Chapter 2

Emma awoke with a start. It was light out – she could see from the window by her bed. Her window? Her bed? She sat up straight and looked around her. The plush cream carpet, the boring uneven wallpaper, and the small wooden desk in the corner… this was her apartment.

Emma slowly pushed away the covers and stood, her toes grinding into the carpet with pleasure. She knew this wasn’t real but it didn’t matter. For a few more moments, she was able to feel safe and content in the familiar setting. Not wanting to miss anything while she slept, she opened her bedroom door and stepped out into the living room. It was very simple with a grey suede hand-me-down couch which faced the small flat screen TV, a side table and a glass coffee table.

Emma made her way over to the couch to sit down but something caught her eye from outside the patio door. She made her way over and opened the door, stepping out onto the cool patio. Her bare feet on the cold concrete made her shiver and she wrapped her arms around herself as the wind blew through her smooth, unmatted hair. In the distance, above the neighboring apartments, a bright white light shown in the sky. This light was familiar- too familiar. She recognized it immediately. She remembered that day coming home from campus so well…

The sound of rushing water caught her attention and caused her to look down. Emma gasped and backed away as the flood waters from the street below began to rise quickly. The light caught her attention once more and she watched with horror as the light began to grow, seeming to block out the sky. She couldn’t take her eyes off of it and she tripped over the weather strip from the patio door and landed on her behind in the living room. Still the light grew brighter and brighter and the rushing waters soon poured over her patio and Emma was caught in its flow. She screamed in frustration and covered her eyes with her arms to block out the cursed light.

Emma yelped and shot up in bed. It wasn’t the dream that had awoken her. She couldn’t see anything in her den but she could feel… she was soaking wet. She was lying in a huge puddle of water that felt to be getting higher and higher. She could hear the rain still pouring outside and she began to panic.

“Oh no! Oh no oh no! Oh please no!”

 She stood and sloshed through the shin-high water, feeling around for the wall and then made her way to the door. The water was higher in the tunnel but she closed her eyes, held her breath and crawled with her hands on the ceiling and her knees sliding in the mud.

Emma was met with great resistance as she leaned against the door but she pushed with all her might and the wood gave way, turning on its head and causing her to slip and fall face first into the rushing waters.

Emma quickly recovered and pulled herself up into a sitting position, twisting her face away from the torrent that entered her home.  She backpedaled out of the den and into the storm of the night.

It was still dark out and the light of the moon was hidden behind the clouds. Luckily the local park lights were on but they barely reached where Emma sat. She quickly stood and ran over to her tree, scrambling up onto its roots. This was hardly a decent shelter but it was the best she could do under the circumstances.

Emma pulled off her jacket, shivering violently in the cold, and pulled it over the head to soften the blows of the raindrops. As the thunder clapped, she screamed and pulled her jacket closer around her.

Emma hadn’t been afraid of thunderstorms since she was a little girl. But now she was smaller than ever and thunderstorms in this world scared the shit out of her.

She curled herself up tighter against the tree and said a prayer. She was freezing and wet and the wind blew hard, continually trying to knock her off of her perch.

Emma sobbed openly under the mix of the rain. “Why? Why did this happen to me? WHY?? FUCKING WHY?!” Her screams were drowned out by the next clap of thunder. She slumped onto the root, her jacket falling off onto her lap.

Several hours passed and the tiny doll-size girl remained nestled on the root of the tree at the far end of the park. The storm had passed but a light drizzle still rained from the sky. Emma shivered like she never had before. Her jacket was back around her and she attempted to keep warm beneath the wet leaves she had gathered. It was dawn but the sun had not risen and there were no birds chirping.

Emma slowly and shakily stood from the root and climbed down. She walked to her den, her tiny feet making footprints in the mud, and peered inside. Emma hiccupped a sob as the discovered her home was completely flooded. Her food, her bed and all of her supplies were gone. She’d have to start over…

Emma placed her head in her hands and screamed out her frustration.
“What am I going to do… I – I don’t understand. Haven’t I been through enough?” Emma rocked back and forth on her heels, chanting to herself. She couldn’t understand what was happening to her. She felt much like she did the day she came into this nightmare of a place. Hopeless… completely and utterly hopeless.

The rain had passed, the sky was clear and the sun shone in the sky. It was mid-morning yet no birds were chirping and Emma had yet to see Ticker. She remained huddled on the root at the base of her tree, looking at the wetlands before her. The brook had overflown and the water sloshed about as waves on a shore.

She was hungry but was far too cold and too upset to search for food. She remained on her spot, searching for any sign of her friend and hoping he’d be willing to let her touch him today. She so wanted to cuddle up to his warm soft fur.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, Emma began to warm up and felt calm enough to move. Her spear had been lost in the storm of the night and she was nervous about venturing on without it as she had no means for protection. But, in the end, it didn’t matter. She knew that there was no way she could prepare herself for the winter. She was already nervous about it before the storm had hit. Now she had no shelter, no food and no way to keep warm. She was done for – a lost cause – and for the first time ever, she considered turning herself in.  

Emma turned and faced the park. She was a long ways from where any of the giants could see her. But she could see them… tiny dots in the distance taking their morning jogs or walking their dogs – if you could call those beasts dogs. What would they do to her? What had happened to her people?

She had thought about these questions over and over again for the past several months and the answers were never good. But it had to be better than freezing or starving to death… or getting eaten by an animal…right?

Ticker had not come. She knew that Ticker was busy gathering for the winter. Or maybe he had already found a home to settle in to. Emma was on her own now, she knew this.  Emma pulled her jacket tighter around herself and walked towards the park.

Emma had not been around giants in a long time. Sure, one would come close by every once in a while but she knew she was safe in her den. Now she had no protection and she wasn’t sure she needed any. She was turning herself in… and she was terrified.

She kept playing other scenarios in her head, any other direction she could turn to but she always came up empty handed.

As Emma neared the park, she made a bee-line for the shrubs that bordered the whole area. She didn’t know what she was looking for but she wasn’t ready to be caught just yet. She crawled under the stems of the bushes, pausing every time a giant child came racing over to catch a ball that had come free of his grasp.

Emma could never quite believe what she was seeing. People just shouldn’t be that huge… ever! It was something she never could wrap her brain around. She paused once more as a young couple strolled by when something caught her attention. A delicious scent filled the air. A scent she recognized but hadn’t been acquainted with in a long time… wonderful greasy hot food…

Emma inhaled deeply and her eyes nearly rolled into the back of her head. It was heavenly. Her empty stomach growled fiercely at this new discovery. She peeked her head out of the shrub and gazed over to the vender booths lined up along the edge of one end of the park. The area was quite busy but the shrubs went just along the edge of them, right by some tables in the shade.

Emma moved quicker than she thought possible within the jungle of the hedge, the smell of grease calling her name. She never once thought about how she’d obtain the food, just that she would no matter what the cost. As she neared the edge of the park, the sound of the giants chatting and moving about overwhelmed her senses and she paused for a moment to clear her head. Now was not the time to be reckless.

Emma continued crawling along the hedge as it rounded a corner right up against a booth. The smell was overpowering but she soaked it all in as much as she could. There was a long line of people waiting to get food but Emma could only see their feet as they shuffled about impatiently.  Her mouth was watering at the smells coming from above but something else caught her attention just then…

There was a TV screen angled near the top of the vender booth facing the crowd of people so they wouldn’t get too antsy. Emma had not seen a TV in so long that it took her by surprise when she peeked her head out to view it. However, she wouldn’t have given it a second thought were it not for the local newscaster’s announcement.

“And right now, we have with us, a very special little guest - One of THE passengers from the March 11th incident. With her is her caretaker, Donald Harmon. Please welcome, little Beverly Brooks.”

Emma stared, mouth agape, as the young black business woman from the city bus stepped onto the news room desk on the TV.