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.