Leave a Note

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    "Wesley!" Kida cried, "Can you hide me?"
    Wesley stopped mid-bite from his PB & J. "Why? What's wrong?" Wesley asked.
    "Princeton said he's going to kill me!" she said.
    Wesley laughed. "He says that a lot, lass. I wouldn't worry."
    Tears formed in her eyes as she begged for her life. "Please!"
    When she could hear his footsteps getting closer, she dropped to her knees.  "Please Wes!"
    Wesley looked down at the tiny woman on the tabletop with alarm. He knew Princeton had a temper, but he doubted he'd ever actually hurt anyone, let alone Kida. But she normally brushed off his brutish taunts and had a snide comment of her own. She was never one to beg, and he hadn't seen her this scared since the day they'd met.
    She'd expected them to kill her then as well.
    They weren't sure how, but somehow she'd managed to get through the mystical gates between her world and theirs. Those very gates had been created to keep the secret of the giants' existence safe from the humans. It shouldn't have been passable, not by giant and especially not by human. So it seemed cruel to bring an end to her life for merely stumbling into a situation that wasn't anyone's fault. Thus, they did what they thought was the next logical thing to do: take her to their home and hold her captive. At least until they figured out how to make sure she kept their secret safe. She'd promised time and time again to keep her mouth shut. If the secret only affected them, then they would've trusted her with it. But since her words could mean the destruction and death of millions of their kind, they couldn't make that leap of faith on their own.
    "Alright," he soothed, setting down his sandwich and carefully scooping her up in his hands.
    The sound of footsteps closing in caused him to frantically look around for a hiding spot. In a panic, he quickly stuffed her in the pocket of his robe. He took the napkin accompanying his food and swiped it through some leaking contents of his sandwich. He stuffed the napkin on top of her. He hoped he hadn't gotten any peanut butter or jelly on her, but it probably would've been for the better if he did. It would mask her scent even more. He smeared any extra residue from his hands on the fabric around his pocket, and hastily went back to munching his sandwich.
    Then, Princeton burst into the kitchen.
    "Where is she?" Princeton snarled.
    "Well good afternoon to you too, Mr. Grumpy Pants," Wesley murmured.
    "I'm not playing, Wes," he growled, "Where is she?"
    "Where is who? Kida? I'm assuming." Wesley said.
    "I can smell her on you god dammit!" Princeton snapped, "Where is Kida?"
    "She ran past here a few minutes ago. You probably smell her because I picked her up. She was hysterical, babbling something about you threatening to kill her." Wesley huffed.
    "Oh I am going to kill her," Princeton told him.
    Wesley set down his sandwich. "I can't tell if you're joking or not," he mumbled.
    "I'm not."
    "She couldn't have done anything that bad. You're overreacting, and you're apparently scaring her." Wesley scolded.
    "Did you know she tried to escape this morning?" Princeton challenged.
    Wesley paused. No, he hadn't. Kida had failed to mention that and clearly she knew her shortcomings as he felt her stiffen in his pocket, awaiting him to give her up.
    "Well...of course she'd want to escape. She misses her friends and family." Wesley countered.
    "Yeah well, if we let her escape, we singlehandedly doom our entire species for a stupid, fucking human that doesn't even care about us!" Princeton hissed.
    Wesley sighed. "Are you mad because she tried to leave us? Is that what this is all about?"
    "No, this is about endangering our entire species if we let her live," Princeton argued.
    Wesley remained silent.
    "But ya know, I guess we're not a part of those friends and family she just can't wait to see. She couldn't even be bothered to leave a note. Just a single fucking note. No 'I'll love and miss you" or a 'I'm sorry, but I need to be with my people' or even a 'bye'." Princeton added. "If she hasn't already escaped to her beloved friends and family, I'd snap her neck if I was you before she gets the chance."
    With that, Princeton trudged off.
    There was silence for a little while as Wesley ate his sandwich and made sure Princeton was gone. When the trudging and grumbling stopped, he quietly pulled her out of his pocket and set her on the countertop. He said nothing, and that almost scared her more than Princeton's screaming.
    "Say something," she begged, "Please."
    "I'm not angry, lass," he said, "I'm just sad."
    "I'm sorry," she murmured.
    He purred softly. "It's okay, lass. Honestly. I don't blame you for a second for wanting to go home."
    "I really meant to leave a note out, but I was worried-"
    "Lass." He looked down at her. "It's okay. We can talk later. Right now, you need to talk to Princeton."
    Her eyes widened. "He's mad."
    "He's not mad. He's just hurt." he explained, "But he doesn't want anyone to see him hurt, so he pretends to be angry."
    "I hear you talking to someone! I'm going to kill her!" Princeton growled, thundering into the room.
    Princeton and Kida immediately locked eyes.
    "Then kill her, Princeton," Wesley challenged, "Or leave her alone."
    Princeton glared at Wesley. His nostrils flared and his face was red. Wesley calmly matched his gaze, munching peacefully on the remainder of his sandwich. Kida cowered beside Wesley's arm. She still had her wide eyes burning into Princeton and calculating his next move.
    Princeton went limp and looked away. "Fuck you."
    "Maybe later." Wesley finished off his sandwich and licked the jelly and peanut butter from his fingers. "But now, you two need to sit down and talk."
    "I don't want to talk to her," Princeton huffed.
    "Yeah well, she's scared shitless to talk to you," Wesley snapped, "So you'll manage."
    Wesley grabbed his plate and waddled out of the room.
    "I-I'm sorry," Kida whimpered, "I didn't mean to try to abandon you, but I need to go back home."
    "I know. I didn't expect you to put us before your family, but I just wished there was a note." Princeton muttered.
    "Princeton..." she said softly, "You are my family. You and Wesley are the brothers I never had, and I love being here with you two."
    "Then, why couldn't you have at least left a note?" he wailed.
    The pain Wesley was talking about shone clearly through Princeton's angry facade. His voice cracked with emotions, and he sounded so scared. It crushed her heart knowing she'd crushed his.
    She hung her head down. "Check under my bed."
    "What?"
    "Check under my bed."
    Princeton gave her one last glance before scurrying away. He came into the room a lot slower with a tiny envelope between his thumb and index finger.
    "Is this…?" he trailed off.
    "I figured you'd find it eventually when you cleaned out my shoebox," she explained.
    They'd turned a shoebox into a makeshift room for her. Her bed was pieces of a cut up blanket fitted into a smaller box. Under said box was once the bright red envelope which Princeton held.
    "So you did leave a note," he whispered thoughtfully.
    "Of course I did!" she exclaimed, "I love you, big guy. I want to stay here so bad. It's an impossible decision to choose between my sweet boys and the rest of my family. I would give anything to have both."
    "Well, you get us for now, especially since you're definitely going to be on escapee watch for a while," he grumbled.
    "I'm going to best you eventually, giant," she jeered, "Until then, give me back my note, it's not yours yet…but you'll know where to find it."   

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