“I was eighteen years old when it happened,” said Naomi, somberly trudging back to her oversized office building. “It was my birthday, in fact. And since it was in the spring, it was also my graduation party as well. I was supposed to have a big party with tons of family and friends at our house. Dad even hired a DJ.”

Mary cowered in Naomi’s giant palm, hoping and praying that the giantess wasn’t mad at her.

“Nobody had ever heard of giants before, well… except for fairytales, of course. I mean, who would have thought of something so absurd? If you would have told me in the morning how my day was going to end, I would have never believed you. Actually, I would have thought you’d gone insane…ha!” Naomi shook her head, reflecting on the ridiculousness of it all.

Mary was hanging on to every word from the giantess’ lips.

“But then it happened. Out of nowhere! I remember it like it was yesterday… I was talking to my uncle Dave, you would have liked him, he was always so sweet. He was complimenting me and my achievements, and then I felt sick all of a sudden… I remember feeling dizzy, lightheaded, something wasn’t right… You know that feeling you get when you want to puke but can’t? That’s what I had.”

Naomi’s faced was now illuminated by the city lights, revealing a melancholy expression.

“I remember falling and feeling my body get tight. I saw my body morphing and growing right before my eyes. In a matter of a few seconds, my shirt ripped off and my bra snapped apart. It hurt so bad. And my legs, jeez, I didn’t know jeans could be so tough. Thank god I wasn’t wearing any shoes, I’ve heard that is pretty painful on your feet.”

Naomi shook her head in disbelief, as if experiencing it all over again.

“I was just so clumsy. I couldn’t figure out what was happening. And I didn’t mean to, but then I fell on uncle Dave and…” Naomi paused. “I was still growing, but as soon as I saw what had happened, I tried to back away, hoping he was only hurt, but I knew in my heart of hearts he couldn’t have survived my fall. I ended up tripping over several other family members that were in the way and I fell down again. By the time I fell the second time, I was even bigger. I fell on my butt, right on top of two of my aunts, killing one of them. I screamed so loud. I just wanted to get out of there. I was leaning up against the house, trying to stand when my father came over to me, yelling at me to stop moving. I was just trying to get away from everybody, I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

Mary could see a tear forming in Naomi’s eye as she told the story.

“I didn’t listen, and I stood up, but not before caving in half the house, killing some of my friends and some more family members that were inside. I made it to the front yard and collapsed in the street. I broke out sobbing. I didn’t know what was happening, but I knew several people were dead and it was all my fault. I sat up and pulled my knees to my face and buried myself in them, cradling myself for some self-comfort.”

Naomi entered her building; she saw a cleaning crew cleaning something up off the floor in the hallway but couldn’t make out what it was. They looked up somberly at their boss as she walked by, and Naomi was careful not to step on them.

“My dad, my brothers, everyone came out to the front and started yelling at me. My dad was trying to see if I was okay, but my other friends and family were screaming at me, telling me how stupid I was. My aunt Melissa, my uncle Dave’s wife, was particularly hurtful, but I had just killed her husband so I guess I understood her actions. People who had lost loved ones were screaming and crying at me, making me feel awful. I didn’t know what to do, I felt so bad. I started crying, but they still laid into me.”

“But it wasn’t your fault, Naomi.” Mary reassured Naomi.

Naomi ignored Mary.

“Neighbors from across the street and next door came out to see what all the noise was about. I had stopped growing and I had no idea how tall I was. Maybe twice as tall as the house? Maybe a little bigger? I don’t know. But in the midst of all the chaos, two cop cars showed up. At first, they were puzzled and didn’t know what to do. But my stupid aunt and some other equally annoying friends and family members were hysterical, telling the cops that I had killed 7 people. I heard that and busted into tears again, I had no idea how many people had died because of me. I tried to say I was sorry, but no one was listening to me.”

“They must have made it sound like I did it on purpose, or something, because the cops started shooting at me! It hurt like getting bit by tiny annoying bugs. I screamed at them to stop but they wouldn’t. I kicked my legs out and sent one police car flying, and of course, it hit someone. The cops called for backup and kept shooting at me, all the while I kept yelling at them. My dad tried to intervene, yelling at them to stop, but my mother held him back.”

“Then to make matters worse, one of the neighbors got his gun and started shooting at me. I was emotionally destroyed and wasn’t thinking clearly, and so I started kicking my feet at the cops, sending them flying. I swatted at the annoying neighbor shooting at me. I must have swatted hard because I broke his arm and several ribs.”

Naomi chuckled a little bit at that last part. Mary saw they had entered her office but couldn’t see William anywhere.

“More police cars showed up. The more I tried to explain that I didn’t mean to hurt anybody, the more they kept shooting at me. I couldn’t take it anymore! I stood up, maintaining my balance despite the dizziness that accompanied me. All the while, they kept firing! So I picked up a car and threw it at them! It caused a lot of damage, and my family begged me to settle down. I mean, there was so much confusion. My family was yelling at me, they were yelling at the cops, the cops were yelling at me, at my family… I just couldn’t take it. So I ran away… as far as I could. I ran out of the city and deep into the California Redwoods. It was amusing to see all the shocked little people that were utterly confused, they didn’t even have time to process the sight of a giant crying naked girl running past them.”

Naomi sat down at her desk and set her purse down, then deposited Mary right next to it. Mary could faintly make out the cries of her two children still trapped inside.

“You’d be surprised how easy it was to hide among those trees. I was there for two days and nobody found me. I cried my eyes out. I didn’t know what happened to my life. I was cold, hungry, and I didn’t have anybody. For the first time in my life, I was all alone.”

Naomi turned her attention to her middle desk drawer, opening it and pulling out tiny William who had been trapped inside ever since Naomi went to rescue Mary and the kids. She set William down beside his wife.

“I’m sorry…” said William solemnly to Mary, who said nothing is response. Naomi continued in her story.

“One day I woke up to a tiny man tickling my nose. It was my dad; he had found me. Well, there was a search party and he was the one asked to talk to me. He explained that the authorizes had overreacted and if I came to a certain location that they would help me. He said that the government was going to apologize and see what they could do to help me.”

Naomi dug in her purse and pulled out the two screaming kids but didn’t drop them next to their parents.

“I was so relieved. So happy! I carefully picked up my dad and excitedly headed to the airfield that they asked me to meet them at.”

Naomi peered intensely at the teenage children in her grasp.

“But do you know what happened? No sooner had I gotten to the airfield, they started firing at me with everything they had. My dad was yelling at them from my hand. Apparently, he had believed their lies and didn’t know they were going to double cross me. ‘You promised!’, he kept yelling. It was so sad. And when they realized that they couldn’t kill me, they kept using bigger and bigger weapons. I tried to shield my dad from them. Those bastards, they didn’t even wait for him to get to safety! I eventually fell down. But when I did, my dad wasn’t moving anymore. Those tiny fuckers had struck him! He was bleeding to death in my palm. I watched my own father die before my eyes.”

Naomi pulled the kids closer to her face. “Can you imagine watching your own father die?” she asked dryly. She smirked slightly and looked past the kids and made direct eye contact with Will and Mary. “Or can you imagine watching your children die? I wonder what would be worse, do you think?”

“Naomi, please, whatever it is that you’re thinking,” William started to say but was cut off.

“That was the day I learned that the little people would always view me as a monster. No matter what I did or said, I would forever be known as the girl that mass murdered people. And it certainly didn’t help that I lost it on the military at the airfield once I saw that they had killed my father.”

Naomi started laughing wickedly, remembering the feelings that accompanied her that day.

“I was still naked, but I had grown even more since the first day so their weapons didn’t hurt nearly as bad. I swiped at their trucks and vehicles with my hands, sending them and the little soldiers flying. The ones that tried running were splattered under my palms. It really was a slaughter; it was maybe even a little unfair. After all, I know they were just following orders. But one after the other, I smushed them with my thumb.”

Mary started gagging just thinking about it, even though she had just done similar things herself.

“Then when they started to get further away from me, I stood up and began stomping on them. So many people were crushed under my bare feet. Instantly! I trampled the men and women of the United States army as if they were nothing but bugs.”

Naomi lifted her giant slippers from under her desk with her free hand. Will and Mary saw the terrifying sight before them. Naomi had two slippers in one hand, and both their children in her other hand. Putting two and two together, William screamed at Naomi.

“Naomi! Don’t you dare!” he said. He broke down crying, “I don’t deserve this! I was just trying to do what’s best for my family!”

Naomi didn’t look at him, she simply inserted the crying boy into her left slipper, and the crying girl into her right slipper.

“You don’t deserve this, William?” she scoffed. “You have a family! I don’t! My father died that day at the airfield and the rest of my family disowned me after my rampage! What you guys have here is something I will NEVER have! And I think it’s about time you appreciated that a little more, don’t you think?”

Naomi then maintained direct eye contact with William and Mary as she put on her slippers, her soles smothering the tiny children trapped within them. Mary buried her crying face into William’s shoulder and he himself also held back tears.

“Please…,” William whimpered.

“No!” scolded Naomi. “I make the rules now William. You see, when they realized they couldn’t kill me… but I sure as hell could destroy them, we came to an agreement that I wouldn’t kill them if they would help me build a comfortable life as a giant. There was a lot of double crossing, and it took a lot of convincing, or should I say killing, in order to get the government to cooperate with me. Sure, they tried to kill me again, but they were always the ones getting squashed,” Naomi laughed, “literally, I mean!”

Naomi folded her hands on her desk before the husband and wife.

“It took years to set up agreements, treaties, whatever else it took. It also didn’t help that there were more and more cases of giantesses appearing all over the world. How could the governments possibly fight all of us? Some giantesses went crazy and went rogue, living a secluded life deep in mountains, or in far off forests, away from any civilization. The rest of us organized territories for us to live in. In cooperation with the little government in our “zone” of course.”

Naomi tapped her fingers on the desk.

“See, we were smart though, we used something so precious and powerful to the little people, to get want we wanted.” Naomi smirked slightly, “Money.” Naomi laughed. “We set up a monetary system with the commercial and government agencies. I get money from the little people for promising not to step on them, in turn I pay that money to the government for them to build me a house, an office, anything else I want. I turned it into a business, some other giants did the same, but my goal was to be the biggest business.”

Naomi leaned back in her chair and propped her slippered feet up on the desk in front of Will and Mary. They couldn’t see or hear any movement from their kids trapped in the giant shoes.

“When ever there was a revolt, or a mutiny, we were sure to make short work of them. It NEVER ended well for them. And now here we are, to the point were giantesses and normal people coexist in a society where I basically transfer money from them to the government in return for whatever giant accommodations I want. They leave me alone, give me what I want, and we have a mutual agreement on both sides that we abide by. I’ve agreed to pay penalties for wrongful or accidental deaths, but it is so totally worth it to get what I want. And to tell you the truth, the government doesn’t seem to mind as long as they get their money.”

“It’s so funny, because humans will screw over each other in a heartbeat! I hire little people to sell insurance and make me a ton of money, and then I pay them little to nothing for their hard work. But, you know all about screwing over others to save yourself, don’t you William, don’t you Mary?”

“Is this what this is all about? You just want to get even with human society?” asked Mary.

“Getting even?” Naomi shook her head. “Is that the limit of your imagination, Mary? No, it’s much more than getting even. It’s about a way of life.”

Naomi stood up and walked over to a shelf in her office. Every footstep shook Will and Mary to their core thinking about their precious children under the giant feet of Naomi as she stepped on them. They were horrified. Each vibration from her footsteps made them whimper and cry.

Naomi grabbed a trinket box from her shelf and went back to her desk. She set it on her desk and opened it. Picking up Mary and placing her inside. Then picking up William and placing him inside as well.

“Wait!” yelled Mary.

“Yes?” asked Naomi.

“I thought giants have been around for over 100 years now. How could this only have happened to when you turned 18?”

“Ah yes, I forgot to explain, time now works differently for giants. You see, by your time frame this all happened 102 years ago, back in 2019. But every 6 years of your time is equivalent to only 1 year for us. So, to me, it only happened 17 years ago. Crazy huh?”

Naomi smiled, “Now, you two need to learn a lesson, so why don’t you think about what you’ve done, and think about how you can make it up to me? If you want to remain in my employ.”

“Will our children be okay?” asked Mary.

“I sure hope so!” said Naomi. “As long as there are no accidents, that is.”

“Wait!” yelled William as Naomi started to close the lid.

“Yes?” asked Naomi, she was already determined not to let William talk his way out of this one.

“Can I ask you a question?” asked Will.

Naomi sighed, “Sure…”