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clumsiestgiantess · 2 months ago

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The Walls Won’t Be There Forever, part 2 (Similarly to the first part, this story deals with the pet trope and has some themes of dehumanization — however condemning of them as the story itself may be. So if things of that nature trigger you, please DO NOT read!) If they don’t, and you’re prepared for angst, then welcome to part 2! It’s been a while, but I hope you still enjoy!

It’s been five months since I escaped. To my thankful surprise, the terrifying little human hadn’t sounded the alarm the moment she couldn’t find me. My guess is that she didn’t want to get in trouble for losing me. Ironically, her older sister also lost her ‘pet’ too, just a few days ago. I was thrilled to have someone else to talk to, and heartened that I could be there to help them transition out of pethood. I wish I had someone who could've helped me with that. Through tedious trial and error, I figured out what areas of the house to avoid. It took me months to build up a decent living space for myself, far from any wall traps.

However, when I traveled up to the older sister’s room to welcome the newcomer, they were nowhere to be found. I searched the whole day, quietly calling out to them. I knew they would be scared, but I didn’t think they’d be so scared they’d avoid their own kind. Later, I checked the traps to see if they’d fallen into one. Still nothing. What if they ran all the way outside, searching for another house entirely? I’d thought of doing that myself, but it was too cold outside to get very far. If they had gone outside, they were a lost cause.

Another, more sinister option sprung into my mind days after searching for the missing person. The older sister human had seemed almost averse to having a pet. What if she got rid of them and claimed she lost them? This notion got me thinking. It had seemed as though they’d disappeared rather than escaped.

I felt awful for my fellow ‘pet’. Humans release creatures back into nature, even if they might not belong there. I couldn’t help but imagine someone like myself, who’s never been so much as a few steps outside a house, suddenly cast into the vast wilderness that even humans couldn’t tame. That was probably the worst case scenario. Even being straight up murdered would be better than slowly freezing to death outside, or eaten alive by some giant creature. There’s a good reason we live in human houses. It was disheartening finding no one to welcome, but I’m used to bad news by now.

After avoiding the upstairs and its residents for another few weeks, I was forced to sneak into the older sister’s room. For some reason, the humans moved the sewing box from its usual spot in the closet to beneath her desk. This was just more bad news. I like to go on supply runs in empty, dark places where humans have no chance to catch me. I never actually stole from humans before all this, so the only times I ever feel at ease enough to go out are when the room is desolate.

My father did all that dangerous stuff when I was younger. I stayed in the walls, cooking and cleaning and practicing medicine. Having to hide from humans is a new concept for me; I’ve always been hidden from them, which made it all the more shocking to have one so close. Especially my awful ‘owner’.

At first she treated me carelessly, like a doll. In the first few days alone I’d been more bruised than I ever had in my life. I couldn’t even ask her for the proper things I needed to heal them. I couldn’t even speak in Aubrey’s presence, which is awful because I was in her room. She was always there.

Fortunately, she handled me with a fraction more care after she’d nearly taken off my arm. It was so much more terrifying than even being caught. I always tried not to struggle against her, but she just kept trying to stuff me into a toy car that obviously wouldn’t fit me. Her grip was so rough I really thought I would be crushed — snapped apart and broken up to fit inside a tiny claustrophobic space. I’d panicked — I’d struggled — my flailing arm was snapped out of the socket caught on a piece of cheap plastic, slicing it wide open.

I remember screaming only briefly before I was silenced by a cloth held painfully tight against my face, and orders to be quiet. My screams came to a choked halt, but I don’t think I stopped crying the entire day. I never liked my human captor; after that day I decided to hate her.

Thankfully, after Aubrey realized she couldn’t get me out, she at least told her sister. Her sister… I was so sure she’d actually kill me getting me out. Her fingers were so much stronger than her younger sister’s — I could feel the bone-crushing tension in them as she cut me out of that awful thing. She tortured me with rudimentary ways to heal my wounds in the least amount possible, leaving a long scar across my arm that I still have to this day. I can’t even think about her cruelty now, but back then I was actually thankful for something like that. Her sister would’ve left me stranded.

There was a single good thing that came out of that ordeal, however. Aubrey had been so upset by the thought that I could actually die if I was mishandled — something I could’ve told her day one — that she refused to handle me for very long afterwards. That didn’t stop her from accidentally harming me again and again during the times she did handle me, though. One day, she accidentally left the top off my cage after bringing me some food, and I made a quick escape.

It was almost too much for me to handle. I lay in a dust-covered corner of the walls just past my threshold to freedom — the wall outlet — curled up into a tight protective ball for hours. My nerves and brain were so overwhelmed by fear that I couldn’t even cry. I just lay there and shook, staring at the interior of a wall as tears quietly leaked out of my eyes and down my cheeks.

Almost a full day later, I finally got up and stumbled through the labyrinth of wall corridors and traps to find some food and water. Thankfully, the traps I’d encountered weren’t any of the deadly varieties. If I’d stumbled across those I might not have lived long enough to figure out how to avoid them.

Eventually, through a lot of outings in the dead of night, I slowly built up a little place for myself deep within the human family’s walls. I wanted to get far far away from the torturous monsters who had bought and hurt me, but it was too risky to take that kind of trip with the humans on alert after my escape. The hidden code didn’t have anything about what to do after escaping a human. It was assumed that if a human caught you there was no need for escape — you were dead.

I postponed my journey out of the house for a fair amount of time since I was uncertain about any sort of procedure for escape. However, the longer I waited, the better I’d built my house until eventually I decided to stay. None of the humans even seemed to notice my disappearance; even Aubrey acted like nothing was wrong — stuffing little pillows beneath my bed to make it look like I was sleeping, and covering my old cage with a light blanket so no one could look in too closely for too long to tell I wasn’t there.

Now, five months later here I am — stealing supplies like a pro. Or.. at least better than how I’d started out.

When I stepped up to the electrical cover of Aubrey’s older sister’s room, her voice spoke happily — revertibrating across the space. I scanned the room, but I couldn’t see any other humans. I guess she’s on the phone, I realized, slowly lifting the cover off the wall. Humans are awful, for the most part, but their inventions are beyond belief. Apparently, the other human she’s talking to could be on the other side of the world. It was mind-blowing to think about. How do they even get their voices to travel that far?

Once I was certain that she was distracted, I slid down to the floor and ran for the nearest hiding place. The human was sitting at her desk, and the box I needed was just beneath it. I waited for her to speak before I dashed beneath the desk from behind, coming to a halt beside the box. It was open, lid strewn to the side, and the quiet voice that I assumed was another human on the phone spoke at full volume now. Something shifted around, pushing items to the sides. I froze, too scared and confused to move.

A person my own size hauled themselves over the top of the box. She began talking to the human, but stopped abruptly when she noticed me. There were a few seconds of stunned silence where neither of us moved, before the human pulled back in her chair, confused why the conversation halted.

The thundering sound of the human moving her chair back brought me out of my trance. I raced to the outlet as fast as I could. My mind reeled. Who and what was that!? Were there normal-sized humans as well as giant ones?

Before I could get back up and into the walls, the strange smaller human ran after me. I yelped in terror — running as fast as I could to the opening in the wall. “Wait! Come back!” Picking up the pace, I threw myself into the cut in the insulation without even replacing the outlet cover. Hopefully, I could lose the strange mini human in the maze of wood and ventilation. I expertly navigated the labyrinth of wooden supports, the strange human chasing me all the while, calling out for me to stop.

Suddenly, a snap rang out and her calls ceased with a pained cry. I cautiously slowed to a halt, tiptoeing back the way I’d ran to listen. Labored breaths echoed from further back down the wall. No, I scolded myself internally, you are not going back for that strange small human. However, another desperate groan of agony rang out, and I found myself slinking towards the sound.

By the time I found her, the little human lay unconscious beside an awful trap. Most likely, she'd passed out from the pain. Her leg was twisted all wrong, bent out of place by the metal jaws that hung on either side of the wall. The trap she was caught in looked brutal. It consisted of two poised bands of metal, hanging on either side of an older pathway inside the wall. They were held open by a thin wire that stretched between them. I knew how to catch tripwires before triggering them, so I swiftly evaded it and kept running. This strange human couldn't have seen it coming.

Though she'd been chasing me only moments ago, I knew I couldn't leave her like that. I never intended for her to get snared by a trap; I just wanted to confuse her so I could get away. Using my small walking staff I usually used to avoid traps, I pried open the clamp’s metal jaws and moved the strange human's leg out from inside it. I sucked in a shocked breath of air as I brought my light over her. It was worse than I thought. Her leg was bloody and mangled. I gagged at the sight.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, though I knew she couldn't hear me, "I didn't mean for this to happen." Carefully, I bent down and hoisted her up, draping her unconscious form halfway over my shoulders. In a slow shamble, I headed back home. My thoughts raced during the silent journey. Was this person my own height really a smaller human? Logically, it made more sense that she was one of my own kind, specifically the person that the other human kept as a pet — but that made just as little sense. The two were talking happily, as though they'd been friends for a long time. If this person really is the 'pet' that the human had kept, I doubt that they'd be so close.

Eventually, I made it back to my home. I collapsed into a chair the moment I got my new guest into bed. It isn't really a bed, per se. Technically, it's a knitted mitten that one of the humans used to own, just like my chair is technically an upside-down plastic coffee pod, but what does it matter? That’s what I’m using it as, so that’s what it is.

After catching my breath, I got to work setting my strange guest's leg. I'd barely moved the limb when she suddenly sprang to life. I jumped back as she grabbed my arm, yelping in pain. She assessed the room at lightning speed, trying to process what happened and where she was.

Her behavior was baffling. Incredibly fast reflexes like those only came with proper thievery training. She isn't a smaller human after all. Finally, her wide-eyed gaze rested on me, and she hesitantly released my arm.

"You.. You're the- Ahhg!" she cut herself off with another cry of pain. Now that she actually took notice of her injury, her mouth opened in silent horror. "It's alright," I told her out of the blue. Slowly, her stricken gaze turned back to me. "I can fix this. It'll take some time, but I can help. If you're lucky, all you'll have is a limp afterwards."

Her perplexed stare became pained again and I rushed off to get some pain reliever. When I returned, my strange guest gave me a baffled expression. "That's.. human medicine. Won't that just.. I don't know, kill me?" I shook my head, taking the small tablet and crushing it into a sizable piece. "It won't kill you, so long as you take the right dosage." Her blank stare suggested that she had no idea what I meant. I doubt she'd been taught much about healing if she was one of the thieving types.

Handing over the small piece of medicine and a cup of water, I ordered her to swallow it, then went to get something to act as a splint. "Are you.. one of us?" I asked hesitantly, still disbelieving that she’d actually been conversing with a human. Pain no longer distorted her face, all that was left was a look of pure confusion. "Obviously, I mean… What else would I be, a tiny human?" Her sarcasm died off as she realized that's exactly what I'd thought. "You were talking with that human,” I replied, “We're not even supposed to let them know we're smart, never mind having a conversation with them!"

This got her quiet. She watched in silence as I pulled up a chair to the edge of the bed and reached for her leg. "Wh- What are you doing?" The tiniest spark of fear lit her eyes. I was the one who inadvertently lured her into that trap, after all. "I'm going to have to reset your leg," I explained, "I'm not going to lie, it'll hurt a lot." I grabbed a clean piece of cloth and handed it to her. "You might want to bite down on this to keep from yelling. I don't want the humans to hear."

There was a long moment of silence as the other Hidden-being stared me down. "Who are you?" she asked, "How long have you been living here for? Why haven't I seen you around?" All good questions, but I didn't have the time. The quicker I set her leg, the better. "Later," I told her, "Let me do this first. Just bite down on that cloth and please don't attack me. It'll seem like I'm purposefully hurting you, but I swear I'm just fixing your leg." "Alright," she said quietly, "I'm ready."

Both the sounds of the bones in her leg and her muffled cries of pain made me squeamish, but I had to press on. I felt awful for doing this to her. I could’ve warned her the trap was there, but I didn’t; I hoped it would slow her down by blocking the hallway. If she’d been running any slower, she would have been completely crushed by the metal clamps. To think that humans wanted us gone so badly, they were willing to create such terrible contraptions in order to kill us. There was a time when I believed the walls were the safehaven of a human household. Nowhere is safe anymore.

A long hour passed as I did my work. I bound the Hidden’s leg with a split, and dressed the blood-crusted gashes. She’d slipped out of consciousness sometime during the ordeal, so the room became eerily quiet when I finished, save for the labored breaths of my guest. I fixed us a meal while waiting nervously for her to wake.

Alone with my thoughts, I found myself again wondering about her origins. Was she really the other ‘pet’? Had she really done the impossible and befriended a human? If I’d spoken to Aubrey, and let her see that I was a sentient creature… Firstly, I’d be breaking a core rule of my kind. Secondly, I’d be so terrified by the human’s presence that I probably couldn’t have said much anyway.

A groan rose from the other room and I rushed to the bed. The other Hidden-being was awake. She sat up slowly, taking in a pained breath of air. “I probably shouldn’t get up, should I?” she asked me, resting her back on the wall behind her. Hesitantly, I placed a plate of food beside her on the bed.�� “Are you well enough to eat?” She nodded and took a few small bites. “Who are you?” she asked again, “Where are we?” I sat in the chair I put beside the bed earlier. “I’m June,” I answered, “This is my home; I built it just above the kitchen. Don’t worry, you’re safe here.” My comforts were met with a rather pensive look. “I’m Wren,” she introduced herself. An awkward pause hung in the air. It was late, and I turned away, trying to hide my yawn.

“Do you know about the other person here, the other.. pet?” she asked quietly, “Aubrey, the smaller human, is keeping one of us locked up! Have you seen them? Are they alright?”

I took a sharp breath. “I was Aubrey’s pet,” I responded, “Are you her sister’s?” Wren shook her head harshly, “I’ll never be a pet. No one, not even a human, can tell me what to do.” I was going to ask if the human she’d been speaking to told her what to do, but I didn’t get the chance. “What about you?” she continued, “I thought her sister still had her pet. How are you here?” “I escaped,” I said simply. “And the human didn’t tell anyone?” “No, I think she was trying to stay out of trouble.”

Wren seemed to understand that. “Oh yeah, my human got in a lot of trouble when she ‘lost’ me,” she said, making air quotes for the word lost. “Her parents had her do so many chores, she didn’t have an ounce of free time to see me that whole week.” I glanced at her skeptically. “Your human?” I repeated. “Well, it’s-“ she thought for a moment, “We’re friends; it’s complicated.”

“No.. it shouldn’t be. Humans and us Hidden can’t be friends,” I spat suddenly, “That’s insane! Look at what that human trap did to you! How could you trust that human enough to be friends with her?” Wren tried to explain, but I stood up and went to the doorway. “I’m tired. It’s late. I can’t process this right now.” It was horribly rude of me, but I’m not in the mood to argue tonight.

I ended up sleeping on the floor with a blanket. Wren had taken the only bed, and she certainly needed it more than I did. In the morning, I had to help her over to the bathroom so she could get around without putting weight on her leg. When at last she settled down, I went to get some more medicine, but she spoke.

“I haven’t heard that name in a long time…” I paused in the doorway. “Hidden. I stopped calling myself that the day I was captured. We aren’t exactly ‘hidden beings’ anymore.” Sighing, I turned to her and leaned on the doorframe, “That’s what we are, Wren.” She shrugged, “Humans call us ‘Borrowers’. I think I like that name.” I grumble and grudgingly go get the medicine. When I return, Wren stays silent for a bit.

“Hey, about last night…” I glanced up at her tiredly. “Just hear me out, please? Liz, the human I was talking to, she’s not like other humans.” “How?” I challenged, “Why?” “It.. was an accident, her finding out about us being smart and whatnot. I screwed up and spoke in front of her. She had every opportunity to call me out on it — to tell the other humans and ruin our secret. But she didn’t. Liz found out I was just like any other person.. and treated me like one. I don’t know why or how she’s like that, but she is.”

I doubted it; it went against everything I’d been taught about humans. “So, when she ‘lost’ you…” “Liz pretended to lose me so she could free me. And-” Wren paused, giving me a look that was almost sorry. “And I have to tell her I’m alright.”

“What?” I asked, confused. “You can barely stand on your own! How are you getting all the way to her room?” “I don’t know, how did you get me here?” I sighed, “I can’t take you all the way back, it’ll mess up your leg.” “Then you need to go for me.” I blanched at the mere thought of being in front of another human. “No,” I replied forcefully, “I am NOT going anywhere near that human, or any other human. I don’t care what you say, I don’t trust them, and you shouldn’t either!”

“Well, I do!” Wren shot back, “And you don’t have to talk to her at all. Let me write her a note. You can leave it out somewhere she’ll see it. Please.” Her voice grew softer, “I don’t want her to worry about me. What if she heard me get caught in the trap? I could be dead for all she knows!” My eyes closed tightly, and I sank into a chair. It felt like my body was shutting down on itself as my head fell into my hands. “If I do this.. you owe me.” Wren nodded eagerly, “I can have Liz get whatever you want. I’ll deliver it for you when I’m better.”

The deal was beyond tempting. If Wren and that human are really friends, I have no doubt that she could get just about anything I could dream of. I reasoned that it couldn’t hurt if I simply delivered a letter. Get in, leave it on the floor by the electrical socket, get out. It would be easier than a supply run.

Wren could tell that I’d given in. She reached out expectantly, waiting for a piece of paper and something to write with. With a long sigh, I got up and gathered a scrap of paper and a piece of pencil lead I’d taken. Handing them over, I sat waiting nervously for her to write the letter. It seemed like forever and no time at all before she’d finished. “Put it somewhere she’ll find it,” Wren instructed. “I will.” Soon, I began the trek to Liz’s room. Everything went smoothly until I got to the electrical cover. I stood in front of it, staring blankly at the slits of light beaming in from the other side.

This was it. Get in, leave the letter, get out. Simple. Taking a deep breath, I pulled the cover aside and peered out. The room was silent and empty, which put my racing heart at ease. I slid down to the floor and snuck out to the edge of the room. Digging into my bag, I pulled out the letter. Footsteps echoed outside the door, and I froze in fear. Thankfully, it sounded like Aubrey’s footsteps, meaning that she was on her way to her own room, not this one. I’d just set the letter down when a new set of footsteps rang out. At that same moment, the door to the room swung open.

It was Liz. I dashed to the electrical socket, but she was bigger, and I was so scared that I fumbled with the climbing rope. In no time at all, I was met with a wall of flesh. I scrambled backwards, terrified. I could do nothing but watch in horror as hands larger than myself squeezed in around me. “No! Wait!” I cried out. However, my pleas weren’t even acknowledged. Liz held me in one gigantic fist, dragging me through the air towards her desk. I screamed, thrashing in her grip. Suddenly, I was let go. I fell roughly onto the surface of the desk in front of her.

Immediately, I scrambled behind a stack of books that were piled on her desk. My attempt to hide must’ve been laughable to the human. She simply pulled the books away from me.

“What did you do with Wren?” Her voice echoed in waves through my head while my vision swam. “N- Nothing,” I whimpered, pressing myself to the wall behind me. Liz leaned over the desk, inching menacingly closer. “I don’t know what the punishment is for befriending a human, but I heard her in the walls, crying in pain. So I’ll ask you again. What did you do with her?”

I could barely focus. Not only had she heard Wren get hurt, she thought I’d hurt her, as punishment for breaking a crucial survivalist rule. “I didn’t do anything to her, I swear! She chased after me, you saw that, right?” Liz’s narrowed eyes widened slightly. “I did.” “S- She ran through a trap while she chased me. Please, you have to believe me! Look at the letter!”

Liz sat back; her face rapidly lost color. A wave of silence drifted over the room. “She.. got caught in a trap? Is she alright?” Liz asked, suddenly sobered by my news. It took me a moment to realize that the human looked awfully worried about Wren — interest in me completely lost. I opened my mouth to speak, but tears welled in my eyes. Despite my best efforts to calm myself, I began crying. A few moments ago, I saw my life flash before my eyes. Wren was very wrong. Liz is terrifying. I sank to the ground, curling up with my back pressed into the wall behind me.

“Hey, I- I’m sorry,” a voice spoke softly from above. I was so shocked by the shift in Liz’s tone, that I managed to look up at her. “I didn’t mean to scare you. You’re my sister’s…” She paused, unwilling to call me what I’d been. “I escaped,” I confessed meekly. “I remember you,” her voice dropped to an almost whisper. “I… helped you out of that toy car. God, I wanted to take you away to safety the moment I saw you.” I blinked. Then.. why didn’t you?

It suddenly occurred to me that she could return me to Aubrey — to my little personal hell. “Please don’t bring me back!” I yelped. Liz smiled sadly, “Of course I won’t. You shouldn’t have had to endure that to begin with. I’m sorry I scared you, but you’re safe here.” I hesitantly wiped the tears from my face, “Safe?" I repeated, confused. "You just grabbed me.” Liz glanced guiltily at the spot on the floor where I’d been standing. “What’s that?” she asked, nodding to the letter on the floor. “A letter. Wren wrote it for you.”

Liz went over and picked it up. I watched as she carefully read the note, which suddenly looked tiny in her hands. When she turned back to me, her expression had shifted entirely. “Thank you,” Liz said earnestly, coming back to sit at her desk. “Thank you for taking care of Wren. I’m honestly glad she’s with you, and not only because you know how to help her.” Liz backed off slightly, allowing me more of a distance between us so I wasn’t pressed against the wall. “Wren’s been.. homesick, I think. She needs another Borrower in her life. I can’t imagine living without any other humans around; it can’t be much different for you.”

I stood on the desk in thought for a while. There was that name again, ‘Borrower’. We don’t even borrow, we steal. Is that some kind of demeaning term humans like to use? Why was Wren ok with it? Why is Wren ok with any of this!?

Liz offered me a small meal to calm me down some. I tried a bit of the food to satisfy her, though I could barely stomach it. “Is it true?” I asked, needing to know the answer, “Did you really free Wren?” Liz sighed, “It’s one thing to own some creature that looks like a person, but when I realized what Wren and the rest of you are, I.. I couldn't leave her trapped in there. I didn't even want a Borrower because I thought it was unsettling how similar you are to us."

"I remember," I agreed quietly, "Aubrey was upset that you got to have a.. pet too." Liz nodded, "But you escaped! That's impressive! I was beginning to wonder what happened to you because my sister never mentions you much anymore. Now I know why. How did you manage that, anyways?" Thinking back, I suddenly became defensive. Humans are awful. Liz was awful to me.

I don't know why she’s deciding to be so nice right now, but she could easily switch back to the horrifying personality that snatched me off the floor and accused me of hurting someone. Liz is the sister of my previous captor. I don't particularly feel like sticking around to make small talk.

"I have to go," I said decisively, a bit more harshly than I intended. "I'll heal your friend, but then.. I have to move now. It's my people’s code." "Wh- What?" Liz stammered, "You aren't leaving soon, are you? It's freezing outside!" "I have blankets," I replied curtly. I stormed over to the edge of the desk, reaching for my bag and my climbing rope. "You don't have to leave! I'll keep your secret like I'm keeping Wren's, I promise!" Liz told me, still trying to convince me to stay. Why does she want me here so badly? Maybe it's a trap — using Wren as bait to lure other Hidden-beings out of hiding.

When I got to the floor, I turned my back to her and walked off toward the outlet cover. It was a risky move, but I wanted Liz to know for certain that I made up my mind. She stammered a few half-baked excuses as I slid back into the outlet. I didn't stop marching away until I was deep within the walls. With a shuddering cry, I sank to the ground. I've worked so hard to make a home for myself here — to avoid the freezing temperatures outside — but now I have no choice.

Wiping the mist from my eyes, I plastered on a nonchalant expression and returned to my home and Wren. "Did she find the note?" Wren asked me the moment I stepped into the room. "Yeah, I watched from behind the outlet. She read it and looked relieved. That was about it."

Of course I lied to her. I didn't dare tell her how horrifying her beloved human had been to me. I also hadn’t told her my plan to leave the moment she was out of my home. I wanted to heal her; no matter what she thought of humans, she was still my own kind, and I felt responsible for her. Over the next few days, I did everything in my power to stay as far away from Liz as I could until I could get away from her for good.

Nightmare after nightmare stalked me down nearly every night, and I rarely went out to gather supplies anymore. What did it matter if I had stuff saved? I’d be leaving most of it behind when I left anyway. I cried a lot, too — in a little crevice far away from Wren or any of the humans. I just.. don’t know what to do anymore. At this rate it only feels like I’m delaying another mortifying inevitable capture.

A week or two after I took Wren in, her leg had healed enough that she could walk on it, with the help of a walking stick, that is. When she was well enough to make the journey, I helped her to the electrical socket in Liz's room, but stopped there. "Well, this is as far as I take you. Thanks for keeping me company these past few days, it's been.. nice." Though Wren's human seems suspicious, Wren herself was not all that bad to have around. Her company had been a good change of pace for me. I hated to think that I would soon be alone again.

"Thank you for healing up my leg," Wren replied, "I'll come by to visit you soon, ok?" I nodded silently, knowing that she would be walking into an empty room. "Take care, and try not to fall into any more traps. Go enjoy freedom, I guess." Wren quickly tried to convince me again that I could have 'freedom' too, but I reminded her that I do have freedom. Real freedom. The kind I created myself instead of relying on some human to give it to me. I didn't tell her that last part.

After another round of goodbyes and thank yous, Wren went to wait for Liz and I went back to my home to pack. A sour feeling rested in my throat as I began dividing things up between what I could bring and what I couldn't. Once everything I could possibly take was packed, I slept one last time in my bed here before my journey. I woke when I sensed that night had fallen. It was time for me to go.

It took me a half-hour to get out of the house, but I eventually found a vent that left me standing in the side yard. The moment I slid outside, a freezing wind rushed over the ground, cutting right through my meager coverings and stitched-together blankets. I desperately wanted to go back inside to the home I'd made for myself, but thanks to the awful human, I can't.

One chilly step at a time, I began the long journey across the backyard to the next house over. I nearly set off a trap as I rounded the perimeter of the house, scaring me to my senses. It was rapidly growing dark and I was only about a quarter of the way through my trip. The cold had made things harder than I'd planned, and it was only going to get colder as the night wore on. Please, just let me make it there without getting frostbite. The universe only laughed at my pathetic plea. Minutes afterward, the sky completely darkened. It began to snow.

My heart seized painfully in my chest like the day I'd been caught and the day I'd been sold. It was an instinctive feeling of my body telling me there was a very good chance I'm going to die. Quickly, I fought back tears and continued onward. Even if I had gone back, I couldn't have gotten inside the house. The vent opening was too far above my head. Heavier flakes began to pile up, and I shuddered each time one landed on me — soaking freezing water through my clothing. Soon, there was a light dusting of frozen crystals of water over the entire ground, and my feet were starting to lose feeling.

How long can I last? Is there even a point in trying to trek to the next house when I’m clearly not going to make it? Though I knew for certain that it would be my last night alive, I kept moving forwards, refusing to give up. If I stopped moving, the cold would only take me faster. My persistence was met with deeper and deeper snow as the night wore on. Eventually, it was up to my waist, and I didn't have the energy to continue wading through the bitterly cold substance any longer.

Crying out in anguish and despair, I fell to the ground, numb and completely exhausted. Curling up in a tight ball, I shivered against myself, desperately trying to generate at least a little heat. My eyes grew heavier by the second, and I began drifting in and out of bitter darkness.

After my eyes had been closed for some time, a faint light shone behind them. Is this what happens before you die? The light became brighter and my numb body moved just slightly, reaching for it. "June?" Death was calling to me. I was so sure of it. I opened my mouth to respond, but no sound came out. The last of my energy drained, I fell back into the inky black void of unconsciousness.

What felt like instantly, I was lightly jostled awake by the feeling of rising into the air. A sudden warmth engulfed me, and I greeted it eagerly, only for the heat to become burning against my frostbitten skin. I groaned and tried to escape it, but the heat seemed to be all around me at once. Weakly, I shoved at the space. "It's ok, I'll put you down in a second," a voice spoke from high above me, "Let me get somewhere safer first." A few moments later, I was deposited on something cooler, and I gasped, soaking in the ambient warmth as my vision swam.

The entire time, and for some time afterwards, my mind was trapped in a constant fog. I didn't feel like opening my eyes, but when I did, the only things I could make out were vague shapes and colors all swirling together almost nauseatingly. Quickly, I closed them again. Voices spoke to each other, but I could barely comprehend the words. Laying in almost total disorientation, I silently thanked the universe for letting me live, and begged it to have landed me somewhere nice, with people that I could trust. Was that too much to ask after my near-death experience? I hoped not.

After initially being brought inside, I basked in the warmth that came from simply being in that place. But as I began to warm up more, I started to shiver again. I tried to speak, to tell whoever had taken me in that I was getting colder, but all that came from my lips was a weak cry. Thankfully, one of my saviors realized what I wanted and spread a blanket over me. I pulled it in closer and tried to sit up, but my arm quickly gave out beneath me.

“Here, don’t strain yourself. I’ll get you something for you to sit up on.” Still in a fog, I wasn’t sure if I recognized their voice, but their hands were about the same size as my own, so at the very least I’d been found by one of my own kind. Relief let me relax as I was propped up slightly and offered a drink. Soon my head cleared enough for me to open my eyes.

My heart nearly flew from my chest when I took in the sight in front of me. I was back on Liz’s desk, in the exact same place I’d been before.

“No!” I rasped, trying in vain to get up, “I did all this to get away from you! Why are you here?!” Liz backed away looking hurt as Wren came over and tried to calm me down. “She’s not going to hurt you,” she assured me, “I won’t let her.” “Like you can stop her?” I spat. “She could grab both of us and stuff us back in a cage and neither of us could do anything about it! Why, why do you trust her!? How can you trust someone who can do that to you!?” “She wouldn’t.” “She did!” I nearly screamed, “She almost crushed me the moment she spotted me!”

“And that was her mistake!” Wren shot back, “I’ve scolded her and made her promise never to touch you without your permission.” My mouth opened and closed silently for a second. “Do you really think she’ll keep that promise?” “I do.”

I glanced at Liz, standing quietly to the side with a chastised expression. Her gaze wandered anywhere but the desk where Wren and I stood. “Liz told me what happened when I got back; what you conveniently didn’t tell me. She only threatened you because she thought you’d hurt me. She was only trying to protect me.” “Well, that’s good for you,” I huffed sarcastically, glaring at the gigantic girl. “You can have your protective little human all to yourself, then.”

I could tell Wren was trying extremely hard not to continue our yelling match. Her expression remained calm, but there was an angered sharpness to her gaze. “You could have at least waited until it was warmer. You must know better than to leave in the middle of winter,” she said. I scoffed, “Have you forgotten all the rules? I had to leave! She saw me!” I replied, jabbing a finger at Liz. She flinched as I did. “I know you don’t really care anymore, being a pet and all, but those rules have kept us free and safe. The only reason we’re in this situation is because of people like you who choose to break them!”

Loud silence suddenly fell over the room. I was frightened by it. I’d expected Wren to finally snap and reply with something hurtful in return — maybe even sick her terrible human on me — but she just stood there, staring out at nothing.

“I didn’t choose to break the rules,” she finally said in a quiet breath. “I didn’t choose to reveal anything to the humans. When Liz found out the truth, it scared me just as much as it scares you. But she used my moment of weakness to help me rather than hurt me, and I owe every good thing I have now to her.”

Liz suddenly burst into tears. The sound sent me on high alert. A sad human was only one wrong word away from an angry one. Wren whirled around, shocked. “Liz, what-?” “I’m so sorry!” she sobbed, “After all the time I’ve spent with you, my first instinct was to hurt the only other Borrower I know! M- Maybe she’s right! You don’t belong with me. You deserve to have safety without having to fully rely on one person with power over everything!”

Wren turned away from me, rushing to the edge of the desk that was closest to the human. “Liz, no! Y- You can’t be serious! I do belong with you! Our way of life doesn’t work anymore. This is the new way, the better way, to live! I don’t completely rely on you; I still borrow supplies for myself every day, and you don’t even know. With the right humans and borrowers working together, we can change history for the better!”

“Better?” I questioned bitterly, causing both sets of eyes to turn to me. “How can living with monstrous beings like humans make our lives better? They were the best they could be without them. The only reason we would need them at all is to convince other humans not to kill us on sight.”

Wren rubbed her temples tiredly. “You just… You don’t understand,” she told me — voice falling. “Humans have so much more freedom than we ever did, even in our old lives. We rarely got to communicate with others of our kind; stepping outside was like being in another world; and we had to get by on so little that we had to starve ourselves to continue living sometimes. You call that the best life we can live? Really? We aspire to be slightly advanced rats? That’s what you want to be?”

Tears welled in the corners of my eyes, remembering my younger brother, who starved himself to sickness and eventually death trying to let the rest of us have a bit more to eat. Then there was my mother, who was impaled trying to cut into the water pipe so we could have access to the humans’ supply. “No,” I whispered on the verge of tears. “It isn’t what I aspire to be, but what other choice do I have when they control everything?”

Slowly, Wren came over and sat beside me, offering me a gentle hug. I broke down in another fit of tears, and watched out of the corner of my eye as Liz fled the room.

“We do have a choice,” Wren told me after I’d calmed. “All our kind needs is enough good humans to vouch for us. They could end everything we fear, but they don’t know we’re even capable of thinking the same way they do. If we can’t speak for ourselves, they’ll have to.” It pained me inside and out, but I had to ask. “What if we break the rules? What if we show the whole world of humans just how similar we all are to eachother? Then we can vouch for ourselves.” Wren was quiet for a while, thinking, then turned around.

“Liz, what if we-” she stopped, realizing the human was gone. “What..? Where did she go?” I shrugged, “She ran out of the room a while ago.” “Dammit I keep telling her she shouldn’t group herself in with the torturous ones of her kind.. I- I don’t want to leave you here alone, but-” “Go,” I told her in a sudden flare of certainty. “I’ll be fine now that I’ve warmed up.”

Wren glanced between me and the doorway. “I’ll be right back.” Then she turned and slid down the side of the desk with expert movements — not even needing a rope or grapple. Now that was the work of someone who was trained how to traverse human spaces.

I still can’t believe it’s come back to me being in a human’s clutches again. Though, I guess if I’m being kept here by anyone, it’s Wren. I want to help her. I want to help myself. However, the prospect of helping myself no longer included running away to hide in a different home — that was clearly a horrific idea that would’ve killed me if it weren’t for the human looking out for me.

All I did was follow my people’s code; it’s supposed to keep me alive, not put me in danger. Yet.. everything that saved me just now was against those rules. Just like everything that saved Wren went against them. Maybe things really do have to change. The thought frightened me just as much as it exited me. Something had to happen, but would it be for better, or for worse?

#welcome to angst town yall!#man these tinies just can’t catch a break…#g/t #giant/tiny #g/t writing

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