Her Tiny World - pt. 2

Chapter 35. Bugs and Jars

Max

The tiny boy was trapped in the nightstand drawer for a whole day. At first he resisted for some hours and although the volume of his protest was muffled by the walls, it was still audible if I was anywhere close to the furniture. It was surprising how noisy those little beings could be when they wanted to. I hoped that soon he would give in to tiredness, but he didn't. I tried to ignore it, distracting myself with anything that would make me not hear it. But I only got more annoyed. Couldn't he just stop for a moment? He was driving me crazy. I closed my hand in a circle and punched the surface of the nightstand with more force than necessary, sending a tremor through the wood. He finally kept quiet for the rest of the day.

It was some time before lunch and I was still trying to process everything that was happening. As I spent time with my friends I found myself thinking about the little person I held captive upstairs. 'Who's Benjamin?' I asked her. 'He's my best friend.' She replied. 'Do you miss him?' 'A lot.' The tiny girl saddened. I didn't know why but this made me like him less. They were best friends, so what? Still it didn't give him the right to be here just to 'rescue' her or whatever he thought he was doing.

I was in the living room with everyone, watching some dating TV show Nick put on when I started eating a slice of apple pie for dessert. As I ate it I realized that I had left the tiny guy without food since yesterday. Shit! I took a tiny piece of my own food. It was a generous portion for someone his size, even bigger than he could bear to eat, certainly. This should be enough to compensate. So I went upstairs and straight to the bedroom, going towards the furniture. I knelt and opened the drawer, slowly pulling it out. Inside it was full of objects such as a bunch of keys, two pens, a tape, some batteries and coins. In the middle of them was also the small person, helplessly curled up in one of the corners. When he saw me he seemed to stiffen. I wasn't sure if it was out of fear or anger.

"You must be hungry." I started shyly. "Here."

I moved some of the objects away, leaving some space free. So I placed the piece of sweet dough and apples on the wood and waited for him. I guess I wanted to make sure he wasn't going to starve to death. He eyed the food suspiciously, but didn't move.

"You have to eat, whether you like it or not." I told him. "You'll starve if you don't."

"I don't want your food." His voice was unfriendly. "I don't want anything from you, human."

He turned away, ignoring me. Was this serious? I frowned. I was trying to be nice to him and this was how he reciprocated?

"Just eat it. I'll come back later to check on you."

I closed the compartment, locking him inside once again. I bit my lips thinking about it. What was I going to do with him? I couldn't keep him trapped much longer. If he continued to refuse food like that... So sudden impatient knocks on the door distracted me from my thoughts.

"Max? It's me."

It was Josh. I went to the door, so he greeted me with a clearly concerned face.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I subtly blocked the door with my arms. "Don't I look so?"

"Hmm..." He raised his shoulders, uncertain. "I guess. It's just that-"

"Are you still up for catching some bugs?" I interrupted suggesting something just to go out and clear my mind a little. "I'm totally into it right now."

My excitement left him mute for a few seconds. He looked a little confused before shaking his head, pushing the questions aside.

"Sure. That'd be really cool." He smiled. "I can't wait to surprise Claire with them."