me felt like hours, even days. 

She didn’t let me go, either.  After she had muttered those words, her arms began to hold me in a tight hug.  Not a painful one, but tight enough to force even more realizations on my melting-down brain.  Her arms felt strong against me.  This didn’t just feel like a hug, but partially a constriction.  I took deep breaths and saw that her arms weren’t straining at all, even though I felt like I was trapped and unable to wriggle free.  It made me realize the reality of the situation and that I wasn’t dreaming at all.  She was twice my height and it felt like she had twice my strength. 

To be honest, I didn’t know what scared me more: The fact that she was twice my height or the fact that she could probably lift me with one arm.  At that point, everything about the situation scared me.  Not even the seemingly warm words sent towards me made me feel any better.  If anything, it made me feel worse and made me want to wake up from this nightmare all the sooner.  In the midst of my thinking, I began to hyperventilate in her arms, not able to control myself.  There was no way I could have prepared myself for this kind of situation.  I used to have bad anxiety issues and this was bringing them out at the worst possible time. 

“Hey, hey!  Calm down!  It’s okay!  Everything’s okay!” 

My reactions didn’t go unnoticed.  The moment I began hyperventilating, I was pulled in closer.  My eyes just widened further as I realized my head was over her shoulders.  I felt movement along my back.  It was strong, but not as much so as before.  I felt it in slow circles along my back.  The more she rubbed my back, the calmer my body began to feel.  My breathing slowed over the course of the next few minutes and I finally got out of “scared and hyperventilating” to just scared.  She stayed there with me, rubbing my back over and over again for more time than I could care to remember.  10 minutes or 30.  It could have been even longer than that. 

“There you go.  Everything’s okay”

Her words went through my ears, but I knew they were wrong.  Deep down inside, the voice in my head kept repeating ‘No, it’s not.  Nothing is okay right now.  Nothing about this is okay.  What in the world is going on?!  Why am I here?  Why are you insanely tall?’ but none of the words ever left my mouth.  In the state I was in, I wasn’t in a position to be able to say anything at all.  I wanted to say something, but I just couldn’t will myself to breathe a single word.  All that I could do was stay there, in her arms.  Helpless, scared, crying. 

She took me to another room after that.  She stood up and wrapped her hand around mine, like a mother does to her child.  Aside from my facial features, that may be exactly what I looked like at the time.  A child being led on by their mother.  I walked along with her by instinct and natural reaction.  I was just silent and looking around at the place we were.  The walls and corridor outside the room looked very much like the room, itself.  Everything was oriental.  Every room had sliding doors.  Asian pictures and decorations across every wall.  This was an Asian-inspired building or whatever it was. 

We came into a room with a small table set on the floor.  She sat down on one side after setting me down on the other.  As she sat, I looked forward, ever-reminded of the fact that she was so tall compared to me.  My eyes had been on her the entire time, but the walk here had made me realize it wasn’t just her.  The door handles were above my head.  Even this table, while sitting, came up to my neck, while it didn’t even come up to her chest after she sat down.  It wasn’t her that was taller.  I was shorter. 

This thought sparked my mind with memories.  I remembered the past days.  The experimenting I was doing about Rebecca’s worries that I’d become shorter.  Freaking out over the bulletin board I had set up.  The Doctor constantly dismissing it as me being too stressed.  Right, the doctor.  She dismissed it every time.  But, wasn’t it her that had me in this room right now?  It only raised more questions in my head about what had happened, and why she was here.  Now I was thinking more along the lines of wondering if she knew about this all along.  I didn’t see anyone else in this place.  Just her. 

I looked at her as she passed me a plate that has some sliced bread on it.  I sat there for a few minutes before she urged me to eat it.  I looked at the food, and didn’t object.  Beyond all the fear, I was pretty hungry.  So I took her up on the offer and managed to get myself moving enough to take a bite out of the toast she’d given me.  This led to her speaking to me again. 

“Before we talk, I just want you to know that you’re safe here, little one.  I’m going to keep you safe from everything.  Just like I…promised.”