Perspectives

Chapter 13

Piper had never even in her strangest dreams imagined she would encounter a giant, let alone sit down and watch a movie with one. And yet, that was what she was doing right now. After turning on the massive screen that made up the east wall, Kalen ordered it to begin playing some movie with a title she didn't recognize, not that she expected to.

From the looks of it, the movie was some kind of action thriller. The opening scene consisted of a group of soldiers dressed entirely in black bursting into what looked like some kind of cliched criminal mastermind meeting. The action sequence that played out had special effects that were absolutely stunning, probably better than even the highest quality movie back home. These giants really did have more advanced technology, even for movie effects. Piper scowled internally, it wasn't enough that they were gigantic, but they had to have super high tech everything too.

"Is this anything like the movies you have in your dimension?" Kalen asked suddenly, startling Piper out of her brooding thoughts.

Piper glanced at the screen as the title card showed, displaying the title Order X in bold black text. From what she'd seen so far, it was certainly reminiscent of the action movies they had back home. She nodded in response to Kalen's question, "Yeah, seems pretty similar so far."

"I thought I read somewhere that humans watch all of their movies in public theater houses." Kalen pondered, glancing upwards as if trying to remember some forgotten information.

Piper crossed her arms across her chest and glared up at Kalen's  distant face. "How is it you know so much about humans?" She demanded, finally voicing the niggling concern she'd had ever since Kalen had expressed an unusual level of knowledge about humans. Considering she hadn't even known different dimensions existed, nor did she think any human did, it was rather strange Kalen seemed to know even little details about human movie watching habits. 

As Kalen glanced down at her, Piper could instantly tell he had become guarded: this was a thorny subject. "That's really not information for you to know." He informed her sharply. 

Piper rolled her eyes, "Oh for god's sake, apparently everything is secretive with you stupid giants." Things here were becoming increasingly more suspicious. These giants seemed to just casually know so much about humans, and how could they if they'd never been to Earth before. Surely someone would have noticed if giants were walking around, getting close enough to observe human behavior. 

Piper shivered, the image of Kalen strolling through her town, stepping on cars like they were toys and towering over her house made her feel slightly ill. 

Kalen rolled his eyes and returned his gaze to the movie. "Stop calling us giants, you're the tiny ones." He said without glancing down. Piper gave a derisive snort, though in her current environment, she certainly didn't feel like the normal one. 

Head still churning with questions and concerns, Piper brought her eyes back to the screen just as a petite redheaded actress appeared on screen. The image instantly struck a sharp pang of guilt and homesickness through her. The actress on screen shared a slight yet still painful resemblance to Piper's best and only friend. She had been meant to be waiting for Naomi when she had passed out. They were supposed to go see a movie together. 

Guilt poured over Piper. All this time she had been so concerned with herself, she had forgotten to even consider what she had left behind on Earth. Naomi would have come out of the school looking for her, would she think she had ditched her? Would she think something had happened to her? Piper had no idea how much time had passed back home compared to here, but she was sure that by now Piper's parents must have realized something was wrong. They'd be worried sick and she'd be reported missing. 

Kalen must have looked down and noticed Piper's pale expression as he suddenly prodded her in the shoulder with one the tip of his pointer finger. Piper yelped at the contact and instantly pulled away from the offending digit, gripping her left hand tightly over the place where the finger had touched her.

At Piper's indignant glare, Kalen shrugged. "You looked like you were staring at a ghost." He told her. She gave no response, she wasn't about to pour out her feelings to this guy, this giant that had been little more than her jailer and tormentor since she'd woken up in this godforsaken place. She doubted he'd even care.

The remainder of the movie was spent mostly in silence. Piper wasn't paying much attention to it, she found it difficult to do more than imagine what was happening back home. None of her imaginings were very pleasant. 

~

As the credits began to scroll down the screen, Kalen turned to look down at the human sitting on the left side of his bed. However instead sitting leaned back against the pillow with her knees pulled up to her chest as she had been when last Kalen glanced at her, Piper was now curled up with her back towards him. 

Kalen had to lean in closer in order to properly distinguish the fact that her eyes were in fact shut, her breathing slow. She'd fallen asleep. Kalen had to admit, he was surprised. She was so guarded and uptight around him, he hadn't expected her to allow herself the even greater vulnerability falling asleep caused. 

Lying unconscious like that, tightly curled up, she looked even smaller, if that was possible. Kalen still found it difficult to grasp that such minuscule beings could actually be living and functional. She looked like a stiff wind would blow her away. 

Kalen really had no love for humans, he had always looked down on them. Every textbook he'd ever read had assured him Amasisians were considerably superior to humans, and it was a sentiment that was shared among most everyone. And yet as Kalen looked down on the sleeping human curled up on his bed, he realized there was perhaps more to humans than the government would have him believe. 

Kalen was wrenched out of his thoughts by a sharp knock on his bedroom door. "Sir, your father is requesting your presence for lunch." Natali's voice informed him from the other side of the door. "I believe he has made arrangements at a nearby restaurant."

A low groan escaped Kalen. He was not in the mood to be spending a meal with his father, especially when he knew the real reason behind it was his father's desire to ensure that his son wouldn't embarrass him at the council meeting. However, denying the request was not option. "I will be down shortly." Kalen called back with a sigh.

"Very well, sir." Natali replied before the sound of her clicking heels on the hard floor announced her departure.

Kalen turned his attention back to Piper's unconscious form. Obviously he couldn't bring her with him out of the house, and leaving he out in the open was far too risky for many reasons. He would have to shut her away in the bedside table once again, something Piper would not be pleased about once she woke up, not that her happiness was any of his concern really.

Unwilling to wake the sleeping human, lest she raise a huge stink about his locking her away again, Kalen used the utmost care and precision as he slowly slipped his fingers beneath Piper's limp body. 

A barely audible murmur escaped Piper as Kalen fully gathered her into the palm of his hand. Never before when picking her up had Kalen used such gentleness, it was unusual to be carrying her without his fingers wrapped entirely around her body.

Slowly Kalen moved his hands towards his bedside table. Using his free hand, Kalen tugged open the drawer, being careful not to make too much noise when doing so. With the drawer open, Kalen cautiously lowered his hand inside. Once his palm was near enough to the bottom of the drawer, Kalen used his other hand to help slide the human easily off his palm and into the confines of the drawer. 

With one final look at the sleeping girl, Kalen slid the drawer shut. He then quickly changed into clothing more suited for public appearances and slipped out of his bedroom to meet his father downstairs, leaving the human slumbering away within the bedside table.