Shrunken Trust

Chapter 2

"WHAT THE-" It screeched.

Paxton backed away from the yell, all the way to the wall. It covered itself with its coat. For how tiny it was, it sure could scream. Paxton's breathing became harsh breaths of panic. The cave was still in the box but moved a bit. It crawled into it for safety.
Once out of sight, Paxton began to calm down. Now knowing what it was, he wanted to see it again. Paxton made his way to his bag and pulled out a cracker. He was unsure if it would actually take it or not. Paxton gently placed the cracker in the glass box, went a couple of steps back, and sat down, he didn't want to scare it anymore.
He watched as it slowly poked its head out. It looked straight at Paxton, glaring, and glanced at the cracker. It went back into the cave for a bit and poked its head out again. Once it gained confidence, it walked over to the cracker. Now Paxton could see that it wore a light blue shirt with the white coat, which Paxton soon realized was a lab coat, and a pair of grey pants. It also had a pair of black shoes as well. It slowly grabbed the cracker and broke off a piece.
"Thank you." It nodded over to him. It sat down and started munching on the cracker. Not daring to take its eyes off Paxton.
"Wh- what are you?" Paxton asked at last. He made sure to say it quietly. He watched as the person nodded.
"Human." It replied. It paused, staring at the cracker piece. "Just, accidentally... trusted the wrong people. If you don't mind me asking, where are we?" It asked.
"We're in Irel-" Paxton told it before being cut off. The person's eyes widened.
"Ireland, bloody hell, first they do this then they send me here!? Those, those..." It trailed off. "What's your name?" It sharply asked. Paxton was a bit surprised at the question.
"Paxton, you?"
"Maxwell. I apologize for yelling earlier, it's just that I haven't seen anyone in, well, years." Paxton watched as Maxwell started pacing. It was weird watching a tiny person. He noticed that he still cowered at the wall. Paxton didn't want to scare Maxwell, so he just scooted a little closer.
"How long is 'years'?" He asked. Maxwell stopped pacing.
"I think around four or six years." Maxwell sat down. Paxton's eyes widened. Six years, this tiny person in front of him has lived like this for over four years alone!
"I've been tiny for more like seventeen... Also, when you first came here, that lock that you broke. It was only here for about two months. Some kid came and locked me in here. How the hell did you break it without anything to cut it?"
"I...must have been lucky." Paxton avoided the conversation. Maxwell took this and resumed eating the cracker. Paxton stood up and grabbed the pack of crackers out of his bag. When he turned around, Maxwell stared at him with fear.
"M-man you're tall..." Maxwell squeaked and started scooting away. Hearing this and seeing the fear, Paxton sat down in an instant.
"This better?"
"Yeah, again I apologize."
"It's nothing to apologize for." Paxton looked around the room, trying to avoid eye contact.
An awkward silence filled the air for a few moments. Paxton quietly fidgeted with his fingers. He didn't think this was real.
"I know it sounds weird, but could I touch you?" Paxton finally broke the stiff silence. Maxwell tensed a little at the question.
"S-sure," Maxwell felt himself feel closer and closer to his height as Paxton stood up. He closed his eyes as a massive hand grew closer.
Paxton lightly pets the fluffy hair. He was surprised at how soft it felt. Maxwell flinched at the touch, but it was warm, so he accepted the pets. 'Woah, h-he is real' Paxton thought.
Paxton felt weird petting Maxwell. He pulled away and sat down. They both didn't know what to do in the awkward silence.
Paxton eventually remembered the time and had to leave. It felt wrong leaving Maxwell there, but they were both uncomfortable with the idea of carrying him. Paxton would quite literally have life in his hands. Either way, he headed home and took a nap.

Late at night, Paxton was the only one awake in the household. He was up thinking about what happened that day, with Maxwell. It wasn't safe for him there, Paxton needed to get him out safely. But how?
"What would Clare do? What would she do?" Paxton held his head in his hands. "Maybe Tupperware, but then I would be shaking him when I walk... what will I do when he gets here?" Paxton got up and looked around his room. He didn't see anything he could use. 'Dad wanted to do a project with me, what if we built a house?' Paxton thought. 'Oh, then we could have railings around my room! And when he gets bored he could go to Clare's room through the hole in the wall!' Paxton smiled at his plan. "Oooooh, this is gonna be fun!" Paxton whispered to himself. He immediately started drawing plans.

The next day, Paxton's dad walks into his room and is stunned by the look of it. Scraps of paper and toilet paper tubes were scattered around, his son was sleeping on his desk with his head buried in papers. He takes one of these papers and inspects it. It looked like some sort of auto-balancer or something. He set the paper down and gently shook Paxton awake.
"Huh... daaad its wayyy too earlyyyyy." Paxton looked up and set his head back on the desk.
"Come on bud, you've slept through half the day already." He shook his son again, but Paxton didn't need it. The sound of the day being wasted terrified him. Paxton shot up like a rocket.
"ITS NOON?!" Paxton basically yelled. His father nodded.
"Just about. Now, why don't you say we do a little project together?" He replied, pointing at the paper from before. Paxton thought about it, he nodded in reply. Paxton hopped up from his chair and gathered his papers. The two then set off to the backyard shed to begin working.