The Brob Girl Ch 37: Who I Once Was, Abbies Past!

For a long moment, I just stared up at Abbie, trying to process what she had just said. She used to be a Lilliputian? That had to be a joke, right? Some kind of weird Brob humor I didn't understand? But she wasn't laughing. If anything, she looked... vulnerable.

Finally, I found my voice. "Wait, hold on. You were a Lilliputian?"

Abbie let out a small sigh, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah."

My jaw nearly hit the floor. "You're messing with me."

"I'm really not." She let out a dry chuckle. "I was born and raised as a Lilliputian, just like you."

I sat down, still trying to wrap my head around it. "Okay, I need details. Explain this to me like I'm five."

Abbie let out a soft laugh before leaning forward, resting her arms on the table. "Alright," she said. "Back when I was a Lilli, I was just your average girl. I got good grades, did all my homework on time, was even an honor student. My teachers loved me. My parents were proud of me. I had a pretty normal life, honestly."

I raised an eyebrow. "And then one day you just woke up and decided, 'Hey, I think I'd like to be a Brob today'?"

She rolled her eyes. "Not exactly." She took a deep breath. "There's a lottery, Michael. Every so often, Lilliputians can put their name in for a chance to... well, to become a Brob."

My eyes widened. "That's a thing?!"

She nodded. "It doesn't happen often, and the chances of winning are insanely low, but yeah. It's a thing."

I shook my head in disbelief. "And you chose to enter?"

She hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. I mean, at the time, I wasn't even sure why I did it. I guess... I just wanted to see if I could win." She let out a humorless laugh. "And then I did."

I stared at her. "So what, they just flipped a switch and—bam!—you were a giant?"

"Not exactly," she said. "The process is complicated. There's a whole transition period, both physically and mentally. And... you don't get a lot of time to say goodbye."

Something about the way she said that made me pause. "You didn't get to say goodbye to your family, did you?"

Abbie's face fell slightly. "Not really," she admitted. "My parents—my mom especially—was a huge family person. My dad was always busy with work, but he cared in his own way. And my sister..." She trailed off for a second, a wistful smile forming on her lips. "We were really close."

"Were?" I asked carefully.

She nodded. "I don't know if she'd even recognize me now. I don't know if any of them would." She let out a deep sigh. "I had to burn a lot of bridges to become a Brob, Michael. And I don't even know if it was worth it."

I frowned, watching her closely. For the first time since I met her, she didn't seem like the happy, awkward, gentle giant who had taken me in. She looked... lost.

I stood up and walked toward her resting hand. It was a mountain of flesh compared to me, but I placed my tiny hand on the tip of her finger anyway. "You'll see them again," I told her firmly. "I know you will."

Abbie looked down at me, her eyes glistening slightly. Then, she smiled—a small, grateful thing that made her whole face soften.

"Yeah," she said. "But first, I need to get my handler's license. Otherwise, I won't even be able to hold my sister without breaking the law." She chuckled. "Wouldn't want to get arrested for hugging my own family."

I smirked. "Yeah, that'd be a pretty weird way to reunite."

Abbie let out a real laugh this time, and something in the air between us felt lighter. Like maybe, just maybe, she wasn't as lost as she thought.

***

The alley was silent, save for the soft tapping of the girl's boots against the damp stone. A thick fog clung to the ground, curling around her ankles as she moved with purpose. The hood of her cloak was pulled low over her face, shrouding her features in shadow. She didn't need to see where she was going—she had walked this path too many times before.

She stopped in front of a rusted metal door, its surface dented and scratched with age. The faint scent of oil and metal filled the air. Without hesitation, she lifted a gloved fist and knocked—three short raps, a pause, then two more.

Silence.

Then, the faintest sound of movement beyond the door. A small panel slid open at eye level, revealing nothing but darkness behind it. A rough voice, low and suspicious, growled from within.

"Password."

The girl leaned in slightly, her voice steady, unwavering. "The ground shakes, but the roots remain."

Another pause. Then, with the groan of heavy iron, the door creaked open just enough for her to slip inside.

The darkness swallowed her whole.

She stood in the center of the room, her posture straight, her hands loose at her sides. The only source of illumination was a single, flickering bulb overhead, casting a harsh white circle around her. Beyond that, the void stretched endlessly—black, suffocating, filled with unseen eyes watching her every move.

A voice slithered through the shadows, deep and laced with amusement. "Brave of you to come here alone, girl."

She didn't flinch. "I came for a reason."

A chuckle. It was soft, mocking. "They all do."

Silence stretched between them, thick as smoke. Then the voice spoke again, its amusement fading into something colder. "Why are you here?"

The girl clenched her fists. "Because the Brobs took my sister."

A long pause. Then, shifting movement in the darkness, as if something unseen had just leaned forward.

"And what, little one, do you expect us to do about that?"

Her lips curled into a snarl. "Make them pay."

The shadows around her seemed to deepen, a cold weight pressing in from all sides. The voice was quiet for a long moment, and then—

Laughter. Low and knowing.

"Oh... now that is interesting."