The Purge - Chapter 11

Melody makes an effort to save the specks her daughter had stolen from another girl.

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A feeling of regret surged through Melody's core as she watched Milena's hulking figure that could easily domesticate King Kong from her pitiful perspective, leaving tremors in her wake with every casual step her lorry-sized feet took.

How she misjudged that girl, her very own daughter.

Melody knew that her daughter was self-centered, that she lived as if the whole world revolved around her. And despite, she could sometimes be defiant – most of the time, to be more precise. No, always to be correct–Melody did not necessarily peg her as evil.

But forcing thousands of unfortunate ones into subjugation without showing any consideration for their plight as they carried out back-breaking labor to build things for your grandeur sounded like a tale that was ripped straight out of a history book that told tales of notorious tyrants who saw everyone else as mere tools to bolster their egos.

A burning heat rushed through Melody's cheek as her hand landed with a hard smack on her face for a second time – because she had already done it once – to chastise herself for giving all the vital information to her daughter.

Although despair had sapped her strength and despair weighed heavy on her heart, Melody wished she had been more persistent.

And it was all because she desperately wanted to see her husband, which she still had not.

If only she had stayed strong and held firm on the leverage, she still had over her daughter...

Or better yet, she should have taken measures when she was still normal-sized. She should have informed her sister or one of her good friends about her illness and the added risk that came along with it of ending up shrinking.

Safety measures and arrangements could have been made so that her sister would become her caretaker instead of Milena in the case when her body started dwindling.

Naïf, as Melody could be sometimes, she did not believe that the ReVa virus would make her shrink. Sure, it would shrink her husband and son and perhaps one or two of her daughters, but not her. No, she was immune to that sort of nonsense. Such a clever girl you are...

Melody swallowed a joyless chuckle she felt swelling up in her throat as she surveyed the precarious situation she found herself in.

Here, Melody stood at a laughable size of merely two inches while engaged in a mission she herself proposed to shoulder. A mission that flew in the face of every moral standpoint she lived for.

Milena's room was eerily silent as she glanced about. Only the sound of a passing car in the street outside rippled the ocean of silence once in a few minutes.

Tucking away a strand of the same jet-black hair she shared with her daughter from her face, she cast a forlorn gaze at the miniature village spread out beneath her.

As she admired the intricate stone structures from her gigantic standpoint, she noticed some peering eyes disappearing quickly from view.

The complexity of these miniature buildings impressed her. Melody knew about the new technology, allowing perfect replicas to be made of authentic structures, but only on an infinitesimal scale. The process to pull this off was sophisticated and expensive. It was much more challenging to replicate a 20th-century skyscraper with a steel frame and curtain walls than copying a wooden dwelling with a thatched roof.

The dwellings these specks lived in were very similar to the Tudor-style houses originating in England you saw sprouting up in America around the 19th century with their brick exteriors, large portions of white stucco, and decorative half-timbering, giving them a romantic and slight medieval appearance.

How much money did this little one's parents have to spend on such luxuries?

As Melody took a step closer to the village, she pondered her strategy. There were only two outcomes how this could end for these poor people, and neither of them was beneficial to them.

They could either end up being killed in some horrifying way by Milena if they refused to submit to her. Or, they could end up living under the authoritarian rule of a whimsical teenage girl with a god-complex.

At first glance, Melody couldn't tell if this would make their situation better or worse. Was their former owner a cruel ruler or not? However, upon closer inspection, Melody found no signs of destruction suggesting such behavior. No smashed edifice lay in her sight—no sign of buildings that had been flattened by a single press of a finger as retribution for showing insubordinate behavior.

However, a thing like that did not mean anything. The girl could still have easily killed some of them without damaging the pricey buildings. And the fact that there was a statue present of her – before Milena bluntly broke it off – showed that these people were venerating the 5th grader like a God.

Still, all things considered, Melody had the nagging feeling that their former owner was gentle and that their inclination to worship her was an inevitable consequence of the adoration syndrome they were suffering from.

Sinking on her haunches, Melody placed her elbows on her knees and cleared her throat while thinking of something to say to make these people listen to her.

Milena had scared them senseless with her screaming and threats and the earthquake her mighty fist caused by slamming it down on the desk in anger. Melody examined the walls of the houses more closely and noticed the cracks and fissures scattered here and there.

"You have every right to ignore me and stay hidden inside your homes, people." Melody started. "I would probably do so too if I were standing in your shoes." she paused and took a deep breath, "I've only been shrunken recently—too little time to become accustomed to it—not that there is such a thing as acclimating to being the same size as a toothpick."

Some eyes began peering through their windows warily, their curiosity sparked by Melody's words. It encouraged her to continue.

"My daughter, the 16-year-old firecracker who just threatened your lives, looks frightening from my perspective, so I can only imagine how terrifying she must be to you." Melody paused, gathering her thoughts before continuing. "If I told you we had a way for you to escape Milena's clutches at the moment, I'd be lying," she finally said. "But I want to earn your trust, so I'll be truthful."

A spark of hope lit up in Melody's eyes as one of the small, speck-like creatures hesitantly came out of hiding, likely swayed by her words. Soon, more followed.

Melody gave them her most reassuring smile, trying to prove she wasn't a danger. "It's nice to see that some of you are open to what I'm saying. But unfortunately, I can't keep my daughter away from you all. The only thing I can do is save your lives."

A man, a pitiful-sized man, even compared to Melody's laughable size, stepped forward, gazing up at Melody, who loomed over him like a tree. "We will not abandon our savior, Demi!" The man referred to the tween girl that could have been his daughter yet was a Goddess to them all. "She will come! She will save us!" He shook his tiny, determined fist in the air, and several others around him followed suit

"Yeah!" A chorus rose from the other speck-beings as more dared to step out into the open to converse with the colossal woman looming above their village.

A woman lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes at Melody. "You're just a minion, Demi. You serve only her!" She jerked her little finger in the direction Milena had gone.

"I don't serve anyone!" Melody shot back, straightening her spine.

"She's your daughter!" Another one replied.

Melody sighed. "Yes, she is, and I love her still. Despite the things she has done. But I do not stand behind her moral opinions regarding you."

The man folded his arms across his chest, appraising her. "What is what you can offer us then, Demi?"

Melody arched a brow. "Why do you keep calling me Demi? I have a name, you know?"

"Because you're more than us but less than them."

"Then them? The giants, you mean? The normal sized?"

"The Gods," The woman intoned with a hushed awe, and she gracefully sank onto her knees, bowing her head in homage. The rest of the group followed suit, murmuring their own prayers in reverence.

"Is that why you're calling me Demi? Am I like a Demigod to you?" Melody asked, her voice laced with humor.

The voices of the people filled the air as they chanted words of praise to their old Goddess, the tween girl. She thought she heard the name Layla being whispered.

"Was this Layla…kind to you all?" There was no response from the group, so wrapped up were they in their prayers. Judging by what she was hearing, Melody concluded that Layla had been gentle to them.

"She's anything but nice. My daughter." Melody stated bluntly, knowing her words would catch their attention. The chanting stopped, and some heads were raised. "She will be cruel, mean, and possibly destructive," Melody continued. "But at least you will live to see another day. I also have another daughter named Miley." She quickly added as she noticed the despair in their eyes. She had to give them a glimmer of hope, or else they were going to let themselves die for their Goddess instead of surrendering to a new deity to stay alive.

But even if they believed her, Melody knew that if she failed to get them to worship Milena, she'd never see her husband again. "She's immune to the virus and is gentler. I'm sure I can persuade her to bring you all to safety."

The people stared back at her with blank expressions. They still did not seem convinced. "Look, keep your fate in this Layla all you want." Melody continued; her voice urgent. "No one can take that away from you, not even my daughter, with all her power over you. Make it look like you're giving in to her. Convince her that you accept her as their Goddess instead of Layla.

Make her believe she has your loyalty. Bow down to her and carry out her orders, but keep Layla in your hearts. That way, you won't abandon her. Can you do that?"