A Hand To Hold | Cglre |

Chapter 1: Everything Changes

Sophie's POV

In the year 4896, I found myself in a world that would have been unrecognizable to those who lived centuries ago. Humanity had leaped into an era of unimaginable advancements, with genetic engineering and technological feats that transformed the very essence of human life. The most glaring change was evident in their towering stature; an average human now stood at an astounding 12 feet tall. Everywhere I looked, skyscrapers reached skyward, and vehicles as large as the houses of old roamed the streets. Everything was scaled to fit these new, gigantic inhabitants.

In this world of giants, I, Sophie, was an anomaly. Born into a family endowed with wealth and status, one might have expected me to live a life of luxury. Yet, I was an "old-type" human, and not just any old-type—I was particularly small, my height only 4 feet 8 inches, rendering me the size of a one-year-old child by modern standards.

My life was a stark and silent contrast to the opulent world around me. Hidden within the vast expanses of my family's mansion, my existence was kept a secret, my presence seen as a blemish on their otherwise unblemished social standing. I grew up in the shadows, confined to my room, my only connection to the outside world being the glimpses I caught through the windows.

My education was minimal, interactions with others even less so. My family, concerned that my small stature would reflect poorly on them, forbade me from speaking. This left my understanding of English limited, my voice little more than a hushed murmur on the rare occasions I attempted to use it. The echoing halls of our mansion were filled with voices, none of them mine. I was there, yet I was invisible, silent, a ghost in my own home.

Most of my life was spent within the confines of my room. I was allowed to leave only a few times each year, always under strict supervision. Surrounded by the towering figures of my family and their staff, I felt even smaller, a mere specter among them. During these rare outings, I existed but was not acknowledged, my eyes downcast, trained to avoid the gazes of the giants around me.

As the years passed, the isolation weighed on me more heavily. My heart ached with longing, yearning to be part of the world I saw from behind the glass of my window. I dreamed of feeling the sun on my skin without a barrier, of speaking and being heard, of being seen as more than just a whisper in a world of giants. But these were just dreams, distant and unattainable, whispers of a life that seemed forever out of reach.

As I, Sophie, reached the age of 18, the isolation that had been my life's constant companion grew even more oppressive. My family, never seeing me as their daughter but rather as an unfortunate deviation from the norm, made a decision that shattered any illusions I had about my place in the world. They chose to sell me in marriage, not for love or companionship, but as a transaction. The man they chose for me was drawn not by who I was, but by my small, childlike appearance – a reflection of his twisted desires.

I didn't even understand at first what all the commotion was about during the last few months, but my father decided, as he said, to "Make your stupid brain understand every detail this entails so that you can suffer more." This decision, so cold and calculated, stripped me of my humanity. I was nothing more than an item to be bartered. My feelings, and my well-being, were irrelevant to them. It was a betrayal of the most basic trust, one that should exist unconditionally in a family. That shouldn't have surprised me, but I was still holding on to hope since that was the only thing keeping me alive through the years.

Now I'm sitting in what I guess is called a car, as I heard my father mention. Leaving the confines of my home for the doctor's office was a surreal experience. My life had been within the walls of our mansion, away from the world. Stepping outside, I was overwhelmed by the enormity of everything. Buildings towered like mountains, people bustled about like giants. The world was loud, colorful, and terrifyingly vast. It was like stepping onto a foreign planet, where every sight and sound was alien to me.

Upon arriving, I was lifted out of the car and placed on the floor. My father yanked at my hair roughly and made me look up at him. "As I told you before, you are only allowed to talk to the doctor and nurses in black attire, don't want you to even look at anyone else. Understood?"

By the time I mustered a quiet yes he was already walking in front of me, as always he wasn't interested in anything I had to say. One of the people he's always with walked with me into the building and left me alone in a room.

The doctor's clinic was a labyrinth of strange smells, bright lights, and the constant hum of machinery. The chatter of people, so foreign to my ears accustomed to silence, filled the air. I felt lost, a tiny being adrift in a sea of giants and noise.

Everything after this became a fog. One moment I was standing at the door, the next I was lying down on a table with a very scary man looking down at me. I started to panic when I noticed I had no clothes on and felt him touching my belly, and smiling at me.

I started to cry uncontrollably. The combination of being out for the first time, with all the new sounds, the blinding lights, and the scary new faces was too much for me. I don't know if it was just moments later or after a while that I felt someone lift me and take me to another room.

I saw her trying to talk to me, but I truly couldn't hear anything she was saying. She eventually started to talk to someone that I presume was behind me because that's where she was looking, and that's when I noticed she was in a light blue and green attire, and I suddenly lost any ability to breathe as I remembered what my father told me.

I started to fight her arms away and tried to get out of her lap, panicking at the thought of the repercussions of my actions. But the lady didn't let me go, and I saw a different expression on her face that I hadn't seen before; she was trying to talk to me before everything went black...