The Giant's Home

Everyday we climb. We climb and climb until we reach the top.

We've been climbing this cliff for so long now. I don't even know what the world below looks like.

Why are we climbing? What are we climbing from? What do we want to reach at the top?

I asked those questions before but nobody answered me. They all looked away and said I was too young to understand - if they said anything at all.

The only one who looks at me was Tana.

She sits next to me, looks deep into my eyes and answers every question I have.

"We're climbing to escape the Giant down below. It's a monster so big; you can't even see its body. You only know it's coming when you hear its cries in the distance. There's no way to kill it. There's no way to hide from it. You just have to run forever and forget everything you've left behind. If you rest for even a moment, it will be too late. Your entire family could disappear... The Giant makes no mistakes."

"We're climbing to escape the Giant?"

"To escape. To survive. To search for a better place."

Matt climbs into the cave.

"I've found another cave. Let's head there now before it gets dark."

—

We find caves in the walls as we climb and use our tools to dig out more space so we can rest. Matt usually goes out first to go out to look for these caves. Then, he comes back and we all go there together. There used to be more people who helped him but there's only a few of us left now.

In the night, everything becomes black and all the light disappears.

Tana says you used to see stars in the night sky from the ground below. She says she remembers counting the stars when she was younger and that they were like sparkling diamonds.

Maybe once we reach the top, we can see those stars and diamonds too - whatever those are.

—

We sit in silence most of the day but today, Grandpa Jo started to talk a lot.

"When I was your age, there was no such thing as this 'Giant'. We all lived in one large village and we never thought about running or moving to other places. Ever since that creature forced us to leave our home, decades ago, I had the opportunity to see all kinds of things throughout the land.

I saw animals that I had never seen before and slept beneath trees with all kinds of shapes and patterns. I even remember thinking that I quite enjoyed the experience of travelling. I was glad that we had a reason to. The next day, I woke up and found most of the village had gone. We had to run again. All I could see in the distance was that same red smoke I had seen when we first saw that thing. I felt so guilty for ever feeling happy to leave our village.

I still remember its shrieks. How awful..."

That was the first time Grandpa Jo had talked about his childhood. That was also the last thing he said before we climbed the walls without him.

—

We collect the plants that grow on the cliff and eat those to survive. Sometimes we find lots of different kinds of plants and sometimes we find nothing.

When it rains, we collect all the water we can and store it in our containers. It's heavy to carry but we have to carry it to survive.

"I miss my mom's cooking. We could never afford the really nice ingredients but my mom would always be able to make something tasty from whatever we had... It's not fair. She was so good, so how could we do such a thing to her? "