Chapter 9 - At Ground Level

While travelling around the edge of the envelope that held him prisoner, Nick searched for a way out for several minutes, to no avail. He could definitely do nothing but wait, trapped in a mailbox. The boy could not believe everything that was happening to him. How could he have been in so many dangerous situations in such a short time? At least he had managed to get through these so far. But the more time passed, the more Nick began to wonder if anyone would ever notice him. He had several times been right under the giantess's eyes, yet none of them had seen him. From his point of view, however, he had felt that he was clearly visible and his screams were loud enough to be heard, at least a little. But obviously, from the point of view of people who were at a normal size, he was probably much smaller than he imagined. This thought made him despondent. Trying not to get too discouraged, Nick finally decided that the best thing to do was to rest, waiting for someone to pick him up. His mother or sister were bound to pick up the mail at one time or another. While trying to cast off his despair, the boy lay down on the paper, and nodded off for a few moments, into a restless sleep.

A little over half an hour later, Nick awoke with a start. The mailbox had just opened. The boy waited without moving when the envelope was suddenly pulled out by someone.

- Aaaah!!

Nick was thrown against one end of the envelope. He sat up and looked through the transparent part of it. He suddenly recognized Flore, who was reading the envelope.

- FLORE! IT'S ME! LOOK! - Nick shouted, who suddenly resumed hope.

She closed the mailbox and went up the driveway in front of the house.

- Aaaah!!

Nick was shaken in all directions as Flore walked, swinging the envelope at the end of her arm. But the boy was reassured. He was finally returning home! Flore closed the front door and opened the mail, while heading to the kitchen. Nick saw the envelope being torn over him.

- Flore, look!! I'm here!!

He saw her huge hand seize the letter and take it out of the envelope, which she left on the kitchen table.

- Flore, here!

He lost his balance when the envelope hit the table, then he heard his sister walking towards the garden gate:

- Mum! There is a letter sent to dad by the neighbour.

His mother entered the room. The door suddenly created a draft, and the envelope still containing the boy flew off the table.

- Aaaaaaah!

The envelope fell gently to the ground, but the landing still threw Nick a few centimetres. He then heard the footsteps of his approaching mother. The boy raised his head and saw her huge shoes moving towards him.

- Aaaah! Do not crush me!! - Nick shouted, while clumsily stepping backwards.

While he was expecting to be crushed, the shoes stopped right in front of him. Nick raised his head:

- Mom! Look! On the ground!!

He saw her leaning towards him, extending her hand.

- Mom!!

She picked up the envelope, that was right behind him, laid it on the table, and began to read the letter. Nick realized that it was becoming dangerous and went to hide close to one of the legs of the table so as not to risk being crushed.

- We'll see that when he thinks of it when he gets home. - said Natalie, as she folded the letter.

Nick saw her move away to go to put the letter inside a draw. She then leaned against the kitchen worktop and began to think, looking down at the floor, absent-minded. The boy looked at her wondering what she was doing and walked shyly out of hiding. Maybe if he moved to where his mother's gaze was lost, she would eventually spot him. As he approached, Flore passed in front of her and asked her:

- What's wrong?
- Nick did not give any news. He was supposed to tell us when he caught his train, and I did not receive anything. - replied her mother.

A feeling of hope suddenly invades the little boy. Finally, she was starting to worry about him!

- He must have forgotten. Or, he did not want to. - replied Flore. Also that makes sense, he leaves and you want him to give you news two hours later.

Upon hearing it, Nick felt a rage towards his sister. Normally, he would have agreed with her, but for once someone started to worry about him, she was ruining everything. Natalie shrugged and said nothing. Nick kept coming slowly when she suddenly said, while she got to her feet:

- Okay, I'm going to vacuum.

Nick remembered then. His mother had said before he left that she would be thoroughly cleaning the house during his absence. But now that he was there, shrunk on the ground, this simple decision took on a whole new dimension! Natalie went to the closet and took out the vacuum.

- No ... no Mom, you can not do that! - Nick said, stepping back a few steps.

She put the vacuum cleaner down, grabbed the plug and went to plug it in.

- Mom, wait! - Nick shouted, raising his voice.

She then positioned the vacuum cleaner and turned it on.

- NOOOO!!!

The sound of the vacuum then resonated through the room with a terrible racket at the boy's scale! He put his hands over his ears and began to run as fast as he could to hide behind one of the legs of the table. Natalie started cleaning the kitchen without suspecting anything. As she got closer, the power of the vacuum cleaner began to stuck Nick against the foot of the table. The boy was having more and more trouble taking his back off the wooden pillar. He realized that his idea was bad. Here he was far too vulnerable. He was going to be sucked up it!

- MOM!! I AM HERE!!

He saw that she turned the vacuum cleaner to his right a good distance from him. He took advantage of the opportunity and ran across to the door. He had to hide somewhere! But where?

- HEEEELP!!

Nick quickly managed to get out of the kitchen. When he reached the opening to the living room, he spotted one of the armchairs not too far away from him. He chose to hide underneath, and without stopping, he went there. Nick knew that his mother would soon finish cleaning the kitchen and would quickly start work on the living room. As he ran as fast as he could, he couldn’t help but look back regularly to see if his mother was coming. After several minutes of racing under intense stress, he finally managed to reach the chair. He slipped under it and dropped to the ground to catch his breath. The situation was getting serious! Nick began to regret having returned home. If only his mother had vacuumed while he was at Alizée's place! A few minutes later, Nick saw the giant vacuum cleaner and his mother's feet enter the room. The boy became frightened and suddenly began to doubt his plan. Natalie started cleaning the living room, and then she put down the handle of the vacuum cleaner. Nick saw her feet moving toward him, shaking the ground, when suddenly his hiding place began to move.

- Mom!!

He looked up to see his mother, gigantic, who was moving the chair to clean underneath.

- NOOOOOO!

Nick then took to his heels, while Natalie took the vacuum cleaner, and headed to where he was hiding a few seconds earlier.

- MUM! STOP!!!

The couch! It was his only chance! His mother would not move the couch to clean underneath, and the gap between him and the floor was too thin to allow the vacuum cleaner to pass. He managed to reach the middle of the room when he felt a draft behind him. He turned around and saw his mother walking towards him. She appeared what were to him tens of metres away, but he knew she would cover that distance in seconds. Nick started running again, and reached the carpet near the sofa under the coffee table. He hesitated to hide underneath, but if his mother sucked him into the vacuum, he was trapped. He then continued his course, when he was suddenly thrown to the ground. The pressure of the vacuum began to drag him into it! He clung to the carpet fibres and shouted:

- MOOOOOM! STOP!!!

She kept slowly approaching him as she cleaned the room. Nick was struggling to resist the power of the vacuum cleaner.

- HELP!!!

His mother approached again and Nick felt his feet take off from the ground.

- AAAAAAAH! MOOOOM!!

The boy was suspended above the ground. He clung with all his might to the carpet so as to not let go while Flore appeared then on the stairs:

- Mom, do you have my nail polish?

Natalie stopped moving, leaving the vacuum cleaner running.

- What do you mean? What nail polish?
- MOOOOOM!! STOP THE VACUUM!!!
- But you know, the one I bought last week. - Flore growing more impatient.
- Oh, well, it's not in the closet of the bathroom?

Nick was starting to let go.

- HELP!!
- I have already searched, it is not there.
- MOOOOOOM!! FLOOOORE!!!
- Come on, let's go look for it. - said her mother.

Then Nick let go of the carpet and then flew to the head of the vacuum cleaner.

- NOOOOOOOOOO!!

To Be Continued ...

Translated from French to English by jdragondawn