GT Short: The Giant In The Parkinglot 1

-----I sat on Erika's couch by the window, typing an amateurs story into my iPhone notes. The living room that stretched into the kitchen at the back of the apartment was dim and only lit by the afternoon light shining through the open blinds. The room didn't feel dark though because the rickety blinds had been closed all day until about thirty minutes ago when I had laid Evan down for a nap in his moms room down the hallway. It was silent save for the quiet humming of the fridge at the back of the room, the distant shouts of children, and the bell of the ice-cream man, chiming incessantly as he rolled his cart along the fronts of the apartments. The wind rushed softly through the large trees outside and someone in the apartment above us moved a chair.
-----I shifted, rubbing my frigid arm against my sweatpants; sometimes the A/C worked too good in here. The couch began to tremble beneath me and I froze, my insides gripping with terror. Earthquake. The TV rattled and some dishes in the sink shifted loudly. The couch jolted under me and I felt sick as my stomach twisted behind my ribs- but suddenly it was over. If it had gone a moment longer I would have barrel-rolled off the couch onto the ground- but Evan. No- I would have ran back down the hall and grabbed him, we would both stand a better chance crouching beside the tall bed rather than the couch anyway. I looked around, snorting softly at myself- paranoid and a scaredy cat. I love earthquakes- my body just doesn't respond with that love when one happens.
-----The couch rumbled again and my heart seized in my chest, this time the walls shifting sharply, the ceiling squealing beneath the momentary tension. I bolted up from my relaxed position against the arm of the couch, glancing around the room and then out the window. Calm down Hannah- it's just an aftershock- or was that a foreshock before? It certainly was less violent. Hopefully that wasn't a foreshock- my stomach knotted mercilessly and I fisted the sides of my sweats anxiously. Jumping up to my knees, I peered out the window. A woman and her little girl were in the pool across the way- completely oblivious to the earths tremors. I took a sickened breath, forcing a calm over my tense muscles, throbbing from adrenaline.
-----The ground shook like a pan in the hand of a greedy gold miner. I stumbled back away from the window, just barely seeing the water from the pool slosh out the sides like a child's drink. My body tensed painfully and I had only one thought: get to Evan. I spun around, clambering into the dark hallway, my arms stretched out on either side of me, my hands brushing against the walls for a moment before slamming into them, as they danced chaotically around me. I tore around the corner, shoving my weight against the door when suddenly it stopped.
-----Everything was still; all was eerily silent. Evan breathed steadily beneath the covers, dead asleep and unphased. I breathed heavily, my jaw locked and my lungs heaving, burdened with terror.  Something was different- the room felt strange and the hair on the back of my neck pricked with unease I couldn't trace. Suddenly the deep red curtains over the window lit up with daylight. My gut rang with confusion as the image replied in my mind. Something had been in front of the window- some had moved out of the way. Had something fallen? I dashed to the curtains, throwing them open emphatically, trembling from my lips to my fingertips. Nothing- I jerked down the blinds, peering through the hole I'd made- something had fallen- the concrete was cracked and filthy- but where had it gone? My stomach sank as I examined the scene- trying against all odds to understand what I was looking at. The ground trembled once again but just barely and my raked nerves weren't so easily plucked at the fourth time. I wrenched my neck, glaring through the blinds to see something, anything that might shed light on my unnerving confusion. I saw something- it was black and white- it looked like- it oddly resembled- no it couldn't be. Backing out of the room I darted back down the hallway, the walls creaking again but I barely noticed.
-----I yanked open the front door, jogging out into the walkway and  searching the landscape to my right. There was a lot of dust- but there it was- a giant white stripe that resembled the bottom lining of a sneaker, and yet it sat beside a red pick-up truck, reaching higher than the bumper. Then it was gone. I followed it up, as it rose in such a familiar way, and my lunch swam nauseatingly around in my stomach, as I followed that white strip up a towering black, material sky-scraper, that gradually came into focus, despite my unbelieving mind, as the back of a man- a giant man- a man taller than any building I had ever seen.
-----He moved slowly, peering down at the ground and sometimes crouching to touch things. I couldn't move. I couldn't breath. And yet my heart beat like it might escape my chest at any moment. I should go back inside, I should get Evan and hide in a closet. But I couldn't look away. I was in awe- my eyes couldn't get enough. He had short, light-brown hair and blue-ish eyes that studied the world beneath him. His skin was almost pale and he wore an army, green t-shirt, and beige, fitted jeans. He rose to his full height and I found myself leaning back as he shot out of my vision. I stumbled back a step, peering up at him, an oddity standing in the blue sky; was I really seeing this?
-----I heard a cry and a swear behind me, swinging around to see Erika craning her neck to take in the giant in the parking lot. She looked like she had just rushed out of the office to check on us- frantic and out of breath- a bag on the ground at her feet. She finally met my gaze, "What the Hell!?" I shook my head at a loss, taking a breath to speak, but no words finding their way out- as I turned back to get one more look. He was just lifting his foot to take one more tentative step through the parking lot when sirens lit up the valley behind us. He stopped, glancing over his shoulder cautiously, his brow knitting as if he could see the U.S. Government peeling down the road for us. Turning back he started his exit once more, moving with a little more speed this time, as he gripped the apartment on the other end of the parking lot and gingerly navigated the solar panel parking structures like he was maneuvering through a flowerbed. He's going- I take a step after him and catch myself. What am I doing? Running after a giant dude that could kill me without trying- a giant guy- there's really a giant standing in front of me!?
-----I hear a door slam behind me and glance over my shoulder to see Erika's apartment closed. I see her dash through the living room into the hallway, no doubt checking on her son I abandoned. I glance back to the giant guy frantically tiptoeing through the apartment complex. He's made good head way in the few seconds I looked away. My insides twist at his shrinking form. Once he's gone I will never see anything like this ever again. My gut rithes at the thought. Just to the end of the complex- then I'll stop.