Big Bend (g/t)

Weekend

Dave

"Ready?" Angie asked as I pulled open the door to the car.

"And set!" I replied, putting my backpack on the floor. Outside, the first rays of sun were just beginning to peak over the horizon.

"Perfect. According to the map," she paused to look at her phone, "we should be there by about one."

"Sounds great to me. It's going to be weird being away from here for a whole three days." I buckled my seat belt.

"It is, isn't it? I think Corpus Christi will be cool, though." 

"Oh, yeah. I'm really excited about that bar you were telling me about," I agreed. By the time the sun had fully risen, we were well on our way to the city. It had so far been rare to get matching days off, so when we'd seen the schedule, Angie had been quick to suggest we do something fun.

That ended up starting with a diner in the city that had some delicious eggs and even more delicious pancakes. It was technically far beyond breakfast time - the drive to reach the coastal city had taken close to nine hours, so even with leaving before dawn we still hadn't arrived until mid afternoon. I didn't think breakfast had a time limit, though.

It was refreshing to be away from the park, I thought as I took another bite of the pancakes. For a whole list of reasons.

There were the generally long working hours. The endless questions about where the bathroom was. The giant alien who partly terrified and partly fascinated me. "Little" things like that.

I'd told myself I wasn't going to think about any of that when we were in Corpus Christi for the weekend, and yet I'd already failed at it. 

"So, we check-in after we eat, and then...well, I'm down for whatever," Angie said.

"You don't want to rest a bit first?" She'd done most of the driving, despite me offering more than once. She shook her head.

"I've had way too much coffee for that," she replied with a shrug. "Besides, we came all the way here, might as well enjoy it. We should go see the beach!"

"Works for me," I replied. We finished eating, paying and then heading to the hotel. Between the long drive and the three day weekend, we'd decided staying somewhere for two nights, so we'd get a full day to explore the area, was the move. The hotel we'd picked wasn't anything fancy - just your run of the mill chain hotel, but it at least offered free breakfast. Something I found myself already looking forward to despite the fact that I'd just finished breakfast.

I was also relieved to find that our hotel room was clean enough. More than that, actually. Angie and I dragged our suitcases into the room. She suggested we get changed and freshen up before venturing out. I had no objections to that plan. I'd attempted to smooth my hair out before going into the diner, but it was still far messier than I would have liked after several hours of half consciously leaning against the car window and my neck pillow.

After getting changed and actually styling my hair, I sat down on the bed, waiting for Angie to emerge from the bathroom. I didn't have to wait long, as it turned out, and moments later, we were back in the car, this time heading towards the coast itself. I watched as several looming skyscrapers whooshed by the car.

"Weird to think Easton's probably as tall as some of those," Angie said, nodding to the buildings in the rearview mirror as she pulled into a parking spot.

"Not all of them," I replied. She was right, though. The largest building I'd seen Easton next to was the visitor center, which was only two stories. Three if you counted the balcony on the roof. It was strange trying to imagine him in a city. Especially a pretty much exclusively human sized city. While a few larger cities did have a couple buildings now that would have fit the smaller variety of giants, those were few and far between. Corpus Christi wasn't one of them. Not that it would have mattered much, considering that Easton was also decidedly not one of the smaller species of giants.

"Probably most of them," I amended after a moment. "I think some of them are taller than him, though."

"I'll look it up," Angie said, pulling out her phone. "He's what? 200-something feet tall?"

I nodded. 218.

"Yeah, you're right. The tallest is 411." She replied. "And only..." she paused, counting whatever she was reading. "Nine or ten of them are taller than he is."

"That's pretty weird, isn't it?" I tried to keep my tone light as we got out of the car, but an edge of anxiety crept into it nonetheless. "That we know someone taller than most of those buildings."

"Yeah, I guess it is," Angie said. "Think he's definitely the tallest friend I have."

"You know a lot of building sized aliens?" I asked jokingly.

"So many," Angie replied, rolling her eyes slightly as she laughed. I looked back at the buildings in the distance, towering over us, and felt an unsettled feeling creep into my stomach, thinking about the damage someone Easton's size could easily do to an entire city, unarmed.

Good thing he's in the middle of nowhere. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, another followed - that that may have not been a coincidence. The unsettled feeling only increased.

It's probably just for logistical reasons. I mean, it's not like he could work at Carlsbad Caverns or something. More space is a definite plus for a giant. They wouldn't have hired him if they actually thought he would try to do...anything.

Despite my attempts to reassure myself, some of my unease had apparently seeped into my expression. Angie glanced over at me as we walked along the beach.

"You okay?" Angie asked.

I nodded quickly.

She gave me an unconvinced look, one eyebrow raised.

"You sure?" She pressed. When I didn't reply after a moment, she continued. "You mentioned having met someone from Aphiria before one time...is whatever's up with how you feel about Easton related to that?"

"I don't feel any particular way about Easton," I replied. A bit too defensively to be convincing. I drew in a long breath, exhaling slowly.

"I've never told anyone this before," I started softly.

"You don't have to-I was just curious-" Angie started. I shook my head.

"I think I should," I said. "I-Easton's the first Aphirial I've met officially. But when I was a kid, I saw something. Something I shouldn't have seen. I...saw an Aphirial..." my voice broke as I tried to force the next words out of my mouth. "...kill someone."