Big Bend (g/t)

Nightmares

Dave

An unnatural silence filled the campsite around me. I couldn't quite remember how I'd gotten there, nor what I would be doing in a campground to start with. I looked around, trying to find some clue of what was going on. An eerie fog covered the desert around me.

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice sounded from behind me. I spun around, craning my head up to see Easton sitting behind me.

"Easton-what are you doing here?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking. The giant seemed to loom over me even more than usual. "Where am I?"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you almost sounded...scared," Easton said, amusement lacing his tone as he stared down at me. His eyes looked almost like they were glowing.

"Of course not," I scoffed. Despite that, he took a step  back, looking over my shoulder nervously. "Where is everyone?"

"Oh, I killed them," Easton said, a cruel grin spreading across his face. I stared up at him wordlessly, my brain lurching to a halt.

"W-what? You couldn't have-you-" I found it impossible to form a coherent response to what the giant had just told me. I realized I was shaking my head in disbelief.

Easton laughed. "Why do you look so surprised? You know what I am."

"You're a monster," I said, my eyes wide. The giant laughed again. I turned to run, falling back with a shout as a large hand landed directly in front of me.

"And where do you think you're going?" Easton asked. I watched in horror as the hand folded over me, roughly grabbing me from the ground. I tried to struggle free to no avail.

"Don't you want to be reunited with your friends? Angie?" Easton asked, in that same cold, teasing tone.

"What-what are you going to do?"

Easton smiled - this time, showing all of his teeth, razor sharp canines included.

"I was just going to have a late night snack."

I shot up, gasping for breath. It took me a moment to remember where I was - I'd been stargazing with Angie. And...Easton.

"Are you okay?" I heard Angie's familiar voice ask over the sound of my pounding heart. I looked to the side, relief washing over me as I saw her familiar form sitting next to me. It was short-lived as my gaze trailed past her, and upwards towards Easton. The giant was looking down at me, green eyes no longer filled with a glowing malice, but instead the usual kindness. And...concern. Despite that, I felt my breath catch in my throat upon seeing Easton. I swallowed.

"Dave?" Angie asked. I blinked, trying to push the memory of the nightmare away.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. Just a little disoriented I guess. Did I fall asleep?"

Angie nodded. "Yeah. About twenty minutes ago. We figured you were probably tired from the doubles you worked last week."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Easton asked.

"I'm fine," I said, a little more sharply than I'd intended.

"Maybe we should start heading back," Angie suggested. "It's getting late."

"Yeah," I said after a moment. While part of me wanted to go back, I remembered what that entailed: Easton picking them up.

It was just a stupid dream, I told myself. Calm down, Easton isn't going to hurt you.

It wasn't lost on me that I'd been the one to invite Easton in the first place. I hadn't been planning on it. I'd glanced up at the giant when Angie and I were talking earlier that day, though. Just in time to see a flash of some mix of sadness and resignation in Easton's eyes. That mix of feelings were some I'd known all too well. It was the sort of resigned mourning you felt when you were always picked last on school teams. Ate alone at lunch. Sat there awkwardly when "friends" discussed plans you weren't invited to.

The next thing I'd known, I was inviting Easton.
The smile that lit up Easton's face when I did was far longer lasting than the previous look, and I couldn't help but think it suited him. I had tried to ignore the surprise on Angie's face.

Apparently I wasn't as good at hiding my nervousness around Easton as I'd  hoped, given that Angie later brought it up directly. Or, almost directly - she thought I disliked Easton, and I thought I wasn't sure that was quite the right word. I wasn't really sure what the right word was, though.

And all of that brought me to sitting on a hill, dreading climbing into the hand of the giant I'd just had a nightmare about.

"Dave?" Easton asked softly, pulling me back to the present moment.

"You were kind of spacing out there?" Angie was sitting in Easton's hand, having evidently hopped up there while I was lost in thoughts.

"Sorry. Guess you're right, it is getting late," I said, forcing a laugh. Climbing into Easton's hand the second time was only slightly less surreal and disorienting than the first - it felt beyond trippy to actually be able to sit in another person's palm. It also made Easton's size seem even more real, as if I needed anymore reminders.

The way Easton had grabbed me in my nightmare slid back into my mind. It would be all too easy for the giant to actually grab me like that, and I didn't doubt my struggles would be just as futile in real life. That sent a shiver down my spine.

"You both good?" Easton asked. I looked up at him. The soft spoken, sweet natured park ranger currently staring down at me seemed in stark contrast with the smirking, cruel giant in his nightmare. That giant seemed more like what I had thought all Aphirials were like. That giant seemed more like what the other Aphirial I'd met had been like. I swallowed uncomfortably again, nodding.

"Yeah," I said. Easton stood up carefully - so slowly Angie and I probably could have kept our balance standing up.

Dislike definitely wasn't the right word, I thought. I didn't dislike Easton as a person, anyways. Easton was pretty much always friendly. He was great at his job. He was so careful handling humans it felt almost flattering, like they were some sort of precious jewel. It was more just that I couldn't forget what Easton was supposed to be in addition to all of those things. Namely, a literally giant alien predator that rumors suggested should be more suited to appearing in horror films than telling visitors about flowers.

Not just rumors, my mind reminded me.