Unwanted Reunion

Unwanted Reunion.

              “Vess!”  Hector pushed the door open.  “What are you doing in here.  I told you that you needed to be guarding the guest we brought in.”

              The woman blew her bangs to the other side of her face.  “Guard duty is beneath me.”  She stood up.  “Besides, whenever have we had to deal with guarding people before?  I thought you said if we found rouge giantesses from that town, would just. . .”

              “I told you what the situation is.”  He grabbed her by the arm and shook her.  “Can’t I ever get anything through that thick skull of yours?”

              Vess rolled her eyes.  “Look, I don’t know why you are so interested in me being the next one to watch over these sorry bunch of losers.  I don’t want to.  I don’t even want to stay here.”  She sighed and looked out the window.

              “Well, that isn’t your choice, Vess.  As my daughter, it’s your job to—”

              “Job?”  Her head snapped back, and her eyes burned into his body.  “Is it my job to stay here and keep people over fifty feet tall hidden away from the world?  What kind of life is that?  Huh?  I didn’t ask for this.  I never did.”

              Hector slapped her across the face.  “Stop that right now.  You need to understand your—”

              “Stop treating me like I am a child.  I am not!  Do you even know how old I am?”  She stood up, looming over him.  Vess was the tallest person in the village by a wide margin, having to duck in most of the buildings.  Everyone was a good ten to twenty feet smaller than she was.  “Hell, you even sent me out into the world to see the evils of humanity.  That was twenty years ago.”  Hector tried to slap her again, but she stopped him.  “Why can’t you get Kira to do this soul-sucking job that you want?  I am sure she is more than eager.”

              Hector snorted.  “More like more than eager to start a war.”

              “What?”

              “Nothing.  Look, no one but. . . hey, where are you going?”

              Vess walked to the door.  “For a walk.  I am not listening to you rant on, and ignore me.”  She ducked out of the doorway.  “Because you are just so bullheaded that you can’t see anything outside of your own point of view.”  She slammed the door behind her.

              ***

              Sarah sighed as she looked up at the sky.  “Well, this isn’t what I expected from a society of giant folk.”  She looked down at the chain around her ankle.  “Not at all.”

              A woman who was a good thirty feet taller than Sarah walked up to her, the woman’s giant blue eyes staring into Sarah’s soul.

              “Do you want something?”

              “I want to see the woman that has been causing such a stir.”  She crossed her arms.  “I don’t get it.  You don’t look like much.”  She snorted.  “I don’t even get why you are still around.”

              “What are you talking about?”

              The woman pulled Sarah to her feet.  “Do you want to know what we do with people who have twisted DNA like you?”  She slams her foot on the ground. “We end them before they can pollute our kind.  You are an abomination.”

              “I am not!”

              She dropped Sarah before bending over and undoing her leg shackle.  “You can say that all you want, but it doesn’t change the truth.  Now get up.”  She twisted her hips to show off a gleaming axe in the moonlight.  “We are going for a walk.”

              “Huh?  But Hector. . .”

              “Hector wants me to take control of this stupid village, so I am going to deal with you.”  She forced Sarah to her feet once more.  “Now move it!”  Sarah gulped as a strong hand was forced around her shoulder.  “Just walk naturally.”

              “But if you are doing this because you can. . .”

              The woman elbowed Sarah in the back.  “Shut up!”  She looked about.  “And keep your voice down.  The last thing we need is any sleepless nosy bodies overhearing us.”

              Sarah got the feeling that this lady wasn’t telling the entire truth, but with a weapon around her belt, there wasn’t much of a way she could question her, so for the time being, she let the woman escort her into the middle of the forest. As they moved through the trees and the moonlight shone down from above, Sarah tried to start up a conversation. “Can you at least tell me anything about giantess civilization?”

              “That isn’t what we call it.”

              “Then what do you call it?”

              “Nothing.  It’s just home.  Stupid, boring, predictable home.  Where nothing ever happens.”  She elbowed Sarah hard in the back.  “Now fucking move it.  I am not going to waste my breath on a bitch like you!”

              “You don’t have to be so crude.”

              “And why do you think you can talk back to me?”

              Another voice filled the air. “Because she is the loveliest woman in the world!”  Before either of them could blink, Ashely dashed at Sarah’s capture. The sudden ambush caught the giant woman off guard, knocking her to the ground and sending her weapon flying as they crushed dozens of pine trees.

              “Ashey.  You are—”

              “It’s temporary.  Thank the timely arrival of the super moon.  Now help me keep this bitch down!”  Sarah nodded her head and rushed over.  “You fucking asshole!”  Ashely punched the giantess in the gut.  “That is for shrinking me!”

              “I did no such thing.  I have never seen you before.”  The woman sneered.  “Besides, I would have just killed you, not shrunk you.”

              “Huh?”  Ashely blinked her eyes.  “That was blunt.”

              “What?  Too much for you to handle?”

              Sarah narrowed her eyes.  “Why do you want to kill us?  Even that Kira woman didn’t want to do that until she realized I had a human parent.”

              Ashely chimed in.  “Who are you?”

              “Who am I?”  She turned her head.  “Like I would tell you.”

              Ashely pressed her elbow down harder.  “Tell us!”

              “Ughh.  My name is Vess.  Now get off me, you bitch!”

              Sarah snorted.  “Okay, Vess, now explain the hostility.”

              Vess narrowed her eyes, focusing on Sarah.  “You want to know why I am so. . . hostile?  Why I hate you?  If you weren’t around, my life would be perfect!”  Her voice raised in pitch.  “PERFECT!”  She thrashed under them.  “Why couldn’t you have just died years ago.  You little bitch.”  Tears filled her eyes.  “I don’t need you to be alive.  If the others knew you. . . they would exile me or worse.  I can’t have that happen.”

              “What are you talking about?”  Sarah looked at her, confused.

              “You can’t tell?  You are almost the spitting image of me.  You are going to ruin what little of a crappy life I have.”  She tried her best to worm her way free.  “I am going to do my best to get rid of you so. . . you don’t ruin my life.  I hate you.  I hate you.  I wish you were never born!”

              Sarah stood up.  “You. . . no.  No.  This can’t be.”

              Ashely turned around.  “Sarah?”

              “You can’t be my mother.  My mother is supposed to be kind and loving.”

              “I gave you up for a reason. You would have ruined my life, and now you are,” she spat. And I am going to rectify the mistake I made long ago!”

              Ashely pushed down on Vess even harder.  “I am not letting you anywhere near Sarah.  You hear me?”

              “You are going to have to let me up eventually.”  Vess looked at Ashely.  “You won’t stay this way without the light of your precious super moon, and when you shrink back down, my mistake won’t be able to keep me down.”  She snorted.  “I can wait all the time that I need.”

              Ashely suddenly hit Vess clean across the face, knocking the woman out cold.  “What did you do that for?”

              Ashely rubbed her hand.  “You heard her.  She wasn’t going to let you go.  So, I dealt with the situation myself.  God, I haven’t had to do that in ages.”

              “Ashely—”

              She put her hands on Sarah’s shoulders.  “I didn’t do this just for you.  Remember when I told you about my parents?  For all I know, this bitch could be just like my mother, looking down on me because I was some genetic mistake.  I wanted to do that for ages and well. . . your—”

              Sarah waved her arms about.  “You don’t have to finish.  I get it.”  She sighed.  “Let’s just go back.  We have some things to take care of.”

              Sarah nodded. “Right. Let’s hurry back and help Fredrick’s Son. I want to be done with this business as soon as possible so we can go home.”

              ***

              Alex closed the door behind him and walked up, staring at the young boy, who was slowly shrinking a few inches.  “I heard from the ladies around here you are important.”  He pulled out a small gun from his right shoe.  “Like so important they will do anything to keep you around.”

              The young man backed away.  “Who are you?  What do you want with me?”

              Alex laughed, his eyes jumping all over the room as the boy shrank even more.  “You?  Why you are going to bring the bitch I came here for to me.”  He pointed the gun at himself.  “From you, all things are going to become possible.”  He pointed the gun at the young boy again.  “I hear you have my name.  Alex, right?  Funny.  I just used it so people would forget who I was.  When you spend your life hunting down a nearly hundred-foot broad well, you tend not to use your real name.”  He laughed again.

              The boy gulped.  “What is your real name?”

              “Like I would tell you.  That is going to be reserved for when I find the lady I am looking for.  Then—” He shot his gun, the bullet going within a few inches of the boy’s right ear, causing him to fall to the ground as he started to grow again.  “What?  Come on, get up.  If I wanted to shoot you, I wouldn’t have missed.  My instructor called me a dead shot or something like that.”  He laughed.  “Perfectly safe with me, boy.”  Alex walked over and put his hand on the young boy’s back.  “Now, just play your part and let me do all the talking.  No one will hurt you ever again.”