Much to Jack’s delight, the next game was not as one sided as the last one, even helping himself to a rather monumental triumph despite owning less properties than Jessica. Jessica herself was surprised by the stark reversal of fortunes, Jack defeating her via death by a thousand cuts through the powers of the light blue properties and the four railways, he was able to whittle away Jessica’s coffers whilst some very favourable rolls of the dice kept him  high and dry from Jessica’s hotels that dotted the virtual landscape.

 Jessica was magnanimous in defeat although the same could not be said for Jack; he was far less graceful in victory, literally dancing with joy and trying his best to rub salt into the wound, a textbook case of being a sore winner . Naturally, he dared her to go for best two out of three and Jessica obliged him with a third round, if only to shut him up when he called her a wuss for trying to go to bed and then insisting he was the best Monopoly player on the island.

  This time, both of them were evenly matched, neither able to defeat the other for a good portion of the game until Jack found himself in prison for rolling too many doubles. He cursed his terrible fortune as Jessica snapped up several key properties, Park Lane being among them. His run of bad luck continued as he picked up a very expensive hotel maintenance bill through the community chest and then a trip to Park Lane that resulted in him mortgaging most of his properties. Exhausted and  without enough assets to lead a stirring comeback, he waved the white flag.

 “ Don’t be such a sulk Jack, you did beat me, something no one apart from my dear father has ever done,” Jessica said in he most abating voice as she shut down her tablet.

 “ Although you still need to say it: Who’s the best Monopoly player in the land?” Her tone switching from consoling to teasing.

 “ Nope, not saying it,” Jack rebutted her whilst folding his arms, looking like a cross child.

 His surrounding darkened as Jessica leaned in and despite the lack of light, he could make out a pout, “ Awww….come on Jack, be a good boy and tell me,” Her lips were upturned and her eyes widened to form the most sympathetic look she could muster.

 Jack looked up, past the swells of her twin assets into those eyes begging him to give in, wondering how on earth she believed that would break his defences.

“ No,” His answer both short and abrupt before looking straight ahead.

“ Please….” Jessica smacked her thigh playfully, the ripple felt by Jack surprised him, reminding of who and what he was in the presence of. Jessica may not have intended anything else but this served to highlight how miniscule he was although the tablet and Jessica’s equally Brobdingnagian room helped a lot.

 “ Al-alright…”Jack hoped she did not notice his weakness, he was getting close.

 “ You’re the best player in all the land,” Jack conceded in a rather monotonous tone.

 “ Oh? Who is? You got to say the name,” Jessica replied, she would have settled for this but then Jack had to get all up in her face.

“ Really?”

 “ Yes, really.”

“ You, Jessica Chen are the best monopoly player I’ve ever seen,” Jack sarcastically applauded her and even threw in a bow which was enough to satisfy his host.

 “ Okay okay, no need to curtsy, it is just a board game after all, did you do that everytime you lost?”

 “ I don’t remember, I hardly lose,” Jack leapt off Jessica’s thigh, landing on her bed with a little tumble roll.

“ I think you won’t forget this one though, losing to me,” Jessica placed her tablet under the bed before lying on her side, her head propped up with her arm.

 “ Well, looks like its time for bed and you’re on the wrong bed…” Jessica drawled, Jack dumbfounded as he saw no other bed in sight save for the house sized one he stood on.

 “ Where else can I sleep? You’re not shoving me in some drawer with your socks or something are you?”

Jessica sat up and for a moment, actually thought of just leaving him in a drawer but then he’d be in a foul mood in the morning and she’d hate to have him complaining to Leighton about how she treated him.

“ Hold on,” Jessica said to Jack, leaving the room. Jack hoped it was to get a bed his size.

When he saw her again, Jessica carried two pillows under her arms. Without saying a word, she set one on the bedside table he had woken up on earlier in the day and one directly in front of it.

 “ So...where’s my bed?” Jack asked, puzzled at what he had just witnessed.

 Jessica chuckled, surprised he had not gotten the hint.

 “ You’ll sleep on the table , the pillow is there so you don’t sleep on the hard plastic, I once slept on concrete and it isn’t something I would recommend,” she laughed to herself, Jack wondering when that ever happened but he thought it would be impolite to ask.

 “ And the one on the floor? Some sort of trampoline?” Jack was half-joking although the thought of him falling to his death because of one stray roll began to seep into his mind.

 ‘ In case you fall but you’re kind of small and I doubt you’d roll off the table. Still, better safe than sorry,” Jessica explained.

“ I’ll be sure to remember that piece of advice,” Jack looked uneasy as he climbed on Jessica’s hand and she brought him to his “bed”. In her defence, it was soft and far more comfortable than plastic table top he could have been sleeping on.

  Nevertheless, he chose to lie down as far away as he could from the edge, if only to minimize his chances of plummeting to a premature demise.

 “Settled in?” Jessica asked gently, she had moved to the light switch, a switch only she could flick if needed, Jack found it impressive that whoever designed this house bothered to even install one her size.

 “ Yeah,” he answered, his eyes closed as he waited for Jessica to do the same, he’d need to do it sooner or later, strike while the night was young. Not that he could tell, he had no watch and Jessica herself had no clock on the wall although the last time he glanced at the tablet he remembered it was about a quarter to ten although that was during the second round of monopoly.

A short sharp flick extinguished the lights in the room, the only light now coming in from the window, draping Jack in  moonlight as Jessica settled into her bed. It meant he would not be completely blind during the break out, luck was going his way after all!

 “ Jack, you’re not as bad a person I thought you’d be,” Jessica called out to him, more hopeful that he hadn’t slept rather than certain.

 “ What did you expect I would be?” Jack answered.

 “ Some stuck up English prick; which you were but you had the guts not to throw those games we played, I liked that. Not many people would do that and inspite of all the whining and tantrum throwing, this was probably the most fun I’ve ever had since….since…” Jessica stopped to catch herself, taken aback at how emotional it was getting, she dabbed her eye to wipe off a droplet of a tear.

 “ Since I last had a normal life. Jack? You awake?” Jessica waited but she heard nothing so she assumed he had dozed off, surprising when she was louder than a classroom of teenagers but she didn’t want to disturb him. Just as well he was asleep, he wouldn’t have caught her on the verge of tears.

 She was wrong, he was still awake but was feigning sleep to buy more escape time, her compliment briefly tugging at his heart strings but he was still set on leaving, nothing would change that.

  Allowing her eyelids to shut over her eyes, she felt herself drifting off, silently thanking her lucky stars for giving herself someone whom despite his very obvious flaws, had at least provided a break from her monotone existence on the island so far.

****

   Jack waited, keeping his thoughts occupied with what he would do after he made his way back to civilization. He thought of Caitlin, his beautiful girlfriend, her sun kissed skin and how she was most likely worried sick about him, his parents were probably equally concerned, how he wished he could have told them he was alive.

   Their faces were still etched in his memory and although it may only have been a day or two since the accident, he felt as if he had spent an eternity on this godforsaken island and would welcome the comfort of his own bed, he didn’t want to sleep on some house sized pillow made for a monstrous woman.

 ‘ Well, she seems to be out like a baby,” Jack turned to the sleeping form of Jessica, her blanket only half draped over her body, even she could feel the chill coming through the open window.Jack had considered using that as his ticket to freedom but the fall would kill him. He’d have to try the front door, possibly squeeze under it.

  He got up and trudged to the mattress where Jessica’s bare back caught his eye, her shirt had ridden up in her sleep, exposing the toned and tanned wall of flesh to him. Framed by the moonlight, Jack had to admit she had a pretty fine body.

 “ Shame you weren’t a regular sized person, I know a friend or two who’d take an interest you, provided you got a less prickly personality,” Jack smirked, muffling his own chuckle with his hand cupped over his mouth.

After making sure Jessica wasn’t about to roll over him, he moved to the edge of her mattress, its precipice a daunting prospect. He’d break several bones and possibly die if he hit the ground wrong.

A slow rumbling moan from behind spooked him and in doing so, he nearly lost his balance but fortunately for him, Jack did not tumble down.

Glancing behind, Jack heard what must have been Jessica smacking her lips and moaning softly.

“ Almost thought you were awake,”A visibly relieved  ack said to himself, last thing he needed was to be caught red handed by her, she’d no doubt throw him in a cup or something.

 Then, it happened. Jack clapped his own hand over his mouth as Jessica began to shift. It was slow, like watching an oil tanker turn on the spot but equally astounding to witness as Jessica shifted, from laying on her right side to being flat on her back.

 Jack assumed she was done but Jessica was only halfway there, she shifted until she now faced him and to make things worst, exhaled forcefully, the force of which was enough to push him several feet but not far enough to drop him off the bed.

 “ Damn you…” Jack cursed, he need to expedite his plan or she’d wake up too soon, he’d need the forest to cover him.

 A little idea came into his head as he spotted the pillow Jessica placed on the floor, supposedly to catch him if he fell but it’d double as a safety net now, it would have to suffice! Grinning as he applauded his own genius, he positioned himself just above the pillow.

 “ Right, no time to be afraid of heights, you’ve dealt with a giant woman you can deal with a little jump,” Jack assured himself. Saying a silent prayer, he leapt off.

 The fall was rapid and when he hit the pillow, it absorbed most of the impact without hurting his body although he felt breathless thanks to the fall knocking the wind out of him. As he gathered himself, he did not bother to look back at the bed, he did not need to and now that he was no longer restricted by it, he had to make the most of what little time he had to get as far away as he could from Jessica.

 As he sped through the bedroom door and into the living room, he observed the difference in perspective and to say it was different would be a massive understatement. Before this he had only seen Jessica’s house from either her own point of view as he sat on her shoulder or hand but now that he was on the floor and seeing her world from his own, it was surreal.

 It was like Jack being in the giant’s house in his namesake’s story,as if he had left his own stepped into a fairytale.

 In the pitch blackness it was nearly impossible to see anything but he saw enough to leave an impact on him. Eventually he found what he was looking for, the gargantuan front door and to his dismay, it was closed.

 Jack had no chance of ever moving such a massive slab of wood, he’d have a better chance of lifting one of Jessica’s cutlery than that. Not that he’d need to, noticing a relatively small gap between the door and the floor.

 It was too short for him to walk through but Jack had a hunch he could crawl through it, it’d be a tight fit but he’d manage, he was slim enough to make the most of the space he had.

 “ Suppose it’d be worse if I didn’t try,” Jack thought as he got on all fours and began to crawl. His spine was rubbing against the wood , the feeling was mildly uncomfortable as his vertebrae knocked against the hardwood but he reminded himself of the fact that this was only chance at getting away, it would be gone with the night if he allowed it to pass. Worse was when his baggy clothes bunched up and clogged the minute gap,forcing him to jerk forward to relieve the problem.

 He cleared the door without any further impediments to his goal and took in a deep breath, the cool tropical air filling his lungs, he felt free, more free  than he’d ever been since Jessica had toyed with him.

 The air outside felt humid but it was a minor annoyance, now he just needed to wait it out, Jessica would come for him once she discovered he was gone but it didn’t matter, he’d be so deep inside the forest that nature would camouflage his presence from her.

 Thus he bounded off in the direction of said forest, revelling in his new state of freedom.