“Ingen! Table 4 has been waiting fifteen minutes to be served!” a voice bellowed from an out of sight location; Saturday’s were always Hannah’s least favourite day, 9 hours of life moving in fast forward, and her moving at half speed.

“R…right!” she stammered to the voice, unsure of who said it, probably one of the managers. In the restaurant, she saw no people, only shapes and blurs weaving in and out of her path, with a constant ringing from a hundred conversations going on at once. Sighing to herself, she approached table 4- it looked to be a young couple, too hell-bent on gazing at each other to notice that they were being served. Hannah, thoroughly frustrated with the day so far, forced a smile and waited for a reaction from the couple. When it did not come, in a light hearted tone, but with an undeniable sense of frustration buried deep within, she inquired “What can I get you today?”

That finally got the couples attention, but not in the way she so desperately wanted. The gentleman turned to her with a surprised gin on his face, and brashly inquired “Oh, you’re English?”

The novelty of being asked her nationality had long since warn off, and she likely wasn’t going to be charmed by it on a day as hectic as this. Eager to get their order, she gave a simple nod and an approving grunt, matched with a forced smile. “So, what can I get you?” she said, attempting to move the encounter onwards.

“Me and my girlfriend were just trying to remember actually… does England use the pound or the euro?” he asked, oblivious to Hannah’s obvious desire to get going. Hannah felt like slapping him for his stupidity- how could he not know that? Good naturedly, she replied, with a twitching eyelid, “The pound.”

“Right! That’s right. I always get that mixed up with the weight. Do you?” babbled the well-dressed gentleman, clearly occupying a different plane of reality to Hannah.

“Who cares? Just order something!” Hannah wanted to shout. The only reason she refrained was because she cared about her pay check. “Not really… what can I get you?” she stated once more. And finally, they ordered (over the course of five minutes). Hannah struggled to hear the couple over the deafening sounds of chatter in the restaurant, and she didn’t seem overly bothered about whether she got the right order or not, she just wanted to get the encounter over with, and come a step closer to the days end.

“Thank you” she forced out, as she walked away from the table, and towards the kitchen. Within the space of a few hours, her lengthy, blond hair had become dishevelled and untidy, a result of the stress that working in a Hollywood restaurant brought. She took a deep breath as she entered the wildly swinging doors to the smoky, thick-aired kitchen, complete with several ear-splitting sizzling sounds. “Two couscous salads for table 4!” she called out in an unenthusiastic tone, though her voice was probably lost in the frenzy of kitchen sounds.  Slamming the note the order was written on in the chef’s area, she marched out again, only to have more orders yelled at her by another seemingly invisible individual. “Ingen! Get this to table 19! It’s been sitting here for five minutes, get it there now or you’re fired!” The tone was coarse and booming; that would be the head chef.

Dexterously, she balanced both bowls of soup on the small tray they were arbitrarily obliged to carry meals on. Once again dancing round customers and fellow employees, she weaved her way to her destination. A snag on her foot almost caused her to go tumbling onto her face, but two years of working a high stress waitressing job in Hollywood had taught her a thing or two about balance; she shrugged it off with relative ease, and continued the long walk to her destination. “Gazpacho soup for two!” she announced when she arrived.

“Took you long enough- we ordered this twenty minutes ago! Do you want us to…” Hannah had also grown used to ungrateful customers who seemed unaware that the restaurant was packed to bursting point. She had developed a method of tuning out and nodding that allowed her an unusual moment of quiet contemplation in the buzzing street that was the restaurant. Comments about the amount of money she made came up a lot from these customers, usually followed by a snide comment about Hannah’s nationality, followed by a brash announcement that they refused to pay for it, which was of course a totally empty threat.

“What am I doing with my life…?” Hannah thought to herself. I’m not going to get the part… that Spanish woman had tits as big as mountains… she’ll make the movie far more money… God, I hate this job… she thought in a contrastingly calm tone. Having deduced that the customer was done whining, she gave a nod and a stern expression, followed by an “I’ll consult my manager” with no intention of doing it.

This was Hannah Ingen’s life; waiting tables for people making far more money than herself, hoping to make it big in the movies. She told herself to aim high, thinking that even if she missed, she would still be among the stars, but it felt much more like she was just drifting aimlessly though space.

The clock dinged ten o’clock; the day was over, and an audible sigh rang from the employees. Hannah darted for the locker room, removing the black T-shirt and suit trousers that made up her uniform and into the red hoodie, jeans and white converses that made up her standard getup. At last, an opportunity to run a brush through her knotted hair! As she was doing up her tattered shoes, a brunet haired woman in an orange tank top sat next to her, a welcomingly warm grin across her face. Hannah looked up, and saw one of the few friends she had in America. “Tammy?” she inquired, in a surprised tone “I thought you didn’t work Saturdays!”

“Hello to you too, Dame Ingen” she responded- “Dame” was a favourite of hers, Hannah being British. “I usually don’t, but Imogen has flu or something, so here I am!”

Hannah looked confused as she finished tying her shoes “But I spoke with her on the phone today- she sounded fine…”

“Oh, she is. But when you’re the manager’s daughter in law, you seem to get flu a lot more, and I end up picking up the slack for it.” She explained with an irritated tone. “And you have to work in these conditions every Saturday?” she asked, with a sense of admiration in her high pitched voice.

“Every single one” Hannah confirmed. “This is positively average.” She stood up, and headed for the door with Tammy to the side of her. Swinging open the door, she turned the corner and headed for the bus stop with her hands imbedded in the fleece lined pocket of her hoodie. The chill of the winter air could be felt through it, however. It was astounding that Tammy could wear something so insubstantial and not feel the cold. As they walked and discussed the woes of Saturday shifts, Tammy enthusiastically asked “Oh, how did the audition go?” to which Hannah replied, in a melancholy tone, “Mhm… I haven’t gotten a reply yet, but I don’t think it went that great…”

“Why?” Tammy pressed on, curious as to her downbeat attitude on the subject “There was a woman there with…” suddenly, Hannah’s voice was choired “tits as big as mountains”. Now, only Tammy’s voice remained, sounding motivational. “Their tits are always big as mountains! All that’s important is this; did you act better than them?”

Hannah’s tone was cautious, like she thought she was being tricked in some way. “Yeah…” she answered, confident that she did, but cautious as to what she was being asked. “Then you’ll get the part!” Tammy’s hopeful, squeaky voice replied

“But I always act better than them!”

“Then go to auditions for indie movies!”

“I do”

Hesitantly, Tammy responded “Then… get bigger tits?” in a clearly sarcastic tone. They both laughed, though Hannah’s was more forced than Tammy’s; to her, this was all she had to go on. She had made the choice to move out from south east England to Hollywood at the age of 22, and she vowed to herself that she was going to be a star by 23. She was 24; the naivetés of her early 20’s were staring to come around on her.

The bus stop approached after several minutes of walking. Giving a friendly hug farewell, the two parted ways, and Hannah stood static, watching her own breath in the winter air. She swiped her hand through her hair to try and alleviate the crushing feeling that the next day was going to be more of the same. “At least Sundays aren’t as bad…” she said to herself. “And I get Mondays off…” she held onto that thought to keep her going. The bus slowly slid into view, and slowed down for her to get on.

Hannah boarded with her eyes facing downwards, which turned up to look at the bus driver. In a moment of panic, her stomach filled with the sensation of squirming butterflies; she left her bus pass at work. Frantically rummaging around in her pocket, she sighed a breath of relief when she felt ten dollars; just enough for the ride. The bus driver, a middle aged man with a thick, black moustache and a cigarette drooping out of his naturally frowning mouth, gave a lingering, judgmental stare as Hannah passed over the five dollars. A ticket printed out of a machine, which Hannah snatched and stuffed into her pocket.

Wandering down the isle of the bus, she picked one of the few unoccupied seats to collapse onto.  Resting her legs on the back of the seat in front of her, she sighed and fought the urge to drift to sleep on the worn and torn, garishly coloured seat. After a half hour of contemplation and denials of regret, the bus pulled up to Hannah’s apartment block, a rundown looking structure, made of visibly aged bricks; hardly the classiest part of town, but certainly one of the most affordable, at least affordable by LA standards; it was still horrendously expensive for a person of Hannah’s wage. Clambering off the bus, almost missing her stop, she thanked the bus driver as she darted off it, to the sound of a nonchalant grunt from the driver, his barely lit cigarette still held up by his puffed lips.

The bus disappeared beyond the dim, orange lit horizon. As Hannah turned the key to her place of residence, a ginger cat found itself around her ankle, its face rubbing up and down her leg. Hannah looked down, feeling the tickling sensation, and smiled. She might not have had the money to own an animal, but she did find comfort in seeing Frankie every time she opened the apartment door. When she opened the door, the cat dashed in like ginger lightning, a stark contrast to Hannah’s slow, tired movements.

She walked her way up the seemingly millions of stairs, up to floor 8, her floor. She shoved the key in there, while wiping her hand down her face. All she wanted to do was curl up in bed and have no obligations or responsibilities, but she knew the same day awaited her tomorrow.

She had gotten used to the ear-cracking squeak the door made when it opened, and the heavy slam it made no matter how softly she tried to close it. Inside her apartment, it was extremely cold; the only way she was able to afford it with any money left for groceries was to have very little heating, no TV and very little internet. Taking a single step into her apartment, which was really nothing more than a cupboard, she felt paper beneath her foot, the crunch of the mail. She picked it up and flicked through it like it was a deck of playing cards. Bill, bill, notice, leaflet, and at the bottom of the pile was the letter she had been both dreading and eagerly anticipating; the letter that would tell her if she was going to make it big yet.

Though she all but knew what the outcome would be, she still felt a great sense of nervousness when she plunged her finger into the top, to get at the letter inside. Her eyes glazed over most of it, something about thanking her for auditioning, how they were impressed by her. Then, her eyes settled on the section she should not have been surprised by; she had been rejected again. Specifically, the wording was “not right at this time” which translated to “not attractive enough” in Hannah’s experience.

She felt like she had read the same letter a million times, but each time felt as crushing as the last. Trying, but failing, to let it not get to her, she staggered about her apartment, flicking her shoes off as she headed towards the phone, to try and get the landlord to sort out the light bulb that was creating an obnoxious strobe effect. She dialled the number, and upon the first ring, decided her mood was not adequate to deal with the disinterested and irritable nature of her landlord.

A few steps to her left brought her to the fridge, its light long since extinguished, but at least it still kept things cold. It was one of Hannah’s few possessions, along with her phone and bed, which was still in working order. With a harsh tug, the fridge door finally conceded to being opened, and there inside it sat a (surprisingly) in date yoghurt; hardly a substitute for dinner, but at least it was the next best thing. Hannah’s stomach growled, before she started eagerly consuming the yoghurt. She shrunk into her moderately comfortable chair, looking out at the night-time city, though the sky was as illuminated and bright as day, and the air was filled with the sound of cars honking their horns, that thankfully became silenced when she moved away from the window.

Suddenly, a bizarre and unpleasant sensation washed over Hannah. First and foremost, her head felt excruciatingly light, not the kind of light headedness from tiredness, but the kind from feeling unwell. The second was an unusual heat that ran over her, like blood was flowing faster than it should at a sitting down position; her heartbeat rang in her ears, and it was beating madly… As she fanned herself wildly, the third symptom made itself known; an extreme hunger, though she thought that was probably due to the fact that she had barely eaten a thing that day. But if she had, she would have noticed her stomach tearing itself apart to have something substantial inside it. Wanting the day, and these rather concerning, sudden symptoms to end, she decided it was time to head for bed.

Before she even knew she had begun, she had finished her yoghurt. Looking at her watch, she saw it was nearly 11, and she had to be up for work at 8. Standing up and stretching for a brief moment, she headed to her bedroom where, at the drop of a hat, she transformed into her pyjamas, a baggie, buttoned up long sleeved shirt and even baggier, almost flared trousers, both items of clothing blue with a white polka dot pattern on them. Before she fell into bed, she looked at the framed picture of the rest of her family on holiday at a beach three years prior. In the foreground was Hannah and her sister, Jessica, and behind them was their older brother Thomas, and in the background, unaware of the photograph being taken was her portly father, Darren, and thin yet resilient looking mother, Maria.

From outside her bedroom, her phone echoed is screeching tone. Responding with a startled and frustrated sigh, Hannah wandered over to it. Loosely gripping the phone out of the cradle, she bid it hello, and once more placed herself in the armchair, waiting for a reply.

“Hannah?” asked the familiar male tone. It peaked Hannah’s interest, as she sat up, leaning forwards. She didn’t want to take a guess as to who it was yet, but certainly she was interested to find out.

“Yeah…” she responded, sceptically

A few seconds passed “It’s Tom”

Hannah was a mixture of delight and confusion. It had felt like ages since she had spoken to her brother. With a small smile upon her lips, she replied in the most enthusiastic tone she could muster after such a stressful and tiring day. “Tom? Hey! How are you? What time is it over there?”

“I’m okay, it’s seven a.m. over here, and I was just about to set off for work. Felt like calling you.”

Twirling the cord around her finger, “And why would that be?”

“Well, it just feels like ages since we last spoke. Just wanted to check in… you sound… tired”

“Well, it is eleven here. And, you know… Saturday shift…” she explained, in a resigned tone.

With a spark of curiosity in his tone, Tom asked “How did the audition go?”

And with a regretful tone, she answered bluntly. “Got turned down again” Hannah looked out her window and noticed a pair of cats scrabbling across the rooftops.

“Oh…” the distorted voice on the phone replied “Well, there’s always next time, right?”

“I guess. There’s an audition for a commercial for some mint or something coming up, might try that.” Hannah pondered, rubbing her moon-sized eyes.

“Oh yeah?” stated Tom, a cheery peek to his similarly sleepy tone “Well, best of luck with that. You’ll make I big someday, I just know it.” He said, sincerely

“Christ, getting engaged made you into dad…” Hannah proclaimed with a small giggle in her tone. She always met sentimentality with a snappy, sarcastic remark.

“Well, next time I won’t give you any kind words” replied Tom, matching his sister’s ironic tone.

“Make sure you don’t.” Hannah gave a yawn, before telling her brother “I should really be getting to bed- I’ve got work tomorrow and… Well, I’m not feeling too well. Feeling hot and I’ve got a light head…”

“Ah, a cold, maybe? Hey, maybe a day or two off work right? Jessica said she’d call later- I guess tomorrow for you. You get off earlier on Sundays, right?”

“Right- I get off at 6.”

“Well, see you soon.”

“Bye…”

Down went the phone into the cradle. Though only a brief distraction from the tedium of her everyday life, it offered a ray of sunshine, and a taste of home. Pushing herself up from her deep seat, she wandered back over to her blue-walled bedroom, its faded paint peeling significantly.

As she clambered into bed, she found the most unconventional symptoms growing only slightly improved as she took the pressure off herself, lying down on her soft, reassuring mattress.

Smacking the light switch with a flick of her wrist, darkness bathed her bedroom, and left her alone in a peaceful sleep, alone with her thoughts, and her teddy bear, which was filled to the brim with sentimental value; her mother had bought it for her just before she left for America. She named him after the punch line to a long forgotten joke shared between her and her sister; Mr Gumdrop.

Within moments of the light going out, far faster than she had ever fallen asleep before, she was locked into a deep, almost unnatural sleep. It was as though she had been rendered unconscious rather than drifting into it herself, a result of the symptoms. Hannah looked to be in a peaceful and quiet slumber, but something was unusual, different. She was normally as static as a log when she slept; tonight she was thrashing around like a mad-woman. And not just twisting and turning, kicking, twitching, convulsing, it looked more like a seizure or a possession that it did a sleep. Her breathing was irregular too, to match. Whereas usually she took a second and a half or so to take a breath in and out each when sleeping, here it seemed entirely random. Sometimes it would take a good few seconds to take a breath out, where as a breath in would take half a second, or vice versa, and all the while her skin was growing more and more pale. If anyone had been watching her, they would have come to the conclusion that she would need urgent medical attention. Luckily for her own health however, the convulsing and heavy breathing stopped. She lay static with ruffled bed sheets on top of her, as though nothing had happened.

She lay there innocently for a few seconds, before the most unusual thing yet happened. The five foot five woman was… growing. Within a matter of seconds, she had reached 6 foot, within several minutes, 7 foot, a matter of minutes after that, 10 foot, fewer minutes after that, twenty foot; at this point, she was pressed up against the walls of her box apartment, doubtlessly putting pressure on them to burst into rubble. Along with this, her baggie pyjamas had ripped off, leaving a completely unaware, naked Hannah. And it was speeding up…

Dawn broke as it traditionally did- the suns golden rays highlighted the bustling streets and buildings, but there was something critically different on this day- the sleepy early morning travels were absent. In its place, there was terror. Cars lay abandoned in the street, people weaving in-between them as they ran from the massive object that blocked out the sun itself. The pace of the panic was such that the slightest trip would be a noteworthy risk to one’s life, and any attempt to stop and observe the entity would be met with injury.

Contrastingly, Hannah was in a state of comfort- the screams that filled the streets barely registered to her- though, they were just enough to lift her heavy eyelids, ending her tranquil sleep. With her vision blurry and her body limp, her hand hovered up to her face, where it rubbed her eye in an attempt to wake her up. Forcing her dry, sore eyes open, she instinctively swung her arm to her left, to hit her alarm clock. When her hand impacted the space the clock occupied, she heard nothing but the wind flow past her hand, and a deeper than usual crash when she thought she hit it.

She tried to force herself to wake up; the alien screaming from nearby did little to wake her. Twisting and turning under what she thought were her covers, she noticed nothing there. Perhaps she had thrashed the covers off in the night… Sighing, she pushed herself up, looking down as her vision became sharper. What she saw shocked her…

She was naked. She had on very rare occasions entertained the idea of sleeping naked, but the fact was that she had put pyjamas on… she quickly came to the conclusion that something was wrong. Covering up her breasts with her arm, she got the second shock of the morning; she wasn’t in her apartment. At this point, she became panicked; the only possibility that occurred to her was that she had been kidnapped. She’d heard horror stories about the crime rate in LA, but she always though them emphasised. Looking thoroughly confused with a tinge of worry, it appeared as though she was… outside. Below her was a city. A model city, fairly sizable for a model, about three or four times the size of her in, though the height of all the buildings were absolutely infinitesimal compared to her. Growing more and more baffled by the second, her tired mind decided that this was the time for observation and experimentation; she brought her finger down on the replica residential area. A small boom rang from the impact zone, and a cloud of smoke lingered up from it. It did nothing to alleviate Hannah’s misunderstanding. She observed the buzzing screaming growing slightly louder when she hit. It was at that point that she noticed the minuscule specs of dust float around the crevices of the small city. Her eyes were thinned. Her head came closer. The dust was… people. And they were screaming. In the crowd of people, she managed to single out one specific person, and found she could understand them with clarity when she focused- “it’s going to crush us!” was what she made out.

Hannah’s mind lay dormant on this for a few moments, trying to work out the implications. Surely, they couldn’t be people, they’re too tiny, she thought. She was becoming less confused and more outright scared now. Backing up, she looked at the area directly beneath her… rubble and dirt, masses of it, connecting to the rest of the tiny city. Pushing herself up to her knees, she scanned the wreckage with her eyes. None of this was making any sense to her. Maybe it was some kind of bizarre and sadistic prank. Her eyes glazed around, just to find something to latch onto to make sense of all this. It’s fair to say that she found that something.

A handprint. Embedded in the earth, surrounded by grass, a handprint from where she had hit where she thought her alarm clock was. She stared at it, then the city, then the handprint again. They were the same size… The screaming was real, the rubble she had created was real, and the handprint was real.

It’s a dream… she thought. It’s just one of those lucid dreams… But no matter how much she tried to convince herself of that, it felt too real to be a dream. Her lungs drew in breath through her teeth, in rapid succession. Inside her, a deafening sound brewed…

Transformed from her gentle, soft English tone, rang a banshees scream. She grasped the sides of her head, as her scream hit those in the city like a wave, shattering glass. Faintly making out the damage her voice alone was doing, her hand raced to her mouth, covering it firmly. Her mind was unable to process anything. Her eyes darted around like a tennis match. Having halted the ear piercing tone, her head shook as she destructively backed away from the city, which she had not yet processed that it was LA. With her eyes like globes, her voice changed to a quivering tone that portrayed only horror. More of a sound than speech, she spoke through her hand “I’m sorry… I don’t…  Where… A…Am I… I…” her limbs flailed in a desperate attempt to conceal her pure nudity.

Her vision once again began to blur, and before she knew it, she was hyperventilating; her lungs were taking in air, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything. It felt like she couldn’t breathe. Pushing out a few more meaningless syllables, she pulled a face that was a clear attempt to throw up. Thankfully for the people on the ground, it failed, and all they got was a shocked, unwell expression, and an overly extended tongue, followed by an unpleasant gagging sound. It had gotten to the point that she could no longer manage. She went limp. She shut her eyes. An explosion of dust, dirt, grass and rubble marked the collapse of the titan, as she narrowly avoided crushing the rest of the city beneath her more than sizable figure.

Tammy ran. For her life, she ran. The movement of her legs and her conscious thoughts were separate from each other; the immense pain that shot through her legs was muted by the adrenaline and panic that flowed through her like water. The only opportunity to look at the giant woman that had emerged from seemingly nowhere came in the middle of the night, when she walked out of her apartment to see what all the screaming and running was about. She thought she recognised the beast that kept expanding and growing, but she did not have any time to observe it further before she was swept up in a riot of terror. Despite the pain she was in, and the dehydration she was suffering, it was doubtlessly preferable to the pile of rubble that used to be her house- crushed when Hannah’s hand breezed through it in her expanding sleep.

When Hannah put her finger in the middle of the city, it landed unnervingly close to Tammy’s location. Dust and smoke overwhelmed her, and she became the victim of the shockwave that resulted from the impact. She sucked in the corrupted air, chocking as she did. Her vision was rendered useless, now she was at serious risk of being trampled, but she didn’t realise that until a sudden, heavy impact battered her shoulder. The pain from running was nothing compared to what she felt at that moment. Her mind was just clear enough to figure out that she had been kicked, and immediately following that, what little air there was in her lungs has kicked out of her by another unaware passer-by.

She knew she had to get up and get to safety. Painfully dragging herself in a random direction, a great weight came down on her back, to a great scream from her. Out of her mouth shot a small amount of blood. She pulled herself up against a wall, narrowly avoiding the rabble filling the streets with chaos. The smoke gradually cleared, allowing her to get a proper look at the foreign body that seemed to be mercilessly attacking the city. It was the largest object she or anyone else had ever laid eyes on. Even when it lay on its stomach, it was the height of a skyscraper. When it rose to its knees, it became nothing short of gargantuan. That’s when it hit Tammy. She knew exactly who she was looking at. Hannah. But it couldn’t be Hannah, she thought. There’s simply no way…

Her ears rang for minutes when Hannah screamed, she was lucky she didn’t go deaf from the explosion of sound. Glass rained down on Tammy like a gale. She was improbably lucky that the worst it did was cut her upper arm slightly. Her ears were still ringing when Hannah attempted to apologise; the ringing was great enough to block off her saddened apologies, though it wasn’t enough to block off her monstrously heavy breathing, and the catastrophic sound like a meteor when she started to fall towards the city.

The sun was blocked off by her toppling figure. Tammy stared up at it while it toppled. She shut her eyes, and prepared to die. The knowledge that she was going to be crushed beneath her friend was horrifying, but she shut her eyes knowing that even if she tried there would be no escape. With her eyes clenched, tears flowing down her face, the exploding crash came down… but not on the city. It landed to the side, in a maelstrom of dust and dirt. Tammy opened her eyes a few seconds later, contemplating whether she was alive or dead. Feeling up and down her own body, her fragile mind figured out that she was alive. Giving a sigh and a cough, she sat static as people rushed by, still in a frantic panic.

With legs made of jelly, she shoved herself up and re-joined the crowd of runners, still with a fear of what the downed titan was capable of. At this point, though still swift, the speed of the massive crowd had slowed down to less of a life threatening pace. Now, it was more of a scrabble to get distance between themselves and the titan.  Hannah’s heavy breathing could be heard clearly, echoing in the air and through the streets. Blocked off by smoke, dust and buildings, Tammy found it impossible to get a good look at her monstrously scaled friend.

Hannah rolled her head slightly in her unconscious state, which was met by a raising scream, like being on a rollercoaster, from the crowd, despite it looking like she was miles away. After all, she had done so much damage to the city with a single finger; the prospect of suffering the wrath of her whole body petrified the fumbling groups. Tammy reflexively shielded her face, as though that would do something. With her high pitched tone blended in by the sound of mumbling and shouting, she muttered “I know her…” no one responded. “I know her!” she repeated, not sure why she was doing it, perhaps just to try and process her thoughts.

Hours flowed like water through a great river. If nothing else, life had certainly become much more interesting in the past few hours, and not just for Hannah. But if the hours were brief for the comparatively tiny specimens on the ground, it was a flash of light for Hannah. Making tiny twitches and turns, grunt and groans, her eyes forced themselves open, showing an image of an overcast sky, blurred from her frazzled state of mind. It took her a few seconds to recall what she had so hoped was a dream… something where she was a giant, and she crushed half the city.

Suddenly, a sharp, loudened voice rung in her ear. “Subject is waking! Subject is waking!” Her half closed eyes flung open at the screeching voice, it was like something was slapping her round the face with sound. “I repeat, subject is waking!” on top of this, an ear piercing, moaning siren was sounding, as though there were a bombing raid. Hannah slowly turned her head, and noticed the second impossible thing before breakfast. Dotted around her head were lots of tiny, makeshift buildings, probably not even a tenth of her little toenail, constructed out of metal crates and scaffolding, with little people in little white coats rushing inside. On top of this, several platoons of dust-sized armed men, pointing their weapons directly at her. It startled her, and she inhaled sharply. Despite her new found size, it (which she did not yet have the ability to consider the repercussions of) it was the first time she had ever been pointed at with a loaded weapon, let alone hundreds of them. To make matters even worse, her eyes panned to the side slightly more, to reveal, of all things, tanks. She had no reason to doubt that they were ready to fire on command. Just then, she remembered in perfect detail her “dream”.

A crushing sense of dread flowed through her; she recalled the screaming, the rubble, and her nudity…

“Subject has woken! Stay inside until the all clear! This is not a drill!” repeated the distorted voice, in a harsh, barking tone. Hannah was a deer in headlights; a blank, scared expression matched her darting eyes that weren’t focusing on anything. She mustered up the courage needed to talk, but despite her assembling of nerves, her voice came out positively mousey, and she did not decide fully on a question to ask. “What… happened?”

“Do not move from your current position!” the intercom howled. Hannah was unsure if it was referring to her or everyone else but, not wanting to risk being reduced to ash and led, she pinned herself static on the ground, as much as she wanted to cover up.

Shaking her head oh so slightly, “I just want some answers!” she requested, in a saddened voice, much louder than her last statement.

Silence.

“A representative will… tell you everything we know… shortly… Miss Ingen.”

Everything we know… those words brought Hannah very, very little reassurance, but in a way they told her everything she needed to know about the situation: no one knew what was going on, and that terrified her more than anything she could imagine.

She lay like a giant carpet for half an hour with her arms and legs spread out slightly, left to her own thoughts while scientists deliberated and the troops stood ready to fire at the drop of a hat. All that time, Hannah tried to muster up the courage to speak once more, but the dead silence felt oppressive and crushing, like it was forcing her voice down.  Eventually, the intercom echoed through the air and flowed into her ears once more.

“We are ready to tell you everything we know” A blank, cautious, female tone stated. “Now, Miss Ingen, I want you to follow my instructions exactly” it continued, sternly. Hannah forced out a conforming “okay…” along with a feeble nod.

“Very slowly, I want you to sit up.” The distorted tone demanded. Hannah complied. Looking left and right at the area around her hands, she applied a colossal deal of pressure, far, far more than she knew she was, to the point that her handprints were embedded in the ground. Though she had sat up hundreds of times before, this time felt like much more effort, like an entirely new experience, for several reasons. For one, she heard the cocking of guns again, ready to fire if needed. Second, though it hadn’t entirely sunken in yet, she knew that if she slipped, she would crush someone flat. As she rose up, her head felt light, and she heard the anonymous voice generically reassure her; “You’re doing well” “Keep going” “Well done…”

After what felt like an age, her upper half was vertical, allowing her to observe all points south; by her feet, she noticed several reinforced makeshift research facilities, obviously because of the risk of it being kicked. Then, she was made to face her nudity again. In a heartbeat, she guided her right arm across her breasts, and her left to cover up her nether regions, looking mortified all the while.

Still, silence.

Hannah took a deep breath in, asking “Can I… please have an… explanation?” once again in an insignificant, scared tone of voice, but before she could even finish her sentence, it was spoken over with more demands. “Look to your left. You will notice a platform” Doing as the female voice commanded, she spotted the platform, and saw that on it was one of the people in a white coat. The microphone on the platform told Hannah that she was the voice on the intercom. Hannah was astounded to find that she could make out her shape and features with relative ease.

Hannah could tell that she was an older woman. Her grey-brunette hair and wrinkling face told her that much.  She almost spoke once more, before she was interrupted by the Canadian tone. Sounding like she had memorised her words, the scientist stated quite bluntly “Hannah Elizabeth Ingen, shortly after 11 o’clock last night, a biological process we do not yet understand occurred in your body.” Hannah’s face was blank, as was the scientists.

“As a result of this process, you grew thousands of feet tall within the space of approximately 8 hours. As far as we are able to tell, you have now stopped growing.” Already, questions were rampant in Hanna’s mind, and she was sure that she wasn’t the only one utterly baffled.

“We have to run many more tests on you, but from the minuscule amount of research we have done, we do not think this process is reversible.” She said regretfully with a tinge of fear, for she didn’t know how the titanic woman would react.

Another gap of silence.

“How tall am I? I mean, specifically…” Hannah asked, just wanting to take her mind off that bombshell. From the sound of her, a frog had snuck into her throat without her knowledge, as her tone of voice quivered with a saddened confusion.

Clearing her throat, “Using our most advanced measuring equipment; we have calculated you to be between ten thousand, five hundred feet and ten thousand, seven hundred feet. Just over two miles…” she explained, sternly and bluntly

Two miles… obviously, there must have been some miscalculation, Hannah thought. If I was that big, my bones would have been turned to dust under their own weight…  The world around Hannah went completely silent; the scientist speaking became white noise. Her face reflected her inability to process thought, with a gaping, open mouth, and shocked, baffled, empty eyes. She couldn’t even begin to contemplate how her life was going to work from now on. Her eyes wandered over the landscape, and she once again looked upon the half flattened city she had unintentionally terrorised. The streets were now empty and baron. Cars were dotted around the roads, lying abandoned. Would she forever be known as the woman who single handily caused LA to be evacuated? All the while, Hannah was subconsciously curling up into a foetal position, dragging her legs up to her chest, gripping the roots of her hair in a fist, resting her head on it.

Despite warnings on the ground to move her legs carefully, they dragged along the ground, leaving a path of soil in their wake. It was starting to dawn on her just how impossible she was, and it horrified her.

Yet more silence…

Hannah stood at the airport terminal, facing her family with tears welling in her eyes. Her family stood there with her, the women of the family showing equal amounts of emotion, then men trying to hide that they were feeling the same.

“Well, this is it…” Hannah muttered beneath her breath. Quite spontaneously, she wrapped around her younger sister, as the announcer called her flight. Jessica wasted no time in hugging her sister back, tears flowing as she gave a heartfelt farewell. Thomas approached the two, and Hannah promptly turned her attention to him. Thomas embraced her with his muscle-bound arms, with a reminiscent smile on his face. Her parents hung back, having already received their squeezing hugs.

“So… I guess next time you see me, I’ll be famous…” Hannah jokingly stated, facing Jessica and Thomas. Never missing out on an opportunity for taunting, Thomas slyly stated “Or, it’ll be Christmas” to which Hannah replied with a hit on his shoulder, and a chuckle.

“Arsehole...” She blurted with deep routed affection.

The trio said their farewells, before Hannah started wandering into the distance to board her flight to LAX. Jessica, in her chirpy, ever optimistic, though definitively sad tone, stated hopefully, as she waved manically at her disappearing sister, “See you when you’re famous!”

Two years later, Hannah had achieved that.

Jessica had sat static in the family house, on the edge of her seat with her hands covering her mouth for the entire day. Her parents were out of the house for the weekend, leaving her by herself. She had skipped work just to watch events unfold, events which she of all people could not possibly fathom. She had been tuned in since 8 in the morning, when reports of a 50 foot woman were coming in. An hour later, she was watching reports of a five hundred foot woman, who was starting to look unnervingly familiar to Jessica. Another hour later, reports were coming in that she had grown to 4000ft, riots were starting, and stampedes flowed through the city like blood.

It didn’t even occur to her that her sister was naked on the news, but just as she was starting to notice, the striking silence in the room was shattered by the blaring groan of the telephone. Within an instant, Jessica lunged at it, slamming it against her ear. “Hello?!” a soft, frightened voice rang out.

“Jess?”

“Mum!”

“Turn on the news…” she ordered in a sharp tone, that had the same sense of panic behind it that Jessica’s had.

“I have… I’ve been watching it all day!” Jessica confirmed, in a tone of quaint fear “What’s going on?” she arbitrarily asked. “What’s Hannah doing?” Jessica desperately inquired.

“It can’t be Hannah… its massive!” Maria offered, in a comparable tone.

“But the news said… the face matched hers…” Jessica pointed out, hysterically.

“It’s not Hannah! This is all some kind of joke… It’ll all be over soon…” Maria blurted, her voice quivering in sadness and fear.

“She… it’s still growing!” Jessica exclaimed, before a beep on the phone indicated another caller. Looking down at her phone, she could see it was her brother. “Mum… mum, stay calm, I promise I’ll call you back… b… bye…”

With that, she pressed the button on the phone to switch to Tom, and was greeted with a voice whose sense of panic was clear, though he was trying to maintain a patriarchal sense of calm. “Tom! What’s Hannah doing?! Why is she so big…? Why…” she was interrupted abruptly. “Jessica, look, stay calm, I’m coming over! I don’t know what’s happening… but we can find out together, yeah?” he offered, in a tone that one might talk to a child in. Though Jessica clearly knew they wouldn’t be able to find out what was going on with Hannah on their own, she clung to the ray of hope that prospect presented. Nodding manically, she responded “O…okay… just, please hurry!” as she gript onto the phone with both hands, pressing it firmly into her ear.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes!” Thomas reassured her. Without saying a word, merely offering emotional grunts, she tumbled the phone back into the cradle, so fearful she was that she didn’t even bother to swipe her labyrinth of wavy brunette hair out of her face, she simply sat there, gazing at the baffling reports on the television, with her hand up to her mouth, her fearful eyes welling and her legs curled up to her torso.

Twenty minutes later, the knocking of wood flowed through the house. Jessica darted like a madwoman to the door, swinging it open, and clinging to her brother. She had an appearance closer to a child than a 19 year old. As Jessica quivered, Tom led her inside, setting her down on her chair once more. In a rather fatherly fashion, he wiped away a tear from her eye and hushed her reassuringly, as he himself gazed at the news reports. Still growing… five thousand feet, the reports were now stating.

Tom sighed, and cuddled his sister, and she cuddled back. If there was ever a time the pair needed reassurance, it was now. Without any knowledge of how their beloved sister was doing, all they had was each other.

“You… you spoke with her this morning, right?” Jessica inquired, her voice quivering and shaking.

“Yeah… she seemed… fine…” he said, initially reassuringly before his voice began to turn to realisation.

“What? Do you know something?! Tell me!” Jessica demanded loudly, only to be met by Tom hushing her in a contrastingly small tone.

“She… said she wasn’t feeling too well. Said she had a felt hot, and she said her head felt light… but, that can’t have anything to do with this, surely… it just sounded like a cold to me…” Tom explained.

The pair sat on the sofa in silence for several minutes; they had visibly begun to calm down now that they were in the presence of one another. Placing his hands on her shoulders, Tom grinned, offering a cup of tea, which Jessica was all too happy to have made for her. As Tom headed for the kitchen, Jessica rubbed the top of her forehead. Once again picking up the phone, she redialled her mother.

“Jess!?”

“Mum…”

“A…are you okay!?”

“I… I don’t know… I’m scared, mum…” she sighed, in an admitting tone, a sigh that her mother matched.

“Listen to me hun; everything is going to be fine…” Maria stated in a slow and deep tone.

“I… I hope so…” Jessica replied cautiously “Listen, Tom is round here with me… Do you want to have a word with him?” Jessica offered, as Tom returned from the kitchen, with cups of tea in both hands. He set them down on the table, both overfilled mugs sloshing over slightly.

“So you’ve both skipped work…” Maria stated, in an attempt to lighten the mood. Jessica responded with a very forced, but good natured chuckle. She passed the phone to Tom, telling him it was mum. From that point, time seemed to race by like a cheetah. Seconds transformed into minutes, minutes into hours, all the while the pair looking at the television with fear and confusion, listening intently as reports came in, and watching dedicatedly as the first footage of the stampedes on the ground came in. A shiver went down Jessica’s spine as she saw the panic and fear that the being that appeared to be Hannah was causing.

Jessica audibly sighed when reports came in that the rate of growth appeared to be slowing dramatically, even louder when it seemed that she had stopped growing completely. However, just as she was beginning to feel her frantic nerves calming ever so slightly, they were put on edge once more; the titanic woman was waking. Jessica’s breath withheld its release when she saw her sister’s eye open. Her breath could no longer be withheld; she started breathing in shallow, quick intervals, as she gripped the edge of the seat, leaning forward. She watched fixedly at Hannah’s every movement and facial expression, providing a commentary track in the form of grunts and gasps. Her ears had more or less shut off, as had her peripheral vision, so she did not have a clue that Tom was reacting in more or less the same way.

When Hannah’s arm swung round and obliterated the spot of earth she thought was an alarm clock, Jessica flinched and took in a sharp intake of breath, as though watching a horror film. To her, it was not unlike one. As she observed the tired, heavy and confused movements of her sister, she pointed out “She doesn’t know what’s happened…” in a surprised tone as she looked at Tom, who was focused only on the screen. “She doesn’t know what’s going on!” Tom parroted, which Jessica failed to hear.

Jessica could only watch on in horror as Hannah’s finger obliterated a spot of the city. “What… what’s she doing?” Jessica inquired to no one in particular. Was Hannah aware of the destruction she was causing? She couldn’t be… Jessica shook her head frantically to indicate her inner thoughts. Hannah’s scream of realisation reflected the sense in Jessica’s heart. Contrastingly, she jumped up from her chair when Hannah collapsed out of shock.

Sweat rolling down her forehead, Jessica slowly lowered herself back into her seat, her breathing almost at the point of hyperventilation. Once again, Hannah was unconscious, leaving the pair to continue to watch the news. The clock rotated further, and Hannah once again awoke. Seven PM came and went, and Hannah once again woke, the pair watching on in a mixture of awe and terror. Over the four hours she was unconscious, small research outposts were set up around her. Hannah had instructions barked at her. She sat up. She had things explained to her. She curled up in a ball, just as Jessica was at that moment. Everything went at a blur for the 19 year old. Standing up, she stated to her brother in a small voice “L…look… it’s been a hard day… I… I want to get an early night…” Tom nodded, she had earned it. “Feel free to… go home to your fiancé or whatever… or… stay here… whatever…” from the sound of her voice, Tom could tell that she was not processing her thoughts that much. “Invite her round, why not…”

If Jessica were to recap everything that had happened that day, she would fail, yet all she did was sit on a chair and watch the news…

Two miles…

But that’s wrong… I’m five foot five…

I’d die instantly if I were two miles tall…

I wouldn’t be able to breathe, for one thing…

It’s silly… It’s impossible…

But then how is everyone else so small…

Why don’t I have clothes…?

How do they know my name…?

Hannah’s thoughts flowed through her otherwise empty mind like a cascading waterfall. For several hours, she had been curled up static in a fetal position, while scientists and researchers arbitrarily tried to get a response from her. The powerful, colossal woman looked like a wounded animal; scared, cold, hungry and crushingly alone…

“John- she might be two miles, but she still needs to eat!” Courtney, the researcher that broke the news to Hannah, stated argumentatively as her silver hair fell in front of her face, which she was quick to push back.

“Well what do we feed it?” John replied, with equal force in his voice. He ran his fingers through his red, combed over hair. “We don’t even understand to what extent its organs changed in the growth…”

“Well, what do you propose we do? Let her starve? Do you want a giant, immobile corpse laying over Los Angeles? How do we get rid of her then? Cremate her? Bury her? Hack her up into little, transportable bits?” Courtney argued emotionally. “That’s not what I mean and you know it.” John stated bluntly, his arms crossed as he gently swayed on his revolving chair. “The forensic evidence suggests that its stomach’s changed to react even better to meat than the average human, right?” he inquired, in a much calmer tone.

“Well… yes, that is what the saliva sample suggests… but we can’t really know for sure yet.” She sighed, looking at Johns raised eyebrow. “But then again that’s all we’ve got to go on… she’s still in shock, we’re not going to get any samples from her for a while, me thinks...”  she admitted in a likewise much calmer tone, gazing out the hole in the wall that formed a window, looking at the empty-looking giantess. “So, I come back to my original point; what do we feed her? We can’t just line up and offer ourselves, can we!”

Johns head shot up “I mean… why not?” for Courtney, the world went silent and her vision focused only on John, her mind unable to process his statement. After gazing intently for a few seconds, she asked simply “W…what?”

“I mean- entirely hypothetically- the saliva sample suggests it can break down meat much, much more efficiently than us normal people, and vegetation is much more difficult for it… and when you think about it, it would only technically be cannibalism, I mean, it hardly counts as homo sapiens any more…” John explained. Courtney maintained her mesmerised, stunned, ghostly glare, as she remained entirely motionless. “What?” she inquired shocked, as she couldn’t tell if her counterpart was joking or not. Sighing, John shook his hand, pressing his head up against the other hand. “Just… just thinking out loud- livestock would be much more efficient… and far less controversial...”

Trying to ignore John’s earlier statement, Courtney simply nodded, her face still weaving a tale of absolute confusion and alarm, stating “Yeah… livestock… lots and lots of livestock… God, how much is that going to cost?”

Hours later (though the wreck that was Hannah could have sworn it minutes), Courtney got up on the pedestal again to communicate with her. It was at that point that Hannah’s ears aimed directly at Courtney, hearing everything she was saying to her co-workers even before she got up on the podium. How can I hear her, she’s so tiny… Hannah thought, as though it was the strangest thing to happen that day. Hannah’s striking, green eyes glared a million miles downwards at absolutely nothing.

Courtney was clearly making her speech up on the spot “Hannah- In the hours since your growth, you’ve eaten nothing- it’s not good for you, especially for someone your size!” she quipped, foolishly trying to lighten the situation. Biting her lip and glaring down, she carried on. “Anyway…  Ahem… at the expense of…” she looked away, so she could hesitate “The US government… we have ordered you some food, beef to be specific…” She was careful not to mention the fact they ordered one thousand tons of the stuff; she did everything in her power not to remind Hannah of her situation.

Nothing from Hannah.

“It’ll nourish you for a good while… and we can purify sea water easily!” Courtney stated in a tone that was optimistic for Hannah’s sake.

Still, nothing.

Wiping across her forehead, she slowly stated “Hannah… honey, we need to know… are you going to be able to eat something? For us?” in a motherly tone, for she was indeed old enough to be her mother. For someone so colossal and hulking, Hannah’s actions were miniscule. After a small period of time, Hannah’s head jerked nervously from side to side, with her fingers up against her mouth, indicating a distinctive “No”.

A certain amount of panic spread on the ground, amongst the researchers. Courtney cleared her throat, before spouting “Hannah, you need to keep your strength up!” in a concerned tone. In the short amount of time that Hannah had been at her monstrous size, Courtney felt an almost motherly bond growing between them, like Hannah was her responsibility alone. “Please do us a favour and at least try…” Courtney appealed. Hannah was motionless, the giantess starting to look like a feature of the landscape as she sat on the rubble of half a city.

Courtney climbed down from the platform that did not even come a fifth of the way up Hannah’s little toe, a defeated, concerned look on her face. Just then, the most deafening of sounds happened. Courtney, who had only just got off the platform’s ladder, covered her ears as the growling of a colossal, raging animal sounded. After her, and everyone else’s, body had unfrozen, she looked round, and realised the monstrous sound was emanating from Hannah’s stomach. It sent a shiver down their collective spines, as thoughts of how to fill it flooded their minds… Hannah’s eyes squeezed closed.

Day 2. The mounds of meat had arrived fully cooked, but Hannah had not touched it, despite its tantalising smell and appearance. It sat in front of her, but she simply gazed right though the several truckloads of alluring food. On top of this, she had not slept that night, and it was showing in the purple and red bags that drooped beneath her eyes. She didn’t want to sleep, because she knew she would not wake up and find out it was all a horrendous dream. She had maintained her foetal position all night, unable to move due to her destroyed and frazzled state of mind.

Several hundred miles away, a press conference was being set up, men and women in suits hovered like flies, setting up equipment, plugging in wires and tapping microphones, as the eager media sat near-impatiently in padded seats, complete with notepads, netbooks and cameras. One would have to be on mars to not know what had happened in Los Angeles.

It was also the second day of Jessica sitting motionless, and though she was calmer today, she still had nerves of glass as she awaited the beginning of the conference. Tom had stayed, and had invited his fiancé, Chloe, to stay, for Jessica’s sake more than anything; the poor girl was clearly close to breaking down and she needed support from family. All 3 intently watched the television, waiting for the conference to begin and for their questions to potentially at last be answered.

At last, the conference, that would inevitably be one of the most watched events in history, seemed to be getting underway. A figure with an imposing authority stepped out from the blue curtain in a black suit and rose to the podium, as the crowd went mute. He straightened his red tie and cleared his throat, his facial expression and stance stated that he knew what he was talking about, but inside, the words he had rehearsed still sounded alien and baffling to him.

“Good morning.” His voice pierced the silence. “You will all, no doubt, be aware of the incident that occurred in Hollywood, California starting at 11pm pacific on Saturday. Regrettably, the amount of research done so far has not been able to render a conclusion on why Hannah Elizabeth Ingen, aged 24, grew to a height of just over two miles tall.” The crowed murmured in an almost disappointed tone. Jessica sighed and groaned sadly, as Tom and Chloe held each other’s hands, all three intently focusing dedicatedly on the screen.

The speaker resumed. “Tests and research will continue on Miss Ingen for an indefinite amount of time, however, in the just over 24 hours since her appearance, we have been able to determine various differences between Ingen’s anatomy and the anatomy of the average human, through a small saliva sample, a piece of fingernail and several skin flakes.” Jessica leaned forwards, her levels of interest peaking as her heart thumped in her ears.

“The two primary changes in anatomy we have thus far been able to determine from the saliva sample suggest she has a stomach that can digest meat almost exclusively, and a vastly augmented immune system. Communication with Miss Ingen suggests her sense of hearing is vastly augmented also; she has demonstrated the ability to listen to and single out individuals on the ground. Tests and observation on skin samples show that…” he stopped and took a breath in, covering up a sigh “the gene that causes aging it dramatically slowed. While we are not yet sure of the implications of this, early evidence suggests this means she will age at a dramatically slower rate. We are confident that further tests and studies will reveal more anatomical changes.” He was unable to finish his sentence before the crowd erupted in a storm of questions and quibbling, the air filling with waving hands and pens. Even when augmented with a microphone, his voice was barely able to slice through the noise.

He cleared his throat to indicate his intentions to continue. “Despite attempts to nourish Miss Ingen with several thousand tons of meat, portioned to her size, she had thus far refused to eat.” Jessica silently gasped. Though she couldn’t fully contemplate the severity of the situation yet, she knew Hannah was starving herself, a thought that somehow terrified her even more than the growth.

“We will persist with attempts to nourish Miss Ingen, and all possibilities are being considered.” Whispers emitted from the crowd, as the image of a body starved to death lying on top of LA began to surface in their minds.

Looking around the crowd, the speaker announced in an authoritative tone, “The floor will now be opened to questions.” An invitation of chaos for the jittering audience; they all jumped up, vying for the speakers attention. With no logical reason to pick any one person over another, his finger pointed out to a random woman, accompanied by a “Yes, you.” After the noise had died down slightly, in a stern, near disgruntled voice, the journalist dictated bluntly, “How can you assure the public that Miss Ingen won’t rampage through what remains of Los Angles?” The question angered the trio, for they knew that Hannah was not a violent person.

The speaker had been anticipating the question. “The military are on constant standby, with full access to any weaponry necessary to pacify her. We are… confident, however, that this will not be a necessity. Miss Ingen has not demonstrated any violence or aggression, and given the evacuation of the city is near completion, we are also confident that there will be no collateral damage should such action be rendered necessary” The speaker answered, methodically and mechanically. With a subtly unimpressed expression about the journalist’s face, the rabble started once more, and another journalist was chosen; a lean, dark, tall gentleman. “David Rasheed, Nigerian Tribune.” He introduced. “What will Miss Ingen’s clothing arrangements be? The woman has been nude for two days now!” he stated, in a somewhat hostile manner, reflecting the mood towards her of many people in the crowd.

Suddenly, as a result of the bubbling feelings of hostility and curiosity from the crowd, another journalist leaped up before the speaker could begin his answer. “Where will she sleep?” and before the interruption could even register with the speaker, another rose from their chair “How is it going to bathe?” “She’s demonstrated immense strength, what if she crushes a city? Or us!” another questioned. Before anybody knew it, the entire crowd starting bellowing their questions impatiently, with no regard for order.  The speaker attempted to alleviate the crowd, by collectively answering their questions, albeit vaguely. “All concerns regarding Miss Ingen’s living arrangements are being considered…” After that, he simply, yet firmly stated, “There will be no more questions at this time. Thank you” before he started walking away. As Jessica and Tom continued to watch with a dumbstruck about them, a voice could be made out from the crowd of journalists through the television. “It’s unnatural! It should die!” clearly, not the voice of a journalist, in all probability a protestor that found their way in.

Regardless of who said it, the words sliced Jessica’s heart in two, twisting and turning her insides out, making her feel quite unwell. Feeling cold and empty, she held her chest, before swarms of tears burst out of her, loudly and cuttingly. Her hands covered her face as she sniffed and sobbed. Hannah was always there for Jessica, and for anyone to not just dehumanise her, but to call for her death, shattered her fragile mental state.  Chloe rushed over to her, hugging her and trying to calm her, in a very sisterly manner. Tom merely sat there, looking tired and crushed. All three felt a deep sadness, but none was showing it more than Jessica.

Jessica tried to talk, to exclaim and scream and shout and below angry remarks, but nothing came out, her sharp breathing prevented it. Chloe wiped away a tear from her face, staring into her red, puffy, moist eyes. “Hold your sister, would you? I’m going to make the poor girl some tea…She’s put up with a lot over the last two days…” Chloe near demanded of Tom in her Irish tone, which he would have done even if it were a recommendation.

Madly hysterical, Jessica bellowed out “She’s going to die, she’s going to die!” through free flowing tears and a weak voice. Tom was quick to reassure rigidly assure her “No, they’re not going to do a thing! The army will stop anyone that tries” he blurted, relatively confident of his own words. “They will not hurt my baby sister!” He confirmed, slowly, as he squeezed Jessica with brotherly love.

The hours of the day rolled on, and Hannah’s breathing and posture had become more uncomfortable, and the groans from her stomach were becoming more and more deafening, not to mention longer and more frequent. Her stomach was practically eating away at itself, yet she continued to stare at the trucks of meat, not touching any of it, not that is was of an edible quality any longer anyway.

Hannah’s lengthy blond hair had become dishevelled, as it told a tale of a woman experiencing nothing but fearful new life, with any access to privacy or clothing stripped from her, a pain like a never ending wax strip being pulled across a leg.

Courtney approached the speaking platform with a stern and severe look on her face, a look that spelled out that she did not have a clue how she was going to manage what she was about to demand. She strode at a slow speed, like a child stalling for time. Tightly, she griped a scrunched up piece of paper, clearly the source of her uncomfortable stance and expression. Once she rose up the platform, Hannah’s fearful, pained eyes glared at her eagerly; Courtney seemed to be the only thing her giant, powerful, forest green eyes focused on.

“Hello again, Hannah! How are you today?” Courtney bellowed in a chirpy tone, in the vague hope of enticing an expression or sentence out of the immense titan. She was met by a blank wall of a face, yet it was a face that showed a strange kind of interest… as though they were eyes of hunger and desperation. What if she does develop a taste for…? Courtney didn’t dare finish the thought.

Looking down at the ground and back up again at Hannah’s face to transition the mood. “Hannah, I’m afraid you’re going to have to do something for me. For us…” Hannah’s eyes darted around; if she could talk she would be begging not to do it.

“We need you to move locations, so we can observe and search the…” she paused. How would Hannah react if she used the word… “Rubble. The evacuation of the city was pulled off with a 99% success rate, however a remaining zero point six remain unaccounted for” she read from the sheet. She looked up at Hannah once more, and saw that her expression remained consistent; she had not reacted as emotionally to the word as the boffins had feared. In fact, her clueless neutrality was probably one of their biggest advantages.

Hannah gripped her legs to her chest harder, and she grunted with a mixture intense scepticism and pain, as her figure had become visibly more frail in the two days since she’d eaten or drank; for as many, many times larger as Hannah was than anything else, she appeared far weaker, as indicated by her cracked, dry lips.

“Can you do that?” Courtney asked, with a distinct force to her voice, demonstrating what little choice Hannah had. After considering for a few seconds, Hannah scrunched up her face, and gave a slow nod. The scientists gave a collective cheer, not many out loud but certainly in the backs of all their minds.

“Excellent!” Courtney exclaimed. She pointed to the left of Hannah’s location, over some hills. “Two miles in that direction, you will notice there is a vat of clean, safe drinking water, just for you.” Courtney pointed out in a slow, reassuring voice, before her tone suddenly became much heavier. “You need to move to its location.” The researcher authoritatively requested, though it was much more likely a demand in disguise. Hannah slowly moved her aching neck in the direction being indicated, and indeed there was what looked like a shot glass of water. She subconsciously licked her lips; her throat was parched and dried out, having had nothing to drink for two entire days, an amount of time that would have resulted in the death of a lesser person.

“On the count of three- stand up…” Courtney’s heartbeat thumped in her ears… anything could have happened at that point. “One…” Hannah shifted herself, her hands impacting the ground with a deafening thud that spewed dust and dirt in all directions. Shielding her eyes, Courtney blasted “Two...” Shaking, Hannah’s weight began to lift up off the ground, met with a pained and determined look on her face. “Three!” with an intense pain spiking through her entire body as a result of sitting huddled for two days, Hannah rose up off the rubble she had been stationed on, slowly. She had her eyes closed tight, so she would not have to focus on her monstrous height. Truly, she was feeling the weight of her new body; she looked like she could have toppled over at any second, every movement felt like walking on broken glass. She stood, huddled over, covering her private areas with her quivering arms. Bricks and other such objects that had stuck to her were now falling off her titanic frame, in a steady and regular fashion.

Having glared in awe at Hannah merely standing up, Courtney cranked her neck all the way up to her face, stating “Hannah, you’re doing fantastically… it’s only a few steps in that direction!” she pointed, as though Hannah could not already see the alluring water. “Just a few steps, Honey…”

Hannah’s steps were sudden and miniscule, never going further than the tip of her opposite foot, but regardless of this, each footstep was thunderous and booming, and left a gargantuan footprint in its wake. Courtney could feel the wind being pushed around and influenced by her feet. She had walked a mile in four difficult yet powerful steps, and for the first time in two days, she looked determined and hopeful, despite the shame and humiliation she felt from being naked in front of hundreds.

She came to a set of hills, they were the only obstacle between her and her drink. Suddenly, Hannah opened her eyes, and glared downwards, nauseating her slightly. She just had to have a fear of heights… However, even with her vision blurred, she noticed what she thought was a wild animal looking up at her, a light flashing on its face… Hannah’s body was, at this point, on a pre-determined course; she could not stop. Her face turned from one of determination to one of unfathomable terror as she realised something horrific… animals can’t run on two legs… it was a person photographing her! “M…mo….” She attempted to yell, as her foot stomped down, immersing the person in surely millions of tons of woman. Along with the thunderous stomp of her feet, she also heard something quite unnerving: a lengthy, squishy, gruesome crunch. She didn’t have a doubt in her mind that the person she had just stepped on had been killed, crushed flat, and reduced to a pile of red goo on her sole. Hannah attempted to scream, but all that came out was a breathy, defeated sigh.

Along with this, she made an all-too-late attempt to prevent the miniscule person’s death; her body fell through the air, seemingly in slow motion. Courtney’s hands covered her mouth, her eyes those of pure dread. This isn’t happening… Hannah thought, as her body smacked down on the earth, creating a deafening explosion sound that rung in the ears of anyone within at least a ten mile radius. Hannah gave a painful gasp as the air was knocked out of her body. Remarkably, even though the ground itself had cracked and broken at the force of the impact, the vat of water had remained upright, which Hannah was quick to rectify, despite her new founded panic. The titan rolled over on her back, and promptly forced the liquid container out of its scaffolding, which she had landed conveniently landed next to.

As she gulped the lake-worth of water down, her throat was greeted with a paradoxically soothing pain. Like a cracked wall being given a new coat of paint, Hannah’s throat and lips felt energized once more, albeit only slightly; her stomach was still groaning painfully to remind her of its barrenness. She grinned before her mind turned once again to the man she had obliterated…

As much as she tried to feel guilt and sorrow, the emotions could not come naturally… while she was undoubtedly saddened that she had killed someone, she somehow felt… it wasn’t her fault. In some deep corner at the back of her mind, Hannah though, He knew the risks of getting in my way… it wasn’t my fault… not my fault… though little pain was felt by her at the paparazzi’s loss, striking pain was felt at her empty belly.

Courtney, however, did not share those feelings immediately. Grabbing a fellow biologist by the shoulders, she screamed in his face “She killed him! Just crushed him there and then! Who the fuck was he?” She held the top of her head with both arms. “Christ… how are we going to explain this one…? How did he get past the… this whole area is cordoned off!” Courtney’s stressed out voice was straining her vocal chords immensely, as she paced up and down the platform and struggled for the right words to express what she was thinking.

After a few moments of painful silence, Courtney stated, trying to salvage something out of the incident, “Well… at least now we know she can process sea water with no problem, actually looks like she can’t tell the difference… you’re hypothesis was correct, Jenkins…”

Jenkins, who was standing below the platform, nodded awkwardly.

“I still think we should have told her what it really was she was even drinking, though…”

Day three: it was raining. To Hannah (who once again found herself curled up in a ball, albeit a much looser one, one that allowed her to move her limbs around, to try and loosen them up from their stiffened, concrete-like state) it barely registered as a drizzle, even though her scruffy hair was wet, heavy and dripping like a waterfall from the soaking the rain was giving it.

However, Hannah couldn’t focus on the rain, the scientists, or any of her surroundings, once again; she was starving to death. Her breathing sounded painful and heavy, her eyes heavy, her body frail and quivering; It was as though she had become phobic of eating, as all attempts to feed her had failed. If she lasted another 24 hours, it would have been astonishing. The mood on the ground was weighed down by dread and sadness, as many of them had become fascinated by her, to be faced with her death was painful to say the least.

Courtney sat huddled over her desk, in her relocated office, with a half completed handwritten letter on it. She tapped her pen on the table, but the only thing she could hear was Hannah’s challenged and painful breathing, that for her spelled out the inevitable. Every stroke of the pen felt like she was stabbing Hannah’s family in the heart.

“Mr & Mrs Ingen

It fills my heart with a deep sadness to inform you of the death of your beautiful daughter, Hannah. You will no doubt be aware of the distressing circumstances placed on her in her last days of life, circumstances which I can say in all honasty that she faced with bravery and courage that was beyond admirable.

At ___, on the ___ of ___, Hannah Elizabeth Ingen passed away, as a result of starvation. While such a remarkable subject will require further studying and observation for scientific purposes, we intend to give as much control to your family over her laying to rest as humanly possible.

The world is a lesser place for having lost such a young, beautiful and vibrant woman. As a mother of two children around Hannah’s age, I can only imagine the unspeakable pain you must feel at this news…”

Courtney’s mind lingered on the letter thus far. Her fingers scanned the paper, as her eyes fogged up, knowing her parents would actually have to read it.

Honesty is spelt wrong…

Courage and bravery are the same things…

Subject is too cold a word…

Scrunching up the letter stressfully, she started on her 8th draft, holding her head in her hands, before placing the black fountain pen on the paper, sombrely. Though Courtney’s eyes were heavy, they were not as heavy as the feeling of guilt that assaulted her every sense, knowing that there were still more letters of consolation to write, to Hannah’s siblings.

Hannah’s eyes wandered over to the specks that darted around her, focusing on them with a wide gaze. Trying desperately to distract herself from the pain, Hannah tried to count them all, but her pain was such that she never got past twenty without being put off. The only thing she could tell was that there were hundreds of them.

Out screeched a prolonged, pained squeal from Hannah’s belly, each rumble bringing her not only closer to death, but also to insanity. With each growl, her glare at the scientists became harder and her eyes became wider, as though they were starting to look, in some strange way, appealing…

Courtney stepped out of her office for some fresh air, in the back of her mind she knew that this would be the last time she would see Hannah. And, in a way, she wasn’t wrong… She wandered over to the platform, tapping the microphone, arbitrarily trying to urge her to eat; a new truck full of meat was parked right by her, ready for consumption… yet she hardly even noticed it. It simply sat there, waiting to be devoured.

The news of the photographer’s death had gotten out and, though the giantess herself had been spared from the reports, they were far from positive, with most portraying it as a cold blooded murder rather than a freak accident. The ground team knew there was no malicious intent behind it, though, but many were unnerved by her unsympathetic attitude. Whatever the case, the smear remained on her sole remained as a monument for all to contemplate.

The scientists no longer looked like people to Hannah; instead, they resembled the nameless and shapeless forms that populated the restaurant she used to work in. More things than people… many with some nice looking meat on them…

“Hannah… you know, my eldest daughter is fascinated by you. I was on the phone with her a minute ago, she’s a student of biology, you see… and she said in all honesty to me that you’re one of the, no, the most fascinating things in history.” Courtney rambled. “It would be a loss for everyone if you were to kill yourself… so, not just for your sake, have something to eat…” she begged sincerely.

Hannah, after hours of inactivity bar a few twitches and pained, scrunched faces, nodded and spoke for the first time in three days. “O…okay… I just want… food…” she boomed in a small, but also colossal tone, clearly unable to focus on her words. Her voice became deeper and rougher as the spoke. The entire ground team let out an audible cheer, overjoyed with the prospect of a new hope. “Hannah, you have no idea how overjoyed that makes all of us… Just pick up the truck, and eat the meat… its warm, succulent and lean… we promise” Courtney assured and instructed.

Hannah shook her head, releasing her arms from the ball she was curled up in. A toothy grin spread on her face as she spread out her body, regardless of the pain it was in, so her posture looked like that of a spider. “I don’t want that food…” she coarsely stated, in the voice of a madwoman. The tone of the ground team changed from joy to panic, in one fell swoop. “Hannah…darling… that’s the only food we have for you right now…” Courtney explained as she backed up. “Careful, Hannah!” she shouted, as her foot bulldozed through a research facility, the population of it only just avoiding the humid mass of flesh. Hannah’s mental state was such that she didn’t much care what she demolished.

“You’ve got food…” Hannah demanded, having completely snapped at this point. “Stop this, Hannah… we know this is a hard time for you, but…” she appealed desperately, before being cut off. The atmosphere on the ground could be cut with a knife, with many already sprinting like panthers out of there. “You ARE food!” Hannah delivered, coldly and brutally, the soft spoken, easy going girl of three days ago having been replaced with a carnivorous monster.

Hannah’s hand swiped down catching many scientists in her hand. She gazed at them squirming in her hand for a few seconds, before tumbling each one into her monstrous mouth. She gave a satisfied groan at their taste. Seeing another group running for their lives, she laughed out loud, in a hysterical tone, as they too were swiped up in the prison that was Hannah’s grip, and before they even knew what was going on, they were sent catapulted into the execution chamber that was her stomach. They all squirmed and fought against her island-like tongue, which within moments coated them all in thick, gloopy saliva. They called for help as they were flushed down her throat.

Hannah crawled and stretched over the outposts like a dancer, her hand closing in on any would be meals, eating them without mercy or discrimination. She gained a certain pleasure from listening to the scream in terror of her incomparable strength. She tore open roofs, knocked over the makeshift buildings, and loomed her hand over those that were clearly already caught. It was as though Hannah wasn’t in control of her own actions, in fact, what she had become could hardly be called Hannah…

Certain pieces of meat put up far less of a fight, almost like they were surrendering themselves…  They squirmed and fought, but it was absolutely minimal.

Hannah’s orb like eyes pierced Courtney heart, staring directly into her. She wasn’t far enough away from Hannah; her fate was sealed. In a slow, taunting swipe downwards, she was taken up in her gigantic, inescapable palm. As Hannah’s maw opened, a rope of saliva connected her bottom and top lip. All Courtney could really do was glare in horror. “Hannah… please, stop!” she cried, before she too was immersed in the darkness of her mouth, with the other pieces of screaming, panicking, living meat. As the deafening tones of gulping rang out, Courtney gave a small “Please…” in a sad, but accepting tone. She knew this was a possibility, and in the deepest recesses of her mind, she was honoured to be one of her first meals. But, it was a hidden corner, bathed in darkness, just like the abyss she was irreversibly headed to.

Hannah didn’t bother to savour them, but the taste that did massage her taste buds was glorious; full, rich and tangy. The way they squirmed in her mouth, throat and stomach was delightful, though she only focused on the consuming of them.

A few meals later, the hulking woman scanned around for stragglers, but found none, bar a very small number that had miraculously escaped, the ones that were thankfully next to a vehicle when the slaughter began. Her belly rumbled and groaned in approval; at last it was filled with delicious food! But, as heavy as her belly was, her conscience was becoming far weightier. The monster was returning to its dungeon, deep within Hannah’s heart, and it was starting to register to her what she had done…

She had doomed hundreds of people in a few seconds. She let out a small, terrified gasp, and struggled to breathe for a few seconds. She toppled forwards, pressing down on the ground; she felt like she was going to throw up. But, as much as she tried to force it, nothing came out, bar a deep, violent gagging. After a few moments of panting, she pushed herself back up to a sitting, curled up position.

The silence allowed her to contemplate the event further. She held her head heavily in her hands, closing her eyes.

I ate people… living, breathing people… I doomed them... but I didn’t really… they must have known it was a possibility… but they were still people… I’m… a cannibal… but I’m not really, surely… surely I’m barely even the same species as them any more…

Hannah sighed sadly, before letting flow sorrowful tears, for all the lives she just ended, and for the life she knew she had to leave behind.

In the day that followed Hannah’s feast, her posture became much looser, verging on looking comfortable, but the military presence had become far stricter; at least a battalion of troops were strategically set up around her at all times. Even rumours that a nuclear weapon was on standby were rife, though even if it was, such a weapon near a city would have proved more detrimental than advantageous.  If they had one, it would have been purely for show.

Regardless of the authenticity of their nuclear arsenal, the firepower they had was still staggering; tanks, helicopters, bunkers, even aircraft carriers. If Hannah was not still in a traumatised state, she would have almost felt honoured to have so many people fuss over her. Hannah looked around, not feeling overly unnerved by the arsenal that surrounded her, though certainly feeling intimidated. She sighed and made small sways back and forth on the spot, like a rocking chair. Suddenly, a raspy, male voice sounded, not from any platform this time. It was simply a distant voice, barking words with no personality or face. If Hannah felt any guilt for the lives of any of the scientists she consumed, it would be Courtney. Knowing that she had stripped two daughters of their mother pained her, as filling as she and the others turned out to be.

“Ingen!” It yelled in a sharp, cold, uncaring tone, eerily reminiscent of her restaurant days. “The US government has extended an invitation…” At that moment, Hannah knew exactly how the sentence was going to finish. She froze like ice in fear, her facial expression one of disbelief and dread. They can’t see me like this… They can’t do this to me!

“…to your family. They will be arriving shortly, at which point they will move up to the platform next to you. From there, you may converse with them.” The voice explained bluntly. Given the incident the day before, there had been specific instructions to be forceful; make demands, threaten with retaliation.

Is this a fucking joke? Putting them on the same platform I ate… her… from… Hannah thought, fearfully and sorrowfully.

“W…what? No!” Hannah boomed, her first utterance since her feast. She shook her head in small, yet simultaneously massive movements, looking down at many of the troops desperately. “You have no choice in the matter- be thankful that we’re even doing this for you.” He replied, with clear hostility in his stiff tone. “They will be here in approximately an hour.” He announced, plainly.  If Hannah was a pane of glass, she would have shattered. Even though she had no preparation to do, an hour felt too short; she wasn’t ready to face them, knowing what she had done.

“Is… is this punishment?” She asked herself, quivering, in a tone so quiet that it could barely be heard, even at her colossal size. She hadn’t even thought about her family though all this. The monstrously sized woman looked like a little girl scared of the dark.

Seemingly seconds past, in which Hannah had nothing to focus on but her tight breathing. Every now and again, Hannah would let out a plea which would fall on deaf ears. Eventually, Hannah saw a speck of dust traveling at speed, which she reckoned to be a vehicle. Though she told herself they weren’t in it, in her heart of hearts she knew her family was.

Meanwhile, Jessica’s eyes faced downwards, glaring right through the bottom of the vehicle. It was just 10 hours ago that she was settled at home, huddled up on the couch, glaring at the television. Next to her sat her worried, though hopeful looking mother, whose hand was resting on her daughter’s leg, like a lazy cat, reassuring her tattered nerves.

Tom sat behind them, his arms crossed as he looked out the window, with their father, Darren, paralleling Tom’s empty glare. He scratched his thinned, black hair, as a sigh pushed out his slightly portly figure further. They could have at least got a nicer car, Darren thought, as he swept his finger over the dust and crumb covered surface. For a military speck vehicle, it looked like it had hosted a children’s birthday party.

The vehicle was filled with a painful silence. No one knew what to say, especially in the wake of Hannah’s feast. When their thoughts turned to it, everything they heard became white noise; the thought of not being able to decide if Hannah was a murderer or not was beyond crushing for her parents, the very idea sounded alien to them, not that everything else involving her in the last few days was any different. Jessica could vaguely make out the quiet, crackling radio from the driver compartment. With her ears focusing intently, she tried to listen in. She could only make out two words from the thickly accented broadcaster; giantess and eliminate. Jessica choked back tears, hoping she had just heard the wrong words at the wrong moments.

The armoured vehicle rolled and tumbled over hills and rocks, shaking and jerking the occupants quite violently, enough to make them feel quite unwell, though this was showing in none more than Darren, whose face was the shade of uncooked chicken, his expression one of blankness with his eyes sealed shut hard enough to snap titanium in half.

Just then, a hill moved out of view from Jessica’s and Darren’s point of view and a mountain replaced it. But this was no ordinary mountain. The shade was creamy white as opposed to the authoritarian grey that most mountains consisted of. The tip was not a snowy shade of white, drenched in melting cloud, rather a shimmering shade of blond that flowed down the mountains upper arm. On top of all this, most mountains did not glare at the vehicle that was approaching them with a scared expression.

“What’s… is that…?” Darren stuttered, risking car sickness by opening his eyes to glare upon his titanic daughter. “She’s huge…” he blurted, beyond dumbstruck at what he was looking at. Jessica’s jaw hit the floor in shier amazement. They had heard reports about how massive Hannah was, but they had never been able to comprehend just how colossal she was until they were right by her. She dwarfed the near-by city, and cast an entire nigh time worth of darkness with her shadow. Maria and Tom snapped around to look their daughter and sister with the same sense of awe that had occupied the rest of the vehicle. Jessica let out a high pithed giggle, unsure of what emotion it was meant to portray. Fear? Joy? Awe? Confusion? She grabbed her mother’s arm, deciding to settle that it was awe. While they all tried to pay no attention to her nakedness, it ultimately proved impossible, Hannah’s size was simply too vast for it to be ignored.

The vehicle approached further, passing through checkpoints and saluting, high ranking, square jawed officers, but the family grew ever more concerned when they noticed Hannah impending look of dread. Seeing Hannah shake her head saw the sense of awe-based optimism transformed into the very expression Hannah was portraying. The Jeep lined up to Hannah, to make its final approach. Every one of Hannah’s expressions was akin to a wounded animal. Her eyes were as wide as an ocean, her ribcage jumped up and down as her lungs passed tons of air in and out in rapid succession, her mouth faintly drooped open in shock. To a hypothetical onlooker, it would look like a cat being chased into a corner, or in this case the side of a mountain, by a flea.

“What’s she doing…?” Tom asked, in a low, concerned tone, even though all he could see of his sister at this point was her foot, the proximity of the group to Hannah now made it impossible to see her face from the car.  With Hannah backed up as far as she could go, and with a trench of dirt from where the terrified titan had been dragging herself across the ground. As Hannah curled up and buried her face in her knees to cover her nakedness, and her saddened, ashamed expression, the car stopped two hundred meters from her, the cutting of its engine filling the car with only more awkward, crushing silence.

“Approach at your own risk…” the troop driving the vehicle remarked beneath his breath, which no one heard but Jessica. Her anger bubbled to the point where she was tempted to punch him, but with her first at the ready, she managed to resist the fiery urge that flowed through her veins; she settled for a violent slamming of the car door, making the car wobble. Maria wrapped her arms around Jessica, kissing her on the shoulder. The family was offered a full view of Hannah as they wandered closer to the platform they had been instructed to stand on. Hannah’s fear and dread was all too obvious to them. In a quiet, mousey tone, Hannah begged “Don’t look at me…” which made the groups eyes dart downwards, before they slowly rose to the fearful, quivering girl once more.

The group walked past heavily armed and armoured troops, something that unnerved them, somehow far more than the titanic, crying woman meters from them. They only felt a deep routed sorrow for Hannah. Before they knew they had even arrived, the group mounted the ladder to the matte platform where Courtney had met her end. Maria took it upon herself to wander up to the microphone first. “I’m so sorry…” Hannah sobbed, looking truly pitiful and vulnerable, like a lost little girl. Despite being the largest being in history, she had never felt smaller.

“Hello Hannah… We’re here for you, baby…” Maria stated gently, though the booming sobs, struggling to think of anything else to say. Hannah’s head slowly rose upwards, like a rising sun. Though gallons of water clouded her vision, she could perfectly make out her red-haired mother, who looked essentially like an older version of Hannah. Her puffy, red eyes stared at Maria blankly, before collapsing back into her knees. She tried so hard to say something, but all that came out was more crying. Maria sighed, feeling her heart grow heavier. She interpreted that Hannah was trying to say something, and in a soft tone once more, Maria asked “What is it, Hannah?” Nothing for a moment, though Hannah silenced her sobs as much as she could, in order to speak.

Hannah breathed in deeply “I’m… I…”

“You can say it…”

“Please, please forgive me!” Hannah cried out, in an ear piercing tone, before crying once more. Seeing her family again had brought a sense of judgment, and had finally made her remorseful for her actions the previous day, as well as the trauma of the previous days. It was as though a hammer was coming down on a hollow piece of plastic.

In the most reassuringly motherly tone she could muster, seemingly fearless of Hannah’s size, Maria answered “You’ve done nothing wrong, Hannah.”

“I ate hundreds of people!”

Maria looked down. It wasn’t something a mother had to reassure a child over every day. “Honey…” she hesitated “What you did you did under the most stressful, unbearable circumstances imaginable…”

“They’re all dead!” Hannah blasted, uncovering her face once more, before it sunk back down, like a machine low on battery. Maria felt faint; she hadn’t thought of it like that. With a sigh to clear her frazzled mind, she espoused “I… Ha…” Maria paused, though the air was filled with a titanic sniff. Jessica placed her hand on Maria’s shoulder, offering to take over. Maria waved her hand distinctively in refusal. “Hannah, did you want to do it?”

Hannah thought deeply, worrying it was a trick question “At the time, yes…” she admitted in a heavy hearted tone “I was so hungry… I was literally going mad!” she attempted to justify, her tone desperate and frantic.

“So, did you feel like you had any control over the situation?” Maria asked, as she leaned on the podium, daring to have a small grin emerge.

“N…no…” Hannah confessed, wearily.

“And you have been put in unimaginable circumstances, with the world’s eyes turned to you twenty four, seven…”

“This is a strange way of making me feel better” Hannah quipped, her tone capable of saying a sentence without breaking down in tears, but still laden with croaks and sorrow.

“All those boffins knew there was a chance something like this would happen, Hannah. They must have done. It may seem like a big deal now, but people will get to know you and forgive you in time. They’ll understand the trauma you’re going through.” Maria stated. She was not talking out of any kind of experience; her words were simply optimistic predictions. She grinned, attempting to angle herself so as to peek through Hannah’s knees at her eyes.

Hannah looked up. She focused on her mother for a short time, before her eyes turned to the left, contemplatively. A croak from her throat rang loud and distinctive, but the sobbing had all but stopped.  “Do you want to talk to Jess?” Maria queried, and after a short period, Hannah nodded. Without hesitation, Jessica wandered up to the podium. The skip in her step indicated no intimidation, merely awe. Tom and Darren pointed and indicated at each other over who was to go next, seeming to come to no clear choice. Jessica cleared her throat, and took a deep breath in and out. She couldn’t help but feel invisible, Hannah was staring a thousand miles (which she was in fact possible of doing) into space. “Um… sorry I didn’t call” Jessica introduced, timidly. “Tom told you that I meant to, didn’t he?” After a few seconds of only the wind blowing, impacting Hannah’s giant body, she offered a tiny, almost unnoticeable, but definitely there, giggle. Following that, Hannah stated “Yeah… he mentioned it…”

Jessica struggled to think of something to say after that, so, thoughtlessly, she blurted out “H…how have they been treating you?” She bit her lip, fearing her question would cause another breakdown. Hannah sighed, her breath creating a gale force gust of wind, before slowly answering “I guess okay…” Hannah had been in a state of relative calm for long enough to notice something utterly humiliating; her stark nakedness. Her face grew alarmed, her cheeks apple-red, as her family gazed on, watching her arm slowly cover up her nipples, despite the fact they were already hidden behind her legs, and her curled up legs tighten to disallow any potential peeking. Really, it was the first time since the day of the growth that she had even been able to focus on her nudity. Hannah’s voice once again went deep, slow and ashamed “I’m so sorry… they haven’t given me anything to wear…” she espoused desperately. While Hannah’s nudity had only just occurred to her, it had been something her family had been working hard to understand and ignore. “No, I mean, we understand.” Jessica felt a great weight, like it was suddenly her responsibility to inform Hannah of bad news. “It’s just… something we’ll all get used to from now on. They say… they can’t make clothes in your size” She announced, growing increasingly quiet and muffled, though Hannah’s pinpoint hearing still picked it up flawlessly. Her apple-toned cheeks flared up, butterflies rioted in her stomach. “Oh…” Hannah sounded simply, figuring as much.

Though she remained calm on the outside, inside she felt another great blow to her life as she knew it. No more clothes… ever. The world would be constantly gazing at her naked body, as though Hannah wasn’t feeling isolated and alien enough. Suddenly, Hannah realised something quite simple. Her family didn’t look scared or angry; undoubtedly dumbstruck, but not angry. It offered Hannah a solitary ray of hope. “Why did you come here?” Hannah asked, nervously. Initially, there was no answer, now her family feared a trick question. Out of nowhere, Darren broke the silence, replying in a rousing voice “Because we love you, Hannah…” Hannah almost, not quite, but almost, smiled. It was obvious she was filled with a sense of happiness. Her stance was still tight, yet it looked uplifted. “You’re not angry?”

“At what?” Tom whispered to the rest of his family, genuinely not knowing. Jessica raised an eyebrow in his direction. Suddenly, it dawned on him. “Ah, right, that…” he stated, in a low tone, just enough for Hannah to pick it up. Hannah offered another tiny chuckle. Her face didn’t express it, but she was overjoyed.

Several dozen minutes went on in which Hannah talked to her family, slowly, nervously, embarrassed, but regardless, she talked. And she felt calm.

Another day dawned. Hannah had once again forsaken any meals, fearing what she would become, not wanting to unleash the demon that took pleasure in the devouring of living, breathing people. As a result, her stomach roared angrily. She was thankful that her family were miles away, in one of the fourteen enormous evacuation centres; each one in itself could be considered a small town. The army presence was still there, but it had shrunk, clearly they felt that the threat had decreased. Despite that, their sights always snapped to Hannah whenever her stomach roared.

Hannah hadn’t spoken since meeting with her family; her expression and stance had returned to neutrality, though she now felt the wind impact her naked skin. It made her feel exposed, and despite her size, vulnerable. No more clothes… her mind lingered on those words; she looked saddened, as though she had lost a friend, when her mind turned towards her nudity.

In the distance, the giantess faintly heard a rabble, and from the side of a hill emerged several troops. Squinting, she could tell one of them had a megaphone “Back away from Ingen! Back away!” he urged, forcefully, but it had no effect on whatever he was calling at. Suddenly, the rabble emerged; something that had lingered in the back of her mind had come true, Hannah’s hunger was replaced with a mixture of shame and fear; A protest was approaching. Their signs waved their voices chanted catchy songs. There were too many to count, there must have been… six hundred people there. Hannah curled up tight, muttering a small and scared “Oh god, no…” under her breath.

“Back away or we will resort to force!” The troop stated, clearly sounding unsure. Hannah’s mind lingered and could only think of two reasons why these people where here; their anger at the massacre of the scientists, and the crushing of the photographer. It had been beamed all over the world; armature videos had appeared on the internet, the news was still flooded with live updates on her, there mustn’t have been a single person alive that didn’t know about Hannah’s brush with madness, and her cannibalistic outburst. The vulnerable giantess almost let out a quivering apology to the approaching crowds, but it was silenced as soon as she realised she did not know what to apologise for first.

The crowd was about a mile from her, give or take, which would have only been a small reach over for Hannah. It was like a Wild West standoff. “Back behind the checkpoints!” The amplified voice yelled once more, clearly no enthusiasm in his tone. A sigh accidently sounded out the megaphone; clearly he did not much care what happened to them at this point. Their own damn fault if they get crushed… he thought, as he got in the back of a jeep.

Suddenly, Hannah realised something, something spontaneous, something joyful and upbeat; the crowd was… applauding, followed promptly by whistling, and cheering. Had someone in the protest just made a good point? Hannah decided to investigate further; she squinted to focus on the signs; the production value of some of them looked rather high, the laminated surface glimmered in the sun, some even had pictures of her on them, along with printed text. Then, Hannah got to actually reading some of them, dread filling her heart at the messages she was about to read.

Hannah can… eat me anytime… Hannah read silently, shrugging that one off thinking it scornful sarcasm. Another sign, belonging to a member of the twitter generation, read simply #feedhannah. Again, Hannah told herself they were just mocking her. The hash tag was dotted throughout the crowd, and suddenly she realised the crowd didn’t look all that angry at all.

Eat us, Hannah.

We are your food.

Our lives for the giantess!

Camera’s and red recording lights were prominent throughout the crowd. In a strange way, this was what Hannah had been aiming for since moving to America. At that moment, she came to another realisation; she had achieved her goal. She was a star; people knew her name and cheered for her. She almost grinned, before reality came crashing back down on her like a brick; the crowd was being deathly serious, so far as she could tell. “You’re… being serious?” Hannah sheepishly asked with scepticism rife in her voice. Then, the crowd burst into cheering and applause, whistling and chanting. “We are food!” The crowd chanted “We are food!”

Hannah could feel something welling inside her; it was that same, dreaded urge from the other day. It was trying to resurface so it could massacre again. Hannah violently shook her head, her blond hair flowing in canon with it. “I… can’t!” Hannah insisted, but the crowd persisted “You’re all people, not food!”

Though her voice protested, her dark recesses of her mind begged her to feast; they were there, they were willing, they were ripe for the picking. Sweat rolled down her forehead, as she bit her lips. ”But you all look…”

The monster was once again unleashed, in all its hunger. But, it wasn’t angry or violent; it was calm, peaceful, dignified, like it had fused with Hannah’s real self, and formed a new being all together. Her hand swept down at hundreds of miles per hour, taking a hundred or so of the supporters into her palm. The troops readied their weapons, but despite thinking they should shoot, they did not know what at, so they held. As she grasped them in her palm, Hannah glared at them contemplatively, a final moment of hesitation. After this, there would be no going back, ever. The look of worry faded, and in its place was a look of calm. With a twitch of her wrist, she sent the cloud of people catapulting into her mouth.

Time stood still, as the taste hit her; tangy, was the first thing that occurred to her; A very tangy, meaty flavour, truly delightful. But they are real people! No way could I… as she thought that, she found her gullet opened without her brains permission; a deafening gulp rang out for the people immersed in her gloopy thick saliva of her dark, murky maw, as they were flushed down her throat.

Hannah’s mind had shut off, as the crowd cheered and celebrated, most finishing their recording and putting down their signs, simply waving up at her instead. As the bird like hand swooped down again, picking up another hundred, another new sensation hit Hannah. Well, perhaps not a new one, but this was certainly the first opportunity she had to take note and savour it. In her belly, she felt a squirming… the people she had just eaten were moving about in her belly, delivering her a massage from the inside simply by moving. Hannah’s face, not for the first time today, looked both stunned and startled. As much as she tried to tell herself she shouldn’t be enjoying it, she adored the sensation. As the second handful of people slinked into her mouth, almost without her noticing, a pleasant aroma emerged in Hannah’s nostrils. Is this what… humans smell like? She thought to herself, remarking in her near-empty mind how bizarre the idea was, that people could have their own aroma, in the same way that any other meal would. The scent was a warm one; meaty, savoury, somehow almost verging on spicy.

Before she even knew it, the giantess had gulped down the second handful, followed by a third, and even a fourth! With every mouthful, Hannah looked less concerned and guilty and more satisfied and casual. Perhaps this was to be one of the main things to help her on her way to recovering from the shock of becoming a giant…

As Hannah savoured every swallow, her stomach felt something it hadn’t felt in days; weighty. Heavy. Full up with food. And there were still one or two more handfuls of people waiting to be devoured. It was at that point Hannah realised what her main source of nutrition would be. If I’m full… and there’s still meat left over…

“That was…” The remaining crowd went very quickly silent, in anticipation. “Amazing! So much flavour, I haven’t felt this full in weeks!” she remarked, to the sound of cheering from the crowds. “But… seeing how I’m full…” Hannah boomed, not realising how confident she suddenly was with speaking. “I’m going to… eat you… later!” It was still strange, telling someone they were going to be devoured. The small, remaining crowd gave a resigned sigh of disappointment. “Just… come back here when I say, I’ll eat you all then!” Hannah let out a cheeky, tiny grin, really nothing more than a sliver on her mouth. As the crowd gradually faded, being led promptly away by the white-in-the-face troops, Hannah gained a moment to contemplate what had just happened. The massage from inside her belly still felt fantastic. Whereas before she felt guilt and sadness from the consumption of unwilling meat, now that the meals were all willing and ready, and she felt no guilt, only satisfaction and happiness, and if the squirming in her gut was anything to go by, so were they. She placed her hand on her belly, her posture beamed as she realised she had managed to address a whole crowd! Hannah, at long last, felt good. Her mind was still hazy and confused about the specifics of what just happened, it had all seemed to go so quickly, but deep inside, she felt… relief. And not just in her stomach; in her heart. It was the first time in days, no, years where she could see a future for herself.

It was 12 midnight, and Hannah was wide awake. The military presence had all but vanished; they were now dedicated to the organisation and repopulation of the city, a task far more monumental than moderating the titan.  She leaned up, and in the distance, saw the shanty town that her supporters had erected. She still felt moved, and could still taste their meaty, succulent forms, even though the squirming in her gut had since vanished. Meanwhile, a lone woman sat on a nearby hill, gazing at Hannah with a pair of binoculars, her hands shaking from the notable chill of the winter air and high altitude. “You’ve been late for work far too much lately, Ingen…” she remarked to herself, as she started the several mile jog to come closer to Hannah, ignoring the stinging injuries over her body.

This young woman was nothing if not familiar with the hills and mountains outside the city limits, climbing them was one of her hobbies. Frantically, she dexterously wrapped her limbs and body around the terrain, navigating it with absolute ease, barely even breaking a sweat. However, despite her mastery of the environment, her foot snagged a rock, which sent her toppling over onto her front, to the sound of a painful “Oof!” While she was careful to conceal her grunt, the rock had no intentions of such subtlety. By itself, it would have tumbled down the side harmlessly and silently. That would be, if had not dislodged several other rocks, creating an echoing series of thuds and crashes. As the woman, draped in a thin, orange tank top and a tattered, thick jacket, raised herself to her feet, brushing her brunette hair to the side and shrugging of her scraped, lightly bleeding knee, the giantess’s attention was caught. Hannah looked over to the mountain (that was not as tall as she was) and caught the conclusion of the rocks tumbling display. She was quite prepared to shrug it off as nothing of importance; that was until her eyes, quite by chance, peered upwards, and noticed the woman concealed in shadow standing there. Giving a smile, Hannah almost boomed a hello at the girl that was clearly watching her. However, in the interest of peoples sleep, she settled for a friendly wave.

Her smile thinned, however, when the girl shook her head and kept walking. The anonymous individual stood there for a second, while Hannah tried to focus on her. She seemed familiar, somehow. Quietly, the girl asked “So, is it true you have, like, super hearing now?”

“Uh, yeah, I…” Hannah noticed a few lights turn on from the campsite “I guess it is…” she concluded, bringing her face closer to her girl, talking in a quieter tone, so as to bother no one from their sleep, but Hannah primarily did it to get a look at who this person was; the wash of shadows did not help making the figure out. Suddenly, she recognised the shape… the face… it can’t be, she thought, as her face became increasingly stunned. “See, my advice was right; you got bigger tits, and now you’re all over everything!” the miniscule individual remarked. She would have been lying if she had said she was not at least a little frightened by the sheer magnitude of the woman that not even a week ago was only one inch taller than her; getting an intimate view of a planet sized eye startled her; she could feel the warmth emanating off Hannah, making the winter feel more like summer.

“T…tammy? Is it really you?” Hannah’s eyes welled up with excitement, to see her friend once again after such a traumatic week filled her with warmth and joy.

“Who else would it be, Dame?” Tammy inquired, sarcastically, placing her hand on her hip. After a few long seconds of being dumbstruck, Hannah failed to contain a giddy giggle. She settled for covering her mouth (making sure her intimate naked features were still covered up), but her joyous, stunned laughter was still plainly audible. Doubtless, it would be waking up many who were trying to sleep, interrupting many a dream about filling Hannah’s stomach.  “I thought I’d never see you again!” Hannah whispered in a surprised tone, her breath equivalent to a powerful gust of humid air to Tammy. From out of nowhere, Tammy raised her arms, offering a hug. Hannah gazed, confused.

“Y…you know I’m too big to hug you, right?” Hannah pointed out. Tammy shook her head, disapprovingly. “I refuse to believe that, woman… In any case, I can still hug you, right?” Tammy pointed out. Hannah sighed, thinking it through, an awkward, blushing expression on her planet sized face. As she did, she got a terrible cramp in her midriff; sitting in more or less the same spot for five days did that. The arm covering her nipples raced down to hold her side, before she realised that she wasn’t ready to reveal that much of herself to the world, as if it hadn’t already seen. She gasped, and sent the other, unoccupied arm to her side in the first arms place. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her. A stupid, irresponsible, reckless, dangerous idea that she would no doubt get her told off because she hadn’t told anyone she was going to do it. Looking left and right, as if she was about to cross a road, she came to a decision. It was time to stand up.

She grinned. Her free hand darted forward, landing next to Tammy, just off the edge of the mountain. Tammy gazed, still quite astonished at the size even though she had been doing nothing but look at it for 5 days, as her fingers opened, like a giant Venus fly trap. “Dame, what are you…”

“Jump on.” Hannah instructed. Tammy’s mouth fell open. Her palm was big enough to fit a small village in, the wrinkles and crevices in her hand could fit a river. “Come on… do it!” Hannah pressured her friend, a manic grin on her face. A look of pure terror enveloped Tammy, but after a brief period, she glared down over the edge at the pale, soft fleshy island ready for her to clamber on. Her heart rang in her ears, as she found her body acting without permission from her brain. She stepped off the cold, stony, dusty mountainside, and hopped onto the comparatively soft, fleshy, living island that was Hannah’s palm. She looked down at her feet as she adjusted her balance to the small motions of Hannah’s palm. After a few seconds, she laughed at the sensation of her feet lightly sinking into the tight skin, and Hannah in turn laughed at the sensation of holding a fully grown adult on the palm of her hand with literally no effort. Suddenly, Tammy semi-intentionally toppled over, collapsing without even feeling it; like falling on a bouncy castle. She spread her arms as far as she could on Hannah’s palm, delivering on her promise of a friendly hug. Suddenly, a raw aroma hit Tammy- while it wasn’t exactly unpleasant, it wasn’t pleasant either… it was simply impactful, and rather noticeable. Tammy was never afraid about being blunt; “Dame, when was the last time you… ya know… washed…?”

Hannah had just asked herself the same question. With an awkward cough, she answered “Well… I mean… I’ve been a little pre-occupied the last few days…” Tammy raised an eyebrow expectantly. “But, I guess it would have been…” Hannah’s voice went quiet and shy “Saturday…”

“Five days ago? Are you kidding me?!” Tammy’s voice pierced the sky.  Hannah said nothing for a brief period, before a sly grin crept onto her face. “Well, why don’t we rectify that?” Hannah proposed with Tammy merely looked confused. Looking rather dumbstruck, the speck of dust on the mountains palm asked the only logical question; “What do you mean?”

“This!” Hannah boomed, quite spontaneously, as she took a sharp breathe in, to help her through the pain and cramps of standing up, which was visibly paining her; a forced grin told clearly that she was trying to ignore it.

The arm covering the titan’s breasts darted down and smacked into the ground, explosively pressing into it. Tammy gave a squeaking scream, as she attempted to grab onto something; the masses of flesh she was laying on sufficed. Her vision went blurry and her legs light. The high-pitched whistle of the air pierced her ears, as she rose up at what must have been hundreds of miles per hour. She had her eyes shut hard as steel, to say she was not expecting something so spontaneous was like saying the sky was blue.

Hannah, with Tammy in her palm, looked beyond determined, as the arm her weight was on shook. The impact of her palm on the ground threw up dirt and rock like a bomb. With her weight placed on her arm, her leg uncurled, and her body began to rise from its temporary home. Her breathing was sharp, her motions large and clunky; but she was up. She beamed a victorious smile, as she glared at Tammy, whose expression portrayed pure panic, poorly attempting to imitate excitement or fun. Hannah’s fingers curled up, a makeshift windshield for her dust-sized friend, looking like roots or tendrils as they curled. All Tammy heard was her heartbeat in her ears. You just had to walk onto the giantess’s palm, didn’t you Tammy…

Suddenly, Hannah came to a startling realisation; without even realising it, she had uncovered her nudity, her breasts and loins were displayed freely, for all to see; not out of lust or promiscuity, but out of necessity. She only came to the realisation once her titanic feet were supporting her entire, mountainous weight, to the protest of her aching, stiff joints.  She almost covered up her nipples once again, but as she was just about to, she remembered what her sister had told her; that there would be no more clothes for her. With a sigh, her free hand returned to her side, all the while Tammy gazed up at her face with a look of pure blankness. Was it okay for her to look at Hannah’s nudity now?

Just as the last time she stood, dirt, rocks and other debris unstuck and fell off her body. Taking a breath in, Tammy gained the capacity to talk once again “Dame… mind if I ask where we’re going?” she asked in a small voice. Hannah’s eyes darted towards Tammy, the blue tone of Hannah’s eyes were like Neptune and Uranus were glaring at a mere human. “Well… like you say… I need a bath…” Hannah explained, as she took tiny (by her standards), but confident steps towards the ocean. Tammy, as though she wasn’t already in shock, froze. There were only two ways she could think of for someone Hannah’s size to wash, and given that it were no gale force hurricanes…

“H…Hannah…”

“Mhm?”

Tammy thought about stating her dissatisfaction with Hannah’s intentions, but her mind lingered. A smile turned her mouth upwards, and a laugh slipped out. Despite how much she wanted to err on the side of caution, she rather liked the idea the more she thought about it. Still laughing, she slapped Hannah’s palm, telling her light heartedly “You’re a crazy bitch, has anyone ever told you that?”

“Well, I figure it’s time to turn over a new leaf.” Hannah stated as her steps became larger and more confident. Doubtless, the entire campsite would have been awake, the forces on high alert, but they had no way of keeping up with a being that could travel at thousands of miles an hour by simply walking. Tammy felt like a bird, a sense her grin indicated. Hannah’s eyes scanned around the landscape, as she stepped over hills and outposts, being especially careful of her potential fatal step, searching for a location safely away from the city to get into the water. After a small period of looking, she spotted a Cliffside, which she quickly assessed as being perfect. Her course changed promptly, and within moments, she found herself standing on the cliff, that seconds ago was miles away.

“Just… set me down on the cliff, Dame…” Tammy requested “I don’t want to get wet… or, you know… drown…”

Hannah bent down, looking like she was being led by her hand from the way she was moving. Eventually, her hand rested on the ground, her lengthy, dishevelled blond locks resting on the ground too. Tammy scampered off like an ant, dashing across her palm, tripping several times like a child on a bouncy castle. Eventually, she reached the edge of her hand. Tammy started her decent down Hannah’s massive hand, using a strand of hair to aid the decent. She gave a smug grin at her own daringness, feeling like a true explorer, and in a sense she was; she was the first person to travel via giantess.

As Tammy’s feet landed safely on the ground, she gazed up, and quite by accident her eyeballs were treated to Hannah’s monstrously sized breasts. To make matters worse, her gaze lingered, there was no way one couldn’t focus on them.  She averted her gaze after a few moments, noticing Hannah’s eyes on her as the giantess stood up. “A… I… didn’t mean to look…” Tammy stated, before Hannah interrupted. “It’s okay… I don’t think these’ll be covered up again anytime soon… maybe never again…. So, guess I’ll just have to get used to people looking.” Hannah stated, with a nonchalant shrug, as she began lowering herself into the water.

Her big toe impacted the choppy water, and it was instantly as though a meteor had struck; the blue of the water went a disrupted shade of white, as though it had become scared. A wave of gargantuan proportions, that could have sunk a city, flung off the impact zone. As the rest of her foot lowered in, the wave spread out, and new ones were forged by the moment. Eventually Hannah’s entire foot was in. She could tell it was cold, freezing even… but she didn’t mind in the slightest. She gave a sharp inhale, before she was in halfway up her lower leg, followed quickly by her upper leg. As the water got halfway up her upper leg, her foot hit the ground. Hannah couldn’t quite tell where the bottom was, but she felt pained at the feeling of stubbing her toe on the jagged rocks. She gave a small grunt to indicate the impact, which emitted an audible thump.

Hannah began cautiously sitting down, as Tammy gazed on in wonder; she couldn’t help but think that Hannah looked like some kind of siren. The water covered up Hannah’s belly button, followed promptly by her breasts, and it was with that that she was sitting. Any fish in the area had doubtlessly swum away from the titan that had just parked herself in their waters. Hannah arms extended out of the sea to rest on the sides of the cliff, water cascading on them, one huge blob soaking Tammy down to the bone; a sharp exhale from the comparatively tiny person confirmed it. Hannah casually apologised, to which Tammy merely giggled; she was too giddy to get angry or even irritated. She wiped her dripping, back hair off of her dark olive face. “You’re going to get in so, so much trouble for this!” Tammy quipped, her undertones clearly serious as she wandered over to Hannah’s left arm and leaned against it like a chair.

“Well, what are they going to do? Arrest me? After the week I’ve had, I deserve a bath…” Hannah announced. The sheer size and weight of her body had made the water around her rise, just like in a bathtub.

“How are you going to dry yourself, Dame?” Tammy inquired, sounding rather concerned. Hannah herself looked somewhat baffled; she really hadn’t thought this whole bath idea through. “I…I’ll think of something.” She stated, vaguely.

An hour or so passed, in which Tammy and Hannah simply chatted, like old times. As they spoke, carefree, Hannah lips curled up; doing something they had rarely done in the last few days. She felt happy, and despite the temperature of the water, she felt warm, and above all, she felt optimistic. Those curled lips formed a grin, then, a smile. She glared up at the stars, feeling large enough to reach out and grab them. For the first time in ages, Hannah smiled, completely unrestrained by her own thoughts or concerns.

She smiled.