Middle School Miniature

Chapter 19, YourTinyness

I start by pressing space.

The computer opens up to the home page partially filled with icons. Walking to the right and pushing the mouse over and down a bit, so that the cursor is over the game icon, I climb onto the mouse and stomp on the left side of the mouse. It doesn't work. So, working with the slippery footing, I try to double-click it. With some balance and stopping to re-adjust the mouse placement, the game opens with its giant logo displayed across the screen; Minecraft.

I silently fist bump but kept the celebrating to a minimum to avoid catching the attention of Max. Once the menu screen appeared, I pushed the mouse over toward the "Play" button and pressed down on the left-click button one more time. Being presented with a short list of options, I pushed the mouse over to the world titled, 'D Best World.' What a great name, the right amount of bad humor. I performed the task of clicking on it since it was better than options 'world 1' and '2nd world.'

As the game loaded, I took off the annoying rope shoelace thing that had been imprinted on my skin, and let a sigh of relief out. I walked over toward the WASD keys and realized, for the first time, how difficult this might be.

I shrugged to myself, and with the enthusiasm of a person who had gone without Wifi connection for days, I stepped on the W key making my game character go forward... Into a wall.

Stupid walls, always getting in the way. My game character appeared in the house that Max must have made for 'D Best World.' It was made out of chiseled stone and had some creative decorations put into the house that I intended to explore. I amended things by going to the right and back a bit, using a combo of my knee for the 'W,' hands for 'A' and 'D,' and my foot for the 'S,' until I got to the door. Hoping it would open, I tried running into the door. Nope. So instead I ran back around the keyboard and clicked on the mouse causing the door to miraculously open. My small celebration turned to disappointment when I noticed the adjoining room behind the door was small and empty.

"Seriously?!" I complained out loud.

"About you playing my games, yeah." A large voice behind me said.

"O my goodness!" I yelped and jumped in fright. Behind me, Max let out a laugh and sat down in his computer chair. I glared. He looked at me expectantly. I just glared suspiciously back while trying to figure out how he could sneak up on me. An awkward moment of silence wormed its way between us before it was exterminated by the enormous menace.

"You can keep playing the game if you want, I won't stop you." He said.

"Okey..." I said and slowly walked over to the WASD keys again. I stepped on the 'S' key and back off it. "Would you mind using the mouse for me?" I asked.

Looking mildly amused, he replied with, "Of course your tinyness." His hand was now on the mouse, the mouse that was difficult for me to move with my whole body. I sure miss being a giant. And we went on like that for a while, him controlling the character direction, me pressing the forward down and toggling between inventory. After at least an hour, I felt a gnawing in my stomach, probably from the lack of breakfast.

"Hey, where's the rest of your family today?" I asked as I took a break from operating the keyboard with my body.

"Well," Max said, sitting back and relaxing in his chair, "my mom took my brother to his baseball practice and my sister is over at her friend's for the night. So I get the whole house to myself."

"And your dad?" I ask. Max frowned at the comment.

"He's at work." He said coldly.

"Cool," I said quietly. Silence fell between us and I avoided meeting Max's startling gaze.

"So do you want some food? Because I am starving."

"Umm, yes. Food would be great." I say with a nod. Max started to get up and I stood as well.

"Hey, you're taking me along, right?" I say nervously, "No one else is even here to see me."

With a sigh, Max replied, "Sure shorty, I could take you along." And reached his hand towards me. I took an involuntary step/stumble backward.

"Can you not...." I say shakily.

"Not take you?" He asked in confusion.

"No.. well, yes. But no." I say defensively.

"Uhhh?" Max starts.

"Could you not grab me," I explain. His mouth forms an O and he stood there for a moment. He put his hand flat on the table.

"How's that?" Max said, his smirk returning.

"Er, better," I say and reluctantly walk toward his open hand. I hesitantly stepped onto his palm, sat down, and held on to the crevasses in Max's hand for dear life.

The unnatural feeling of rapid ascent came over me like the anticipation of doing a presentation in front of the whole school. His fingers curled, providing more safety as he carefully made his way down the stairs and to the kitchen.

Thanks for the comments, I love reading them.

~Ema