Extended Family - A G/t Shorty

Ch. 8 Keep me out/Let me in

Or worse...

After today, I barely uttered a word to anyone. I marched upstairs just to get away from everything and locked myself in our room. I curled further into my fetal position allowing a few more tears to escape, swelling my brown eyes even more, cursing at anything and everything because no matter what I tried to do; I couldn't calm myself down. I felt so alone in dealing with all this.

I just hope Casey didn't hear me, let alone figure out what was going on with me. I had to remain strong for both of us.

But it's so freaking hard!

I mean, how could I have been so stupid and just now realized that Mr. Taylor was a giant all along?

What does he want with two human orphans?

Damn it, Mia, stop thinking about it!

The fact that going into their room and not finding any of their things should've been a huge red flag. And, not to mention, that he said he was close by, but when looking out through various windows around the house, there wasn't another house, let alone a neighborhood for miles. Perhaps what he was saying to me could be considered common knowledge being a resident of this area but to not be physically here to tell us was fishy as hell.

Fuck, what do I do?

My heart thrummed in my chest as I lay in my bed; beads of sweat collected at my hairline as the fear materialized out of my pores. Just from that five-minute conversation three days ago, he casually admitted that he knew about giants and that they lived near us.

I was still shaken up from the day of the incident and didn't have a second to collect myself when the phone rang. The last time I would speak to him. The sheriff of course answered but my stomach dropped to the floor when he turned to me, gesturing at the receiver. While I stayed talking to Mr. Taylor, Rusty and Casey began taking the bags of trash outside to the back. The receiver was placed firmly in my hands as I pressed the device to my ear, awaiting the deep, daunting voice on the other end.

Mr. Taylor voiced his concerns and worries by asking me more questions about what had happened. I supplied him with one-word or one-sentence answers. The longer I spoke to him, the more my heart pounded in my chest, threatening to burst out. I had to know who he was. Maybe if I changed my tone and instead inquired to him, like a daughter, he'd feel inclined to be truthful because technically on paper...

We were father and daughter.

I had to quell the shiver in my voice as much as I could and make this sound convincing so that he didn't suspect that I was onto him. So, with a deep breath, and my lingering thoughts still spinning inside my head, I delivered my request, "Dad, could you tell me something please—a-and be honest with me."

A muted chuckle slipped through the earpiece; it sounded like he enjoyed me calling him that.

"Testing out the name, huh?" He kindly replied, "Anything Mia Amore, shoot."

That nickname again made me purse my lips. He wants me to trust him by putting a personal spin on this.

The little amount of courage I gathered almost seeped out of me as I readied myself to challenge the giant in disguise. The question almost lodged in my throat, afraid to hear the answer even when I already knew. I ran a parched tongue to dry lips and shut my eyes for a second, becoming familiar with the continuous, unrelenting thrums within my chest that deafened everything else around me.

"Please..." I began slowly, each word drier as it left my mouth, "P-please, tell me that you are a giant."

Even as my mind continued to race, my heart ached knowing that his confession would have shattered all my expectations of what I thought I was getting from this family. The ugly truth is that Casey and I were ultimately fucked and any hope we had of being a part of a loving family was crushed once Mr. Taylor admitted who he was.