The kitchen was noisy, hot, and chaotic. The waitress took all the dirty dishes she had brought and dumped them in a giant sink full of soapy water. I was plunged underwater and flailed to reach air, banging my limbs on silverware as I swam. I breached the surface, gasping for breath, and tried to climb out of the sink, but the metal walls were too high and slippery. Nobody could hear my sputtering cries for help among the clattering of pots and pans and other normal loud kitchen sounds. I treaded water over to a stack of wet plates and struggled to climb up, but kept sliding down the slick surfaces. My eyes were stinging from the soap and syrup.

Finally, after a whole lot of effort and trouble, I made it high enough up the stack to reach the edge of the sink. I crawled out of the sink and stumbled away from the edge, wary of falling in again. My eyes were inflamed with soap, so I rubbed my eyes with my forearm, but I only succeeded in blinding myself with more soap. I stepped forward, unable to see, trying to clear my vision and coughing up sudsy sink water. I tripped over something, a solid protrusion of some sort, and fell onto a cold, hard surface with a clatter. Before I could get up, something soft but hot and heavy collapsed on top of me.

For a second, I thought I had been crushed, but whatever it was didn't kill me. I couldn't lift it, however. I could barely breathe or move with the heavy mass pressing me down. I pushed up against the spongy surface. It was unpleasantly hot. I could smell pancakes. Pancakes? The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I was trapped under a stack of giant pancakes. The cold surface underneath me was a plate. Oh God, I was in someone's breakfast.

"Order up!" a giant voice called out. The plate was lifted high into the air. I could feel the rhythm of the waitress's long strides as she hustled over to a customer's table. I had to stop her, somehow.

"Stop! Help! I'm in here!" I rasped. Besides the fact that my lungs were being squished, my pleas for aid were muffled by the fluffy pancakes weighing me down. I tried to move, but I was stuck in place, like a fly in a spiderweb.

"Here you go," the waitress said, placing the plate on a table. My stomach did a flip.

"Thanks," a deep giant voice replied, sounding uncomfortably close. My heart was pounding hard. I heard the metallic scraping of a monstrous fork on the plate. From far away, among the usual sounds of the diner, I heard Joey calling my name, searching for me. He sounded concerned.

"Joey!" I cried pathetically. "Joey!" It would be impossible for him to hear my plaintive wails from so far away, or for anyone else to hear me for that matter. I started to panic, my breath coming out in ragged gasps. I struggled harder against the weight holding me down, but my limbs were pinned. The scraping of the fork was getting closer. I saw its huge metal splines slice down through the pancake around me, just missing my left arm. One wrong move and it could tear me into pieces. The fork cut through the pancake in front of my face, by some miracle just missing me again. The mass pressing me down was getting lighter as chunks of the pancake disappeared off the plate.

My legs were still stuck, but I could move my arms a bit, if I exerted considerable effort. With as much force as I could muster, I tried to drag myself out. I made some progress, managing to free one of my hands. My grip on the plate slipped as I became sticky with fresh syrup. I could see light, and strained to reach it, my head emerging from the doughy mass. My hopes were dashed when, to my horror, the fork slid underneath my body and I was raised into the air, still buried under a mound of food and unable to escape.

Oh no. Oh no! If I didn't do something fast, I was going to get eaten again, and there was no saving me this time. My worst nightmare was unfolding into reality. The giant holding the fork raised me up to his mouth, and his lips parted, revealing the deep, dark, wet cave within. The fork moved inside, the rows of ivory teeth advancing open to receive me. It was now or never.

"JOEY!! HELP ME!!" I screamed as loud as I possibly could, my voice a shrill shriek echoing in the fleshy darkness around me. The fork halted. The massive jaws, which had started to close around me, sprung open, and the meaty tongue retreated further inside as if stung. I reemerged from certain death back into the light. A pair of giant, narrowed eyes regarded the fork for a moment, trying to see what the hell had made such a racket.

"Waitress!" the giant bellowed in disgust. "There's a human in my food!" He dropped the fork with indignation onto his plate, causing my ribcage to bang against the metal teeth of the fork. The bite of pancake holding me down was dislodged, and I collapsed onto the plate, panting heavily. The waitress and a few others rushed over, and before I knew it the table was encompassed by giants. I was too stunned to move.

A pair of hands snatched me up before I could react. "Sorry about that!" a familiar voice yelled, vibrating through the flesh against my body. I realized that Joey had grabbed me and was clutching me defensively against his chest. His enormous heart was beating as rapidly as mine. He moved fast, carrying me off somewhere secluded. I heard a door swing open and closed, and the uproar in the diner was cut off, leaving us in a much quieter space, which I recognized as a bathroom. Joey's hands parted, and I found myself sitting in his cupped palm, staring at his gargantuan face distorted into frantic concern.

"Are you alright? I'm so sorry for leaving you alone like that, I didn't anticipate any problems..." he sputtered out, clearly stressed.

"I'm okay, it's okay Joey," I answered shakily. I was still severely unsettled by what had transpired. I was quivering intensely, my eyes leaking tears I hadn't realized were there until I felt them rolling down my cheeks. "I can't believe that just happened," I stated, more to myself than to Joey.

"I know! That was insane! You were almost eaten!" Joey exclaimed. "I was so worried, I came back from the bathroom and you were gone, and I didn't know where you went, I was looking everywhere..." He started to tear up a bit as he kept regurgitating words. "...And then I heard you screaming, I thought something horrible happened to you..." He trailed off. "Thank goodness you're okay." He pulled me into a hug, tucking me against his chest again, not caring that I was sticky with syrup. I hugged him back, letting out a sigh of relief that I was alive.

"How did you end up way over there on another table?" he asked. I told him the whole story, not sparing any details. "How dreadful," he murmured. "Here, let me wash off some of that syrup." He helped clean me off as best he could in the bathroom sink, then dried me off in the automatic hand dryer, which was extremely loud and hurt my ears. At least I was cleaner and less sticky than before, and my eyes weren't as irritated.

"Thank you for everything, Joey," I said quietly. "I don't know what I would have done without you." He coiled his fingers around me protectively, and I curled up in his hand, feeling much safer with him around.

We exited the bathroom, and made our way to the front door of the diner. However, we were intercepted by the restaurant manager, a large portly fellow with a receding hairline and a bushy mustache. He was fuming, his face ruddy and sweaty as he jabbed a fat stubby finger into Joey's chest.

"I had to comp that meal that you and your filthy little human ruined! I don't want to see you bringing in another human here ever again! They're a waste of space, those revolting slimy little worms!" he ranted angrily, froth gathering at the edges of his rubbery lips. I shrank back in Joey's hand, hiding behind the wall of his fingers from the furious giant.

What happened next was hardly what I expected. I figured Joey—a shy, sweet, unassuming, nerdy boy—would attempt to avoid a confrontation, mutter some sort of apology, and sidestep the manager to get out without making a scene. Instead, he bristled and stood his ground.

"What happened wasn't her fault!" he yelled back in my defense. I looked up at him in shock at his outburst. His brows were folded down in anger and he gritted his teeth. "She's a customer like any other and deserves to be treated with basic respect and dignity! What happened to her was unacceptable! Your employees should have been more careful and considerate of her safety!" The manager was taken aback by his vigorous response; apparently, he was not expecting any pushback either. Several customers stared at us as we disrupted the atmosphere of the diner, which did not go unnoticed by the manager.

"I won't be coming back to this shoddy establishment!" he continued. "Come on, let's get out of here," he directed to me in a far gentler tone. He stormed out of the diner, slamming the glass door behind him, and marched down the street.

I had to admit, I was both bewildered and impressed. I looked up at Joey again. His eyes, usually soft like melted chocolate behind his glasses, were hardened with righteous wrath, and his jaw was stiff.

"Where did that come from?" I asked him.

"I just... hate people like that, who beat down people who can't defend themselves," Joey stated with passion. "It's all too common in this world, and I refuse to stand by and do nothing when I see it." I had to admire his resolve. I didn't really know what to say next, so I stayed quiet, reflecting on his words.

His eyes softened as he looked down at me sitting in his hand. "I guess you probably want to go home now, huh?" I sighed. Yes, I wanted to go home. Not back to the human dorm at the boarding school, but my real home. On the human side of the wall, with my mother, even if she didn't always want me around. Thinking of her reminded me of the plan I had brewing in my mind.

"Not yet," I replied with determination. "There's something I need to get first, but I'll need your help. I don't have any giant money to buy anything."

"I don't mind spotting you, as long as it's nothing too expensive," Joey said with a grin. "But in exchange, you'll have to go out with me again. Sound good?"

"Of course!" I replied enthusiastically.

"So what is it you need?"

"Is there a place around here that sells fishing gear?"