Olivia and Kate Ch 2

Koraaaaaaah Mataaaaaaah. KORAAAAAAAH RAHTAMAAAAAAAH!

Shocked into the waking world by the alarm, Kate clamped her ears shut with her hands until the choir stopped. Once the low strings began, she opened her eyes and saw her oversized surroundings. Her feelings of fear and trepidation matched the music for a bit, even as yesterday's events came back to her, until she remembered when Olivia stepped in.

The music started to get louder as Kate yawned and stretched, then crawled out of the mitten that she'd briefly assumed was a fluffy sleeping bag. She stood up, marveling for a bit that she was small enough to fit in a glove.

First thing's first, though. That music may not have been painfully loud, but it was still loud. She didn't have to look too far to find its source; just a Smartphone on the desk. Pressing the "dismiss" button on the touchscreen let the music give way to silence.

Yesterday, she'd been either trapped, sick, or otherwise too busy to really notice how big everything was. Now, though, she took in the oversized room for the first time. It was both familiar and not familiar, in that it looked like a believable room but was also so vastly large as to look almost alien to her.

The most obvious thing she noticed was the bunk bed occupying a good third of the room. She'd noticed it before, but somehow the fact that it was a bunk bed ended up as a minor detail in her mind. Even though the top bunk occupied the bulk of the room's decoration, the massive slab that was the top bunk supported by black metal pillars thicker than tree trunks.

Why a bunk bed? Olivia was an only child...right? There were no signs of siblings, at least. The top bunk didn't look like it had sheets... In fact, it didn't even have a mattress. Just a slab of fabric-lined plywood or...whatever it was. She could see house-sized boxes on top of it. Clear-ish storage boxes with…whatever it was in them.

Below that was Olivia herself, tucked under the covers. Black comforter with blue lines on it, like those lights in Olivia's "lair". The bumps formed by Olivia's body were like hills to her. Oddly enough, the bottom bunk looked wider than the top, in that it stuck out past the bed frame, and the mattress was oddly thin and low. Kate wondered what the story was there.

Before she could think about it too much, though, she felt a regrettably familiar pressure. She stepped over behind the stack of books, glad they hadn't moved from when Olivia built a bathroom out of them. The empty water bottle cap that had been used as a toilet was still there too, as was the square of toilet paper. Kate untied and discarded her improvised dress, since it would only get in the way.

The sound of the door opening made her freeze in her tracks, as did a somewhat-familiar woman's voice. "Olivia, time to get up," said the woman.

"Nnnn," groaned Olivia. "Five more minutes."

"No, now. You have to get ready for school. Come on."

Kate heard the shuffling of sheets and a light creaking of metal, signaling Olivia getting up. To what extent, Kate wasn't sure.

"Hurry up, young lady. You don't want to miss the bus again."

"Mm hmm," came Olivia's tired mumble.

Fortunately, the woman left. Kate heard more metal creaking, and then something like a drawer opening. Then there was a moment of silence, followed by footsteps and the door closing. And for a few more seconds, there was silence.

"Psst," came a frantic whisper. "Kate, you there?"

Nervously, Kate poked her head out from behind the books, spotting Olivia near the desk. "Over here," she said.

Olivia's face shifted from nervousness to relief. "Good," she whispered. "Look, I have school today, but I'm not leaving you alone. Mom doesn't leave for work until an hour after school starts, so we're gonna have to come up with something."

"She's a little strict, isn't she?"

"Not really. It's just that time of the month, is all." Olivia hesitated. "Um... Why are you naked?"

"Oh!" Kate ducked back in. "Bathroom. Dress. Sorry."

Olivia sighed. "Yeah, I get it. Been there, done that." She went over to her dresser and started taking out clothes. Kate used this opportunity to go.

"So, I might hide you in the lair and then skip class. We're gonna have to work out a clever hiding place, though. I'm not gonna risk Mom finding you and turning into Elizabeth 2: Darker and Edgier."

Kate waited to respond until she was done and dressed. "So what's the plan?" she asked, coming out of her hiding place. Olivia had dressed herself in a black longsleeved shirt with a stylized bird and triangle on it, and a pair of jeans. She was on the bed slipping socks on at the moment.

"Best I can think of," said Olivia, "is taking you with me, hiding between here and the bus stop, then coming home when Mom's gone. Of course, Murphy's Law and all that."

"What about your dad?"

"He leaves early, but he gets home early too. ...before I get home, actually. Damn."

"There a plan B?"

"Leave you here and hope nothing happens. That's plan B. And I'm really not comfy with that one."

"Me neither." Kate sighed.

And then Kate felt the growl of her stomach. "...um..."

"Hm?"

"I'm kinda hungry, actually."

"Right." Olivia put on a hooded sweater jacket, one that was gray and had a circle with a rectangle in the lower half and had the words "Black Mesa" under it. "We'll get some Poptarts on the way out. You good to move around?"

"I think so. If I throw up again..." She shuddered at the thought.

"I think you'll be good on that." Olivia slipped her other shoe on and stood up. "Alright. The only way I can think of for getting past Mom without her seeing you is hiding you in a pocket or in my backpack, and I'm pretty sure you're not going for the backpack."

"Damn right," said Kate. Memory of the purse came back up immediately.

"Olivia! Quit talking to yourself and hurry up!"

Kate panicked and pressed herself to the books while Olivia yelled, "I'm getting dressed, Mom!" She put her hand down on the desk, whispering "Hurry" to Kate. Kate nodded and hopped into the hand. With no time to plan, as the door was opening, Olivia moved her hand into her hoodie's pocket, taking Kate with it.

"Looks like you are dressed," said Olivia's mother. "Hurry up and get in the car."

"The... The car?" said Olivia nervously. "What about the bus?"

"I called your teacher last night. Apparently you skipped school a couple times while we were gone. So I'm driving you today."

Olivia resisted the urge to roll her eyes and picked up her backpack with her free hand. "Okay," she said grudgingly.

The two of them headed for the car, Olivia skipping brushing her teeth but grabbing a headband for her hair. Olivia wanted to sit in the back, but with a groan, she listened to her mother and sat in the front passenger seat. The drive was only fifteen minutes long, and Olivia was on her way to class. But she made sure to duck into the bathroom for a moment, making sure nobody was there.

She'd known for the entire trip up that Kate was trembling and had tried rubbing the smaller girl's back, but taking the small girl out of her pocket only made her realize how scared Kate had been. Kate was curled up in a ball, eyes wide and teary, making the occasional whimper. She looked traumatized.

Olivia's own eyes widened. "Oh my gosh! Kate, I'm sorry! I didn't mean-"

"No," said Kate, shaky. "I-it's okay, I know w...why you... There wasn't time t... I-I don't like the pocket."

"I'm sorry. If I'd known Mom was gonna drive me here, I would've went with Plan B."

Kate nodded weakly, closing and rubbing her eyes.

"We... We're going home. If sitting in a pocket for 15 minutes is enough to give you PTSD, you're not gonna make it through a day of classes."

"Olivia!" came an unfamiliar voice, right after the sound of the door opening.

"Shit." Olivia moved so she was against the wall, Kate in hand hiding behind her back, hidden from the speaker. It had been a girl, but Kate didn't see her. She clung to Olivia's hand.

"Hey, Nicole," said Olivia. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Just saying hi. Say, what was the research paper about in English?"

"Uh... Mark Twain." It wasn’t. She just wanted Nicole gone.

"Right. Got it." She disappeared into a stall. "See you in class."

Olivia moved Kate around so they could look each other in the eyes. "Kate, I'm sorry," she whispered. "I... Wait. I know where you can go." She pulled up her hood and put Kate in her hair. "Hang on tight," she said to the mirror. Knowing Olivia could see her, Kate nodded, gripping Olivia's hair for dear life.

What happened next was Olivia ducking out of the school and sneaking between cars, until she got to a city bus stop that couldn't be seen from the school. Kate saw bits of the world go by as she kept herself pressed flat against Olivia's head, trying to make herself less visible. And trying to ignore that, while this was better than the pocket, hiding in Olivia's hood with next to no visibility was very similar to the purse.

Eventually, a bus arrived. The bus driver looked at Olivia oddly. "Shouldn't you be at school?" he said?

"Does it matter? I'm paying, aren't I?"

Kate saw the man shrug and heard him say nothing more. Olivia paid the fare and took her seat near the back.

Olivia moved her hand to take Kate off her head and put her on her shoulder, careful that nobody would see. "Grab my hair," she whispered. Kate herself was reluctant to let go of the top of Kate's head but complied, wrapping a cluster of hair around her arm and trying to press herself into the recesses of Olivia's hood as best she could.

But it still took almost an hour to get close enough to home to walk the rest of the way. Even so, Olivia ended up getting off at a further stop and walked over to a grassy area. Nobody was around, so Olivia spoke up. "How you holding up?"

Kate still had a tight grip on Olivia's hair. "Good," she said. "More or less. Hungry."

"Sorry about that."

Olivia walked down a slope to an area not visible from the road, and slumped against a tree. She looked left and right before reaching up to take her hood off. Kate had mixed feelings about this; on the one hand, she was glad to be free of the enclosed space, but on the other, people could see her if they walked by.

"So..." said Olivia. "What's Maine like?"

"What?"

"Maine. I've never been there, so I'm wondering what it's like."

Kate paused at the randomness of the question and was going to call Olivia out on it, but ultimately decided not to. It would do good to talk about something else. She thought about it for a little bit before answering. "Well, it's kinda... I dunno. There's... Well I didn't really go places that much except school, but there's a sort of old feel to parts of town. And there's the ocean wind, which is nice. The air's pretty good up there."

"Uh huh..." Olivia said encouragingly.

"School was okay. I mean there were assholes like Elizabeth, but for the most part everyone was okay. And the neighborhood... It was pretty quiet. Sorry if I'm not good at making it sound good."

"No no, it's fine. I'd be hard-pressed to describe here to you, and we're here now."

"Yeah. You grow up used to something, it's kinda hard to describe."

"So, what about you? What grade are you in?"

"Oh, uh, junior. Eleventh."

"Cool. Same here."

"Really? You look like a freshman."

"Well I'm sixteen and I skipped a grade."

This confused Kate. "But I know some sixteen year old juniors. My friend Rienne's in my grade and she's 16, and she never skipped a grade."

"It really depends on the birthday, really. If I didn't test up a grade, I'd be a sophomore. I'll bet this... Rienne...turns 17 before March, that's probably why."

"Ah huh... So when's your birthday?"

"June 23. You?"

"November 8. I'm 17."

"Ah, cool. You drive?"

"Yeah. I got a 2001 Chrysler Sebring. You?"

"Oh, uh... Mom uses my car. That '08 Ford Mustang GT. It's a pretty good car, 'cept Mom basically got it for her. For my birthday."

"Yeesh. That's harsh."

Olivia nodded, which caused Kate's handhold to shake. "Mom's not too good at the whole gift thing. Sure it was my pick, but pretty much the reason she got it is so she wouldn't have to carpool with Dad or the neighbors. I don't even get to use much, even on the weekends."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. Sucks." Olivia hesitated for a second. "Hey, you wanna get off my shou-"

"Yes please," Kate said quickly.

Olivia reached up and held her hand flat for Kate, who dropped onto it and was moved over to Olivia's knee.

"'fraid of heights?" asked Olivia.

"Oh, uh, not... Well, maybe. I... I know you're what, five feet tall or something? But to me it's like five stories, even when you're sitting down. I'm not really eager to find out if it hurts just as bad."

"It might," said Olivia, "but then there's the Square Cube Law to think about."

"The what now?"

"Square Cube Law. If you take something and make it twice as big while keeping its proportion, it has 8 times its original volume. Increasing the mass proportionally means it'd be 8 times heavier. Same in reverse; make something half as tall, and it has one eighth its original volume."

Olivia looked down at Kate and saw that the smaller girl was incredibly confused.

"Um... It's like this. A cube with 1-inch sides has a volume of 1 sq-"

"I get the math. I'm just wondering where the term you used came from."

"Eh. I pick up words sometimes. Plenty more where that came from. Though I'd rather not show you unless you have a few hours of spare time. It's a little distracting."

"Well I kinda don't have anywhere to be right now. I've got time."

"Well... Alright. But don't say I didn't warn you."

"Warn me? What, is it porn or something?"

"No, it's safe for work. It's just really distracting. It's like Wikipedia for fiction."

"Uh huh," said Kate, more puzzled than anything.

Olivia decided to change the subject. "So, uh... Do you like video games?"

Kate was a little reluctant to say no, but she did anyway.

"Aw. ...Well, what about movies? Any movies you like?"

"Well... I kinda like the Harry Potter movies."

"Ah." Unfortunately, Olivia wasn't exactly a fan of Harry Potter, but she was reluctant to say so. More reluctant than Kate, as it turned out, since she kept it to herself. "What about TV?"

"Well... I don't really watch TV all that much."

"Yeah, me neither." She looked around again for people, and found nobody. "So...sports...?"

"Hmph," smirked Kate. "Varsity tennis." Then her smirk faded. "Er, former varsity tennis."

Olivia frowned at that. "I'm sorry."

"For what? It's not your fault I'm the same size as the ball." She crossed her arms. "Great, now I'm upset again." And then her stomach growled again. "And hungry," she added.

Olivia reached into her hoodie pocket (the one Kate hadn't been in) and took out her cell phone for a second. "Well, it's probably time now," she said. "We should be able to get home without Mom seeing." She held out her hand again, and Kate slipped onto it, sitting down and leaning back against Olivia's fingers. Olivia used her free hand to pick up her backpack and started walking up the slope and down the street.

Kate couldn't help but think, though. She didn't like enclosed spaces anymore, but being out like this was a major risk. She didn't want to go back into Olivia's pocket--not a chance in Hell--and being on Olivia's head and shoulder, she was in danger of falling (though her iron-clad grip suggested otherwise). And she sure didn't want people to find her, so she was at a loss of what she should do.

Still, though... It was kind of nice, sitting in Olivia's palm. There was a kind of warmth to it. Body heat, Kate reasoned. Which was welcome, since the air was kinda cold. Still, though, it shook with every step Olivia took, but she'd shaken with every step and every bump in the road for the last hour, so she was getting used to the mini-earthquakes.

A breeze picked up. To Olivia, it wouldn't have mattered much. To Kate, however, while the wind wasn't any stronger than before, it still chilled her skin and forced a shiver out of her. Why oh why did she think about the air temperature?

"Cold?" said Olivia.

Kate nodded and curled herself up.

"Here." And Olivia set her backpack down for a moment to pull up her sleeve so it was up to her palm, covering most of Kate like a sleeping bag. It was a lot warmer, and the wind stopped bothering her so much. "Better?"

"Yeah." Kate pulled the sleeve further up a little.

They followed the road as it curved for a bit, then went down a different road that branched out to the left.

"So..." started Kate. "When we get back to your place, what are we gonna do?"

"I dunno," said Olivia. "Try and figure something. Some way to keep you safe when I'm not home."

A minute of awkward silence followed before the road made a sharp left turn. Olivia didn't follow the turn, instead crossing to a house on the other side. Kate watched the one-story house approach, seeing its left edge (left from the street, anyway) lined with tall shrubbery, the driveway up a short hill to the garage that jutted forward to dominate the front of the house, the also hilled front yard to the right ending with the short, maybe waist-high fence separating the front from the back. The front door was recessed between the jutting garage and the rest of the house.

However, Olivia instead went to the backyard.

"Um... Olivia?"

"Door's locked."

"How do you know that? You didn't even check."

Olivia hesitated. "Let's just say this isn't the first time I've ditched school."

The backyard was quite large and had the frame of what looked like a wooden fort in one corner. The other corner, behind the house, had the wooden porch raised half a foot off the ground, with chairs and a table on it. The porch led to a sliding glass door. To that door's left was two windows, the furthest one being covered in black fabric from the inside while the second showed Olivia's bedroom.

"Nice yard," said Kate. "Now how do we get in?"

Olivia answered by sliding the second window open. It stopped after a few inches, though. "I can usually get in through here, but I block the window and it takes a little while getting it unstuck."

She set Kate down in the window. To Kate the sill was as wide as a sidewalk, sandwiched between a glass wall and a sheer drop. "And... how do I get down?"

"I'll set you down," said Olivia, slightly closing the window but not completely, "but first I gotta open the window. There's a dowel over there blocking it from opening too far. Just move it slightly so the end's not in the way."

Kate frowned, but went to move the dowel anyway. She supposed if she wanted things done faster. And the less time she spent on the ledge, the better. She put her hands around the end of the dowel--which was maybe four or five inches around to her--and lifted. It was a bit heavier than expected, but not too heavy for her; half the weight was still supported on the other end by the window.

Then Kate pulled backwards, just enough to get past the edge of the window. Olivia slid the window down past Kate, the window itself keeping the dowel from slipping back, and when the window was far enough, she reached in and gripped the dowel with her forefinger and thumb. "Thanks, Kate," she said. Kate took the hint and let go, and Olivia pulled the dowel out of the way further, setting it aside and sliding the window open completely.

Such a simple thing, removing a piece of wood from where it was blocking a window, but from Kate's perspective it all seemed complicated and massive, like lifting thick branches and watching cranes move heavy beams around.

Olivia put her hands on the window sill, crouched a bit, then jumped up, stomach against the window sill. She squirmed oddly, managing to get one knee up, then shifted onto both knees and shuffled her feet around. With a short jump, she landed on the floor, aiming towards the door so as not to crash into the bed pole.

For Kate, this was even more unnerving, seeing something so large move so fast. She could feel the impact from when Olivia hit the ground. Not to mention when Olivia was so close, she was still massive. A massive giant being who could do anyth-

No. Olivia wasn't like that. It was just Kate's nerves that was making her worry.

Olivia closed the window and put her hand next to Kate, who climbed onto it and was lowered to the desk. "Alright," said the bigger girl. "I'm gonna hit the bathroom real fast, then we'll think of things. 'Kay?"

Kate nodded. She was a little unnerved at being left alone, but the house was empty, so there shouldn't be any problem. Olivia went to the door and outside, leaving the door open. Kate could see the bathroom door from there, which Olivia disappeared into.

Kate glanced around the room again--the details the same as last time, though something seemed a little off --then sat down on the desk and thought to herself. What am I gonna do? I trust Olivia, but she's still a stranger to me. And... It's too easy for her to hurt me by accident. Or even just scare me. She shuddered remembering being back in the pocket. Dark, restrictive, barely able to see anything...

That thought broke off as Kate's stomach growled. Right, she didn't have breakfast. Things happened too fast. So, she had to wait here for a couple more minutes while Olivia finished u-

GRAB!

Kate screamed as she was gripped tightly, one arm pinned to her side, and lifted rather rapidly to stare at the face of an older woman, who was a mixture of perplexed and angry, shifting to full anger after a second.

The woman ignored Kate's screams entirely as she spoke. "Listen here. I don't care who or what you are, but you're convincing my daughter to cut class and you're inviting yourself into our home. I don't care what your story is, but you are not welcome here. Now we're going outside, and you will crawl back to wherever you came from, and if I ever see you around here again, I'll-"

"MOM, STOP!"

The woman turned to see Olivia glaring. Olivia's hand was out. "Give."

"Oh no," said Olivia's mother, spinning to face her daughter. "You are not keeping some troublemaking pixie around just-"

"GIVE! She did NOT come here by her choice OR mine, but as long as she IS here, I will keep her SAFE. From YOU most of all! Now GIVE!"

The mother and daughter had a staredown for a few seconds. Kate had stopped screaming but was still in a panic at the mother's behavior. She turned to see Olivia’s anger and...worry?

"Fine!" said the mother, spitting the words. She then abruptly threw Kate sideways onto Olivia's bed. "I expect an answer out of you, and coun-"

"WHY would you DO that!?" shouted Olivia as she practically lunged over the bed frame to where Kate had landed.

Physically, Kate wasn't hurt as badly as anyone would've thought. She'd have a sprained arm and a sore neck, but nothing she wouldn't fully recover from. No, her mental state was much, much worse. Hurtling through the air at freeway speeds, landing and bouncing of the bed only to crash into a pillow, certain she was going to die from this, and screaming the entire time... The only thing on Kate's mind was sheer terror.

To where Kate didn't even notice at first that Olivia had picked her up and was holding her close, trying to comforter her. "Oh God, please be okay," said Olivia. "Oh God oh God oh God oh God please be okay please be okay..." Olivia pulled Kate even closer, resting the tiny girl over her heart and gently rubbing her back with her thumb.

Eventually, Kate stopped screaming and resorted to sobbing instead.

"It's okay," said Olivia, her words filled with the weight of an unbreakable oath. "I won't let anyone hurt you. Ever."