Dorothea knew running was useless. But it was what her instincts were screaming at her to do. Even if it was futile, she had to try. Otherwise, she would be a prisoner of this creepy man.
She suddenly turned and ran, hoping to catch her captor off-guard. She didn’t have a plan, other than to run for it. If she reached the edge of the table, she might try diving off, and hope that the carpet below would be soft enough to break her fall. Though, of course, she didn’t get that far. Luitger caught her easily, his huge hand wrapping around her lower body and legs before lifting her up into the air.
“Let me go!” Dorothea protested, pounding at his hand with her tiny fists. His grip suddenly tightened immensely, exerting a huge force. She screamed in pain, feeling as though her little body was about to be broken in two. He let go instantly, and Dorothea fell. She was only a few centimeters from the top of the table, but the hard surface made for an uncomfortable landing, the tiny woman squeaking again.
“No! Sorry! I’m so sorry!” he repeated as Dorothea groaned, “I didn’t mean to hurt you! I’d never mean to hurt you!”
His flustered apology seemed sincere enough. But that didn’t matter to the diminished Dorothea. There was no way she could ever trust him, not after he’d tricked her, shrunk her and kidnapped her.
Ugh, that was painful. She thought, her legs still throbbing. I’d better not try that again. Not without a plan, anyway.
“Just stay. Please, just stay here,” Luitger told her, “you don’t need to be anywhere else.”
“Yes, I do!” Dorothea moved to stand, but her still raw legs forced her to remain on the ground, “I had plans today, you know! You can’t just keep me here like this!”
“I understand. But soon, you will want to stay here,” Luitger said, his tone as though he was telling Dorothea an indisputable fact that he believed without a shadow of doubt. His words sent a shiver down her spine. He was the sort of person she would avoid, but now that she had been shrunk down to such a small size there was nothing she could do to escape his company.
“You’re wrong. How could I ever want to stay here?” Dorothea argued, “let me out of here, right now!”
Her size was a secondary concern. All she knew was that she had to get away, growing back to normal could come later. She could tell she was in danger, every second she remained in the presence of this man.
“No. You’re staying right here,” came his refusal, “just try and settle in, all right?”
“What?” Dorothea couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Settle in?”
“Yes. I’ll stop talking, and you can look around and get used to our room. I’m sure you’ll come to love it!”
Dorothea scoffed. But she quickly came around to the idea, though for a different reason.
Maybe I should take a look around. I might be able to find a way to escape. She thought.
She wordlessly assented. She flexed her knees first, checking to see if she could move her little legs. There was still an ache, but she was able to move without causing herself too much pain. She moved to her knees, then pushed herself to stand. Still expecting such a movement to give her a significant boost in height, it was rather disorienting for her to find herself little taller than before. It was almost like she couldn’t get up, yet she could see she was standing at her full height.
This is so weird. She thought. I’m not sure I can ever get used to being so tiny.
The sheer size of the desk was surreal. It was like she was in a strange dream, one from which she could not wake. The room beyond was stranger still, huge in a way words could not sufficiently describe. Then there were the items atop the table. A notebook, a quill- numerous reminders that she was incredibly small. She doubted she was the length of even a single page. Seeing everything so oppressively large made her feel weak and hopeless. Like there was nothing she could possibly achieve on her own.
No, I can’t let myself think like this. That’s what he wants!
She turned her attention to her captor. He was a little more distant than before, likely having pushed his chair away from the desk. There wasn’t anything for her to read from his clothes- the exact same uniform worn by every student of the Officer’s Academy, though they appeared clean. She craned her neck up to his face. His features were far too huge to be attractive, though she wondered if her size was altering her perspective. Dorothea glanced at his eyes, but couldn’t bear to look into those giant, dilated pupils for more than an instant. There was something uncanny about his gaze, that seemed to pierce right through her. Or rather, he didn’t seem to be seeing her at all. Dorothea wasn’t sure why she felt that way.
She looked down to his hands. In contrast to his relatively clean face, the backs of his hands were weathered, and scarred. His fingers too, calloused and weathered, like they belonged on the body of an older man. She shivered seeing the massive digits, the way they squeezed her still fresh in her mind. But she sensed a strange apprehension from him. Had it not been for that episode of rough handling, she might have believed he was reluctant to touch her. Maybe that was why he had moved away, though she noted she was still within reach of those long arms. He was likely worried she might try diving for the floor again.
I’m probably wasting my time. Dorothea thought. I’d better look for a way out of here.
The shrunken songstress instinctively looked to the door first. It stretched way, way overhead, even though she was halfway off the floor. The doors looked like they dwarfed even those of the cathedral. There was no way she could open them by herself- so long as they remained closed, she could not escape through them. Though she wondered about the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor, too low down for her to assess its width. If she ever found herself on the ground, perhaps she could squeeze underneath the door instead.
“Why are you looking over there?” Luigter suddenly spoke, causing the little Dorothea to jump, “are you thinking of escaping?”
“N-no, I’m not!” Dorothea reflexively denied his accusation. She wasn’t sure she needed to- he didn’t seem likely to believe her, not unless he was incredibly naïve. She had attempted to escape mere minutes ago, after all. Even so, she started to wonder if there was any point in open defiance. Maybe going along with him would be better, and biding her time until she saw an opportunity to escape. Patiently waiting for a moment where his guard was down might be a better approach for the little songstress.
The silence was suddenly broken by a knock on the door. Luitger was taken by surprise, his whole body twitching as the sound cut through the air. Could this be what Dorothea needed, already? She had a single instant to decide how to react…
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
