To Trust a Giant

Chapter 6

“You have to give her to me!” Jason begged as he watched her scream and thrash about in Andrew's fist.

“Not until you explain why there's a human running around in my apartment!” He growled.

“Shouldn't you be more worried about the rats?!” Jason snapped back.

“Not again… not again.” Stella muttered.

Jason gave Stella a puzzled look. Again?

“I'm waiting.” Andrew huffed.

“I found her last night in the streets. She wasn't in good condition, so I took her in.”

Andrew glared at Jason before shoving the human into his hands. She immediately snapped out of her episode and stared up at Jason with a confused and fearful look in her eyes.

“J-Jason?”

“Hey, you're okay.” He reassured her. He then turned to Andrew. “Thanks.”

Andrew glared at Jason. “If she's going to stay here, then it's going to cost you more, and she better not wander out of your apartment again!"

Jason sighed. “I know, Andrew.”

“Good, now get out of here.”

~~~~~

They entered the apartment and walked over the couch.  Jason placed the human onto the the small table before sitting down on the couch. He studied her for moment.

She just stared at the ground.

“What were you thinking?” He asked.

Stella jumped at the sound of his voice, but she refused to speak or even look up at him.  He sighed. “Please talk to me.”

Her lips moved but her voice could not reach his ears.

“What was that? You need to speak up?” Jason leaned in closer.

“I said I wanted to… I wanted to leave.” She said in a shaky voice.

“And once you did where do you plan to go?” He asked.

Her silence was all the answer he needed.

“So you're just going to try to survive on the streets? No offence but I don't think you'll make it out there.”

“What do you know?” Stella grumbled.

Jason was now frustrated. Why couldn't she just cooperate with him? He took a breath to compose himself. “I know that you weren't finding any food or water out there, I know that you're too weak to take on a rat, and I know despite me helping you, you still look at me like I'm the devil.”

“I didn't ask for your help!” She yelled.

Without thinking, he slammed his hand on the table. “Well, you're getting it!” He lashed out.

Stella began shaking like a leaf, she stared up at Jason with fearful eyes. “I’m so… so sorry.” Her voice croaked as if she was a second away from bursting into tears. “Please don't hurt me!”

“Why would I-” Jason stopped. He looked down at his hand. What a stupid thing to do, she was already scared of him when he was trying to be gentle, now she had to be terrified of him!

“Fuck… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that.” He leaned back to give her some space.

“So, I'm not getting punished?” She asked.

“Of course not!” Jason gasped. “I would never hurt you.”

She gave Jason a weary look. “I wish I could believe that.”

Jason sighed. Trying to get her to trust him would take a while. “What happened to you?”

“I'd rather not say…” Her voice was frail.

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, so it's obvious that you'd rather live on the streets, but I really don't feel comfortable just dumping you out in the streets, especially when winter is coming. So how about this, once it's spring, I'll release you back into the wild.”

“Do you mean it?” She asked.

“You have my word.”

After a moment of pondering, Stella gave a small smile. “Okay, I'll stay, but just for the winter.”

Jason was surprised. She was actually agreeing to stay? “Sweet, you'll really like it here, I promise.”

Th-thanks, but… but if I'm going to… to stay, then I'll need new clothes.”

“Of course. You can't just wear that flannel shirt forever.” Jason got up and began rummaging through his drawer for some clean clothes. “Let's go now, and we'll also get you some supplies.” He rushed over to the bathroom. “Okay, I'm gonna get dressed. You wait there, and we'll leave.”

Closing the door, he eagerly got dress, excited to finally get a chance to help out his new roommate.