zero

“Like I said, officer; George didn’t steal or threaten my life or anything like that. He just seemed … off. I don’t know how to put it?” Alex struggled to find his words as he shrugged at the big, burly officer towering above him, arms crossed with black shades covering his eyes.

The man hummed and shifted, standing more upright and increasing his height. “Course he seemed off,” he grumbled sternly, “boy just caused a few thousand dollars of damage. He outta be scared. Once we find him he’ll be working for years trying to pay that off.”

The officer glanced over his shoulder towards where his other officers stood around talking by their cars. Then he leaned down slightly, getting closer to Alex's face. "You better not be bullshitting us, Maldonado. I know your history." The clerk clenched his fingers into a fist behind his back. "Officer, I'm not..." he trailed off, frowning nervously. "I'm not trying to imply anything about... 'it'. I didn't even intend to call you, I was just concerned about George. I thought he was sick and called that lady at the resort to connect me to his friends. That's when I realized he was missing and called you to do the 'right thing'." There was an edge to his voice at the final two words. The officer stood back up straight and just nodded. "And it's good you finally have," He said.

"But officer-" Alex was cut off. "Son, I think it'd in yer best interest to stay out of this one. For yours and my station's own sake. Okay? Don't wanna have to take this place away from you, understand?"

Alex bit his tongue and nodded as the cop returned to his car. He disagreed with the man entirely. The officer clearly hadn’t met George in person or had seen him. It didn’t take years of a lasting friendship for the store clerk to know that a little guy like George couldn’t cause damage like that within the span of a few hours. George probably couldn’t do damage like that in a few days.

The sound of car doors shutting pulled Alex away from his thoughts, and he looked over at the source of the sounds. It was Sapnap and Karl, though they didn’t look as cheery nor as rested as they did the last time they met. It was almost intimidating, the manner of the way they approached Alex. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say Sapnap looked ready to beat somebody up.

“Hey, guys..” Alex greeted, raising a hand to give a small, awkward wave. Karl gave him a small smile and waved back, but Sapnap didn't bother with greetings as he bluntly said, “tell us what actually happened.” Alex frowned with confusion. “What do you mean? I haven’t lied to the cops about anything,” he said carefully. Karl stepped forward, his tone much more gentle than Sapnap’s as he said, “We don’t think you’ve lied about anything but..” He trailed off, “we think that there are some... elements you may have left out.”

Alex half-scoffed, half-gasped as he just slightly inched backward. “What? What could I have possibly left out? You haven’t even heard my story yet,” he exclaimed. “Then tell it,” Sapnap said, leaning closer to the clerk.

Alex told them everything that had happened from the moment George entered the shop, to him buying the chocolate for Karl, to him leaving in an odd, rushed manner.

“Alex,” Karl began. “I need you to think about everything you just told us. Yes, it was all very off and weird and whatnot.. but was there anything else that struck something in your mind? Something he did that.. maybe you have seen before? Or something you heard that.. maybe you’ve heard on other quiet nights that you try to explain away but.. you know isn’t right?”

Alex bit his cheek as his gaze refused to meet their eyes. “…No.”

“You’ve felt like something’s been off for years now, haven’t you?” Alex looked up at Sapnap with surprise. “That look in your eye, it’s the same as that woman’s.” Sapnap stepped forward and Alex looked away again. “One might think this place is a vacationer's dream, and you see it happen all the time. Happy tourists stopping by, telling you about their sweet, getaway cabins and going on and on, just like us, and you always wanna say something, but you can’t. You think they’ll think you’re crazy, don’t you? But.. you know something’s wrong. You’ve known it since you started working here, but you never admitted it.” Sapnap’s eyes softened for a moment as if he were reflecting his words on an experience of his own.

Alex frowned and turned his back to the Texan. “I’m sorry about your friend, but I don’t know anything.” He spat as he started to leave.

“Alex, please,” Karl cried, grabbing the clerk’s arm. “George is our best friend, he means everything to us, and his fate could be resting on whatever information you can give!” Alex turned to stare at Karl. “Please,” the man pleaded. “Anything.”

The warm hand left Alex’s arm and the clerk sighed. He glanced around a few times before leaning closer to the men. “My grandma told me to never, ever go into the woods alone, especially at night,” he murmured. "As a matter of fact, it was the last thing she told me." Sapnap and Karl glanced at each other.

“And it’s not like I ever wanted to,” he said slowly, his words shaky. “I always felt watched when I went out there.”

…

…

It took every ounce of willpower he had to keep himself from gagging. George turned his head and waved the giant’s hand away. “N-no, thank you,” he managed to say without lurching.

The monster, who’d been trying to offer George a bloody lump of raw flesh from god only knows what pushed the raw meat closer to the human. Using its other hand, it pointed to where its mouth was, trying to explain to George that, This is for you to eat.

George shook his head and finally gagged aloud, getting up from where he sat on the grassy ground to lean over a log, his face green with sickness.

It’s now officially been over a day since the monster - who George prefers to call, 'the giant' now, had kidnapped George from his cabin and taken him throughout the woods of this cabin resort he’d unenthusiastically agreed to go to with his two friends, Sapnap and Karl. For their first hours together, George was dead-set that this giant creature had malicious intentions for him, whether that be eating him alive, torturing him, or doing sadistic experiments. But after it had convinced the human to get chocolate and acted very appreciative and domestic towards him after he did, George wasn’t so sure his initial assumptions were correct.

He coughed a few times as he cleared his throat and tried to clear his mind of the thought of that meat. Behind him, the giant watched with interest and confusion as it took the hunk of bleeding flesh away from George and tossed it into the dark cavern of its own maw. A cold finger brushed up against George’s back, doing its best to rub up and down gently, soothingly. It would’ve felt nice if the giant had any body warmth at all.

The more time George spent with this creature, the more curious it was. Though it had a humanoid body, it lacked key details that, as result, made it very inhuman, like a normal mouth or a normal shade of skin. The tar-black color of its body reminded George of the blackness of looking down at a deep well during the night. It was spooky, yes, but very interesting. Things like these set it very clearly apart from people, but it had so many human-like qualities, that discrediting it as a homosapien all together felt wrong. Besides obvious physical similarities, it also displayed human-like intelligence as well as some sort of emotional intelligence. It had to understand emotion to some extent; if it didn’t, it wouldn’t be mocking a back-rub to George right now to calm him down.

George shrugged the finger away, rubbing his hands up and down his forearms to prevent himself from trembling; partly due to the cold and partly due to the intimidation of something of that size being anywhere near you, let alone touching you. Sure, it’s been over 24 hours now spent with the giant, but most of the time had been asleep and or shitting himself in fear. If he had to guess it’s only been an hour or so since he went to the shop. Just because it was showing George domesticity, didn’t mean he was in favor of showing it back. Quite the contrary. He wanted to go home.

He missed his friends.

The giant, who appeared to have grown bored of sitting around and staring at George, suddenly moved to grab the human and lift him, standing a bit too fast for George’s liking as the human hurried to grab onto its thumb for support. Yet again it was walking with purpose in a random direction, and yet again George was forced to tag along for the ride. Although this time George didn’t want to sit in silence.

He knew it couldn’t understand him, but he needed to hear someone’s voice right now, even if it was just his own.

“I hope you’re going somewhere that has food,” George said aloud, crossing his arms over his stomach. “I don’t know how long you can go without eating but I can’t last that long.” He heard a guttural grumble answer him from within the chest behind him. George sighed, “Maybe I should’ve smuggled one of those chocolate bars for myself,” he said airily, longingly. George sat up straighter. “You probably would’ve smelled it out, though. Wouldn’t you’ve?” He asked, glancing up where its head loomed just a few feet from where he sat. It didn’t answer this time. It was just enjoying listening to its human speak gibberish, George figured. “Where are we going, anyway?”

…

…

“When I was younger, I decided to come live with my grandma and work in her shop; this shop.”

Sapnap focused his sharp gaze on Alex, who was zoned out as he began his account of this place. Though he couldn’t see him, he could also tell that Karl was listening closely as well. (He definitely had that cute, scrunchy face he always made when he focused, Sapnap thought in the back of his mind.)

“I was about 17 when I made that decision,” Alex explained. “Well, the truth is I wanted to come here because I knew grandma couldn’t work much longer, and I wanted to make some easy money. This actually pays pretty well. You know, in one month I make-“ Sapnap cut him off, “Focus.” Alex gave him an apologetic look before continuing,

“Well.. it was after she died, and I inherited the business, that I started noticing weird things. Like, paranormal weirdness.” He rubbed his hands together as he thought for a moment. “But not the kind of paranormal like ghosts.. paranormal like… massive shadows appearing and disappearing faster than you can blink, a loud bird-filled forest becoming suddenly quiet, and.. people.. people going into those woods and never coming out."

Sapnap’s eyes widened. “People? As in… more than one?? Why haven’t we heard anything about other people!?” Alex frowned. “The cops used to try and investigate these cases. But after case after case… person after person, and nothing showing up? They gave up and dusted any new disturbance under the rug. The town has decided that these 'missing persons' are just people doing criminal shit in the woods and then 'disappearing.' The story's different depending on who you ask. The cops tell you that it's a human trafficking ring, while the politicians swear there's a drug empire somewhere out there, all while everyone in town thinks that people go out there to kill themselves in the abandoned lake. There haven't been enough people to come back out of the woods to confirm any of this, so every word is just lost in the whirlwind of conspiracies. The only reason your friend is getting any attention at all is because of the property damage.”

...

...

This place was untouched by man. Even though he was stories up in the air, George could tell that there wasn't even a single plastic wrapper to be found. It was lovely, of course, but... in a way... kind of offsetting. Litter was bad, obviously, but seeing litter was a telltale sign that humans had been present there at some point in time. So, seeing none now confirmed to George that he truly was alone out here. No one else would see him in the palm of this creature, and no one could call for help.

"You, uh, you keep it nice and clean around these parts, hm?" He said out loud. Of course, the giant didn't answer, but that didn't surprise him. Honestly, he'd be more surprised if it did answer. , 'Why yes, I do keep it quite clean around here, thanks for noticing!' George couldn't stifle an amused snicker at the thought of a British giant. How amazing would having tea with a giant with a British accent be?

A clicking sound from behind him took him away from his thoughts. "Yes?" George said in response. The giant looked down at him, its green gaze shimmered at him with excitement as it pointed ahead of them. George followed its pointed finger and gasped. They were standing right before a huge lake. It had to be the most beautiful body of water George had ever seen, shimmering water so clean you could almost see to the bottom. Fish splashed on the surface, and just a little ways away he could see some deer stopping by for a drink. Disney WISHES they could capture such beauty. This scene was the epitome of nature, no doubt.

"Oh my..." He gasped, fighting to find words to fit how he felt. He looked back up at the giant. It was looking down at George with a gleam in its gaze. It looked proud to show George this place. 'Look, look at what I have that no human has! Are you impressed?' And George would've said, "Yes! I'm impressed. This is amazing!"

"You're telling me that no one else is here? Why isn't the resort capitalizing on this?! It's amazing! I'm not even an outside guy and I would pay to come out here! You can't tell me that nobody else knows about this place!" George beamed, antsy to get down so he could see it up close.  But instead of letting him down, the giant held onto George's tiny body as it walked forward, stepping into the water.

…

…

“You said that some people come out..” Karl’s voice made an appearance suddenly. "... so there are people who come out alive?”

“Yes,” Alex mumbled. “Well, no… I mean- My grandma. She’s- She was the only one." Sapnap cocked a brow. "You're telling me that your grandma - and I don't mean to be rude, but - your elderly grandmother went into those woods, encountered the…” He glanced at Karl in brief hesitation. “...whatever’s out there... and came back alive to tell the story, while no one else has gone in and made it out?" The Texan questioned. “I’m sorry but it sounds made up.” There was an odd tone of hopefulness in Sapnap’s words. A hope that, maybe, the giant wasn’t real. That the lady really was just crazy, and he hadn’t really seen green eyes watching from the trees their first day there.

The clerk bit his nails as his frown deepened in response to Sapnap's words. That sentence resonated with the clerk on a deeper level than the two boys currently understood.

Alex sighed, deep and long. "That's exactly what I told her up to the day she died," he said dryly. "Me and my entire family. It.." his voice ached with hurt, "it was like a family bonding activity to ridicule and make fun of her. Like belittling this little old lady made us superior. It always hurt her feelings, and we knew it."

…

…

George grasped onto the giant's fingers as they went deeper and deeper into the lake. The lake only reached the giant's waist, but that didn't seem to upset it at all as it bent down until its shoulders were submerged as well. It let go of George and let him gently float in the water. It kept its eyes fixed on the tiny human as he swam around, enjoying the warm water.

Geroge laughed as he held his breath and went under the water. All around them were fish swimming, surely confused about why there was suddenly a ginormous black mass in the center of their home. The gentle rays of sunshine illuminated the space nicely and presented a gorgeous scene for the human to behold.

He resurfaced seconds later and gasped for air. George was never the best at holding his breath. Last he checked he could hold it for about 25 seconds before he started struggling.

…

…

Karl raised his hand for a moment but put it back down. Seemingly deciding against his initial thought, which Sapnap assumed was to comfort Alex. "Hey," he said softly. "You don't have to go into so much detail if it's too much... we just need to know what's out there, and how she made it back out alive." Alex furrowed his brows and tightened his lips into a thin line. Then, the clerk shook his head slowly. "Karl. I-I…I… I swore I would never talk about it again.” He sharply inhaled a breath of air. “I'm sorry... you guys are cool and I wanna help but..." Alex clasped his hands together and blinked a few times like he was composing himself.

"I... want to help you, tell you what I know, but if those pigs down at the station heard that I was talking about 'it' again, they'd take the shop away from me. They already threatened me earlier." The clerk turned away sharply, his posture suddenly tense. "That's all I have left."

He began to walk away.

But he didn't get far.

Alex gasped in surprise as he was suddenly whipped around and facing Sapnap. He didn't have much time to look at his face before he was hit on the side of the head and staggering to the side, disoriented. Before Alex could stabilize himself, the boy grabbed the clerk by the collar of his shirt and lifted him with adrenaline-driven strength. "Now listen here you pussy," he hissed with venom. "Stop thinking about your own damn self and think about someone else for once!" He shook him a few times, Alex's head lolling back and forth violently. "George is my best fucking friend! He’s all WE have. And whatever you know about your grandma surviving could literally determine if he comes out alive or dead. You've sat by and watched all these other people, just like us, come into the resort and NEVER come back home because you were only concerned for YOURSELF! This is your chance to do the right thing for ONCE and save a goddamn life! What would your grandma say if she knew you were too scared to do anything to help these poor people?!?! What is WRONG WITH YOU??"

"SAPNAP quit that," Karl hissed, pulling his friend backward and away from the clerk, causing Sapnap to let go of his shirt. Once released, Alex fell to the floor with a dull thud, he was whimpering and sniffling, snot and tears running down his face. "Ridiculing him isn't going to help us, you idiot!" Karl snapped.

…

…

He looked up at the giant. It was just sitting there watching him carefully, content with just observing George's behavior. The human smirked at the giant, gaining a newfound feeling of confidence. "Well, c'mon! Are you just gonna sit there?" It blinked at him. Blank. Unreadable. George laughed as he used his entire arm to splash its chin. It leaned back, surprised by the action. George smiled endearingly at it. It could be so cute when it wasn't a potential threat to your life.

The giant lifted its arm and used it to gently stir the water a bit, making a mini water tornado. George yelped as he was pulled with it, though he quickly composed himself and started laughing. This seemed to spur the giant on, giving it confidence. It cooed at him as it stirred faster, clicking in a manner that reminded him of laughter. George tried to swim against the pull of the water, but as the giant's enthusiasm increased so did the speed of the water. George's laughter turned awkward, and a bit nervous as he was swept with the spinning waves against his will. 

…

…

Alex sniffed and shuddered as he got back onto his feet. He was cowering away from the two now, his face an entourage of emotions, most of which seemed to be old and resurfacing from the protective shadow of his mind. Delirium, guilt, shame, fear. If the man had lost any more stability in the moment, there was no doubt in Sapnap's mind that he would've been screaming right now.

"If I w-would tell you, if I-I warn you about the demon in the woods, about the-the missing bodies, the screams I sometimes hear at night, would you believe me?! Would you REALLY have believed me earlier??" His voice shuddered and cracked with a growing weakness. "I've tried so many times," Alex whispered, "I've tried to warn people, I've tried to explain, to get SOMEBODY to believe me!!" He wiped the snot off of his face. "Eventually I just stopped trying. The cops told me I was inflicting terror onto, and harassing my customers." He bit his bottom lip so hard Sapnap was surprised no blood trickled down his chin. "Sometimes people come and leave without a problem.. so I just started to have wishful thinking. Maybe it's all my fault.. for not being convincing enough. For not following my gut instinct and stopping George before he could run back out there..."

…

…

The giant didn't seem to notice the human's change in behavior, though. It just made excited noises as it added its other arm into the mix, spinning George around like he was a pool toy. Nervousness turned to panic when George was caught in the waves with no way of escaping. He was losing strength and was becoming weaker and weaker as he was rag-dolled around in the water, unable to prevent himself from going under just to spin right back to the surface. "Wai- Wait," he cried, but his voice was muffled by the water. He could barely see it, but when he surfaced once again, he caught a glimpse of the wide, empty, sadistic glee in the giant's gaze as it toyed with the human, the being that had no power over it, that it could bend to its will and play with like he was nothing but a toy.

And then George went under.

The rays of sunlight illuminating the lake were gone.

And it was dark.

...

...

"Alex," Karl's voice was a nice calming interruption to Alex's stress and Sapnaps anger. Like a mourning dove sounding over a storm's wind. "We may not have believed you before, but we are here listening to you now and we do believe you. Maybe there is still hope. So please, just tell us what you know."

Alex choked out a whimper as his head fell, his hair falling over his eyes as he tried to calm himself. He sounded defeated.

"I don't know exactly what it is, but I do know that it's big. Really big. Big enough to cast down enormous shadows and tear apart two-story cabins. It has two arms and two legs. It's fast and deathly quiet. Though I’ve never seen them yet, my grandma always said... ‘You don't know it's there until you see its eyes,

And you don't see its green eyes unless it wants you to know that you've been found’."

Karl gasped and Sapnap grabbed his head in panic. Alex blinked in surprise at their unexpected reactions. “Wha-?”

“The old lady,” Karl explained frantically, “the one who you called at the resort. She told us that her wife was killed by a giant green-eyed monster. We believed her but-" “But to hear someone else say it,” Sapnap’s shaky voice interrupted. “To hear someone else say it just… makes it more real.”

For a heartbeat, they were all quiet. Each and everyone one of them was just beginning to truly feel, to truly realize the realness of all this. As if they'd been holding onto a logical blanket of comfort that told them, ‘Monsters aren’t real.’ Now their eyes were forcibly open. There were monsters.

Monsters are real.

Monsters are real, and it took George. It took tons of people like George. Stalked them, hunted them down, and took it for itself.

“Alex, you have to tell us how your grandma escaped.” Sapnap’s voice was as sudden as it was frantic. Once again his hands were clasped around the shirt collar of the store clerk as his pleading eyes stared into Alex’s very soul. “Please, please! Right now! We have to get going and find him before it’s too late!”

Alex clenched his teeth as he held onto Sapnap’s wrists. “The monster’s eyes!” The clerk trembled. “Its eyes are its biggest advantage and biggest weakness. It can’t catch you if it can’t see you. That night when she went in the back to put out the trash and saw them- she threw a can of cola at it and burned its eyes long enough to escape! It never messed with her again.”

The two boys nodded. “Ok,” Karl said. “We have to blind it. But- how and-and where are we even gonna find it, Sapnap??”

Sapnap didn’t answer as he grabbed Karl’s hand and ran back to the car, leaving Alex alone as he watched the two drive back towards their cabin.

Right back towards the heart of the woods.

...

...

A cold shock pulsed through his body, his heart jumped and he let out a half-gasp, half-scream as he jerked violently, his eyes wide open yet unfocused.

The last thing he remembered was being pulled into the dark abyss of water stirring around him violently, confident that it would be the last sensation he'd ever feel.

And yet... here he was. Breathing, albeit with some struggle.

George sat up and leaned over, coughing and choking as he spat out the water that filled his lungs, desperate to get a clear, uninterrupted breath.

After a few minutes of heaving, gagging, and sputtering the Brit was finally able to get a grip on himself and his surroundings. But he couldn’t say he was pleased with the first thing he saw once he looked around.

The giant - the monster - was there, sitting a few yards away from the boy. Its hand was closer to George than its body was, which indicated to him that it had definitely been the source of the cold shock that woke him up. It looked conflicted- surprised. Like it hadn’t expected George to start back to life. Iits haunting green gaze domineering over all other aspects of it, seizing George’s attention. In a way, it almost looked relieved.

But George didn’t care what the giant felt right now, it just tried to kill him. 

His heart raced and his hands began to tremble as he found that he was once again struggling to breathe. He forced his eyes to peel away from the glowing green orbs and to his surroundings. He needed to run. He needed to get away. This… thing… was unstable. It had tricked him into trusting it, and what a fool he had been to feel comfortable around the monster that terrorized him for an entire night- no- that terrorized him since he got here. This thing had been hunting him since he got here! It made him lose his mind, lose his sanity, and make him think he was going insane.

They were back in the monster’s burrow. It looked like he was deeper inside now. He whipped his head around, studying the walls, moss, bramble, and all the different things that were growing inside. Wait, he wasn’t deeper inside. The burrow didn’t go any deeper. His breath came in short gasps as he tried to figure out why he felt different. Why were the surroundings off? 

The giant made a move and George screamed, scrambling backward and looking for anything to hold onto for purchase. The giant froze as George moved away from it. It was making sounds reminiscent of the comforting rumbling it had been making hours ago when it saved him from the bobcat, but the Brit could barely hear it over the sound of his heart racing, causing blood to pump through his veins powerfully. 

He didn’t stop trying to move away until he felt his hand come down on something hollow, breaking it and causing George to fall on his back. He winced in pain as his neck hit something hard and sharp, making his head spin. George was still holding onto the thing his hand had broken as he forced himself to sit upright, his vision spinning and out of focus. He lifted his hand to shake the thing off, but as he looked down, the only thing he could do was scream.

His hand had broken through a worn-down human skull. And as he turned to look around at where he was sitting, he realized that he had fallen right onto a spine. 

His head was spinning, his eyes were unfocused, and his heart threatened to send him into cardiac arrest. He frantically looked around. There were more. Skulls, spines, arms, legs, piles piles PILES. He was sitting in piles of human remains. Dead bodies. People who went into these woods and NEVER came back out. People who saw the monster, and never lived to tell the tale. Dead. Gone. Thrown into a hole and forgotten about forever. Killed. MURDERED.

Cold fingers wrapped around his arms as he violently thrashed, kicking, screaming, biting. He was acting like a feral animal. He was hysterical. George didn’t know what he was doing anymore. It was inaccurate to say that George was even conscious at the moment.

This was nothing but primal human terror fighting to stay alive.

He saw another black hand reach under him and wipe dirt over the exposed graveyard of discarded bodies, covering it up. The hand seemed to shake as well. It had been caught, of course, it was nervous. 

Before the monster had a chance to lift him up any higher George managed to reach a hand onto the ground and grab a fistful of dirt. As he was lifted towards its face, he hurled the dry dirt at its eyes with as much power as he could conjure. 

The monster wailed as the earth hit its exposed pupils. It wailed so loud, so high pitched, George could feel warm blood trickling out of his ears. The pain distracted the monster long enough for George to struggle his way out of its iron fist, fall to the ground, and sprint around, out of the exit.

He didn’t know where he was going. But he knew that his best bet would be the opposite way that he tried before. It had to work. He HAD to find his way back to his friends. He’d run all the way to Florida if he had to. 

He’d do anything just to hear Sapnap’s laugh.

His footsteps pounded on the forest floor, sticks and grass, and leaves were thrown behind him as his powerful steps dug up the ground. The wind felt like thousands of needles pinching his face as he ran through it, his lungs were ice cold with the freezing air. 

He’d do anything just to feel one more hug from Karl.

George cried. He cried for warmth, he cried for rest, he cried for safety, he cried for his friends. He wanted to go home. He wanted this hellish nightmare to be over.

And suddenly the ground was gone. And in its place was concrete. 

George gasped as he fell over trying to abruptly stop. His face hit the hard surface, and he heard a deep crack from his nose, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t even register the pain. A road. A road! The road to the cabin! To Sapnap and Karl! He laughed as he threw himself to his feet and stomped on the concrete with glee. His path home!

Or maybe home would come to him.

…

…

Sapnap drove the car as fast as it could go. It could barely make the sharp turns of the backroad at this speed, but they had to get to the cabin. They had to start somewhere. “Sapnap! Please- please just go a little bit slower!” Karl’s terrified voice shook with fear in the passenger seat as he clutched onto Sapnap’s shoulder. “We’re so close…” Sapnap would mumble back. His eyes were glued to the road before them, his thoughts however were miles away. Back in Florida where nothing was wrong. He should’ve just let George play his stupid games. He should’ve just joined him. He should’ve just-

“SAPNAP STOOOPPP! LOOK OUT!”

Karl’s scream snapped Sapnap back into reality as he realized he was racing right towards somebody walking in the road. “Fuck- Wait!” 

…

…

George heard the roaring of an engine coming up from the road. His heart leaped as he turned to wait for it to come. But as he stood with his hands in the air, screaming for attention, he realized that the car was hurtling down the narrow road. He could hear the tires squeaking, the engine roaring with passion. The sounds make him feel scared all at once. Why would someone be driving so fast back here? Unless they saw something…

The Brit became ultra aware of the silence deafening his ringing ears.

His knees felt weak all at once, and he had to strain to keep himself standing. He looked around, his eyes desperately scanning the edge of the trees for that horrible green color, that all too eerie black shadowy form. That’s when the car came speeding down the road right toward him.

All his life he’d never understood why deers would stand so still while a car came right at them. He always assumed it was because they were animals, and animals were dumb.

But this week he’d realized that to that monster, he was an animal. An animal to be hunted. To be found as a prize. And at this moment, he and a deer weren’t really that different. Were they?

…

…

Deafening ringing filled his ears as Sapnap tried his best to steer the car out of the way, tried to avoid the man in the road, but wasn’t fast enough and still hit half of him. The car came to a screeching halt, all too late, and the men inside were left sitting in a fog of shock.

Red crimson painted the hood.

The body lay limp right on the edge of the road.

The car had stopped right next to a cliff, just feet away from rolling off.

Karl was the first to react. He gasped as if he was holding his breath like he had been drowning in the thick tension of the situation. It was the blonde who was strong enough to get himself out of the car, to walk down the road and toward the body. But it was Sapnap who, after following in pursuit at the sound of Karl’s horrified scream, was strong enough to say the word, “George-”

Karl’s wails became background noise to Sapnap. The Texan didn’t even realize that the blonde had fallen to his hands and knees and crawled over to George’s body and splayed himself over his friend. Hugging him and wailing out for help. The only thing Sapnap could focus on was the horrified look on his friend’s face. Like it was a picture printed right onto George’s face. It didn’t look real. He looked like a wax statue. His fingers ran through his hair as he watched red pour onto the green-turning-yellow grass of mid-autumn. He stared until he couldn’t take it anymore, turning around to look at the murder weapon - the car - with tears spilling from his eyes. It was barely damaged. The only thing wrong was that the trunk had popped open, and the shotgun he had packed had fallen onto the road. It was laying right in a pool of blood. The man trembled, losing balance suddenly as his own sobs threatened to escape his throat. 

What. Had. He. Done.

Karl’s screams suddenly got earsplitting louder. So much louder, that it got Sapnap to turn around. His heart stopped beating as he looked up. Up. Up. Up. Up at those green, hollow, evil eyes that glared with a rage readable by any living thing at them. The shadowy body that the eyes belonged to lurched forwards at paranormal speed with inhumane movements. It came out from the trees’ edge and right towards Karl. The blonde wailed with fright as he moved away slightly, but not far enough. The monster put a giant hand over George’s body, blocking him off from the boys’ sight as it used another to hit Karl away.

If it were the size of a human, the slap would’ve been only just strong enough to send a small object a few inches away, but this monster had the strength of a hundred men, and what a flick of a wrist was to it was powerful enough to send Karl right into a trunk of a tree. A snap echoed until it reached Sapnap’s ears, making the boy cringe. A trembling wail escaped his throat as he watched Karl hit the trunk with awful force. It didn’t appear to kill the blonde, thankfully. But Karl definitely wasn’t getting up any time soon. Sapnap’s gaze traveled from Karl to the monster, who was hunched up into a tight ball and curling its fingers around George’s form. There was water spilling from the thing’s cheeks (tears?) that fell and landed on the ground around the unmoving human, staining the road. 

There were a few long, drawn-out moments that passed where he just watched the thing coo and grumble at his friend, almost like it was trying to get a response out of him, to the monster finally noticing Sapnap watching it.

The boy breathed out a gasp as he tried to back away, trying to find his footing, but he wasn’t fast enough. The green-eyed monster got to its feet and pounced on him first. It stood over him for not even a moment before he felt the force of its foot kicking him towards where that cliff was by their car. He groaned in agonizing pain as the giant force flung his body like a dog toy. He landed awkwardly on his back, his head hanging over the edge of the cliff. At this angle, he could see how far down the fall was. It looked like a fall straight to the gate of hell. Maybe it was a foreshadow for him. His last sight on Earth would be his first sight in his afterlife. Ironic.

Sapnap didn’t have enough time to laugh cruelly at himself before a horrible force was placed on top of him. He yelled in pain as the giant dug its foot into his body, but not so much as to crush him at once. It did it slowly. It added pressure every second. The pressure changed, but its haunting gaze never did. It stared down at Sapnap with a quiet rage. Pure evil. He couldn’t breathe anymore. He could feel his life draining.. draining… draining.

He fucked everything up. He killed his best friends. Maybe he was the real monster.

“You…”

A weak voice made the pressure killing Sapnap stop. He was whimpering, his voice straining as he tried to call for help. Suddenly the monster moved away altogether. Sapnap choked in a breath, coughing hysterically as he sat up frantically looking around. It wasn’t until he followed the giant’s startled gaze that he saw what had been the source of the voice.

…

…

He felt no fear. For once in this whole experience, George felt fearless. Awaking to the sounds of his friends crying in pain because of that fucking monster triggered something deep within him. His legs had to be broken. Maybe even his arm. He was losing blood by the second, and there was no way he could be standing right now by every law of nature, no way he could’ve crawled over to the wrecked car. But here he was, standing upright, staring right at the monster as the monster started right at the eye of the shotgun he was aiming at its face.

Its green eyes sparkled when they saw him. Gleeful that he was alive. They made eye contact only for a moment before it realized what George was holding. It didn’t have enough time to react, to move, to do anything at all.

Fuck this monster.

“Go to hell.”

One shot rang and not even a moment later the monster was wailing as it clutched a cold, dark hand over its bleeding eyeball. It screamed and cried with sounds George had never heard it make before. It staggered with imbalance as it fought for purchase on something it could grab- but there was nothing around for it to take as it tripped and descended right off of the cliff's edge.

Relief washed over him as he finally succumbed to his injuries and fell to the ground. Not even a moment later did he feel hands supporting him, lifting him up. “George! George! Oh my god! Holy- I- George you’re alive!” It was muffled by his ears, but he knew it was Sapnap. After a minute he could feel another pair of arms wrap around him. Somehow Karl had managed to drag himself over to the two, as they all embraced with relief and joy. 

George frowned as he held onto his friends tighter. He didn’t want to, but he thought about the monster. Why did it take him? Why did it treat him so nicely, only to try and drown him? George let tears wash over his red cheeks as he sobbed. Maybe it didn’t mean to drown him. It was trying to play- trying to make George happy. It wanted to make the old lady and her wife happy. It left gifts, it played pranks. But it got too enthusiastic and killed her. The monster was shunned and was left to be alone again.

George looked at Sapnap and Karl as they lay on the side of the road, not speaking quite yet but just taking in each other’s presence. He loved being around them, loved it more than even talking to them.

And he realized that that’s what it wanted. It wanted a presence to be around. Company. A nice warm body to hug when you felt lonely, someone to go to when you need something. Someone to have fun with. 

But it wasn’t human. It was too big. It never realized its own strength. Never meant to have casualties. In a sense it was careless. It was greedy. Going back for more people despite knowing it couldn’t contain itself.

But George couldn’t help from feeling sympathetic. Because all that time away from his friends made him realize how much he missed them.

…

…

The first thing George felt when he finally came-to was intense spikes of cold chills running down his back.

He felt like he was on a cold, swaying hammock made of firm yet plush material. He was laying in an awkward position on his back with his limbs splayed out in odd ways. A groan sounded from his chest as he pulled his arms in on himself, a shiver going through him like an electric shockwave.

Realization struck him like lightning.

He all but threw himself up, sitting on his knees as his eyes darted around his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was how high he was compared to the trees, reaching nearly the top of them from where he sat. He noticed a small squirrel climbing up the side of one, looking over as if to mock him.

He regretted looking down. Not because he saw exactly how high he was, no, but because he was instead met with that familiar dark black he’d grown to fear.

Still not completely awake and aware, he scooted back trying to get away from it, but sadly realized it was everywhere. Fearful gasps and sobs escaped his mouth as he finally, reluctantly, looked up to see just what he expected, yet dreaded, to see.

There it was again. That monstrous green gaze tracking his every move as if he were the subject of an experiment. To be fair, to this thing he probably was. He was just a curiosity. A lab rat who sadly got caught and was now going to be forced to comply with any test the monster wanted to run. He couldn’t hold back a pathetic whimper as he pulled away from the green abyss’ lingering just above him in favor of shutting his eyes and burying his face in his hands. The size difference made this all the worse. Even while being held up to its chest in its deathly cold palms, it still towered over him like Godzilla.

A strangled sob had him opening his teary eyes to look around at anything but the monster. The sky wasn’t much different from before he passed out so he must’ve only been out a few minutes at the most.

“Please.. what ever you’re doing just get it over with..” His meager voice choked out a beg as he looked down at his knees. “I can’t stand this anymore. I want it to be over!” His lip quivered as he pleaded for mercy, his fingers curling into tight fists as he let wet tears stain his red cheeks once more.

There was a clicking sound from within the beast’s chest, its hands shifted slowly.

George braced himself for the impact of a fist crushing his body, or the feeling of being bitten in half by spit-soaked fangs. He waited, he waited. Hell, he even longed for something to happen. He just wanted it to be over.

And then he was moving.

Well, they were moving.

George’s eyes shot open as he turned to face away from the monster, and toward the trees. He was right, they were on the move. He couldn’t help but notice they were wandering away from the direction where the monster’s burrow-thing was. His fear gave way to confusion in the blink of an eye. He wanted to send a questioning look to the beast, but as he went to turn a puff of its breath hit his head, and he quickly aborted mission. He wasn’t going to face the thing unless he had to, he decided.

It seemed like the monster was moving with intent. For what destination George couldn’t fathom, though he didn’t really want to dwell on that thought either. If he did, he was sure he’d be throwing up leftover chicken into the beast’s palms, and that wouldn’t help his case at all.

So, the Brit just sat tight. Not like he had any other choice anyways. He hugged his knees to his chest as he kept his back from hitting the monster’s chest. As scary as his situation was, the forest actually seemed rather tranquil today. The morning sunrise painted the tall trees with a beautiful hue of color, a big contrast to how intimidating they were in the dark of night. He almost managed to zone-out to the peacefulness, but a deep growling sound from within the monster’s mid-section snapped him back to high alert.

He’d almost forgotten that the thing was hungry.

Why didn’t it eat him? He was so sure that was what it was intending to do back there. It literally had and has him in the palm of its hand. He’s completely defenseless and at its mercy. Did it want to eat him somewhere else? Surely it would take him back to its burrow for that, and they were heading to a completely different place.

A sigh was trapped in his throat as he curled tighter in on himself. He wanted answers, but all he could do right now was sit and wait.

…

…

“LET HIM GO! LET HIM GO!! YOU MONSTER!!”

His bare feet ran across the forest floor, his skin breaking from the sharp rocks and thorns piercing through, letting scarlet red ooze out. He didn’t care about that, he couldn’t even feel any pain. He needed to get George back, away from the monster.

The trees shook violently around him, twisting and turning in spirals, their overbearing shadows casting ink-black over him. A green abyss stared at him as he ran harder, faster, panting with exhaustion as he powered through to get closer.

It stood above him, taller than any living thing should stand, evil intent clear in its lifeless iris as it let out a wicked, deep laugh at his pathetic attempts to save his friend.

Intense vibrations shook his body. and he lost his balance. The ground cracked from his fall, and opened up below his feet, nothing but thick black waiting below to greedily swallow him alive. But he managed to grab ahold of the edge, his knuckles turning white from how hard he was holding on. A loud yell escaped his throat as he dangled helplessly above the black maw, open and waiting for its meal to fall right in.

He could’ve sworn he smelled blood, and as the thought crossed his mind the platform he was holding onto suddenly became damp, and thick scarlet ran over his hand and trickled down his arm. A scream sounded as he thrashed violently, his body spasming from the fright.

“Sapnap…”

His name echoed against the trees, who now towered over him, their leaves shaking from the intense wind that had started up. After a failed attempt at hoisting himself up, the boy was left with no choice but to let his eyes follow the sound of his voice. His gaze traveled down, down…

Only to be met with the sight of George. The boy was laying on his back, limbs splayed out in awkward positions. The blood dripping off of Sapnap traveled down to George, making small puddles on his forehead. The Brit didn’t seem to mind it, though. George only seemed to care about staring up at Sapnap, his face unreadable as Sapnap tried to call his friend’s name. “George! George!!” His voice cracked with exhaustion as his body swayed tens of feet over the frozen body of his friend.

“You left me to die.” George whispered the words, but they still shook the trees above him with its might.

“No! No, George- I- I didn’t mean for this to happen!!” He pleaded with the Brit. His hand was slipping, the blood was making him lose his grip. He kicked his legs with distraught as he tried to grab the edge with his other hand. When that failed, he looked back down at George. “I don’t want you to die!”

“It’s too late. Look what you’ve done to me..” George leaned his head back, it fell back limply, as if he had no strength in his muscles. Suddenly, the Brit was illuminated in bright green. Clawed fingers rose from the darkness around the boy, trapping him in a powerful fist as the evil green eye encompassed the dark abyss with its overwhelming size.

“George!”

“George!”

“…george…”

..

“…sapnap…”

“Sapnap!”

“Nick!”

A tight grip on his shoulder was causing his body to shake as a concerned voice sounded above him. It took Sapnap a moment to register who the voice belonged to, but once he did he was able to calm himself down and sit up.

He let out a groggy groan as he massaged his forehead with a sweaty palm. “Karl..” His tongue felt heavy in his mouth as he croaked out his friend’s name. “Did I fall asleep?”

Karl removed his hand from his friend’s shoulder as he sat back on his haunches. The boy looked equally as tired, maybe more. Sweat dripped from Karl’s hairline and stained his tank top under his pits and by his chest. And if you couldn’t see the boy’s wrecked state because of the darkness of the room, you’d surely be able to smell it. The putrid stink of sweat and sickness. They’d forgotten the boy’s medication in the car, and neither of them wanted to venture outside for it. Sapnap knew it was messing with Karl to be so unkept, the boy usually showered twice a day, but the current circumstances prevented either of them from their self-care.

“Yeah, about an hour ago.” Karl yawned. “I was gonna let you sleep more but.. looked like you were having a pretty bad nightmare.” Sapnap sighed as he tossed the blanket covering him to the side. Why did Karl have to put everyone before himself? Sapnap didn’t have to sleep as much as the sick boy did, and yet Karl let him indulge in a nap.

“What time is it?” He asked, standing up and off of the old couch he was on. “Five after eight.” Karl murmured, rubbing his blood-shot eyes as he stood with the shorter raven-haired man. “And no, we haven’t heard anything from the police.” He answered before Sapnap even got a chance to ask.

The old lady offered to let the two crash at the check-in cabin while they waited for word from the cops. They were allowed to stay in the secluded living room under the condition that they didn’t touch anything, not even the surplus of empty chocolate bar wrappers scattered around the floor and table tops. Karl asked her why she didn’t clean them up, and she simply responded by saying that they were her wife’s favorite. The room wasn’t much. Just two couches, a small TV with only a handful of cable channels, boarded up windows, a gun rack by the door, and of course the purple chocolate wrappers.

Sapnap murmured to himself as he glanced over at one of the covered windows, his face expressionless as he was lost in deep thought. “Karl..” He finally whispered after a few long seconds, his voice cracking a bit. The other man responded with a questioning hum.

“What’ll we do if we find George?” He asked. The room was filled with deafening silence for a couple heartbeats before a small, “What do you mean?” sounded. Sapnap turned back to Karl, but didn’t look him in the eye. “I mean.. if we go out there, because I know we will eventually, and we find him.. that means we’re gonna find that- that..” Sapnap couldn’t get himself to say the word out loud. “What if it doesn’t give George up? It took him for a reason.. it’s not just going to hand him over in a gift box with a pretty bow on the top after going through all that trouble to stalk and catch him..” He frowned. He could feel that annoying sensation of wetness forming in his eyes as he tried to hold back, tried to be strong.

“What I’m trying to say is… what are we gonna do when he have to confront the monster?”

He looked at his friend now, meeting his gaze with dark eyes. Karl just looked troubled. He was biting his lower lip with apprehension as he seemingly thought on Sapnap’s words. “I..” Karl began, but quickly shut his mouth once more. Speechless. He didn’t know what they’d do either.

Sapnap went to look away once again, but something caught his eye. He took a step forward and his friend looked up at him with expectation that turned to confusion when Sapnap walked right past him. “Sap?” He called, but the shorter man was too fixed on something by the door to pay Karl any mind. Karl furrowed his brows and walked up beside his friend, following his gaze to see what it was locked-on to. But when he realized what Sapnap was looking at, and put two-and-two together, he shoved the man with shock, causing him to stagger over a few steps.

“You want to shoot it?!”

“It’s the only option we have, Karl.” Sapnap responded, looking back at the arrangement of shotguns and rifles sitting out all nice and polished like they were expecting this to happen, expecting to be used. “What do you wanna do? Talk to it? Ask it nicely to release our friend?” He shifted his expression as he began to mock him, “Oh, Mr. Monster, if it isn’t too much trouble could you pwetty pwease put Gogy down?” Sapnap frowned at Karl. “Is that what you wanna do? Huh!?” He put his arms out as his tone raised at the taller man.

“I’m not saying it’s a stupid idea.. I’m just… What if it just pisses it off? A-and it get’s so mad that it kills George? Or us? I’m just saying it seems a little too reckless. I don’t think one little gun is gonna get the job done against a giant monster, Sapnap.” Karl crossed his arms over his chest as he looked away from Sapnap in favor of looking at the floor beside him. “..‘nd we shouldn’t be getting mad at eachother.. that’s not gonna help..” Karl murmured, so carefully Sapnap had to strain to hear him.

Sapnap sighed. He raised an arm and approached Karl, about to rest a hand on his shoulder and apologize before the door to the living room suddenly swung open, causing both men to startle. The old lady stood at the doorway, her eyes wide and alerted.

“What the fuck is wrong with you lady?!? You scared the fu-“ She cut Sapnap off with a stern tone. “The cops called.”

The men froze.

“Somethin’ happened, they think they know where your friend’s been.”

…

…

It’s been making that sound for awhile now. He wasn’t sure how long, but it’s been long enough to completely be rid of his fear in turn for confusion.

Awhile back, toward the start of their journey, George couldn’t stop himself from crying. He’d been in his own head, convincing himself of the worst to come and making himself more fearful. All of the possibilities of how this could turn out bad for him kept swarming and flooding his brain, effectively starting a hurricane of sick worry. After so much buildup he just couldn’t take it anymore. He let out restrained sobbing, doing his best to keep them from turning into loud wails.

He hoped that the monster wouldn’t pay him any mind, but when he kept sobbing into his knees, slowly getting louder despite trying to contain himself, the thing started making that… sound. It still has yet to let up, and George still has yet to decipher what it is.

It was a weird humming noise, so powerful that he could feel the vibrations shaking him. The hums would stop every so once in awhile and the thing would start clicking. Like, very brief chirping sounds that were kind of guttural. As if it had to force those sounds out. It was… odd.

George wanted to say that the sounds were making him feel uneasy but, if he was being truthful, they weren’t. He wouldn’t go as far as to say that they were relaxing but, they weren’t scary at the very least. He couldn’t describe the odd sensations pouring over his body as the sounds continued around him. Regardless, whatever they were, and however they were making him feel, it made him stop crying. And for the rest of their walk, George sat quietly listening to the monster coo at him.

Until it stopped.

When that happened, he could feel the sickness of fear blooming once more in the pit of his chest. George didn’t dare to look back at it, opting to hide his face in his knees once more and hug himself so tight he could feel the circulation in his hands being cut off. Had it finally grown sick of George’s antics? Was it finally tired of pretending to be harmless, and was ready to truly show its sadism?

A grumble startled him, and the feeling of being brought drop startled him even more. He dared to raise his head and look around with his puffy red eyes as he felt his platform jostle him around. He whimpered as the hand holding him lowered to the ground, planting itself there as he felt a large presence loom over him.

George didn’t need to turn around to know that the monster was hovering right above him, staring at him expectantly. It only took the Brit a few moments of hesitation before he (desperately) climbed down from its palm and let his thankful feet touch the solid ground once again. He could’ve laughed with relief, grateful of not being handled anymore, but he was still wary. Why was it letting him down? Where were they? He looked around, studying the trees around them in search of… well, he didn’t know. He guessed he was looking for any indication of where they were, but all he could see was the trees.

A puff of air rustled his hair, George twitching a bit in response. He could feel his heart thumping powerfully in his chest as he finally gave in and forced himself to meet the thing’s gaze again. It was just the same as he remembered it; haunting, lifeless, fixed to his every move… but there was something else in the way it looked at him now. George shifted uncomfortably as he glanced away. “What.. do you want..?” His voice barely reached over the sound of a whisper, but the thing seemed to hear him just fine because it stood back up and moved over, showing George what was hiding behind its massive body.

The edge of the woods. George gasped as he daringly took a few steps forward to see better. There, a few feet away was the road the boys took to get to the cabin resort. If he remembered correctly, this was right by..

His eyes snapped over to the right, and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the convenience store just a little ways from their cabin.

Brown eyes widened as he noticed a car in the parking lot. Someone was in there, someone was working right over there. He was so close to somebody, so close to getting to a phone. If only the monster wasn’t right behind him. If it turned away, even for a moment, he could try to run and-

A yelp unwillingly escaped his lips as his view was suddenly shielded by the big black mass that was the thing’s clammy hand. He took a step back as it crashed to the ground in front of him and curled slightly. For a moment the Brit feared he was being picked up again, but the hand stopped its movements and just stayed situated where it was, cupping George in that place.

He whipped his head around as he felt the monster squat down so it could look more closely at him.

He looked up at the thing with confusion, a rush of worry also coming over him (he’s grown used to feeling worried around this thing now) at the close proximity. He felt claustrophobic, trapped by not only its hand but it’s ginormous face and body. He was also devoid of getting any light in this situation, it’s tar-black skin making him feel as if he were in the bottom of a dark cave.

But this time, instead of being met with the overbearing green eyes staring right at him when he looked up, he was pleasantly surprised to see that the giant was looking away from George. It was digging into a pocket from the fabric of its clothing, searching for something. George cocked a brow as he watched it slightly struggle to find whatever it was searching for. Finally it let out a triumphant grumble as it pinched something small between its fingers and brought it down towards George.

The Brit watched as two large fingers came right before him and placed something on the dirt ground by his feet. George looked down at the object, not knowing what to expect but not imagining it to be anything good. (He half expected a dead animal) But what he saw was about the last thing he was expecting to see. “Uhh.. Wha- why?” He fumbled over his words, trying to decide what to say but ultimately turned out speechless.

He glanced back up at the monster. It was looking at him now, but its usual hollow eyes were now looking at the human with expressive expectation. Like it was …excited?

George looked back down at the empty chocolate wrapper, frowning because he didn’t understand. He glanced back towards the thing’s face and shrugged. “I don’t understand what you want me to do..” George crossed his arms over his body as he shivered slightly. The monster truly gave off no body warmth at all.

George flinched when a finger came back towards him, or the purple wrapper to be specific. It pointed at it for a moment, and then pointed at him. When George didn’t follow, it removed the hand that was cupped around George’s body and looked towards the convenience store. George looked over there as well. There weren’t any new shoppers inside it appeared, and nothing else had changed. A grumble made him look back, and the thing was staring expectantly at him again.

It took a minute of thought, but eventually the Brit came to the conclusion that, “You.. want me to get you more?”

The monster blinked slowly and moved its face closer to George, a gesture the human didn’t appreciate as he took a step back. Nevertheless, it seemed like that was what the monster wanted him to do, so George took a daring step toward the convenience store, looking at the monster for approval. The last thing he wanted to do was misunderstand and anger it.

It seemed content enough, sitting back and looking at him as if to say Yes, please go.

So George did.

He took another step, and then another, and then he was full-sprinting away from the creature and towards the safety of the store.

This was his chance. He was free, he could run inside and explain to the clerk what happened to him and get him to call the police. They’d come and take him away, take him to the safety of his friends. Fuck, he’s never wanted to hug them more in his life. He never thought he’d miss seeing Sapnap’s stupid face and hearing Karl’s goofy laugh but he did. Fuck, he did so much. George began laughing breathlessly as he drew nearer and nearer, the door just in sight. It was there, it was right there. So close he could smell the stale hotdogs and sugary donuts.

But…

He reached the door and placed a hand on it. Why was he pausing? Why wasn’t he running inside, crying out to the clerk and spilling his tragic story? He should be begging him to call the police, to help, to get his friends to…

Tell the police that he was insane.. that some maniacal guy ran into his shop and starting screaming about a giant monster in the woods that kidnapped him.. that he was mental.. And what would George say? Go look in the woods behind the shop! And they might, and if they do they won’t find anything. The monster doesn’t show itself unless it wants to.

The handle to the door was ice cold under his sweaty palm, and he could almost see his breath as he panted with exhaustion.

Sure, he might see his friends again.. but what’ll they say? Surely right now they believe he caused the damage to the cabin. That he went crazy from isolation, thinking there was a monster watching him. Sapnap will never believe him, and Karl will take the boy’s side. And on the off chance they don’t decide to throw him the the mental hospital, and take him home… what would stop the monster from grabbing him again?

It could easily flip a car. Hell, it could pick it up if it so wanted. It’d be easy to rip off the hood and pry him out. Who knows what it’ll do to him then? Who knows what it’d do out of anger? Rip him apart? Torture him? He didn’t want to think about it.

And who knows if he’d get that far? If he takes too long in this shop, what would stop the thing from investigating? From seeing he’s trying to escape it and effectively stopping him by kidnapping him again? And if it did that it would take forever to get back in good spirits with it.. who knows if it’d ever put him down again?

George looked back toward the edge of the woods, and surely enough two bright green eyes stared back at him. It was waiting. It won’t wait for long.

Finally he opened the door, the sound of the bell ringing prompted a vaguely familiar voice to respond. “One second! Hold on I- FUCK HOLD ON!!” He heard something shatter, followed by a loud curse. George blinked a couple of times as he walked to the back of the shop to see a shattered bottle and the store clerk standing over it with disappointment. George cleared his throat and smirked at the man. “Need some help?”

“GEORGE?? Ayyee!! What are you doing here? I thought you little getaway wasn’t gonna be over until the end of the week? Where’s Sapnap and Karl?! HELLOO??” He called to the door as if the other two were standing by it. George just rubbed his hands awkwardly as he shook his head. “They uh, stayed behind. I just need to pick up some chocolate.”

They’d stopped here on their way to the resort, and became quick friends with the hyper store clerk, Alex. Bonding over mutual sleep deprivation was truly a great experience. They even promised the boy they’d stop by before they left.

“Chocolate? That’s in the second aisle, bro. I’d toootally like to chat but let me clean this up real quick!” He laughed as he skipped over to the back employee only room to fetch a broom.

As George walked to the candy aisle, a thought dawned on him. He didn’t have money on him. He didn’t carry cash, and his debit card was back in his bag. If he had his phone he maybe could’ve used Apple Pay but.. he obviously didn’t have that. He didn’t want to steal from Alex, he was such a nice guy. He didn’t deserve that but.. what other choice did he have?

He scanned over the variety of candies on the shelves in search of that specific chocolate with the purple wrapper. When he finally found the off-brand chocolate, he grabbed as much as his hands could carry and started for the door. A voice stopped him. “Alright, man! Now, c’mere and tell me all about the cabin!”

George turned slowly, guilt on his face as Alex waited for him behind the counter, fiddling with the buttons on the cash register as he grinned widely at him. He hesitated, flashing a glance at the door before walking over. “I would, Alex, and I will b-but Karl’s sick and he reeeaally wants this chocolate so I gotta..” His voice faltered, eyes dropping to the floor in guilt. At the same time, his pulse raced with fear. He didn’t have time to be awkwardly standing around. The monster was right outside, waiting for him, expecting him to come back any second. For his sake and Alex’s, he had to make this quick.

He was mentally preparing to sprint out of the door, before Alex spoke up. “Aw man, poor Karl. Actually, you know Sapnap left a twenty here the other night. Idiot didn’t even realize, HAHA! Anyways, that should cover your payment. Tell Karl to get better soon!”

George stared at him for a few moments longer than what was comfortable, but Alex just kept on smiling warmly at him, not affected by the awkwardness at all. “I..” He began, but he stopped himself. If he kept talking he’d spill his true thoughts, and he didn’t want the clerk to be in danger just because he wanted to help George out.. So he shut his mouth and nodded at him, sending a small smile as he headed for the door. But before he left, he turned back and allowed a simple sentence, a last try for help, escape his lips.

“Hey, uh.. You should call the check-in cabin and tell the lady to connect you to Sapnap and Karl. Tell them I stopped by and got the chocolate. I’m sure they’d love to know I’m o- .. they’d love to talk with you.”

And he left before Alex got the chance to reply, running back to the edge of the woods incase the clerk followed him through the door.

His lungs were not made for running like this. They had the capacity to scream at his computer screen and that was about it. He was heavily panting, wiping sweat from his forehead as he looked around for the familiar black mass he called his captor.

When the Brit couldn’t find the monster, he began to grow apprehensive. His heart was just beginning to pound with fear until the ground shook and George was knocked off of his feet and onto his back. A meek yelp caused his face to grow red with embarrassment as he looked up and saw the monster leaning over him, watching him with amusement. George’s lips tightened in an awkward line as he scrambled to stand up. For a brief second, he had the idea that the monster did that to prank him on purpose, but quickly brushed that idea away. There’s no way this thing understood emotion no less pranking, and therefore couldn’t be amused. It was probably just hungry, and happy to see the chocolate bars.

Speaking of which.

George sat the knock-off brand of chocolate on the ground and backed up a few paces, giving the thing room to eat. As soon as George placed the chocolate on the ground, the thing literally squealed and chirped in the highest pitch he’s ever heard it make. It scooted close and dove nose-first onto the pile of sweets, sniffing it enthusiastically.

There was just one thing, how was it going to go about eating them? It had no features on its face except its trademark eyes and nose you could only see when it turned to the side. Never once had George seen a mouth. Was it somewhere else on its body? Hidden under the fabric or maybe even on the other side of its head, under its hair?

Before his theories could develop further, they were quickly put to rest.

The thing suddenly extended its jaw, opening it in an unnaturally wide way, that it if it were a human it would 100% break. From its now open maw, he saw sharp, cloud-white teeth extend from within its gums. He felt like he got cut just from looking at them, the thought and sight alone enough to make his body spasm with anxious shivering. But the worst part, was when its tongue stuck out of it’s mouth to grab the small bars of chocolate and pull them into its mouth like a snake swallowing a mouse. It was long and narrow, and a deep pinkish color that reminded George of flesh. The thing didn’t even bother unwrapping the candy before chowing down, closing its unnatural jaw once more to chew.

When it finally finished indulging itself, it licked its lips clean and looked at George with wide, happy eyes. George himself was pretty sure he’d peed a little after that display, and was sitting in stunned silence, staring back at it dumbfoundedly.

The giant clicked at him a few times before shifting its position to crawl over to the meager human, causing him to shrink in on himself in fear. The thing was looking above him on its knees, either hand resting on their respective sides of George, making the human directly underneath it.

There was a few tense moments that passed before someone made the first move. No surprise it was the monster. It shifted its head closer to George and breathed out a puff of air onto his body. The human frowned, confused and troubled at its out-of-character actions. What was it doing? Was it smelling him? Was it displeased with the taste of the chocolate and was now searching for something more flavorful? The Brit gulped as he scanned its eyes for any emotion, any slight movement that would hint at its intentions.

And then, it’s jaw was unhinging again. George gasped as he whined at the sight, trying to scoot away from the monster but giving up when he noticed how close he was to its hand. “Pl-please no! I can get more! I..” He shrieked as he shielded his face with his hands, looking away in fright and just waiting for the feeling of that snake-like tongue coiling around him, to bring him into the cave of death resting just beyond its rock-sharp fangs.

When that sensation never happened, the Brit moved his hands and stared up at the monster’s face. His jaw was open in silent shock at what he was met with.

The monster’s face, just a few feet above him, had contorted to be flashing a wide mouth of fangs at him, though it’s mouth wasn’t open. He could only see its pearly white teeth, and weirdly crinkled eyes. It barely moved its eyes.. what was it doing? Why did it look so weird? Was it trying to scare him? And why did it look like such an uncanny…

Smile..?

Was it…trying to smile at him?

George’s chest rose in rapid succession, brows furrowed as he stared at the creature, not daring to move.

But it didn’t look like the creature was going to move either. It looked patient, like it was waiting on a specific reaction from George. The Brit had a thought cross his mind, but he hesitated. It was stupid but.. what else could he do?

In the most awkward way possible, in the slowest movements ever, George twisted his face to mimic the monsters smile. Though of course his was more natural and less.. nightmare fuel.

No matter how awkward it made George feel, it seemed to satisfy the monster. It made a high-pitched coo and clicked rapidly at him, it’s jaw opening now as its tongue flicked across George’s face. This caused the human to freeze up, his entire body tensing as the monster closed its mouth and sat up on its knees. George didn’t even get longer than a second to process a thought before the cold hands scooped under him and lifted the Brit up to its chest once more, and began walking off.

It didn’t eat him.

It smiled at him.

It…was being nice to him?

George stole a bold glance up at the monster as he was finally beginning to process the last couple of minutes. It didn’t look back down at him, but the rapid clicking and cooing noises it was making was more than enough to let George know it was indeed happy.

What’s happening? Is that all it wanted from George? For him to get it candy? But it seemed to be treating him so…friendly. Like it was trying to win over the human’s favor.

But it kidnapped him, stalked him like a cat to a mouse!

But did it understand that? Did it understand that it couldn’t just take people? If it could understand happiness then surely it could understand fear. It knew he was scared, but did it think it could calm him down? Make him relax? But why would it go through all that trouble?! Did it want a pet? Did it just want to experiment with a human?

Or maybe..

Did it want.. a friend?

…

…

Society where giants and humans have lived in hostility for centuries. A school opens up with the purpose of socializing giants and humans, and does so with technology/magic (idk yet) that can make giants human-sized. George and Dream meet and slowly develop a friendship, and test the limits of a cross-species bond.

Borrowers have ranges of abilities, some can jump unnaturally high, some can see in the dark, etc. But the rarest ability one can have is size-shifting. George/Dream (idk which one yet) has this ability, and uses it to interact with human society. They make friends with Dream/George (again, idk) and the two form a close bond, and move in with each other. But the thing about size-shifting is that the borrower cannot hold their enlarged size for too long, they must shrink back every now and then to rebuild energy. The bad part? George/Dream never told their roommate that they weren’t human, and they’re feeling pretty tired all of a sudden.

George/Dream moves out to live alone at the very edge of a town to become a berry farmer, despite the warnings of the man-eating monsters in the woods. Most people gone missing appear to be those who take things from the forest, like lumber or fruit, so George/Dream refrain from taking anything that didn’t belong to him. He starts noticing things turning up in his property. He mentioned he needed a new water bucket, and one appeared. He needed more firewood, and some appeared. Was the forest being generous, or was it the deed of another grateful creature?