Boarding School for Giants (G/T)

Part 15

I didn't know how long I laid in the drawer, crying my eyeballs out, but I knew I had to get up eventually, despite feeling so distraught and broken inside. I didn't have much of a choice, really. If the human-hating principal came back and found me inside the drawer, he might literally kill me, and my mom would get her wish. She wouldn't have to deal with a bratty, useless daughter like me any longer. I sniffled pathetically and wiped away the last of my soggy, bitter tears. I couldn't let her win. I had to be stronger. Spiteful anger flared up inside me, bolstered by sorrow. I would show her!

I slowly sat up, pushing my phone into my pocket. I felt so drained, and I still had to climb all the way back down from the desk to the floor. I heaved a painful sigh. My arms were aching from climbing, and my legs still ached from biking all week. If nothing else, living in a giant world was going to make me very fit. Assuming I would survive, of course. I shuddered and hobbled to my feet.

Suddenly, I heard a dreadful sound, indeed the last possible sound I would ever want to hear in my situation. A key was jiggling in the lock to the door of the office. My heart dropped into my stomach. It couldn't be possible. How was the principal here? Now of all times? I surged forward and gripped the fishhook hanging from the front of the drawer, reeling it inside to hide it. I didn't have enough time to cleverly stash it anywhere. I dashed deeper inside to the back of the drawer, hiding behind a giant box of staples. I waited in silence, my heart pumping wildly.

I heard the click of the lock, and the giant door creaked open. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as whoever opened the door paused. I heard huge footsteps slowly thudding across the floor, around the desk. What little light filtered in through the opening of the cracked drawer was blocked by an enormous body, leaving me swallowed in darkness. I was terrified. In the dreadful, suspenseful quiet, I could hear steady masculine breathing from massive lungs. I felt horribly infinitesimal and vulnerable, compared to the giant outside. Why was he here? Did he know I was inside?

Abruptly, the drawer was pulled open, flooding the space with light. My heart bounced from my stomach to my throat in fear. A monstrous hand with hairy knuckles forced its way inside, rifling through the oversized office supplies. I cowered in the corner, with nowhere else to run or hide. The hand came closer, effortlessly pushing the obstacles to the side. I considered, for a foolish second, stabbing at the flesh with my fishhook, but I realized I still wouldn't be able to escape, and what a terrible idea it would be to make the giant angry. The fingers bumped into me and stopped their violent search, squeezing my small form in immediate recognition.

"Aha!" the giant declared, roughly closing his fingers around me. "I knew you were in here!" He forcefully dragged me out inside his massive fist. I involuntarily cried out in pure terror. He laughed cruelly and glared down at me. He was colossal, towering over me and engulfing me in his inky shadow. His dark eyes blazed with hatred under his bushy eyebrows.

"H-how...?" was all I could manage to squeak out.

"How did I know you were in here?" the giant finished my question, raising me up to his vast face. I flinched away. Using his free hand, he pointed a thick finger at the upper corner of the room. My eyes followed to find a security camera staring back at me.

"It's a private camera I had installed a while back that feeds directly to my house. It's motion sensitive, so it alerts me if it sees somebody sneaking around. I rushed over here as soon as I was aware of your debauchery," he explained in his baritone voice. "Judging by your destination, I'm willing to bet you were trying to steal your phone back, were you not?"

When his answer was met with silence, he tightened his fingers around me savagely in an implicit threat. "Yes!" I gasped out, before any of my bones snapped. He loosened his hold on me, setting me down in his open palm.