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.”