The Winged

7- Captive

I jumped when the bag's zip began to loop round. Light streaked into my wide-open eyes. The soft beating of my heart leapt into a fierce pounding as I crawled backwards, blinded by the bright luminance. It wasn't warm like the sun I was used to, or even the glow of the lilies or algae. Blinking, I looked up. I was indeed inside a tent. The blue sky was gone, replaced with a low, green roof that seemed to be made from some sort of fabric. There would be no flying away.
Frantically I searched for the giant's face or hands. He was in here with me. Close. I could hear his footfalls, feel them throbbing through my body, but I couldn't see him.

Then a gigantic hand had dipped down into the bag. I went absolutely rigid. Had his hand grown bigger? No, no, that was my mind playing tricks on me.
His fingers found the walls of my prison and tensed inwards, pressing the glass against his palm. Something inside me snapped and gave way to a soft moan of fear. He wasn't going to leave me in the bag for hours, no, he was going to take me out of it now. Right now.
The jar shook as it was lifted out of the bag. Giving a sort of gasping sound, I watched through the glass floor as the tent moved around me, as if it was falling away. I was soon out of the bag and high in the air, with clear crystal walls to keep me trapped. I looked around frantically. Then I froze. Sam had moved his grip to the lid so there was nothing obscuring our view of each other... and he was holding the jar directly in front of him.

I stared at the godlike creature, frozen. He was looking inside the glass, finding me still sealed inside. It took me second to get my senses back. I then scrambled to the opposite side of the jar, trying to get as far away from him as possible, but my back hit a wall before I had scarcely moved at all. The giant creature grinned at me when I smacked into the glass. Huge eyes watched my every move with fixation. I drew my knees close to my chest, hushed whimpers in my throat. Don't let him kill me. The silent pleading was in my eyes as I stared aghast at him. One squeeze of this giant claw that was holding my prison up and it would be over. A slip of the fingers to drop the jar with me still inside. He was holding me to his height— high. Too high. The fall would break my bones, the shattered glass would slice through my skin like butter. All he had to do was loosen his fingers a little.

Is that what he would do with me after he was finished staring? Kill me? I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but as he held the jar in midair, he looked so menacing. Or perhaps the human was trying to frighten me... I was in no position to work it out.
I found that my eyes were watering. Someone please help me. Please, please.

"I almost thought that I might have imagined you..." his voice was low so that the other human couldn't hear him, but soft too. Sam's enormous face grew closer to the wall of my glass prison. I pressed myself against the glass, but it gave me no comfort. I was still trapped.
He ogled, "How are you even real? You're so small..." He waited for me to reply, catching my every breath with a flick of his eyes, but I gave him no response. I was too terrified to move, much less talk, because as much as I schemed and stared at the tent's zip... I couldn't see a way out of this anymore.
"Nothing to say?" Sam smiled after a few moments of my wordlessness, "You're not angry at me, are you?"
I gulped, narrowing my eyes a little. To think, I almost felt bad for him back at the lake. I should have known that once he remembered that he was a human, harsh reality would do the rest. My cold look only made him break into a laugh.

Suddenly, Sam gave the jar a little shake that dislodged me from my huddle. I cried out at the sudden movement and immediately curled back into the same position; Knees against my chest, hands clutching the neck of my vest, pressed against the furthest wall. What did it matter though? No matter how I cowered inside the glass, I was still trapped. His low chuckles at my anxiety rang out around me. Why was it funny that I was scared? Shouldn't he be concerned, or maybe upset that he was frightening me?
I found myself sliding towards the wall nearest to him, as if the entire world had tilted. Except it wasn't the world that was moving. It was just the jar that I was trapped in, and he was the one controlling it. My feet bore no grip against the glass slide when I kicked out. Huge eyes watched as I tried desperately to scramble away. No use— I fell against the glass of the jar.