guestsurprise's words: This story was inspired when I saw an old movie from a long time ago recently. It was called "The Secret Life of Arrietty." It is a very cute movie and innocent; you don't see clean stuff like that anymore.
"The Secret Life Of Arrietty" belongs to its respective owners and Mya belongs to guestsurprise.
Down To Size
Pod and Arrietty were about to do some borrowing in their new house when they heard some loud arguing.
"Dad?"
"Don't move. Let me see what's going on." He whispered. He then gently peeked out of a hole in the wall and saw a young girl arguing with an older man.
"There are little people! But even if we saw them, we couldn't kill them!"
"You brat! Do you know how much money they would bring?!"
"Well I would never harm them!"
"You will do what I tell you!" He snapped. Pod's eyes narrowed and then he turned to his daughter.
"We need to move…now!" He said. But the moment they began to run, they felt something drop on them! It came out of nowhere!
"D-Dad, I can't move!"
"It's a net! Arrietty, use your knife!" Pod said, now pulling out his own knife. But their struggling caught the attention of the old and angry man. Suddenly, a part of the wall was removed and there they were…exposed and trapped!
"Yes…this must be my lucky day!" He laughed, now grabbing them and stuffing them in a nearby jar. Pod helped Arrietty to her feet and then began to angrily bang on the glass.
"Let us out of here!" He commanded.
"You don't have any say in this!" The old man laughed. He then placed them up on the counter and walked away to call someone. Pod and Arrietty looked helplessly out of the jar; there was no way to escape.
"Dad, what're we gonna do?!"
"I don't know. But we can't panic, Arrietty." Pod responded. He began to pace back and forth when they saw the same young girl from earlier walk in. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw the little people in the jar staring back at her. Pod protectively pushed Arrietty behind him and looked at the young human cautiously. Slowly, the young girl began to approach them.
"S-so I was right! There are little people in this house!"
Pod stared and didn't say a word, motioning for Arrietty to do the same.
"I know he will probably try to sell you all. I can't let that happen! You may not trust me, but I don't want you all to be harmed!" She said, now picking up the jar and placing it on its' side on the ground. "Now run! Go, before he comes back!"
But the moment she placed it down, the man came back! He roared in anger when he saw the jar on its' side and that the little people were escaping!
"GET BACK HERE!" he said, now pushing the younger girl aside.
"No! Leave them alone!" She said, now grabbing his ankle, trying to stop him. He turned and gave her a large slap on the face and pulled her up to her feet.
"You brat! You've ruined everything! I can't get them with you in the way!" And with those words, he grabbed her arm and drug her to the door. He then pushed her outside and slammed the door behind her and locked it to prevent her from coming back in. He then raced back in to trap the little people, but he was just in time to see them run in a crack in the wall.
"NO! My fortune is running!" He said, now reaching in the hole after them. Arrietty and Pod moved just in time; he almost grabbed them again!
"Arrietty, are you alright?" Pod whispered, holding his daughter in his arms.
"Yes, Dad. I'm alright. But what about the young human?" Arrietty said in a concerned tone.
"She is none of our concern."
"Dad! She saved us! Now she's hurt! We need to go and help her!" Arrietty said frantically.
"Arrietty…,"
"Dad, we owe her our lives!" She pleaded. Pod let out a deep sigh and stared at her again. "Please, Dad…,"
"Alright…we will go and see if she is alright. But then we are going home."
"Deal!" She said in an excited tone.
Both of them made their way outside and the sight before them made them both gasp. The young girl was laying on the ground and she sounded congested and she had a large mark from where the man hit her.
"Dad…," she said in horror. Pod didn't even respond; he knew his daughter was right. They owed this girl their lives!
"She's sick as well. Stay here," he said softly, now placing his bag on the grass and crawling up on the girl's face. He saw her breathing was inconsistent and she was sweating feverishly. His face softened considerably; apparently not all humans were terrible. He crawled closer to her and placed a hand on her large cheek.
"Are you alright?" Pod asked softly. The young girl's eyes slowly opened and she looked to see the small man on her chest. She squeaked in fear and tried to move back. "Don't move! It's alright!"
"I-I'm not a bad human, I promise!" She said in horror.
"I'm not going to hurt you. You're in pain and we're here to help." Pod said, now holding onto her shirt for dear life.
"I can't believe you're afraid of us," Arrietty said in surprise. The young girl looked over at her and tried to move back, but Pod still had a grip on her and Arrietty was now climbing on her too!
"I can't keep a grip," Pod said because of her squirming. He then pulled something out of his pocket and threw it at the young girl! Within seconds, she began to shrink! She was shrinking to their same size! After a few moments, she and the other two rolled on the ground.
"W-What happened to me?!" She said in shock.
"Now take it easy. What's your name?" Pod asked, now pulling her to him.
"M-Mya," she said softly.
"Well Mya, I changed you because you could have been killed tonight. You protected us and we wanted to now protect you." Pod said, now helping her to her feet. He was still not completely sold on humans, but he did feel like they owed her.
"And by making you smaller with our secret herbs, we could hide you from that man." Arrietty said softly.
"Thank you. Thank you both. I wanted to help you because you both have done nothing wrong. My mother used to tell me stories of little people but my father has been bitter about them after she died." She said sadly.
"Well, we do exist, but now we need to focus on getting home." Pod said softly.
"Will I ever be big again?" Mya asked. Pod stopped and turned around and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"If you want to be big again, you will within 24 hours. But if you want to stay a borrower like us, you can take another dose of the powder I blew on you. That will make the transformation permanent," Pod responded. "The choice is yours."
"Please don't become big again." Arrietty begged. "That man will harm you, I know it!"
"I know, but he is my only family left…," Mya said sadly.
"Family does not try to hurt or harm their own," Pod said, now standing near Mya. She gulped being in his shadow. "Think about it. Now come, the sun is setting."
Mya quietly followed, getting the feeling he didn't like her. She was interrupted by her thoughts by a nudge from Arrietty.
"Don't worry. Dad has a soft heart; he just needs time to get to know you and you with him!"
"I guess so," Mya said softly.
"Cheer up! You get to see our world now!" Arrietty grinned, now pulling her new friend by her arm. Mya could only giggle as her new friend pulled her along the grass. She was in a new world and surrounded by people that wanted her to be a part of their…family.
guestsurprise's words: Just a thought I had!
To guestsurprise: And a great one too! :) I remember Pod and Arrietty from the movie called "The Borrowers". I didn't know there was another movie about them. :) And you're right, it's hard to find good movies like that nowadays.
To everyone else: Please leave guestsurprise a review, but no flames!
GoldGuardian2418