Storm (G/T)

Facing the Inhuman

God, do I miss him. I've pretty much forgotten the scent of the forest by now, as well as much of what happened the first time I was there. I remember being scared and angry, then endlessly happy and ready for anything. I remember sewing and trying to break out and never wanting to leave. I remember being held against my will, then choosing to get close. What a fast transformation. I want to live through the good parts again. Never have I been so prepared for that.

A few hours have passed by now. 55°. All is well. I hop under a large tree real quick and grab a bite, then continue on my way. I'm quite bored, to be honest. All I have going on in my mind is where I'm going, how I'm getting there and what happened last time.

Well, that and the talk with the innkeeper. It was weird that she didn't recognize me. And how terrifying is it that there's a giant's bone kept in the inn as a prize of some sort? Had it not been property, I'd have taken it right out the door with me and kept it stowed away where no one can find it. I'm not prepared to let the entire giant race get exposed like that. They wouldn't do that to humans, would they? Not that I have much experience with giants, just one of them who happened to be friendly.

I wonder if giants do that with human remains they find. Keep them as discoveries to show off. It's creepy both ways. I also wonder if that innkeeper could tell I was the girl from the story. Maybe I overthought it. Maybe not. It's likely that it was a wild coincidence, since my name never was exposed in news, but she could've pieced things together. I need to stop overthinking.

These thoughts are enough to keep me occupied for a while, as well as trying to count to a million (I'm currently at 94,357), but it doesn't make it any less boring of a trip. Whatever, I'm over halfway. More hours pass. It's about 3pm I assume, give or take. My phone says... 2:57. Damn, I am good.

My luggage is getting heavy. I'm not much of a fan of hauling it over three days, but I guess I need the exercise anyway. It's not easy navigating that house without energy; I learned that the hard way. 97,673.

8pm. I can see so much clearer now. The forest stands high above all else, a wall of trees that looks like a normal sized forest about a half hour away. In reality, it must be an hour and a half away, or more. It makes me feel good to know I'm close to being close... to being close. Okay, maybe I'm not that close. It's about a six-or-seven-hour walk to his house from the edge of the forest, but it's nice compared to the original ten-hour walk from the long way, but the map showed me a shorter path.

The further I walk, the closer the forest gets. Well, you'd expect that. It's so big and so far away that it doesn't seem to move at all, the same way the sun follows you when you're driving. The sun's starting to make it's way out, meaning I need to get there fast. My pace quickens to a speedwalk, then to somewhat of a run. I just don't want to be exposed during the night, especially with the risk of any other giant seeing me. God knows how many reside in the forest, I only know of one.

Finally, the cloud-breaking trees are only a few feet/meters in front of me. The giant-made hole sits at my feet, now flourishing with flowers around the tunnel's entrance. I pull out the map and hop through, finally ignoring the 55°. There are white marks where I need to enter, courtesy of a paint marker.

Well, I can't see much of anything here. The sun's fully down now, and despite how illuminating the stars are, this part of the forest is cluttered with leaves and massive pine needles, blocking most of the light. I need to search for something soft to be on. After some trekking around, trying not to stray too far from the path, I come across a patch of moss. This works. Shuffling it around to make sort of a bed, I lay to rest, covering myself with thick green plush.