The Beginning: Elizabeth's Point of View

The sun burned Elizabeth's eyes as she looked up into the sky. It was a beautiful day out and she was walking through the center of town after school on a Friday. It was not very crowded and yet she ended up running into someone and they both toppled over. She got up quickly and offered her hand to the girl she had knocked over. The girl accepted her hand and Elizabeth noticed she had a powerful grip. The girls eyes were cold and she seemed to be a bit out of it.

"Are you ok?"

The girl shook her head as if to remove an awful image. Her eyes seemed more lively.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine. Thank you."

Elizabeth helped her up. She was about as tall as Elizabeth. She wore jeans and a t-shirt, which surprised Elizabeth a bit. I just got out of school and am of course still in my uniform. And my school is the first to get out around here. Why is she not in an uniform?

"I am terribly sorry about that. I did not see you there."

"It is ok. Umm... Excuse me, I have to go." Elizabeth felt a little twinge in the back of her mind. It felt like fear, but like it was someone else’s fear. The girl walked off and Elizabeth continued on her way down the street towards her house.

What a strange feeling and a strange girl.

When she arrived home she decided to take a nap. She lay down and let herself fall into the most surreal dream ever. And yet she had had no control over the dream itself. In most of her dreams she could control her surroundings to some extent, but in this dream she had no control. It felt like she was really living it and yet she had no control over her own body. Elizabeth had seen herself in a mirror while in the dream, but she could not remember what she looked like. All she knew was that it was not her.

While trying to put the dream back together in her head, she felt that strange twinge again. This time it was a feeling of failure, fear, helplessness, and loneliness all as one. it sent a shiver down her spine.

Elizabeth was snapped out of her thought when her mom screamed her name.

"Liz. You are going to be late for work. Get your butt down here and in the car."

She was sixteen but did not yet have her license, so her mom had to drive her to work. I swear the only reason Mom even drives me to work is because she does not want me in the house.

Elizabeth had a decent life style. Her parents both had good jobs so they were pretty well off when it came to money. She went to a elite school and found it fairly simple. She was captain of the basketball team and the soccer team. She was uninterested in boys, which gave her more free time. And she loved to write, which made all that free time useful.

The only problem was that her mom hated her priorities. She wanted Elizabeth to marry a rich man, and be an actress or have some other well paying career. And Elizabeth wanted to be an author, which was on her mom's "no-no list". Her mom hated the fact that she played sports instead of finding herself a boyfriend. Elizabeth wanted to get away from her unsupportive mother, but found no way of doing so.

"Elizabeth!" She was once again ripped from her thoughts.

"I'm coming. Give me a second." She threw on a pair of jeans and a simple button-up blouse. Then she ran down stairs and out the front door to the car waiting out front.

She worked at a café downtown. Her mom had picked that job figuring she would meet a guy there. Elizabeth could care less.

Upon entering the café, the twinge that she had somehow forgotten came again, but this time more like a screaming headache. They were the same feelings as before, but there were also words.

...ouch... big hand... scary... in briefcase... four men... black coats... government... BAD...

The words poured into her head and would not stop. She tried to block them out but they broke through whatever barriers she put up in her mind.

Elizabeth stumbled into the employee changing room. Her head was screaming in pain. She put on her waitress apron and headed out to serve her first costumer.

She stood before a table of three suited men. The words in her head became images. First the image of the flag of the country. Then a gun. Then a pill. Then four suited men, their faces concealed. A giant hand. The inside of a briefcase. A giant cell phone.

The images kept pouring in. Elizabeth thought she was going to faint.

"Hey, miss, are you alright?"

One of the men had spoken to her. The pain was immense. She had put one hand down on the counter and the other was squeezing the bridge of her nose between her eyes. Her eyes were closed.

"I am very sorry. I just have this screaming headache. I am ok." She knew she could not really tell them what was really going on. She heard the clicks of the briefcase on the table being opened.

"I have some Tylenol. Would you like some?" That was the last thing she heard before she fainted.

She found herself dreaming. It was a continuation of the dream she had earlier that day, but a piece had been skipped over. Soon she was awake, with most of the people in the café standing over her.

She grunted, knowing in an instant she had hit her head. "How long have I been out?"

"Barely a minute."

"Ugh." She had a headache from the bruise she was sure was on its way. But there was no pain from the twinge. In fact the twinge was giving off a feeling of comfort and trust, although there was still a hint of fear. What changed, I wonder?

Elizabeth rose, brushing herself off. "I am feeling much better now. I am good to go."

"No. You are going home. I called your mother. She will be here shortly to drive you home." The manager was looking at her with a worried expression. "Why don't you go get changed and I will get you a glass of water."

"Fine." Elizabeth did not like the idea of going home. She headed into the changing room and took off her apron, putting it back in her locker. She was about to leave the room when the words from the twinge came back.

Elizabeth stopped, not knowing what to think.

"Y-yes."

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Fine." Elizabeth complied. When her hand was on the ground she heard one more thought.

"OK."

Elizabeth stared in wonder as a tiny figure walked out from behind the trash can and climbed up onto her hand, sitting down in the center.

Elizabeth lifted the 2-inch-tall figure up close to her face to get a better look. She realized it was the girl from earlier that day, the one she had run into.

"You", she whispered. "What happened to you."

"Was it those men out there?"

"Yes. Hold on. I am going to put you in my pocket. Do not struggle. I won’t do anything to you. I am telling the truth."

"Right..." Elizabeth put the little girl in her pocket and stood just in time for the manager to enter the room holding a cup of water.

"You ok?"

"Perfectly."

"Well your mother is here so you may leave."

"Ok."

Elizabeth walked through the café, glancing quickly at the three men in suits. They had their briefcase open and were rummaging through it.

Elizabeth had exited the café and was about to get in the car. She glanced back over her shoulder. The men had gotten up and were talking to the manager about something.

The twinge, which Elizabeth now knew was the mind of her little friend, gave off a wave of fear far greater than before.

Elizabeth took off running as fast as she could.

Elizabeth could feel herself speed up automatically. She could not help feel afraid, but luckily the little girls mind sent her a feeling of calmness.

Elizabeth did as she was instructed.

The little girl took a little time coming up with an answer.

Elizabeth once again did as she was told. She ran for twenty minutes until she reached the train station.

She could feel the little girl in her pocket giggling and remembered that she could hear her thoughts.

She entered the train station, which was much nicer than most. She went to stand in line for a ticket. The line was short and in no time she was being helped.

"What can I do for you?"

"One ticket to Boston, please."

"That would be 83 dollars."

Elizabeth handed over the money. The ticket man handed her a ticket in return.

Elizabeth could not help giggle.

She could feel the girls annoyed feeling.

They ate quickly and then got on the train. Elizabeth found them a cabin where they were by themselves.

Elizabeth looked out the window, watching the scenery go by. She felt excited. It was something like she had never felt. She was doing something that had truly caught her attention. She was leavnig behind her unsupportive mother, her boringly simple school, everything.

Things had gone terribly wrong. The mission had failed. And now she had a unknown pill in her. She did not even know how she got away. It was a miracle.

Shawna had been running for quite some time and decided to take a quick rest. She had landed herself somewhere in the center of Manhattan. All of a sudden she felt a weird sensation. Her body froze; just up and stopped moving. Then her mind became fuzzy. Her vision became blurry.

When she could see and move again she was laying on the ground and a girl she did not know was holding her hand and helping her up.

"Are you ok?"

Shawna shook her head in an attempt to get rid of the weird feeling.

Feeling slightly better, she replied, "Oh, yes, I'm fine. Thank you."

The girl pulled her up. She was in a school uniform, which made Shawna miss her life before ‘everything’.

"I am terribly sorry about that. I did not see you there."

She felt the funny feeling come back and knew she had to get out of there.

"It is ok. Umm... Excuse me, I have to go."

A sudden twinge in the back of her mind gave her a feeling of being exhausted. She knew she was not actually tired, but still she could not shake off the feeling.

"strange feeling... strange girl." I did not think these thoughts. Why are there words in my head.

Shawna was overwhelmed by exhaustion. She found an alleyway and sat down to rest.

She did not know how long she had been sitting in the alley but all of a sudden she no longer felt tired. She stood up slowly just in case her body was still doing funny things. She put her hand against the wall of the building bracing herself. After a second the wall felt like it was moving away. It was if it were on wheels and the more she leaned against it the further it rolled away.

She glanced around frantically, trying to figure out what was going on. The wall moved away faster causing her to fall forward. The concrete began to shift below her.

Shawna realized that she was shrinking. The process did not hurt like she thought it should. She just felt as if she was shivering and being tickled at the same time.

When she was finished she stood to analyze her newly huge surroundings. Shawna figured she was about two inches tall. Looking around the alley she noticed people coming her way.

The people walked straight to her and knelt down to pick her up. They lifted her without any trouble (seeing there was not much she could do). Struggling in the mans grasp, she felt him squeeze quite a bit. She tried to tell him to put her down, but the words would not come.

"Caught you at last." The man’s voice sounded like thunder.

Shawna realized that he was from the Government, which was who she had attempted to infiltrate. He did this to me.

The twinge was back along with the feeling of refreshment, but also confusion and worry.

The man started to squeeze a bit harder. Ouch. I wish he would quit squeezing with his big hand. This is scary.

The man dropped Shawna into his briefcase. Before he closed it she noticed that there were four men in total, all of them in suits. Man... there are a lot of them. And they are all from the government. This is BAD.

The man closed the briefcase and Shawna was thrown around within it, almost getting crushed by the man’s cellphone. After a little bit the briefcase was placed down and the men started talking. Shawna could not hear exactly what was being said but she noticed three different voices, meaning either one of the men left or one was silent. Shawna guessed that it was the former.

Something caused the briefcase to shake like there was an earthquake. And at the same time the twinge caused her to feel faint. The pain that it was sending her was immense. She saw an image of three of the men flash before her eyes.

She heard one of the men clearly and guessed he had risen his voice a bit. He had said, "Hey, miss, are you alright?" The twinge responded to the question. The pain increased and it gave off a wary feeling. Then a girl’s voice answered the question. "I am very sorry. I just have this screaming headache. I am ok." the briefcase was shifted and was being opened as the man replied, "I have some Tylenol. Would you like some?"

Something fell and Shawna guessed it was the girl with the headache. Her twinge disappeared.

She looked up to find the briefcase was wide-open and the men were away from it. They were standing over the fallen girl.

Shawna took their distraction as a chance to get away. She climbed out of the briefcase and onto a café table. Knowing she had to get off the table Shawna looked around for a way down to the floor. She was lucky that the walls were ridged and provided hand and foot holds.

She climbed down as quickly as possible. As she reached the ground the girl was waking up. A commotion centered around her, which luckily included the Government men. As the girl awoke so did the twinge. It was less painful, and felt confused. ...What changed, I wonder?... Shawna realized that it was the girls thoughts. She knew that they had a connection and that she had to get the girl's attention. She began to pay attention to the conversation that was going on above her head.

"Why don't you go get changed and I will get you a glass of water."

"Fine."

The girl was going to get changed so Shawna followed her into the changing room. She kept under the tables until she reached the room and then slipped under the door.

The girl was at her locker and so Shawna hid behind the trash can. She figured the best means of communication would be through their strange mind connection.

The girl was walking for the door so Shawna screamed out with her mind.

The girl stopped.

"Y-yes."

The girl panicked. Ohigod. What the hell is going on?! Shawna could feel the panic sear through her. It made her head hurt slightly.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Fine." The girl did as she was told. When the her was on the ground Shawna instructed her not to panic.

"OK."

Shawna hesitated for a second, but then walked out from behind the trash can and climbed up onto the girls hand, sitting down in the center.

...OMIGOD!!!...

The girl lifted Shawna up towards her face. It turned out that it was the girl who had knocked Shawna over in the street.

"You", she whispered. "What happened to you?"

"Was it those men out there?"

"Yes. Hold on. I am going to put you in my pocket. Do not struggle. I won’t do anything to you. I am telling the truth."

"Right..." Shawna almost chuckled at the idea of knowing someone else’s thought, but then remembered it was a two way deal.

The girl placed Shawna in her pocket, which was quite snug but not uncomfortable.

Shawna concentrated hard on seeing through the girls eyes. She was not completely successful but she did get snippets of what was going on outside of the pocket. The thing that stood out to her the most was the fact that the Government men were rummaging through their briefcase. She knew exactly what that ment.

The girl had exited the café and was about to get in the car. But she glanced back over her shoulder, giving Shawna one more snippet glance at the men. They had gotten up and were talking to the manager about something.

Shawna knew exactly what they were talking about. Fear shot through her and she felt like all was lost, like she had failed again.

The girl took off running.

Shawna hesitated, not wanting to scare the girl. They will kill you and torture me.

The girl sped up slightly, and Shawna could feel the fear radiating from her mind. She tried to send calm feelings to the girl.

Shawna had to see if anyone was following them. Do not turn around or stop. Take me out of your pocket and hold me just over your shoulder facing behind you.

The girl did as she was instructed. Behind them the girls mother was following in her car, but had gotten stuck at a red light.

Shawna did not know how to answer the question. She had grown up knowing things like this were possible. But being two inches tall was beyond what she had ever experienced. She did know one thing though; the girl whose pocket she was in was a kind person, to whom she could trust.

While in the girls pocket, Shawna could feel the girl get warmer and warmer. She had been running for twenty minutes. And when she finally stopped she was breathing pretty heavily.

...Thank goodness I play sports, otherwise I would have died with all that running...

Shawna could not help but laugh. She knew that the thought was not supposed to be heard which made it funnier, but at the same time uncomfortable.

Not meaning to be heard, Shawna automatically thought, Big.

The girl giggled.

Shawna felt annoyed, but knowing it was two way decided to get over it quickly.

Shawna felt ridiculous eating a bread crumb and a piece of turkey the size of a bread crumb, but she decided not to complain. The girl found them an empty cabin to sit in.

Shawna was completely comfortable with Elizabeth and felt no fear of what was to come. ...I wonder what’s in store... As Elizabeth thought that Shawna felt herself falling asleep.