Emily was relieved to see Hannah walk in. She couldn't believe her luck. That is, if she could even consider herself lucky in her current predicament. The girl shook her head. She had to stay focused if she was going to get out of this alive. At least now she had a plan: get Hannah’s attention. And what to do after… They’ll figure it out together. She was sure of it. After all, Hannah has always helped her get through tough times.

They’d known each other for a long time, thanks to being neighbours in their childhood homes. Despite Hannah being three years older than Emily they always got along really well. They would play together a lot when they were kids, and later talk everyday when they were growing up. The two girls always had each other’s backs. Both of them saw the other as a sister rather than a friend. That’s why when Emily started having trouble at home, she could always count on Hannah. And then when it got worse a few years later the older girl let Emily stay at her apartment after moving out.

But right now was not the time to reminisce about the past. Hannah would help her, but first she had to be made aware of her presence. And getting the attention of someone who does not expect you to be there, and also is a hundred times bigger than you, is an understandably difficult task.

But Emily had to start somewhere. So she got up from the ground, her legs still shaking a little. Then she looked around. Hannah was walking towards a seat close to her, but the shrunken girl was not currently at the risk of getting stepped on. Despite that she decided to move somewhere where she would be more covered, just in case. So she took a step towards the seat that she thought her best friend was planning to occupy. She did not get far though, because the bus started moving again. Emily was thrown back a couple feet, banging her head hard against the floor. Everything got blurry for a moment. Then the bus made a turn, and the force of that movement sent Emily tumbling to the left. 

She was getting thrown around hard, and could already feel bruises forming on her back and sides. Moving around was starting to hurt her.  

There were some silver linings, though. All this movement got her closer to Hannah’s seat. But her new position meant that she was in her giant friend’s path. “Not again…” thought Emily. She decided that she wouldn’t just lie on the ground scared out of her mind and watch as someone almost steps on her this time. Especially Hannah. If she ever found out, she wouldn’t forgive herself. Emily didn’t want that to happen.

So she went to get up. She winced, as she felt strong pain all over her body, but she did not give up. The shrunken girl exhaled through gritted teeth and got up with a painful groan.

Meanwhile, Hannah was just a couple steps away. Emily could feel her approaching, the familiar tremors echoing in her ears. So she started running, set on her destination: under the seat, where she’d be safe.

She wasn’t that far away from it, maybe 15 feet away from her perspective. But the light tremors combined with the shaking bus and the pain she was feeling made it hard to get there quickly. But she was surely getting there. She ignored the tremors and decided to not look back.

Then the bus made another turn. And then another. 

Emily was swept off her legs and thrown about aggressively. She was in a lot of pain, and lost her sense of direction. When the movements finally stopped, she was thrown onto her back on the ground, her best friend’s converse sole hovering right above her. The tiny girl felt herself start to cry again. She tried to get up, but she was panicking too much and kept tripping over herself. 

-Hannah! Don’t kill me!! Please, look down!- she yelled, but it was in vain. The foot was getting closer with every second. Emily was crying. She closed her eyes, waiting to feel the weight of her best friend to come and end her life. 

...But it never came.

Confused, Emily opened her eyes. Hannah’s sole was hovering a couple feet above her, but it wasn’t getting closer. “Has she seen me?” Emily thought, calming herself down. She carefully got up and walked over to the side, as to see her best friend better.

She was just now realising what had happened. Hannah unfortunately hadn’t seen her yet. She was just sitting down, with one leg over the other. She was looking at her phone. 

-Hannah!- Emily tried yelling again, but her best friend couldn’t hear her. The shrunken girl noticed she had earbuds in, so screaming would not work. She had to come up with something fast, because who knows when Hannah will get off the bus. Emily wouldn’t want to be left alone here again. 

She approached her best friend’s shoe and started punching it as hard as she could. The only reaction she got back from the giantess was a slight flick of her foot, which made Emily fall onto her back. She heard a slight giggle coming from Hannah. The shrunken girl froze. Was she laughig at her? Has she seen her, after all? Why was this funny to her? Petrifying images crept into Emily’s mind. Images of Hannah torturing her for fun. Flicking her with her fingers and making her fall over, holding her above her mouth, threatening to drop her, laughing hysterically while looking at the shrunken girl’s terrified expression. Emily felt a tight knot in her stomach. Was this really such a good idea?

The fear left her when she looked up. Hannah wasn’t looking in her direction. She was laughing at something on her phone. Emily felt relieved. How could she even think Hannah would hurt her and get pleasure from it? Her best friend wouldn’t do that… Right? 

No, of course she wouldn’t. Emily knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t the type of person to do that. They teased each other for sure, but that’s just what friends do. They tried not to say or do things that would make the other uncomfortable. 

The knot in Emily’s stomach untied. When she felt that she got an idea. The shrunken girl looked over at her best friend’s shoe. The shoelace on her left foot was getting loose. If she untied it and held onto it she would be noticed for sure. Fortunately, that wasn’t the shoe which was hanging in mid air. Emily walked over to it and gripped the rope tightly. She pulled on it as hard as she could and made it come loose. “I did it!” she thought, excited. Now she just had to wait.

It did not take long, until Hanna felt her shoe loosen up a little. Irritated, she put her phone in her pocket and bent down to tie her shoelace. 

Everything was shaking as the giantess put both her feet on the ground. Then she bent down a little and started raising the foot with the untied shoelace to make fixing the knot easier.

Emily did not foresee this happening. As everything was being raised up, with a rush of adrenaline, she grabbed one of the laces and held on for dear life. She was left dangling above the ground, too low to get back onto her best friend’s foot, and too high to jump down onto the ground without breaking a bone. She was never very athletic, so her arms were starting to hurt. She felt that she couldn’t hold on for much longer. She wrapped her legs around the shoelace, hoping it would make it a little easier.

Hannah went to tie her shoe laces, but she noticed something hanging off of one of them. “What the hell… ?’’ she thought as she got a little closer to it. When she realised what, or rather, who it was, she gasped.

-Em!? Is that you?- she asked, still close to her shoe. How was this possible? It couldn’t be real. That wouldn’t make sense. Maybe it was the alcohol she’d drunk tonight? But that was a long time ago, it had already worn off… Unless maybe it hadn’t? Does alcohol even make you hallucinate? Lots of different thoughts were running through her head.

When Hannah spoke, Emily could smell alcohol on her breath. It made sense, why else would she be on a bus so late. She must have been out, partying. The thought of the giantess being drunk started bringing up those terrible images again. Maybe sober Hannah wouldn’t do those things to anyone, but who knows how she’d act in her drunken state. Emily got so scared that she could not hold on for any longer. She let go. 

She was falling for about a second, but it felt like a couple of minutes. She was anticipating to hit the ground and break her bones at any moment. Then she would be unable to run away. Her eyes were closed and her stress levels were so high that she felt herself about to faint.

-No!- she heard, as she fell onto something. It wasn’t hard and painful, as she anticipated, Instead, it was warm and soft. And it was shaking from its owners’ stress. She was lying in Hannah’s palm.

-Oh god! A-are you okay?- Spoke the panicked voice again. It was quite loud, so Emily went to cover her ears. Her head was pulsing with pain, as was the rest of her body. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was the shocked and worried expression of her best friend. How could she ever think that Hannah would hurt her on purpose? She felt guilty about that. She tried to nod her head, but everything hurt too badly. 

-I’m… So glad, you…- She couldn’t finish her sentence, because everything turned black.