Emily's heart was pounding with fear. Facing her, as if ready to judge her, were Shana and Suki.

Suki was shorter than Emily's height of 5’2”, being only 5’, but the angry look that came from under her glasses plus her crossed-arms posture, coupled with the fact that she was wearing a formal pair of pants with a semi-formal shirt, gave her the appearance of a stern teacher.

Shana, on the other hand, was another story entirely.

Though she didn't look angry, just plain bored as she casually stood there with one hand on her hip, her six-foot height, and the fact that she was wearing only a sports bra and running shorts, all of which showed off her muscular physique, made her look extremely intimidating.

Emily swallowed hard and felt her body begin to shake under their gazes.

This standoff continued silently for almost a minute before Suki lost her temper and said "So? How long are you going to make us wait to see what you're holding back there?"

"I don't have to show you anything..." Emily murmured, but Suki heard it and clearly wasn't happy about it.

"How dare you! Hurry up or-" Suki started to rant, but Shana's hand on her head silenced her abruptly.

Both Suki and Emily looked over at Shana, and saw a frown on her face.

"I'm starting to get annoyed…" she began, looking down her nose at Emily "So stop wasting my time. Show me. Now."

Emily kept opening and closing her mouth without saying anything, searching for something to say to defuse this situation before it got even worse, but finding nothing. Her mind was totally overwhelmed by the anxiety she was feeling at the moment.

Seeing Emily in distress, Maya, who felt guilty since she'd been the one to draw attention to Emily in the first place, tried to interpose herself between the parties "It was just a... ring! Nothing else! I only asked because I was curious!"

Shana's gaze moved to Maya, who flinched instinctively "Oh? Is it just that then? Are you sure about that, Maya? You aren't lying to me, are you?"

"I'm not lying..." Maya said, but she didn't have the courage to look her older sister in the eyes " I was just curious and asked a question… that's all."

Before anyone could react, Shauna grabbed Maya by her hair and lifted her off the floor, making her scream in pain.

Bringing her face to face, which was a full foot off the floor due to their height difference, Shana told her, angrily "How many times do I have to remind you not to lie to me, you little brat?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I won't lie anymore! Please, don't hurt me!" Maya cried out in pain as Emily watched in shock at the scene.

Shana continued to stare into her eyes for a few more seconds before dropping her to the floor like a sack of potatoes with a huff "Get out of my way before I get really mad, you little squirt."

Being paralyzed with fear, once her feet hit the ground her legs collapsed, causing her to fall on the floor.

Shana rolled her eyes and snorted in disappointment, while Suki started laughing at her, causing Maya to crawl across the floor in shame until she got behind Emily and hugged her leg, seeking protection.

Emily really wanted to hug and comfort her like she did every time Shana and/or Suki tormented her, but unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury of being able to think about others at the moment, now that their attention had returned to her.

“This farce has been going on for too long. Show me what you have in hand of your own choosing before I decide to do it myself.” Shana snapped, her patience running out.

Emily wanted to run away and lock herself in the safety of her room, but she knew from experience that, the moment she moved, Shana would pin her down.

Shana was taller, stronger, and faster than she was, and she also had no qualms about getting physical.

And while that was already bad enough under normal circumstances, now that she had Jane in her hand she couldn't risk it, or she could get hurt… or worse.

Shaking her head from the horrible thought of Jane becoming nothing but a red splatter on her sundress after being crushed by her and Shana's bodies falling on top of her, Emily looked back to Shana and Suki, who seemed ready to take matters into their own hands at any moment.

With no other options, Emily closed her eyes and sighed heavily, before reopening them and bringing her hand forward to show what was on it.

Immediately all of their gazes focused on her hand, where Jane was shaking in panic, still hugging Emily's middle finger for support.

"This is Jane… I found her in the park, while she was being chased by a cat, so I decided to help her. After that, I didn't want to leave her alone, so I decided to bring her here..." Emily said as a quick summary of what had happened, before looking at their faces to gauge their reactions.

Maya had come out from behind her legs, and was looking at Jane with a mixture of wonder and pity, her hand reaching up slightly as if to caress her but when Jane shivered again, she dropped it immediately.

Suki was trying hard to hide her curiosity, pretending not to be interested, but her eyes didn't leave Jane's form for more than a second.

Shana on the other hand... she looked disappointed, as if she expected something better.

“That's it? All this fuss just for a tiny?” Shana finally said after a few seconds of prolonged silence.

“You are the one who started all this…” Emily responded, feeling bitter about her casual disregard for Jane “And at any rate, as I said before, her name is Jane, and she's a Little Folk, not a tiny!”

“Tomayto, tomahto.” Shana replied, shrugging with a smirk "Don't try to be a know-it-all about petty things, you just look dumber, Barbie."

Emily pursed her lips, irritated “There's no reason to be mean. I was just telling you what name they prefer to be called.”

“Why should I care what these things want to be called?” Shana asked, frowning.

Maya was tugging at Emily's dress, whispering for her to just let it go, but Emily was too shocked to notice "Excuse me? What do you mean by things? They are people, like us! You know that?"

Shana let out a chuckle "Please, these things aren't people. Thousands are trampled or killed every day and nobody cares.”

Emily looked down in sadness “They are people. This only happens because many people don't pay attention to where they walk! If only they'll watch where they walk this-”

“Actual people don't have time to waste on being careful not to squash critters. If they care so much about survival, why don't they just hole up in their burrows?” Shana interrupted, shaking her head.

“Because they are people, not animals! And like all people, they have needs that nature can't satisfy!” Emily retorted, feeling annoyed.

Shauna rubbed her forehead and sighed, feeling tired of arguing about something she thought was even more boring than talking about the weather “So riddle me this, Barbie. If they are people, then why hasn't anyone ever been jailed or even just tried for killing them?”

Emily opened her mouth to answer, but then closed it again.

Unfortunately, Shana was right.

Some Little Folk’s rights advocates had tried to get them treated like normal sized people, but nothing concrete ever happened.

Although, technically, they were regarded as human beings, the laws concerning them had countless loopholes.

The most popular was that they were too small to see or notice, allowing pretty much anyone to do whatever they wanted with them and get away with it.

Emily felt discouraged, and Shana noticed this immediately, and leapt to the attack “Aww, poor Barbie finally figured something out? Oh my, this is a time to celebrate!”

“Cut it out... this isn't fair. Jane and the other Little Folks are people just like us…” Emily murmured, feeling dejected.

“Aaand... in the end you're back to square one...” Shana said with disappointment “Oh well, at least this Jane thing will be sorted out soon.”

Emily gave her a confused look “What do you mean by-" but she stopped when she noticed that Jane was no longer gripping her middle finger, and looking down at her hand, she saw that it was empty.

Emily immediately looked down to see if Jane had fallen, but there was nothing on the floor.

Looking up, she was just in time to see Suki walking past Shana, holding Jane in her closed hand, with just her legs sticking out.

"Hey! What are you doing! Let her go!" Emily yelled angrily, trying to get to Suki, but Shana grabbed her arm "Where do you think you're going?"

Emily tried to free herself, but Shana's grip was too strong for her to break.

Realizing there was no point in continuing, she looked at Suki, who was grinning at her, and said “Why did you take her, Suki? Release her!”

“I don't think so!” she answered with a soft giggle “Especially now that I finally have a tiny at my fingertips... or rather, right in my hand! This is an opportunity I can't waste!”

“They are called Little Folk, not tiny.” Emily automatically said before tilting her head in confusion “And what do you mean? An opportunity for what?”

“Oh that's very simple.” Suki replied, opening her hand and revealing a frightened Jane in it “I've wanted to eat a tiny... for a long time.”

Emily blanched, her blood frozen in horror “…what? You're only kidding... right?”

In response, Suki stuck out her tongue and gave Jane, who was screaming in panic, a long, deep lick, coating her little body with saliva “Nope!”