*Drip, Drop*

*Drip, Drop*

Parker peeked out of his makeshift bed, looking past Ava’s slumbering figure in the direction of the window in her room, which was partially masked by pink curtains.  He saw raindrops desperately clinging to the window, if only for a few seconds before they slid down the clear plane.  Clumsily getting his feet stuck in the fibers of his cotton-swab mattress, Parker stood up and swung his legs over the end of the Altoids box, gracelessly landing on the wooden surface of Ava’s bedside table.

*CRACK!*

The outside sound of thunder thumped Parker’s eardrums, briefly illuminating the room before settling back to near-darkness.  Parker shook himself off and walked toward the end of the table, shrugging off the outside storm.  He reached the edge, and looked down.  Far, far down.

Here comes the time for hyperactive mind games, Parker.  It’s doable.  You avoided your co-worker’s monster toes, climbed a purse to salvation, and fought for breath inside of a boob canyon.  There are ways to escape this. 

Meditatively and slowly, Parker walked to the other side of the table, the side closest to Ava.  He didn’t even stop to notice the enlarged phone and lip gloss that almost threatened to block his path.  Seeing Ava, his eyes moved from her tangled hair splayed across her pillow, past her rising and falling chest, to her toes that were just so slyly peeking out from under the covers.  His eyes softened, his own chest’s movements slowed, and he looked back at the window.

*Drip, Drop*

*Drip, Drop*

Parker focused on the pitter-patter of the raindrops and the claps of thunder.  For a moment, he forgot about his new size, the disturbing hallucinations, and the road ahead.  Just then, as unexpected as any of the events of his weekend, positive, rational thoughts began to flood into his head, as if they had been waiting for that moment for an eternity.

What am I doing?  Although she’s not totally reliable, Ava is clearly the best option right now. Why am I even considering running away and risking my safety again? I’m afraid. Not of trying to escape, not of what might happen if I succeed in escaping, I’m afraid of something else.  I think…I’m afraid of help.  Of companionship.  Of love.  I’m terrified of anything that will pry me from the introversion that I’ve exiled myself to.  I’ve lived like this for so long…and now it’s actually threatening my life.  Wow.  Life and death decision? I choose life.

Parker released one of his characteristically extended sighs, only this time exhaling a small portion of the hesitancy and fear that has been bottled up inside of him.  Before it could make an attempt another grasp at him, Parker strutted towards his bed, climbed in, and forced his eyes shut. 

Parker’s complicated psyche wasn’t even close to fixed at that very moment.  However, judging by the speed that he was able to fall asleep and rest, he was obviously on a better path.

“Honey, wake up!”

“Mmmph,” Ava snorted.

Hearing voices from overhead, Parker groggily opened his eyes, which were treated to a sight unique to someone with his perspective.

Oh shit!

At a startlingly close distance to Parker’s position on the table was an ass big enough to wake even the heaviest of sleepers up to full attention.  The ginormous rear was dressed by jeans that seemed a little too tight, as if the wearer had gained a few pounds since buying the pants.

Must be her mom.      

Fully awake, Parker avoided gawking further at the sight before him.  Instead, he hid under the cotton swabs to avoid detection, leaving a small gap so he could still see what was going on.

“Ava! It’s Sunday, chores day.  I even let you sleep in an extra hour, let’s go! The bathroom has your name on it! And that means the shower too!”  Ava’s mom said as she began comically tearing the covers off of her daughter.

“Ugh! Okay, okay! Just go away, I’ll be out in a second!”

Satisfied, Ava’s mom left the room, closing the door on her way out.  Parker quickly climbed out from under the swabs and out of the box so that Ava wouldn’t think that he had left.  Not bothering to get out of bed to greet him, Ava lazily reached over, lightly pinched Parker between her fingers, and rolled back onto her side, dropping him next to her face.  Parker still wasn’t quite used to the exaggerated scale of literally everything, showed by the couple of steps that he took backwards.

“Good morning, little man! How did you sleep?” Ava asked, batting her naturally long eyelashes.

Parker succeeded in not scrunching his face at the wind of morning breath, nicely responding, “Actually, pretty good.  You?”

“I fell asleep pretty fast, given the night that I had,” Ava giggled, “But I forgot, my stupid mom makes me do chores every Sunday.  You don’t mind tagging along, right?  I figured it’d be easier to just get out of the way, then we can sort out your little problems….Or we could just play some more!”  Seeing Parker’s discomfort, Ava continued, “Awww, okay.  Party pooper.  Let’s get this out of the way, alright?”  Parker only gave a small smile and a nod as Ava scooped him up in her hand and walked out of her room in the direction of the bathroom.

“Sorry you have to deal with this…” Ava whispered to deaf ears as she opened the bathroom door; Parker trying not to hurl as Ava’s quick strides made him nauseous.

 Ava set Parker down on the tiled ground and proceeded to grab cleaning supplies from the closet inside.  With an indistinguishable, pissed-off grunt, Ava began scrubbing down the bathroom.   

“You know, if you were a little bigger I would just give you a toothbrush and you could do this!”  Ava laughed, obviously getting a rise out of her own humor.  Starting to feel more comfortable, Parker even let out a quick chuckle.

She’s actually pretty likeable.  It sounds like she’ll even help me out soon.  Things are looking good, finally.

“I’m just sick of those girls, Parker,” Ava said, her bare feet slapping the floor next to Parker as she moved to the sink, “I know I said that I didn’t want to talk about it…It’s just that Colleen and I used to be best friends, but she’s suddenly become meaner and more aggressive lately, to everyone, not just me.  I don’t know why.  During the whole Prom thing we both wanted to go with the same guy, Sam, right?”  Parker nodded up to the sky, Ava occasionally looking down, past her shapely legs at him.  To any bystander it would look like a senile teenager talking to a bug.  “So, she spread a nasty rumor about me, everybody believed her and started hating me, and she got the guy.”  Ava became more somber over the course of her story, but sounded angry and determined when she said, “My life has been hell the last month.  I’d do anything to fix it.”  

*Ding-Dong!*

“MOM! GET THE DOOR!” Ava yelled.  “Oh, sorry!” She said after seeing Parker clasp his ears in response to her scream.  “Must be a package,” she mused while continuing to clean.

“AAAVAAAA,” Ava’s mom could be heard in the distance; “IT’S FOR YOU!”

“Dammit!  She’s really on my nerves today, I’ll literally be back in a second,” Ava said while dashing out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her just in case.

She better come back soon, I feel uneasy being anywhere by myself anymore.

Parker ignored the echo of voices below him, choosing to mill about the bathroom instead.  Like Ava’s bedroom, the bathroom was just like one would expect it, complete with a close-off shower, toilet, closet, and sink.  He marveled at the cast-off hairs scattered across the ground, the long, auburn ones most likely Ava’s at one time.  About five minutes passed, by Parker’s estimation.

What’s going on?

*KNOCK, KNOCK*

“Hey, brat! You still in there?  I need to shower!” A loud, forceful female voice asked.

Can I have one fucking minute without an issue?!

Parker quickly shuffled in place, looking for somewhere to hide.  Unfortunately for him, the imposing door swung open, revealing the latest goddess to encounter miniature Parker.  Clearly not caring if someone was using the bathroom, an early 20-something woman walked through the bathroom entrance.  From what Parker could tell, she resembled Ava, but with shorter blonde hair and a much, much more developed body.

She walked further into the room, two titanic tennis shoes slamming down in in front of Parker’s location on the floor, knocking him on his ass.  Cowering in shock and panic, he looked up at his newest threat, swiftly noticing her workout clothes and reddish-colored, perspiring body.

Oh, god, wait.  Shower!

After placing her change of clothes on the toilet ledge, the blonde took out the band holding her hair back and shook it free, causing beads of sweat to cascade down like the thunderstorm the night before.  Gaining his wits, Parker struggled to his feet and began to run for the closet place of cover, which was behind the toilet, barely avoiding the impending moisture.  The next obstacle, however, he was not so lucky with.  Without using her hands, the giantess kicked her shoes off, the left shoe flying over Parker like an airplane taking off; it landed further ahead in his path. 

Shit, shit!

Parker made a quick decision and guessed that he’d be safe hiding behind the shoe, which was both more than big enough for him to hide behind and unlikely to be moved until she finished her shower.  Desperate for survival, Parker increased the length of his strides, running around the sole of the overturned shoe, finally settling in back of it…right in front the mouth.

“Hack, hack!”  Parker coughed at the steamy, vinegary air that was hurriedly leaving the confines of the footwear.  Parker immediately cursed the circumstances of his escape, but was grateful that he did, in fact, escape.

Holy hell!  That might beat Victoria’s feet. I’ll take it any day for safety, though.

Safety was a relative term at this point as Parker moved a little bit so that he could see the blonde.  Still in close proximity to Parker’s cover were (what Parker figured was) Ava’s sister’s feet, shiny with wetness, her damp socks enjoying much-needed rest beside them.  In awe, Parker followed his gaze upwards.

Um…should I…? To move would be dangerous…So…

Feeling guilty, but certainly not doing anything about it, Parker watched in disbelief as the beautiful young woman crossed her arms and pulled her tank top over her head, struggling for a second as it stuck to her skin, her neon green sports bra waiting to be unfastened.  Still breathing heavy from whatever workout she did, the larger-than-life girl released her breasts from the constraints of the bra and dropped it to the floor, unknowingly showing off her perky chest to Parker.  So fast that he almost missed it, Parker looked on as the woman pulled down her tiny running shorts and matching neon green panties, revealing her shaved womanhood.  If his mind was actually in control at this point, he would have figured that she was an athlete or something.   Or he would’ve become cognizant of the perfectly pornographic situation at hand.  Instead, he stupidly looked on as she flipped on the shower, stepped in, and closed the door.

...Wow.

His blood circulating back to his head, Parker shook himself off and realized the urgency of which he should find a way for Ava to notice him when she comes back.

At least she’ll actually be looking for me this time.      

Parker ran out back from behind his cover, trying to stay as far away from Ava’s sister’s discarded clothes, both to avoid any misunderstandings and the likely stench. 

“Cindy, you BITCH!” Ava screamed as if on cue, the bathroom door flying open. 

“What, you little twerp? You were downstairs!”  Ava’s sister fired back.

“I was cleaning…UGH! Wait!  No!  Parker!?”  Now worried, Ava frustratingly called out.

“Who?”

“Shut up!”

“Crazy bitch,” Ava’s sister audibly muttered.

Parker began doing jumping jacks as Ava, watching her step, got on all fours and began frantically searching for him, tears threatening to form.  Parker screamed her name as she came closer and closer, her face eventually hovering over him.  She looked as if she was searching for a lost contact lens.

“There!” Ava deftly reclaimed Parker, running back to her room before her sister had more time to question her nuttiness.  “You scared the shit out of me!  Did that bitch hurt you?”

“No, I’m good.  I found a pretty good hiding place.  Well, not that good, but it did the job,” Parker called up at his sometimes protector.

“Well, good.  I’ll make sure not to leave you alone like that again, I’m really sorry! But something happened, Parker,” Ava said, her tone changing by the sentence as the pace of her speech sped faster.

“What is it?”

“That was the police at the door, Parker.  Colleen and her date, that Sam guy, went missing last night.  They said they’ve been questioning everybody who her mom said was with her last night, she’s worried sick.  I obviously didn’t know anything, but they seemed suspicious because the other girls told them that I left early by myself last night.  I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

“I think I know what happened to her.” Parker said.  Looking into Ava’s surprised and worried eyes, he gulped, saying, “And I think that is where we start.”