Chapter 5 – Trapped

Back to 3rd person POV

‘Huff, huff, huff’, panted the tiny man as he made it to the 3rd of 4 levels he would need to scale. He would need to take a momentary break before trying the last leg. Luckily, he had found a post-it pad on the level, and, after tearing off a piece and folding it, making it look akin to a boomerang, he felt he could use it to sort of zip-line from the 3rd level to the ground. He resolved to let Adam know about that once he got up to the top.

As Goodspeed sat on top of a deck of cards, he noticed a shadow creeping into the foyer. It was Kaitlin! She had only feigned to take a shower, waited some minutes and then sought to creep into the living room and catch him unawares. Goodspeed quickly, but deftly crouched down behind the deck and observed the creeping girl.

He was surprised to see how quietly she moved. It was nothing like the thunderous footsteps which alerted him to her presence earlier. However, as sneaky as the girl was, he could hear little creaks from her feet cracking. It made a smile come to his face, even in this ominous situation. He congratulated himself for both making it to the foyer and for having the presence of mind to pace himself on the way up the tower.

He waited for her to creep into the room before renewing his climb up the cord, figuring the girl would spend several more minutes looking for him in the living room. He left his folded paper zip-line tool behind on the 3rd level as he had no place to put it, being naked.

As he pulled himself over the edge of the top level, Goodspeed rolled a few times to get some distance from the cliff before standing bent low. He briefly considered trying to use the phone to call for help.

Thinking better of it, as the noise might alert her to his presence, he ran past the phone and towards the weighted jar. He looked back to make sure Kaitlin had not returned before tapping lightly on the glass.

The tiny boy inside the glass didn’t respond at first. He sat hunched over his legs, which were bent and he looked teary-eyed and in despair. The second time Goodspeed rapped the jar, he looked over to see what was making the noise. When he realized it was another tiny person, his eyes went wide and he leapt to his feet and ran towards the curved wall of his prison.

“Who are you?”, said the shrinky to Goodspeed, though his voice was muffled by the glass container.

“I’m Goodspeed. Remember, we met on the train earlier today…and I just talked to you a bit ago.”

The tiny’s eyes bulged in recognizance. “Fuck. It is you. What happened?”

“No time for details. I shrunk, just like you. Anyway, let’s see if I can get you out of there.”

“Fuck yeah, man! But how you gonna do that?”, said the twin, scratching his head.

“I’ll show you”, said Goodspeed, then retreated a bit to Kaitlin’s phone. He sat on the cord near it and began pulling heavily, such that the slack from the bottom made it’s way up to him. After several seconds, he got to his feet and pulled the slack with him towards to the container. With a show of strength, he flipped the slack over the top of the container. The slack came into the container at about the shoulder level of the shrinky inside.

“Go ahead and grab the cord”, Goodspeed instructed, “and pull yourself out.”

The shrinky inside hesitated, as if thinking of something. As he did, Goodspeed looked around and behind himself to make sure Kaitlin had not snuck back into the foyer.

“Come on, dude, we haven’t got much time”, he implored the hesitant boy to act.

The boy gingerly reached up to the cord, but then winced, as if in sudden pain. “I..I can’t”, he said, “she hurt my shoulders bad. It hurts so much if I lift my arms over my head. I think they’re out of socket. C..Can you come in and maybe push me up?”

Goodspeed gritted his teeth. He hadn’t expected this to be so problematic. He took another look around, missing the smile on the other tiny’s face.

“Alright, hold on”, he said, lifting a corner of the phone, then moving the part of the cord he had been holding underneath it, then setting it back down on top of it to anchor it. Even though the phone was thin and light at his normal size, it was a lot heavier than he had anticipated and the strain of moving it had made his temples sweat.

Having secured the anchor, he again tested it before scaling the slack up to and over the glass container.

As Goodspeed leaned over the edge, the tiny below urged him on, “Hurry, hurry, before she comes back. Jump down.”

Goodspeed moved a bit down the cord into the container, then talked firmly to the tiny, “Alright, I know it’s going to hurt a little, but keep hold of the cord while I jump. Is that clear?”

“Yes, yes, just hurry”, said the tiny, holding the cord, but with a grimace of pain.

Goodspeed jumped, which for him was the equivalent of a ten foot drop – he would have to jump and roll to keep from injuring himself, but, athletically inclined as he was, he felt confident in his abilities.

As he jumped, he noticed the grimace on the tiny’s face turn into a mischievous scowl and there was movement as he landed and rolled. Quickly gaining his bearings, he looked up to see the tiny scaling the cord up the container. ”What the-?! Adam, hey, wait!”

“Haha, so long sucker. This is what you get for not getting me out of here earlier.” The shrinky reached the top of the container and pulled some of the slack up behind him just as Goodspeed jumped to reach it, just missing.

“Adam, let the cord down!”, Goodspeed half-yelled, trying to make his point but without trying to sound too loud, where Kaitlin might possibly hear something.

The little tiny just chuckled as he made the ground on the other side. He pulled the cord completely out of the glass jar.

“Dude! Adam, c’mon man. I came to help you. You can’t leave me here!”, Goodspeed pleaded.

“Watch me!”, said the shrinky, sounding muffled to Goodspeed through the thick glass. “I know you just came up here to free me so you’d have a better chance of escaping yourself. You don’t fool me.”

“But, Adam, I thought we felt the same way. I mean, us shrinkies got to stick together, right?”

“Oh, ha ha. Yeah. About that - the name’s Alex”, said the shrinky, who began walking away, so as to be barely audible for Goodspeed, “And as far as things go…thanks for finally getting me out, guy. You’re on your own now. Er, try not to get eaten…”, he added as he got to the edge of the stand and began to descend it.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! He had been snookered. The tiny wasn’t the kind Adam - it was his nefarious and cruel twin, Alex. Damn it! No good deed goes unpunished, I guess, he thought to himself, desperately racking his brains for how to get out of this situation.

He thought about punching the glass wall in frustration when he heard it.

Tremors.

Tremors getting closer.

Kaitlin was walking back towards him. She had run out of patience again in her search.

With nothing that could be done, Goodspeed waited the few seconds for the giantess to round the corner. She was looking at the ground, scanning the area for him, he knew.

As Kaitlin rounded the corner, she saw no tiny in sight. After a few seconds, she turned her attention to the glass jar on top of the stand, making sure that at least the shrinky they’d captured earlier was still there. She did a double take. Something about it was different. She leaned closer, peering at the nude little man.

  (Kat)

“Good?”, she said, clearly surprised.

“Um…Hi?”, he meekly waved up at her with a sheepish grin.

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