Charlotte just stood staring up at Clara's massive behind that would crush her like a grape. The
wooden chair was unforgiving, no chance of survival. She was sobbing and occaisionally shook
violently from head to toe. Clara looked down at her. „Are you sorry?", she asked after a while. The
little girl nodded her head and wiped her nose with her poncho.
Clara sighed. „Give me one good reason not to sit down.“, she said, cold. „I'm sorry!“, Charlotte
begged in tears. „I allready made sure of that.“, Clara countered unforgivingly, „A reason, Charlotte,
now.“
Charlotte dropped to her knees. Her voice was frustrated and hopeless when she spoke: „What the
fuck could I offer you?! I got nothing except for these clothes that you gave me! I just want to live,
that's all. And, fuck, seriously?! You didn't notice Lea is holding you back? Are you fucking
retarded?!“
Clara turned her face away and slowly sat down. „Wait!“, Charlotte cried from under her ass. Clara
positioned her so that her head was just peaking out from under the side of her left butt cheek. She
lowered herself until Charlotte was pressed against the chair. The little girl had some trouble
breathing.
„Wait!“, Charlotte croaked, struggling for air, „Urgh, what are you going to tell Lea?“
Clara sighed and lowered herself further crushing the air out of the girl's chest. Charlotte's mouth
was moving but she didn't make any sound at all. Her little eyes begged for forgiveness. Was there
anything to forgive though? Charlotte had only said what Clara had thought all along. Clara
compressed the girl a bit more.
She wasn't comfortable at all with that line of thinking and she vented her bad mood on Charlotte.
Besides Clara admitted to herself that she was bored and really wanted to flatten something. Why
was it that any girl she'd keep besides Lea ended up dead so quickly? Iri, Blondie, now Charlotte.
Charlotte's face was slowly turning blue. She was right, what was Clara going to tell Lea? It'd be
drama again, just when Lea seemed sound and happy. „You're not going to take Lea's place.“, Clara
said decidedly and emphazised it by carefully pressing the girl even flatter before lifting her butt off
the chair.
Charlotte rolled over to the side, coughed and gasped for air. Then she collapsed. Clara grabbed her
and held her in her palm. Poor little thing. 'Smart girl though', Clara thought. Even though Charlotte
had clearly misjudged Clara's feelings for Lea she had still been able to safe herself from Clara's
wrath. A rare talent.
Clara noticed angrily that Charlotte had fallen unconscious. And it was about time to get Lea.
Quickly Clara stood up and went over to the sink. She turned the cold water on and was just about
to hold the little girl under when she noticed a new problem. She would have to explain Charlotte's
wet clothes.
Furiously flaring her nostrils Clara carefully started to undress the unconscious girl. It was a
precarious business. The fabric of the dress and poncho was thin and fragile to Clara's strong
fingers. Clara noticed for the first time how soft and delicate the threading was. She had to restrain
herself not to tear it appart.
After some two minutes Charlotte was finally undressed and her clothes still intact. It did only take
a few seconds until Charlotte woke up under the stream of ice cold water. She coughed again and
frightenedly looked up to Clara before she asked: „Wh-What happened?“
Clara raised an eyebrow. Could she really have forgotten what Clara had done to her? That'd be
very convenient. Too good to be true, to be exact. „We played a little too ruff and you fell
unconscious.“, Clara said caring. She thought to see a hint of indignation in Charlotte's eyes but it
vanished too quickly for Clara to be sure.
It was replaced by an expression of gratefullness and Charlotte theatrically hugged Clara's thumb.
„Well, thanks again for letting me live.“, Charlotte beemed up at Clara. It didn't sound sarcastic at
all but Clara still thought that there was something odd about it.
Either Charlotte really couldn't remember what had happened or she was even smarter and bolder
than Clara had thought. If she was really faking it it meant that she understood her place. Either
way, Clara was pleased with it. „I'm going to get Lea.“, she said and put Charlotte together with her
clothes back on the table. She put on her bathrobe and went outside.
As soon as she left the house she noticed that the flower pot was empty. Lea was gone. Alarmed
Clara looked around. „Help me!“, a soft and distant cry came through. „Where are you?“, Clara
called out but didn't get a response. Furiously Clara searched through the pots, chairs and garden
tools that stood around.
When she lifted a flowerpot that stood in the corner between the house and the building extension
she saw them. Two tiny men with dirty skin and clothes, one holding a wooden spear and the other
what looked like a tiny glass shard. He held it directly under Lea's chin and covered the tiny girl's
mouth with his free hand.
The one with the spear looked like a young man, the other seemed to be much older.
Clara sat the flower pot aside. „One move, giant, and I kill yer little friend!“, The man holding the
glass shard spat. Clara weighed her options. The men looked serious and she feared for Lea's life. „I
should just kill you, ye bloody traitor cunt!“, the man murmured into Lea's ear but loudly enough
for Clara to hear it, „You house-tribe cowards employ the monster now, 'cause ye'r too weak to fight
us, eh?“
He uncovered Lea's mouth but she looked much too afraid to say anything. „I'm willing to make a
trade!“, the man announced, „I will escort this little beauty to the flower beds and then you can have
her back.“ Clara thought about it before she spoke: „I accept. But I will be close by you as you
escort her. I'm not staying here. You'd just cut her throat and be gone by the time i'm over there.“
The man spat on the ground and seemed to consider her propasal. „Too risky.“, he said after a while,
„You'd crush us as soon as we let her go.“ Clara noticed the man with the spear walk away from Lea
and the other man. He kneeled down and took something from in between two paving stones. He
held it high into the light and Clara saw what it was. Another splinter of glass.
She saw her chance and acted right away. Distracted by his find the man noticed too late the giant
foot that was coming down on him. With a sickening squelch Clara trod the man flat under her left
foot. Some blood and inards squirted out from the side of Clara's sliper. „Woah!“, the knife wielding
man shouted before he let out a cry of pain. Lea had bit his arm and struggled free. She ran directly
for Clara's right foot.
Clara raised it and stomped down directly in between Lea and the attacker just as he was attempting
to pursue. She kicked the man further into the corner. He crashed against the wall and struggled
back up, but seeing he was cornered and had lost his hostage he just hatefully looked up to Clara.
Clara smirked: „Hey, what's wrong? Lost your safety net, huh?“ „Why did you have to do that?“,
the man nodded to Clara's left foot that was still crushing the younger man flat, „He was a good lad.
This was his third summer. He was my son.“ His voice was crude and bitter.
Clara wasn't sure if she was some how morally obligated to feel guilty for squashing the man's son.
After all, they were threatening to kill Lea. Still, a tiny sting of guilt kept her from making the elder
man level with the ground. „And what did you think, huh?“, Clara returned the question, „That I'd
just stand here and look while you kill my friend?“
„We were just here to scout the house tribe!“, The man yelled. „Well“, Clara said with a statisfied
smirk, „Then you could've just minded your own business and not try and take her hostage or what
ever it was you were doing, and would've avoided this.“ She briefly raised her left foot revealing the
flattened form of the younger man.
„Oh, but she's a fine hostage. Otherwise you would've just stepped on all three of us. You worry
about her.“, he said softly. To Clara's astonishment the man smiled superiorly up to her. „Lea, I
know you don't like it, but I will go ahead and kill this one now, okay? He creeps me out.“, Clara
asked insecurely but didn't get a response. „Lea?“, she repeated and looked for her friend at her feet.
Lea was no where to be seen. Clara even lifted both her feet to check if she accidently crushed her.
However that was not the case the man's sinister smile grew wider. It made a cold shiver run down
Clara's spine.
„We took her.“, another mouse-male's voice said behind Clara, „She's our hostage and well out of
your reach. If you want her back you will let this man go and not pursue us. You will henceforth
quit any killing of members of the flower-beds-tribe or your friend shall be brutalised until she is
dead.“ The voice sounded highly official in some way.
Clara spun around but couldn't see the one who had talked. „We will deliver further terms shortly.“,
the voice added before Clara briefly saw a tiny man run behind a few flower pots towards the
garden.
Thunderstruck Clara slowly turned around. The man was still smiling up at her. 'We will deliver
further terms shortly.', What the Heck? Clara thought about what those terms might be. Stopping to
kill them, well, as soon as she would have Lea back she'd go full genocide on the flower bed tribe,
that was for sure.
They could want food or ask for members of the house tribe for slaves or something. Maybe she'd
have to kill some other tribe or scare a cat off. Something told her they would try to squeeze as
much use out of Lea as they could. Clara had to get her back, the quicker the better. Still, this tribe
was to be taken seriously. They looked like they'd really hurt Lea if Clara wouldn't meet their terms.
She noticed the man moving. He just casually strolled past her towards the garden. „Where are you
going?“, Clara asked, snubbed by his lack of terror infront of her. „Home.“, he grunted happily, „Ye
have to let me go. Haha, how you like that? Not very much eh? Haha!“
Clara sat her foot in his path and smirked hatefully: „They didn't specify in which condition.“ He
looked up at her and swallowed hard. She grabbed him with her right had and pinned him on his
back, his arms spread to each side of him. He knew what was going to happen. „No, no! I'll hurt yer
little bitch for this!“
Clara doubted it. They wouldn't throw away their hostage just because she got a little revenge on an
old man. He cried out in pain as Clara's foot settled on his right arm. A few cracks were heard and
Clara twisted her shoe just a little to ensure loss of limb. His left arm followed suit. With his arms
terribly mangled he wasn't able to get up anymore so Clara helped him to his feet.
„You hurt a single hair on her head and I'll root you out one by one until your silly little tribe is
extinct.“, She told him before she let him go. Crying, stumbling and mumbling he made his way
back to the Garden. Unsure what to do Clara took a step to follow him before she remembered they
forbid her to pursue. Her head spinning, Clara went back inside.
„Why do you look so troubled?“, Charlotte asked when Clara reentered the kitchen, „And where is
Lea?“ Clara told her what happened. The little girl's eyes went wide as Clara spoke but as before,
Clara couldn't really tell if Charlotte's expressions were true.
„Hmmm“, Charlotte began, wrinkling her forehead, „I guess you should've taken her up as soon as
she'd broken free.“ „Well, duh! That doesn't help me now, Charlotte!“, Clara snapped angrily.
„Allright, allright.“, Let me think about it some more.“, Charlotte tried to calm her down.
Clara angrily stared out of the window. She was mostly angry with herself. Why had she been so
careless? If not the flower-bed-tribesmen a cat or some vicious bird could have taken Lea. She
would have to find an indoor toilett solution for her tiny friends. 'Another idea that doesn't help
now', she thought bitterly.
„You need to interrogate flower-bed-tribes people to find out where they took Lea.“, Charlotte
suggested after a while, „Then you can maybe go free her. It's risky, I know, but I think it might be
worth a shot.“
„How do you mean 'interrogate' them?“, Clara asked. „Pff, you know what I mean.“, Charlotte
answered sneering, „I've been beneath you and, would you have asked, I would've told you my
boldest secr-“ She stopped, looked into Clara's eyes and swallowed hard. Clara grinned: „Ohh, so
you do remember huh?“ She raised her hand as if she was going to swat Charlotte flat. The little girl
cowered on the table.
Then Clara slowly lowered her hand and gently fondled the little girl's hair with her index finger.
„It's allright.“, she said calmly, „It's a good idea. But getting my hands on some of their people
without them noticing seems close to impossible.“
„Well, wasn't that fucking obvious?!“, a familiar distant, soft but angry voice came through from the
door to the hall way. Clara spun around and couldn't believe her eyes. Right through the gigantic
door frame walked: John. His chest was swollen so hard as if he was trying to fill the door frame
with his tiny form.
„Of course the big fucking monster would somehow get my sister killed! I told her, but heyyyy,
why listen to your elder brother's advice when he is only one thousand times smarter than you
are?!“, He angrily yelled as he approached the dumbfounded Clara.
„Remember me, ogre?“, He spat when he had gotten within two meters of Clara. He was standing in
the middle of the kitchen. No where to run, no where to hide, seemingly no safety net, nothing. He'd
propably be able to run under one of the cupboards but Clara would very likely catch him there.
„What do you want?“, Clara asked perplexed. „Oh, I just wanted to come by and tell you...“, he said
it calmly before he suddenly started shouting, „...how much I fucking loathe you, you careless
fucking daughter of a dimwitted, twat sucking, cat shit eater! How could you loose my sister? To
the flower-beds-tribe, them of all people!“
Clara sighed as she raised herself off the chair: „Allright little guy, I need to blow some steam
anyway.“ And she slowly walked over to him. He didn't move at all and stared her square in the eye.
„You can kill me, I don't care.“, John said bitterly, „It wont get my sister back though. And everyday
I want you to remember that you killed her! You!“
Clara raised her foot above him when Charlotte's soft and rational voice stopped her: „Clara, wait! I
have an idea!“ Clara settled her foot next to the now slightly trembling John and turned her head.
„He's the key!“, Charlotte continued, „Don't you see it? The house-tribe will catch some flowerbed-
tribes people for you.“
This could work. It would propably be the best chance she'd get. „You will literally squeeze the
information from the captives.“, Charlotte went on, „And when you know where they hold Lea
captive you can raid them and rescue her. Maybe the house-tribe can even assist you with that?“
John and Clara both looked at Charlotte who rested her arms on her hips. Clara was relieved to have
kept her alive.