“Come on, no one is looking.” Emery nudged his girlfriend Lyla in his continued badgering. Lyla in turn rolled her eyes at the fact he hasn’t dropped the subject.
“Are you really going on about escaping still?”
“Absolutely!” Emery declared. “What do we have to lose?”
“What do we have to lose?!” Lyla gasped. “You know what happens to US out there.”
Emery wanted to dismiss her as a worrywart, but the faint voice in his conscience knew her concerns were well justified. The Micro Republic was famous for having the smallest people on the planet, with an adult Micronian averaging around 2-3 inches tall.
Their path to sovereignty was paved through the pain of exploitation and slavery that left many in modern generations wary of traveling to foreign countries. This was in large part from the stigma that many Micronians believed foreigners had towards them, thinking lesser of them because of their size. The other that Lyla was referring was the casualty rates of Micronian tourists. The most common incident? Being stepped on.
“We won’t be careless like the others. Now’s the perfect chance, none of the other tourists are looking and our guide is too busy blowing her nose to pay attention. Besides, there won’t be as many people out now that the sun is setting. All we have to do is slip out and back in between the bars of the railing.” Emery laid out.
Lyla swayed her head in contemplation, the timing was admittedly ideal. There was also truth that many instances of their people being crushed were by accident and featured some degree of self-endangerment on the Micronian’s part.
Those incidents were variants of the same story. A Micronian straying too far from their group, meandered about in a populated area, and the last thing they saw was the shadow of someone’s shoe. Despite the educational efforts it still wasn’t uncommon to hear a story of a Micronian being trampled by a passerby who was dabbling on their phone.
A more well-known incident in recent memory occurred at a gift shop when a tourist attempted to get an employee’s attention by tapping on her ankle from behind. The startled employee shrieked and kicked the tourist halfway across the floor with a reflexive jerk of her leg. It was miraculous he survived albeit at the cost of his spine being damaged beyond repair. The crippled Micronian attempted to sue and lost on the basis that he was too far from his group and went about getting the woman’s attention the worst way possible.
“Look, all I’m saying is that it took a lot of hard work to get all the vaccinations, take the classes, and gather all the papers just to visit the States. All of that just to look at some old buildings, visit gift shops, and be chauffeured in a glorified fish tank attached to a bike!”
Lyla bit her lower lip unable to deny the bitter truth that the trip has been uneventful. Their current recess at the hotel pool to unwind before heading in was as much independence as they’ve had and even that came with the caveat that they weren’t allowed to swim in it. She didn’t expect complete unsupervised freedom, but after the numerous hurdles it took to get here there was much to be desired in their travels.
Emery continued his persuasive efforts noticing Lyla’s reluctance waning. “It’ll be easy. We’ll sneak out, do a little sightseeing on our own for a bit, turn around, and sneak back in before free time is over. No harm done.”
It sounded fine in theory, but Lyla was torn and also aware that a decision must be made while everyone’s attention was still occupied. Remaining together with their group no matter what the circumstance was drilled into them ad nauseum. Maybe Emery was right though, if they were fast and smart about it they would be fine. With a heavy sigh she made her decision. “Let’s do it.”
The couple took a final glimpse of their guide who was now using some nasal spray and the rest of their group mingling with each other to make sure the coast was clear before making their way to the fence undetected. As anticipated their diminutive statures allowed them to maneuver sideways between the bars of the railing barrier, it was a done deal and they were out!
“Holy shit, we’re free! We’re out! We’re out!” Lyla raced onto the sidewalk, reveling in the uninhibited freedom to move on her own accord.
Emery caught up bearing a wide grin. “Your mood sure changed fast. Beats the hell out of being watched and carried around all day, huh?” He gloated.
“Oh please, don’t get me started. Talk about false advertisement.” Lyla huffed, emboldened now that they weren’t with their peers. “I was scared for my health every time that ticking time bomb of mucus was holding us and I saw her nose above us.”
Mandatory for each Micronian tour group was a local guide responsible for taking them from place to place and acting as a chaperone to ensure their general well-being. Compared to the ads with actors who looked the part of trained professionals, what they had in reality was a highly allergenic college student who took the job for some quick cash. Time after time she had to stop cycling whenever she had to sneeze, blow her nose, or take a puff from her inhaler.
Emery took exaggerated intakes of air. “AH-AH-AH-CHOO!”
“Oh my god, that was so gross!” Lyla shook her head at the horrific memory.
“Be happy you weren’t the one she sneezed on.” Emery laughed. After several close calls it was after leaving one of many shops and she was about to place the last person back onto the bike when a sudden sneeze escaped without warning. The others looked up after hearing the noise followed by the repeated apologies and pleas of their mortified guide to not tell anyone. The mishap caused a 30-minute delay in schedule while she took the group to the nearest public restroom to help clean off the poor victim.
“She probably sneezed half that lady’s life away.” Lyla groaned, morbidly wondering how many millions of germs she was assaulted by.
“Oh boy, check this out.” Lyla stopped and gestured above to a street sign featuring the black silhouette of a woman walking. Below was the much smaller silhouette of a man under the woman’s ascended foot. “Watch Where You Step”, was printed at the bottom. “You’d think they could make a sign that didn’t imply us getting crushed.”
“I heard the commercial version was even worse and got removed after a ton of online backlash.” Emery added as they continued to pace forward.
“Hey look over there it’s a McDonalds.” Emery pointed. Neither were too privy on American history and didn’t care for the historical sites they were taken and instead found it more engaging to recognize the similarities their countries shared. While they weren’t going to risk going inside any of them it was still interesting to compare them.
“I can’t get over how big everything is here.” Lyla said. In a broad sense there wasn’t a drastic difference between what home and the states offered, but what hadn’t ceased amazing her was the sheer scale of it all. Everything down to the dingiest trashcan became an incredible spectacle and that didn’t even begin to describe the people themselves.
While both were average height for a Micronian man and woman, that was meaningless in this foreign land of giants. Everything they’ve seen online or on television were nothing compared to the real experience. The first encounter the group had with a foreigner was their guide shortly after boarding off the plane. None of them paid attention to the long-winded introduction and ground rules that she sniffled her way through reading from a piece of paper. Instead, all focus was on sizing up the physical specimen.
“So uh, does anyone have any questions?” She asked at the end.
“H-how tall are you?” One of their groupmates asked.
“I’m pretty short… about 5’2 I think?” Her answer yielded some dumbfounded looks and gasps.
Lyla had no idea (nor did anyone else) what 5’2 converted to, what did resonate was their guide saying she was short! It was one thing to be small, but in that moment for the first time she actually felt small while standing in this girl’s larger than life aura. And to think she was only a meek college student!
“I heard about this one place called Texas I think, they said everything is bigger there.” Emery mentioned.
“Say what? “Lyla questioned. “Do you really think that’s true?
Emery shrugged. “Beats me, could you imagine the size of the food though!”
“I could barely wrap my mind around that slice of pizza that guy walked by with during lunch. It was as big as a car!” Lyla recalled.
“We should’ve taken a souvenir photo of it.”
“No thanks. I think I had enough photography for one day.” To some credit their guide did warn them that they may encounter several locals who have never seen a Micronian before and may be approached for pictures. Usually, it was young women that asked to hold them for a selfie. It was harmless enough but being called adorable and marveled at while hearing similar comments of how tiny they were became grew tiring once the novelty was gone and led to her declining photos thereon. The same couldn’t be said for her boyfriend who jumped at every opportunity.
“You snooze you lose. I’m going to wake up tomorrow with a million new followers.”
“You wish- …”
The couple froze in silence upon seeing a woman from several yards away heading in their direction with rapid momentum. They watched her form grow larger as she drew closer, showing no signs of slowing, and most concerning no signs that she registered the tourists on the ground.
“We have to move!”
Grabbing hands, they darted to the far end of the sidewalk into the grass. Time slowed to a halt as the jogger passed, producing thunderous rumbles as her feet struck the concrete. The couple stood mouths agape, envisioning themselves still standing in the path of destruction of the jogger where their remains in the aftermath would’ve been left either mangled on the pavement or smeared underneath her running shoes. In real time the woman just whisked by them still unaware that she was inches away from making a statistic out of two Micronians during her evening jog.
With trepid breaths Emery and Lyla watched until the runner was beyond their line of sight before feeling comfortable enough to step back onto the sidewalk.
“O-o-okay… that’s my near-death experience off my bucket list…”
Lyla minced no words about the close call and ignored the forced quip. “Enough messing around, we need to go back. Now.”
“F-fine, fine. Let’s go.” Emery’s chattering teeth betrayed his calm façade.
Neither were in a jovial mood as they backtracked towards the hotel and remained on high alert incase evasive action was necessary again. It was a near fatal lesson on how quickly disaster could happen.
“Do you think it was an accident?” Lyla asked after a few minutes of walking in silence.
"Don't talk like that...she just didn't see us." Emery said to both encourage her and convince himself. Apathetic people did exist who believed they weren’t obligated to tip toe around making sure there wasn't any Micronians in the area. On the contrary some thought if they decide to come to a country where everyone was so much bigger, they should take it upon themselves to not get squashed.
Controversial standpoint aside, intentional acts of violence towards Micronians unless blatant were hard to distinguish given how easy it was for ‘accidents’ to happen.
About halfway to the hotel tensions rose again, viewing the form of another woman heading opposite towards them. To minor relief, she was approaching at walking speed and her lace up sandals, denim shorts, purse, and mid-riff were good indicators that they wouldn’t have to worry about her sprinting towards them. Playing it safe the couple opted to stand near the side and let the woman to pass them before continuing.
They waited with bated breath and rigid posture, trying to disassociate each quake generated from her drawing closer from them being crushed. Their hearts pounded with the force of a battering ram when she locked eyes on the two. They tried remaining optimistic believing she was only noticing the uncommon sight and would be on her merry way. She reached where they stood and the couple were ready for the ultimate sigh of relief when she passed by. They wouldn’t be so lucky, the woman stopped and turned square to face them.
The two scaled up the pillars of the woman’s bronze legs until they reached her face framed by her dark brown hair. Unlike every other local they’ve encountered who has expressed some level of bewilderment or interest; her intent was not as easy to read.
“You two must be Micronians right?”
The duo exchanged a glance seeking an answer within the other. Respond? Ignore her? Run for it?
Emery bit the bullet. “Yeah, we are.”
“So, you’re tourists?” She inquired further.
Again, every other local was straightforward and cut to the chase asking for pictures, general questions about themselves, or country. These roundabout questions were putting them further on edge.
“…Yeah.” Emery tightened his grasp on Lyla’s palm.
The woman’s eyes drifted left and right of her periphery before setting sights back down at them. “Are you two alone?”
Something was wrong, the questions were too pointed and this time they remained silent, unwilling to divulge further information of their circumstance.
Sensing the apprehension in the air the gigantic woman spoke again. “Oye, oye. Don’t be nervous, I’m just saying, don’t you guys usually travel in groups?”
“We’re heading to them right now.” Lyla answered this time.
“So, you ARE alone.” The woman perked up.
They didn’t listen to another word and broke into a sprint. Despite their best efforts, their miniscule statures only equated to one or two paces of the woman's. With one stride a monolithic sandal clad foot navigated over their bodies and obstructed their paths. I should look after you guys.” The woman unzipped the bag hanging across her shoulder.
The couple stood up to attempt running again, but the woman with the advantage of size plus a head start was all too prepared to stoop over and intercept them.
By the time they saw her hand in their path, it was already too late for them to change path and were snatched in her grasp.
“Let us go! Stop! You can’t do this! Let us go!” They flailed and screamed. All being ignored by the unphased woman who smiled and lowered them into her bag.
“You’re coming with me pequeños.”