YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHAT I FOUND

It was September. The time of the year where most were in denial of summer’s approaching end. The leaves were still green, but wouldn’t be for long.

Emilia, 21, sat at her window, sipping cold coffee and staring outside. She too was in a denial of sorts. With her friends off in their second year of college, she was in much the same place she was last year… waiting for things to happen.

Here was the problem. They weren’t.

Emilia told herself she wasn’t ready, that she wanted some life experience and that she was going to take the year off.

Which she did.

She was going to get a job (she did), get a better idea of what she wanted to do (she did not) and save some money (she did not). Instead, She’d seen some friends during the summer, but felt the odd person out…all they talked about was college. So you can see how Emilia viewed the beginning of September with regret.

It was time to admit she possibly made a mistake. Maybe. Probably.

Then again, why commit to an expensive education if your mind isn’t into it? Did she want to work some aimless job without passion? Or purpose?

So here she was. Her friends off to college and Emilia, the fun, soulful spirit, was on her own. No job (none that she planned on keeping). No schooling. And no real prospects.

She took off a pendant from around her neck and opened it. A small photo was inside of her late mother. Emilia kissed the pendant. “I just need a little more time.”

A walk would help things. It usually did. Brisk movement would usually make her mind wander places that didn’t involve self-loathing. She’d listen to a podcast.

Emilia wore hiking boots, with socks pulled up her legs part way and she didn’t feel like getting covered in prickly burrs. The bug bites she’d accumulated were already bad enough. Other than that, she had a sleeveless t-shirt and a bandana around the top of her head. Light brown shorts covered her waist and extended half way down her thighs.

She stopped to check herself in the mirror. She had heard that by repeating positive mantras to oneself, that you could affect the type of day you were going to have.

“I am strong. And I…will find my place.”

Staring at herself, looking so serious made her smirk.

Emilia was five foot 9”, taller than most, with dark blonde hair that she’d dyed blue at the beginning of summer. Of course the roots were showing and the blue looked more like they only covered the tips of her bangs. But her hair was nice. As was her face. And her brown eyes. And her face in general was nice to look at. A pleasing face that many gravitate to.

Emilia never had much difficulty in finding companionship of the male variety, but she also found that she could do quite easily without it. She wasn’t asexual or a lesbian, but maybe the preoccupation with her future made men the furthest thing from her mind. Most were not worth the effort.

And maybe sometime, she thought, just not now.

Emilia stood up straight and laughed at the thought of looking like Lara Croft (minus the huge boobs!). Check out SAFARI GIRL over here!

Whatever. She had water, a bag of nuts, her phone and her headphones. She was set.

* * *

A group of men and women in an open patch of forest. The age gamut among them is 25 plus. All the way up to seniors. Men outnumber the women. They till the ground, they carry stones, they move beams of wood. Something is being constructed. Hastily. We see their exhaustion, their eyes are sad. And dull.

Michael, Ivan and Gabriel collectively lift a large log, all the while blinded by the white hot sun. The clothes they had, were dusty, dirty and soiled. Otherwise non-descript.

One man falls to his knees, knocking another over with the load he carries. The man bent down to help the other up, and is promptly punched in the face.

A fight breaks out. A savage one. But the men are sleep deprived. And clumsy. The fight would continue, likely until one of them died, had it not been for the JET BLACK SHAPE that WHIZZED over them, its shadow streaking the ground.

The men and women SCATTER. They hide behind trees and amongst rocks.

One older man, slower than the others, ran faster than he thought himself capable, then dove, arms out, towards the dirt, hitting his head on a stone, then twisting out of sight from the great beast. This man’s name was Gabriel.

Emilia walked. If there was a flying monster overhead, she was unaware. She moved through thigh deep weeds. It wasn’t ideal terrain, this path she choose. Sometimes it was incredibly muddy, and others bone dry. Either way, there was no path, so she was essentially making her own. She took this route because it cut forty percent off her time. She trudged down a hill where far above, a lone crow floated in the sky.

Her hike would eventually take her to the cliffs that overlooked a series of rivers that split into three around various embankments.

Emilia glanced up as the black crow soared above her. She’d always been wary of crows ever since she stumbled upon several them pillaging a Robin’s nest when she was 9. She had chased them away and taken the baby Robin’s to shelter. But the mother robin would not take them back. They had the smell of human on them. Emilia’s effort to help, had done nothing but extend their suffering.

Since that time, years ago, she was wary of crows. She admired their intelligence to be sure, but loathed how ruthless they were.

It would be easy to turn away, to trick herself into believing she’d never seen what she had.  In a few moments she’d be down the hill and would forget all about it. But then she saw the crow again, it was diving. She replayed the incident with the baby robins in her head.

Emilia altered her course. When the crow lands, she increased her pace, pushing through the weeds, the burrs and the tall grass, her hiking boots flattening all of it as she walked.

To see the descent of the large black crow was terrifying. It’s wings stretched outwards as it descended to the ground at incredible speed. It landed softly, despite its great size and immediately began pecking, sending up tiny clouds of dust. It was hunting them.

Those who had already hidden were safe.

But the crow’s beak quickly found purchase and latched onto something small, something that flailed in its beak. The men could see the arms and legs of the crow’s victim protrude from within its beak. It was a horrible sight.

The crow had caught a man named Charles. And though several of the men secretly wanted to help him (he was a strong worker), their primal urge of self preservation kept them motionless. Charles’s brief screams would be forever embedded in to their memories.

The crow tilted back its neck and swallowed Charles. Its black eyes rolling back, then snapping back into focus, scanning. Were there others it wondered?

The crow’s head tilts sideways. Something was coming. In an instant, it lifted into the air and flew to safety, its meal suffering in its gullet.

The men and women all watched the large bird disappear into the sky, growing smaller then smaller. Everyone was back on edge. Say the wrong word and you’ll probably be clobbered. One man comes forward. He is about to speak when--

BOOM…

The men and women freeze in place, but their senses are acute. They quickly attempt to determine which direction it’s coming from.

BOOM…

The point of impact  is followed by a dragging sound, like something massive swooping low through the trees.

BOOM…

Cowering, the men and women lower themselves lower to the ground. They babble in fear until their mouths are full of dirt and sand.

BOOM…

“No! No more! No mooorrrreee!!!” Yells Michael between booms of impact.

BOOM…

Whatever was approaching was much larger than the crow, but not as fast.

BOOM….

Then quite suddenly, a darkness falls over the forest. It is so sudden that it’s startling. Becky, one of the women on the outside of the group, first thought was that the sun had disappeared behind a cloud. It hadn’t yet occurred to her that she had been separated from the rest of the group.

BOOM…

Becky looks up and is immediately blinded by the sun, which bulged around the corners of a gigantic silhouetted shape that was more vast than she could comprehend. A being. A Giant being, that was coming to a stop overtop of them.

BOOM…

The Giant’s final footfall comes close enough that some men are showered with bits of dirt and dust.

Now it’s silent. One by one, the men and women look up to see what it was that would surely seal their fate.

Emilia stood stationary, her neck slouched downward. A soft wind blew through her blonde and blue streaked hair. Her knees and legs were tense, as she braced herself for something she may not want to encounter, like a rattle snake. She had come upon one a few summers ago and wasn’t overly wild about the experience. That wasn’t a concern though, because what she was looking down at was no snake. It was smaller. 

Quiet a bit smaller.

But she still couldn’t tell exactly what it was she was looking at. To see any detail at all, she had to get closer.

Slowly and with caution, Emilia bent her knees and lowered herself to a squatting position. She bended forward at the waist and peered down between her bare outstretched knees that formed a “V”.

Becky, her hand raised to block the sun, was able to more clearly identify the Giant form above them. But otherwise she couldn’t move.

Others, too, stared into the sky. Their minds had barely had the opportunity to accept what was happening… To describe the fear and the confusion they had, upon seeing something so incredibly massive looming above them, would be no easy task. The shape above them seemed big as a star destroyer.

No one makes a sound. Even the two men who pissed themselves are quiet about it. But luckily for all of them, the Giant’s expression is more surprise than anger. 

“Maybe she doesn’t see us?”, said Ivan.

No one responds.

“We should back away.” Another said.

Becky was closest to the Giant, in that she was the only person not currently fleeing or hiding. She was caught in the moment, frozen, limbs locked together.

The Giant had settled into place and ceased to come any closer. This allowed Becky to catch her breath, to recognize, what was happening to her.

Her first instinct was this. That the Giant meant no harm. At least not at this moment.

Becky turned back just as the sun which had been peering, blindingly, around the shape of the giant form, was briefly eclipsed. And all at once, they could see that it was in fact, a young woman who looked down at them.

“I think it’s a woman!” said a voice from amidst the trees.

Becky was so close to the Giant that it was no longer was possible to take her all in without turning her head. So large was the Giant within her field of vision.

The Giant’s hiking boots were in closest proximity. Becky could see the red shoe laces of the boots, how they were double knotted, how they were covered in a thin dust from the elements and how stuck amongst the boots were flecks of weeds, burrs and bits of earth that would likely not even be detectible to the Giant, unless upon close inspection

Emilia also remained stationary, staring down at the ground and at what her mind was telling her wasn’t possible. She didn’t know what it was she was looking at, at least at first, but the fragile size of whatever it was, made her immediately look down to her boots, ensuring she hadn’t trodden on any of whatever it was she was looking at.

Emilia sways forward gently, then catches herself. She was definitely wary of annihilating the entire lot of them beneath her, she over compensates and pushes herself back. Too hard as it turns out. She falls hard onto her rear end.

None of the men and women could have anticipated that the earth, at least the section that was beneath their feet, actually shook from the impact.

SCHHOOO-BOOOM…

Several of the immediate group instinctively and ridiculously cover their heads.

Becky shields her eyes from the dust. Otherwise, she doesn’t move. She waits, tensed up, as the Giant climbs back onto her haunches and once again her shadow covers their entire camp.

“Can you hear me???” cried out Becky.

Emilia stare downwards, resting her hands on her thighs. She half hoped that falling backwards would break her free from what must be a trance, but no. This was real.

There were little people before her. At her feet. Several of them. But she could detect others, hiding, crouching from fear, from within her field of vision. They were so small that had it not been for the crow’s attack, she could have walked right past them. Or even over them, pounding them into the earth beneath her boots. Their size was so insignificant, that she probably wouldn’t even have known as she trampled their lives from existence.

There was one person not hiding. Someone who stood there, motionless. Maybe scared? Maybe brave. Emilia couldn’t tell. But the little thing seemed to be yelling up to her.

If this little thing was yelling, it was nothing Emilia could hear. Emilia leaned forwards, and carefully extended her legs behind her, eventually laying on her stomach, her head much closer to the ground now and even closer to the group of tiny people.

Becky’s unmoving stance could have been interpreted as bravery, but in reality she was still unable to budge. The hopelessness of their size compared to this Giant woman sapped whatever strength they had remaining. They couldn’t run, they would easily be caught, or destroyed. And they certainly couldn’t fight either. Even if there were a thousand of them, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

Becky’s stance finally crumbled when the Giant’s head, now almost level with the ground, moved downwards, towards them, as she extended her legs.

Becky felt wind around her. Maybe it was breath from the Giant’s mouth as she said…

“I can’t hear you, It’s too windy?”

Becky staggered backwards. The Giant’s voice cut through the wind. It was loud.

“I said”, coughed Becky from the dust, “Can you help us??”

The Giant’s smile remained and it was clear she couldn’t hear what Becky was saying.

Suddenly the Giant’s arm began to move. Becky felt a slow rising terror grow in her stomach. The Giant’s huge fingers uncurled and stretched towards her. Becky had never felt such helplessness in her 30 years on earth. She couldn’t possibly run or attack, or hide. All she could do is stand there, rooted, expecting to be picked up whether she wanted to be picked up or not.

But instead, the giant held out her hand, much like you would do with a dog to show them you mean no harm. Becky wasn’t sure what to do at first. She looked back to her comrades, several of who peaked up over top of the rocks they were hiding behind.

“She doesn’t want to hurt us I don’t think” Becky called back to the others.

Becky turned back to the Giant’s hand, which lay flat on the earth loomed next to her. Becky took a step. Then another. Then she reached out and touched the Giant’s finger.

Emilia couldn’t believe it. This little being, which appeared to be a woman (?) trusted her enough to make physical contact. Emilia smiled at Becky’s touch.

Emilia then extended her fingers. She did this slowly and as non-threateningly as possible. Emilia snaked her fingers behind Becky’s back, slowly stroking it. Like you would a hamster.

“You’re real. But how??” said Emilia to herself.

The tiny being yelled something back to her friends, then turned and directed her voice up to the Giant whose fingers would only have to close and they would become a prison for Becky for as long as the Giant desired.

The Giant shook her head, smiling.

“You’re too tiny to hear”

Emilia thought for a moment. Her face loomed so large over Becky and the others, that it was no doubt very easy to read her facial expressions. It was clear that the Giant had an idea.

“If I promise to be careful”, she said down to Becky, “Can I pick you up?”

Becky hesitated. A voice behind her yelled “Don’t!”

“Becky, no!” shouted another.

Becky looked back up at the Giant, whose presence was indeed intimidating, even if she didn’t intend it to be. Becky felt incapable of saying no to a creature this size.

So she nodded.

Giant Emilia pulled back her hand, turned it over, then opened her fingers, laying her them flat on the earth, with the idea that Becky climb aboard. This was a terrifying prospect. But Becky reminded herself… the Giant could have snuffed them all out in seconds had she so desired.

Becky leaned into Emilia’s finger and flung herself up onto it.

Emilia stared down at the amazing scene. She had a hamster when she was young. She remembered feeling its tiny feet on her hand, but yet not be able to detect its weight at all. It was a strange, but wonderful feeling. And if anything, the woman’s miniscule size and weight underscored how delicate Emilia had to be.

Becky wobbled on her feet, falling backwards into the Giant’s soft palm. The Giant’s skin was similar to her own, but much more coarse to the touch.

Emilia waited until Becky was fully in her hand, before slowly, beginning to stand. Becky’s stomach rose in her throat as Emilia did this.

Becky turned over so that she was face down and clutched onto the Giant’s ring finger, wrapping her arms around it and hanging on for dear life.

Then the movement slowed. Then stopped. Becky hung there for a second.

“Okay, was that too fast, or…?”

Becky couldn’t respond just yet. She turned over, to lay on her back, propped up by the cleft in the Giant’s woman’s palm.

“Please be careful down there, okay? Everyone?” the Giant woman said down to the men and women who continued to hide on the ground.

“I don’t want to squash any of you.”

With that the Giant directed her attention back to the tiny human on her hand.

“I’ll keep my hand steady if you want to stand” she said to the woman smaller than her finger.

Becky tried to do that, sitting up, then standing, struggling to balance herself and not fall between the Giant’s fingers.

She managed to stand and then to widen her stance, as it was easier to balance on the giant palm. Becky struggled to focus on the Giant’s face. It was familiar, but seen in such large proportions, completely alien to her.

She saw the Giant’s dark eyes , her eye lashes, her nose, her lips, which hung open, as if searching for something to say.

“How is this…even possible?”  the Giant said to the woman wobbling in the middle of her palm.

When the Giant spoke, Becky saw her teeth, which Becky estimated the front two to be a foot in height. Seeing flashes of them in combination with her lips and tongue, was overwhelming and Becky fell backwards, landing on the fleshy part of the Giant’s hand.

The Giant smiled down on her, then slowly and with her free hand, she brushed her own hair back on one side. Then she brought Becky closer.

Though the movement was no doubt intended to be gentle, it was jarring. Becky rolled onto her stomach and grabbed into the web between the Giant’s fingers, struggling not to lose her grip.

When the motion of the Giant’s hand ceased, Becky peered over her shoulder and rolled onto her back.

She saw what the Giant was getting at. For she was now facing a giant human ear.  As tall as she was. Taller, probably. There was no earring, but a hole indicated there may have been one long ago.

Becky, swaying with the motion of the Giant’s hand, not to mention the ferocious wind, dropped to her hands and knees and slowly advanced.

“Say something”, the Giant said. “I bet I can hear you now.”

Becky hesitated, feeling like she was going to throw up.

“I’m not going to drop you, don’t worry” the Giant said.

Becky aimed her voice upwards: “We need food and shelter!”

The Giant still couldn’t hear her.

“We need food! And shelter!” Becky yelled again.

The Giant’s head nodded and suddenly Becky began to sink away from the Giant’s ear. It was slow from the Giant’s perspective, but to Becky, she almost vomited.

* * *

Emilia smiled at the miniscule woman in her hand.

“Food? Of course. I can bring you some.”

The moment hung in the air as the Emilia stared at the woman, smiling, sympathetically, like Becky had caught an unfortunate disease.

Emilia, of course, hadn’t the faintest idea what it was like to talk to someone as large as herself, so gradually, her eyes drifted downwards to the earth.

The others (Men? Women? She couldn’t tell) had emerged from their make shift hiding places. Not all, but some.

Emilia’s attention drifted back to Becky. “Should I put you down now?”

Becky nodded, dramatically, hoping that the Giant understood.

Becky’s knees gave way, like an elevator was falling. Though the Giant was no doubt bending down slowly, it didn’t seem that way to Becky. She rolled to her stomach and grabbed hold of the Giant’s index finger. Through the gap of the fingers, she could see her companions, their necks all craned upwards, watching fearfully as Becky was lowered to the ground.

Once on the ground, the Giant opened her hand and Becky climbed off her palm, falling to the earth, face first, dizzy.

“Oops. Sorry” the giant said. Emilia lingered there for a moment, completely entranced that the group had emerged from hiding.

“I’m going to bring some things for you all, alright?”

The Giant did not wait for an answer, but instead, stood to her full height, which seemed like a ten story building to the people at her feet.

The Giant looked west, then east, as if looking for landmarks in order to find the group when she returned.

Then she looked down at the people once more. Way, way down.

“I guess you’re too small to get far from here, right? Stay here and I’ll bring you some supplies. Does that sound okay?”

The people murmured to themselves, but of course the Giant could not hear them.

With that, the Giant smiled once more and then turned, stepping away from them and slowly disappearing from sight.

A smile was on Emilia’s face. An expression that was genuine and hadn’t been seen in a long while. She took one last glance at the people at her feet and turned away with a sense of purpose. Something she had been longing for.

The men and women on the ground watched as the Giant woman turned and walked away from them. Her foot steps were loud, but quickly faded.

…BOOM…

BOOM…

boom…

boom…

After she was gone and the ground ceased to shake, the men and women in the group turned to one another.

Becky was the first to speak.

“Do we wait?”

Ivan stepped up. It was easy to be brave now that the Giant woman had left.

“We get the fuck out of here. We grab our supplies and—“

“We can’t be here when she gets back”, another woman chimed in.

“They said this area was quarantined, didn’t they? That no one would find us?”

Ivan started to grab his meagre belongings.

“Let’s go, everyone.”

“Wait.” Becky cried.

Everyone stopped. Becky was not the leader. Far from it. But of the lot of them (roughly twenty people), she alone had made contact with the Giant woman. She’d climbed into her hand and had communicated with her.

“She can help us.”

“Help us by smashing us into kingdom come? No thanks” said Ivan.

“She could have destroyed all of us if she wanted”, retorted Becky. “She didn’t. She said she’d be back with supplies!”

“Yeah, well you wait and see what she comes up with. She’ll put us into cages. I know people. We’ll be escaping this prison for another.”

That seemed to move everyone. Up they stood, following Ivan.

“Hold up, people. Hold up.”

Everyone turned to see Gabriel, one of the older men in the group.

“Becky is right. We should stay. Wait for it to come back.”

“It? It’s a young woman” said Becky.

“That, my young friend, is not a woman”, said Gabriel. “I can make this work for us.”

Everyone quieted down. Gabriel’s words seemed to carry some weight.

“She’s our ticket out of here on OUR terms. Not hers.”

“Um…maybe you didn’t notice how incredibly huge she is?”

Gabriel remained calm.

“If I can communicate with her...I can bend her to my will. Guaranteed.”

There was something in the confidence in Gabriel’s voice that people responded to.

“Now we have to get rid of anything that might clue her into why we’re out here.”

The group seemed to reluctantly agree. One man starts pushing at a sign that had been erected into the earth. It was taller than each of them, but to the Giant, would have gone easily unnoticed. In large words, it read…

Build shelter before the wildlife consumes you.

Build shelter before the elements destroy you.

Find food before you starve.

Only those alive in one month will be granted complete freedom.

end chapter 1