Going Through Changes

The Ride...Home

Kane watched as the small girl sat quietly in his hand, only yelping at sudden noises. Though he had acted like it was no big deal carrying her, he was actually terrified; he didn't want to drop or squish her.

"Uh.. where should I sit?" Khione said looking up at him. Her tiny grey eyes dancing into the back of his mind.

"You're gonna have to sit in my hand." He chuckled as her emotionless face turned into a frown. "Would you rather roll around on the seat?"

"Fine." She turned to the window, away from him.

"Can I hold her?" Leila's timid voice peeped up from behind Kane, her small fingers wrapping around his arm to grab his attention. "Pleaaaase?"

"Leila... she's not a toy." Kane faced Leila, her eyes bore into him. "Khione, what do you want to do?"

Kane could feel Khione tense in his hand, knowing that riding in the eight-year-old's hand didn't sound very safe. He looked down at Khione, her facial expression matching the rest of her body language.

"I-I'm not sure," she choked out the words, lacing them with audible fear. She messed around with her snowy-white ponytail, looping the long strands around her fingers.

"Why don't we get situated first and then we can decide later. We don't want to freak Khione out, okay?"

"Yeah okay." Leila moped.

Kane watched as Khione looked back to the window, waiting for her to do or say something. He wasn't used to people being so quiet all the time. Are all humans like this? Kane looked over to Linda, she was chatting away with his dad, definitely not sharing the same silent mystique as Khione.

"So Khione, have you ever been to the giant sector before?" Kane poked the small girl as he asked.

Seemingly unfazed by his gesture, she replied, "nope."

"Are you excited about living here?"

"I don't know yet."

"Are you ready for going to school with giants?"

"I don't know."

"What is it like to be so small?"

"I don't know."

"Geez! Can you get in a few more syllables in your responses?" Kane prodded, starting to get annoyed with the lack of conversation.

"I don't talk much. Sorry."

"Yeah, I can tell." He scoffed and looked out the other window. Then, a thought popped into Kane's head, a little smirk now pulling at his lips. "Hey Leila, I think Khione is ready to sit with you."

Khione's POV

What? Just because I'm not in the mood to talk does not mean he can just get annoyed and do what he wants with me!

Kane's hand shifted into a fist with Khione in it; he shook his hand gently before dropping her into his sister's awaiting hand. Khione watched with fear as plopped into the eight-year-old's hand, trembling, she lifted her gaze slowly to meet the excited eyes of Leila. Leila's smile grew as she examined Khione, bringing her closer to her face.

"Woahhhhh! You're so small! We should definitely play when we get home! I have so many dresses for my dolls that might fit you," Leila started rambling, getting louder with each word until Khione had to cover her ears. She backed away as much as she could until she was at the edge of the hand, cringing internally at the thought of being stuffed into doll clothing. 

"I don't know Leila... I'm not sure if I'm ready for that..." Khione tried to grab the young girl's attention, but she was persistent in telling Khione about all of her dolls' names.

"Hey silly! You're gonna fall off!" Leila grabbed Khione with her other hand. "I don't want you to get hurt... OH! I have an idea..."

Khione started to get nervous as Leila stared at her tiny body with an 'innocent' smile. Her hand shifted closer to the pocket on her chest of her shirt. Realization set into Khione as she neared the pocket, glancing back at Kane to see if he was going to intervene, but instead, he just smiled and shrugged.

"W-wait! I don't want to!" Khione's heart started to pound, anxiety working its way through her entire body. Couldn't he see that she was really scared? Tears began to gloss over her eyes as she fought the urge to scream. Finally, reaching the pocket, she was dropped down, the walls of fabric closing in on her. She whimpered, her claustrophobia getting the best of her. "No. I can't do this. I-I can't d-do this," she whispered to herself. She hugged her legs to her chest and began to rock back and forth. Her mask broke and tears began streaming down her face. "Let me out!" She cried and pushed on the suffocating fabric. "NOW!"

Fingers came down and pulled her out quickly, and she was met with Kane's worried eyes. Leila broke into a whine, "Hey! I want to hold her!"

"Leila, she's freaked out. Give her some space." Kane set Khione's trembling figure into his palm and pulled her to his chest. "Hey, sorry Khione, I didn't realize you were actually scared."

"No! Because you're too blind with your own stupid excitement to even realize that this is terrifying for me!" Khione barked back at Kane and pushed herself away from his chest. Yes, he was warm, and yes, she wanted to be comforted, but she didn't want to be comforted by him. No. He was the idiot that made her feel this way in the first place. "Do you even realize how big you are compared to me?! For you it's just there's this tiny person, but for me, my entire life has changed!"

"Hey, I said I was sorry-"

"I don't care about what you said! Just leave me alone!" Khione irrationally jumped off his hand and fell to the seat below. She huffed as she hit the leather, knowing that she was going to get bruises from the fall later.

"You could just ask next time," Kane said with an annoyed glance down at the small blonde.

She turned and looked at him with cold eyes, "I don't want your help."