The bush felt prickly on his skin.

Don’t see me, don’t see me, Yoyo repeated in his head, trying to wish the thought into reality.

He was good at hide and seek but these stakes were much higher. To be seen meant to die—he was certain of that. Yoyo suppressed his urge to run, whimper, and shake, trying to focus as much as possible on not moving. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure how long he could hold perfectly still with the prickly brush poking him. Perhaps another minute. Maybe less.

The monster lumbered from stone to stone in no particular hurry, singing a horrible song as he went;

“RUM DOO,

“RUM DOO,

“MOUNTAIN STRONG,

“ROLLING THUNDER MAKE TREE GONE!”

The colossal monster appeared like something out of the monster books in Dad’s office, except this one was real, not make-believe. It was the closest thing he’d ever seen to a stone giant, and as Yoyo settled on the name of the monster, the giant seemed content to roam about lifting boulders and then setting them back down.

Every third boulder the giant would mumble something unintelligible to itself, but it seemed to Yoyo like a counting of sorts. Yoyo counted too, one by one and not by threes, and by his count the giant had lifted eleven boulders and set eight of them back down. Three of them had been hurled into the forest of the valley, and the giant had laughed with great delight as the rocks barreled fast down the slope and crashed through the barrier of trees.

“BOW DOWN TO THE MIGHTY STONE,” commanded the giant. Its voice rumbled the earth as if the dirt beneath its feet trembled at its spoken word.

Yoyo trembled too. He didn’t want to find out what would happen if the giant found him. Death was just an end; there were many ways a giant could achieve it. What he imagined was terribly grim, and while imagining, his current hiding place didn’t feel safe. He needed to shift himself deeper into the bush.

The branches scraped against his skin, causing pain as he forced himself deeper.

Crack!

A twig snapped and Yoyo froze.

The giant froze too. It turned its head so that it appeared to be looking right at Yoyo.

Yoyo’s eyes grew wide. He held in a whimper.

The giant took a step towards him, paused, then turned its attention back to the half-buried boulders and resumed its task of lifting and lowering.

Yoyo could breathe again. It hadn’t found him.

Suddenly, Yoyo caught motion out of the corner of his eye and he turned to see what it was. A bird hopped through the tall grass. It was Birdy, his gray feathered friend.

Birdy pecked the ground and then continued hopping, first beside a rock, then behind it and out of sight.

Don’t move Birdy, don’t move! repeated Yoyo.

But the words were a thought and not heard by his friend. His advice was as ignored as he was hidden. The bird hopped along as it did before, pecking the ground and eating the ants.

“AH HA!” shouted the giant.

It hurled another boulder toward the forest, then grabbed an extraordinarily large sack that had been buried beneath the boulder in the dirt. The giant loosened the sack’s drawstring and looked inside.

“HMM,” said the giant, low grumbles rolling out from its mouth. The sack appeared to be made from burlap, its condition worn but mostly intact, and as the giant rummaged inside, Yoyo watched Birdy hop curiously closer to the giant, to an area on the ground that was a dry dirt patch.

Birdy! Go back! Yoyo instructed his friend. No ant hill is worth dying!

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Birdy continued without concern and started to probe the dirt with its beak. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Yoyo was silent.

Birdy continued pecking. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Abruptly, though not unexpectedly, the giant howled.

It stomped toward Birdy like a freight train running off the tracks. The whole ground shook as it moved. The howling was arguably worse—its full intent made clear, it was a monster out for blood.

Birdly hopped quickly, then it tried to fly, but its wings couldn’t catch the wind and it fluttered back into the dirt. The bird tumbled over itself helpless, feather to dirt, and as the giant arrived, something surprising happened. Instead of smashing the bird to bits, it removed a catching net from its sack, then seized the bird in the coarse net.

Birdy wasn’t dead, but caught.

The giant turned over its catching net—the item was a big stick attached to a net on one end, and then the giant lifted the bird up into the air and gazed upon it. A tail feather fell through a hole in the net and the wind carried it gently to the ground. But the gentleness was not extended to the rest of the bird who tossed and fluttered as the giant stomped away with the net-tangled bird over its shoulder.

“RUM DOO,

“RUM DOO,

“MOUNTAIN STRONG,

“FOREST BIRD MAKE BOREDOM GONE!”

The giant stomped a hundred feet away and placed its sack and catching net on the ground. Birdy was tangled in the makeshift net and couldn’t escape. He needed help.

I know what to do, thought Yoyo.

A plan came quickly to him, he just needed to be brave like James.

But Yoyo wasn’t like his brother James. He liked tagging along on his brother’s adventures but he didn’t wish to be a hero. He liked the adventure itself. Now that Birdy was caught, a hero was needed to save the day.

James would dart out of the bush, sneaking as fast and quiet as possible, and free Birdy while the giant was distracted. That was a stupid plan. One that would end in disaster. Yoyo’s plan was smart. He would run away in the opposite direction and get help. That’s what Mom always said to do. A policeman or fireman was surely around here somewhere, he just needed to find a station.

Unfortunately the giant was only a leap and a dash from Yoyo’s bush. If the giant turned away, he could escape and go find help. He just needed to be patient and wait for the precise moment to run.

The giant reached toward the sky in an upward stretch and then sat down in the light of the sun, relaxing like a monstrous sunbathing colossus. It picked a clump of dirt from its leg and discarded it casually, then searched for other areas to clean. It seemed like it was in no hurry to do much of anything, but when it turned its attention to the items inside the burlap sack, Yoyo prepared for his escape.

Birdy lay completely silent in the mess of netting near the giant. Yoyo assumed it knew to lay still because of its instinct, or maybe his friend was just really scared. He was scared too, although he couldn’t think about that now. He had to be prepared, ready to run fast, and lucky for him, on his feet were the green and black sneakers that Dad picked out for him. He always beat Dad in these shoes. The Velco made him run super fast.

From the burlap sack, the giant pulled out several round stones that he set on the ground beside him. The stones were like bowling balls, almost perfectly round, and they looked rather heavy. The giant picked one up and rolled it into a cluster of others, almost like playing a game of marbles. A terrible howl released from the giant’s mouth whenever the stones did not roll exactly as he wanted.

In any case, the giant was distracted by its game. Yoyo saw his chance.

Counting backwards from three, Yoyo darted out of the bush and ran away from the giant.

A few moments later, a howl echoed across the slope.

Yoyo paused briefly to turn around. The giant was standing, facing him.

“AHHH!” screamed Yoyo, beginning again into a sprint.

He ran fast. He darted between the stones and leapt over the tall grass.

The familiar, terrifying sound of the runaway freight train became louder and louder.

Yoyo looked back—the giant was gaining on him. He tried to run faster but his foot landed awkwardly. He lost his balance.

“Oof!” Yoyo grunted.

As he hit the ground, all the air was suddenly gone from his lungs. Rolling onto his side, he struggled for breath and tasted the dirt upon his lips.

Breathe! Breathe!

Some air came into his lungs, but not enough. His mouth tasted iron and his tongue searched for the cut.

The stomping stopped, the sound of the freight train replaced by a wicked laugh, the giant grabbed Yoyo with both hands and turned him upside down. Then he was brought face-to-face with the stone monstrosity.

“A HALFLING,” boomed the giant with great delight.

Yoyo felt a rush of blood to his head as the giant swung him down by his legs. He struggled to bring air into his lungs and had no strength to fight or to scream. The dirt painted his knuckles as the giant dragged him back to Birdy, the stones, and the burlap sack.

The giant grinned an ugly smile. It held up the sack and opened it wide. First the giant dumped in Birdy, then the catching net, then it was Yoyo’s turn. There was no kicking or screaming or thoughts of escape.

Yoyo was caught.