The Life of a Borrower

Chapter 4

Ben was terrified for his life. He was bleeding pretty badly from his arm and face from where the rat attacked him. He was out of breath from fighting off the rat, but he wasn't out of the woods yet. Inside the walls, he backed away from the approaching rat, grapple hook in one hand, push pin in the other. The rat also had some injuries and was furious, foaming at the mouth and probably rabid.

The rat made another attack, but this time, Ben was able to defend himself by swiftly swing the grappling hook, knocking the rat off balance to his side. Ben dropped the hook and took the push pin in both hands. He used it to stab the rat in the side of the neck. He stood there for a second, holding in pin in place and panted to catch his breath. He could feel the sweat along his hairline. He pulled the pin out and took a few steps back. He wasn't sure if the rat was dead or just playing dead, but he took the opportunity to turn around, grab his hook and run away from his attacker.

He came out from behind the baseboard into Samantha's livingroom. Ben saw Samantha sitting on her couch and his first instinct was to run and hide. He bolted to the bookcase and climbed onto the bottom shelf. He stumbled forward and knocked down a picture frame, catching Samantha's attention.

When he saw her look in his direction and approach him, he hid behind some kind of trophy. Samantha knelt down on one knee and picked up the picture frame in confusion. She looked at the shelf it came from and saw Ben hiding behind a trophy.

"Ben?" Samantha asked softly as she moved the trophy to the side with her free hand and revealed the scared little boy. Ben took a step back until his back hit the row of books behind him.

"I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me." Ben pleaded. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for her to reach out and violently grab him, but it never happened. Samantha had always been nice to Ben, but Ben still had the fearful instinct to keep his gaurd up. Ben opened his eyes and saw Samantha looking at him with nothing but worry in her features.

"Ben, you're bleeding. What happened?!" Samantha asked worriedly.

"You... you're not going to hurt me?" Ben asked Samantha, making her heart sink.

"Of course I'm not going to hurt you. Why would I hurt you? We're friends." Samantha asked with sadness and a bit of confusion.

"But, I-I almost broke your picture." Ben stammered.

"That's okay! It's just a picture, it's not the end of the world." Samantha assured him, setting the picture aside. Ben took a deep breath and realized that Sam was not like the humans his parents told him about as a child. "Now, what happened to you?" Samantha asked, referring to the deep cuts all over Ben.

"I was attacked by a giant rat." Ben revealed.

"Oh, my gosh." Samantha said, covering her mouth in horror.

"It bit me and scratched me, and I couldn't get away. So I swung my hook at it and stabbed it with this pin." Ben explained as he pulled the borrowed pin out of his satchel. "Then I ran away." He finished.

"You are very brave, and lucky to survive that. That's very dangerous." Samantha said.

"Yeah." Ben muttered, trying not to sound too shook up about his near-death experience.

"I'm sorry that happened. We need to take care of those wounds before they get infected. Please let me help you." Samantha said, holding her palm out for Ben to climb onto. Ben looked a bit confused. "Come with me. I don't want to just grab you and risk hurting your wounds. Climb on." Samantha gave him an encouraging nod.

Ben hesitated but slowly climbed on, not wanting to upset the giantess that was just trying to help him. He sat in the middle of her warm squishy hand, and tried his best to not look afraid. Samantha used her other hand as a protective wall around Ben to prevent him from falling.