---

Tristan Riverton was reading a book.  He was sitting down while reading, which made the entire affair far more comfortable considering the book was an odd shape; nine inches by twelve and a half to be exact.  The book was far more like a novelty comic, with text and images spewed across every oversized page.  The name of the book, though unimportant to this story was “Tales beyond Imagining: Ten Fantastic Stories of the Unbelievable”.

Considered a geek amongst his own social circles; Tristan was a typical loner at his school.  At the age of sixteen, Tristan had dabbled in fantasy novels, anime, and even the occasional game of D&D.  Books were one of Tristan’s many escapes from his school life; a life where he was secretly mocked and given strange looks by peers.  Today it was very important for Tristan to get away from things, though the constant passersby made that next to impossible.  Really it was the passersby that were the reason Tristan needed to get away, he figured if hid in the corner reading for long enough that his torture would finally end.  Reading can solve a lot of problems, but this was not one of them.

“Heya cutie.”  Came the voice of Stacy Decker, ruefully breaking the bubble of tranquility Tristan had formed around himself.  If Tristan were on the Yin side of things, Stacy was the directly opposite Yang.  Gifted with a body that even the Greek gods would have wished for, Stacy was not quite as gifted in the intelligence department.  Many had joked that Stacy’s brain had been removed to add more mass to her ample bosom; Stacy was the kind of girl who giggled and went along with it.  The term ‘Cutie’ was a coddling term she had often used with Tristan in the rare instances when she passed by him.  Stacy spent most of her spare time chasing after Tristan’s older sister Angela; a girl even more reclusive than Tristan was.  Tristan had always assumed that Stacy viewed his older sister as some kind of challenge; a socially closed girl who Stacy always tried to hang around and cheer up. 

What caught Tristan off guard was that he could still feel Stacy’s presence hovering over him; her shadow looming and making his dark corner even darker.  “Yes Stacy…” Tristan questioned as he lowered his book and finally locked eyes with her.  Stacy was currently dressed in a two piece tanning dress; it looked like two pieces of white satin that remained perfectly in place around her contours.  For added dramatic effect, the chest piece had a small frill that was caught in the slight breeze and waved about, mixing with Stacy’s hair.  Normally Tristan always had a piece of witty repartee, but Stacy’s current attire teamed with the confident manner in which she placed one hand on her hip had sucked any words right out of poor Tristan’s mouth.  Instead the boy simply blinked his eyes a few time adjusting from reading his book to looking over Stacy.

Taking a step forward, the blonde beauty stood over Tristan and giggled down at him for a moment.  “You know, for a younger kid you’re kind of sweet.”  Stacy commented, once again reminding Tristan of the two year difference in age and grades that separated him from Stacy and his sister. Still quite breathless, Tristan could only open his mouth slightly, another prompt that Stacy took to giggle.  “Anyways, I’m looking for your sister.  Have you seen her anywhere?”

“Last I saw she was checking out the back area.  Actually I think she was just trying to hide from you.”

Stacy’s giggling came to an abrupt stop as she looked down at Tristan with a sudden look of annoyance.  “Yeah, whatever.  Thanks for the heads up little guy.”  With that, Stacy turned and made a pronounced march away from Tristan and back into the sunlit area he hid from.  Tristan really wasn’t sure if the waggle in her walk was intentional or not, but he didn’t put it past the girl.  For whatever reason, Tristan had surmised that Stacy enjoyed teasing him, perhaps as some kind of ritual for graduating senior students, or just because he was Angela’s brother.  In any case, Tristan shook his head and continued reading his book once again.

The book continued to be Tristan’s one escape from the hellhole his parents had inflicted on him and Angela.  When their school had been randomly selected out of several hundred to win an all inclusive cruise, most of the students at Tristan’s school were thrilled.  Both Tristan and Angela loathed the idea of going out to sea for a full week, but when their parents insisted, going so far as to ground them for all of summer, the two had no choice.  Now the two, along with their entire school were somewhere in the pacific, supposedly meant to enjoy sun and the amenities of the cruise ship.  Since neither Tristan nor Angela tanned (it was anathema to Angela), and neither wanted to participate in group activities, the cruise was a sentence of purgatory to both the siblings.  Even the sight of a barely clothed Stacy hadn’t shaken the dreariness of this voyage from Tristan’s mind, and the imaginative boy fell deeper and deeper into his novel.

Off in the distance, the sun began to set.

›

Not too far from where young Tristan read his intriguing book of imaginative tales, Gina Porter lay back on a tanning bed.  Coincidently in the same grade as Tristan, Gina shared several classes with the geekish teen, though she didn’t even know he existed.  Right now Gina was in a similar state of torpor as her unknowing classmate, though her inactivity was not due to her desire to be hidden; it was due to her own laziness.  Since coming aboard the cruise ship, Gina had loved ever moment of being waited on hand and foot.  She had momentary spurts of disappointment when she had to walk long distances or wait in line for some of the ships amenities, such as their expert masseuses.  After indulging in everything the ship had to offer, Gina now lay back as the sun began to set.

With at least another hour before she would need to return to her room for a change of clothing, Gina stretched her body along the tanning bed.  While lacking the body of Stacy Decker, Gina was still an attractive girl in her own right.  Her body had recently surged into development with a small but well proportioned chest and just the slightest bit of chub to give her an aura of ‘cuteness’ that many people noticed but just as easily forgot.  Gina didn’t really care about her own looks, not really taking into consideration the opinions of others.  The teen girl spent much of her spare time lounging about, often wasting entire nights just sitting at a computer desk typing away on her instant messengers or carelessly reading random websites.  Right now Gina planned on enjoying the extra time she could comfortably waste away doing nothing.

Disturbance found its ugly way to Gina in the form of Laine Duncan.  A family friend since Gina had been a child, Laine was in the eleventh grade; a grade above Gina.  Gina’s own sister Martha was in the twelfth grade and also hung out with Laine on occasion.  Gina enjoyed occasionally spending time with Laine, as the girl often spoiled Gina and bought her snacks or treated her to a movie or dinner.  It’s not like Gina was poor, instead she feigned being a penny-pincher to have things handed to her, and poor Laine often fell into her trap.  Laine sat on an open bed beside Gina her face sparkling with a beautiful smile that gave Gina the immediate impression her friend had some event planned for the two of them.

“No.”  Gina didn’t even give Laine a moment to explain, enjoying her own immobility too much to sacrifice it for one of Laine’s schemes.  “Whatever it is, I don’t even want to hear it.  I’m quite happy where I am right now thank you very much.”  Gina continued her protest, eyes covered by wide sunglasses, making Laine uncertain if she was even looking at her while shooting down her would be idea.

“Oh come on Gina, there are some really cute seniors taking a swim in the pool at the front of the boat.  I can’t go there by myself; I’d look like an idiot.”

“No.”  The word summed up Gina’s attitude summarily.  “If you want to go ogle pool boys then go ahead.  I’ve got at least another hour of rest and relaxation before I have to move.”  By now Laine was certain that Gina wasn’t even looking at her; subtle blinking motions gave away as much.  Gina partially enjoyed the control she exerted over her friend right now, and felt like pushing a few more buttons for good measure.  “Look… why don’t you go talk to my sister?  She’s a senior, probably even knows a few of those guys.  You might even get an introduction.”

Laine’s jaw nearly fell off before a reply eventually sputtered out.  “What?  Your sister can’t talk to boys at all!  I mean don’t get me wrong, I love Martha… but she’s such a stickler.  Besides, last time I saw her she was reading over university books.  Come on; we’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves out here, right?”  If Gina had a reply, it only came in the form of her toes quickly wiggling under the descending sun.  She smiled as Laine compared her to her sister in a better light, and might have even considered going just because of the compliment, until she stopped wiggling her toes and relaxed once more.

“No.  Sorry, but I’m just too comfortable here.  How about another time?”

“Whatever.”  Laine’s response was curt, about as direct as the “No’s” that Gina had thrown her way.  Standing up Laine looked around the deck for a moment briefly spotting Stacy Decker as she passed by, but paying little heed to the popular could-be model.  “But you owe me later Gina!  We’re totally gonna have a blast on this trip!”

“Yeah…  Sure…”  Gina’s response was slow coming out as she drifted in and out of semi-consciousness, enjoying her laid back position far too much.  She didn’t even notice when Laine eventually walked away, simply closing her eyes and giving her shoulders and toes the occasional roll and wiggle respectively.  This trip was shaping up to be quite a good time for Gina, really it was all she wanted in life; the ability to simply lounge about and have other people worry about her needs.  She internally hoped this trip would never end.

She did have to get up sooner than expected.  Incoming cloud cover removed any hint of heat from her comfortable little rest.

›

At the back of the cruise ship Angela Riverton paced around.  The older girl didn’t have a lot else to do on this apparently luxurious cruise than to do the occasional walkabout.  For one thing, Angela hated water, and thus swimming, and even more than water she hated darkened skin, so tanning was out of the question.  Angela was somewhat of an enigma at her school, fairly short with noticeable bust; she often dressed in blacks to match her long black hair, a contrast to her pale near vampiric white skin.  The word ‘goth’ had floated around her like an out of place stigma during her initial years in school, but it had long since faded; Angela was no goth girl, instead she was her own girl.

Pacing along the back end of the ship, Angela was thinking about a conversation she had recently had with one of her teachers about ancient cultures.  The discussion had been on the subject of former tribes that had inhabited islands in the region they were now sailing.  Not really a geek in the typical sense, Angela enjoyed reading about lost and ancient civilizations, always interested in hearing how cultures would handle different situations.  Something in the back of Angela’s mind always wanted to hear more about other places and other people, and after she gathered enough information, Angela tried to adopt what acceptable traits she could from that culture.  On occasion Angela could be seen wearing random tribal bracelets, strange footwear, and the irregular earring.  When she was forced into it, Angela would play video games, and often force her opponents to wait while she decided on a suitable name for her character; with titles ranging from the simple ‘Shaka’ to elaborate euphemisms like ‘Cle0p@tra’ or ‘Sir P0wnz@lot’.

“Ange!”  The near screeching voice of Stacy Decker broke the serene barrier Angela had put around herself while walking.  The nickname of ‘Ange’ was something only Stacy used when talking to her and Angela hated it with a passion.  The least a person could do was to use your full name when speaking with you, but Stacy was too oblivious to common courtesy.  Angela only bothered to turn and feign a quick smile before Stacy had moved right in front of her, looking down as she always did.  Even with her current black leather boots, Angela only came up to about five foot five, where Stacy just in her two-piece stood easily a full foot taller than Angela.  “Hey, I’ve been trying to find you for like… all day!”

Angela’s smile twisted into an unsure look as she slowly raised her eyes to meet up with the statuesque Stacy.  “Not really.  You talked to me for an hour at lunch.  Then you met up with me again about two hours later when you were deciding what to wear.”  The facts were presented with the barest of emotion, a not to subtle hint of Angela’s annoyance, but a fact that Stacy was unable to clue into.  Instead of being offended as a normal person might have been, Stacy kept her brightly glowing smile up, even widening it as Angela finished.

“I know, but it felt like all day.  I mean, like… well you know, it’s kinda boring if you don’t have anyone here to hang out with!”

“You have plenty of people you can hang out with Stacy.  You’re the most popular person in the school after all.  Just look over there.”  Angela gave a wide sweeping hand gesture to a group of men off near the opposite end of the railing, clearly gawking at the two girls.  In her own mind, Angela assumed they were talking about who had the bigger chest, an assumption that had she placed a bet on, she would have won.  Stacy just shrugged and giggled for a moment, going so far as to turn and look directly at the group before giving them an excited wave.  Had she not been so transfixed by Stacy’s obliviousness, Angela may have tried to escape at that moment, but her better senses were lost.

“Yeah I guess…”  Stacy spoke as she continued to wave, her volume diminishing as the long hand wave ended.  “But you’re so witty and fun Angela!  I really like hanging out with you.”  Finishing her sentence, Stacy turned to once again loom down on short Angela.  “And I know you enjoy hanging out.  I mean without me you’d just spend your day’s home alone reading and not getting out.”  Stacy’s words had nailed exactly what Angela really wanted, but unlike her brother she really didn’t want to be a complete social outcast, so she would continue to put up with Stacy Decker for a bit longer.

“I guess…  So what did you want?”  Angela asked just as Stacy’s gaze turned away from her.  Angela knew Stacy’s penchant for ‘shiny thing’ and indulged for a brief moment and turned to look at whatever had caught Stacy’s eye.  There was the briefest moment of silence between the two girls as they gazed out across the main deck of the ship, past passengers and objects alike until they saw it.  “Oh shit.  Is that a storm?”

›

As the boat rocked from side to side at the onset of the oncoming storm, Josh Chambers and Martha Porter sat together in Martha’s room.  The two senior students were both very alike, though Josh was seventeen, a year younger than Martha.  In fact Josh had been skipped ahead a year of school, thus explaining his younger age compared to most seniors with whom he shared classes.  Both students were A+ material, and constantly vied for top grades in their shared classes, and both constantly worked and studied to maintain their top tier level of knowledge.  The two shared several physical attributes as well; both were relatively skinny and nondescript, meaning their only source of popularity within the school dwelled from their respective intellect.  It was only natural that the two studied together and generally avoided the greater mass of their high school.  The general assumption was that the two were dating, but that was a terrible misconception as there was one fundamental difference that kept them apart.

Martha footed herself deeply in the realm of science, believing that everything had a logical explanation, and that for every problem there was a scientific solution.  Josh followed the teaching of science, looking to it as an aide to most problems, though his true footing was in his Christian faith.  It was Josh’s religious beliefs and upbringing that constantly had the two butting heads, especially when the topic of history was ever brought up.  Martha was careful to never insult Josh’s beliefs, but she made it abundantly clear that she was not a believer in divine acts or the presence of angels and demons.  Originally the divide had been a hot topic between the two, though now they would take the occasional potshot at one another, testing the other’s beliefs for the briefest of moments and only in jest.

“I do say.  This boat is rocking quite a bit.”  Josh’s British accent was barely audible over the crashing of waves outside.  Martha tried to ignore her companion and continued reading her book (which for those of you who are interested was a university level physics book; the particular passage on consistent motion).  “Really Martha, I do think it’s … rude outside at the moment.”

“Listen Josh, it’s just a bit of moving water alright?  Now can you help me with this next equation or not?”

Josh always took Martha’s challenges as something he had to do.  Somewhere in his mind, Josh knew the two were always going to be together in some fashion, likely not married, though perhaps teachers at the same school.  Examining the sheet of paper Martha had passed to him earlier, Josh began scribbling on it; filling the paper with various equations and values.  It took only a few seconds before the process was complete and Martha snatched the paper back to examine the results.

“Huh, good work.  Did God show you how to do this?”  The jab was intentional, and well mannered.  Josh simply gave a smile and nodded, not wanting to give his opponent the satisfaction of an answer.  Putting the equation down on a nearby counter, the two sat around quietly pondering the next portion of their textbooks.  Josh’s mind wandered as he thought of a way to get Martha back for her ‘God’ comment.

The sound of a loud cracking followed by a great rumble interrupted the two and their racing minds.  “I believe that was lightning Martha.”  Josh spoke clearly, placing his own textbook on Gina’s bed, the bed which he had been sitting on.  Immediately after, Martha lowered her own book and looked out the nearby sealed window, seeing the now black sky and rain beginning to slowly pelt down.  As the wave intensified, Martha’s eyes reacted to a flash of light and quickly blinked before another loud crashing sound rumbled through the room.  On cue the rain intensified and the outside became a washed blur as the showers drowned out everything.

“Oh shit… where’s Gina?”

Josh reacted by standing up and walking over to Martha who still looked out at the indecipherable outside world.  “Perhaps we should walk the halls and try to find her?”  His calm accent soothed Martha enough for the intelligent girl to regain her composure.  She turned and gave a nod before brushing Josh aside and heading towards the door.  Opening it with some effort, Martha stepped out into the hall, only to be pushed back briefly by a group of running freshman.  Soaking wet from what was likely the rain above, the young students chuckled and laughed as they passed Martha, the slight smell of liquor floating in the air around them.  Finally waiting for them to pass Martha pushed on with a sour look of disgust on her face.

Following dutifully behind, Josh came up behind Martha and kept up the brisk pace the girl had set.  By the time they were two thirds of the way down the hall another group of teens rushed past, soaked to the bone in dripping rain.  There was an awkward moment as the group met with Martha and Josh, each turning in the same direction until Martha paused and let the three teens pass.  “I thought it was common courtesy to move to the right.”  Martha muttered under her breath to Josh as they continued on.

“Courtesy is a lost art, or so I am told.”

Martha smiled to her friend’s quick response, and moved to the right as they reached the steps leading to the deck and another student passed.  Neither of the two recognized the freshman who passed by, but they were impressed that he knew the ‘rule of right’.  The young boy was in fact Tristan Riverton, escaping the upper deck with his book carefully concealed under his shirt to prevent damage.  He made with all haste to his own room, eventually finding relative shelter from the storm.  Martha and Josh pushed on up, finally coming to the shut panel that opened onto the main deck of the ship.

Pushing open the panel, Martha was assailed by strong winds and a torrential downpour of rain.  Soaked in a matter of seconds, Martha re-adjusted herself and began scanning the deck for her little sister.  Visibility was poor, worse than poor, it was only possible to make out the outlines of other passengers and that was only good within maybe ten feet.  Martha caught glimpses of running passengers, some obviously heading towards her.  When another group did come by she didn’t recognize any of them and didn’t pay heed as they went by pushing past herself and Josh to the cabins below.  As the group passed, Josh came up beside Martha clinging to the side of the panel for support.

“It’s impossible to see out here, let’s go back in.  She probably just roomed with a friend.”

Replies formulated in Martha’s head, but her eyes answered first, seeing the body outline of what could only be her sister along the railing of the ship.  “She’s over there, let’s go.”  Martha let go of the panel and trudged through the onslaught of rain as though she were walking through snow.  Josh desperately held onto the panel and watched as Martha headed towards her younger sister.  The man wanted to cry out that moving unsupported along the deck was a terrible idea, but no words came to his mouth.  Instead nature answered for him.

At first there was a brilliant flash of light.  In that moment Martha Porter could clearly see her frightened sister clinging to the railings garbed in what seemed to be her now soaked housecoat.  Josh made out two other along the back of the ship, also clinging to the railing.  Were he not so fixated on Martha’s plight he may have gone to help them.  Not a millisecond later a deafening boom and shockwave rocked the deck.  Everyone’s eyes closed for that moment and their heads receded hoping to cover their ears from the sound.  When Martha’s eyes opened her sister was gone, and as she looked at the railing she screamed out for her.  Then she felt the ship begin to list, as she tried to move forward Josh had already come up and grabbed her, forcing her back into the cabin.  Martha’s screams of protest were drowned out by the sounds of the storm.

As Martha was hurled down the open panel a new sound came from the ship; a long cracking as plastics and wood broke apart.  To Josh he could see tears along the upper deck as the ship began to literally break apart, much like that scene in Titanic where the boat broke in two, except this time the split was running down the middle.  Water pooled seeped into the hall below and Josh frantically moved to the other side of the panel, closing it as he entered.  Holding firmly onto Martha, no words were spoken between the two, Martha only sobbed as she leaned against the wall for support.

Doors along the hall began to open as people peered into the hallway, some began to move out looking to assist Josh with the hysterical Martha.  No one made it, instead the hull cracked and the hall literally ripped apart, filling the boat with water, and throwing people into the ocean depths.  Flung out together, both Martha and Josh quickly lost consciousness in the unimportant particulars that followed.

---

When Tristan finally awoke, it was to the sound of a crackling fire.  His skin was dry, and he could tell that his shirt had been removed, leaving him wearing only his pair of blue jean shorts that were still damp.  The last thing Tristan remembered was opening the door to his room and looking out into the hall of the ship to be sucked up into the abyss.  He wasn’t quite sure if it was a dream, or if he was now dead.  Either way, the fire was warm and felt good, as though it were relatively close.  Tristan enjoyed the fire for a few moments before forcing himself to end the dream and open his eyes.

There was indeed a fire, composed of what seemed to be several dozen pieces of wood, probably a good five feet in diameter, a decent bonfire.  Three others were huddled around the fire, Tristan being the social outcast that he was tended to remember people’s faces, and recognized at least two of the three.  The first was one of his teachers, a long time science teacher by the name of Kenneth Wall a man who was most likely in his mid forties though he had never discussed it with his students.  Tristan had been in one of Mr. Wall’s classes and admired the teacher for his unorthodox teaching methods.  Right now the older teach wore a loose fitting t-shirt, obviously not his own attire.  Beside Mr. Wall was another older man, by the pants and shirt it was evident he had been a member of the ship’s crew.  Finally, sitting beside Tristan was a fellow student he recognized as Laine Duncan.  Laine was pretty enough, and currently wearing a tight fitting t-shirt, also likely not something of her own attire.  Tristan had known Laine for his school year as they shared a class together, even though she was a year ahead of Tristan, Laine had been held back in some classes, and Tristan had occasionally let the girl sneak an answer or two off of him.

“Oh…  Mr. Wall, he’s coming around!”  Laine spoke in a quiet but excited tone.  As Mr. Wall approached and Laine leaned in further, Tristan finally got a look at his surroundings.  He was on some kind of vast beach, and there wasn’t just one bonfire around but several, along with various other school peers, teachers, and ship staff.  In his own mind Tristan thought back to the first episodes of Lost, remembering the downed plane along the beach, though in this case he did not see any debris.  “Hi Tristan, it’s me Laine… how are you feeling?”

“Be careful not to muddle him now Laine.”  The voice of Mr. Wall approached Tristan as he darted his eyes between the two of them for a moment.  The entire event seemed quite surreal to Tristan who looked at it as though he were some third party.  Here was a fellow classmate, someone who he never really hung out with and a teacher looking after him following some terrible catastrophe.  He blinked several times trying to wish himself back home, or even to his cabin on that accursed cruise, but no luck.  Instead, Tristan remained on the bonfire and survivor filled beach of wherever they had come ashore.  That was a good question in Tristan’s mind; ‘Where were they’, he held onto it for a few moments.

“Uhhh… where are we?”

“Come now Tristan; don’t be concerning yourself with that right now.  Though if I had to guess, I’d say we got lucky and found one of those Polynesian islands.”  Mr. Wall explained, his own answer prattled off just to keep conversation going for a few moments, and perhaps to try to ease the situation as best he could.  As a teacher, Mr. Wall knew it was his responsibility to look after these children, and he intended to do so to the best of his abilities.  The older man smiled shortly and nodded.  “But it seems you’re ok, and that’s all that really matters.”

Sitting up, Tristan sorted his thoughts, barely paying attention to the arm of Laine that draped around him trying to support his back.  “Thanks Mr. Wall.  I uhh… wait a second… where’s my sister?”  The stream of consciousness startled both Kenneth Wall and Laine, who shot each other quick glances of unease.  “Wait, you can’t mean…”

“Look Tristan, there’s a lot of people still missing.  We had about ten just randomly show up at our camp today.  So don’t worry, your sister will be fine.”  Laine attempted to comfort Tristan as his mind continued to piece itself together.

“Laine’s right, your sister probably just ended up on another part of the island.  She most likely got here in a different lifeboat.”  Mr. Wall added quickly, trying to cement fill the cut Tristan had dug into their hopeful beliefs.  From the teacher’s words, Tristan gathered that he had likely been brought on a lifeboat as well, another quick glance around revealed several bright orange and yellow floating boats around, all of them well on the other side of the beach, away from the rushing water.

“Lifeboat?  How many are here?”  Tristan managed to push out, still desperately sorting through all the events that had happened.

Laine seemed to jump at the opportunity and started to talk.  “Oh yes!  Well after the boat cracked, a lot of people start piling onto some of the lifeboats.  The waves were pretty strong, so a bunch of us got separated.  Last time we counted, I think there were about sixty-seven of us here!”  Realizing that she was talking a bit too fast, Laine slowed the pace of her speech down as she ramped up the statement.

“That’s right Tristan; in fact it was Laine here who helped pull you into our raft.  Poor girl was quite mad with everything that went on, but I guess you gave her a goal.”  The words of Mr. Wall followed Laine’s and the girl quickly turned away her face a bright shade of red.  “Laine has been watching over you the entire day we’ve been on this island in fact.  So I suppose you really owe her.”  Mr. Wall’s further embarrassing statements finally prompted Laine to turn her head back for fear the man might continue talking about her.

“Look, it was nothing.  I just didn’t want to see anyone hurt.”

Tristan was taken slightly aback, as the self-exiled geek of the school he rarely thought anyone cared enough about him to help; now a girl had saved his life.  The shock of the moment was overcome by the realization that he might actually have a friend in this whole mess.  “Thanks… I guess I really do owe you huh?”  Tristan tried to smile, though the act was clearly faked, but it still gained smiles from both Mr. Wall and Tristan’s savior.

›

Tristan spent the next few hours getting acquainted with several of the survivors as well as assisting however he could.  Most of the gathered people agreed that it would be best to keep the fires burning and dry out as much salvaged luggage and clothing as possible.  Offering to help with that, Tristan went back and forth between the edge of the forest canopy and the beach, bringing stacks of wood.  As he approached the forest’s edge, Tristan felt a strange urge to go explore, but he knew it could very well be suicide to go into the forest without others, so he pulled back.  The temptation remained though, urging the shipwrecked youth to see exactly where he and the others had wound up.  When it finally reached a boiling point, Tristan moved himself back to the camp and rested.

Seating himself beside Laine and another student who had been introduced to him as Bill Castor, Tristan snacked on a bag of chips salvaged from one of the pieces of luggage.  Bill was a member of the school football team; a large brute of a man, he had a good personality and generally got along with most people.  The three sat around away from one of the fires, since the heat of the sun was enough to keep them warm since their clothes had dried.  Bill was boasting about his accomplishments in the past day, while Laine and Tristan quietly snacked as best they could while listening.

“I lifted like three times what anyone else did.  Lucky you guys had me around, or these fires would have taken all day to get started!”  Bill continued his self-important discussion as the other two looked at him and nodded.  To Tristan, Bill was the kind of person who would never talk to him in school, and would likely join in a prank on him if pressured into it.  Now the three sat on the beach snacking and chatting together in the aftermath of a terrible event.  Bill bragged because he didn’t want to bring up the grim nature of their situation.  Laine listened to the statements, smiled and made the occasional reply, hoping to keep the conversation on a happier note.  Tristan was lost in his own thoughts, wondering about everything that had happened in the past day, and hoping to see his sister sometime soon.

Mr. Wall had met up with several other adults near the edge of the camp; the group was currently discussing how to move forward given the dire circumstances.  All of the nine adults realized how relatively powerless they were given the situation, but they remained calm for the sake of the students.  Some of the crew had basic training for shipwrecks, and the tropical nature of the island they landed on was a godsend.  The current topic of discussion was about acquiring food and water, since the campsite had currently subsided on salvaged foodstuffs and cans of pop from what luggage that remained.  Widely arguing, the group was almost perfectly split as to go in search of food or hold out on the beach until help arrived.  Had it continued, the group may have come to some unanimous agreement, but that was not meant to be.

The first interruption came while one of the teachers was hysterically shouting about looking after the children, a comment everyone heard though quickly forgot once it was interrupted.  It was a sound, initially resembling the sounds of heard at construction sites; a loud single ‘boom’ drowning out all other sounds. 

Conversations stopped.  People looked around, their eyes and heads slowly turning.

Another sound filled the beach, though this time it was more like the breaking of branches.  Eyes made their way towards the forest line, and no sooner than they did, another loud ‘boom’ echoed along the open campsite, clearly coming from the forest’s edge.  A cloud of dust and particles shot out from the edge of the forest within a second, coating everyone along the beach; some coughing in response while others remained motionless.  The dirt floated in the air for several seconds before eventually receding; mixing into the sand of the beach as quickly as it had appeared.  The dark shadow over the group remained.

Everyone who looked up saw something different, though they were all clearly looking at the same thing.  The teachers and crew saw something they knew was impossible, and reacted accordingly with gaped jaws and open mouths, unable to process it.  Many students reacted differently, though for a good number of them, this was the moment they were sure was a dream.  Laine’s mouth opened wide and she reached out and grabbed Tristan’s shoulder without ever averting her gaze from the same thing everyone looked at.  With the same simple nature that defined him, Bill dropped the bag of chips he had recently grabbed to snack on, the contents wastefully spilling out onto the dust filled sand.  What Tristan Riverton saw was probably the most horrifying sight any of them witnessed, and even with his imaginative mind the boy had difficulties coming to terms with what loomed before him.  Tristan Riverton saw his sister.

The creature perfectly imitated Angela Riverton, dressed in the same blank tank top and black skirt the girl so often wore.  Even the long knee-high boots with matching black buckles and straps were mimicked perfectly by whatever was standing before them.  Unkempt wet black hair dangled around its shoulders, and upon closer inspection it was quite evident this Angela simulacrum’s clothing was damp from being submerged.  Indeed Tristan did recognize this strangely similar being as his sister, with the simple exception that compared to her him and his campmates were the size of bugs.

There was no time for terror or shock to set in, only the briefest of seconds before the Angela-Giant spoke.  Her words loud and echoing, just like the footsteps that heralded her approach.  Had the survivors been truly attentive they would have been able to understand the words she spoke, but instead the thunderous speech came out as inaudible to them as they stood in complete silence.  “Any luck finding anyone” would have been the proper translation for the giantish speech that was first spoken, and some of the campsite members thought they might have heard that, though none would ever say they were quite sure what was spoken at that moment.

Heads turned away from the Angela-Giant when another thunderous cacophony came, this time from the north of the beach.  Adjusting their fields of vision, except for Tristan who kept his eyes transfixed on the blown up image of his sister, the survivors were greeted with another creature intruding on their domain.  How this massive being had approached without giving herself away only gave a small hint of the grace she possessed.  Where the Angela-Giant could be easily compared to a demon due to her black attire and dour looks, the other creature was far more divine in nature.  Much taller than her companion, the other being was draped in far less clothing, having only two fine pieces of white cloth to her name.  To many below it seemed as though a goddess of legend had been snatched from the stories and put into reality, at least until they realized it was a perfect match to Stacy Decker.

After hearing the reply of her peer, a moment of genuine anger came from the Angela-Giant as her building long foot rose up and stamped into the forest she towered above.  Dust and debris flied over the camp and some people even had the common sense to duck, but for the most part they all remained paralyzed in fear at this inconceivable sight.  The following cry from the Angela-Giant deafened all below as hands quickly moved to cover ears.  In the following second, the black clad creature stamped off out of sight muttering loud bit of unintelligible profanity.  Relative peace came over the camp until the quakes resumed, though this time in much greater intensity and speed.  Whipping around once more to change views in this strange freak show, the members of the camp all witnessed the Stacy-Giant begin a quick dash to follow her companion.

No one spoke for almost a minute before the two had disappeared from sight.  Laine could now feel the trembling throughout Tristan’s body as he stared blindly off into the distance.  Bill’s hands still remained frozen in place with one cradling what would have been the discarded chip bag, and the other holding a chip midair in front of his gaping mouth.  When conversation eventually started up again it was not actual conversation but more screams and tearful cries.  The sight simply broke many of the present students, for who could possibly have believed what just happened?  Giants certainly didn’t exist, but two of them had just casually strolled by without even noticing them.  Adding to the mounting hysteria, the giants were people known to most of the students present.

Things finally reached a breaking point when one student pointed towards a grim discovery; a large depression in the ground that that Stacy-Giant had created in her dash to catch up with the Angela-Giant.  The depression was in the exact spot the teachers and crew had been assembled.

 

---

At the same time two giants walked past a camp of scared shipwreck survivors; re-defining their views on life, another group made its way through the forests of the same uncharted island.  Leading the way of this second group was Martha Porter; a girl hardened by the apparent loss of her sister.  Three others followed in close formation behind the determined girl; Josh Chambers only a few feet behind Martha at any given moment.  In his own way Josh admired how tempered Martha was over the loss of her sister, though he knew she would eventually need to grieve.

Joining our well known duo were two others, newcomers to our tale.  Lily Isford was another fellow student who was in the eleventh grade and had only transferred to their school partway through the school year.  A bit on the heavier side, Lily was not the prettiest thing to look at, but she had a heart of pure gold.  Originally sobbing madly when found along the coast, Lily had been comforted by Josh, and proved herself to be an able woman on their trek through the forests of the island.  Along with Lily came Doug Smith, a twenty-two year old student teacher who had been invited on the cruise because of his term at the student’s school.  Doug professed to not being very useful in their current situation, repeatedly saying that he was planning on becoming an art teacher.  It had taken very little for Martha and Josh to become the de-facto leaders of this small troupe.

Currently the four were making good time on their push through the verdant forests of the island they had landed on.  After Josh and Martha had walked up together on shore, they soon found Lily broken down in tears not too far off.  Josh had comforted the relatively unknown student using his religious teachings to make her feel safer, and not long after that Doug wandered by and found their group.  Now they had made their way into the forests after finding no one else along the coast.  The foliage was dense, and difficult to traverse with no usable paths, but they still trekked onwards under the assumed leadership of Martha.

“Martha my dear, I think it may be prudent to take a break.”  Josh spoke up noticing the tired looks from his two additional companions.  Martha didn’t let up for one moment, pushing branches out of the way as she advanced deeper into the foliage.  Guilty glances were shot back and forth between Lily and Doug who were barely keeping pace with the speedy Martha and the moderately fit Josh.  “Martha, I really think it would be…”

“I heard you Josh.”  The reply came as another set of branches were pushed out of the way, some flying back and lightly hitting Josh in the face.  Josh grabbed the excess tree bits and held them in place while Lily and Doug travelled underneath, safe from any stinging whips they might have endured otherwise.  Lily gave Josh a quick smile, making sure to pause for a moment so he noticed it.  It might have been a tender moment had Martha not disrupted it with reality.  “We have to keep moving, there are bound to be others on this island.  They may be hurt and need our help.”

Since their search of the beach, Martha had been insistent on combing the island for any other potential survivors.  When they had come to an impassable rock barrier, Martha pushed her group into the forest.  It hadn’t taken Josh long to understand the position of her friend, Martha’s constant insistence that others had survived the shipwreck was clue enough.  Martha had simply refused to admit her sister Gina was gone.  Josh had watched it happen, and he knew full well how slim the chances of Gina’s survival were.  Where they had been able to cling onto debris for safety, Gina had been thrust out into the ocean during a turbulent storm, likely sucked away before she could clasp onto anything.  The logical part of his brain told Josh to break this terrible truth to his friend, but his compassion and caring for Martha had overridden it.

Conversation ended at that point, and the group continued their sojourn through the trees.  Martha’s mind was indeed filled with thoughts of finding her own lost sister, who she was certain was lost somewhere on this island.  Even though there really was no reason for her sister to leave the coast, Martha couldn’t comprehend any other fate for her sibling; other possibilities were simply omitted from her mind.  Like a quiz where the answers consisted of ABCD but the BCD had been removed, Martha proceeded with her only option and forged further into the unknown of the island.  The loud breathing of Lily had been a constant rhythm for her as she walked, and Martha was sure the heavier girl wouldn’t last too much longer at the pace they were keeping.  Her analytical mind knew this fact, but her devotion to family simply ignored it and made her walk even faster, fueled by adrenaline.  Martha kept moving even when she heard the slight thud of Lily sitting down on a nearby rock.  When her other two companions stopped moving, Martha only noticed by the lack of their footsteps behind her, a tune she had been listening to for the past few hours.

“Look Martha we need to stop.”  Josh’s voice came as the light of reason in an otherwise surreal situation.  Perhaps it was his eccentric British accent that fueled Martha slightly, or perhaps it was the sheer audacity of the statement that angered her.  The only response Josh got for the next five seconds was Martha stopping in place, not even bothering to turn around and face the group.

“We can’t keep stopping Josh.  There could be others out there, and we have to help them.  Who knows what’s happened to the others.  Doesn’t your religious sense of morality make you want to help?”

The comment did not go unanswered for long.  “Yes, yes I want to help others, if there are any.”  Josh let the end of his sentence hang in the air for a moment before continuing, giving Martha a metaphorical slap to the face in light of their situation.  “But, we have people here and we need to make sure they’re ok.  We’ll be no use to anyone if we show up at the point of complete exhaustion.  Right now we have to take care of our own and help how we can, and pray the others make it through alright.”  Josh didn’t mean to use the word ‘pray’ but it came out as naturally as one might have cited a ‘hello’ upon seeing a friend.

“Fine.  We’ll take a ten minute break.  I’m going to search around this area in the meantime.  Don’t go anywhere!”

Doug nodded quickly while Lily still looked up at Josh obviously impressed by the veracity of his last statement.  “Alright, go on then.”  Josh nodded as well, giving Martha the ok to continue a more limited search of the area.  In a second the girl disappeared back into the trees, searching and calling out the occasional shout.  Lily gave her savior a smile as he approached her and Doug, seating himself on the dirt in front of them.

“I have to apologize for Martha.  The loss of her sister must have been such a shock to her, and this is her way of coping.  We’ll have to do the best we can to accommodate her, until the depth of our situation sinks in.  Hopefully we’ll find Gina along with the others.”

Lily looked quizzically at Josh for a moment before speaking in her low mousey voice.  “Do you really think that her sister is alive?”  The question hung in the air for a few seconds while Josh pondered it.  In a sudden motion, the religious boy nodded his head twice and gave a sly smile, nodding once to both Lily and Doug.  “What about us?  Do you think we’ll ever make it off this island Josh?”

“I believe that everything happens for a reason.  God wanted us to come to this place, and God will find us a way out if he wills it.” The meaning of the words sunk deeply into Lily whose mouth went slack jawed as she now nodded in agreement.  Doug also took something from the words and reactions around him, staring not at Josh, but at Lily as she nodded.  “Now, can I have a moment to go speak with Martha?”  The two looked at each other and then at Josh before both giving slow and agreeing nods.

›

Josh found Martha trying to push through a large mass of vine filled foliage, something either of them could have easily moved had they been well rested, though Martha now struggled with it.  As he came up behind her, Martha jumped and turned only to see Josh standing with both his arms raised in a mock surrender.

“Don’t come up on me like that.  We have no idea what’s on this island!”

“You’re right, and I’m sure you yelling out for people is really helping.”  Josh made a joke out of the comment, but Martha was not in the mood to see it as being funny.  Instead of a reply, Josh’s peer turned and continued her futile attempts to get through the brush of greenery she had come across.  “Do you need some help with that Martha?”

“No.  I’ll be fine.”  The reply came quicker than Josh had expected, and he heard subtle hints of cracking in Martha’s voice.  Unsure, he took a step forward and placed one of his hands on Martha’s right shoulder, trying to comfort his friend.  Martha reacted by shoving the arm off almost immediately.  “Josh.  I said I’ll be fine!”

Josh stood dumbfounded for almost a minute as Martha continued her efforts.  He barely paid any attention to the shouts of anguish she let loose as she futilely began to thrash at the obstacle in front of her.  Logic would have told any person to simply ignore the blocking brush and take the long way around, but Martha Porter was not listening to logic today and now turned to violence as she punched and kicked the plant before her.  Watching it like a camera held behind her, Josh felt powerless to help his friend; unable to understand the emotional turmoil she must have been enduring.  His mouth opened to speak, only to close again the next time Martha let out a roar of anger.  By the time he had mustered his will Martha had fallen to her knees and was landing fists on the plant repeatedly.

“Martha… none of us can be fine after what happened; especially you.”  To Martha there was a grim truth in the words of the ‘god boy’.  At that moment, everything that had happened flooded its way into her mind, and Martha absorbed the full depth of their situation.  Up until now she had expectedly taken on the role of leader, going so far as to push her group into this unexplored forest in search of people she didn’t even know were alive.  For all she knew this place could have been infested with dangerous animals or poisonous plants.  Martha had led them this far entirely on the fact she thought… no she knew, that her sister was somewhere out in this wild and needed her help.  Up until now Josh’s verbal thrashings hadn’t deterred her, nor had his off religious comments sparked any kind of sanity in her mind, but now Martha let it all rush though.  Her analytical mind ran its course and Martha knew that her sister and most of her schoolmates were likely dead.

Tears followed Martha’s terrible realization, and Josh swooped down to comfort her, placing his arms around her shoulders and embracing her.  No words were spoken, and the two simply sat together long in a moment of mutual understanding.  This tender moment went far beyond the ten minute break Martha had previously scheduled.

---

Panic is such a powerful expression; it’s a common word that most people hear all the time.  In the course of a regular day one might hear phrases like; “I’m panicking over this date.” or “I’m in such a panic over this latest work project.”  Following the re-introduction of Angela and Stacy to our tale, the surviving students along the coast had a taste of true panic.  With their supervision lost; crushed in a nonchalant fashion by the Stacy-giant, there was an extended moment of silence and desperation that overcame the camp.  Many rushed to the foot shaped crater to search for survivors, and of those who went nearly half of them turned away sickened, and half of them vomited on the spot.

Were an outside observer to approach the beach campsite, they may have very well considered it a warzone.  People scattered about in small groups, some crying on one another’s shoulders while others remained immobile and shaking.  If that same someone decided to examine those who were shaking they likely would have come across Tristan Riverton, still unhinged by the previous events of the day.  Remaining behind Tristan with her arm draped around his shoulder was Laine Duncan.  Laine had stood by Tristan’s side since the event had happened, neither of them speaking a word to one another since the passing of Tristan’s supposed sister.

Bill Castor, the jockish teen eventually walked back to the two after meeting with numerous other students.  Being the one to break their mutual silence, Bill hesitated for a second before speaking to both of them.  “Look, we’re gathering everyone over by the big bonfire.  I guess we’re gonna start talking about what to do from here.  I’m guessing you two should come with, and say your piece.”  The speech was slightly dumb, Bill not able to properly explain what was going on, but giving Tristan and Laine just enough information that they knew something was about to happen.  Tristan slowly stopped his shakes, and Laine helped him get up.  The two took slow strides towards the gaggle of remaining students, all of whom were huddled under the heat of the large bonfire as evening approached.

“I think it’s stupid to stay on this island!  Who knows what other crazy shit is going on here.  I say we take as many rafts as we have left and go!”  One of the students was hollering to the assembled crowd as Laine, Tristan and Bill approached.  Some shouts came up in agreement while other students shook their heads and looked around disapprovingly at the notion of going out to open waters.

“Maybe we should just stay here…”  Another huddled cry came from an unnamed female student who clenched her apparent beau.  As with the previous comment, some nodded and added their agreement while others seemed angered by the thought.  It only took a few seconds for the gaggle of teens to break into yelling and arguing, Tristan and Laine remaining completely silent on the sidelines of this social breakdown.

At this point in our story Tristan was finally coming to terms with the sights he had seen thus far.  His imagination was quite active, and it was entirely possible that he imagined his sister and her supposed friend as twin giants.  Now that a group of fellow students stood about shouting about the matter only emphasized that the circumstance was in itself horrifyingly real.  Tristan was comparable to some sort of micro toy, and Stacy had crushed any sort of leadership the students might have had in one swift unknowing movement.  While certainly impossible to understand, Tristan had just come to terms and accepted those strange series of facts.

“Why the hell was it your sister anyways?  What the fuck is up with your family dork?”  The same student who suggested leaving the island now questioned Tristan; interrupting his moment of clarity.  In reaction, Tristan simply shrugged his shoulders and gave a look of genuine confusion to the crowd.  Most people simply look away and went back to arguing, except the boy who had asked the question in the first place.  “Jesus, answer the question!  Why the fuck is your sister and Stacy up there with Godzilla?  I know you’re into the Dungeons and Dragons bullshit, what the fuck did you do?  Cast some kind of fucking magic spell on their whore asses?!”

Emotions took sway and Tristan launched a vicious right hook at the boy who had dared to call his sister a whore.  The strike came out of the back of Tristan’s mind, and impacted squarely on the cheek of the outspoken boy.  Everyone hopped back a pace and formed a circle around the struck teenager as he collapsed onto the ground like a rag doll.  Had the situation been in a more realistic setting, Tristan would have been impressed with how well he was able to floor the other student, but in this particular circumstance Tristan just gave a slack jawed look to everyone in the circle who now looked at him as though he were a totally different man.  The teen on the ground was halfway in tears, not expecting the reaction he received from the previously geekish teen.

“I don’t know!”  Tristan yelled as he met eyes with everyone in the surrounding circle, presenting each of them a steely gaze.  “But I’m going to find out!”  The shout shocked everyone present who once again began murmuring their own scattered opinions.  While the typical debate was about staying on the beach versus heading back out to sea, everyone seemed in agreement that heading out into the forest would amount to suicide.  As these scattered debates raged on, Tristan had already left the circle and headed towards one of the smaller bonfires, collecting a few essential supplies.  Laine had followed closely behind, unsure what to make of Tristan’s storming off.

“Look, I know you’re probably really confused about what’s going on, but they might be right… maybe we shouldn’t go into the forest.”  Laine tried to expound logic on Tristan as he gathered some small items into a salvaged backpack, but the boy refused to listen.  At that moment, Tristan was in his own world, intent on solving the mysteries that had been presented to him.  Though it was far from a game, Tristan had experiences with reading about such bizarre events, and he knew there had to be some reason all this was happening.  As he finished acquiring his needed materials, Tristan was set on finding out what exactly happened to his sister, and how to fix it.

“Tristan please…”

“I’m sorry Laine, but I’ve got to do this.  I need to know what’s happened to Angela.  I mean, maybe there’s a way I can help her, or at the very least let her know we’re on the island with her.  I mean god, she didn’t even see us down here!  She probably thinks she’s all alone with Stacy, so the least I can do is save her from that.”  Tristan explained as he hefted the now filled backup above his shoulder.  In the distance, he could see some of the students breaking off and grabbing rafts, making a quick break for the open ocean.  Bill had remained with another group that was made up with those intent on remaining at the beach to await help.  The recent acquaintance didn’t even bother to look over at Tristan and Laine.

As Laine continued to beat logic into Tristan, she took the initiative and sidestepped her way in front of her classmate.  “You’re right Tristan, they don’t know we’re here.  How do you even plan on getting their attention?  You’d have as much a chance of attracting their attention as you would get them to step on you!”  Laine’s comment suddenly threw the image of Stacy Decker walking past and crushing him into Tristan’s mind; the image of Angela stepping on him was far too horrifying to imagine.  The comment did burrow some roots in the boy’s mind and Tristan halted for a brief moment.  “You know I’m right.”

“Well, then I’ll track them and wait for the best time.  Maybe when one of them goes to sleep I can get close enough to yell up at them.”  Tristan’s rebuttal came as he pushed Laine gently aside and continued his stride towards the forest’s edge.  There was no changing Tristan’s mind now, and Laine knew it.  The most she could do was to give him her best wishes and see him off; that or do something unthinkable.  Laine had struggled with the thought in her own mind for the past few seconds; seconds that seemed more like hours as they passed.  Sighing deeply, Laine once again stepped in front of Tristan, blocking the boy’s path.

“Well then.  I’m coming with you!”

“You’re what?”

“I’m coming with you Tristan.  Two people will have far more of a chance than one.”  The bold statement dumbfounded poor Tristan for the briefest of moments.  As the boy struggled with the offer, Laine moved next to him and started walking slowly at his side.  In his whole life, Tristan had never had anyone who’d really cared about him enough to do anything, and now he had a girl who was willing to risk her own life by accompanying him on a journey that could easily prove to be fatal.  Words did not express the sentiment that Tristan felt, but somehow the boy managed.

“Why?”

Laine could only shake her head slightly as though to remove some lingering doubt in her own mind before replying.  “Because stupid, I have friends out there to.  For all we know, your sister and Stacy Decker could be walking around stepping on more people we know.  If anything we’ll have to at least warn them, or god forbid, find more giants out there.”  Using the word ‘giant’ made Laine feel slightly silly, but the words were as dead serious as she could get.  Tristan noted the determination in the girl and knew his own insistence on going had been instilled in her.  For better or worse, the two were a team now.

“Alright, but we have to stay together at all times.  No splitting up or anything stupid like that, they do it too often in horror movies and someone always ends up getting wasted.”  Tristan explained, also in a completely serious tone, though it sounded more like a line out of a Scary Movie film rip-off.  Laine nodded deeply, not really caring about the content of the phrase, just more content that she had been allowed to accompany Tristan.  Not that Tristan had any choice at this point. 

With that, the two set off into the unknown forest of the island, in search of answers, survivors, and giants.  At the same time that Tristan and Laine had breached the edge of the forest, the first rafts went out to sea.  Piloted by unskilled students with minimal supplies, these rafts did not enjoy a similarly fantastical voyage as their first.  Unlike the trip of Gulliver or other long lost travelers, the students who made the choice to leave this island were never seen or heard from again; their now empty rafts still floating along the ocean to this very day.

---

Somewhere on the coast of our ‘Little Big’ island another student awoke.  I could go into detail regarding this student’s travels along the coast, and the eventual decision to forge inwards to explore the island, but that’s all been done before.  With this particular student, we’re cutting ahead in time, ignoring the less than arduous trek into the island and ignoring any internal monologue that character may have had.  Instead we cut to this select student, kneeling on the ground inspecting something very closely.  Had a magnifying glass been present, this student would have made the effort to pick it up and put it to use.  With no such device present, the student simply gazed down at the impressive sight arrayed before her.

At first it looked like a discarded play set; small buildings randomly placed around an open clearing in the crunchy long grass.  Further inspection revealed more than buildings, with accompanying small people and animals, each of them far too intricate to be a simple toy.  When the models began to move; each seemingly of its own accord, the mind of the examining student finally clicked with what she was seeing.  This was indeed a miniature village.  Wooden carriages moved about, drawn by similarly sized horses, ridden by men and women who dressed in clothing most likely gleamed from a settlement of Amish.  It was as if a piece of history had been laid out before the girl, and shrunken to a far more manageable scale.

No words were spoken as our mysterious student gazed down at the diminutive display before her.  The first breaking in silence came from the extension of her right arm; a single finger jutting out and poking the top of a house to verify its tangibility.  The tree-sized finger made its way along the roof of the one story wood house, eventually stopping to apply slight pressure at the rear.  A cracking sound resulted from the pressure as the rear of the building collapsed, the entire building breaking down from the sheer stress of the student’s simple action.  The student’s reaction was the quaintest of smiles; not taking pleasure from what she had done, but more amused that this place was not some figment of her imagination.  Instead the village was quite real.

The comparatively giant girl’s finger navigated its way throughout the town like a guided missile; feeling for things that were of interest.  Firstly, an abandoned barrel of wine was crushed mercilessly by the insatiable digit, coating the tip of that finger in a spray of red that dripped down upon the villagers as she moved it to her mouth.  The taste was sweet with an immediate bitter aftertaste, though all in all it was a worthwhile experience.  This student had tasted red wine before, and she had found it to her exacting standards of beverages, luckily this wine also passed her test.  After the quick taste, the finger returned to its mission in the village below, now darting about poking the various townsfolk, pushing some back and knocking several others over with no real effort.  Every time the finger made contact with one of the villagers, the student’s face seemed to smirk; not a real smile, but a small glimmer of partial amusement by what she was doing.  If anything, this village of tiny things amused the girl, and she continued to mess around with it as she saw fit.

Next on the finger’s list of targets was a drawn wagon, it paused in the air for a few lone seconds giving the passengers time to frantically disembark.  With another show of nonchalant effort, the girl’s finger smashed right through the wagon, sending the horses running madly forward and scattering harmless debris on those who had once sat inside.  One villager took offense to this act and picked up a nearby pitchfork, as the miniscule man hefted the oversized implement, the student could only watch, not quite putting the pieces together.  When the man thrust the metal tool right into the still descended index finger, the student gasped as she brought it back.  Expecting to see blood drawn from such a vicious attack, the girl was startled when she brought the finger in for closer inspection.  Not even a scratch, or a feeling of pain.  The weapon strike seemed like it had rebounded off her.

Still inspecting her finger, the student let loose a full bore smile as she lowered her face for a closer inspection of the nearby people.  The man with the pitchfork now clung to his weapon for dear life, standing in front of what were likely his wife and daughter.  Not sure what to expect, the man used one hand to hold the silver tipped weapon, and another to safeguard his apparent family.  With no more power than a sigh, the girl blew only the slightest breath of air onto the man who dared attack her.  The resulting gust caused the man and his family to fall over with pieces of the destroyed wagon flying back into the beyond.  Back to her seemingly playful state, the massive girl slowly extended her right arm out towards the downed man, seemingly moving to crush him under her immense thumb.  At the last moment, the hand adjusted and shot out to gracefully pick up the discarded pitchfork.

Examining the small object in her fingers for a few seconds, the girl didn’t even pay heed as the family ran off, hiding in a nearby building for shelter.  Not intending to, the girl eventually snapped the strong wooden implement as she continued to examine its finely crafted shape.  Discarding the pieces back into the pile below, the surviving student stood up, looking over the village from a non-kneeling perspective.  Still unsure of what to make of this place, the girl began to pace around the village, making note of its fine structures and the way its toy like citizens frantically moved about in her presence.  As she finished the first pass of the village, upon completing a footstep, the student noticed the building she had previously damaged was crumbling.  With another step she watched as the building began to slide even further.  This plain fact amused the girl greatly, and her face began to beam with delight as she continued with her experiments.

Taking a look to both sides as though making sure no one was around, the girl then stared down once at the village before hopping in place.  Though invisible to her, the fallout of her miniature quake was quite noticeable.  The nearby building immediately collapsed, people began to run for cover, while others avoided debris falling from their own buildings.  Only exacerbating the situation, the girl jumped again, this time three in quick succession, causing untold havoc in the world below.  The village hadn’t even thought to recover by the time the girl was back on her knees inspecting the damage she had brought on the poor little people.  She was by no means malicious, but it had been an irresistible action, and she had been quite bored and scared since arriving.  This strange and exotic place had been a type of respite for her as she casually played and inspected the poor populace below.

Before you think her a monster, it’s important to realize that this was a girl presented with an impossible situation.  While her actions were certainly not the best intentioned, she was by no means intending to be hostile.  Instead she treated the situation like a sort of science experiment, testing what she could and gauging the reactions of said actions.  The thought that these were people just like her had never crossed the girl’s mind, and instead she was more content for the fact she had been apparently saved from the boredom the island had presented her.  Even her action of skipping had been a small way to keep her amused; not caring the toll it might have on these newly discovered creatures.  The inspection afterwards was very similar to the first, so the girl began to lose interest quickly.

Standing back up, the girl started to walk away from the now chaotic village.  Like a child who had kicked over an anthill, the girl now left the scene of her crime, not as amused as she had originally been when discovering it.  She wandered away for almost fifteen minutes, continuing to saunter along the island, looking for other inhabitants who might have been her size and not so imaginary.  It was amazing that she lasted so long looking for others before she soon grew bored of that as well.  The next realization was that she was hungry, and not having any survival skills at her disposal, the girl was steadily beginning to worry, though she knew she was quite a ways away from starving.  Searching for food lasted only about ten minutes before the girl discovered some strange berries, berries that had a terrible aftertaste and did not seem to be completely edible.  Luckily for our student the berries were not poisonous, just not something she could really digest well.

As she sat in the aftermath of snacking on the berries, the girl thought back to her encounter with the village and how amused she had been while playing with it.  She knew the spot quite well and could easily return, but there seemed to be little point in doing so.  She came, she saw, she messed around a bit, now she was back on her way to find others.  Maybe when she had a free moment she would come back and show some of the others her amazing discovery.  Who’d have imagined that there was a colony of miniature people on the island; people who had developed wagons and sound construction techniques.  For all the girl knew, the next time she found such a village they might be able to speak.

They might be able to speak.

The girl had never really considered that the people would have been able to communicate with her.  Now that she thought about it, she even realized that she hadn’t spoken a single word as she casually toyed with their village.  Up until now, she had just considered the village a distraction for herself, but now the thought that it could be much more sunk in.  What if the people in the village could speak?  Maybe they had seen others walk by, and maybe they knew where exactly she was.  If her natural assumption about them being nothing more than toy people was correct, she could at least return and mess around with their village a bit more.  She had nothing better to do at this point.

Moving back at an almost brisk pace, our student reached the village in almost half the time it had taken her to leave.  As she looked down at the tiny village and its inhabitants from her standing position, she did really see them more as bugs than people.  Her handiwork was still in place, with her poked building still in ruins, though several others had now joined it; the result of her earthquake inducing hops.  This time the inhabitants did not run as she approached, seemingly resigned to whatever fate this giant teenager had in store for them, or more accurately, they were prepared.

As she gazed over the damaged village, the girl noticed something different at the center of the tiny town.  A large gathering of materials had been placed in a rough circle, standing atop a large wooden board.  Everything from big and tiny fruits to cuts of meat, and thimble sized buckets of water and wine was displayed on the board.  Not sure what to make of the offerings before her, the girl switched her view back to the assembled villagers, her jaw dropping as she saw their reaction.  One by one, many of the villagers began to kneel before her, as though they assumed she was some kind of deity.  The action teamed with the offering left the girl breathless, unsure how to proceed.  Up until now her actions had entirely been playful in nature, but now she was presented with something much more meaningful.  Was she really willing to play god to an entire village of people?

Lowering her hand to scoop up a small portion of the offering, the girl sampled some of the fruits, and then quaffed several barrels of the wine that had been left for her.  She noticed during her sampling that many of the people below gazed up briefly from their kneeling state; likely trying to gauge her response to their offering.  Even if she tried to resist, the girl would not have been able to.  She smiled a smile so sinister that wildlife around the island paused and shuddered for the briefest of moments.

Gina Porter was indeed content.

---

Following Martha’s breakdown with Josh and the visible setting of the sun, the band of Martha, Josh, Lily and Doug had decided to make camp.  Josh had read enough books and attended enough camps to know how to get a decent fire going, and the travelers had two backpacks full of foodstuff on them.  Minus the fear of the unknown that hung in the air like a taboo topic, the group genuinely enjoyed themselves as they sat around the fire and talked with one another.  Josh had been discussing the finer points of his religious upbringings to Lily who clung on every word he said.  Martha had remained quite distant from the conversations and replied only to the occasional inquiry that Doug passed her way.

“So you were thinking of becoming a teacher when this was all done?”  Doug continued to prod Martha with questions even though she wasn’t even looking at him.  Instead, Martha stared off into the setting sun, wondering the fate that had befallen her sister, and unsure if they would ever find any other survivors on the island.  As the thoughts circled around in the jumble of Martha’s brain, Doug nonchalantly repeated his question.  This time the words of the man penetrated the mists around Martha’s mind and she was able to formulate a sufficient response for the soon-to-be teacher.

“Yes.”

“Oh, that’s cool!  Any reason why you wanted to become a teacher?  Is it because you think you’ll be well suited to handle immature students and help deter the eventual decline of society?  Or are you more interested in seeing something you have control over develop?”  The rather well thought out question would have been a topic that Martha could have entered hours of discussion on, were it not for her current dilemma.  Doug sat expectantly awaiting a response from the younger girl, hoping something truly inspirational to come from the lips of the intelligent Martha.  Silence followed, broken only by the distant conversations of Josh and Lily.  Soon enough Martha took note of the silence and did her best to break it, still unsure of the topic that had been presented by Doug.

“Yes.”

With eyebrow raised, Doug shook his head as though he were disappointed with the answer.  Somehow judging this inappropriate response, Doug stood up and smiled at the sitting Martha.  “Martha, I apologize for the interruption.  Let me give you some more time to think, you clearly need it right now.”  With that, Doug walked over to Lily and Josh.  Had he not already been turning his attention to the new conversation he could have possibly heard Martha’s under the breath third “Yes” as he passed by the fire and sat by the other two.

Taking a seat close to his other two companions, Doug casually eyed them both as he listened to their conversation.  The topic really didn’t concern him, as Doug was far more interested in people; in this case Lily was of the most interest to him.  Since arriving on the island, Lily had been a veritable ‘basket case’ having originally been found sobbing about the entire affair.  It had only been the words of the religious Josh Chambers that had wrestled her away from complete despair.  Now Lily sat and listened to further religious discussion from the man, a topic of which she hung on every word.  Doug was interested to discover if Lily’s apparent interest in the subject was related to the content itself, or more interest in the man who spoke it.  For now Doug was content to sit and listen to the two continue their talk, as it was far more interesting than sitting dully in the corner with Martha.

“So, how long do you think we’ll be on this island for Josh?”  Lily’s question had cut the man off during a small speech about his previous religious schooling, but Josh and Doug could tell that the girl had been bottling the question for far too long.  Unsure how to answer Josh gave a startled look to Doug who shrugged his shoulders slightly.  Realizing Doug’s shrug would be a terrible place to leave the conversation, Josh spent a moment collecting his own thoughts before he replied to Lily’s question.  Based on the look of the girl’s face, he could have thought about it for an entire week, and she would have still been happy to get a response.

“I pray it’s soon.  Though as the old adage goes; ‘the Lord works in mysterious ways.’”  Josh raised his arms and waved his fingers in a mock mystical way, trying to relieve some of the tension that hung in the air around them.  Lily smiled and looked down at her lap, blushing as she did so, hoping to hide it from Josh and Doug’s eyes.  Josh used the brief distraction to come up with a suitable follow-up to pacify the girl and prevent her fears from taking over.  “Though in all honesty, I think for us to get off this island we’ll need to keep searching.  We can’t sit here and expect something to happen.  If we did, we would be waiting on a miracle, and while I do believe it could happen, I also know that the Lord helps those who help themselves.  Perhaps if we are able to rescue other survivors we will be gifted with a way out of here.”

The overdone religious tone was already beginning to grate on Doug, and he was nearly ready to stand up and depart when Lily spoke up, peaking his interest.  “So… You think that if something good were to happen unexpectedly to someone, it would be a miracle?”  The simple question didn’t even have much to do with the message of hope that Josh was trying to instill, but it was a way to keep Lily’s mind off the despair of their current situation.  Josh smiled and nodded for a moment, and Doug nestled himself back on the cleared dirt, now interested in hearing where this conversation was going.

“Oh yes Lily!  Of course miracles like that don’t just happen every day, and when they do, they only happen to special and worthy people.  Such things should not be squandered, if you are given a gift from God, you should use it for the well being of others.”  Josh prattled on about his own thoughts on the topic of divine miracles.  Lily’s eyes had grown wide with understanding as the words touched her ears and entered her mind.  Slightly back from the discussion, Doug took note of Lily’s religious epiphany and wished to see how this changed the girl, hoping to see someone stronger and more self-sufficient than the scared little girl he had first met when he had joined the motley crew.

As the topic of God, miracles, and prayer continued by the fire, Martha Porter continued to think of her long lost sister.  Though she would have never spoken a word of it to Josh, Martha secretly prayed for her sister, hoping she was safe.

›

Angela Riverton had been walking across an unknown island for the better part of a day now.  She would have considered the experience unique and interesting were it not for the seriousness that had come before her drifting ashore.  With the boat lost, and all of her fellow classmates (not to mention brother) missing, Angela should have been a veritable emotional wreck.  There was however one emotion that kept the girl on task.  It was not fear of the unknown, or determination to find her missing schoolmates, or even distress at the possible loss of her brother.  At this exact moment it was instead Angela’s hatred of Stacy Decker that kept her feet moving.

Walking at a pace slightly above brisk, Angela’s right arm flailed with each step.  Her left arm was clenched tightly around her tank top, which was now curled up in a ball that she carried with her.  Too damp to wear any longer, Angela had removed the shirt after the first few hours, not wanting to stop to let it dry under the sun for fear that she might have to actually endure a full conversation with Stacy.  Angela had thought about stopping on the beach and drying her clothes there, but Stacy’s sudden appearance had put a stop to that.  Had Angela taken a stop at the beach, our story might have turned out quite differently than it has so far.  Instead, Angela now continued her trek, clad only in a red bra, a black skirt, knee high boots and clenching onto her still damp top.

“Ange!  Seriously, hold up a second.  I like really need to catch my breath!”  The dense voice of Stacy yelled up from behind.  The entire day had been interrupted for Angela by the constant whining calls from Stacy.  Since she was not an evil person, Angela never really considered the idea of abandoning Stacy and going off in search of others by herself.  No, the two of them were so far the only two survivors on this island and they would need to stick together; whether Angela liked it or not.  It was not the best pairing in the universe, but the two did somehow fit together as a duo, likely because Stacy’s mere presence drove Angela far beyond her regular limits in search of other lost survivors.  In search of anyone aside from Stacy Decker she could associate with.

“Come on Ange.  Let’s sit down, I’m really getting tired”.

“Fine, whatever.”  Angela relented to the constant assault of Stacy’s voice.  Stopping mid-trek, Angela turned around and looked at Stacy.  She was unsure how Stacy had done it, but her two piece attire was back to its perfectly dry state; even the small frill flapped in the wind without a touch of dampness.  Had Angela cared about such things, she might have been jealous with the confidence that Stacy exuded around herself.  Instead the grinding gears of Stacy Decker’s voice had been the only thing that Angela cared about, and at least by stopping her walk she had stopped the nagging tone of the girl’s voice.

“Oh, thanks Ange.  I know you must be totally worried about your little brother, but I’m guessing he’s probably alright.”  The stupidity of Stacy’s words reeked to Angela, though the sentiment was well intentioned.  Angela could only roll her eyes when Stacy turned to look around, ensuring the girl continued to remain oblivious to her seething anger.  “I mean, he’s probably been reading about this kind of stuff, and like knows what to be doing.  I mean, he’s probably already got like a tent and stuff.”

“Thanks Stacy.”  The words came out like teeth pulled from a dentist, and Angela couldn’t expand on the sentence anymore than that.  Even thanking Stacy had taken a vast amount of effort and Angela had no intention of dwelling on that particular statement.  Instead the girl paced around her seated companion, eager to continue on with their sojourn across the uncharted island.  Stacy remained completely oblivious to the situation, sitting and smiling up at Angela as she paced around her.  In Stacy’s mind she was doing Angela a great favor by staying close, and she knew that this would make them even closer as friends.

“Oh no problem!”  Stacy’s smile widened as she nodded to Angela agreeably, still unable to notice the visible scorn on her would-be friend’s face.  “I guess we should be getting some food for ourselves.  I think I’m going to get really hungry soon, and I bet there aren’t any good restaurants on this island!”  The silence following the statement caused Angela to worry that Stacy might have indeed been stupid enough to believe there could be a restaurant on an island like this.  An eventual giggle snapped Angela back into reality and she realized that her companion was not quite as stupid as she had thought she was.  That still meant Angela thought Stacy far from an intelligent girl.

“Yeah.  We’ll probably have to go check out deeper on the island.  Maybe we’ll find someone to help us, or at least find some food.”

Stacy nodded agreeably, her face still maintaining a radiant smile in spite of the dire nature of their situation.  Without any food or viable drinking water, the two would likely starve in the next few days; but here was Stacy Decker, oblivious to the entire situation.  Angela despised the popular girl for just how perky she was in face of such a terrible catastrophe.  It was almost as if Stacy was glad to be paired with Angela, it meant the two of them could spend time together in a forced environment.  Angela’s thought was right; Stacy was indeed enjoying her time being paired with her typically surly and quiet classmate.

“Oh yeah!  And then we’ll find your brother, and then we’ll find our friends, and then we’ll find our teachers and get rescued and go home!”  The statement came out as if it were more of a cheer than an actual phrase.  Angela’s face turned red and she scowled at Stacy for a quick moment before collecting herself.  Even the moment to calm her was not enough to stop Angela from seizing the opportunity to take down Stacy.  Unlike other people who would have been able to stop themselves, Angela went on the offensive after such an obviously uninformed and overly optimistic statement.

“Stacy, they’re probably all dead!  Don’t you get it; we’re likely the only two people who survived the storm.”  Angela could see the color departing Stacy’s face as she pounded the facts into the popular girl’s mind.  Most people would have felt some pity for Stacy; like hitting a cute animal when it misbehaved and stopping after the first strike.  Angela believed in tough love.  “If anything we’re going to have to fend for ourselves, so you better start making yourself useful around here.  I don’t know what you’ll be good for, but hopefully you know how to start a fire, cook food in the woods, and maybe even construct some shelter!  Well… do you?”

“I ummm…  no.”  Stacy’s simple reply gave continued insight into the lack of depth to her character.  Angela now crossed her arms disapprovingly over her chest; as though she were angry at a young child.  “I can maybe learn though?”  Stacy mocked a smile that immediately fell apart as Angela’s penetrating eyes continued to stare down at her in sheer contempt.  Even if Angela had known of Stacy’s admiration for her, she would have remained firm in this conviction.  Tough love was the only way to go with someone as spoiled and clueless as Stacy Decker.

“Whatever.”  Angela said as she turned and continued to walk onwards.  For the first time since their trek Stacy remained seated, not immediately jumping up to follow after Angela as she strode off into the deeper recesses of the uncharted island.  Instead Stacy sat and had a rare moment of contemplation, unsure what to do with herself after the scolding she had received from her trusted friend.  In Stacy’s mind she knew that Angela was right, and that she would have to adapt to this harsh place.  Stacy would adapt.  She would make herself better.  Then Angela would be happy with her, and then they could keep being friends.  Stacy promised herself that she would make this happen.

›

Josh and Lily were the first to move after the two giants had arrived overhead.  The ample rear end of who they all recognized as Stacy Decker, separated Josh, Lily and Doug from Martha, and for a few minutes they were unsure if the poor girl had been crushed when Stacy had sat down.  None of the comparatively tiny people risked yelling up to the enormous girl for fear that she might move and accidently crush them.  Josh had taken hold of the now shaking Lily and directed her in a wide circle around Stacy’s rear, trying to reach the other side in hopes of finding Martha.  Doug remained transfixed by Stacy, though strangely unafraid; his body perfectly calm and still.

When Martha emerged from the nearby brush and waved at the two of them in a shocked slack jaw fashion, the immediate sense of urgency was slightly lowered.  Slightly.  There was still the issue of the colossal girl who had nearly sat on them as though they were bugs intruding on a picnic ground.  None of the present students had any association with Stacy, aside from knowing that she was the most popular kid in school.  They most certainly had no reason for knowing how she had suddenly attained such a massive size since their last encounter.  Josh and Martha were able to deduce that the two had no idea of their new size; a bad omen for those below.  The two had also pieced together the conversation between Angela and Stacy, able to understand the contempt Angela had for Stacy when even the now goddess-like girl could not.

In a low sighing voice, almost the perfect volume for the assembled tiny group below, Stacy Decker spoke.  “Don’t worry Ange, I’ll prove myself to you.  Then we really can be best friends!”  With that, Stacy stood up to her full stature, casting a humbling shadow on the four below.  Adjusting her bust slightly, only adding to the embarrassment of the group, Stacy put on a perky smile and began to walk away.  The assembled survivors didn’t speak a word until Stacy was far away and the tremors that each of her steps brought had become a low rumble.  Astonishingly it was Lily who broke the silence with a simple statement.

“How did she get so big?”

“How did she get so stupid?”  Martha replied.

---

Tristan and Laine had penetrated deep into the forested portion of the island before the sun had set.  Taking up separate shifts of watch overnight, the two slept quite listlessly, occasionally interrupted by low rumblings of the ground.  Both were sure that giants were present, but none dared trek into the forest in the dead of night to search for them.  Instead the two slept as best they could before a new dawn came.  With this new day, the two planned on travelling even deeper into the island in hopes of finding other survivors such as themselves or possibly finding Angela and Stacy.

The duo were now pushing their way through thick brush as they heard sounds coming from nearby.  Tristan silenced his female friend from speaking with a quick hand gesture.  Both were sure that this sound was not coming from any kind of giant, but instead something on their own scale.  Silently tiptoeing ahead, Tristan pushed even further into the foliage, pausing for a moment as he noticed something.  Laine was impatient to see the sight, but she remained quiet for several seconds until Tristan finally gave her the go ahead to come forward and look ahead at what he had seen.  Laine’s face contorted as she took in the sights before her.

Laid out in front of the two teens was a village.  What appeared to be tribal huts dotted the clearing ahead, though neither of the two could make out the entire scope of the village.  Men and women matching the size of Laine and Tristan walked around the grounds of the village; dark tanned skin people, many of them carrying crude pots or sheets of cloth and silk.  Judging from what they could see, the village easily numbered in the hundreds in terms of population.  Now that the two knew that this island had inhabitants, the repercussions of this startling discovery sank in.  They pulled back from the trees and quietly whispered to one another.

“We should go back and let the others at the beach know.”  Laine spoke as quietly as possible, coming very close to Tristan.  The geekish boy took in Laine’s suggestion and thought it over slowly in his head.  Laine deeply desired to return to the camp, not sure how these strange people would react to newcomers.  Tristan’s face belied his answer far before his lips or mouth moved.

“No.  We have to keep looking.  For all we know these people don’t pose any threat.  Maybe we should warn them about Angela and Stacy, they might not know what’s happening with all the tremors.”  Tristan said calmly, trying to emphasize his own desire to keep on task and try to get the attention of the two giants.  In actuality Tristan only cared about warning his sister as to her special predicament, but he didn’t want Laine to catch on to his sibling worry.  The words floated in the air for a few more seconds as Laine ingested them and gave a silent but knowing nod.

“Ok.  Then what do we do now?”

Tristan smiled at the response, glad that Laine was willing to continue on this journey with him.  “Well, let’s circle around this village and see what information we can get about them.  Maybe if we can communicate with them, they might know which direction Angela went.  Or even maybe Stacy.”  The teen caught himself following his phrase, being sure to follow it up with a quick addendum about Stacy Decker.  Laine seemed to concur with him and the two began to fan out, moving along the outer edges of the forest surrounding the village.

The additional time spent inspecting the village did not reveal much more information to the two teens.  From their distance they could never hear any phrases being spoken, so they had no idea the language that these people used.  It seemed the village had a well in the center that supplied them with clean water, and various fruits and vegetables were being carried around by loaded down women.  A single hut hung the carcasses of several animals out front, large slabs of meat clearly available for purchase or trade.  It had the feeling of a tropical village, with most of its citizens being dressed in long light dresses, or in the case of many males; simply going without a shirt.  Whoever these people were, they had been on the island for some time and had made a decent living of it.  Laine and Tristan made no effort to disturb the natural peace of the area, only moving around slowly to gather what information they could.

›

Stacy Decker had always moved at a slower pace than Angela.  This was partially in fact because Angela was motivated by the desire to get as far away from Stacy as possible.  Now Stacy had lost Angela, unsure where her friend had gone off to following their brief tiff when Stacy went to rest.  Too oblivious to be scared, Stacy had trotted on through the night, and now was searching desperately for her friend, hoping to find Angela at the next turn, but never quite reaching her.  Instead, Stacy was on her own for the first time since arriving on the island.  Before fear or hunger entered her mind, Stacy felt the pangs of boredom reach up and give her a sound slap.  Following her friend’s supposed footsteps had been a boring endeavor and Stacy had never been one to be uninterested.

Sitting down in an open clearing, Stacy Decker spent a few minutes to catch her breath.  Despite being far from out of shape, Stacy found she could not keep up with the long hikes that her companion had set, and she needed to rest from time to time.  Her brief bit of respite from sitting was a welcome one to the typically oblivious woman.  Stacy had spent several hours trailing Angela, and now she feared that the trail had gone cold.  Instead of crying, or giving up hope of finding her friend, Stacy simply remained seated and enjoyed the brief moment of relaxation.  That’s when Stacy’s head slowly looked around.  Had she kept her regular routine of being oblivious, things may have gone quite differently.  Instead, Stacy Decker’s face went alight for the briefest of moments as she noticed the strangest thing in the distance.

“Oh.  My.  God.”  Those three words were heard by hundreds, as the miniature village spread before Stacy gazed up at her.  The silence that followed was deafening for both sides, and it was eventually broken when Stacy’s face turned into a smile; a veritable second sun for the tiny citizens below.  “No way!  This is totally not happening”  The words rolled off her tongue as Stacy adjusted herself so she lay on her side, inspecting the village as close as she could without touching anything.

Her face was stuck in the ‘smile position’ and Stacy couldn’t move it even if she was aware of it.  The sight before the girl was one of the coolest things she had ever seen; miniature huts with miniature people all around.  Others may have doubted the veracity of the miniature city, but Stacy’s mind didn’t even understand the meaning of ‘veracity’ and she believed everything her eyes showed her.  This little village; despite how fantastic it was, was something entirely real to Stacy and it only took her a few seconds to accept it as a fact.

“Wow… hi little people.”  Along with her simple introduction, Stacy gave the entire village an enthusiastic wave.  The radiant being seen by the people, dressed in attire fitting of any goddess of legend had spoken to them.  It was not every day that a goddess swooped down and introduced herself to a village, but in this case she had done so.  Little did the people know this was no goddess, but instead Stacy Decker.  Stacy continued to smile as her eyes rolled quickly over every little bit of the village, noticing all the tiny people below, and the associated huts.  If there was a word that Stacy’s mind used to describe the entire scene; it could be easily summed up as ‘cute’.

As the people below gathered, Stacy watched some move around frantically as though unsure what to do since her arrival.  Other people seemingly kneeled at her, though the purpose of that was lost to the dense mind of Stacy Decker.  The first real group to catch her eye was two of the tinies that had climbed up a nearby hut and were frantically waving at her.  Stacy could tell when she was the center of attention, and she hated when people tried to take her precious time away.  The little people on the top of the tent were like the people at school who did outrageous stunts to get her attention, and though Stacy loved it, she never really gave them any credit for their work.

“Awww, you’re so cute.  I see you there.”  Stacy smiled and waved at the two little attention getters before switching back to looking over the assembled tiny crowd.

›

Tristan could not believe this.  Of all the people to come to this village, it had to be Stacy Decker.  Without the nearby rationale of his sister, Stacy had dumbly gazed over the village like it was some kind of amusement park.  Laine and Tristan had made a mad dash into the village during the confusion of her arrival and hastily climbed a nearby hut in hopes of getting the girl’s attention.  For all of their effort, the pair only gained Stacy’s attention for the briefest of seconds during which she casually called them ‘cute’ and then went back to ogling the rest of the comparatively small village.  Tristan was infuriated.

“She looked right fucking at us!”  His anger could barely be contained, and his words were barely audible over the thunderous giggles of Stacy as she casually checked over the entire village.  Laine tried to comfort her friend by putting her arm on his shoulder, but instead Tristan shrugged her off and made his way to the edge of the tent.  Sliding off the two came down to the ground, noticing that none of the villagers paid them any heed; instead they seemed quite transfixed on the enormous form of Stacy that hung over them like a terrible cloud.  Another giggle followed as Stacy picked up a nearby hut and examined it, looking at the dwelling as though it were some kind of toy.

“Look Tristan, maybe we’re thinking about this the wrong way.  I don’t think now’s a good time to get her attention.  With all these people around, there’s no way she’ll notice us.”  Laine’s words came through loud and clear as Stacy’s giggles lowered in strength; the girl now transfixed by the hut she rolled back and forth in her hand.  “She could probably kill us without even noticing it…”  Laine’s follow-up ended abruptly as she noticed Tristan grabbing something off a nearby hut.  A long wooden spear tipped with a stone head, likely used by the primitives of the village for hunting was now being weighed in each of Tristan’s arms.

“Tristan… what are you doing?”

The boy didn’t even respond to Laine as he turned and store up at the massive form of Stacy Decker, who continued to stare down, oblivious to their presence.  Tristan’s anger reached a boiling point at that moment and the boy charged forward with all the strength his legs could give him.  Laine vainly reached out to try and stop him, but Tristan was too fast, his feet pounding forward at record speeds.  As the boy charged the titaness, Stacy began to stand up, her full shadow descending on the lone village.  Tristan remained undeterred and continued his pace until he came right up to Stacy Decker’s toes.  With a quick thrust the boy pushed the spear into her toe.  There was no effect.  The crude weapon could not penetrate the thick hide that covered Stacy’s body now, instead it was as harmless as a worn down toothpick.

“NO!”  Tristan shouted furiously as he raised his spear up and struck again and again.  Each impact gave Stacy a brief tickle, and eventually the giant girl looked down at the lone tiny man at her feet.  Still not realizing it to be someone she knew, Stacy wiggled her toes playfully, hoping to scare the intruder away from her.  Tristan instead responded with more anger, and as Stacy’s toes curled, the spear made a terrible gash along the crimson red paint of her toenails; a blemish on the otherwise perfect paint job.  Stacy noticed this imperfection immediately and her own personal rage came to the forefront.

“You little shit!”  Stacy yelped out as she hunched down to inspect the insect that had dared ruin her otherwise perfect toes.  Laine rushed up just as Stacy’s hand descended upon Tristan, she had almost made it when the back of Stacy’s hand casually brushed her aside and snatched up Tristan Riverton.  Bringing him up to eye level Stacy hadn’t even looked at the tiny man in the palm of her hand before speaking.  “You messed with the wrong girl bug boy!”

Tristan yelled and shouted, hopping in place trying to get her attention.  Even Stacy was not so oblivious as to miss what was staring her dead in the eyes.  She looked at Tristan with wide eyes followed by an even wider smile.  Once again the logic of the situation was lost on Stacy, and she immediately accepted the person in her hand as Tristan Riverton.  There was no doubt in her mind, that even though he was the size of a small toy, Tristan now stood on her hand trying to get her attention.

“Tristan!?  Oh my god!”  Stacy’s shout was like thunder to the tiny teenager and he covered his ears soon after she spoke.  Stacy didn’t take notice to Tristan’s problems and continued to speak though her voice naturally lowered as she continued.  “Oh wow, you’re all like tiny and stuff!  What happened to you little guy?”  Tristan began to shout a flurry of replies but Stacy could barely hear his small voice from where she held him.  Growing quickly bored of his chirping, Stacy moved her hand by her ear and issued a command.  “Try talking now.”

“Stacy!  I don’t know what happened, we all came to the island like this.  You and Angela are the only two that are… umm… giants.”  Tristan’s awkward end trailed off and Stacy could barely hear it even though Tristan was right by her ear.  Not wanting to hear more, the giant moved Tristan back in front of her looking down at him as he waved and shouted once more from the palm of her hand.  Stacy rarely enjoyed seeing other people in compromising positions; the social ladder of high school was a dangerous place and she knew not to piss off the wrong people, but she couldn’t help but find tiny Tristan Riverton the most adorable thing she had ever seen.

“Ok little guy, let’s go find your sister!”  Stacy said triumphantly, beginning to encase her hand around Tristan to more easily hold him.  Tristan resisted and clearly needed to tell Stacy something else.  Stacy was already eager to find Angela, but figured she could give the cute little guy in her hand a brief moment to tell her what he had to say.  Moving her hand once more by her ear Stacy spoke again, this time in a far more soft and gentle tone.  “Go ahead little guy…”

“There’s another survivor down there in the village!  It’s Laine Duncan, we need to bring her to!”

›

The three had continued on for about thirty minutes.  Stacy had casually held her two tiny classmates in the palm of her hand.  She enjoyed the way they looked as they held onto each other for support in the midst of her careless walking.  Most of the words the two had spoken were lost to Stacy, instead she was just happy to know that there were more people on the island; the fact that she was apparently a giant didn’t factor into it.  Soon enough she would find Angela, bring her brother back to her, and the two of them would finally be cemented as best friends.

To Tristan and Laine, the entire journey had been embarrassing.  Held in the hands of the stupidest person they knew; Stacy had casually held them on level with her chest for most of the journey, making the two of them feel especially small.  Even speaking to Stacy had been a chore, requiring the loudest yells they could must to get even the simplest of facts across to the giantess.  Often Stacy would not understand a word that they spoke and the entire phrase would need to be yelled again.  It was straining to both Laine and Tristan, but Stacy seemed to be enjoying herself immensely; a fact that aggravated the two even more.

As they got further from the village, Tristan was explaining the campsite to Stacy who now held him in a separate arm right up to her ear.  He went on explaining how Mr. Wall and Laine had saved his life, and he spent the first several hours helping out by moving items around the camp.  Stacy was happy just to hear another person talk to her, and even though it wasn’t Angela, her brother was a decent substitution.  Making the best of the conversation they were having, Stacy eventually asked the dire question.

“So what did Mr. Wall say when you went to come after us?”  Stacy’s question was nice and direct with no ill will intended.  The fact that Mr. Wall had been crushed under her foot was a fact Tristan had cleverly avoided up until this point, but now was left with few options.  Trying to look over Stacy’s shoulder at Laine, Tristan could not make out his friend who was desperately trying to give him signals to shut up.  Stacy kept smiling as she walked on, and Tristan’s sense of duty and logic eventually got the better of him.

“He ummm… died.  He got crushed when you went after Angela.”

Stacy stopped dead in her stride.

Gears started moving within the minds of all those present, though none more quickly than Stacy’s.  The usually laid back and dense girl took quite a shock from this revelation, and as she absorbed it, Stacy lowered both her hands to just above her waist.  The two looked up empathetically at Stacy who couldn’t even make their faces out from her vantage point.  Instead Stacy’s mind was already working up a storm, her first action of changing direction went unnoticed by both Laine and Tristan.  No conversations occurred for the next half hour as Tristan and Laine tried to yell up and get Stacy’s attention.  Stacy simply held the two like small animals in her hands.

After a second half hour passed, the two small students could see the village they had just departed from.  Unsure of what was going on, they could barely say a word as Stacy went down on her knees and casually picked up a hut in one hand.  Without even looking at the two in her remaining hand, Stacy gently slid them off onto the ground where the hut had once stood.  The two looked up in shock and fear as a shadow fell over them and the hut came crashing down around them, surrounding them like a mock jail.  What came next was Stacy’s voice, a voice that now had a renewed sense of confidence.

“Keep them in there until I say otherwise.”  Tristan and Laine looked at each other worryingly as two of the primitive villagers moved to the door of their new prison.

---

Angela Riverton was starting to get worried.  She had increased her pace significantly since berating Stacy, and though she had not expected to lose the girl, it had somehow happened.  Angela was alone.  The silence was a gift to her ears, and the lack of conversation with blonde Stacy was icing on the cake.  Angela was indeed alone, but for the most part she enjoyed every minute of it.  She enjoyed this silence for several hours before it all came tumbling down in one cataclysmic moment.

“Ange!”  The voice came like an arrow darting through the air and impaling Angela in the heart.  Had it not been such a shock and disappointment, Angela might have noticed the change in Stacy Decker’s voice.  Gone was any sense of trepidation when speaking with Angela, previously Stacy had always been slightly nervous in the presence of her supposed friend, but now any hint of that emotion was gone.  While Angela was busy composing herself to once again deal with Stacy, the beautiful blonde was proudly striding forward to meet her friend.  She now knew something Angela would have never conceived.

“Hello Stacy.”  Angela’s voice was dry and emotionless.  There was no questioning where the girl had gone off to, or thanks for seeing her again; only a simple salutation.  Stacy’s responsive smile belied her own obliviousness to the situation.  Stacy was clearly thrilled to see her friend, and looked as though she had something important to tell her.  Angela shrugged slightly without giving away her own interest in the girl’s obvious need to speak.  “Alright Stacy, what is it?”

“Oh you’ll never believe it!  It’s like the coolest thing I have ever seen!  I know you’ll love to come and take a look at it.”  Stacy almost ran out of breath as she spoke.  Angela continued to stand unimpressed, taking a few moments to put her now dry black tank top back on.  Despite her normal apathy to anything Stacy Decker had to say, Angela found herself mildly interested following Stacy’s statement.  Perhaps it had to do with the sheer enthusiasm that Stacy Decker put into the composition of it, or the fact that she genuinely seemed to care about Angela seeing whatever this thing was.  Despite the numerous tiny screams in her mind telling her ‘no’, Angela indulged her semi-friend.

“Ok… what is it?”

Stacy beamed with excitement and grabbed Angela’s arm, pulling her back the way she had come from.  Angela resisted for the briefest of moments before going partially limp and following Stacy’s brisk pace.  It was obvious that this atypical popular girl had something of the utmost importance to show her.  Angela could only guess what it would be.  Perhaps she had met some cute fuzzy animal, or perhaps Stacy had found a rock formation that looked like a celebrity.  In any case, Angela was far from prepared for the sight she was about to see.

›

Tristan and Laine had paced around the hut angrily since Stacy had deposited them within.  The guards posted at the entrance along with the reinforced walls had made escape all but impossible.  The two were stuck in their new cage, and they both had difficulties coming to terms with it.  Tristan was sitting on a crude wooden chair looking towards the doorway and debating his few escape options.  Laine paced in circles around the room expounding her many thoughts; each sentence she spoke was like a missile, and since there were few targets within her range, Tristan had the honor of receiving the brunt of the attacks.

“You just had to tell her about the teachers, didn’t you!?”  Laine said in a voice that teemed with both anger and sarcasm in healthy doses.  Tristan rolled his eyes for what seemed to be the hundredth time since arriving in the hut.  He had debated the entire affair with Laine twice now, trying to explain that he was just telling the truth.  “Just telling the truth were you?”  Laine continued on, answering Tristan’s own mental thoughts.  The girl was not truly angry at him, but he was the only means to vent her frustration, so he let her continue.  “Well sometimes the truth isn’t the smart thing to say Tristan!  Now look at where we are.”

Continuing to keep his gaze on the guards outside, Tristan debated his chances of overpowering or evading the men.  Based on their physical prowess, the mild mannered geek was no match for them in any capacity.  Both the guards remained quietly at the door, unresponsive to Laine’s shouts, each of them holding firmly onto a long wooden spear similar in style to the one Tristan had used to get Stacy’s attention.  Tristan knew there would be a way to escape, eventually his caretakers would lower their guard and he would make his grand escape to continue looking for Angela.  For now, Tristan could only sit and watch; eyeing any chance he had to get out of the hut he had been so carelessly dropped into.  So Tristan waited, and listened to the never ending speeches of Laine.

“God only knows what that giant bimbo is doing out there!  Christ, she’s probably on her way to the beach right now to step on any other witnesses!”

Tristan kept his gaze on the unmoving guards.  “I don’t think so.  She didn’t step on us after all.”  The words came out of the boy’s mouth without his eyes ever moving.  Laine noticed this and her eyes doubled in size as her anger bubbled.  The girl felt completely helpless in this place, and was afraid of what would come next.  Tristan’s total calmness in light of the situation was both refreshing and enraging to her, and Laine felt compelled to continue her own ranting.

“Fine then!  Maybe she went to collect them, like she did us!  Maybe she plans on keeping us all in this ridiculous village like her little dolls!”  Laine spurted off words with her mouth barely able to keep up.  Tristan had long since stopped paying attention to this random chain of thought from Laine, and intensified his own assessment of their incarceration.  “Just think of it Tristan, we could be her new display!  Come see Stacy Decker and her toy town; open nine to five, Monday through Friday!”  The speed and voracity of Laine’s shouts had even gained the briefest attention of the guards and Tristan knew it was time to try and calm his friend.

“We’ll get out of here Laine.  Stacy will come to her senses.”  Tristan went so far as to change his gaze so he looked at the girl.  The simple act of being looked at restored much confidence to Laine, and her incensed shouting diminished to a small whimper as her eyes looked down like an animal that had misbehaved.  Tristan went on to further humble the girl with another statement.  “Besides, Angela will find this place soon enough.  Then everything will be alright.  We don’t have anything to worry about.”

Something in Tristan’s sentence set Laine off.  Her face turned red, and she tore a path of rage until she stopped right in front of calm Tristan.  “God damnit!  Your sister isn’t going to be some fucking miracle worker Tristan!  Stacy’s probably got her on the other side of this damn island by now.  You know who’s going to get us out of this?  Us!”  Laine’s words didn’t have the cut she had intended and Tristan kept up his casual look.  He acknowledged Laine by raising his own eyes up to meet hers, though his face remained looking forward.  “God Tristan!  I mean it, I really do!  No help is coming.”

Tristan’s eyes returned to scanning over the guards, going back to his routine of casually ignoring Laine as she went back into rant mode.  The cycle had repeated for its third time, and Tristan knew there was no getting out of it.  As he thought of the cyclical nature of his imprisonment, Tristan’s eyes noticed something in the distance.  The forest beyond the entryway began to shake.  It was barely noticeable at first, but it kept increasing until the forest was rustling with activity.  By the time his brain had processed this information, Tristan could feel the slight tremors.  Laine noticed them soon after, and the two shot each other a quick glance of ‘truce’ and tried to peer out the doorway, though they could see nothing with the guards blocking the way.  Shortly thereafter the tremors intensified into an all too familiar feeling for the two.  Giants were about.

›

With Stacy standing proudly behind her, Angela Riverton could barely express herself as she looked down at the miniscule village.  As has been expressed before in the annals of this story, there was indeed a village dotted with huts and toy sized inhabitants.  As they had once before, the people now looked up as a new goddess presided over their humble little village.  The goddess of old stood proudly behind her, watching with anticipation as her divine equal took in what she saw.  Stacy Decker didn’t really think of it in those terms, but for purposes of this story of ours, the description stands.

“Woah.”  Angela’s exasperated voice washed over the village as she descended on hands and knees to inspect it.  Stacy took the opportunity to cast the guards in front of Tristan’s hut a cold glare, to which they immediately responded by closing their formation to cover the door.  A sweet smile followed as Stacy’s gaze returned to Angela who looked down over the kingdom at their feet.  There was a sense of pride in Stacy as she saw her friend’s keen interest in the village and its people.  Though she really had nothing to do with it, Stacy had found the city, and led Angela here, so in essence it was her discovery.  So in her mind, Stacy considered everything that was happening of her design, and the exhilaration her friend went through was all thanks to her.

“Stacy, do you have any idea what this is?”  Angela’s voice trailed off slightly and she regained full posture and looked back down at the city from her full vantage.  As though on cue, Stacy ducked down on her knees excitedly looked over all the small buildings and people before her.  Angela waited a moment before hearing no response, instead looking down at her friend with whom she had switched positions.  Now Stacy gazed with keen interest at the small people below, her true intentions unknown.  Angela worriedly took a step forward reaching to place her hand on Stacy’s shoulder.  The girl once again reacted to this simple act and spoke.

“I know Ange.  It’s like a city full of toys!”

Jutting her finger out like a rampant projectile Stacy poked one of the small huts.  She was sure not to poke the one Tristan and Laine were trapped in, but one nearby.  The result was instantaneous; as the toy like hut collapsed under the pressure, Angela yanked Stacy back, almost thrusting her away from the village.  Angela could see the look of enjoyment on Stacy’s face as she pulled the girl away from the now destroyed hut, not that she had any inkling of the girl’s true intentions.  As Stacy fell flat on her butt, Angela looked forward to inspect the damage, and saw the silent awe of the people below.  In a moment of shock and realization, Angela recoiled as Stacy stood back up.

“Oh my…  Stacy I think these people think we’re some kind of deities!”

“Deia whata?”  Stacy’s response for the first time in a long while didn’t even faze Angela who continued to look down at the people below.  Transfixed by their awe of her, Angela saw these people as small unaware beings who didn’t realize that she was just like them.  Stacy still pondered over the meaning of ‘deity’ even though she knew the people below thought she was awesome.  Instead Stacy attributed this to the same reason she was popular in high school; her well maintained looks, amusing commentary, and stunning attitude.  Stacy Decker was entirely aloof to the true power she had over these people, instead fixated only on the power her size might give her.

“I think these people might think we’re some kind of gods!”

“Oh cool!”  Stacy explained before starting to hunch back down; once again to inspect the village.  Angela’s arm preemptively pulled the girl back once more, keeping Stacy from inflicting any further damage on the unsuspecting village below.  “Awww, Ange.  Come on, I just wanna take a closer look at the little guys!  Don’t you want to?”  Stacy knowingly goaded Angela into a response, and the one she received was exactly what she had anticipated.  If Stacy was good with one thing, it was knowing people; high school popularity basically revolved around catering to it.

“No.  Don’t you understand, if these people think we’re gods then we’ve already interfered with their culture.”  The sentence was dry, as Angela’s mind still wrapped itself around the conundrum that literally lay sprawled at her feet.  The damage wrought by Stacy was an already apparent example of the power she now had over these small people, and it was certainly power she would need to keep in check.  Seeing Stacy’s pleading eyes look at her, as though expecting some kind of response, Angela could only reply with silence.  This entire situation was so unreal to her, and yet so natural.  Angela knew she would need to take stock of the situation and ‘handle’ Stacy’s attitude.

“But Ange…  you just said we’re like gods!  Why not have a little bit of fun!”

Angela could feel the frustration in Stacy’s voice as well as the mild amount of whining, but she kept her ground.  She approached Stacy and whispered softly in her peer’s ear.  “No Stacy.  We have to keep away from these people.  I mean, we’ve already affected their normal development, so I guess it’s ok to pretend to be their gods.  I mean, they might be able to help us with food and water.”

“But Ange…”  Stacy’s face faltered, and Angela knew she had won.  Whatever peer pressure powers she had over Stacy Decker had won through, and she knew the girl could be trusted not to madly destroy the little village.  Soon thereafter Angela’s thoughts turned back to finding her brother and the other survivors.  This was indeed the discovery of a lifetime, but Angela needed to be sure there wasn’t anyone else on this island who needed her help.  After all, it was unlikely these tiny people would be able to help anyone of her size, so clearly she would be needed if someone was still in danger.  Thinking of this, Angela finally concocted a brief plan in her mind.

“Listen Stacy, there could still be people out there.  I’ve got to go looking for them.  You’re umm…  good with people, so why don’t you stay here and try to get some supplies from the villagers.  Maybe get them to send you to somewhere with clean drinking water?”  The words flew out of Angela’s lips as they came into her mind.  Now the girl finally had a plan, and a working one at that.  Stacy could stay here with legitimate reason, and she could go off alone in search of the others.  It wasn’t perfect, but it fit the bill that Angela needed, and gave her the seclusion she desired.  Stacy’s face seemed to go alight with the prospect, and Angela knew she must be enthused by the possibility of dealing with the small villagers below.  It was probably Stacy’s dream to be lauded as a goddess, so here was her brief opportunity to enjoy it.

“One thing Ange.”  Stacy added nonchalantly, noticing the eyebrow of her compatriot raise slightly as she spoke.  Most of the time, Stacy didn’t have anything intelligent to add, so perhaps this was indeed a changed woman.  “Well, we already looked at the beach, so it’s probably best to head in the opposite direction right?”  Angela shook her head in a mocking manner, as though she were disappointed in Stacy’s remark.  Stacy began to internally panic, hoping that Angela would not return to the beach, where the other survivors remained.

“No stupid.  Of course I’m not going back to the beach.  We already checked that out?  Do I look brainless to you?”  Stacy Decker’s only response to Angela’s comment was a quick and unexpected hug.  Angela was obviously disturbed by the act, but eventually let Stacy have her moment.  The two had been through a lot, and this experience was sure to change them both, so Angela would let Stacy have this quaint little hug.  Stacy Decker knew full well what she was doing, and she had never anticipated how well her quickly constructed plan would work.

In the world below, Tristan’s jaw dropped as he watched the two embrace from the confines of his prison.

---

Things were starting to look up for Martha Porter and her merry little band.  After their first encounter with the giants of the island, Martha force marched the group for hours without rest.  No one dared to complain about the situation and besides their brief discussion immediately following the giant’s appearance; no one dared talk about what they had seen.  Despite being the strangest and most outlandish thing they had seen, no one could muster the courage to talk about it.  For Martha Porter, Josh Chambers, Lily Isford and Doug Smith, the topic of roving giants was unofficially taboo.

Getting back to ‘things looking up’ for Martha’s group, things were indeed looking better once the group found a clean stream and associated fruits.  Though their stop was brief, all four of the hikers had filled themselves on clear refreshing water and tasty multi colored fruits.  Even Lily, who had become shut in since their encounter with Angela and Stacy was able to sit down with the group and share in their mutual meal.  The four sat around in a small circle eating and drinking; generally enjoying themselves on what would have otherwise been a picture perfect day.  Only when Josh noticing something in the corner of his eye, stood up and walked a few short steps from the group did the mood start to die out.  Soon enough the other three sauntered over and saw what Josh was looking at; a massive depression in the ground that was like looking at a smaller Grand Canyon.  The depression while beautiful on inspection was clearly the underside of a boot. 

The group continued walking making sure to not follow the path of footsteps.

It was sometime in the early morning, when the sun had just begun to shine that Martha made the next discovery.  Starting with the sound of animals, Martha motioned for her group to be silent; something out of an action movie she had seen, the kind where the team leader makes a series of hand motions telling everyone to ‘shut up’.  Everyone slowly backed off the path and into nearby greenery.  The sound grew louder and louder, until it seemed almost feet away.  Martha took charge and without even thinking she jumped out from her hiding place and into the main path.

Moving aside just in time, the horse and its rider stopped no more than a foot in front of Martha Porter.  To her credit, Martha barely flinched and instead looked with shocked eyes at the mysterious horse rider who gazed down at her in awe.  The man was somewhere in his early twenties with unkempt brown hair that had not been washed in days and garbed entirely in loose fitting brown leathers.  In truth the man looked like a peasant out of a fairy tale story, or a fantasy movie.  Martha was too shocked to speak, and her party members were no better at formulating any kind of coherent question.  As the horse paced in place, the rider finally broke the odd silence that filled the path.

“Greetings…  you... you look very different.”

Perhaps it was her own arrogance taking charge, but Martha was suddenly very quick to respond.  “And what exactly does that mean?”  Her voice cut like a knife, and despite any differences she may have had with the rider, her annoyance was clear.  The audio queue was enough for the rider to understand, and in a very strange fashion the man dropped his eyes from looking at Martha.  Continuing on her relentless offensive, Martha pursued the matter further, heedless of the situation around her.  “Well?  I asked you a question.”

“Well, you dress similarly to the goddess.  Forgive my insolence, I did not realize it at first…  but you must be angels!”  The audacious statement brought the rest of the merry band out from the bushes, and the rider soon locked eyes on all three of the newcomers.  Even Lily managed to clamber out of the foliage and stand beside Josh as they group finally met up in front of the horseman.  The shock was evident on the man’s eyes as he looked over the newly reassembled group in front of him.  Without heed, the nameless rider bowed his head in immediate respect as Martha and her group looked quizzically at one another.  “I did not think she would send her heralds to watch after us so soon!”

The following silence was deafening.  Martha eventually broke it.

“Oh you have got to be kidding!”

›

The name of the rider was William, William Kendrick to be precise.  Martha and her gang were able to gather this information as they followed the horse rider back to his home village.  The village from which William resided was called Delargo and apparently had no more than two hundred inhabitants living there.  The village was a fairly simple town made up of wooden buildings and using horse drawn carriages for most of their difficult labor.  The true shock came to the group when William seemed quite familiar with modern terms like ‘telephones’ or ‘computers’.  Indeed there was more to this quaint little village than met the eye, and William was more than willing to explain.

William’s grand-parents as well as several like-minded individuals decided to depart from known civilization and return to more basic means of living.  The group all got onboard a boat with the simplest of supplies and left for the island.  Though he had never left the island before, William had been educated on the intricacies of the real world, and through some soft spoken questioning, Martha was able to gather that the man was quite intelligent.  The group went silent when William tried to switch topics back to the Goddess that had come to visit the village of Delargo.  With no other reasoning, the villagers had immediately assumed the gigantic being overhead was something divine come to be with them after their long years of self-imposed exile.  It seemed like a fairy tale, but none of the group dared explain that the Goddess was one of their classmates.

Any attempt by Martha to get a description of the supposed Goddess was met with elaborate stories of divine halos and bright light.  While it certainly did not match the true ‘playful’ nature of the Goddess’ first visit, Martha was almost certain that the descriptions did not match Angela or Stacy; which meant there were possibly more giant classmates roaming the island not realizing fellow students were underfoot.  The thought of one of her peers ‘playing God’ was frightful enough, but the possibility they didn’t realize that their own classmates were below was more horrific than words could describe.  It never even entered Martha’s mind to ask more about this apparent Goddess and who she might be.  It certainly never crept into her mind to ask if it was her sister.

By the time conversation started to die down, the group finally came to a halt in an open clearing and all the assembled men and women took time to appreciate the beautiful tapestries of stars above them.  It was clear that the group would not reach Delargo before resting, so it was decided that the clearing was as good a spot as any to rest.  William attested to the safety of the clearing; stating he had rested in it on many nights all by himself.  Though the words did reassure the group, Martha decided to set up a watch rotation just in case any giants came roaming through the woods.  In most cases it would have been an unreasonable request, but in a place where giants did indeed roam the lands, one could not be too safe.  First on watch was Doug, since he had not really spoken or done much since the beginning of their journey, Martha figured it was a good opportunity to give the older man some responsibility and make him feel as though he were contributing to the group.

Once the campfire was set, Martha and William both set off to sleep almost immediately.  Josh and Lily sat silently and awkwardly on the opposite end of the fire watching as their two compatriots slept.  Off in the distance, Doug made long circles around the campfire, waiting for the group to fall asleep, and to have some personal time.  It took a few minutes of further awkward silence, but after she was sure the others were asleep, Lily softly spoke to Josh.

“So Josh… what do you think about all this?”  Lily’s words were quavering, a combination of both the cold and her own personal anxieties at the news they had heard today.  “I mean, it’s our own classmates who are suddenly so… so… so big!”  The depth of the word big took Lily some time to get forward, but eventually she was able to speak it from her own lips.

“Yes, it’s kind of hard to get over that.  I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m sure it’s happening for a reason.”  Josh once again reaffirmed his own faith to Lily and tried to calm her at the same time.  From Lily’s mesmerized look at Josh’s faithful sermon, he quickly realized that if he stopped she might once again fall into complete despair of their situation.  Just as speaking his thoughts gave him strength, Josh could only watch as his words gave Lily faith in their dismal situation.  “Really, I’m certain there’s a rational explanation for everything, and once we find it out everything will be better.  I doubt God would simply make someone like Stacy into a giant for his own amusement.  No I think there’s something more going on here than meets the eye, and whatever that is, it’s a test to see how we act.”

Lily continued to ingest the words that Josh spoke, but her mind was afire with her own counter thoughts and ideas.  Eventually one of her thoughts manifested to the point where she was able to speak it.  “So… do you think that whatever happened to Stacy was some kind of gift from God?”

The question caught Josh off guard; it was as direct as it was unintentionally harsh.  Josh didn’t have time to think over what was said and in a rash moment made an immediate response.  “Well, yes.  I believe many things are a gift from God, and it’s entirely possible that whatever change Stacy has undergone is such a gift.  We can only pray that she uses this newfound stature for good and not evil…”  Josh trailed off as he finished his immediate thought.  It was slightly more ‘gussied up’ then he could have made it, but the embellishment seemed to help Lily cope, and he could see the intent look in her eyes as she listened to the statement that spoke of power and God.

“But what’s good and what’s evil?”

Yet another question from Lily caught Josh flat-footed, but this time the question was merely a follow-up and he had a moment to think of a response before blindly trying to tackle the subject at hand.  “I would think that good would be using that… power if that’s the correct term; to help the smaller people.  Obviously if there are giants lurking around this island, the smaller populace would need protection.  I suppose a good use of that power would be to care for us smaller people.  I’m certain some independent people like Martha would not like the idea, but there’s really no other way; we need to come together on this island.”  Josh’s statement finished and the crackling fire picked up the end of it, continuing on in the silence that followed between Lily and him.

“What about evil?”  Lily responded.  The question was once again a very direct and to the point reply, but for some reason she felt it needed saying.

Josh soon found himself lost in the honest twinkle of Lily’s eyes as she looked at him once more for guidance and reassurance.  There was childishness in her face, and despite how impressionable she seemed to be, Josh did not have the heart to stop with his replies.  “Hmmm, evil would be abuse of that power.  Take for example the supposed Goddess of William’s village.  Obviously this person is not a Goddess, but instead simply a girl who’s decided to abuse her new position of power on this island.  One should not look at the gift of God in such a manner; instead one in her position should consider herself more of a messenger of God than anything else.  After all, look at angels; they are simply extensions of God’s will on earth.”

Another pause divided the conversation and Josh stopped to stare at Lily who sat open jawed as he finished speaking.  He figured somehow he had set some trigger off in her mind, and a flood of new thoughts was quickly opening up.  Despite the situation, Josh was thinking that Lily would make an excellent addition to his own bible studies group should the two of them ever escape this island.  The thought brought Josh a moment of happiness before he realized that Lily seemed to be waiting for some sort of continuation.  “Obviously we could all be considered…”

“Hey.”  Doug interrupted Josh midsentence as he appeared behind the two, his words low enough not to startle either, but to break Josh’s concentration and prevent him from finishing his speech.  “You two should really get some sleep.  Don’t forget Lily; you’re next up on watch duty.”  Both Josh and Lily looked at each other once and gave the other a quick smile before Josh turned to Doug and nodded.  “Thanks Doug.”

›

“Lily.”  Doug gave Lily a slight push, and within seconds her eyes opened and she looked up at him.  “Lily, it’s your turn to stand watch.”

Lily turned and stood up shortly thereafter, giving Doug a small innocent smile.  “Oh, I’m sorry about that Doug.  Don’t worry though; I’ll keep an eye out for anything.”  Her reply and smile made even Doug smile, and in response the meek man brought up a small cup which Lily looked at quizzically.  “What’s that?”

With a smile Doug thrust the cup forward; small droplets of the water inside splashing against Lily’s upper chest.  “Oh, I had some water saved from the last stream we passed.  I figured you might want some.”  Lily hesitantly took the cup, and slowly raised it to her mouth and began the process of taking large gulps from the crisp and clear liquid.  Within seconds the whole cup was gone and Lily gave her head a quick shake as the water worked its way through her system.  “Wow, that was fast.”

“Thanks Doug!”  With a quick hug, Lily looked around.  Now eager for her shift of watch over the group, Doug only nodded and proceeded to sit himself by the fire any lay down for some well deserved rest.  Lily watched for several minutes before she knew the man had fallen asleep, and then she began a nice walk around the wide clearing.  With the perfect weather that the night offered she felt better than ever before. 

An hour later when the stomach cramps began, Lily would not remember the night as being so perfect.

Embarrassment is only a word, the reality is much worse.  If anyone lived that terrible reality it was Tristan Riverton.  Not only had he and his newfound friend Laine been trapped together in a village filled with tiny savages, he was at the complete mercy of the one woman in his life that he hated most; but luckily she was too dumb to realize it.  Though it puzzled Tristan to no ends what Stacy’s motives were, he never had the opportunity to ask the titanic woman what her thoughts were, and despite numerous cries up as she watched him dragged out of his small hut, she heard nothing.  Now Tristan stood as upright and straight as he could, holding in his arms an object roughly equivalent to a basketball.  This was the moment where Tristan truly felt embarrassment in his situation.

Stacy on the other hand was having a moment of total enjoyment.  Burying her demented act of crushing a living being deep in her subconscious, the stunning woman now took the opportunity to truly enjoy her new position in life.  Still garbed in two pieces of form fitting white cloth, Stacy lay back under the rising sun; surrounded on one side by the amassed villagers who gazed up at her in awe.  Stacy was still oblivious to her own godhood, and only seemed to comprehend that she could easily boss these people around; much like she could boss around younger students at her school.  In truth, the people that surrounded Stacy were of little concern in her mind.  Instead Stacy Decker looked down the length of her spread body, and focused on the tiny form of Tristan precariously balancing himself on her ankle while holding some sort of melon.

“Come on Tristan…”

Stretching while laid back, Stacy fully expected Tristan to topple over, but the diminutive man steadied himself immediately and even dared to take a step forward.  With an inconceivable amount of willpower; Tristan somehow found a way to start the long trek across Stacy’s bare legs.  Much to his detriment, Tristan found Stacy’s skin soft; nearly polished as he walked across its fine surface.  Each step taken brought with it the dangers of a slip which would spell disaster for him and his cargo should he fall off the side to the ground below.  Though it wouldn’t kill him, the fall would likely hurt quite a bit, not to mention the inevitable taunting he would receive from Stacy who had setup this elaborate ‘game’.

Continuing to find herself in a moment of complete ecstasy; Stacy simply watched tiny Tristan continue his determined trek across her form.  She never really considered her actions malicious; instead she realized how angry Tristan was at her, and she hoped this humbled him a little bit.  Once he knew who was in charge and she had come up with a good reason for crushing Mr. Wall, Stacy figured she could reunite him with his lost sister and all would be well again.  For her plan to work though, Stacy knew that Tristan needed to learn his place, and she used the one tactic she had learned over and over in high school; total embarrassment.

Step by step, Tristan found his way closer to Stacy’s hips and the light fabric that covered them.  The thickness of the girl’s thighs provided a relative rest for Tristan, but the scorching sun that beamed down on him was not assisting.  For a moment he considered taking a brief rest on the thigh, but when he put the words of the thought together in his mind, he realized the embarrassment that situation would bring with it and thus he continued on.  Looking up, Tristan met Stacy’s gaze for the briefest of moments; her face like a second sun emerging behind two mountains capped with white fabric.  Though he could only see the upper portion of her face from behind her ample chest, it was enough to see just how much she was enjoying this entire affair.  There was genuine amusement in those eyes and Tristan knew it, and it was for that reason he looked away right away.

Within mere steps of the Stacy’s white hip sheet, a shadow passed over Tristan.  Looking back and up, it took the boy a few moments to realize that Stacy’s hand was coming right for him.  There was no time to react, Tristan barely able to brace himself to the pickup he was about to endure, but no fingers encircled him; instead they simply brushed right past him.  As the smooth skin brushed him aside, Tristan lost grip of the melon and it softly bounced against the soft fabric in front of him, and then began to roll its way down the many folds until nestling itself down one of the depressions of the folds.  Trailing past, Stacy’s hand stopped short of her chest before softly returning to her side.  It was a simple sweep of her whole body done in one slow sensuous motion; all with the intent of making Tristan’s life difficult.

When the proverbial smoke cleared, both Tristan and Stacy came to the same realization at the same time.  To Tristan it was a horrific prospect, but to Stacy it was another feeling entirely and one she could vocalize without delay.  “Well… come on Tristan, I’m waiting.”  The words struck like a gauntlet across the face.  Tristan knew that by moving to pick up the lost fruit he would have to take a side detour overtop of Stacy’s womanhood.  Luckily it was well covered by the fabric, but the simple thought of it was too embarrassing to endure.  Red in the face Tristan was ready to finally tell the giant bitch off, but something in him clicked before words could be formed, and he realized exactly how much at her mercy he was.  Tristan’s head turned and he took his first step towards the lost melon.

Stacy didn’t even bother to talk as she watched Tristan make his most embarrassing trek yet; carefully traversing the silk as he moved to pick up the lost melon.  To Tristan this simple action was another way that Stacy was just abusing her position and trying to belittle him, so he went along with it hoping she would come to her senses.  In truth the entire endeavor enabled Stacy further, and as she saw the doll sized man moving between the small folds in her silk under piece, she knew that she really did have complete control of the situation.  As the feeling settled itself in Stacy’s own proverbial melon, Tristan made his way to the nestled fruit and once again hefted it up.

With the fruit gripped in both hands, Tristan once again remembered the difficulties of keeping balance without the added momentum of his hands.  The walk through the lowest fabric of Stacy was insufferable for him, but within moments he found himself passing the white veil and onto the delicate upper hips of his monumental nemesis.  Angry thoughts rushed into his mind and for a moment he considered the amusing act of tossing the melon at her, and it exploding all over her face.  The amusement of that thought was suddenly cut short when the reality of his situation set in.  At his current position, throwing the melon would likely only land it in her cavernous bellybutton, and even if he could somehow land it on her face, the explosion would result in nothing but a tiny smear of red; a common zit for most people.

These humbling thoughts comforted him on his way up Stacy’s stomach, and eventually he reached the aforementioned bellybutton.  Having not realized it up until now, he saw the stud that had been pierced within.  The clear diamond gleamed in the pounding run, with some rays blinding Tristan as he passed by and stopped to look at it.  To Tristan it looked as though the most impressive and large gem in history was implanted in the stomach of this impossible massive figure.  To Stacy it was just an accessory.

Leaving the great diamond behind, Tristan was met with the greatest obstacle of his journey up until now.  Stacy’s face had fallen from sight behind the great veil of white that casually covered her chest from casual observance.  In a normal situation this might have been an arousing situation for any normal man, but the sheer scope of it made the situation nearly surreal for our poor adventurer.  The crease at the base of her enormous chest was the only visible skin that Tristan could make out, and despite his embarrassment at this entire situation he was oddly calm inside and out.

“Well now…  I guess you’ll have to go through.”  Stacy’s voice boomed all around him, but this time the malice seemed to disappear.  Instead in that strange moment the two appeared to share a bond and the comment was more an invitation than a silly joke.  Had he been paying attention Tristan may have realized this was the first moment in their mutual acquaintance that Stacy seemed to act like a normal person and any trace of her atypical blonde stupidity seemed to have vanished.

Instead of hesitating, Tristan persevered and decided to push forward.  Moving the first string of fabric aside, Tristan made into the opening before him.  Instead of the darkened cave he half expected, Tristan was greeted with something that could only be described as a piece of heaven put in reality.  The light easily penetrated the white cloth above, shining down into the valley he traversed.  Despite the situation, Tristan made little note of the great mountains of flesh to his sides.  Both ascended to seemingly unimaginable heights, and resembled perfectly sculpted mountains of flesh with no imperfections, even at the level of detail which Tristan could see.  It took the boy twice the time to make the journey underneath the folds of fine fabric as it did to walk from the base of her leg to the beginning of this strangely haunting locale.

“Mmmmm”

The low rumbling groan shook the entire valley for a moment and despite how enticing it sounded, Tristan took it as his queue to exit.  Pushing out from the layered fabric that blocked his exit, Tristan was greeted with a slyly smiling face of pure divinity.  Stacy looked down at him, now the only star in his strange cosmos.  He took a moment to smile back at her before defiantly throwing the melon in his hands to the base of her neck, where it began to nestle back and forth.

Stacy’s tongue came out almost immediately, rolling down over her skin and consuming the comparatively small fruit in one single gulp.  The act barely caused Tristan any problems standing, as the act was almost choreographed by Stacy.  Instead the slight tremors across her body continued to give him some unease, but luckily he was able to ignore the disruptions in face of his recent victory.

Meanwhile, far below amongst the crowd; Laine watched in disgust as Stacy’s hand slid down the length of her body in total pleasure.