To Trust a Giant

Chapter 8

It's been three weeks since Jason found Stella and neither of them were quite used to each other yet.

Jason tried to speak softly, he tried to make slow movements, and go out of his way to make her feel at home, but Stella was still skittish. Every move he made caused her to jump, every word he said caused her to wince, and every nice gesture was met with a wary look. There had to be a way to get through to her.

Jason opened the door to his apartment after a long day at work. He noticed Stella on the couch watching TV as usual. She surprisingly never tried to escape despite having an opportunity to do so everytime he left for work, but he was always thankful she never left. Andrew threatened to send Stella to a shelter if he caught her wandering around the apartment.

“Hey.” He said, walking over to his drawer to retrieve clean clothes.

“Hey.”

“Anything interesting happen today?”

“The same as usual.” She replied back.

“So nothing.” Jason said as he went into the bathroom to change. He walked back out and strolled over to the kitchen and grabbed a coke in the fridge. “You want anything?”

“Sure.”

“What do you want?”

“Anything.”

Jason let out a quiet sigh. Her replies were always short. He grabbed the human slice of leftover pizza and grabbed a tiny glass to pour some coke in for her.

He handed her the food and she thanked him. Then it was back to the usual ‘watch TV in an awkward silence.’

No, Jason couldn’t take it anymore. He was going to have a full conversation with Stella today.

“I have a question, Stella.”

“What is it?”

“So, I was talking with a coworker about Europe and how humans are actually seen as citizens there. And She told me about how there’s rumors about human trafficking where they sell humans in other countries as pets. Would you know anything about that?”

Stella let out a heavy sigh. “I am not a victim of an illegal trade.”

“Oh,” Jason rubbed the back of neck. “Did you grow up in Europe and then got stranded here?”

Stella was now visibly annoyed. “No, I've lived here my whole life!” She looked up at Jason and her demeanor changed to fear, before quickly looking away. “S-s-sorry, I didn't mean to… to snap.”

“No, you're fine, Stella.” He reassured. “I didn't mean to pry into your past, I'm just curious about you, and I thought maybe you were from Europe since you said you don't have an owner and you definitely don't act like a feral.”

“Europe might as well be a fairy tale to me.” She remarked. “I grew up on stories of a place where I'm seen as a person instead of a pet. Where I could actually live a life where I'm not fighting to live in world that's too big for me. I used to believe that I could actually live there at one point.”

Jason’s heart broke for the poor girl. All she wanted was to be seen as an equal. There were ways humans in the states could move to Europe and become citizens but it was an expensive process.

“I'm sorry, if I had the money, I would send you over there in a heartbeat.” Jason replied.

“It's fine, I've lived here forever.” She said. “Now, I have a question for you.”

“yeah?”

“I hope you don't find this rude, but do you have a life outside of working and watching tv?”

Jason couldn't help but laugh. “Not much I guess. I really don't have the money to go out and do a lot, but I will sometimes hang out with my girlfriend.”

“You have a girlfriend?” Stella asked.

“Yeah, her name's Clair. Unfortunately we've been really busy with work, so we haven't been able to hang out.”

“That must suck.” Stella said.

“Yeah, we've been texting, trying to make plans, but it's just been really busy with the holidays you know.”

Just then, Jason’s phone rang. He looked at the caller ID… it was Clair!

“One moment.” He told Stella before answering the phone. “Hey.”

“Hey babe.” The sweet sounding feminine voice spoke. “I've been missing you. We really need to go out soon.”

“I know, baby.” Jason replied back. “I just don't have enough money to take you out to dinner right now.”

“That's okay, I could always go to your place on Friday.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, can we meet up then?” She asked.

“Of course!” He said excitingly.

“Great, see ya then.” She hung up.

Jason couldn't help but smile. Finally, there was some time to see Clair!

“Who was that?”  Stella asked.

“Oh, that was Clair, she's coming over Friday!”