Jessica thought about her life, there wasn’t much to tell as she thought about everything that had happened. Would she even need to tell him everything? He had been honest with her and Jessica felt that deserved the truth from her, it was only fair.

  “ I wasn’t always this big. I was normal sized but my childhood was pretty miserable.”

Jessica was nervous, often tugging at a strand of hair as she said this, something Jack picked up on. Why would she be nervous?

“ My mother and father loved me very much and I reciprocated their love but I was sick. I had leukaemia and it was a very aggressive form of it, kept me bedridden from the ages of three to six. I might have had it earlier but I can’t remember. Dad worked long hours at Leighton, this company that had some deals with the U.S. military. I asked Dad what was it that kept him away for so long but he said it was top secret.”

 She shrugged her shoulders at Jack as he looked up at her expecting an answer. Jack was shocked at how little she knew.

 “ Isn’t it obvious? You’re a super weapon. You’ve never thought of that even once?” Jack said but Jessica didn’t acknowledge. She stared at him for a few seconds, her brows furrowed as she thought about it before dismissing it with a shake of her head.

  “Oh, like in the seven years I’ve had all by my lonesome, I’ve never, not once thought I might be a weapon? Wow, Jack where have you been all my life away from all the soldiers and military guys?” Her words oozed sarcasm.

‘They never mentioned to me anything about fighting wars, you’d think General Soros or whoever is in charge would have brought it up when I first got in here.”

   This didn’t deter Jack, he was convinced he was right, the facts were there, Jessica just needed to see it.

 “ Maybe you’re a last resort. When the chips are down and they need the cavalry, you’ll ride in and save the day.”

 “ Maybe but let me finish my story first. I’ve barely begun. Okie?” Jessica gave Jack the okay sign, he responded with a thumbs up.

 “ When I was six, Dad gave me a little injection. He said I had to keep quiet about it and not tell anyone or we’d all get in trouble. I asked him what it was and he told me it was something to make you better.”

 “ Did it work?” Jack asked further.

 “ No Jack, I died a week later,” Jessica threw as much as sarcasm as she could into it. Jack facepalmed himself for asking such an obvious question.

 “ I did get better. Really fast too, think of me being too weak to get out of bed one day to being able to run the length of a football field in a week. Whatever was inside, I don’t know, it cured me and gave me a normal life.

‘At least until 2004, just after my twelfth birthday in June when I started having huge growth spurts. I was five foot four inches just before the summer break, very tall for a girl my age but it wasn’t unexpected. I still went to school in fall but when I hit seven feet, things got crazy. I thought it was kind of cool, being able to look an NBA player in the eye but my folks didn’t feel the same way.

‘Mom wanted to take me to a doctor, get me checked but Dad said we couldn’t even though he wanted to. Their little disagreement led to a  crazy fight. I sat in my room, huddled up and frightened as I didn’t know what was happening. Its hard to imagine a seven foot girl just curled up and crying to herself but it happened that way. ” A fact she noted with great dejection.

Jack did find it hard to imagine her crying, shouldn’t her size make her impervious to that sort of thing?

  “ I-I didn’t know you were THAT upset.”

 Jessica smirked at him, was he that dumb?

“ Of course I was,” she scoffed while turning her head away.

“ I might be the biggest thing you’ll ever see but I have feelings too. I didn’t stop there, as you can see. When I hit eight feet the military or more specifically, the Army came in to take me away after….an accident at school. I didn’t mean for it to happen but what’s done is done.” Jessica sighed as she played the incident in her head, she hadn’t meant to hurt Jamie, a sense of regret permeating her thoughts.

“Mom made a scene, screaming the place down. Dad had to let them take me, I thought it was strange but when I saw the sign for Leighton on the building, I knew why.”  She looked away briefly, seemingly saddened by having to recall the past.

 “ What is it that Leighton does? You’ve been here long enough to have some idea of what they do.” Jack licked his lips, they were growing dry from all the talking.

 “ I wish I knew. On hindsight I should have asked Dad more but it never worked, he kept it a secret.” She brushed it off fairly easily although Jack could detect a smidgen of sorrow in her eyes as Jessica looked away.

 “ You should be more assertive!” He slammed his fist on to her table and it would have been impressive if not for the difference in size between Jessica and him.

 “ Just pick up your Dad and shake him about, force it out of him.”

This seemed to get a reaction out of Jessica but not the one Jack was expecting. Jessica was abhorred by his idea, “ Jack…..” She remained composed in her reply.

 “ I’m half Chinese but I still consider myself more Chinese than Spanish and I have to say that the Chinese culture places a LOT of emphasis on respecting your elders. Doing what you suggested would be offensive on so many levels.”

“ You? Respectful? With that mouth of yours?” Jack didn’t believe that Jessica was such a filial girl, bowing to her parents and being such a well mannered daughter.

“ Oh yes Jack, I’m very respectful of my elders. When the guys from Leighton come around you can ask them. They might say I can be a pain in the ass but other than that, I’ve never hurt them in anyway. Not that they’ve ever given me a reason to.”

She folded her arms across her chest and leaned in.

“ Like right now, you’ve never given me a reason to hurt you so I won’t . Back to the story now, I was tested, height and weight, blood was taken which sucked because of my fear of needles, lots of cardio which was alright, my body wasn’t close to tired when they were done. Then they kept me overnight for observation. Then it become a few days , then a few weeks and finally indefinitely when I hit twenty feet.”

 Jessica scratched an itch on her arm, pausing and allowing Jack to take it in.

“ Why not just walk out? Just leave. Make your own life.”

“ I wanted to. When I crossed fifty feet on Christmas Day 2004, I wanted to break out. Then we had Christmas lunch with the CEO, Dad and his colleagues along with one Colonel Soros, the army man who was supposed to be in charge of all this. Colonel Soros talked to me, convinced me that I had to stay.

‘ He said people wouldn’t accept me because of my size, the average citizen would see only a monster; I needed to be shielded from them. He told me it wasn’t my fault, said I shouldn’t have to face them.I remember what happened to me in school and I felt he was right, I dropped all plans to escape after that.” Jack felt as if he were seeing a new Jessica, not the witty girl with a quip for everything but  a quieter, sadder and more restrained one.

 “ Then they moved me here after I crossed the hundred foot mark, too big for the mainland but small enough for my own island. I’ve never left it since, never had a reason to. My old life was gone.”

 Jack was a little disappointed, he had hoped for something more exciting but Jessica had left out a lot of things. He didn’t want to press her on it, he needed her to be in good spirits for his escape plan to work.

 “ As I was saying before, I think Leighton wants to use you as a weapon, a super soldier. I don’t know how they did it but you are.”

 “ I won’t do it no matter what they say or do to me,” Jessica deadpanned to Jack, “ and I think they missed the boat on that one. I’ve never had an ounce of combat training in my life. I’d be a pretty shitty soldier in a war.”

 “If they asked you to fight and you don’t, where will you go?” Jack asked, not because he cared about her but he was more curious about her plans; it wasn’t as if she lived in a world designed for someone like her.

 “ I don’t know,” she replied nonchalantly, “ I could swim to South America and hide in the Amazon, maybe live amongst those tribes still untouched by modern civilization. They might welcome me but if they don’t, I can always live on my own, hunting caimans, anacondas and jaguars to feed myself. Maybe swallow a school of fish if I’m in the mood for seafood.”

 “ So that’s how you spent your days here? Coming up with escape plans?”

Jessica chuckled heartily, “ Oh no no no Jack, I read books on my tablet, a nice gift I got in 2011 from Leighton. Dad said it would keep my mind occupied but when I’m not reading, I’m exercising. Running, swimming, pushups, crunches, anything to keep me fit. Take a look.”

 Jessica pulled on the bottom of her top and as it peeled upwards off of her skin, revealing her stomach, undulating with each breath she took. Jack felt uncomfortable, he had a girlfriend and he was now staring at a tanned wall of flesh that was sculpted. Toned abdominals that proved everything Jessica before hand worked.

 Jack looked up and then averted his eyes. The bottoms of her boobs were visible, two soft orbs bigger than houses. Jessica had not realised the full extent of what she was doing and lowered her shirt as he looked away, her breasts jiggled as she did so.

 “ Oh come on, I’m not that ugly am I? You can turn around now,I’m all covered up.,”

 She patted her stomach, producing a loud smack with each pat of her hand.

 Jack turned back, “ I have a girlfriend. I shouldn’t be looking at your stomach,” He wouldn’t admit it but she had more beautiful abs than Caitlin did and she was no ugly duckling. Then there was fear, that stomach could hold an entire ship and its crew easily. He could imagining her swallowing a thousand people with space for dessert.

 “ Well if you say so, now how about that bath?”

 Jack had forgotten about that, he would need to take a bath. He did smell but he was prepared to live with it, Jessica disagreed.

 “ I guess we better get to it then. Where’s your normal shower?” He didn’t like the smile on her face, there was a catch and he could feel it creeping up on him.

 “ Normal shower? There’s one my size but no, there is no shower for you. You can use my sink. I have clothes for you, it might be a bit big.” Jessica got up and after walking a short distance to a drawer, pulled out a man sized doll and set it down next to Jack.

 Jack examined the doll or it looked like until now. Jessica was holding a crash test dummy, the flesh coloured ones with no facial features, just a large doll with movable appendages with clothes on, a simple pair of white trousers and a thin grey shirt.

 “ It looks a little big but why do you even have dolls? Aren’t you a little old for them?” Jack asked, a wry smile on him.

 “Oh no, I don’t play with them. They were for training, I had to learn how to pick up people as I grew. If not for that, you’d be squished between my fingers, you’ll wear its clothes after you’re done.” She plucked Jack off her table and upon making sure he was comfortable, made her way to the bathroom, Jack in one hand and the dummy in the other.