Thumbelina sat on the oak beam swinging her legs. Miss Muffet had invited her to come a fortnight ago and she had been staying for the last couple days. Tonight was different.
The door hinges creaked as the sturdy door was pushed in. A tall man, most certainly not Miss Muffet, stepped into the the cottage. He was crass looking, with ill kept hair, grease stained clothes, and a stench that preceded him. Everything about him was unsettling, especially the janky way he moved, even for a full sized human.
Thumbelina’s eye thinned as she watched the man rifle through the cupboards and overturned furniture. She watched and timed his movements. She drew her sword, a hand-and-a-half blade mere inches long, and waited. When the man shuffled under her hiding spot Thumbelina leaped into the air, aimed for his head.
She missed. Or rather the man’s hair was so greasy that she couldn’t find her footing and slipped. The man spun to see what had hit him, but Thumbelina clung to the folds on the back of his vest. The violent movements of the man looking around nearly threw Thumbelina to the floor, but upon landing she has slipped her belt around the base of her sword’s guard and used both hands to find purchase.
It took some work but as the man calmed down and dismissed the bump to a fallen book that must have dropped from the nearby shelf, Thumbelina climbed to the top of his shoulder and unhooked her sword. It’s razor sharp edges barely caught the glint of the overhead lantern lights. Finding a stable stance Thumbelina thrust the blade at the base of the man’s skull.
Unfortunately it glided along the bone instead of penetrating the skull. The man screamed in rage and pain as he tried to swat Thumbelina away. His large gaunt hand crashed into her side and threw her plummeting down his back. She dropped her sword and tried to grab onto his clothing but all she managed to catch were a few strands of greasy hair in her left hand which she immediately wrapped around for a better grip.
As her momentum caught up to her arm there was a terrible ripping feeling in her shoulder, she screamed through her teeth as her shoulder separated from its socket. Her body and mind revolted against the pain and demanded to be released, but Thumbelina couldn’t, she had been asked to do a job.
The man was spinning looking all around for the rodent that he must have thrown off. When he bent over to look under table, Thumbelina forced herself to her feet and she dashed up his back. The man stood up quickly, but not fast enough, Thumbelina made it to his shoulders, the length of hair still clutched in her nearly numb left hand. She had an idea.
As the man bent down to look on the floor again Thumbelina raced up the back of his head, he jerked upright and his hands came up again to grab her, but she was ready. She pulled her long dagger from its sheath and then leaped from his forehead. She clipped the dagger’s guard into the soles of her boots, straightened and used the lock of greasy hair to swing herself feet first towards the man’s eye.
The dagger didn’t make a sound as it pierced through the cornea of the man’s right eye and fluid nearly exploded out as Thumbelina’s legs drove the dagger deeper. There was a slight hesitation as the tip hit the back of the eye socket but the sharp edge dove deep into the man’s brain.
The man thrashed and convulsed as his body worked to catch up to what his brain already knew. Thumbelina clung onto the strand of hair with both hands now, her left arm was completely numb and she tried to minimize her exposure but as the man’s body hit the floor her torso bounced off of the wood floor.
Dazed and seeing stars, Thumbelina struggled to free herself from the corpse. Anytime she tried to put weight on her left arm she groaned in pain and nearly blacked out. Eventually she was able to leverage her body on the edge of the eye socket and pull her legs free. Her body fell to the floor and she paused breathing heavily, her body slightly curled in on itself.
After a few minutes Thumbelina reached down and unhooked the dagger from her boots. She pulled herself to her feet and trudged to the counter. As she looked up she groaned, the phone was on the counter, luckily next to the sink, but she would have to climb up. Under normal circumstances she would have scrambled up without a second thought. The nerves in the entire left side of her body screamed at her, some had unnervingly gone quiet.
Half an hour and many curses later Thumbelina pulled herself to the top of the counter. She was starting to get feeling back into her left hand, which was a pity. Reaching the phone she braced her left arm against the base and stretched until it snapped back into the socket. She let herself scream and collapse to the countertop but she refused to pass out - it would have been unprofessional.
Once she could breathe evenly, Thumbelina lifted the phone off of the receiver and used the rotary dial to make a quick call. Kliff would be here soon to clean up. He was always fast and efficient. Thumbelina loved working with professionals and Kliff was one of the best.
Thumbelina turned on the tap and cleaned her dagger, taking extra care to remove all of the grim that had worked its way into the braided tang. Once it was cleaned and dry she went to work on herself. She peeled the boots off her feet and flung them over the counter edge, they were useless now. She began to strip off the rest of her clothing and drop it over the side. Kliff would take care of it.
Miss Muffet and had an exotic green apple scented soap that Thumbelina generously used as she bathed in the waterfall of the faucet. The hot water and the intoxicating smell nearly sent Thumbelina into a fuzzed out blur of enjoyment as she cleaned off the mess, but she made herself stay aware of her surroundings. This helped her to not attack Kliff and he and his crew came in and started their cleaning. She stayed under the hot water for a long time, wishing it could wash away more than just the unsavory smell and vitriol of the man.
Pulling herself out of the sink Thumbelina spied the clothes that Kliff had retrieved for her. She also noticed that he had recovered her sword and that it was clean and resting on a polishing rag. She smiled to herself, this is why Kliff was paid good money for his services.
The phone range and before it finished its first ring Thumbelina answered it. She already had a new job lined up. She glanced around the cabin and was satisfied that it looked just as it had before the man had entered it.
Strapping on her sword and resheathing her blade, Thumbelina double checked her equipment and made her way to the door, which Kliff had left open a crack. She stepped outside and took a deep breath. The air was cool and clear, the night was lit up by only the starlight and Thumbelina felt good. It would take a couple weeks for her to get to her new job, but she welcomed the time and solitude. She smiled as she strode into the night.
