The concoction that the giant woman placed before them was a beautiful one, it was filled with yams, carrots, potatoes, dumplings, noodles and tons of meat, strange meat, but meat nonetheless. They’d eat it all, neglecting the two they were escorting, and for good reason.
“So… what’s this task I’m hearing about? What did they ask you to do? That sweet little girl… she’s quite nice… even August is…” The giant was sat on her heels, hands stacked at the table’s edge, and her chin atop them.
“He asked us to… to bring them ‘there’… and if we were to hurt them— which is just code for ‘protect them’…! He’s going to lynch us with our own intestines…! Why…!? What did I ever do to him…!? Huh…!? I’m not the one that went running my mouth… I was cooperative from the beginning… the beginning dammit…! I was going on just fine… and then he ‘saved’! Us! It’s all just so fu— it’s all just so frustrating!” Kim was pulling on her hair at that point, her eyes flooded with tears.
“He didn’t ask you to bring them… like, just close enough for them to reach, the whole way…?” The giant patted Kim on the head.
“That’s the thing…! He said to bring them there… and even if he wasn’t specific… if we stray too far from these two nincompoops…!” Kim looked at May on the chair beside her, and then at Bob that was beside Brody, both unconscious. “They’d never survive…!”
“I… the only advice I could give is to control yourselves… but… I don’t think he has any intentions of letting you live… is it because of—…why these ones…?” The giant caressed Kim and Brody with her eyes.
“How were we supposed to know that time would stay the same…! And how was I supposed to know that they’d still be alive…! I just picked one, that’s it! Now, it’s all just one big shit show…!” Kim began scratching at her own chest and face, almost clawing away her skin.
“I wish I could help you… I really do… but the most I can do… is get you there…” The building would begin to shake as the giant spoke, and soon, steps could be heard from the outside as they began to move.
“I mean… you’re more help than him…!” Kim pointed to Brody as if she was presenting a trophy, a bad one, but a trophy nonetheless. “He wants to bargain with them…! With ‘her’!” The woman’s eyes widened as she spoke, still surprised by his words, herself.
“…I—…” The giant looked at Brody as if he was some type of extraterrestrial spectacle, eyes as wide as Kim’s. “Listen honey…” She’d turn back to the small woman, cradling her face. “You can’t help an idiot… do what you have to do to survive… ok…?”
“I’m right here you know…?!” Brody finally found it to defend himself,
“You might be… but you must have left your brain somewhere else…” The giant didn’t even look at him, she continued to comfort Kim.
“C’mon… it’s at least worth a try? Is it not...?” The brute sought validation, companionship.
A second would pass, then two, then ten, and finally fifteen.
“…Was I supposed to agree with you…?” The giant finally looked at him, disgust.
“It’s… worth a try…! Because if not… news flash…!” A tear would roll down his cheek and nest in his beard. “We’re dead anyway!”
There would be silence for a moment, for a long while actually, the giant couldn’t say anything, because she was a bystander, and Kim said nothing, because she knew it was true.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“You… are going to die… a very brutal death… as for me… he’s not getting to me…” Kim would wipe her cheeks to her ears, getting rid of the tears. “I don’t want to die like that… in fact… I don’t want to die at all… so go ahead…” She’d sniffle. “So go and bargain with him… go and make a deal with the damn devil!” She couldn’t do it; she couldn’t think it sensible.
“I will…” The brute smiled as he wiped away the tear, shaking his head as if possessed.
“There, there, you can think of something, can’t you?” The giant rested a hand on Kim’s shoulder.
“I have one idea… I have one… you have a weapon don’t you…? A knife or something…? Something that can kill an idea in this new world?” The woman looked up at the giant with determination in her eyes.
The giant hesitated not, she acted quickly, reaching behind her veil and into her bosom. She’d search it for a while, twisting and turning as she looked off into the ceiling, and eventually she’d find what she was looking for.
Her hand would emerge shrouded in a black mist, and as it cleared, a dagger could be seen. It was small, small enough for Kim to hold, but it was boarding on sword, if I am to be honest.
The desperate woman would take the blade still, and she’d investigate it with her eyes. It was silver, all of it, even the blade, even the rounded pummel, even the handle, even the scabbard, even the strap.
It was strange really, but it was taken still. Kim would cast the thing over her head, and it would fall across one of her shoulders. The silver, that would have been assumed to be solid until then, bent and stretched like an actual flexible strap as it rested on her.
She tested it, pulling against it to ensure it would stay, and on que, it molded to the shape of a belt and wrapped around her chest and waist. It was perfect.
“Thank you.” Kim looked off into distance, never truly looking at anything.
“Happy to help…” The giant realized Kim’s intentions.
The guilt was much weighed against a heart though, and the giant woman couldn’t quite stay there, so she left to lay down on a sofa a distance away, staring at the ceiling. She wanted to help, and she wanted to think that she could, and would if she could, but there was nothing to be done, and especially not against Aspects.
It made the weight on her chest all the heavier considering the fact that she was carrying them there. Yes, she was technically helping them to complete their task, but, the longer they took, the longer they had before they’d have to come face to face with the consequences of their actions. So, in a way, she wasn’t really helping them at all, she was hurting them.
It’s not like she was going to leave immediately after either, so would she watch helplessly from the sidelines. It was a heavy weight to sleep with, to find comfortable, she couldn’t do it. There was not much longer either, not with the way the living building was moving.
The river was as much of a place as much as it was a fleeting emotion, and like illusive feelings, the journey to get there could be easy, or it could be a hard one. On that particular day, the journey was looking easy, and they had minutes to figure something out.
I say they had to figure something out, but truly, what could they do against those that could spawn thoughts and bend reality, nothing, but what if that wasn’t the case. That pattern of thought, it wasn’t mine, it was the giant’s. She’d spring up from her sofa, no hope yet, but an idea burning.
“What’s going to happen when you get to ‘that’ place…? Is he going to be waiting for you there…?” The giant had to at least try.
“I… I don’t know… all I know is, it sounds like he will be there… so… I really don’t know…” Kim had made up her mind, she wasn’t looking for another solution, or thinking about the specifics.
“So what if you ‘get them there’… and leave… he’s not here yet… that’s obvious, and if he is here, he’s using some type of trickery… so, before he gets here, why not run… I can deliver the two… if it’s coming from me… maybe he’ll listen…?” The giant dreaded the words, but it was the best she could do.
“I’m not running… he’ll find me anyway… here… or over there… it doesn’t matter… so I know exactly what I’m going to do…” Kim took hold of the knife, squeezing it.
“I see you’ve decided…” The giant fell back down, the strength she had barely holding her together, gone.
The steps would go on for a few minutes more, and then they’d stop. The building would shake as it lowered, and thus, it was done. They had arrived at their destination.
It wouldn’t be a second later until Kim had hopped from the seat, May in hand. Brody wasn’t as happy about it all, but he followed her lead, dragging the half dead Bob with him.
They headed straight for the door, as for the giant, she couldn’t bear to look at them.