Perspectives

Chapter 18

The first thing Piper noticed was the dull ache throbbing against the back of her skull. She let out a low groan as she peeled her eyes open, instantly regretting the action as blinding light flooded into her dilated pupils. Piper hissed in pain, slamming her eyelids shut once again against the harsh lighting.

Everything felt so unfocused and fuzzy, her head was swimming with confused memories of recent events. She recalled an intense feeling of fear and a hard impact with something before passing out. Piper moaned miserably as she forced herself up into a sitting position and slowly reopened her eyes.

"Piper?" She heard her name, it sounded nearby and vaguely familiar. Blinking against the brightness, Piper forced her eyes to focus on the scene before her. She took in a sharp breath at the sight of the massive pillar like arm in front of her, an arm that was propping up the giant to whom it belonged. Memories came spilling back in like a flood as Piper gazed up at Kalen's face staring down at her. 

"W-what happened?" Piper asked groggily, rubbing at the still throbbing spot on the back of her head. 

Kalen's mouth quirked up in his usual smirk, but the concern that had been furrowing his expression didn't go entirely unnoticed, however Piper quickly brushed it off in favor of glaring suspiciously up at the giant face.

"You fell off my shoulder for some reason, not really sure how it happened." Kalen explained nonchalantly. "But luckily for you, I was there to catch you." He added with a sly wink. 

Piper rolled her eyes in the most exaggerated manner she could manage. "Oh pleeease." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. Despite this response, Piper had to admit to herself at least that Kalen's actions had likely saved her life, even if it seemed to have resulted in her suffering what seemed like a mild concussion. 

Seeming to take notice of Piper's massaging of the back of her head, Kalen spoke up. "Uh--are you ok?" He asked uncomfortably, apparently he didn't much like having to show actual concern for her well-being. 

"I'm fine." Piper lied through a grimace as she realized a heavy aching was covering almost the entirety of her body, and not just her head. "Though I could use some ibuprofen." She admitted.

Kalen raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know what that is, but it sounds like a medication." He said. "Regardless, I'm not giving you any medicine, not when I have no idea how Amasisian medicine would work on a human." He informed her, earning him a death glare from Piper.

Piper rose to her feet, something that proved particularly difficult considering she was standing atop a pillow. She angrily struggled to gain her footing, once she was stable enough to stay upright, she threw a venomous look up at Kalen. "I probably just got a concussion bad enough to knock me out for--" 

"An hour and a half." Kalen supplied.

"--for an hour and a half, and you're telling me I can't even have some over-the-counter drugs?" Piper growled.

Kalen rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. "Unless you want to be the first ever human test subject for Amasisan medicine--" 

"Just forget it." Piper cut him off before gracelessly sliding off the pillow to the surface of the bed. Piper cursed the usual jolt of fear that coursed through her when she looked up at Kalen's towering figure standing over her. 

"So what the hell was that loud ass sound that made me fall?" Piper asked, cringing at just the thought of the deafening noise. 

Kalen raised an eyebrow at her. "You mean the thunder?" He asked, obviously finding her reaction to it to be overblown. "It was loud, but I wouldn't say it was loud enough to warrant you plunging off my shoulder." 

There was an obvious magnification between what Piper was hearing and what Kalen was hearing. Piper guessed having smaller ears meant being more sensitive to the massive sounds around her. Another great benefit to being in this stupid place. Piper thought bitterly to herself.

"Uck, just forget it." Piper groaned, running a hand tiredly down her face. Kalen looked at her skeptically but didn't press the subject. 

Kalen turned his gaze to the holographic clock on his bedside table, which was currently displaying that it was twenty past nine o'clock. She really had been out for awhile. 

"We should be going to bed." Kalen commented, turning his attention down towards where she stood in front of the pillow. 

Piper smirked, "What, is it your bedtime?" She asked in a mock baby voice. The last time Piper had gone to bed before midnight had been when she was twelve. She was admittedly, much more a night-owl than an early-bird.

"In case you forgot, I have a meeting to attend tomorrow morning concerning a certain miniature person." He told her slyly, bringing his pointer-finger and thumb together with a small space between at the word 'minature'. Before Piper could shoot back a response, Kalen's hand descended down upon her and swiftly grabbed her up off of the bed.

"Seriously?!" She cried out indignantly. She squirmed in the iron grip, but didn't bother to really attempt to free herself, it would be pointless. As much as she hated it, Kalen was going to take her where he wanted to regardless of her efforts to stop him. 

Kalen moved around to the other side of the bed, when he began reaching for the handle to the drawer in the bedside table, Piper knew she was about to be reacquainted with her familiar old prison. She began to seriously struggle now. "For god's sake, you don't have to put me in there, it's not like I have anywhere to go!" She exclaimed, craning her neck so she could look up at her captor's face. 

Releasing an impatient sigh, Kalen raised Piper up nearer his face so they could look at each other without having to strain their necks. "The last thing I need is to be worrying about the possibility of someone coming into my room and seeing a human out in the open." He told her with an eye roll. "Not to mention the fact that I could end up stepping on you or something if you're out and free." He added, instantly planting in Piper's head the unpleasant image of one of Kalen's expensive-looking boots flattening her to a pancake. She shivered involuntarily at the thought. 

Forcing back the unsavory imagery, Piper stared stubbornly back into Kalen's cool gray eyes. "I'm not an idiot, it's not like I'm going to be waiting on the floor next to your bed for you to step on me when you get up." She threw back with an eye roll of her own. 

"It isn't really up for debate." Kalen informed her, a sentence that instantly caused her blood to boil. 

"I don't want to sleep in a fucking hard ass wooden drawer!" Piper shouted, her face beginning to redden with her growing anger. 

Seemingly unfazed by Piper's building rage, Kalen stepped away from the bedside table and over to his large, clearly expensive, wooden dresser. Piper struggled against Kalen's grip to look over her shoulder and see him pulling out one of the dresser's drawers. 

"Oh you--" Piper's angry words were cut off when Kalen moved her over the drawer and dropped her inside. She landed with a soft thump on top of what she assumed to be giant articles of clothing. Piper looked up out of the drawer with murder in her eyes. "You son of a bitch." The drawer was slid shut, leaving her once again trapped in darkness.