Today's been so boring.. I swear I'll die from just boredom. It' an annoying day. Nothing's happening here in the shop. No customers, no more of us 'tinies' being bought. I guess that's a good thing.. But the easiest way to escape is to be bought. This place is stupid. I wish I could just get out of here.. Not just myself but my distant pals. The ones on the shelves beside mine. Ging and Kila. They are my neighbors and my absolutely crazy friends. Though we may never meet face to face and only rely on voices, I'd say we like family. Always coming up with plans to get out of here and running free in the world again. Well. I guess that's all I have to write today. Time to sit around and wait for the place to close for the night.
   ~ logged on a day, sometime in the year. I don't give a crap.

  I heaved a sigh, popped my journal into my small pack, and leaned against the back of the cage wall. Such a boring day. There were, like, three people that actually came to the shop today. They didn't even buy anything, instead, they just looked around. Why can't they just close now? Ain't nobody coming this late in the day.
  Would it really matter if anyone did anyway? Sure, they'd look around and whatever, but it's so doubtful that anyone is going to buy scrawny little tiny people anymore unless it's for some stupid kid that'll pull you limb from limb because it thinks you're a flipping doll. What kind of psychopathic generation is being raised? Somebody needs to teach discipline.
  My thoughts sure are productive today. Thinking about kids again. Just what I needed.
  Slowly, I forced myself to stand and hobble over to the glass pane that let me stare out into the 'amazing' shop I was trapped in. I stopped directly in front of the clear wall, pressing my face up against it as if it proved how devastatingly bored I was.
  I've lived here for about 11 months now and have grown completely neutral to this place. The employees find me as a 'handful' apparently. Probably because I've been bought and returned many, many times. It's definitely because of my strategy. Depending on the person that 'adopts' me, I refuse to talk or I'll talk to them all the time without shutting up. Course it's dangerous and I do indeed have scars from over tempered people. It's so very easy to make people annoyed.
  Though I would say I'm lucky to never have had to deal with a kid. So far, I haven't come up with any strategies for those vermin. I'd rather eat a rat leg than get trapped in a room with a kid.
  Heaving another exaggerated sigh, I pulled my face away from the glass and tottered to my little endearing house. I dusted a pile of shavings to heap on one side of me before plopping down on the cold metal. Maybe I could attempt to draw again. I'm not great at it.. but practice makes perfect, right?
  Hesitantly, I reached for my pack and pulled out my notebook. Sure. It was a journal, but I had nothing else to use. Plus, the semi-straight lines worked like a grid of sorts, and, just like that, I peeped my head out the front of my 'castle' and began to draw what I saw.
  Though the drawings were absolutely horrific, I managed to get a shelf, the cashier, the rack next to the door, and a bit of the manager drawn before somebody walked in. Odd. A customer.
  Closing my book and packing it away to safety, I glanced up at the clock. 6:55. Just about time to close and this.. weirdo decided to show up. Firstly, this guy wore those slick new 'airpod' things and extremely nice clothes, despite it being just a hoodie and jeans. His vibe was like one of those distinctive rich kids from the old t.v. reruns that played during lunch break.
  Even though it made no difference, I scoffed at the college kid. It didn't really matter and I could've cared less, but for some reason, this guy ticked me off. Yet.. I did begin to wonder what that kind of person would want from such a junky store like this one. Maybe supplies or something.
  Wrong. The next thing I knew, I was being taken away from my cage. To be fair, I should have been used to being handled by now, but no matter how much I've tried, I have just always hated it. Probably always will.
My struggle was cut short as I was dropped into a small cardboard box. Of course, it was one of those awfully shaped ones and had holes poked through the sides, but it was still an awful place to be. A shaky sigh left me as I tried to convince myself that they were just cleaning the cage or something but then the lid was reopened and another borrower like myself was roughly dropped in.
  Our eyes met and I could tell we were both confused. This was the first time I'd ever been so close to another of my species. Well, at least since I was stowed away in this store.
  It was a young teen boy like myself, but he had red hair, freckles, bright green eyes, and a decentish style of clothes.
"Who are you?" He asked. His voice quaked with fear, but I could still hear the familiarity in his voice. My 'neighbor' from the cage.. I could've easily been wrong, so I held back on calling him any name, instead, I inhaled a shaky breath.
"I'm Reb. Reb Hilk. Who are-" Before I could even finish the question, he had already practically flung himself at me to get a hug which I returned.
"It's me, Ging! I can't believe it's really you!! I never thought we'd ever see each other.." His voice cracked, taking me aback at his sudden vulnerability.
"Neither did I.."
  The moment was interrupted as the box shifted roughly before being opened again. Two more tinies were put in. At first, I had figured that was all of us that were going to be taken, but pretty soon there were roughly eleven of us all together, huddling in groups. Most were terrified, but some were curious, looking out the holes.
  A part of my protectiveness kicked in and I began to pace. This situation had suddenly become much more worrisome. Where were we going? Were more of us going to all get crammed together? There were too many questions and nowhere to get any answers. All I knew is that we had to stick together and figure it out, otherwise we might lose each other.
  The movement continued, shifting from being abrupt to absolutely nothing. What was happening? Were we being bought? Was the store shutting down? Were we going to be.. exterminated?
  I shook my head at the last awful thought. That couldn't have possibly been what was happening. Right..? 
  Another shaky sigh escaped my throat as I joined a small group that were huddled together and Ging followed suite. In all my years of living, I had never seen such fear-stricken faces. It panged my heart, but the only thing I could do was comfort. For the first time, I felt helpless.
 In an attempt to locate where we were going, I glanced towards the holes. It didn't help much since the sun had set completely. Of course it had. Lovely.
 Soon enough, after waiting in the dark for roughly twenty minutes, there was suddenly a lot of noise followed by a lot of movement. The box was lifted, a little too fast, and was carried somewhere else.
  As if thinking the same thing, none of us made a single noise, allowing the fear levels to rise again. That's when it dawned on me. Kila, my other neighbor, wasn't with us. Was she not taken? Maybe that was a good thing..
 Then, after what felt like an eternity, the box was set on a table of some sort and someone was messing with the box as if they had no idea how to open it. The tension rose and the silence became deafening. All I could do was hold my breath as the lid slowly fell open.
  Instead of being met face to face with a trash can, like I previously thought, we were greeted by the college kid. My fear was replaced with a sudden stubbornness. I couldn't help but glare up at him. Of course, it was him. He just had to take us away from where we were and no man in their right thoughts would buy so many tinies for pets. He must've had some other plan. Something much worse.
  Just as the guy reached his hand in to take some of us out, I quickly interfered by backhanding him as hard as I could on the finger. Surprisingly he backed off.
 "F*** off." I growled. The look he gave me was utterly pitiful, but I didn't care. Protectively, I stood my ground in front of my kind, as a defender.
 There was such a cold silence I felt like I could hear the hair on my neck stand on end, but it didn't last long as someone else suddenly scooped the group up and out of the box from behind me. The fear seared through me as I spun around on my heels. It was such a swift motion, I tripped over my own legs.
 "Hey-" My voice was cut off as my chest collided against the ground, knocking the breath out of me. I could hear Ging calling for me, but I couldn't seem to catch my breath before I also was lifted out of the box.
 After I regained myself and thoughts in that small moment, I began to thrash around in the hands of my new captor. It was definitely the one who I just had a staredown with.
 "Calm down, man. I understand you're upset and all but no one is here to hurt you.." His voice seemed to fade away as my head began to crowd with thoughts. His voice sounded kind and caring.. but it probably wouldn't be later when he's cooking us up in some stew or using us as slaves. My trust for this kid was a little low right now.
   With the blazing anger inside of me, I whipped my head around to see his face looming over me, just barely a foot away. At first, it caused anxiety to flair, but I pushed it away as I glared straight into his eyes. He slowly stopped talking, knowing I hadn't heard a word he said.
 "I don't care who you are or what the hell it is you plan to do with us, but if you dare lay a finger on any-" I fumed before being silenced by a giant finger. The kid just gave me a look like I was some weirdo.
 Even though I tried to move his massive finger away, he didn't even seem like he was going to let me talk. Instead, he stood up and started to walk in some direction.
 "Okay. Let me start over. My name is Troy Acres. I don't have any intentions of hurting you or any of your friends, but I can see why you thought I would considering the circumstances.. Um. Anyways, I brought you all here so you'd have a place to live other than that dump of a store. Sadly.. there weren't many of you guys left and some were very injured. They're doing alright now. So.. I guess this is your new home?" Troy gently released me to sit on his palm. I gave him a huff before looking out to the room beyond. A wave of unsureness swept through me as I saw the entire room full of hundreds of tinies like me, though the room itself was almost like a giant city. Oddly structure buildings in some parts and a lot of houses. Some houses seemed to be in the wall on one side of the room. It gave me such a homey feeling that even though I was still fearful or upset, I wanted to go down there to see what it was like.
 "It's cool isn't it?"
  I tensed a little before glancing back at Troy before hesitantly giving him a nod then turned my attention back to the 'city'.
  "Most of the people down there I found either abandoned or in really sketchy places. Though there are a lot of people I had to buy to rescue.." He stopped for a moment, letting out a slight exhale but I could hear the smile in his voice as he continued, "But it was worth every cent."
  Just like that, Troy started to walk away from the mini-land, and, being the clumsy tiny I am, I nearly fell off the side of his palm as I tried to keep looking at the city.
  "Careful bud." Troy gently scooted me back to the middle of his hand. Though I was uneasy by the touch, I said nothing. Instead, I allowed myself to let out a shaky sigh.
  Troy had continued to walk, soon entering a kitchen type area. As he approached one of the cupboards, he briskly slid me into his shirt pocket without giving me time to respond other than a quiet yelp. Struggling with the occasionally muttered words, I managed to grab a hold of the top and lookout. I watched in silence as Troy seemed to make himself a cup of coffee. Odd.. I had thought this was a serious situation and this guy was just making coffee. Definitely not something I was expecting.
 "You want anything to eat? I doubt you've been given any decent food in that place." He asked with a hushed tone, without looking down at me.
 "Um.. sure." I stammered. Mentally I cursed myself. When was the last time I actually struggled to speak?
 "Anything specific?"
 "Eh.. No. Thanks.."
 Childish as I apparently had become, I decided to wallow away and sink into the pocket. Maybe I was overthinking it? He could be a good guy I suppose.. but I've never met a 'good' guy before. Or maybe I was too ignorant to pay attention before.
  While my thoughts continued to rage, I wrapped my arms around myself and closed my eyes for a moment.
 Poor Kila and Ging.. I wonder if they're okay. They've gotta be, right? Kila might have been brought here. Honestly, I had begun to hope she was. Never got the chance to meet her yet. She was actually the only girl I had ever 'met' in any way, other than my mother of course. 
 Before Troy had even finished his coffee, I had fallen asleep only to be awoken to somebody pushing me awake. I grumbled, trying to ignore whoever it was.
 "Reb! Wake up" 
 Hearing Ging's voice, I sighed and rolled over to face him. 
"What?" I muttered in a groggy voice. Then it dawned on me that I was somewhere completely different. A room, but it was tiny's size, like me.
 Ging didn't respond right away. He seemed unsure of how to start the conversation, but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was confused.
 I got up off of the bed and Ging stood up with me. 
 "Questions?" I asked, instantly getting a nod from my friend so I continued with a sigh, "Me too." 
 "What do we do?" Ging asked, following me as I headed towards the door of the room. 
 "I don't know right now.. but maybe we should stick around for a bit. If we have shelter, a place to sleep, and food than we'll be fine. If something does happen, we'll get out of here." After I spoke, Ging gave me a look of unsureness but hesitantly nodded. My response was a feeble smile and opened the door to see somebody walk past. My eyes widened for a moment, taken aback by the person. After a second, I remembered that this was all supposed to be normal around here.
 "Do you know if anyone else from the shop is here?" I asked, heading into the long hallway. Ging nodded, quickly following me.
 "Malcolm said that everybody was brought here. It was very alarming at first.. but then it didn't seem so bad when he brought us to this place." Ging explained.
  We must've had similar experiences, so I stayed silent for a moment. It began to seem as though this 'place' was like a haven for tinies like me.
 "Who's Malcolm?" I asked. The hallway of numbered doors had finally led to a spiral staircase that led downwards which lead us downwards to whatever floor was below.
 "Oh, right.. He is that one guy that took us out of the box. He's quite nice actually." 
   Though the thought of this new person made me skeptical, I nodded at his remark. Maybe he was a nice fellow, but right now my head was still jumbled from all the activity. Then a similar thought dawned on me and I stopped dead in my tracks on the stairs.
 "Everyone was brought here.. Right?" I asked, turning to face Ging. He nodded with a confused look but it caused a bit of hope flickered in me.
 "Then Kila has to be here too." 
 And with that I was rushing down the stairs, hoping that maybe she was nearby. Ging followed closely behind, very confused but also curious since he didn't know who Kila was. Why would he? She was only reachable through my 'cell' at the shop so he wouldn't have even known she existed.
 Soon we reached the very bottom floor and were racing to the front of the building. It was like a house of rooms or something.. Every single door was numbered and most of them seemed to be occupied.
 I burst through the doors in front and was greeted with the bright light that loomed on the far ceiling above, but also the hundreds of buildings that lined walkways and paths. There were tinies everywhere.. talking, walking, eating food, and just enjoying themselves.. 
 This truly was.. a haven. I had never believed in something like this, but now.. There wasn't any doubt in my mind that this place was safe. 
 If I hadn't had a set goal of finding Kila, I would have probably admired the scenery a bit more and possibly even shed a tear. Right now, I had to make sure Kila was okay or at least here. 
 "They bring the newcomers to the building we were just in.. She could be there." Ging said, setting his hand on my shoulder. I turned to him and nodded, following him back into the building. 
 Ging briskly walked up to the front desk and asked the person behind it some questions. there was a lot of nodding and communication, but I was too distracted by the thoughts in my own brain. 
  Kila is out there somewhere. There is a whole world in front of me. And for the first time in forever, I don't want to leave. Even though I might not trust Troy or whoever Malcolm is.. I could still count on Kila and Ging.. And if they trust the humans, that's their choice.
 "She says somebody named Kila did come in today and is in room 80. She said it'd be the room on the left side at the end of the hallway we had just come from." Ging explained, knocking me out of my thoughts. I nodded quickly and followed him back down the hallway. The numbers went from 45 to 79 really fast and suddenly I felt anxious to meet Kila. Shaking away the feeling, I knocked on the door and waited for a response.
 After a few moments of silence, I was tempted to knock again but it began to open and soon I saw a girl peek out from the crack and stare at Ging and I.
 "What do you want?" She asked with a hard tone. 
 "To talk." I responded, watching her expression change. Maybe she recognized my voice, but maybe we got the wrong room.
 "Who are you?" She opened the door a little more, but not much. 
 "I'm Reb Hilk and this is Ging. The lady at the front desk said this room belonged to someone named Kila." I explained.
 She opened her door all the way and looked up into my eyes. 
 "Finally after all these months, I get to meet you. I thought maybe you weren't here and to be honest, I started to doubt that you were going to be." She stated with relief, allowing us to enter the room. 
 "I felt the same.. but turns out everyone from the shop was brought here. I figured you were here somewhere." I said with a small smile. She smiled back, but it only lasted as she turned away to look out her window. 
 "This place sure is something else, isn't it? I mean.. There is so much detail and I was told this place was made by hand. So much work went into this.. this.. Home of a people." Kila sat on the bed, still gazing out the window. Ging was looking around, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he did so. 
 I approached Kila and stood beside her, looking out the window as well.
 "Yeah. I think this is a great place." I explained softly. Kila looked up at me with a confused look.
 "You do? How can you be so sure?" 
 "I haven't been given a reason to dislike it. That's how. I may not trust Troy or whatever other being lives in this grand house, but the people here seem content, so I have no reason to not like it." I explained, hesitantly sitting down on the bed beside Kila. She nodded at my statement, then sighed slightly.
 "So.. I take it you're going to stay then?
 "Yea. That's the plan. I'd rather not go back to that filthy store or live in the wild." 
 Kila nodded again and turned towards Ging.
 "What about you? You staying?" 
 Ging looked up at her as if called out in class. 
 "Yes.. I think Malcolm is cool and Reb is staying so.." He stuttered, fiddling with his fingers. 
 After she nodded in understanding, there was a silence between the three of us as if we were all thinking the same thing. What was Kila going to do?
 Now, if she were to decide to attempt an escape, I wouldn't try to stop her but I wouldn't try to help her either. I'd rather not mess with the authority anyways. I'd just wish her safe travels and whatnot.
 "I guess you guys leave me no choice then, huh?" She said with a laugh. I smiled slightly, but Ging seemed so confused.
 "I'll stay." 

~~~

A/N

Soooo.. I would continue on, but then it would lead to more and more of plot and story unfolding.
I know I also didn't get all the scenes with Malcolm i wanted to.. but maybe I'll make a part 2 one day
I reallly got attached to this one :3
So, hope you enjoy Hyperlynear !

<3

Word count ~ 3913