Eric
walked along the sidewalk, up the street, and away from his house.
The neighborhood was back to normal, which was how it usually went.
The houses were all intact, the street was not cracked under nearly
unimaginable weight, and there weren’t any flattened crushed bodies
littering it. Not that Eric had gotten to see any of that stuff, but
he had a pretty good idea how these situations usually played
themselves out. As he walked along, he was uncomfortably aware of
which house was coming up next. His stomach tied itself in little
knots, trapping hoards of butterflies in each little chamber. His
mouth went dry. As he got closer, he heard the house’s front door
open. He heard those all too familiar footsteps begin; her footsteps.
Eric
jerked his head down and pretended not to notice; tried to look like
he was in a hurry. Maybe then he could just pass.
“Hello,
Eric,” he heard her familiar voice call after him in her usual
bright, though low contralto, voice.
Eric
glanced up. There she was walking along the paved walkway through her
front yard, toward the mailbox that stood at the bottom of a small
set of concrete steps that descended from the yard to the lower
sidewalk. The result was that she was walking toward him, elevated
nearly four feet above him making her look like a small giant. His
heart shuddered, and fear started scratching at his skull.
“Hi,”
he blurted, and started to go along, back on his way.
“Eric,”
she called again, a note of concern in her voice.
He
stopped again and turned to face her. She descended the steps toward
him. She wore a kind of half smile on lips painted a bright scarlet
red. Her reddish brown hair was up at the moment, as was usual when
he saw her in the late morning. She wore a salmon blazer over a royal
blue top and a pair of jeans that cropped just above her ankles. On
her feet, she wore a pair of open toed wooden mules with thick white
straps. Her toenails were painted a deep lustrous burgundy, as were
her fingernails, as they had been the day before. They were a bit
long, but recently manicured, ending in square round tips, just as
they had the day before. She was in her mid forties compared to
Eric’s eighteen, but still, in his opinion, a very attractive
woman. She walked down the steps and looked Eric over.
“You
don’t look too worse for wear today. Did you get a good rest?”
“It
was okay,” Eric mumbled. He struggled to look her in the eyes.
“It’s
normal to feel a little awkward after something like yesterday.”
She said, taking a step toward Eric.
He
stepped backwards away from her as she advanced.
“Hmmm,”
she made a kind of disappointed noise.
“It’s
not a big deal.” Eric said. “What happened. I just don’t really
want to talk.”
“That’s
alright,” she said.
He
moved like maybe he would walk off, but then he snapped back, and
finally managed to look her in her face. “It’s just that I
thought we were friends.”
“We
are friends,” she said. “At least I hope we still are.”
“I
just feel a little weird about it all, Ms. Velez.” Eric said.
“Ms.
Velez, I
thought I was Alana.”
“This
is the first time I’ve seen you since,” he paused, “since…”
He trailed off.
“Since
I killed you?” Alana finished with a wry smile.
“Yeah,”
Eric said.
“Well,
it’s not the first time you’ve been killed is it?”
“Of
course not,” he said, “that would be ridiculous. Everyone gets
killed sometimes, it probably wasn’t even my hundredth death, but
it did seem different.”
“Because
it was me?” She asked.
“I
guess.” He said.
“But
you know,” she said, “I’m pretty sure you’ve been killed by
me a few times before. I’m not exactly the most sedate person when
I get to that size. I usually stomp around the neighborhood a lot.
I’m sure I’ve crushed just about all our neighbors into mush at
some point or another
over the years, including
you.”
“That’s
true,” Eric said and thought for a moment. “But those times I was
with my family, or fleeing with a mob. One time I was in a bus when
you were somewhere
around 1500
feet tall and you stepped on it and crushed it like a soda can.
Yesterday
was, well,” he paused. “It was just different.”
“I
see,” Alana said. “Because it was more personal?”
“Yeah,
it was just you and me. I was walking across the street when I heard
the crashing. I looked over here at your house, and saw you just
erupt out of it growing to something like 70 feet tall at least. I
was looking up at your body, like I have a lot of times, you know,
when you’re having a grow day. Then you looked down and you saw me,
and I could tell that you recognized me, I looked up into your big
brown eyes. Then
you bent over and before I could move, you grabbed me up and held me
in your hand like a little action figure. You brought me up to your
face and smiled at me, like you always do really, and you held me and
looked at me in your fist, and,” he stopped, “and you did it.”
“I
know,” Alana said. “I put my thumbnail against your neck, and
ever so slowly decapitated you.”
“You
took your time.” he said.
“Did
it hurt much?”
“Kind
of,” he said. “As your thumb moved, I saw that the edge of the
nail was a few inches thick, and maybe a foot wide from my
perspective. First there was the blunt sharp pressure as it crushed
in my throat, then the warm cold pain as it started digging into my
flesh, after that it’s a bit of a blur. I remember the pain getting
really dull and I think I heard when you severed my my spine. Then, I
swear, I had a few seconds of consciousness as just a severed head
with my neck resting on top of your nail, it was actually kind cool
and smooth against my neck stump. Then my consciousness faded, and I
woke up in my bed at 6 this morning like I have any other time I’ve
been killed by a giant.”
“I
see.” Alana said.
“So
I guess I’ve just been wondering, why? Why pick me up and
decapitate me, why be so cruel if we’re friends? I don’t get it.”
“It’s
just the kind of giant I am when I get big.” She said. “I love
being cruel and sadistic. I love making big gory messes. The fact
that I like you, and we’re actually friends made it even better for
me.”
“Better?”
He asked.
“Oh,
yeah, you looked so betrayed. I love you like some kind of nephew,
but when I’m big, that just means it’s that much crueler if I
give you some personal attention. It just felt so good, and so nasty
and degenerate. I know you didn’t have too much fun, but honestly,
it’s the best way I’ve ever started a rampage. So
thank you.”
“You’re
welcome, I guess.” Eric
said.
“look,”
she said, “when someone’s big they have a right to rampage
however they see fit. Don’t they teach you kids that stuff in Size
Ed. anymore?”
“Sure,”
he said.
“Here’s
the point.” She said and reached out to tousle Eric’s hair, which
he accepted. “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying being a
sadistic giant. And there’s no shame in being a sadistic giant’s
victim.”
“Is
that me?” Eric asked. “A victim?”
“Yes,”
Alana said, “my victim. I picked you because it tickled me to
torture and maul someone who trusted and liked me, it was delicious
to hear your screams and sobs as I plunged my big sharp nail into
your little soft throat, and the big spurts of blood that erupted
from your neck hole were absolutely beautiful. I wish you could’ve
still been there to see it.”
“So
you tortured me, because you liked me?”
“Exactly,
listen you’ll understand once you get your first grow day. You’re
eighteen now, it won’t be too far off. And
when you do, you can track me down and take my little life whatever
way would please a big old giant boy like you. You could chew me up
to bits, tear me apart limb by limb, or just give me a good old
fashioned stomp. I won’t hold it against you.”
“You
think I’ll grow soon?”
“You’re
at about the right age, could be any day now. I know you’re going
to love it.” She
moved her hand down to his shoulder.
“Was
it fun, slicing my head off?”
“It
was a lot of fun, the highlight of my whole rampage, and I ended up
getting so big, I penetrated the Earth’s crust and played around
with
the magma until reality broke and snapped back.”
Eric
smiled. “That’s usually what you do. What do you think I should
try for my first time? What’s like, a good starting point?”
“Well,
just stomping around and feeling the raw power at your disposal is
always a thrill.
And that first time you feel a little human squish is pretty nice,
for me it was anyway. You want to take your time, be mindful and
savor the little
things.” A thoughtful
expression passed over Alana’s face. “If
you like I could be your size mentor a little more directly, you
know. I could save up my next grow day until you get your first one.
I could grow with you and show you the ropes for a nice enjoyable
rampage.”
“Wow,”
Eric said, “I thought you didn’t like other people growing when
you were big?”
“Normally
true, usually I use my grow day powers to suppress anyone else from
growing. Part of what I like is just being the biggest baddest thing
around, can’t have someone else stealing my thunder.” She gave a
wry smirk and locked eyes with Eric. “But I could make an exception
for a friend. Plus, I’m not exactly immune to the charms of a
handsome giant male.”
“Unless
I decide I want to squish you or eat you or something.”
“Sure,
you should be able to suppress growth as easily as I can, it’s part
of the set. If you want to get some violent revenge on me, that’ll
be your right as a big person.”
“You
think it’ll be soon?” Eric asked.
“Probably,
your mom told me she had her first grow day about six months after
her eighteenth birthday. I don’t think your dad’s was that much
later, but I’ve never talked with him about it.”
Eric
thought about sharing a day of fun with his older friend. As he did a
thought popped in his mind. “I think that’s not the only reason I
feel weird about it. In some way, being in your hand, being terrified
of someone I know and, well, love, feeling as you so callously sliced
into my flesh, well, on some level,” he paused, “I kind of liked
it.”
“Oh,
really.” She said. “You liked being so completely at my mercy?”
She moved her hand from his shoulder, and touched the tip of her
forefinger’s nail to the side of his throat. “You liked being
treated so cruelly by someone you trusted?” Alana started drawing
her nail across his throat ever so slowly. “You
liked feeling as my pretty little nail crushed through your neck and
spine? Because
I liked it very much.” As her nail got to his Adam’s apple,
Alana’s hand moved quicker than a spider clutching his throat in
its grip. Her voice grew deeper taking on a harsher more
authoritative tone. “Do you want to know what I did after slicing
this little head off of this little neck?”
Eric
nodded silently.
“I
licked your little head up off of my thumbnail and swallowed it
whole. Then I threw your little limp body into my mouth and chewed it
up thoroughly, cracking your bones and grinding your muscles and
organs into mushy paste and swallowed that
too.”
She
leaned in and whispered into his ear, “You were delicious, Eric.”
She
drew back her head and enjoyed the sight of her younger friend in her
clutch. She continued:
“You
really liked that, huh?”
“Mmm-hmm,”
Eric barely choked out.
“There’s
so much more I could do to you my little friend. If you’d really
like more focused attention than getting randomly smushed in a bus,
that can be arranged, you know. Because I actually have a little
secret that only a few people know about. Would you like to hear it?”
Eric
nodded silently.
“I
don’t just get grow days, Eric.” She leaned
in and whispered in his ear once more. “I also get shrink days.”