“Well, that’s all I have for you today. We’ll have our review session on Wednesday, and on Friday we’ll have our quiz. And remember, your group projects are due on Friday as well. I strongly advise you to meet with your partners sometime during this week if you haven’t already.”

After the professor finished speaking, almost all of the class’s thirty students stood up from their seats and began exiting the room. That is, all but two students.

Eric Saengkaew leaned back in his chair and ran his hands down his face in exasperation. That group project… he hadn’t worked on it at all. However, it’s not like he had forgotten about it or anything. He was far too good of a student for that to happen—he usually completed most of his schoolwork as soon as it was assigned. He had procrastinated working on this group project for one simple reason: he wasn’t looking forward to working with his partner.

Eric was a Thai American college sophomore, at only 20 years in age. He was rather fair-skinned for someone of Thai ancestry, with his skin displaying only the slightest hint of brown. His black hair was fashioned into a curtain hairstyle, with each of his two bangs falling down above his eyebrows. This hair gave way to an undercut to the sides and back of his head. Mounted upon his face were glasses with black frames, surrounding eyes that were of a dark brown color. His face was equipped with a rather strong jaw and was largely unblemished, with signs of acne or other eyesores nowhere to be seen. Just from one look, one could tell that this young man cared for his appearances.

He was currently wearing a beige, button-down shirt. The buttons were currently undone on this shirt, as it gave way to a thicker white shirt underneath. Below this, he wore a pair of light blue jeans, and a pair of white sneakers. One could assume that they were from a very expensive brand, given how exceptionally clean they were. Not a single piece of dirt or lint was to be found on these sneakers; indeed, Eric valued them to an extremely high degree.

While Eric wasn’t the most popular guy ever, he could certainly hold his own in a conversation, and had a decent circle of friends. He even indulged in the occasional party or gathering from time to time. This all put him on the opposite end of the social spectrum as his group partner—at least, as far as he knew. But in his mind, he had very good reasons for arriving at this conclusion.

Once the class had almost emptied out, Eric removed his hands from his head, let out a quiet sigh, and looked over at his partner. She was currently sitting in the back corner of the room, meaning that he had to move his entire body to see her. However, as he turned, he had to crane his head up and up so that he could make eye contact with her…

He had to stop himself from wincing once he realized that she was looking straight at him as well.

If Eric was remembering correctly, his fellow classmate and partner’s name was Sarah Evans. She was also 20 years old, and seemed to be of Japanese ancestry. In a perfect world, these qualities would have formed some sense of solidarity between the two. Her skin was decently darker than Eric’s exceptionally pale complexion, evoking the tone of a warm frappé. Her hair was a medium shade of brown, meaning that it was almost certainly dyed this color. This hair was straightened, and fell all the way down to her chest in the back. To her sides, two prominent bangs completely covered her ears and fell down to her chin level. Finally, in the front, her hair’s bangs fell down right above her eyes, obscuring her eyebrows from view.

The Japanese American young woman wore a basic pair of black glasses, similarly to Eric. These framed her hazel-colored eyes. Her lips were uncharacteristically full for her phenotype, but not unrealistically so. As for her current choice of clothing, she was wearing a black turtleneck shirt with long sleeves and a pair of black skinny jeans. These jeans gave way to a pair of knee-high, flat-soled boots. Of course, these were black as well. Overall, Sarah’s choice of wardrobe seemed far less deliberate or thought-out than the fashionable Eric’s.

However, this wardrobe did serve to display her unique physique.

Sarah wasn’t just seated in the corner of the classroom for no reason. She was sitting right on the classroom’s carpeted floor, with no chair or seat to speak of. This was because absolutely no chair in the room could hold her. For some unreasonable, unexplained reason—or perhaps, just for a reason that Eric wasn’t privy to—Sarah was more than double the size of any person that he had ever seen. Though he had no way of knowing for sure, the young woman was 15’11”, a mere inch away from a full 16’. She wasn’t just tall—it seemed as if her body had been somewhat scaled up to her current size, meaning that body parts such as her hands, feet, and head were larger than the average person’s.

Additionally, she was rather curvy even in proportion to her massive body. She had a normally sized waist, but her chest and hips swelled outwards. Each one of her breasts matched her head in size, and the same could be said about the globes of her rear. Overall, this figure of hers was stunning, but the only thing that was truly out of the realm of possibility was her height.

Eric had minimal interest in women at this point in his life, electing to focus on his studies instead. However, he would be lying if he said that he wouldn’t mind having a girlfriend with Sarah’s physique in the future, and he knew it. If you took away Sarah’s monstrous, unsettling height, then she might have been nice to look at. However, her height wasn’t the only thing that made her unappealing as a person.

From what Eric could tell during their two months of class with each other, Sarah was just weird. She gets to class far earlier than anyone else, and just sits in the back of the room, never speaking to anyone at all. She never even answers the professor’s questions, which even a typical, shy nerd can manage. Throughout their countless class sessions, Eric had only heard Sarah mutter quietly under her breath. While the professor is instructing, Eric had never seen Sarah take out a notebook, piece of paper, laptop, or any other device to take notes. Every single class period, she simply sits with an absurd slouch that looks rather painful to Eric, while gripping a small, foam stress ball in her hands. The ball appears pathetically small in her large hands, and it’s extremely worn out in accordance with this fact. Eric could have sworn that the ball was blue at the start of the semester, but now, any and all plastic had worn off, and only the beige-colored foam underneath remained. Even this foam had severe tears and chips in it, and yet, Sarah was still tensing her grip around it as she glared at Eric.

This behavior had persisted for two months, and gave Eric an extremely uneasy feeling. So it was just his luck that he was assigned to be her group project partner a few weeks ago.

“Um, h-hey! Sarah, right?” Eric called out to his partner on the other side of the room. “We haven’t really worked on this thing at all… we’re pretty good students, huh?”

Eric let out a small chuckle after he said this. That was his attempt to see if Sarah reacted to humor at all. Even if it wasn’t the funniest thing in the world, any ordinary student would make the effort to react in order to not seem rude. A half-assed chuckle, or something.

However, from Sarah, nothing came. That affirmed Eric’s preconceived notions about her.

“So, we probably need to start working on it today if we’re gonna have it done by Friday. Do you wanna meet up at my place, or…?”

Eric really wanted to do this at his dorm room. He in no way wanted to visit wherever this girl lived.

“Let’s… work at my apartment.” Sarah replied after a long pause.

Damn it! Well, that was that. Eric wasn’t about to argue over this with a girl that could easily swing him around like a ragdoll. Besides, more importantly, he had just heard her non-mumbling voice for the first time. It was exceptionally deep for a woman, which Eric could at least somewhat parse from her muttering. Notably, there was no hint of a Japanese accent in her voice, which Eric believed may have been her excuse for not talking. But nope, she seemed to be rather Americanized; she was just, once again, weird.

“Alright, that works with me…” Eric replied, the unease apparent in his voice. “Do you have an address I can use to get there…?”

“…Contact information.” For the first time that Eric had witnessed, Sarah pulled out a small phone from her pocket. Similarly to her trademark stress ball, it looked laughably small compared to her. Understanding Sarah’s request—which was worded suspiciously like a demand—Eric read off his number to her. Seconds later, she sent him a text message with her address in it.

“We’ll meet up at twelve. Tonight.” Sarah announced as she slid her phone back into her pocket, turning her attention back to her stress ball. Again, Eric wasn’t a fan of the bluntness of her tone. And he didn’t want to work that late at night. Midnight, really? However, his eyes quickly darted down to the foam orb in her massive hands. The thing… it appeared to be on its very last legs. A large gash had formed in the middle of it, threatening to split the ball into two.

Eric decided to drop any complaints that he may have had.

“Okay, I'll see you there, then!” The young man quickly stood up, gathered his belongings, and exited the classroom. He would have to prepare himself for the long night that stood ahead of him.

…

It was exactly midnight when Eric’s car arrived at Sarah’s apartment building. He had intended to park right outside of her building so that he could enter her room right at their designated time, but while still in his car, he quickly found out that every parking spot around the building was taken. From what he could tell, this was the fault of a nearby party. It took him an additional minute of driving to find an available spot down the complex. From there, he had to walk another five minutes to make his way back to Sarah’s building. It had gotten considerably cooler outside, but his two layers of clothing kept him rather warm.

As Eric neared Sarah’s building on foot, he noticed three things. The first was that each building in this complex was two stories tall, meaning that another person or group of people lived above Sarah, whom Eric knew to be on the first floor. The second was that each room had exceptionally high ceilings. One building itself was about thirty-two feet tall, which meant that a single room’s ceiling must have been around sixteen feet high. Again, though Eric had know way of knowing for sure, every room’s ceiling was exactly 16’2”. He immediately thought that this must be a less than ideal living scenario for Sarah. However, he quickly realized that she must have chosen to stay at this apartment complex precisely because of its tall ceilings. Now that he was thinking about it, he had never seen any apartment rooms with such vertically. He supposed this was her only option.

The third thing that Eric noticed was that there was without a doubt a party going on in the room right beside Sarah’s. People were loitering outside of this, and bright lights were emanating from its windows. However, this party’s biggest giveaway was the noise. Sound was seeping out of the room and into the nighttime air, drowning out any natural noises that Eric might have heard.

About six minutes after midnight, Eric finally reached the door to Sarah’s apartment. The Thai boy sent her a text to let her know that he was outside, knowing full well that she wouldn’t be able to hear him if he knocked. A few seconds later, the door to her apartment opened up, right at 12:07.

Eric had gotten over his sheer disbelief of Sarah’s size a long time ago. There was no point in claiming that something was unrealistic or impossible when there was proof that said otherwise. He could question the scientific reasoning behind her height all he wanted, but the fact of the matter was that she did indeed exist.

However, this was still the very first time that Eric had seen her stand up. He felt that he had earned the right to be shocked now that he was seeing her from a new perspective.

Eric was 5’8”, which was well above the average for Thai men. However, this meant nothing at all in the face of Sarah. It had never set in for Eric that he was easily less than a third of this girl’s size. Sarah’s knees, detectable through her skinny jeans, were directly level with Eric’s shoulders. This meant that the top of his head was just a foot higher than his partner’s knees. Additionally, each of her thighs were easily thicker than his entire body, and even her calves were as thin as his waist at their thickest part. As he stood this close to Sarah for the first time, he couldn’t just see their sheer difference in size—he could feel it. It was as if a massive wall had suddenly been built right in front of him. The fact that he could just slightly feel her body heat didn’t make it any better.

Before Eric looked up at Sarah, he momentarily looked down, probably out of instinct. Her booted feet were 2’5”, which the boy could tell were just less than half the length of his entire body. Looking at his own shoes next to hers, he had no doubt in his mind that he could have comfortably stood on just one of her feet with both of his.

“...Come in.” Sarah spoke in her deep voice, prompting Eric to finally look up at her. However, as his eyes traveled upwards, he came across the item that she was holding in her right hand. There, in between her index and middle fingers, where what remained of her stress ball. The poor thing had been thoroughly unraveled into two, hanging on by a segment that was a mere inch in width.

“Thanks!” Eric made the effort to be cordial, but nothing more. When he thought about it, the stand-offish Sarah probably didn't want him here any more than he wanted to be here. He was overrating his own presence.

Sarah stepped aside so that Eric could make his way in. As Eric walked into the living room of her apartment, he was taken aback by how normal it looked. From his position at the door, there was a couch to his right, a coffee table right in front of him, and a single chair behind that table. To his left was a kitchen area, and on the other side of both the table and chair, was another door. This must have led to her bedroom.

Indeed, what shocked Eric was that everything was designed to fit a normal sized person. The couch, table, chair, kitchen, and even both of her door frames were much more suited for someone of Eric’s stature. Eric figured that pieces of furniture designed for 16 foot tall people didn’t quite exist.

Suddenly, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for Sarah given her living conditions.

But the sooner he left, the sooner he could stop thinking about it.

“So, where do you want to begin? I already started working on the charts we’ll need to submit before I got here.” Eric walked over to the table, which caused Sarah to end up behind him. He started to take his backpack off, preparing to place it on the table. However, when he was seconds away from placing his bag onto the flat surface…

A force stronger than any Eric had ever felt slammed straight into his back.

Eric let out a pained, bloodcurdling hack as he felt himself cough up blood. As this happened, he was launched across the entire length of the living room. His limp body traveled about twenty-five feet horizontally and three feet above the ground. It finally stopped its trajectory once his back connected with the wall, causing another jolt of pain to shoot through his body. He dropped like a rock down to the ground, his torso and limbs sprawled out on the carpeted floor. His face was turned painfully to his right, flat against the ground. From his new vantage point, he could see the blood slowly dripping from his mouth. He couldn’t move his body a single inch after that impact. Just what the hell hit him? He couldn’t see anything but floor right now.

“I told you to get here at 12 A.M. You got here at 12:07.”

Wait, she couldn’t have…

“Maybe get here on time, and that won’t happen.” Eric heard Sarah’s deep voice ring out above him, as he heard a thud that could only be a large boot setting itself down onto the ground. There was no possible way, right? Did Sarah just kick him across the room?

“W-Wuh… Wait…” Eric spoke as he started to hear more heavy footsteps. He had regained his ability to speak after that strike—that much was good. However, this was overshadowed by the fact that Sarah was seemingly approaching him. In just four steps, the black leather of Sarah’s boot filled his vision, as she stood directly in front of him.

Sarah let out a deep, lengthy sigh. Eric didn’t see her roll her eyes from his vantage point, but he could see her shift her foot. It was only after he felt what could only be her fingers around his forearm that he realized that she must have crouched down to the ground to reach him.

Following this, Eric felt the large digits surrounding his forearm tighten to an uncomfortable degree. No… to a painful degree. These were really her fingers, weren’t they? They were just her fingers, and yet, they spanned the entire area from her wrist to her elbow, and gripped with a force that felt like his bone was getting crushed.

Not giving him a chance to dwell on the pain for too long, Eric found his body parts lifted up from the floor, starting with his arm. Next was his torso, along with it his head. His body was being pulled upright, with his legs rising up from the floor next. However, just when his feet were the parts of his body left on the floor, right when he thought he would stop… his feet rose up as well.

Sarah was lifting him up into the air, using just one of her hands.

Eric instinctively closed his eyes during the entire ordeal. However, once his ascent stopped, his eyelids crept open… and he was met with eyes three times larger than his own. Mere inches away from his face.

And with their brows furrowed and eyelids narrowed… Eric truly understood the meaning of the phrase “a deer caught in headlights.”

“Stand up.” Sarah’s deep voice growled, seemingly exceptionally loud due to its close proximity to Eric’s ears. At first, Eric wondered how he could possibly stand while being held up midair.

However, her command made more sense once her painful grip left his forearm, and he plummeted straight to the ground.

Of course, Eric ended up as a disheveled mess on the ground, his limbs once again sprawled flat. Pain shot through every bone in his body, and wait… was his hand bending the wrong way?

Between this fall and the prior kick to his back, Eric was confident that he wouldn’t be able to move for at least the next month. There was no energy to be found left in his body at all, all of it sapped away over the last minute.

However, to his surprise, his neck started to instinctively crane up. Upwards to Lauren. As in a desperate attempt by prey to keep its predator in view.

And through his broken hand, bruised innards, and the blood still sputtering from his mouth… after one look into Sarah’s eyes, Eric found the motivation to stand up in a matter of seconds.

Trembling, legs buckled, and unable to speak, Eric now stood in front of Sarah, his head now level with her knees.

This is what she wanted, right? Eric expected her to give some sign of approval… to make it clear that she wouldn’t harm him any further. Or better yet, that he could leave.

Instead, her voice rang out overhead:

“Jeez, what a pussy.”