Jake was panicking as he was unceremoniously dumped from his father’s palm, from a distance a little too great to not be concerned about his bones breaking, onto a neatly folded shirt. He landed face first into the dark fabric, a strong smell of laundry detergent overwhelming his senses for a moment. Only a moment, because he quickly got up to once again try to get an explanation from his parents of what exactly was to happen to him. He looked pleadingly up at the two giant figures who hadn’t said a word to him today. They just plucked him from his room, and then threw in here. He wanted to know where he was going, at least. Was he going to come back?
His voice was shaking as he tried to get them to at the very least look at him.
-DAD! MOM!- It was no use. They couldn’t hear him without his communication device, which they did not care enough to give Jake before his abduction. Even if they could hear him, they’d probably just ignore him anyway.
They could definitely see him though, and that did not stop his mother from tossing a giant pack of gummy bears right on top of him. Or that’s where it would have landed at least, if he didn’t dive out of the way. Unfortunately he had to quite literally jump out of the way, falling onto the “floor” (made out of familiar looking pieces of clothing). It was soft, so his fall was broken, but it still wasn’t pleasant. Meanwhile, above him, the titans that he called his parents finished packing the box they would send to their daughter, who lived not too far away, in another city. There was one last thing they had to take care of, and then they could move on with their day.
-Okay. Is that everything?- Jake’s mother asked, turning towards her husband standing next to her.
-Wait, one last thing.- He said, reaching a hand into his jean pocket, fumbling around with something for a moment, and finally pulling a tiny object out of it. He then proceeded to toss it into the box. Jake quickly realised what the object was, and immediately started to make his way towards it.
Walking on a bunch of folded clothes was hard. Kind of like walking on a combination of sand and a bouncy castle. Jake lost his balance a bunch of times, but did not give up. The box his father threw in the mysterious package contained his communication device, which was his best bet of getting help, or at least finding out where he was going. While he was making his way towards his device the light disappeared. Confused, Jake looked up just in time to see the giant box being sealed. He stopped in his tracks. Were they really going to just send him away god knows where?
His question was immediately answered by the loud crackling of tape as his prison was sealed shut. Then there was movement, shaking everything in the box around. Jake had to avoid the dreadful pack of gummy bears as it almost crashed into him a couple of times. Then the movement stopped, after which a loud bang could be heard, followed by the noise of a car engine starting. Then he was moving again, although this time it wasn’t as sudden. He wanted to look for his communication device again, but it was so dark he couldn’t see anything. Next to him he could feel the foil of the gummy bear package.
By then he realised that he was probably getting shipped off somewhere, and that one of his parents was driving him to the post office right now. He knew that this might be the last moment of stability he had, not having to dodge the giant pack of candy in the pitch black darkness. He had an idea. It wasn’t the smartest, but judging by the fact his parents did not bother to make air holes in the box he figured the travel couldn’t be too long, so the crazy plan might actually be worth a try. There was also, of course, the option that they simply did not care enough to do so, but that’s not what he hoped it to be.
Jake approached the giant pack, and started tearing at the plastic, to get a hole he could crawl into. It took some time, but eventually he broke through. Just at the right moment, because he heard the car engine stop, and the vehicle grinded to a halt. Jake started working more aggressively, but after the initial breakthrough he was able to create a hole big enough for him to crawl through. He did just that, positioning himself among the gummy bears, hoping that would help somehow.
He did not have long to think his plan through, because he heard the sound of a car door opening, and then everything started moving again.
The tactic of hiding in the package turned out to work better than expected. Not only did Jake not have to dodge it in the dark, the gummy bears (all just a head shorter than him) served as a cushion, protecting him from bumping into the carton walls.
The movement continued, eventually stopping. Muffled, though still loud voices could be heard outside of the box. From what Jake could make out of the conversation outside he could piece together the location. Post office. He was getting mailed.
The voices continued for a while, and then stopped. The box was jostled, as something was being taped to it. Then everything started shaking as the package was moved again.
The movement stopped once more, and then a loud sound could be heard. It sounded kind of like a roar of thunder, but it was a little bit off. After a moment Jake realised that it was the back of a delivery truck being closed. Was he already being delivered? It was probably an express package.
He wasn’t sure how much time passed in the truck. Maybe an hour or two, but nothing unbearable. The gummies around him cushioned him from all the tremors and bumping into walls, which would have been very painful otherwise. The truck finally came to a stop and the box was taken out. Then he heard the sound of walking up a flight of stairs. Maybe it was an apartment complex or something? He really wasn’t looking forward to finding out, but the time was fast approaching. Finally the delivery person reached their destination, as he could make out the faintest sound of knocking. Everything was very muffled thanks to the candy around him, so the boy didn’t really know what was happening outside.
Outside, the door was opened, and the package was handed to a young woman, who thanked the delivery person and closed the door behind her. She curiously looked at the box she received. The sender was her mom, so it was probably the things she left at home. She placed the package on her desk, next to the computer she was doing some work on, and opened it.
Jake’s anxiety was peeking as light assaulted his eyes, which were at this point very used to darkness. It was fairly dark in the room he was in, but it was still a big difference. He couldn’t really see that much because of the packaging, so he decided to crawl out through the hole he’d previously made, but as he was looking for it everything started shaking again. He felt something forcefully lift his current hiding spot, and looked up to see the outline of a hand of whoever picked him up. He realised with horror that the hole he wanted to use to get out was in the upper part of the package, which was impossible to get to right now.
Very loud crinkling could be heard as the hands outside tore the pack of gummy bears apart, propping it up against the box’s wall so that it wouldn’t fall over. It also meant Jake could not get out. He looked up terrified, realising that whoever was out there didn’t know he was there. Or maybe they knew, but didn’t care? He wasn’t sure which one he liked less.
His doubts were quickly cleared up when a giant face peered into the pack and a hand dropped down to grab a green gummy bear far on Jake’s left. It was Olivia, his sister. He immediately got up (although he had some trouble because of the unstable surface) and started waving his arms and screaming.
-Liv!!! It’s Jake!! I’m down here!!!- It was no use. He was too small for her to hear from that far, and without his communication device, which was stranded somewhere in the box, his voice could not reach the giantess’ ears. He could just watch as she put the gummy bear into her mouth without looking, and swished it around for a moment before swallowing it whole with an audible gulp. He couldn’t help but get a little uncomfortable at the sight of that, especially since he was roughly the size of a gummy.
The hand came back, grabbing a red candy, which was right next to Jake. He fell onto his back trying to get out of the way. He looked up again, realising his sister did not even look into the package this time. Once again, she opened her mouth and put the bear in. Her jaw moved up and down as she tasted it, and then gulped. The sight of her throat jumping combined with the sound made Jake wince.
Olivia was smiling as her hand reached in the box once again, with the intention of fishing out another gummy bear. Unfortunately for Jake, she wasn’t paying much attention to what she was grabbing. After all, she had no reason to believe it was anything other than a piece of candy.
The boy had already given up on yelling, that is until he felt his sister’s fingers lock around his sides from the back and start lifting him out of the relative safety of the packaging.
He tried to move, to at least signal his presence to his blissfully unaware sister, but her fingers were squeezing him too hard. He was too focused on trying to get air into his crushed lungs.
He helplessly watched as he was raised higher and higher, passing her chest, then neck, then stopping at her closed lips. Struggling for breath, he once again looked up at her eyes, hopeful that she’d realise what she’s about to do. But it was useless. Her eyes were still glued to the screen. What she was doing was way more important, she wasn’t about to give her attention to one gummy bear. Jake realised that when it was already too late.
In that moment, when he was staring up at his sister looking for any sliver of recognition, he started to lose hope. Although his lungs were being squeezed, he started hyperventilating.
It got even worse when her mouth opened. The moment it happened Jake was assaulted with a wave of hot, sweet smelling breath. He could see the inside, illuminated by the computer screen. Her tongue was stained a little from the gummies she ate, and there was a lot of saliva pooling around it, seemingly liters. In the back of her mouth was her throat with her uvula, which probably freaked him out the most. It was gross, but the dominant emotion he was feeling at that moment was terror. He felt that this was the end, although he did not give up. Seeing his final destination filled him with a new primal strength, so he started furiously moving again, desperately wanting to get out of his unaware sister’s grip. It seemed pointless.
But suddenly, when he was just milliseconds away from entering the maw that would end his life, he felt the fingers stop, as a loud gasp emanated around him. He opened his eyes, and was greeted by the shocked and confused face of his older sister. Her eyes were wide, looking right at him, and her eyebrows raised. Her mouth was still hanging open, but she covered it with her free hand almost immediately. At the same time her features softened, as she realised the true identity of what she thought to be just a piece of food. The fingers that were previously pressing into his sides so hard he couldn’t breathe immediately loosend, and he felt himself being slowly lowered onto Olivia’s desk. Then he heard her speak for the first time since he’d seen her today.
-Jake?- She asked, after putting him onto the desk. She brought her face close to him, being careful not to do it too aggressively. Jake took a moment to catch his breath. He was hurting pretty bad from being handled so roughly, so it took a little longer than he wanted it to, but his sister was waiting patiently for a response. He knew that screaming wouldn’t be effective without a communication device, so he just nodded really hard, immediately regretting his decision, after realising his neck was also sore from the trip. Luckily it did the trick. Olivia looked at him for a moment, having a hard time understanding how exactly her brother wound up at her apartment. Maybe it was an escape attempt? Or did he fall in by accident?
-What are you doing here!?- He wanted to answer her question, but without his device she couldn’t hear him.
-Liv!! The thing’s in the box!!!- He yelled as loud as he could, hoping that his sister would understand.
-What? Jake, I can’t hear you… Where’s your microphone thingy?- The shrunken boy started gesticulating wildly towards the giant box he was just taken out of. His sister seemed to understand. She peered into the freshly open package, but quickly gave up.
-It’s too small. I can’t see it. I’m gonna have to put you back in so you can find it, okay?-
Olivia gently picked her brother up with her fingers, not wasting time waiting for a response that she wouldn’t be able to make out anyway. She gingerly deposited her brother inside the opened package, and watched anxiously as he stumbled around in it for a while. Did she squeeze him too hard? She started to reach her hand out, but quickly put it away when he got his composure back and started looking for his device.
Jake wasn’t a big fan of being stared at, especially by someone so much bigger than him, but despite feeling a little uneasy about that he continued looking for that little box his father dropped in here seemingly so long ago. He couldn’t voice his protest to his sister until he found it. Besides, the boy knew that she was just concerned about him.
After a few minutes of silence, he managed to find what they were looking for wedged between the box’s wall and a folded t-shirt. Jake took the device out, and signaled to his sister by giving a thumbs up with one hand, though she probably couldn’t see it. What she did see though was him stopping and putting his arm up while facing her, so he knew he got the point across.
The giantess before Jake finally took her eyes off of him to reach for her phone. There was a special app made after the shrinking wave happened, that connected the tiny microphones and played the sound back at a normal volume, so that the affected and their regular peers could communicate. After connecting the two devices, the siblings were finally able to talk. Olivia, properly asking for her brother’s permission this time, took him out of the box once again. Then, she repeated her question from before.
-So… What are you doing here? I’m glad to see you, but I just wish mom and dad would let me know you were coming in advance... I mean, I almost ate you there for a moment… Uh, sorry about that, by the way.- She looked at her brother to make sure he was satisfied with her apology. She didn’t want him to feel patronised. But she also didn’t want him to think that she didn’t care about what she almost did. Fortunately, he just shrugged it off, and proceeded to answer her question.
-It’s fine. To be honest, I don’t really know, they didn’t tell me anything either. They just put me in the box, and send me off, without saying a word. Not even “goodbye”.-
The boy’s sister was very taken aback by that answer. She couldn’t believe the way their parents handled… Whatever this was. How could they not tell him where he was going? He must have been so scared, and confused... She decided she’d call them later and give them a piece of her mind. Then she realised another thing.
-How… How long were you in there?- She looked at Jake with a concerned expression. The boy shrugged.
-Not that long. Maybe an hour or two? I think they paid extra for an express delivery.- Olivia raised her eyebrows.
-Wow, how selfless of them.- she said. Jake nodded.
-Right. I think they were more worried about the gummy bears melting, to be honest.- He meant to say that as a joke, but Olivia did not seem to find it funny. He also did not laugh, realising there was probably more truth to that then he’d like.
Silence fell upon the two reunited siblings, as both of them processed what happened. Jake, finally in the company of someone who cared about his well-being, was thinking about all those times he’d been neglected since his shrinking, and only now, after his sister showed outrage after learning what their parents did, did he realise how bad it was. Olivia was thinking about the same thing, more specifically how she did notice it. The signs were all there. She wasn’t home with him alot, since he shrunk after she’d moved out, but when she visited it always seemed off. She had no idea it was this bad. If only she’d known, she would have taken him earlier. Glancing at the box her brother was trapped in, she realised it did not have any air holes.
-How terrible were they?- Jake had to think for a moment.
-Well, they didn’t torture me or anything. There was a lot of ignoring and forgetting to give me food and stuff, but it wasn’t the worst.- Only after saying it out loud did he realise that it did in fact sound terrible. Olivia seemed to agree.
-It sounds very bad. Did they at least talk to you?- Jake paused. He actually couldn’t remember the last time he and his parents had an actual conversation. They talked to him in the beginning, but as time passed it got more sporadic, and then they’d only take out his communication device for when Liv would visit. But he didn’t really want her to know that. She’d feel really bad, and she already seemed pretty angry. He would never admit it, but it was really scary to be around an angry giant, even if he knew she would never hurt him.
-...sometimes.- as soon as the word left Jake’s mouth he realised it sounded like a really bad lie. His sister looked at him expectantly, with a raised eyebrow.
-...Sometimes?- He didn’t look her in the eye. -Jake… Be honest. How bad was it?- Jake felt like he was going to cry. He didn’t really want Liv to worry, but he was happy he could finally talk to someone.
-It was pretty bad.- Olivia’s features softened, and all the previously visible anger left her voice.
-Well why didn’t you tell me?- her voice sounded a little angry, but she quickly shook it off. She shouldn’t make Jake think he should be scared of her. The anger was not directed at him, but that’s probably what he thinks. Her features softened as she took a deep breath. -I would have taken you from them, you know.-
-I know, I just... - Jake looked away from his giant sister’s face. He didn’t want to tell her that he was scared to be a bother. He was scared that if she did take him in, she’d just eventually stop caring, just like their parents had. He was terrified of the thought of losing the seemingly only person left on Earth who cared about him. But Jake couldn’t tell her that part. She was his sister and he loved her like one, so he didn’t want her to feel like she’s doing something wrong. -...didn’t want you to worry too much.-
Olivia was visibly taken aback by that answer. He didn’t want her to worry? She was already worried about him non-stop, and he decides to suppress the biggest threat to his well being, and one that she’d offered a solution for at that? This was ridiculous. He was ridiculous. Ridiculously dumb. Olivia sighed. He was also probably scared. No, he was definitely scared. Jake was tiny, after all. Shrunken people are always scared of something. But what exactly was he scared of? Was he scared of her? That would explain why he didn’t want to tell her anything. But they’d talked about his condition several times before, and while he was uneasy at first, he got comfortable overtime. Besides, looking at him now, Olivia couldn’t see obvious signs of discomfort. He seemed quite relieved, actually.
A moment passed, and she realised she had been silent, staring straight at Jake with an expression that made him uneasy. She shook her head, brought her hand next to him, and flicked his side.
-Ouch! What was that for!?-
-For being dumb.-
-You know Liv, for someone who’s 22 years old, you sure are very articulated- Ow!!- He couldn’t finish, because he got flicked again, in his front this time. It didn’t really hurt that much, he just didn’t see it coming.
-What was that?- She asked, smirking.
-Nothing… You’re… Very mature.- he said, rolling his eyes way too hard, so that Olivia would notice. She did, and smirked again. She leaned back in her chair and looked at her computer. The work she was doing wasn’t due until next week, so she didn’t really have to worry about it. Which was good, since she was getting very tired. She glanced at the time. Was it really that late already?
-It’s been a long day.- She says, looking at Jake again. -I think we could both use some sleep.- The boy nodded.
-Yeah, I’m pretty tired too.-
-I’d think so.- His sister looked around. -I’ll be right back, I have to get ready for bed. I’ll get you some water, too. And then we’ll figure out a bed for you.- Jake gave a thumbs up as his sister got up and walked off. She got back after a moment. She was now wearing her pyjamas, and holding a bottle cap filled with water in one hand, and a glove and a cotton pad in the other.
-You can drink from this- She said, putting the water down. -and this should at least keep you warm.- She placed the glove and the pad, the former fulfilling the role of a sleeping bag, and the latter being used as a pillow. Jake laid down in the “bed”, his sister looking at him curiously.
-Is it alright?-
-It is. Thanks, Liv.-
-We’ll figure something better out tomorrow, I promise.- She yawned. -Do you need anything else?- Jake thought for a moment.
-No, it’s alright.-
-Okay.- Olivia got up and turned around, but she did not walk away. She stood there for a moment, before turning around again. -Just… wake me up if you need anything.-
-I will.- He probably wouldn’t. His sister thought about everything one could get up in the night for, and if he needed comfort, he’d probably be too embarrassed to ask. And even if he wasn’t, he doubted he’d managed to actually wake her. But it was a nice gesture, far nicer than anything their parents would ever bless him with. -Thanks, Liv.-
-Good night, Jake.- She said, turning off the communication app in her phone and picking it up.
-Night.- he said, even though she couldn’t hear him.
He was looking at the ceiling as his big sister, now guardian, got into bed and turned the light off. He wasn’t sure what would await him tomorrow, but at least he was certain that things would be better.