Thorns (G/t) Chapter 11

With a quick glance, Ashton whisked up the box of cereal suddenly, leaving the bowls abandoned on the counter, his practically empty and mine still full of crushed pieces. He began walking out of the kitchen, still clutching me in a tight fist and holding me up close to his face as he walked, which was totally safe. The bastard.

In a few seconds we were in what seemed to be a living room just across the kitchen, with the walls painted a delicate lavender color. There was a grey sofa at the far wall of it, a huge window implemented behind it and a large flatscreen on the other side of the room. The side wall was decorated in watercolor paintings and random, cheesy inspirational quotes.

With a large sigh, Ashton crashed onto the sofa, plopping the box onto a side table and I winced as the air whirled around me momentarily before fading into stillness. Tears brimmed the edge of my eyes at the momentum.

I was starting to get uncomfortable cramped in his fist, and I squirmed a little bit too try to loosen up the space. No use. All he did was shift his gaze over to me and grin moronically, playfully rolling his fingers a little tighter as if saying “nice try, kid.”  A small part of it reminded me of Kyle’s stupid little smiles, especially the ones he would give me after he just did something terribly wrong, but also terribly enthralling. My heart turned a little in my ribs.

“Now…!” Ashton blurted out, wearing a very dangerous thinking face. My stomach rolled as he brought me up closer to his face and looked deep into my eyes. I tried to swallow the cringe I could feel boiling up, overwhelmed with the intensity of those huge, blue eyes.  They fell over me lazily, full lips parting down the middle. I swallowed, heart beginning to pound anxiously.

“What to do…? I feel like there was something I was going to do…” He spoke to himself, looking me up and down as if I held the answer to that question. All of the sudden, his eyes split open, pupils dilating as a realization dawned on him.

“OH WAIT!”

Before I could even think or even scream, the grip around me completely disappeared and to my horror, I found myself plummeting down and down until I landed on a bump of fabric.

“What the hell!?” I spat subconsciously, regaining my footing  on the foreign suface and suddenly out of breath. Heart racing, I crawled up on my hands and knees, pushing my palms into my new ground.

Until I realized where I was.

Painfully slowly, I averted my gaze up…and up… up an enormous torso that towered over me, until I finally met the underside of Ashton’s chin, his eyes dancing over me haughtily as he leaned back on the sofa playfully, pressing his hips out slightly elevated so that I fell even deeper into the surface. My stomach instantly knotted, re-overwhlmed with fear of the giant being as he took up my entire vision. I saw a hand move downwards, slightly brushing over me before lying haphazardly on his thigh

My eyes narrowed in on where my hands were, still on all fours, and immediately my face burnt to a crisp. That little shit dropped me on…his lap.

Oh my god why.

I instantly shot up unsteadily to my feet, legs wobbling and darting my eyes around find any more, uh, safer ground. Seeing his jean-clad thigh a few steps over, I hurriedly stepped over with clumsy legs, fuming underneath my breath while my face was still enflamed. The surface underneath me rumbled slightly and I glared over my shoulder, biting my cheek as Ashton chuckled at my situation. He looked down at me as I made it over to his thigh, sitting down slowly on the much steadier surface. I could still feel the heat nipping at my cheeks, and I flicked my bangs in front of my face to hide it. His entire upper body towered over my height, his neck leaning slightly to get a better look at my pathetic figure. I inched back anxiously, overwhelmed by his intense stare slicing into my chest. It felt as if he could crash on top of me at any moment.

Finally settled, I frowned at him, completely unamused at his antics. He didn't get the hint, a sly grin sneaking onto his face as one of his hands started at me. My eyes widened and I attempted to scoot even further back, but before I could even move a foot away, his fingers found my hips and locked me between his pointer finger and his thumb. I sucked in a sharp breath, squirming uncomfortably between his hand.

“Now, just give me a second, I just need to get my phone out of my pocket and I don't want you slipping off. No need to get all squirmy with me.”

His grip tightened as he shifted over, reaching into his jean pocket and retracting a shiny, black phone. In just a few moments, he was back to being settled and I felt the fingers release me, instantly exhaling the breath I didn't realize I was holding.

Ashton immediately brought up it up to his face, smiling and typing away with urgency. What was he doing? I raised an eyebrow, watching suspiciously as he became engrossed in the phone, finally beginning to speak up.

“How could I have forgotten? I never got to tell Chad…”

I stiffened as a thousand terrified thoughts whirled through my brain. Another giant person? Just the thought of another Ashton make my skin crawl, and I could feel my stomach knot up tightly. But maybe this wasn't even about me. Maybe he just needed to tell this “Chad” person about like, homework or something.  Hopefully.

But I couldn't simply rest on that. Clearing my throat, I shifted uncomfortably on his thigh.

“Um, t-tell him what?”

Ashton's blue eye instantly flicked over to me and I gasped slightly, the intensity in his eyes giving me goosebumps.

“That I found you, of course.”

My face paled and I felt a lump build up in my throat as Ashton returned to his phone, typing away with a smile before hitting send and looking back down to me. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as his eyes met me, taking in my obvious discomfort, and he bright his hand back out to me, curling it behind me and gliding his index finger up and down my back.

I clenched my teeth, trying to resist the urge to run, knowing that if I tried he would just simply snatch me back up. I could feel the heat radiating off of his palm, crawling up the back of my neck.

“Hey, hey, don't you worry your little self. Chad’s cool. He's the only one who knows about me trying to sav- uh, I mean find you. He's not gonna hurt you. He wouldn’t even hurt a fly, like, actually.”

I ignored his stutter and froze, pausing for a second behind the reality dawned on me.

“Wait, am I going to meet him?”

Ashton flashed me a bright smile, glancing from me back to his cellphone, which just began to vibrate with a new message. His eyes skimmed over the phone, his smile widening and looking back to me. I shrunk back, swallowing a quiver as his hand curled in further behind me, snaking its way up to my neck. A large fingernail delicately scratched my head endearingly and a shiver crawled up my spine.

“Looks like he’ll be here in an hour. So about, I don't know, 1:30. Sometimes he's early.”

He ruffled my air, disgruntling my bangs and softly running his thumb over my cheek. I squeezed my eye to keep from grimacing, wondering why in the world he liked touching me so damn much.

“He's gonna love you. He’s the only other guy I know that’s been so eager to find one of you guys..”

My face suddenly flushed and I snapped up at him, finally recoiling at his touch.

“We’re not some pets, you know. We’re the normal ones. You guys are the…are the…”

My voice trailed off from anger into confusion. What exactly were they?

Ashton raised his eyebrows, smirking as he teased me.

“‘Are the…are the…’ what?”

He grinned devilishly, his eyes darkening as he brought his finger back to my neck, skimming the base of my skull. His thumb fell in front of me, holding me still so I couldn't squirm away from his touch. I closed my eyes and grimaced, waiting for him to continue. His voice hushed just above a whisper.

“ The monsters?”

What disturbed me the most was that during this whole thing, he just kept smiling. Most people would be concerned, if not offended by being referred to as a monster. But him, he just seemed to be amused by it.

Two fingers suddenly seized me by the waist and I gasped, being whisked off into the air and dangled in front of his smirking face. I kicked and struggled uselessly, trying to show him my blatant discomfort, but he wasn’t having any of it.

“To be fair, I don't know which came first. The chicken or the egg, your world or my world. But we’ve always known about you guys. It was just a matter of getting there. And you little guys…”

He let out a breathy laugh, washing me in warm air, and my eyes narrowed.

“You guys are completely oblivious to us. But the human world was written into our textbooks, history books from thousands of years ago that you guys must have abandoned. And I don't blame you. Big, scary giants, breathing the same air as you wouldn't exactly be the best bedtime story to tell your kids.”

His tone was laced in playfully mockery, obviously not thinking much of the complete terror people back home would feel if they knew about this place.

Except Kyle, maybe. I could imagine Kyle scared out of his wits, at first. I mean, who wouldn't be? But after that, he'd fight tooth and nail, no fear at all. He was so talkative and spontaneous, he’d probably be released by any one of these giant people that found him.
Or squished.

I cringed.

I simply nodded  up at him, not really knowing what to say next. What could I? It's not like I could change whatever he thought of me. And I still couldn’t quite figure it out…How did he think of me?

But it didn’t matter. I'd either escape, or be here long enough to prove him that I wasn’t some pet.

He chuckled a little and I looked back up at him, clutching the ends of my sweater sleeves.

“But now, you guys, humans, are like, magical to us here. A lot of us didn't believe any of you existed anymore. Humans were written into children's books too, so whenever we’d talk about you all in school, no one really payed that much attention. Just a bunch of human-tales.”

“You mean Faerie tales?” I asked abruptly, raising my eyebrows at him.

Ashton wrinkled his nose in confusion, blinking at me blankly. He exhaled, washing me in warm air for a moment.

“What's a fai-ree?”

“Nevermind.”

It was weird to think that in this mysterious place, humans were considered even non existent. To me, I saw them every day. They were the only people I knew.

It suddenly felt as if my whole world was being turned upside down, everything I've ever known twisted and contorted from a new perspective.
I never truly realized how small my world was. It was the only thing I knew. How many more dimensions and worlds were there?

A giant finger suddenly poked me in my size and my eyes widened, staring back into Ashton’s enormous blue eyes. He smiled and I watched them crinkle up in the corners, like a little old lady's does.

“There you go again, off in your own little world.”

I glanced at him blankly, no words left in me. This  giant place was tiring me. It had only been a day and I was already more exhausted than I have ever been in my life.

He sat there for a couple moments, waiting to see if I would say anything, and when I didn't he exhaled noisily, washing me in his lavender and honey smell. It twisted my stomach.

“Well, why don't I give you a little tour of the place before Chad gets here? You might as well get to know the place.”

I nodded a little without thinking, feeling rather numb to this whole situation at the moment. Ashton paused for a moment, suspicious to my silence and I swallowed, looking down at his grey sweater, but soon rose back to his feet, leaving his phone on a side table next to the sofa.

“Ah, alrighty then. It's really not very big. Well, maybe big to you.” He began, beginning to take rumbling steps out of the living room. I felt myself being raised once again, and I yelped as he quickly dumped me into his other hand, rolling me around in his palm for a second and chuckling.

Dick…

We walked past the kitchen, where there were two rooms connected to the left, and into another corridor of the house past the living room. A wall connected the three rooms, the hallway to the left leading immediatley to the kitchen, and the hallway to the right still unbeknown to me. As if reading my thoughts, he walked into the right hallway and I held my breath, gripping his fingertips for support. I could feel them twitch slightly under my touch.

Ashton flicked on a light and the hallway erupted in an orange hue, the citric colored wall enveloping the passage in a warm, amber atmosphere. Numerous sketches and paintings lined the walls, framed up and down the cement, but I wasn't able to get a good look at them.
His steps thundered on until we reached another room, this one painted a sweet lime green. Immediately it reminded me of the sunroom I had at home, the one I had ventured out of right before I left home yesterday. There were large windows  lined up against nearly every wall, strung back by purple curtains. An old TV was positioned on one side of the room, stacks of video games parked out around it. Another shelf lay next to it, filled to the brim with what looked like movies. In the middle of the room was an old, brown sofa. It reeked on strong cologne and sweat, mixed up with traces of paint.

“Here's my favorite room. My dad hardly ever comes in here, so mostly this is where I hang with Chad or Jess.”

He said “Jess” as if I'd know who that was, but I didn't bother asking.

“I also do most of my painting in here, as you can see.”

Actually, I didn't see until he mentioned it. I followed his gaze to the far end of the room, next to another large, black door. The corner was splattered with color, newspapers layered out sloppily on the ground. More loose sketches were strung up on the walls, and empty canvases lay on the ground next to paint pallets. In the middle of the corner was one single large canvas hanging, splashed with color and still a work in progress. It lay right next to that myserious door in the middle of the wall. I looked back to him.

“What's that door for?”

Ashton blinked down at me before gritting his teeth and running his hands through his curls, looking back down at his hand.

“Oh, that's just my dad’s old study, you know, the one with all the machinery he made…”

He smiled a little bitterly, and my curiosity peaked.

“He hasn't gone in there in years. So I guess it's a nice set up. Since I'm usually here I could hear if the motion detectors went off.”

I nodded and looked down, twiddling my thumbs. A huge part of me was itching to see exactly what was behind those doors, to see my home through the machines. But I had to resist. There could be more of those watches in there… I suddenly realized, glancing back at the door. Maybe I could sneak in there at some point…

No. I had to keep still for now. Don't let him onto you or he might never let you come in here again.

I forcibly turned my gaze to the giant windows next to the door, examining the outdoors. I was beginning to grow a little sick of giant furniture, at least nature was fairly familiar.
Ashton noticed this silently and began to walk towards it, flattening his hand down and pressing the edge of it against the glass, so I could lean against it if I wanted to. I heard him exhale softly behind me, fogging up the glass.

I padded forward slowly, testing out my balance before pressing my hands against the cold glass. Moisture instantly seeped through onto my palm.

“This is just my backyard. We live basically in the middle of nowhere, which is nice sometimes. Lots of forest too, so it's quiet. It also means you won't be able to run away from me very easily.”

I could feel his teasing grin lace the end of his sentence and I scowled, ignoring him and instead leaning against the window. My eyes widened.

Everything here really was so big. The first thing I saw was white. Crisp white snow covered the grass in a thick, fluffy layer, decorating the mass of trees a few yards away.

So I was right, it was winter here.

I continued to examine the backyard, shuddering at the thought of how big those trees actually were. I could barely even see the tops of them.
A large cube lay on the side of the yard, surrounded by a small, stone porch, from what I could tell.

Was that a hot tub?

I don't know why that was so weird to me. It's not like giant people wouldn't have come up with hot tubs, especially considering the vast technology they already seemed to have.


I pressed my nose against the glass, taking in everything at once. My eyes softened, dancing over the winter laced woods, the same as mine would look back home at Christmas. It was almost soothing. All the peaceful, glistening snow, the dense tress that looked so much like mine at home, the cool stone pathway, and the…the…-

My stomach plummeted to my knees.



…The giant hazel eye, suddenly filling up my entire vision