Emily was standing in line to get on the bus, anxious to finally get to her apartment. The week had dragged on for what felt like a month, a sleepless one at that. Freshman year of college was not easy for the girl, the countless tests and piling material constantly making her stay up all night studying. On top of that she also had a dayjob, working as a cashier in a grocery store not too far from campus. She had just gotten off her shift, and the customers who came in today seemed to want nothing more than to make Emily miserable.

That is why she was overjoyed when it finally 

was her turn to get on the bus. 

-Good evening.- She said, forcing a smile to the driver while she validated her ticket. The man looked back at her with a similar expression and then immediately back at the road. It looked as though he had been having a hard day as well.

It was well past rush hour, so the bus was pretty empty. "Great!" thought Emily, as she walked towards an empty seat. "At least I won't collapse while standing up".

She sat down and looked out the window. It was starting to get dark and the traffic had died down. That was a good sign. She'd get home faster.

Emily leaned back and closed her eyes, clutching her bag tightly with both arms. She was trying hard not to fall asleep, but the rocking of the bus and her exhaustion were not helping. Eventually she just let it go, and felt herself drift away.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

When she woke up, she was still on the bus, but there were some notable differences.

First, it was completely dark outside. How long was she sleeping? Has she passed her stop? That wouldn't be good. 

Second, all the people that were there before had gotten off. Yep, she had definitely missed her stop. Right now there were only two people on the bus apart from her: a woman with blonde hair, wearing a blazer, probably coming back from work, and the driver. Except... It was a different driver from before. This one looked a little older, and less tired. Have the drivers switched? That would mean that the bus had gotten to the end of the line, and started the route over. But why did noone wake her up if that was the case?

The last thing she noticed was the fact that she was lying on the floor. Weird, she must have been so tired that she did not wake up when she fell from the chair.

Well, she couldn't just lie down here forever, so she got up. Except... She was still close to the floor. -...What the fuck?- She said out loud, but it didn't look like anyone had heard her. Then she looked around some more... And started feeling anxious.

The seat, which she was sitting in just a few moments ago, was high up above her. So high up in fact, that she could only see the bottom of it while craning her head all the way up, and even then it appeared far away.

-What...- The floor of the bus seemed to stretch on forever. It looked like even just walking to the door would take a few minutes.

-How... ?- But the scariest of all were the people. The blonde woman was sitting near the front, were Emily was. She was doing something with her phone, her fingers tapping away at the screen, each one twice the size of Emily. The woman must have been at least 150 feet tall. Or rather, Emily was around 2 inches. -Oh god...- The girl's heart started beating faster.

What is happening? Has anyone noticed? How is this even possible? The tiny girl felt the world spinning around her. She thought it was because of the shock she was experiencing, but when she felt herself lurch forwards as the nighttime scenery behind the distant windows stopped moving, she realized it was caused by the bus stopping.

The force of the break was too strong for her to keep standing. Emily fell forward, extending her arms to try breaking the fall. It didn't help much as she hit the dirty floor with a thud, feeling pain in her forearms. Luckily she did not break any bones, but the sensation still was very unpleasant. Now she was not only confused, but also terrified. How was she going to get out of this? Was she even going to survive, if just the bus stopping was enough to throw her a few meters forward, and cause her to almost break her arms? 

Then the blonde woman got up and started walking towards Emily, or rather the door, which opened with a deafening hiss.

The tiny girl was frozen with fear. It was already scary watching the enormous woman while she was sitting down. Now, when she rose to full height, it was even worse. To Emily it didn't even feel like watching a person. More like looking at a mountain, that decided to get up and walk forward, inevitably destroying everything that happened to be in its path under the sheer force of its weight, no matter if it was even aware of its victim's existence. And that woman definitelly did not of hers.

Emily wasn’t sure whether the scariest part of all this was how fast the woman was moving, or the fact that she was heading right in her direction. Either way, she was too terrified to do the smart thing, which in this case was getting up and running away.

The giant did not see Emily.  She just kept walking forward, her eyes never looking in the tiny girl's direction.

Emily, on the other hand, couldn't look away from the giant. She felt herself start to shake as the woman came closer. 

Each step sent a light tremor echoing through the ground. Although not as strong as the movement of the bus, each shake was noticeable to the tiny girl. 

"I could die in so many ways right now" she thought to herself, tears welling up in her eyes. Noone has seen her, and even if anyone here was aware of her current circumstance, they were all strangers. Would they even help her? Could she trust anyone here? The thought of someone noticing her and taking advantage of her state sent a cold shiver down her spine.

She could not ponder that thought for long, because a giant leather shoe crashing into the floor a few feet from her. Emily let out a surprised scream, and started instinctively backing away. Then she screamed again, this time because the giant woman's second foot was right above her. She barely had time to dive out of the way. The foot slammed down right behind her, while the one in front was lifted away. Soon both feet were gone, the woman had left the vehicle, leaving Emily crying on the floor.

"So close..." she thought. "I came so close to dying..."

Everything about this situation was off. Shrinking to only a few inches in height is not an everyday occurence. Actually, it doesn't occur at all, maybe apart from fictional movies, or dreams. This did not feel like a dream, though. More like a nightmare. And the tiny girl had the feeling that she would not wake up from this one.

''Oh god..." thought Emily. "How am I going to get out of this?"

Just then, as if to answer her question, another woman boarded the bus. 

She was wearing a green bomber jacket with a t-shirt underneath, black jeans and a pair of blue converse. Her dark hair was tied back in a ponytail.

Meanwhile, the shrunken college student finally came to her senses. Still crying and shaking from fear, she slowly got up from the ground and looked around for a safe place to hide for the moment. She froze when she noticed the new passenger, and for the first time in the last couple of minutes, felt hopeful.

Emily’s best friend Hannah walked in, validated her ticket, and started walking towards an empty seat.

Emily was relieved to see Hannah walk in. She couldn't believe her luck. That is, if she could even consider herself lucky in her current predicament. The girl shook her head. She had to stay focused if she was going to get out of this alive. At least now she had a plan: get Hannah’s attention. And what to do after… They’ll figure it out together. She was sure of it. After all, Hannah has always helped her get through tough times.

They’d known each other for a long time, thanks to being neighbours in their childhood homes. Despite Hannah being three years older than Emily they always got along really well. They would play together a lot when they were kids, and later talk everyday when they were growing up. The two girls always had each other’s backs. Both of them saw the other as a sister rather than a friend. That’s why when Emily started having trouble at home, she could always count on Hannah. And then when it got worse a few years later the older girl let Emily stay at her apartment after moving out.

But right now was not the time to reminisce about the past. Hannah would help her, but first she had to be made aware of her presence. And getting the attention of someone who does not expect you to be there, and also is a hundred times bigger than you, is an understandably difficult task.

But Emily had to start somewhere. So she got up from the ground, her legs still shaking a little. Then she looked around. Hannah was walking towards a seat close to her, but the shrunken girl was not currently at the risk of getting stepped on. Despite that she decided to move somewhere where she would be more covered, just in case. So she took a step towards the seat that she thought her best friend was planning to occupy. She did not get far though, because the bus started moving again. Emily was thrown back a couple feet, banging her head hard against the floor. Everything got blurry for a moment. Then the bus made a turn, and the force of that movement sent Emily tumbling to the left. 

She was getting thrown around hard, and could already feel bruises forming on her back and sides. Moving around was starting to hurt her.  

There were some silver linings, though. All this movement got her closer to Hannah’s seat. But her new position meant that she was in her giant friend’s path. “Not again…” thought Emily. She decided that she wouldn’t just lie on the ground scared out of her mind and watch as someone almost steps on her this time. Especially Hannah. If she ever found out, she wouldn’t forgive herself. Emily didn’t want that to happen.

So she went to get up. She winced, as she felt strong pain all over her body, but she did not give up. The shrunken girl exhaled through gritted teeth and got up with a painful groan.

Meanwhile, Hannah was just a couple steps away. Emily could feel her approaching, the familiar tremors echoing in her ears. So she started running, set on her destination: under the seat, where she’d be safe.

She wasn’t that far away from it, maybe 15 feet away from her perspective. But the light tremors combined with the shaking bus and the pain she was feeling made it hard to get there quickly. But she was surely getting there. She ignored the tremors and decided to not look back.

Then the bus made another turn. And then another. 

Emily was swept off her legs and thrown about aggressively. She was in a lot of pain, and lost her sense of direction. When the movements finally stopped, she was thrown onto her back on the ground, her best friend’s converse sole hovering right above her. The tiny girl felt herself start to cry again. She tried to get up, but she was panicking too much and kept tripping over herself. 

-Hannah! Don’t kill me!! Please, look down!- she yelled, but it was in vain. The foot was getting closer with every second. Emily was crying. She closed her eyes, waiting to feel the weight of her best friend to come and end her life. 

...But it never came.

Confused, Emily opened her eyes. Hannah’s sole was hovering a couple feet above her, but it wasn’t getting closer. “Has she seen me?” Emily thought, calming herself down. She carefully got up and walked over to the side, as to see her best friend better.

She was just now realising what had happened. Hannah unfortunately hadn’t seen her yet. She was just sitting down, with one leg over the other. She was looking at her phone. 

-Hannah!- Emily tried yelling again, but her best friend couldn’t hear her. The shrunken girl noticed she had earbuds in, so screaming would not work. She had to come up with something fast, because who knows when Hannah will get off the bus. Emily wouldn’t want to be left alone here again. 

She approached her best friend’s shoe and started punching it as hard as she could. The only reaction she got back from the giantess was a slight flick of her foot, which made Emily fall onto her back. She heard a slight giggle coming from Hannah. The shrunken girl froze. Was she laughig at her? Has she seen her, after all? Why was this funny to her? Petrifying images crept into Emily’s mind. Images of Hannah torturing her for fun. Flicking her with her fingers and making her fall over, holding her above her mouth, threatening to drop her, laughing hysterically while looking at the shrunken girl’s terrified expression. Emily felt a tight knot in her stomach. Was this really such a good idea?

The fear left her when she looked up. Hannah wasn’t looking in her direction. She was laughing at something on her phone. Emily felt relieved. How could she even think Hannah would hurt her and get pleasure from it? Her best friend wouldn’t do that… Right? 

No, of course she wouldn’t. Emily knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t the type of person to do that. They teased each other for sure, but that’s just what friends do. They tried not to say or do things that would make the other uncomfortable. 

The knot in Emily’s stomach untied. When she felt that she got an idea. The shrunken girl looked over at her best friend’s shoe. The shoelace on her left foot was getting loose. If she untied it and held onto it she would be noticed for sure. Fortunately, that wasn’t the shoe which was hanging in mid air. Emily walked over to it and gripped the rope tightly. She pulled on it as hard as she could and made it come loose. “I did it!” she thought, excited. Now she just had to wait.

It did not take long, until Hanna felt her shoe loosen up a little. Irritated, she put her phone in her pocket and bent down to tie her shoelace. 

Everything was shaking as the giantess put both her feet on the ground. Then she bent down a little and started raising the foot with the untied shoelace to make fixing the knot easier.

Emily did not foresee this happening. As everything was being raised up, with a rush of adrenaline, she grabbed one of the laces and held on for dear life. She was left dangling above the ground, too low to get back onto her best friend’s foot, and too high to jump down onto the ground without breaking a bone. She was never very athletic, so her arms were starting to hurt. She felt that she couldn’t hold on for much longer. She wrapped her legs around the shoelace, hoping it would make it a little easier.

Hannah went to tie her shoe laces, but she noticed something hanging off of one of them. “What the hell… ?’’ she thought as she got a little closer to it. When she realised what, or rather, who it was, she gasped.

-Em!? Is that you?- she asked, still close to her shoe. How was this possible? It couldn’t be real. That wouldn’t make sense. Maybe it was the alcohol she’d drunk tonight? But that was a long time ago, it had already worn off… Unless maybe it hadn’t? Does alcohol even make you hallucinate? Lots of different thoughts were running through her head.

When Hannah spoke, Emily could smell alcohol on her breath. It made sense, why else would she be on a bus so late. She must have been out, partying. The thought of the giantess being drunk started bringing up those terrible images again. Maybe sober Hannah wouldn’t do those things to anyone, but who knows how she’d act in her drunken state. Emily got so scared that she could not hold on for any longer. She let go. 

She was falling for about a second, but it felt like a couple of minutes. She was anticipating to hit the ground and break her bones at any moment. Then she would be unable to run away. Her eyes were closed and her stress levels were so high that she felt herself about to faint.

-No!- she heard, as she fell onto something. It wasn’t hard and painful, as she anticipated, Instead, it was warm and soft. And it was shaking from its owners’ stress. She was lying in Hannah’s palm.

-Oh god! A-are you okay?- Spoke the panicked voice again. It was quite loud, so Emily went to cover her ears. Her head was pulsing with pain, as was the rest of her body. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was the shocked and worried expression of her best friend. How could she ever think that Hannah would hurt her on purpose? She felt guilty about that. She tried to nod her head, but everything hurt too badly. 

-I’m… So glad, you…- She couldn’t finish her sentence, because everything turned black.

Hannah was walking towards her apartment as fast as she could, while trying not to jostle the little girl in her cupped palms too much. It was pretty hard, considering the fact her hands were shaking from nervousness. 

It was hard to believe that she was holding her best friend in her hands. Then again, she was still a little tipsy, so she might as well be imagining this whole situation. If she had just left this creature on the bus, nothing would have probably happened to Emily, and Hannah would find out in the morning that she brought home a mouse, or a piece of paper, or whatever it was on the bus' floor the previous night.

On the other hand, there was still a very slim possibility that this was indeed her best friend, in desperate need of help. And Hannah could not take the chance.

After about 10 minutes of walking she finally reached the building she lived in. It was pretty old and the apartments were quite small, but Hannah could afford to live there without roommates. It was the same flat Emily stayed at for two years when her home situation became unbearable. After she got her own job Hannah told her she still had the option to stay, but the younger girl said that she didn’t want to take up space. After she moved out they still visited each other often, though.

The woman entered her apartment building and went up the stairs. It was 2 in the morning on a Friday, so there weren’t many people in sight. Hannah still tried to cover the girl in her hands to avoid any unwanted attention. The last thing she wanted right now was putting the girl through anymore stress caused by curious strangers.

When she got to her door she carefully set the girl in one of her hands, which she then cupped and rested against her abdomen, as to ensure Emily wouldn’t fall out. She took her keys out of her pocket and fumbled with them for a moment before choosing the right one. Finally the lock clicked and the door could be opened. 

Hannah was glancing over into her hand to ensure Emily was still there the entire way to her apartment. Now that she was in an environment without other people, where she could easily maneuver even with her eyes closed, her full attention was focused on the shrunken girl. Hannah was holding her in both hands again as soon as she locked the door behind her. She then entered her bedroom.

Hannah wasn’t sure what to do next. Emily was still alive; she could feel her taking deep breaths, but she was unconscious. And two inches tall. Hannah looked around for a safe place to put her best friend. Eventually she decided on her desk, which wasn’t too far from her bed. Hannah was very tired, and since Emily hadn’t come to after being shaken so much on the way here, she decided that they’d talk in the morning. She couldn’t think clearly right now, anyway.

Hannah cringed. She didn’t want to be putting this off like that. But she was afraid that if she’d just stay up, waiting for Emily to wake up, she’d just fall asleep herself. And even if she wouldn’t, she’d be too exhausted to help at all. So she reluctantly approached her desk.

She hesitated. Emily could fall off the desk, and the cool, hard wood probably wouldn’t be comfortable. For a brief moment she considered taking her best friend in into her own bed for the night, but quickly shook that thought away. Emily could get crushed, or fall, or even suffocate in the sheets. The bed was out of the question.

But still, just leaving her on the desk wouldn’t be the best, either. It could be improved, though. Hannah once again shifted her body so that her best friend would be safe in one of her hands, and reached into her drawer. After a moment of shuffling she pulled out a white sweater. -This should keep you warm… And it’s soft, too- she whispered, but Emily couldn’t hear her. She was still unconscious. 

That solved one problem, but Hannah still wasn’t satisfied. Emily could still fall off and get hurt, and she couldn’t let that fly. The woman looked around her bedroom. She was scanning the shelves, looking for anything that would help. After a brief moment her gaze fell upon a shoebox which was laying under her bed. Hannah put the sweater on her desk and, still cradling Emily close and making sure she won’t drop her, slowly bent down and reached for her object of interest.

The shoebox contained a pair of sneakers that the girl had bought a while ago, but did not realise that they were a size too big. She was planning to return them, hence why they were still in the box. Right now she needed it for a different purpose, though. Hannah took the lid off and pulled the shoes out of the box, which she then picked up. Carefully, she got up and put the container on her desk. Then she reached for her sweater, planning to fold it up and place in the box, but quickly realised that the task would be difficult with only one hand. She slowly looked down at Emily, curled down in her hand. She frowned, not wanting to risk putting her down on the hard surface on her desk, afraid that she’d hurt her in the process. But she’d have to do it eventually. So, very slowly, Hannah brought her hand down towards her desk. When it touched the wooden surface, the woman bit her lip. She didn’t really know how to go about this. For a moment she considered just tilting her palm and letting the shrunken form of her friend fall onto the desk, but quickly rejected that idea. Instead, she brought her other hand towards Emily. Trying to be as gentle as she could, Hannah lightly pushed her best friend onto her four fingers using her thumb, creating a claw-like grip on the shrunken girl, who she then deposited onto the desk, far from the edge.

After making sure Emily was alright, Hannah picked up her sweater, folding it up in such a way that it would fit into the shoebox, leaving one sleeve sticking out. She then put the piece of clothing into said box. Then she picked up her best friend in a similar way as before, this time having her free hand outstretched right under her fingers, to make sure that if, god forbid, she’d drop Emily, the shrunken girl wouldn’t fall. 

After carefully putting her best friend in the shoebox, Hannah covered  the shrunken girl with the sleeve she previously left out. She then made sure once more that her friend would be okay, and went to change into her pyjamas, which consisted of a loose shirt with some band’s logo on it and a pair of old shorts. Hannah headed to bed, although it would be hard for her to fall asleep tonight.

When Emily woke up, she was confused. For a very short moment, when she hadn’t opened her eyes yet, she thought she was lying in her own bed, having only dreamed of the terrifying events from the previous night. That comfortable illusion was shattered the moment Emily heard a very loud yawn, which startled her enough to make her spring up into a sitting position. The sudden movement made her remember the previous night's events more clearly, the pulsing pain running throughout her whole body making her wince. 

Then she shuddered. The pain was real. That meant she was really shrunk, and that she really was only two inches tall. The harsh truth was solidified even more as Emily looked around. The “room” she was in had no exits. Except for a hole where the celing’s supposed to be. The ceiling was there, it just was much higher up, and it didn’t match the cardboard walls appearance wise. Knowing her situation, Emily quickly realised where she was. It wasn’t too hard to piece together that the room she was in was, in fact, a box. And that box was in a bigger room, one probably belonging to an actual, normal-sized person.

The thing she previously perceived to be sheets, or a blanket of some kind, upon inspection turned out to be a giant, folded sweater. A familiar looking one at that. It was Hannah’s sweater, one that Emily would borrow sometimes. Now it was big enough to cover a whole house. This was too much for her. Emily felt tears starting to form in her eyes as she stared at the enormous sweater below her. “This is impossible…” she thought. “...But it’s real… and I’m still alive.” She was able to stop the tears from flowing out of her eyes, reminding herself that she managed to get herself to safety alive, in one piece. Badly hurt, sure, but nothing that couldn’t be healed in a week, or month. That didn’t mean it wasn’t painful, though...

The shrunken girl was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to notice a giant shadow being cast over her. Hannah had gotten up from her bed, and the very first thing she thought to do was to check if Emily was still there, and wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or disappointed to find her in the very same shoebox where Hannah had put her last night. Relieved, because her best friend was alive and breathing, disappointed, because she was still two inches tall. Hannah wasn’t sure what to say. It wasn’t until right now that the situation was becoming real to the woman. Of course, she was planning to help her best friend through this, but getting her back to normal size was something she had no idea how they would go about. Getting help from authorities was certainly not a good idea, and asking Emily’s parents for assistance was even worse.

Emily was also conflicted as to what to feel. When she noticed the face of her giant best friend peering into the “room”, the giantess’ full attention focused on her, the shrunken girl couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed, and scared. She should be relieved, right? She should feel safe. Hannah’s her best friend, after all. She won’t hurt her. Not on purpose, anyway. That thought was not too comforting. 

In fact, nothing about this moment was comforting. Hannah was just standing there, staring from above, with a blank face. Emily was staring right back at her, although it was a vastly different experience for the both of them. While Hannah, from Emily’s perspective, was just looking at her, like one might look like at any object, the shrunken girl was staring at her best friend frozen with a sort of primal fear. The fight or flight instinct was screaming in her head to do something before this entity standing before her inevitably does, and Emily was well aware she could neither fight nor outrun the colossus looming above her. Thinking about that made Emily almost wish she was on the floor, not yet spotted by anyone. She was in danger of getting stepped on then, but there was a sort of safety in being hidden.

Wait, why was she thinking like that? Hannah’s a friend, and she still is the same person. This staring is a little awkward (and scary), but this must be difficult for her, too. She did go through all the trouble of bringing Emily in here. All the little gestures, that showed she still cared, like the sweater made into the bed, and the box, for… What was the box for, anyway? Was Hannah afraid her tiny friend would wander away? That part was a little confusing to Emily, but she was sure that her best friend had good intentions. The shrunken girl was dreading this silence more and more, because it seemed to make Hannah into some dangerous stranger in her eyes, which terrified her. So, she decided to be the first one to do something.

-Hannah?- she said, and got up onto her feet. It was quite painful, but she didn’t let that stop her. There was no reaction from Hannah. Had she not heard her? That was probably it. So, she tried again, louder this time.

-Hannah!!- It definitely worked the second time; the giantess’ facial expression changed from a blank one to that of shock, and she stumbled a little upon hearing her name.

-Yeah! Yeah, I’m here Em. Sorry, I… Got lost in my thoughts for a bit there.- The shrunken girl noticed that Hannah was speaking very softly, apart for that first “yeah”. She must have remembered Emily’s reaction from yesterday. “Weird” she thought, “It was such a small thing”. Emily smiled to herself a little. This was yet another small way to show the giantess cared greatly about her well-being. Even with that realisation, the primal fear was still there, though.

-Yeah, me too.- There was a little bit of silence after that, but it wasn’t as long and terrifying as the previous one. And this time Hannah broke it.

-How… What happened to you?- Hannah’s face had a worried expression now. There was a very short pause again, as Emily pondered the question.

-I’m not really sure.- Hannah’s visible concern only got more apparent at that answer. The shrunken girl continued.

-I was on the bus, on my way home, but I fell asleep… And then when I woke up…- She made a gesture to herself, not really wanting to say the obvious. Hannah nodded. 

-Do you remember anything else?-

-I… It was really hard to… stay standing.- Her voice automatically lowered as she recalled the traumatic experience. Hannah got a little closer, but that didn’t really help hear what her best friend was saying.

-Hold on, Em…- she felt really bad for interrupting, but speaking like this was hard. She could barely hear her, but couldn’t even lean in closer, because of the box being in the way. 

-I can’t really hear you. Can I… Um…- How does she phrase that to not make it sound weird? She probably can’t, this whole situation was bizarre enough. So she didn’t think about it too much.

-The box is making it hard to talk to you… Can I… Take you out of it?- Emily took a moment to consider that statement. She couldn’t get out on her own, of course. And it was pretty hard to talk having to look up at Hannah. But she was a little nervous about being picked up. It wasn’t really up to her, though. When she was like this being carried was pretty much the only way to get around, so she’d had to experience this sooner or later. Besides, she trusted Hannah.

-Yes...- She said, although a bit reluctantly. Her giant friend nodded. She then brought her hand towards Emily, extending her fingers to pick her up. Emily was trying to keep her cool as the giant, treelike fingers made their way towards her. She was trying really hard not to back up, but the knowledge of the sheer force of this colossus about to trap her in its grip was making it extremely difficult. Emily closed her eyes and waited, shaking from stress, for the inevitable. Then she felt warmth around her sides, indicating the moment she was dreading was just milliseconds away, and she couldn't take it.

-WAIT!- she screamed out, backing away and closing her eyes. The giant fingers withdrew immediately. Hannah was visibly worried, and she opened her mouth to say something, but Emily cut her off.

-Can you… Give me a moment? It’s just…- Hannah nodded once again.

-It's okay. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want.-

-No, it’s fine, I’m… It’s just really scary.-

-Yeah, I bet.- Hannah gave Emily a moment to breathe, and then brought her hand into the box once again, this time her palm facing up, fingers fully extended.

-Is it better like that?- She asked. This time Emily nodded, and walked onto her best friends palm, her heart beating hard in her chest. The skin was warm, and the shrunken girl could feel Hannah’s heartbeat through it. 

The palm was cupped and then slowly lifted up. It was quite difficult for Emily to keep her balance, but the giantess was being very careful, and the shrunken girl was able to keep standing on her feet the whole journey. In a moment she was out of the box, standing on Hannah’s giant desk.

After depositing her best friend safely onto the wooden surface, Hannah kneeled, so that Emily wouldn’t have to crane her neck upwards while they talked.

-Okay, so you woke up like that… And what happened next?-

-I was scared… A-and confused- Hannah was listening intently, nodding from time to time.

-I… There was one lady… She didn’t see me. She… Almost…- Emily was slowly starting to cry while thinking about the previous night’s events. She was both physically and emotionally exhausted, and she knew that yesterday was just the beginning. The thought was really depressing. She started breaking down, completely forgetting to finish the sentence. 

-Hey… It’s okay- Hannah whispered, bringing her hand next to the tiny, shaking form of her friend on the desk. -You're with me now. I won't let anything bad happen to you. You know that...- she whispered, trying to reassure the terrified girl. She also started gently running her thumb across the length of her friend’s back in an effort to calm her down. She was unaware of all the injuries the bus’ movements had brought upon the girl. When she noticed that Emily was in pain, trying to squirm away from her finger, she stopped, immediately pulling her hand back.

-I’m sorry, Em… Are you… Okay? I mean, are you hurt? Do I need to… Get you a… A band-aid, or something?- Hannah was aware at how ridiculous her question was. How would a band-aid even help here? She was hoping Emily wouldn’t perceive the question as making fun of her.  Emily just shook her head, having calmed down a little after her best friend’s intervention.

-No, it’s just... I got knocked over on the bus… multiple times- She added the last part a little quieter. Just now Emily was realising how pathetic all this must have sounded. Hannah must have noticed, because she shot her shrunken friend a sad look.

-You don’t have to feel bad for that. It must have been really hard in your current… situation- After hearing that, Emily looked a little sadder. The gravity of all this was starting to hit her just now. Her only chance of survival was fully depending on another person, if she’d even survive at all, which seemed quite unlikely. Hannah noticed her best friend’s change in mood. She did not want to make her feel bad.

-Besides...- she said with a slight smile on her still worried expression -It's pretty hard not to get knocked down, no matter how tall you are. I mean, have you ever been on a bus?-

After hearing that comment, Emily couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't even that funny, but the fact that despite the bizarre circumstances, her friend still tried to cheer her up, and more importantly succeeded, brought emotional relief to the girl for a moment. 

Hannah smiled for a second, before putting on a more serious expression.

-What do we do now… ? I mean, I don’t think going to the hospital is really an option…- Emily froze. Of course, Hannah was right, the authorities would probably just run a bunch of experiments on her, who knows if she’d even survive that.

-And your parents…- the giantess didn’t even have to finish her sentence, Emily knew where it was going.

-Yeah, I don’t think they’d help… or care- There was a short silence again.

-I don’t know… I don’t know what to do…- Hannah cringed a little. She didn’t mean to worry Emily, she wasn’t really thinking about what she’s saying. So she went to reassure her immediately. 

-Hey… Don’t worry. You can stay with me. We spend time together almost everyday, anyway.- Emily was relieved to hear that. She knew from the beginning that Hannah would be there for her. She felt guilty for doubting that so many times today. This conversation felt very unnatural because of her, so she decided that the least she could do was make it feel a little more normal. So she rolled her eyes really hard, so that Hannah would notice, and in a very sarcastic tone said:

-I mean… If I HAVE to…- Hannah smirked and raised an eyebrow. 

-You don’t. I mean, if you can open the door, then you’re free to walk out- she replied, nudging her best friend lightly with her pointer finger. 

Emily was relieved. This little exchange was proof to her it wasn’t impossible to feel normal, despite her new size. And Hannah was right here, with her. Willing to help out any way she could. For the first time since yesterday she really did feel safe.

Maybe things would turn out okay, after all.