Miniature

"I'm really sorry about this," he told her, grabbing some scotch tape from the middle drawer in his desk. Lena's tears had quieted down, and she watched James hopelessly, not knowing what it was he was holding, but feeling as though it couldn't be good. Why did he even bother apologizing to her? He could drop the act, she wasn't going to fall for it. He tore off a tiny piece and went to place it over her mouth. "What are you doing?" she screeched turning her head to the side to avoid the tape.

"I'm really sorry, but I can't trust you to be quiet yet," James told her in an almost whisper. He picked her up in his hand. She started to struggle but he held her arms easily against her torso and her head between his thumb and forefinger. He used his other hand to place the tape over her mouth. She started moaning as soon as he did so, the only sound she could make with her lips held smashed together the way they were.

He then maneuvered her arms in front of her body, knowing he had to tape them up as well so she couldn't remove the tape from her mouth. She moaned and struggled against him, but he easily taped up her wrists. They were so delicate in his hand, and he knew he could easily break her fragile bones if he wanted to. James felt guilty at how easy it was to subdue her. She was so weak compared to him, she didn't even have a fighting chance. James felt like a bully, but consoled himself by saying he was doing it for her own good, and he would let her out in a few hours.

"James, come on!" his mother called him.

"Hold on a second," he shouted back.

He didn't want to tape up her feet as well, but if his mother could just as easily hear her moving around, and that would defeat the whole purpose. Her ankles were the easiest thing to tape up since her arms were no longer able to try and stop him, as pathetic as the attempts were.

"Look," he told her as he held her in his hands, "I'm going to be back in a few hours and then I'll take the tape off, okay? Just try and take a nap or something. I'm really sorry," he told her, but knew his apology was wasted as she looked up at him with pure hatred in her eyes.

He set her down on top of his t-shirt in the drawer and gently closed it. He grabbed the key he never used and locked the drawer shut, slipping the key into his pocket.

He started to leave and close his bedroom door behind him, but paused for a moment. He fought the urge to back and check on her. She'll be fine, he told himself, and he went to mow the lawn.

During that time he tried to rationalize what he was doing. On the one hand, he was protecting her. She could so easily be attacked by an animal out there in the woods, and who knew how far away her home even was? She could get lost.

But then again, what right did he have to try and decide what was best for her? He would never dream of taping up a normal size woman and keeping her locked up in his home, so didn't this tiny girl deserve the same consideration? But then on the other hand, she was tiny. She was different and therefore needed special consideration and different treatment. It wasn't like he hadn't offered to take her home. He would escort her home if only she would trust him. But she didn't trust him. And he hadn't helped matters either by locking her up in the drawer either. But what else could he do? She would try and escape if he didn't lock her up.

James had to admit to himself that he was endlessly intrigued by the tiny woman. He didn't want to just let her leave and try to make her way home. For one, he would never know if she had made it safely, but also he would never see her again or learn more about her. He felt as though he had discovered something magical. She was like a myth, and would anyone just let something so unusual leave never to be seen again?

James finally finished his chore and made his way upstairs. He could hear his parents watching a movie in the den, and knew that he could make a reasonable amount of noise without them hearing it. He was hot and sweaty and knew that he needed a shower, but he couldn't wait to check on his little ward. What if she had been a dream after all?

She was real all right, he saw as he opened the drawer. She was lying exactly where he had left her. She had her head turned away from him, and didn't look as he pulled out the drawer.

"Hi," was all he could think to say as he pulled her slight body out of the drawer. He immediately noticed that she was wet, but it took him a second to realize what it was. She must have had to pee while he was outside. And for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, he was wracked with feelings of guilt. He had left her with no other option than to pee on herself.

"I'm sorry, Lena," he told her sincerely. She needed something else to wear, and he immediately thought of his sister's old barbies in the attic. She was exactly Barbie sized, but with more realistic proportions.

He pulled the tape off her ankles. She didn't fight him this time, but he saw her wince when he pulled the tape off her skin. He was in too much of a hurry to think of how it would hurt when he took the tape off, but now he decided that the tape had been an overall bad idea. He then pulled the tape off her wrists.

"This is going to hurt a little," he said when he got to the tape on her mouth. "But it'll be best if I just do it quickly." He grabbed a corner of the tape and winced himself as he pulled it off her soft flesh. Her lips were slightly puffy and the skin around them was a blushy pink. James would have preferred that she yell at him the second he took the tape off, but she stayed stonily silent. She continued to refuse to look at him.

"Ill be right back," he told her setting her back down in the drawer, but he didn't close it this time. The walls were higher than her head, and he would only be gone a few minutes. He took his shirt with him and threw it in the laundry and quickly washed his hands.

His second stop was the attic where he pulled out the box of barbies and clothes. He knew which boxes the things were in since the Barbie dream house was sitting right next to them. There were some fancy ball gowns, but he passed those right up. He grabbed a pair of pants, but they had a little snap in them and were made to fit barbie's waist, and there was no way Lena would be able to snap those shorts shut. The next thing he saw was a pair of shorts that had an elastic band in them, so he grabbed those. They were a bright pink with pale green triangle print on them and looked very eighties, but they looked like they would fit Lena perfectly. He grabbed the first top he saw, which was a pink cloth. He briefly looked for some sort of underwear, but gave up, figuring that Barbie would have little need for underwear. He filled a small dish of water from the bathroom and broke off a piece of soap and stuck it in the water. He also grabbed a washcloth before leaving.

He sighed when he saw little hands grasping the top of the drawer. Lena was obviously trying to pull herself out of the drawer while he was gone. She must have then heard him coming, for hands dropped out of sight, and he found her sitting stoically against the wall of the drawer.

"I brought you a bath and a change of clothes," he told her as he set the stuff down on the desk. He had to think for a moment about how to give her some privacy. He didn't want to leave her alone in the whole open room. He perversely thought for a moment about just watching her take her bath, but quickly pushed the tempting idea out of his head. He had made the poor girl suffer enough already today.

He decided to just let her get herself cleaned up in the drawer. He set the water down inside and the washcloth down next to it. He also put laid the Barbie clothes in with her.

He knew he would have to close the drawer to give her some privacy. He quickly walked over to his closet and grabbed a flashlight, turning it on he also set it next to her. "I'm going to close the door, okay. The flashlight is in there so you can see." He told her gently. Lena didn't look at him or respond, but he slowly closed the drawer anyway, being careful not to spill jostle anything.

"Can you see in there?" he called, but of course she didn't answer. She wasn't speaking to him. He went and sat down on the bed, deciding to give her ten minutes. He thought about her taking off her dress and washing her supple, little body in the dish of water.

"You're such a perv," he told himself quietly, shaking the image out of his head. The girl was nine inches tall for crying out loud!

"Okay, I'm going to open the drawer now," he called to her after ten minutes. She didn't answer, and he gave here one more minute before carefully pulling the drawer back out. She was sitting quietly in the corner, only she was wearing the shorts and shirt he had given her. Her knees were pulled up in front of her body with her head resting on them, her arms hugging her legs.

Her old clothes were sitting next to the towel and water. And he took the all out and set them on his desktop. He put her old clothes on top of the washcloth, intending to wash them later.

He looked at the clock and realized that it was almost six, and the suddenly thought how hungry he was. Then he felt like such a jerk. This poor girl was probably starving.

"I'm going to get you some food," he told her quickly, feeling guilty for not having thought of it sooner.

"Hey big brother," his sister, Jaime, walked in the front door just as he was grabbing food for himself and Lena.

"Hey dork," he told her, piling different food up in his arms. He wasn't sure what Lena would like, so he got a very little bit of everything. She wouldn't be able to eat that much, though.

"What are you doing?" Jaime asked as she pulled out a bag of chips and started snacking on them.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting a snack," he told her, pulling a couple baby carrots out of the bag in the fridge.

"Since when do you like carrots?" she asked incredulously.

"I love carrots," he told her, popping one in his mouth to make his point. "Mmm," he said as he chewed it and swallowed it, all the while thinking how much he hated carrots.

"Whatever," Jaime shrugged, turning away to go watch some T.V.

"Whatever," James said back to her, taking his loot and going back upstairs.