Giant’s Realm by Chloe (inspired by the painting, “Giant” by N.C. Wyeth)

I was at the beach with my five other siblings. We were playing in the sand, since the ocean’s waves were going beserk. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a big gust of wind came, blowing my hat off.

Well, after that everything seemed to happen at once. The wind was billowing, the clouds were swirling and churning and the kids were screaming. The youngest, Alex, was crying. When I opened my eyes (I didn’t even know they were closed), in the waves, which were churning and thrashing, was a giant. A humongous giant, like even more than humongous should be.

It seemed taller than the sky and had clouds swirling around it. In fact, now that I think about it, the giant itself seemed to be made of clouds. By then, all heck had broken loose between the kids. They didn’t care the wind was pulling them toward the giant or the fact that the giant had a club, big enough to squash a house. I tried to warn them, but they wouldn’t come. They were getting pulled closer and closer and closer to the giant. I tried to run to get to them. It was as if I was being pushed back and they were being pulled forward. Finally, they were sucked up into this vortex-like thing. I was exhausted from trying to fight the force. I managed to mutter “Help!” before I blacked out.

I found myself in a cave or something kind of like a cave except much nicer. They shaped the moss into pictures, which I thought was a good idea for decorating but at the moment I guess that’s not what I should be focused on right now. I wanted to get out of the cave but before I did that I thought about what happened but that seemed to be too much to do at the moment and I fell back asleep.

When I woke up next I first noticed a big bruise on my arm and below that there was a big gash in my arm, which freaked me out. But it seemed to be mending by itself. As if it had some sore of magic medicine. Before I had time to contemplate that, someone came into the room. I didn’t recognize him or her. I couldn’t see the face, but it wasn’t big enough to be a giant. Finally, whoever it was came into the light. It was a he – no she – no he. It was weird when I saw him.

At first, he looked like my dad. In fact, he looked exactly like my dad. The blond hair, the crinkles around his eyes as if he smiles a lot, and the tiny scar on his forehead you could barely see. I wanted to jump out of bed and hug him, but then he changed and formed into what looked like my mom and again it was an exact match. Then he (or she – I still couldn’t tell) formed into my brother then my sister.

I decided to ask him who he was and for that matter what he (or she) was. So I spoke up and managed to say this much: “Who are you?” “Well, I’m want, desire and comfort,” replied the stranger. “What?” I yelled. “Well,” he said again, this time with an air of mystery, “it’s quite confusing, I know.” “What do YOU mean?” I shouted with anger boiling inside of me. I didn’t want riddles. I wanted ANSWERS. Everything seemed to be going wrong. Everything, I was thinking miserably. As if reading my mind, the “whatever-it-was” said, “I know what you’re thinking.” “Oh! Do you?” I burst out. “What I mean is, I’m what you desire.” “That was what you just said before and if you’re thinking it makes more sense now than it did before, it doesn’t!”

I was getting more and more confused by the second. Then he glanced over at me and as though reading my thoughts again, he said, “Let me explain.” “Finally,” I muttered and waited for him to continue with a forced patience. Then he started again, this time a little more confidently. “People only come to this place when they feel desperate and need comfort.” He paused, glancing at me. I nodded, which seemed to encourage him to go on. He continued, saying, “When you said ‘help’ I received your plea. You were in despair, so I brought you here to my island. You needed comfort also. So say if you were in need of some fun, I might look like your favorite game. Or if you were hungry I might look like a burger.” I laughted. “But in your case the thing you desired most and comforted you most was…” His face turned into my dad’s. “Me,” he said. His face turned into my mom’s. “Me,” she said. Then all of my siblings and they also said, “Me.” Then the “whatever-it-was” said I wanted…family.

So, now I understood why he looked like everybody in my family. But what about my brothers and sisters? Or my mom and dad. They must be worried sick. I wonder how long I’ve been gone. I decided to ask all those questions because I was sick and tired of waiting. “Where are my brothers and sisters?” I demanded. “In the giant’s realm,” he replied. “In the giant’s realm?” I screamed out hysterically. I decided I should get all my other questions answered first and then come back to this subject.

The “whatever-it-was” seemed mildly surprised that I didn’t ask more on the subject. But, that didn’t stop me from asking my next question. “How long have I been here?” I asked. He replied, “five days, but…” “Five days!” I shouted, horrified. “Let me finish,” said the stranger and he started over, this time without my interrupting. He said, “You’ve been gone five days but in your time five days would be considered one day.”

I doubted my mom and dad were any less worried, but still it could be worse. It could be actually longer in my time. Well, now I have to go back to the subject of where my brothers and sisters were. So I did and asked, “About my siblings being in the giant realm…can you help me with that situation?” He replied, “Not exactly.” I can give you a map to show you where it is, but that is all.” “I cannot accompany you on the trip, though.” Then added, “So, do you want to rescue your brothers and sisters?” “YES!” I said with force.

“Well, then,” he said, “I shall give you a map of where to go. Also, I have a surprise for you.” He said all of that enthusiastically. He took me outside…and it was the most…ugly thing I had ever seen. It was the most polluted place I had ever seen. It had trash, it had bird droppings all over, and it had jaggedly edged rocks. It was the most horrible place I had ever seen. Then a thought occurred to me. I questioned, “What’s the name of this island?” The “whatever-it-was” replied, “Bemeda.” The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Then I asked, “Where is this place located?” “In the Atlantic Ocean. It gets the most shipwrecks because nobody can see it until they are too close.”

Then it hit me, “This is the Bermuda Triangle,” I said. He nodded. “But then why do my people call it ‘Bermuda’ and you call it ‘Bemeda?” I asked curiously. “Because that’s the closest they could get to the real name. Then I remembered. “So what’s the surprise?” He pointed to the elevator. I hadn’t even noticed it was there. But by then I figured not to question things. “Good-bye,” said the “whatever-it-was.” “The instructions are inside.” Then he disappeared. Now I was alone. I went into the elevator, but instead of numbers it had letters. Which I thought was quite unusual. I didn’t really know what to do so I turned around. There was a bench with a seatbelt attached (I really wasn’t so sure about this elevator) and a poster with instructions.

It read:
1. Type in destination.
2. Sit on bench and put on seatbelt within 30 seconds or you’re doomed.
3. Try to enjoy the ride.

Well now I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to do this. “Or you’re doomed.” Seriously? But it was for the sake of my brothers and sisters. So I typed in “Giant’s Realm” and then I pressed enter.

The loudspeaker started counting down from 30 and by the time it reached 15 I was done. Then it reached one. And it lurched forward, then to the side, then up and then…down, just like a rollercoaster except it was like a gazillion miles an hour. Also the ups and downs were more extreme. It zigzagged and my stomach flipped. Then it got a little hilly so we went a little up, then a little down, then a little up and then it happened all over again. On the bright side, it didn’t do any loop-the-loops. Finally, it was over and I got off. I’ve been to the most extreme rollercoasters at “Six Flags.” But this definitely beat all of them put together.

I didn’t know what’s worse, this or the island, Bemeda. I was so busy in my thought that I didn’t notice my surroundings and that was a problem. I finally looked around me and I saw giants, hundreds of giants just sleeping on the ground. I noticed all their noses were huge and lumpy. You could see the nostrils. I was really wondering why evolution would do that.

I searched for my siblings, Jane, Zack, Alex, Nicholas and Joan. Then I spotted them. Near a giant. In fact, it was the biggest giant. I rushed over to them and made the quiet sign. I whispered to them to just follow me. And they did. We reached the elevator. It seemed to have grown bigger and gotten more benches. I told them all to put on seatbelts and to sit down (Alex needed help with his).

Then I typed, “Home sweet home.”

The last and final installment of Chloe’s story.

I woke up in the morning at 5:45 am because my little brother, Tommy, had given me a wet willy. It’s this thing when you stick your finger in your mouth then stick it in someone’s ear. He was staring down at me through wide eyes. “What?!” I demanded, very annoyed. Tommy said, “I have a question.” “Oh, really!” I said sarcastically since I knew it was going to be one of his pointless questions, which it was. Because he said, “Can you check if there’s a monster under my bed?”

When I got home, I didn’t mention anything to mom, dad or Tommy (my little brother). And I hid what I got under the loose floorboard in the corner of my bedroom, where I hid the rest of my secret stash: $37 and a few other nicknacks. I decided to take a nap since I was rather tired, and I got three hours of sleep ’till mom screamed menacingly that if I didn’t come down that instant I wouldn’t get to eat at all. I figured I must’ve made her call my name 10 times.