I was starting to wake but I didn't open my eyes. Instead I squirmed, only to feel every muscle in my body sore. What did I do for my body to be this sore? Then I remembered what happened. My eyes shot open and my body shot up. I looked around only to see I was in a bedroom but everything was huge! I was on a bed in a giant's bedroom. I had been asleep in a giant's bed! And that's when I noticed a giant fast asleep in a chair next to the bed and resting his head on the bed. He looked to be about my age but I wasn't sure honestly. He had messy blonde hair and was wearing a light gray hoodie. I was so confused and terrified, but I knew I had to get out of here before he wakes up!
I quietly and quickly got out of the bed and began to look for my stuff. Then I spotted it, it was across the room on top of a desk. Great. I walked to the side of the bed and looked down. It had to be at least a 60ft drop. I gulped and began to climb down the bed using the comforter. Every time I grabbed onto the comforter I grabbed on it with my dear life because I knew if I fell I would for sure be dead. I eventually made it to the floor and I ran over to the desk. Luckily it wasn't going to be that hard to get to the top due to the drawer handles. I climbed up as quietly as I could try not to make a single sound. I was about to grab the top of the desk when the giant began to slightly move. I froze for a couple seconds only to see him go back to sleep. I let out a sigh and continued to climb. Once I made it to the top I instantly grabbed my stuff. I opened my backpack and rustled through everything. I found a rope at the bottom of my bag. I didn't have time to climb down the drawer handles because the giant would wake very soon. I swung my bag on to my back and my bow over my head and ran over to the lamp on the desk. I quickly tied the rope to the base of it the threw the rope of the desk. I didn't have time to check if the rope was stable, I just went for it. I slowly started climbing down the rope walking on the side of the desk. I tried not to look down due to my fear of heights. I was almost half way down when I looked up only for my eyes to widen. The rope was breaking. I began to panic trying to get down as quick as I could. But I didn't beat it. The rope suddenly broke causing me to fall to my death. I tried not to let out a scream but one came out right before I hit the floor. I luckily didn't hit my head and I was still alive! Then I heard it.
"Human?! Where are you?!" Said a loud voice.
I was frozen with fear. I had to hide or even run now! I peaked around the corner of the desk to see the giant looking around the bed. This was my chance! I started to run to the bedroom door with all that I had in me. I was about to exit the room when I turned back to look. I made eye contact with him. We locked contact for a couple seconds before I began to run.
"Wait!" He yelled
I blocked his voice out, I just needed to get out of here! I ran into this room that seemed like a living room. I could hear him running. I panicked and ran under the couch and in to the farthest and darkness corner. I heart was beating extremely fast. I could see his feet walking around the living room. I was trapped.
"You can come out from hiding! Your safe here!" He said in a low voice.
I didn't believe him. My parents had told me to never trust a giant unless you want your life on the line. And mine definitely was but I wasn't going to risk it. Then at that moment I heard multiple other footsteps.
"What are you doing Lucas?" Said a voice from a female
"She kinda tried to escape and now I can't find her but I know she's in this room...." The giant who I'm guessing is Lucas said.
"Well yeah she's gonna hide if you try to chase her!" Said another female voice
"Did you look under the couch dingus?!" Said a male voice
My heart sank at that very moment.
"Ummm.. no but that's a good idea!" Says Lucas
I begin to panic as Lucas walks up to the couch and gets on his knees. He slowly crouched down and look under couch. I locked eyes with him and he gave a warm smile.
"Yep she's under there!" Lucas says
"Hey Riley do you think you could go get Penelope?" Said the male voice
"Yeah sure!" Said a female's voice
After a while I started to zone out due to exhaustion. I never thought that sleeping in an abandoned building would get me caught by a giant so easily. I had never been caught! And now I was hiding under a couch in a giant's house!
"Umm excuse me?" Said a voice
I was so startled from the voice I jumped. I opened my eyes to see... another human? Another human was standing right next to me! It was a girl, she looked a bit younger than me and had pure white hair and blue eyes.
"Uh hi! My name's Penelope!" She said
"Penelope?" I asked
"Uh yeah! That's my name!" She said looking a bit uncomfortable.
"I just wanted to tell you that you can come out! You don't need to be scared of those giants! It's perfectly safe!" She said
After she said that I clenched my jaw. She was with them. They manipulated her! I just met this girl and I already couldn't trust her. I slowly move my hand towards my boot hoping she wouldn't notice as she continued to talk.
"So um yeah!" She said
I instantly leaped towards her with my pocket knife, holding it against her throat.
"Why. Am. I. Here?" I said slowly
"Ok there's no need for this!" She said in a calm tone
"Why don't we just put the knife down!" She said a bit more loudly
"Let me ask you again, Why am I here?!" I repeated myself
"Because your a rescue silly! They found you so that you don't get caught by other giants" she said
"I didn't need rescuing" I told her
"I was perfectly fine on my own!" This time I was yelling
At that moment the couch was lift in the air and moved away. In the place where the couch was four giants starring down at us. I was frozen in fear and I removed the knife from her neck. As soon as I let her go she turned and ran towards the giants! One of the giants who was a girl and had blonde hair put her hand down, picking up Penelope. My back was against the wall. I had no where to go, I was trapped.
Lucas took a step towards me. This only made me press myself against the wall even more. Even though I had my weapons on my body I couldn't move a muscle. I couldn't even utter a word telling him to stay back! He continued to take a couple steps towards me.
"Hey your ok! Your safe here and have nothing to worry about!" He said in a soft tone.
I had been so zoned in on his voice I didn't even notice he was close enough to pick me up, until it happened. When I snapped out of it his large digits were already surrounding me. Then he began to lift me up. I began to panic not just because I was in the hands of a giant but because I was so high up! I started to breath extremely fast. I was almost 100ft up in the air and I was a little bit shorter than Lucas's pointer finger! I felt like I was gonna pass out. I started looking around frantically until I looked straight into his eyes. Dang it Harper! He slowly started to bring me up to his chest.
"Your ok, no ones gonna hurt you" he whispered
My breathing started to slow down.
"So uh you done with your bonding session?" Said a male giant with black hair and green eyes.
Both Lucas and I seemed a bit startled from this. I forgot about the other three giants standing there!
"Oh yeah" Lucas said with a smile
He slowly started walking. This made me wobble a bit and grab his thumb for support. He walked over to the coffee table in the center of the room and slowly lowered me down onto it.! The other male giant put the couch back. I was so confused on what was going on. The four giants began to move and find a seat around the table. This made me a bit tense because I didn't like the idea of being surrounded by giants.
"So I guess we should do a proper introduction." Said Lucas
"Well I'm Lucas and I'm 17"
I nodded. Lucas had messy dirty blonde hair with pure blue eyes.
"That's Carter, he's 18" he said pointing to the other male.
Carter had warm black hair with the lightest green eyes I've ever seen!
"That's Baylee, she's also 17" he said pointing to one of the female giants.
Baylee has short brown hair that's kinda like mine with hazel eyes.
"And that's Riley, and she's 18" he said pointing to the final giantess.
Riley had dirt blonde hair with a few natural highlights with deep dark brown eyes and freckles all over her face, mostly on the top of her cheeks.
"And you already know Penelope, she's 15" he said looking towards Penelope who was being held in Riley's palm.
"So uh what's your name" Lucas said looking straight at me.
I wasn't sure what to say. Should I trust them? CAN I trust them?! But the words just came out of my mouth.
"I-I'm H-Harper and I'm 16" I said a bit shaky.
"Well it's nice to meet you Harper, do you have any questions?" Asked Carter
Once he asked that question I felt all of my confidence return. I nodded.
"Why am I here?" I said
Carter seemed a bit shocked by my question but he replied.
"Well your here because we're rescuers" he said
I looked at him with confusion. What was a rescuer? He must of seen my confusion.
"Rescuers are giants like us who basically look for humans like yourself and we basically help you guys and give you a new life"
"I didn't and I still don't need help" I said crossing my arms.
"Uh you kinda did" Lucas said interrupting. "You kinda passed out due to exhaustion, dehydration, and starvation so like"
"Yeah that was after you guys tried to take me!" I said yelling a bit
"You were also by yourself, humans who are by themselves usually are one who need help" said Baylee.
"Again I don't need help!" I said
I looked off to the side of the coffee table. It wasn't that high of a fall but it was still a fall. Besides if I die here, I die here. I'de rather die then be stuck with giants!
"Well it was really nice meeting you all but now if you'll excuse me" I said beginning to lower myself of the table.
I ended up landing on my behind but I got right back up and began to walk towards the door.
"I'll now be on my way, goodbye!" I said still walking
"Hold up!" Said Lucas stepping between me and the door. "We can't let you go yet!"
"Technically you can because I'm leaving" I said trying to get around him.
Lucas took a step to the side blocking me again.
"We don't know if you'll pass out again! You could get caught if that happened! Or even worse die!" He said
"But like I'm better now! And I won't get caught! The forest is my home, and that's where I would like to return to" I said looking up at Lucas.
"Lucas is right, we can't let you go. Not yet" said Carter.
"So when can I leave?!" I said turning to look at Carter.
"I would say a month at least" said Baylee
"A month?!" I yelled "C'mon! It's not like I broke a bone!"
"I agree, a month" said Riley "We need to make sure she is fully functional"
I wanted to pull my hair out. A month?! Are you kidding me?! I felt like I was going to become a pet! I needed to get out of here!
"Alright case closed, Lucas you take care of Harper" Carter said beginning to stand up.
I looked up at Lucas and he looked down at me. He gave me a smile, I frowned back. I still couldn't believe I was going to be stuck with giants.
Lucas began to lower himself down. I flinch and closed my eyes expecting to be grabbed. I slightly opened my eyes only to see his palm out and on the ground in front of me.
"What? Did you think I was gonna grab you?" Lucas said with a smile.
"You kinda already did" I said looking back and forth between his face and his palm.
"C'mon, it's not that bad" he said
"You sound like you have experience" I said slowly getting on the palm.
Lucas brought me up and began walking. I used his thumb for support. He walked into the room I was in earlier.
"Welp this is my room" he said "I would give you a tour but you've probably already been around in here"
His room was decently large. He had his bed in the middle of the room up against the wall with side tables on each side. There was a large screen Tv across from the bed and his desk next to it. His room was a light gray color too.
"We don't really have a place for you to sleep yet and my bed is a decent size. So I thought you could just sleep there." He said
"With you?" I said giving him a confused look
"I promise I don't roll around in my sleep so you'll be ok" he said quickly. "Also only me and Baylee have downstairs bedrooms, Riley and Carter have the rooms upstairs. I nodded.
It eventually got dark and everyone was asleep. Everyone but me. I just couldn't believe that the last time I fell asleep peacefully I ended up getting caught, and now here I was in a giant bed with a giant! I needed to clear my head. I climbed down the bed using the comforter and walked out into the hall. I saw moonlight coming from an end of the hall and decided to follow it. I ended up finding a window that looked outside. There was a full moon tonight. It was beautiful.
"Hey"
I turned to see Penelope.
"Hey" I said
"Can't sleep?" She said walking up to me
"I just needed to clear my head" I said looking away
"I get it, all of this is so different for you" she said
"Umm I just wanted to say sorry for putting a knife to your throat earlier today" I said with embarrassment. "To be honest, you were the first person I've talked to since nine years ago"
"Wow" she said "That's a long time to be alone"
"Yeah, I guess when your alone for that long you forget manners" I said with a bit of a laugh.
She smiled at me.
"Can I ask you something" I asked
"Sure" she said
"Why are you still here?" I asked.
Her face turned a bit pale.
"To be honest, I wouldn't even survive a day out there like you." She said with a bit of shame.
"You see I wasn't born in the woods, I was born to be sold. When I turned 10 I was sold off. I was abused. My owner thought I was too weak, so I ended up abandoned on the streets when I was 12. That's when Carter and Riley found me. And I've lived here ever since." She said beginning to tear up.
"I'm sorry" I said
"It's not your fault, you didn't know." She said wiping her tears "And I know you may not trust them now, but they would never hurt you. And you may see it as them treating you as a pet but they're really just caring for you."
Penelope stood up and began to walk away.
Maybe she was right. Maybe I should trust them. But I was still going to stay alert. I just couldn't risk it. I just couldn't wait till I can get out of here.