Perspectives

Chapter 17

"H-holy shit." Piper breathed, the vertigo hit her like a truck as she looked down at the ground far below. This was highest up she'd been since waking up in this gigantic world, and this time she didn't even have Kalen's huge hand there to prevent her from falling to her death. Piper felt sure she'd been in higher places while back on Earth, but in those circumstances there had always been something between her and a long fall to a quick demise. Now the only thing keeping her from plummeting down to the floor below, was her own ability to remain balanced on the shoulder she now stood on.

 "T-this is high." Piper couldn't keep the squeak out of her voice. Kalen chuckled, his head was turned slightly to the right so that he could see Piper out of the corner of his eye. 

Feeling as though she would end up tripping over her own feet and be sent tumbling off of Kalen's shoulder any second, Piper scurried over to Kalen's neck, placing a hand on the warm skin to give herself at least some sort of steadiness. As awkward as it was for her to be standing so near to his face, Piper figured it was better than the alternative. 

"You're not afraid of heights, are you?" Kalen asked, taking note of the small hand pressed against the side of this neck. 

Face slightly reddening, Piper scoffed unconvincingly. "I am perfectly fine." She lied. 

Kalen's smirk made it clear he had found her lie no more believable than Piper had herself. "Good, then you won't mind if I walk around a bit." He said roguishly, and before Piper could cry out in adamant protest, Kalen was in motion.

Piper let out a sharp gasp as the very thing she stood on began to move. She found herself wobbling dangerously, something that would surely result in her falling over the edge if she didn't find a means of steadying herself. Desperate, Piper threw herself against Kalen's neck, practically hugging the thing in order keep herself from pitching off the edge. Piper felt a low laugh reverberate through Kalen's throat, a surreal and alarming sensation that did nothing to ease her frantic nerves.

"Relax Piper, you're not going to fall." Kalen told her, continuing his slow pace around the room. 

"Easy for you to say!" Piper shouted back venomously. "You're not the one 70 feet up in the air, balancing on a fucking shoulder!" Piper couldn't see his eyes from where she stood right up against the side of his neck, but she was almost certain Kalen had rolled his eyes in response.

"Listen, if you fall, I'll catch you." Kalen assured her, finally halting his steps to try to catch a glimpse of the girl clinging to his neck. "Now would you stop hanging onto my neck like some kind of koala bear or something?"

Piper could feel her face heating up in chagrin,  the last thing she wanted was to appear all scared and clingy. Feeling entirely foolish, she instantly pushed away from Kalen's neck, brushing herself off as if she could brush away her own embarrassing behavior.  

"Now, just take in the view." Piper heard Kalen say, however it went almost entirely ignored by the girl as she finally fully appreciated her surroundings. 

"Wow." She breathed as she looked down at the room around her, pushing down the unease that came with the sight of the floor so far down. From up near Kalen's eye level, everything looked so much less...well giant sized. If Piper forgot how big she actually was, from up here she could almost imagine she was Kalen's size, and that everything was properly proportioned. Piper glanced down at the floor where the leg of the bed stood. She recalled standing next to it yesterday, it had been taller than her. From here it looked so much smaller. Piper swallowed hard. I must look so tiny to him. She thought.

"Finally seeing things from my perspective?" Kalen asked, his voice soft. Despite herself, Piper let a small smile form on her lips. 

And then a sound like bomb being dropped directly outside the room exploded against Piper's ears. She let out a hiss of pain, clutching at her ears and stumbling forward as the deafening sound echoed against her eardrums. Too late Piper realized the mistake she had made as her feet suddenly found themselves with no ground beneath them. A scream tore through Piper's throat as she was sent plummeting through open air, down to the waiting floor below. She saw something massive move past her, and the last thing she heard before she was knocked unconscious, was the shout of her name.

~

While unsurprised by the fact that it would be storming, considering the sky had been quickly darkening when he had returned from lunch, the loud clap of thunder overhead still caused him to jolt slightly at the sound. He figured the lightning must have struck fairly nearby for it to have been that forceful.  

Piper's weight on his shoulder had been so minimal, he hadn't even noticed her light presence leaving until he heard the blood chilling scream. Kalen whipped his head to the side just in time to see a tiny body hurtling down past his chest. He could practically feel the adrenaline kick in as his hand shot out, catching Piper just as she fell past his waist. 

Kalen cringed at the way the body struck his hand, knowing the impact would be painful to the small girl. He cursed himself for not having moved his hand down with her momentum to soften the blow. 

Carefully, Kalen raised his hand up to his face. She laid motionless on his palm, her tiny chest rising and falling softly with unconscious breath. Kalen felt a wave of guilt wash over him at the sight. As roughly as he often handled her, his intention had never been to seriously injure her, he wasn't sadistic. 

As Kalen looked down at her, he once again took notice of how vulnerable she looked unconscious. Awake, she was so guarded, constantly on the defensive, but asleep that all faded away. Just looking at her in his hand, he never would have known what a spitfire she really was.

Kalen released a long sigh, his breath ruffling Piper's long brown hair. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "This situation is so fucked." He muttered.

Taking slow careful steps, Kalen made his way over to his bed and lowered Piper down onto one of the pillows. Her minimal weight barely made a dent on the plush surface. 

Kalen figured now the only thing to do was wait for her come to. It wasn't as though he'd be able to administer any medical care to her with her being so damn tiny, not that he would know how anyway. Kalen wasn't even sure how a human would react to Amasisian medications, and it wasn't something he was willing to test out on a whim.

Quickly, Kalen gathered his bed clothes and headed towards the bathroom to take a shower that would likely do little to relax his tensions. He took one last long look at Piper before slipping through the door.