To Trust a Giant

Chapter 25

“Aww, no need to get embarrassed.” Stella teased. “You have such a nice voice.”

“Man whatever, kiddo.” He shifted his shoulder a bit make Stella lose her balance.

She hit the pillow with a soft thud. She sat up giggling like a schoolgirl. Her laughter was contagious as Jason began laughing too. It took a few minutes until their their giggle fest died down and the two just laid together side by side.

“But seriously, your humming did help.”

“It helped me too when I used to have nightmares.”  

“Who hummed to you?”

“My mom, when I was younger.”

“Oh, will I meet her on Thanksgiving?” Stella asked.

A dark look appeared on Jason's face.
“She’s… not around anymore.”

“Oh, I'm so sorry.”

“It's alright.” He sighed heavily. “She's been gone for a long time.”  

“Will I meet anyone else in your family?”

He shook his head. “My dad left before I was around, and my grandparents passed a couple years ago. It was just me and my mom until I was nine.”

“Do you mind me asking how she passed?”

“Cancer.” He choked out.

“You don’t have to talk about this anymore if you don't want to.” Stella knew the pain Jason felt personally, she didn't want to force him to talk about something that still hurt him.

“No it’s fine.” He wiped a couple tears from his face. “It's good to talk about your issues, sometimes.”

That was something Stella couldn't do. She couldn't tell Jason, or Glenda or anyone about the abuse she endured for the three years by giants. She couldn't show them the scars that littered her body. Her eyes traced down to her sleeves that hid her secret. All she would have to roll them up and the words would spill out.

“You remember a while ago when you asked if I was originally from Europe and was a victim of human trafficking?”

“Yeah.”

“Well… you weren't far off.” Stella took a deep breath before taking the plunge. “My parents… were the ones who were from Europe. They were kidnapped when my mom was pregnant with me.”

“Oh shit.” Jason gasped. “That's why you don't act so feral.”

Stella nodded and continued on. “They were able to stay together in cages up until my birth. Then the giants were going to separate all of us. So to prevent that from happening, my parents just planned an escape and after that. We all grew up on the streets for years.”

“But couldn't your parents just go to a police station and tell them about being trafficked?” Jason asked.

“You think they didn't try?” Stella huffed. “Who ever kidnapped them was real smart, they erased all records of my parents existing. And without any records…”

“You couldn't go back to Europe.” Jason finished.

“My parents couldn't trust giants to help us after that.” She took a shaky breath. “So we tried to find a way to get back to Europe on our own.”

“But they never made it, huh?”

“They got really sick when I was sixteen.” She blinked back tears.

“After that, I was on my own.”
Jason’s finger traced down the side of her arm. “I'm so sorry that happen to you.”

Stella leaned into his finger more. No longer did his touch cause her fear anymore. She opened her mouth to talk about how Ed found her shortly after, barely clinging on to life and took her in. She wanted to talk about all the horrible things Mike did to her after he took her in. She wanted to tell Jason everything that happened to her, but she couldn't.

“I was alone for a while, until you showed up.”

Jason smiled. “Well, I'm glad you're off the streets for now.”

A cheerful tune interrupted them.

Jason groaned and got up to turn off the alarm clock on his dresser.

“Time for work.” He sighed. “Man, I'm glad I'll be off for Thanksgiving.”
He began pulling out clean work clothes from the dresser and walking towards the bathroom. “After work I'll head here to pick you up, then we'll spend the night at Clair's for a few more days.”

“Will you talk to her about moving in with her tonight?”

“Maybe, if the time is right.”

Stella raised an eyebrow. “Alright.”

Jason disappeared into the bathroom and left Stella to herself.

She let out a deep sigh before looking down at her arms. She really did want to tell him, she really did. But she couldn't relive that part of her past. All she wanted to do was forget that that ever happened to her.