These Little Women ✔️

First Encounters

Abraham huffed as he bathed in the lake, grateful that he lived far away enough from the village so he avoided the humans but still close enough to the water so he could bathe in peace. Of course, he could only do it at night since if a human caught him, they would try to kill him. 

Giants were not as magical and mythical as humans make them out. They were not as tall as skyscrapers or anything and they were not seeking out humans as meals. They weren't hideous troll creatures either that didn't wear proper clothing and covering either. Not all of them live and wandered all. Those fairytales and folktales completely twisted the truth. People hunted after them as though they were beasts of burden and told stories to their children in order to scare them from wandering off by themselves at night since "the giants would find them and eat them."

In truth, giants, to put it into the simplest of terms, looked exactly like humans, just obviously bigger. They weren't so big that they towered over forests, but most were tall enough to tower the eleven-foot huts and twenty-two-foot taverns in the human areas. Though they ate meat, very few giants actually preyed on human flesh. Most turned to town livestock or animals in the forest for food; those who knew magic would conjure something up for themselves. It was also due to magic that they had clothing much similar looking to that of humans. Also, only some, like Abraham, lived alone. There were giants that lived in groups and villages over the mountain side, far away from any humans that wished them harm. 

In short, most giants were like humans. Just much bigger. 

Abraham sighed as he finished his bath, looking up at the stars and the moon in the distance. If there was one thing he enjoyed about being a giant on the human parts of the land, it was having the view of the moon. It hardly ever shown back in his homeland; the mountains always blocked it. He decided that since there was a full moon, he would do a little stargazing. It helped pass the time and it didn't make him feel so lonely. 

Just as he got out of the lake and dried himself off, he heard voices in the distant. He instantly stiffened and glanced behind him. Impossible – humans were forbidden to come into the forest so late at night. Not just because of giants, but other creatures that humans had warned each other about. He knew this; he often spied on town meetings in order to know what they were doing and where hunting parties were going so he could avoid them. 

Quickly, he threw back on his clothes and ran behind the trees, listening in closely to the voices. He could hear rapid and frightening panting, small feet slamming hard against the earth surface as someone ran from the voices, which sounded harsh and slurred. There were two voices and he wasn't able to make out exactly what they were saying, but he knew their words were toward whoever was running away. He looked a bit more closely, eyes widening when he saw a human woman run out in the open, out of the far side of the woods, stopping when she reached the edge of the lake.

He stared at her in awe for a few moments, completely ignoring the fact that she was panting heavily and franticly running along the edge of the lake, glancing behind her as she ran. Her long black hair blew behind her, her bright brown eyes glowing even in the dark. If he hadn't had such powerful nocturnal vision, he might have failed to notice how pale and smooth her skin looked or how elegant her facial features were, despite her look of fear. She wore a tattered gray dress, one of the sleeves missing while the hem had been torn unevenly around her knees. She looked frightened, though Abraham didn't understand why. Concern swelled up in his chest, but he didn't dare to move. Humans were afraid of giants; this woman was no different, though it was obvious her fright was focused on something else at the moment.

The woman let out a startled cry as she tripped, falling hard to the floor. Neither she nor the giant had realized that the two men had caught up to her, smiling down at her. She gasped and tried to get up, but both men jumped at her and pinned her to the ground. She screamed and thrashed against them, calling out for help while the other men laughed. They were drunk and stupid, grabbing at her dress and tugging at it. The woman continued to scream for help and for them to get off and let her go. Her pleads, however, were unheeded.