Author Note: This Chapter contains a detailed account of both rape and incest. If these topics are triggering to the reader, I highly suggest reading one of the thousands of other fantastic stories on this site. Relevant tags have been added for topics that will be covered in this and future chapters.  Thank you. -RR 

Josephine looked at Jake as he sat across from her on the kitchen counter, his back straight and legs crossed, waiting for her to say something to him. Josephine cleared her throat and she saw Jake straighten even more, like his fate hung on whatever it was she was about to say. Josephine felt slightly sorry for her tiny friend. He seemed so desperate to please those around him that it made him appear overly submissive; a trait she personally loved about him, but knew the rest of the world would not hesitate to abuse, as Jake made his way throughout life and adulthood. Josephine knew Jake had a confident and even wild side to him; she had seen it multiple times since bringing him home, albeit briefly and deeply desired to see that side of him more often. She needed Jake to relax around her and be comfortable, even when she teased him. 

"Nervous?" Josephine said softly to the cute boy in front of her. Jake squirmed a bit on the cloth mat he sat on before answering. "What kinda guy wouldn't be around someone so beautiful?" Jake said flirtatiously, trying to fake confidence. Josephine smiled and blew him a kiss. "Careful Jake, flattery will get you everywhere." Josephine teased. Jake laughed at the remark but was still pessimistic about this whole "meeting". He didn't know why they needed to have a serious talk after everything they had been through and his admittance to her in the bathroom. Was she still angry with him? Getting bored of him? Was he about to be kicked out and left to fend for himself? Josephine saw the uncertainty in Jakes eyes despite his words and repeated her question. "Seriously Jake, what's got you so nervous to have simple chat with me? Are you still scared or something?" Josephine asked with a playful pout. Jake shied away from her rather blunt inquiry. "W-What? No I'm not scared, I m-mean y-yes kinda...but not of y-you not like that y-you're great!" Jake stuttered, not knowing what to say to keep the air clean between them. "Just keep her happy man get it together!" his brain screamed. "I mean I-I respect you, uh Josephine and understand that ya know what you say goes and-" Josephine's playful pout turned into an actual frown as she interrupted him with a loud exhale. "Jake seriously?!" She said loudly to the shocked boy. "Stand up for yourself! Stop telling people what you think they want to hear and be honest for once!" Josephine lamented at the boy below her, his body shrinking further into the cloth mat under the weight of her words. "Jake, listen, I don't want you to spend the rest of your life terrified of other people, me especially!" Josephine said, moving back slowly from her small friend as she realized she'd been looming over him during her outburst. Josephine softened her posture to appear less threatening to the small boy. "Jake...for Lord's sake you are the sweetest person I know. You go above and beyond for anyone and everyone." Josephine gently reached out with her hand and stroked his cheek with the pad of her finger. "You have every right to be the happiest 4-inch man in the whole world Jake, and...I don't know it's like you're constantly walking on egg shells around me..." Josephine said sadly. "I know we had a rough first night and this morning was filled with some ups and downs but I promise you..." Josephine paused. "No matter how angry I get with you or whatever crazy mood I'm in... Jake I would never intentionally hurt you...y-you know that right?" Josephine said softly, wanting Jake to know more than anything they she loved him, without actually saying the words. Jake looked down at the smooth red cloth mat in front of his crossed legs. "You have to tell her man..." Jake's brain chided. "She deserves to know why you are the way you are."

Jake looked up at Josephine. She saw his eyes begin to glisten over. "Josephine.....J-Jose" He said, correcting himself. "Please just promise me that no matter what I'm about to tell you, that won't abandon me or give me away." Jake sniffled. He wanted to stay with Josephine while he was this size no matter what. Josephine looked at him longingly. Jake looked more vulnerable to her in this moment than she had ever seen. She wanted nothing more than to smother him in love and affection, but she remained still, listening. Is he about to finally open up to me? Josephine asked herself.  For as tiny a person as Jake was, he remained a giant mystery to Josephine, as well as all the other girls at Westover High that had noticed his fit physique through his baggy clothes. "Of course sweetie...nothing you say will leave this counter...and I would never give you up Jake" Josephine said truthfully, shaking her mind at the thought of what other girls would do to him. Sure she teased Jake, but they would follow through and cause real damage. Jake gave her an unconvinced nod. "B-Before I start, please know from the bottom of my hear Jose... that everything I said in the bathroom about you was true." Jake paused. "I like you Josephine, I really, really do.... you're the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world." Josephine smiled at this halfheartedly, sensing a "but" coming. "B-But it's true... I am...I am still afraid of you." Josephine lifted head off her hands and sat back confused, hurt tears forming in her eyes. "J-Jake but why!?.. Listen I know I can be a little overbearing and heated at times but I-I-Ive never done anything to actually hurt you!" Josephines eyes looked at Jakes shoulder, her face blushing as she recalled the circumstances around the one injury Jake had sustained as a result of both their negligence in the bedroom. Jake saw her face blush and followed her eyes to the shriveled bandaid on his shoulder. "This isn't about my shoulder injury... please Jose, just let me explain." Josephine wiped a fresh tear off her cheek and rested her chin on an arm, promising Jake she wouldn't move or speak till he was finished. 

Jake sighed. "You still have my cell phone?" he asked. Josephine nodded slightly. She had placed it in her gym bag after he shrunk at school and now that she thought about it, hadn't remembered it ringing a single time since she brought him home. She slightly expected a police manhunt to start soon for the boy after he didn't come home last night, but so far had seen nothing on her socials or the local news. "It hasn't rang because no is going to call it." This made her eyebrows raise. "Huh? but what about your parents?" Josephine spoke up, ignoring her promise a second ago to stay silent. Jake sighed. "Jose...Jose my parents are dead." Josephines jaw dropped. Jake ignored this and continued. "My Dad was an operator in the Army while I was growing up. He was attached to a group out of Fort Bragg operating in Syria...He is...was... amazing and remains my hero and role model to this very day." Jake said. "Dad always went the extra mile for his guys, never gave up on anything, took all the risks." Jake said, his voice turning sad. "...Until one day... the risks took him. My... Mom got the call when I was in the 6th grade. She came and got me out of school and told me Dad wasn't going to be coming home." Josephines tears started welling up again. She had no idea Jake was an Orphan. She thought about her own parents. Despite them being gone a lot, she couldn't imagine losing them, especially her Daddy. He was her world and she was his. "Jake I'm so so sorry"...she sniffled. She reached her hand back out and traced his back gently, trying to comfort him from his painful recollection. Josephine didn't want to press Jake, but she had to know how this all related to him being afraid of her. She saw Jake smile weakly...enjoying the brief skin to skin contact with her. "...And...your Mom?...what happened to her? Josephine felt Jake's entire body shudder under her fingers at the mention of his mother. "Here it goes" Jake thought as he passed the point of no return.

Josephine saw Jake steady himself for whatever he was about say to her. "After Dad died, Mom...started drinking...getting involved with drugs and...bad people." Jake said. "She was constantly getting angry at me for things I would or wouldn't do. I tired to care for her and anticipate her needs...I knew she missed my Dad...we both did... but she just kept getting worse and her mood swings started turning...physical." Josephines blood froze. She thought she sensed where this was going and didn't want to believe it. Jake couldn't have been abused. Not the sweetest, most caring person she knew. The reality she would find out, was much, much worse. "I...I was in the 7th grade...I came home from practice one day." Jake said. "I had just started wrestling and loved the release it gave me to go all out on the mat and let loose my anger at the world for Dad's death and Mom's downward spiral. It was... therapeutic." Jake gave a weak smile recalling his favorite school pastime before his face darkened...his memory returning to that night. That awful, awful night.  "Mom was drunk on the coach with her girl friends. There was liquor bottles everywhere and snow residue under their noses." Josephine was confused before remembering snow was slang for cocaine. That wasn't weed, those were serious drugs, she thought. Jake's body shuddered even more. "T-they called me over to them as I walked through the door, complimenting Mom on my l-looks" Jake was having trouble breathing. "T-they pulled me unto the couch... and asked Mom if they could p-play with me... I-I tried to pull away, but I was too little... too weak to escape them." Josephine felt like she was listening to a horror movie. "They started ripping my clothes off, yelling at me, clawing at my back... telling me to stop fighting it" Jake said through raspy breaths. "They punched me in the face over and over until I let go of my belt, ripping it off while beating me with it, telling me they were about to make me a man." Jake started sobbing. Josephine felt like part of her was dying listening to Jake suffer through his traumatic tale. Jake reached behind his back and grabbed one of Josephine's fingers, using all his might to bring her digit in front of him, hugging it close to his chest. Josephine loosened muscles and attempted to make her giant hand weightless, letting Jake guild her hand and fingers where he wanted in front of his shaking body. She felt him hug her finger like a teddy bear and her heart melted. She was happy Jake was reaching out to her physically for comfort but her mind wasn't at all prepared for what happened next. Jake grasped the end of Josephines pinky with his right hand and lifted his left arm up. "They...They took out their cigarette lighters..." Jake said, placing the tip of her large pinky finger in his armpit, and slowly ran it down the length of his left side. "and burned me while they took turns taking me inside them." Josephines blood froze as she felt dozens of small scar tissue bumps on Jakes left side, running all the way from his armpit to the bottom of his ribcage. Jakes wet eyes were clinched shut as he completed the movement down his body with her giant pinky, his mind flashing back to each scream he gave that night for each time the flames touched his 12 year old body. Jake recalled for Josephine in detail the rest of that night. His screaming... the unimaginable pain he went through... and worst of all, the pure terror he felt as he looked up to see his own mother smiling above him...completely naked like the other women in the room; Josephines blood froze as Jake countinued, recounting how each of his moms girlfriends grabbed a leg or arm in the room pinning him to the rough carpet as his own mother mounted him. "You *hiccup* remind me so much of you Father *hiccup* Jakey" he remembered her saying. Jake swallowed hard and looked up in Josephines eyes. Anger, Fear, Disgust, Sadness... all swirling within them as he spoke. "My own...mother r-raped me Jose." Jake said, before falling silent.

Josephine felt the windows of her world crack and shatter around her as she realized just how cruel this world could be. It was an atrocity what happened to Jake...and now she fully understood why he reacted to her the way he did. "...J-Jake......." Josephine couldn't even form words. Jake looked at her and continued, his voice it little louder now that he had made it through the most difficult part of his story. "The state came to the house and took custody me the next day after I told my middle school gym teacher what happened." Jake sniffed and wiped warm tears from his eyes. "She didn't even deny what she had done, told CPS good riddance and that she was happy to be rid of me." Jake brought Josephines finger back to his chest and hugged it again. "She just, gave me away without an apology or second thought, and I never saw her again....I got the call winter of my freshman year that Mom's body was found out in the cold on a street in Charlotte" Jake said deadpanned staring ahead at nothing. "Doctors said autopsy confirmed the cause of death was a drug over dose of fentanyl." Jake said plainly. Josephine felt the tip of her finger getting wet as Jake cried on it, his face buried in the pad of her finger. "That's why I'm submissive to women. That's why I avoid girls my age and do everything I can to avoid them." Jake looked up at Josephine. "...and that's why...a part of me is still very much afraid of you." Jake said with renewed tears. Josephine pulled her hand away from Jake, suddenly feeling like a monster for the things she had done. The confusion and fear she had put him through. Jake tried desperately to hold on to her finger but she was too strong as she pulled away and sat her hands on the edge of the granite counter, griping it with trembling hands. Jake started to panic. "I-I don't want to be this way and I'm sorry my brain is wired like it is but it's..it's just a type of fear I cant turn off." Jake said quickly, looking up into Josephines eyes, which he couldn't read at all. Jake saw this and felt like he was beginning to look like tiny, damaged goods in her eyes; his own widened. You tiny fucking idiot, She doesn't want you anymore. Jake shot up, running over to her giant hands as fast as he could and throwing himself in front of them, covering each individual finger and nail in sloppy kisses. "J-Josephine! I-I'll do whatever it takes to stay with you!.. I-I promise I won't be a burden!...a-and y-you can do whatever you want with my body!.... just please, please, please don't throw me away... like she did." Jake cried up to her before he released her hands and got in the prone face down, his entire body in total subjugation before Josephine Rimefrost. Josephine looked at his tiny scar covered body, processing everything she now knew about Jake. Everything he had went through...and everything she had done to him. Josephines stomach turned upside down and she felt the banana from earlier making its way back up.  "I...I think I need to go to the... b-bathroom" Josephine stammered as she stood up and ran away from Jake's still prone body on the cold granite counter top; her own making a beeline to the bathroom toilet as she lifted its lid and vomited.