Childhood Friends Reunited

It was Thursday, time to do a new comic for my webpage. I was drawing the latest one and decided to put some touches in it. More shading, more realism, etc. I finally finished it after 3 1/2 hours. I posted it for all the people that visit to see, and on this sultry summer day, there was little else to do, so I took a nap. When I woke up, I heard what I thought was a thunderstorm.

"Great!" I said, "I left the computer on for what, all of 30 minutes, and a thunderstorm has to come, of course! Nice Florida weather…" A little later, I checked the computer, and there was no damage. "Thank goodness!" I exclaimed. Another boom ends my victory dance. "Hmm, the sun's out. Typical summertime weather here." I stated. A bigger boom startles me a bit later. And it starts to darken, the sunlight no longer shining through the windows. "What's going on?" I wondered. The booms get louder, and I hear a voice outside. It wasn't very loud, but rather quiet. One more BIG boom shakes the house… "An earthquake… here?" I curiously thought.

"Could you come outside, please?" A voice that sounded like that of an older teenager/ young adult was heard. I look out the window and see a flash of blue before looking away. I run to another window and see mostly brown. "I'm scared…" I say in fright. "Please, can you come out here?" the voice asked.

"No." I said. The house darkens more.

I look and see brown shoes, white legs, and a lot of blue. "Come out of there like I asked you to!" the mysterious figure commands. "No!" I yelled.

"You give me no choice but to do this…" he said. I wonder what's going to happen. Lots of booms shake the area. "What could it be now? Aftershocks?" I worried. Nothing could've prepared me for what happened next. The roof sounded like it was moving, but I thought it was impossible. It lifted off, and I was left staring up at a 100 foot giant holding the roof of the house in ONE hand, and his other hand coming down toward me!

"Wha….wha…." I couldn't get a word out being so amazed. After a while, I was able to move and speak- I had to move carefully or I might fall the long, LONG way down off his palm! "Who are you, anyway? You look familiar, but tha… that's impossible!" I said, and he responded, "Don't you know who I am?" I stuttered. "Y-Y-Y-Yeah… bu-bu-but that's im-im-not possible!"

"Well, yeah, I may look like the same person you make for the comics, granted a quite a bit better. But the reason you HAVE been making them is that…" he started talking before I interrupted. "This is not happening, this is not real, YOU are not real!" I yelled.

"Stop yelling, please, and let me finish!" the young giant exclaimed. "But is your name the same as the character in the comics?" I wondered that, because if it were, this would either be a VERY strange coincidence or a strange dream. "Yeah, I'm William, but you can call me Will for short." He said. "What?! This is… amazing. How can you look like AND have the same name as the one in the comics?!" I was seriously freaked out now.

So what does he look like, you're wondering? Well, he's got some huge brown boots on his feet (which I'd say are about 16 feet long each), blue shorts, and a green shirt. His face? Sparkling blue eyes, and brown spiky hair. Of course, it's a long climb to the top.

"That is what I've been trying to say! The reason there is a character in your comics that looks like me is because you once were very close to me." William said. "Um… now you ARE scaring me. First you show up, then look EXACTLY like the one in all the comics, even wear the same clothes, too! And you're exactly the same height you would be in them. Could you pinch me? I MUST be dreaming!" I shouted. "Um, you wouldn't want me to do that, my fingers are bigger than whatever I'd be trying to pinch!" William matter-of-factly said. "Ok, I must've forgotten that. Sorry, Will." I said, apologizing.

"16 years ago, in 1985, I was born. The doctors were amazed how even then, that I was so, so big. Mom told me that she had to stand up to see me, and how it was very hard to keep me in place. No one then knew why or how I got to be so big at that time. They thought maybe I'd "top out" as some smaller people do, and stay about the same height for good. However, it was not to be." (takes a breath)

"2 years later, I began growing again, up to 7 feet. This was about the time other things started happening. Then, a brief time from 1987 to 1990, I was about 3 houses down from you! Since Mom and Dad never actually let me leave the house, they decided to have you come over. You thought little of it, but my parents were delighted that, finally I had a friend, despite nearly stressing the two-story house. 1991 came, and they moved to a bigger building, but the visits continued there. Finally, in 1992, I outgrew that, and they moved me far away fearing that I might actually become a danger to you and others." (another breath)

"I was kept in the Carolinas, over 400 miles away. No one could explain why, in 1992 and 1993, I kept heading toward you despite not actually knowing which way it was. It was a sad few years…especially all the nights I had to travel to avoid being seen, wouldn't you be scared after seeing a 50-foot giant, even if he was only 8?" William finally finished.

"I actually don't remember that. I wonder why I would forget all this stuff." I seriously wondered that myself. "But I didn't draw you until the mid-90s, how could this happen almost 10 years before?"

"Because my parents put you through shrink therapy, that's rich, I would probably need that more than you… I'm joking! Anyway, they tried to get the doctor to convince you that we're not real, that it was a figment of your imagination, which all your time with me ultimately became. I'm not joking about that. Then, 1994 came. Nintendo and Enix, two game companies, jointly put out a game called Illusion of Gaia in which the hero most likely jogged your memory. After that, you started experimenting with the hero (Will's) look, and finally came across something that hit a spark." William said.

"How would you know this? I thought you were far away, not able to know what I was doing?" I questioned. "Not true. From then until the end of 1999, I saw what you made, and I knew that someday…" William pauses. "… I would finally see you again! But now, of course, you're older, but being in the same place you are now as in the mid-90s helped a bit, too. So I knew what place to come to, especially since you put it down about every 10 pages. One day you even left your drawing book by accident, and I left it on a table outside."

"Then, the millennium came and you finally ended the drawings in your folder. Not that I was totally out of the picture, however. You simply moved on to the Internet, and had me in quite a few games. In the meantime, I was still growing, from an already towering 50 feet in 1993 to 75 feet in 1997, to nearly 100 feet in 1999, and now over that by a little bit. The second wave came, as pictures again appeared, only this time in a comic format." William pauses to take a breath. "Then, the fall of 2000 came and all sorts of comics came. I've been in every one of them, too." "Wow, a lot has happened since then. I just don't know what to say." I said.

"But, whatever you do, DO NOT tell anyone else. If you do, my parents will find out, that now, at this even greater height, I could be a great danger to you, other people, and maybe even the entire state! I'm serious! They say that it's a blessing that I'm not an evil person, otherwise, I could probably level every place in the nation and probably the world. If you do tell anyone, my parents will probably make you go through more time in shrink therapy… to the point where I would no longer have any influence on you and, in fact, you may totally forget about me!" William very seriously explained.

"And, you know what's worse? They might decide that, since I could just make it back to you again, that they might order me to be DESTROYED! That means, every force in the nation would do horrible things to me, and that would be the end!" William said in a serious tone. "Whoa, I don't want that to happen, I guess I better not tell anyone, then." I said. "After all, suppose it had been the other way around and you were the normal-sized one and I were the giant? Would you tell, knowing it could mean my end, Will?" I questioned in a what-if. "No, I wouldn't tell, why would I want to do a thing like that? Sometimes, Tom, you come up with the weirdest questions. Well, let's go." He looked ready to go somewhere, I was like, "Where will we go? There aren't that many places to go, especially not during the day when you could be seen."

A few people still did see us, though, however, their reaction was more that of amazement from seeing a handsome young colossus walking by, than actual fear. I figured they were used to seeing this kind of thing. There were times that William would have to stop and lift his feet above the power lines that held the city's traffic signals, at which we still decided to stop at. There was a time that he forgot to, however… He tripped and fell down, stopping 10 feet short of crushing a house during the fall, and was knocked out cold when he hit the hard ground. I almost went flying as well, however, I remembered that I could go on his back, and avoid getting seriously hurt.

"Will? Are you alright? That was a big fall you took" I was starting to worry. He still wasn't moving, when I noticed a bulge somewhere around his neck. I started pressing as hard as I could, and then, I heard him coughing, as a car flew out. "How'd that get in there? I'm glad you're okay, for a while there, I thought you were a goner!" I said with a sigh of relief. "Ooh, that hurt… I felt like that was going to be the end, not only for me, but perhaps the owner and family of that house I barely missed." After I explained to him what happened, he said, "You saved my life! That car must've fell in my mouth when I hit the ground!" Carefully, we continued through, with William sliding his feet occasionally so as to push any people that get in dangerous territory forward, rather than ending their lives early should there be someone there. "Where are you taking me?" I wondered. "You'll find out soon enough.", he answered.

Apparently that incident was big enough news to make the front page of both of the area's newspapers. Fortunately, there was no way to tell what caused it by looking at pictures, the headlines said, "FREAK EARTHQUAKE SHAKES TOWN". We both knew it was more than just a freak earthquake, but wasn't going to tell anyone. Besides, if articles showed up saying what it really was, people would stop reading them!

"I'm not so sure I want to go wherever this is." I comment. Suddenly, I get caught on a tree branch, suspended 90 feet in the air! "Help me, I'm stuck!" William started to head towards me, but I start to slip and fall. Luckily he was still close enough for me to hold on to the bottom of one of his shorts legs, and pull myself back up. It's a long way to get back up there…

The local news stations fly helicopters to the scene where the "freak quake" occurred. They see curious tracks across the dirt (he's not quite big enough to leave them in the road, unless he falls down or something) and follow them! Knowing that William can probably cover 80 miles in an hour just walking, we start to head for a place with few obstructions and open space- into the wilds of North Florida we start to go. Since the helicopters are only allowed to travel a 50 mile radius, we should be OK.

Or so we thought, as one renegade helicopter breaks the rules and goes outside its allowed limit. "They're on us! I don't know how, but they seem to know where we are!" I say in an upset voice. The helicopter is flying close to William, and it looks rather small.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." he says. "I don't trust him, he might be saying this, and then…" the pilot says. "Don't say it, it'll probably make him mad!" the reporter exclaims.

"…and then he'll destroy us all!" the pilot finishes. William looks like he's somewhat angry at the pilot. "I'm not here to hurt anyone!" he yells, in an upset voice. The helicopter goes away.

"Why did you let them treat you like that?" I pondered. "Why didn't you just do something to the pilot?"

"Because, it only takes 1 finger… even my pinky can do 5,000 pounds (2.5 tons) of crushing weight! I have to be REALLY careful." William exclaimed in a factual voice.

"Oh. I've seen your awesome power, but it's always been on accident! Why can't you purposely smash something, Will?" I asked.

"That's a way to ensure that I'd get in big trouble, and we'd get separated again, possibly forever!" he answered in a somewhat aggravated tone.

"Okay, but why not a tree or something not very important? It's not like it would hurt anyone." I wondered.

"Because, today it might be something small, but then it might become something else!" William answered with an even more aggravated tone. "Fine, let's eat something!" I said. "Ok, that's better. Only, where will we get enough food for me?" he asked. "Probably the place of 99 gazillion burgers sold. Mickey-D's, anyone? They're cheaper here and the other places might not have enough." I responded.

"Mickey-D's, how may I take your order?" the drive-through speaker um… generated.

"501 Hamburgers, a large drink, and as many fries as you've got!" I answered. "Is this for a party?" the voice from the speaker… sounded. "Um… yeah. I didn't know you were supposed to ask, though." I remarked. "Okay, that'll be $283.49" (I guessed about $250 for the burgers, despite being only 39 cents today, about $1.19 for the drink, and the rest on fries. He'll eat me out of house and home at this rate.)

"Will, I hope you like all that I got, because that was really EXPENSIVE. Not that it's really surprising, though." I stated. "Yeah, I guess so, also this isn't all that much! I'm only getting the equivalent of 1/4 to 1/8 of what you got. You miscalculated. It's the CUBE of the number of times in height difference, not SQUARED. A lot of people get this wrong." William went into quite a discussion about this. "Well, I guess we won't be stopping any more times, then. I am NOT going to pay $3,000 just to fill you up!" I angrily responded. "Fine. Let's go then, and by the way, I'm a quite a bit thirsty now…" he said. "Now you're thirsty! Oh man, I'm gonna be poor thanks to you." I said, still quite angry. "Drink up a lake or something!" "Ok, if that's what I have to do, I will!" William shouted. We found one nearby, a good sized one, too. Or so I thought. I was amazed when I saw that the water lowered a good 10 feet or so after he was done. The youthful gargantuan could probably drain this lake completely in a day!

"Now are you okay? Can we go?" I asked. "Well, there is one more thing… I'll be back, okay?" He looked like he was in a big hurry, too. I figured after eating and drinking so much, that he might've had to go, so I decided to wait a while. A quite a bit later… "I'm back, so now we can go somewhere." "Why were you gone so long?" I questioned.

"I had to find a place with enough cover so people wouldn't see me!" William responded. Another distraction hit: It's starting to rain! "Oh no, it's starting to rain! We'll get soaked out here." I said in a distressed voice. "It's dry in my pockets, you can go in there to stay dry." he suggested. I climbed down from his shoulder into a pocket in his shorts. I just couldn't get over the feeling that it was over 30 feet below- almost three stories! Inside the pocket, it was a opening that would suit a cave, and there was a slightly musty smell inside. But it's better than getting drenched in the rain!

We waited for the rain to stop, I watched as the rain fell, and imagined that there was a very large puddle at his feet where it all drips off. The storm lasted for over an hour. When I got out, everything was wet, and I saw a very wet William not very happy about being soaked. We decided to start going anyway. Nearby, it was dry, and it looked like it hadn't rained in a month! There was a big forest fire threatening to burn down a town, with some of its houses already burning. Everyone there was in panic. "Hey, what's that?" one of the people say. "Probably just your imagination." another said. "I'm sure I saw something brush by here." the other said with a look of certainty. "We could save the town!" I said, forgetting that there were people around. "And now, I hear voices, my imagination is rather active tonight!" a person exclaimed. Finally, William stands over some of the burning houses. Looking up, a person says, "Oh, my. It's the face of God!" as the moonlight reflects off of William's face. The young giant started to wring all the water he could out of his wet clothes. The fires are put out! But the forest is still burning dangerously close to the town. He wrings out any remaining water and puts out all the fires. Then, he takes a deep breath and blows the smoke away!

In the distance, William sees someone running out of the woods with a torch and gasoline. "Are you burning down my woods?" he asks the suspicious man with an angry look. "N…N…No." the man stuttered, trying to get out an answer. "Really? Then what are you doing with a torch and gasoline?" William wondered. "I…I…I was just using the torch to see… and the gasoline is…is for my car." the man looked frightened. Evidence of burnt gasoline cans proves that he is lying, plus the stuttering. "Really…" William lifts up some of the cans and shows the man. "W-W-What are you gonna do to me? You're so humongous, and I-I'm scared." The man says, scared. "Just tell the truth." I find a boombox somewhere, and turn it up on him. The song plays. "I can tell you're lyin' cause when you're replyin' you stutter, stutter, *short pause* stutter, stutter…" "Ok! I admit it. I was lying to you. I have been trying to burn this place down for years! But I didn't know it was your forest… What are you going to do to me?" a very frightened man admits. "I'll do what any one else would do, and that's turning you over to the proper authorities." William responds.

He picks up the man and takes him to the police. The next morning, headlines say, "TOWN NO LONGER ABLAZE, SAVED BY THE SAVIOR!" in about 64 point text. The main story says: "The fires are out. Last night, it looked like a scene that might be described in the Bible. Observers reported seeing a face above the town. Then, it started raining, and the fires were put out. A suspect in the cause of the fire was taken into custody, awaiting trial." A picture of the 'savior' was shown. "Will, that's your face! Now there are two stories about you in the papers!" I exclaimed.

Meanwhile, at his home on the border of the Carolinas, just south of Charlotte… Looking at a newspaper, his parents see quite a few interesting articles. "Well, that's something. Earthquakes in Florida, and a fire put out by divine forces… wait a minute. The picture here, isn't that our son?" his mom said. "Yeah, it sure is. I wonder where he's off to now, anyway?" his dad asks. "I think he went south again…! He's trying to get to the one we had done therapy on! I hope he realizes his own strength, there's not much we can do now, anyway." "He's trying to find his childhood friend… will he realize how much bigger he is now than before?"

Helicopters fly by, their goal to find the one that looks like the guy in the picture, and find out why he saved the town and put out the fires. Daytime is coming, and that's when he rests, so he can hopefully travel without being seen. "Time for me to rest, Tom. We shouldn't travel during the day, as it is very dangerous." William said. "Okay, I guess we'll rest." I commented. The helicopters were zeroing in on the area, with lots of media all over. We woke up in the middle of the day and saw lots and lots of people! "Oh great, now all these people will see us!" I said. "We just can't get away from them."

We decided to talk with them a little while- of course I was in hiding, so there was still a chance that William's parents wouldn't know about me being with him. "How did you put out that fire in our town? It looked like it was just raining there." a reporter asked. "Well, some distance from the town it was pouring down rain, so I got soaked. I saw the town was on fire and began to wring the water out of my clothes and put out all the fires." William said to the reporter. "Well, did you also catch the man that was burning down the forest?" the reporter asks. William exclaimed, "Yeah, he was just evil! Carrying a torch and cans of gasoline, and lighting them… that's just not right!" "What's it like to be so, um… big?" another question from another reporter. "I've never known anything else, it is quite trying, having to live outside because no place is big enough!" William answered. "What's your name?" another asked. "You'd never be able to understand it if I said it to you." William said as he carefully walks away. "But you didn't tell us anything about you!" the reporter yells out.

We started traveling again, it was close to sunset. However… where fires were a problem in one town, floods plagued another! We hadn't gone 50 miles before we came to one where the dam broke and the waters were threatening to drown the town. "What will we do this time, Will?" I asked. "What else? Help them out. I don't want them to all drown, you know." Just like the night before, the moon was shining on our faces. It wasn't time to celebrate, though. Raging waters rushing toward the town, about to wash away everything. Boom! Boom! "What was that?" a homeowner wondered. Just as much earlier in the story, the shaking got louder. He looks out the window, to see a huge hand about to pick up the house! "Aahhh!" the man was very scared and yelled. William carefully picked up the house and put it high above the water, on the plateaus near the town. "Hey! What did you do that for…Huh? The dam broke! I think he just saved my life!" the man exclaimed. In another part of town, a woman's house is about to be covered in flood waters… "Aaah! What are you doing?" she asked in fright. "Saving you from the flood," answered William. "What flood? Hey, answer me!" the woman was upset. He promptly lifts the house up high enough for her to see. "That flood? That's practically a tidal wave!" she yelled out. The titanic teen put the house on another plateau. "Your handsome hugeness, I think you saved my life!" the woman excitedly shouted.

After putting about a dozen of them on higher ground, William said in a sad voice. "There's not enough room for all of these houses. I suppose I could keep some with me for a little while." He stuffs as many as are safely possible in his shirt and pockets.

Part 4 (added but not edited)

The water finally rushes in, about 15 feet high, which is barely ankle-high for him. "Hey, remember the lake? How you drank up almost 10 feet of water? I wonder… are you thirsty now?" I asked. "Actually, I am. Quite a bit thirsty from doing all that moving." William answered as he began to kneel down, and get closer to the water. He started to gulp it down, and the water dropped by at least a foot every few seconds! "Wow! Look at that!" a few people watching said. A while later, all the excess water was gone. "You did it! I knew you could." I excitedly said. "Yeah… but now, I gotta go." William said, sounding anxious to go somewhere. "Where'd he go?" someone said. "Oh, I don't know. After drinking all that water, though…" I started to say. After waiting a while, I was wondering when he'd come back. He returned soon after that. "Why did it take you so long to get back here?" I asked. "You didn't want all these people to see me, did you? I had to find some cover!" William exclaimed. "I understand. Well, I guess there's a lot to do around here now. Hey! Does anyone here have some food for us?" I asked. "Yeah, there's a lot, actually. The flood didn't touch the business district," the town mayor said to us. "Well, we can't stop yet, we still have some work to do." William stated. He went to the once-drowned site, and saw the broken dam. With a single punch, he broke up the pieces blocking the place where the new dam would go. Then, he scratched chunks of rock off the mountain wall. Boulders were put together to make a new dam that was at least twice as tall and a lot stronger than the old one. The finished project was about 75 feet high, and could withstand a lot more water than the old one. Then, he took the houses off the plateaus and out of his pockets and returned them to the valley. Although damp, recognizable structures remained so he could put the houses back pretty close to where they were before the flood. The town mayor gives Tom and William some money for their work and for some eats!

"Wow! We could get a lot with this!" I shouted excitedly. So, we stopped to buy some food. At least this time, it wasn't out of my pocket. All of a sudden, helicopters fly into the area. "Oh no." I said and started to hide. "Where do you come from, big guy?" one of the people in the helicopters shout out. "You don't have to yell. I heard you. I come from the southeast." William answered. "How's the weather up there?" another asked. "About the same as it is down there, I guess." William said, a bit annoyed. "Can you touch the clouds, or the moon, up there?" yet another queried. "Of course not! I'm not quite THAT tall." William said in a flustered tone. "I think we're starting to get him angry with us," one person said. "So, where do you get such big clothes?" one wondered. "Hmmm… I guess I had to buy them somewhere, I don't remember where, though. Can you please stop with all the questions?" William said in a serious tone. "Awww… he looks annoyed!" one said. "Does it bother you that your shirt was probably a tarp at a field? And that a man doesn't come up to the top of those boots?" a person said. "All the better reason for you to let me go." William said, with a very serious, angry tone. "Watch those spikes, man, you might poke a hole in the sky!" another person in a helicopter said. "That's quite enough… just go away! All of you, go!" William shouted as he looked for a place without anyone or anything that could get hurt. "You must've lied a lot, man, Pinocchio's nose grew, but your WHOLE BODY grew!" a person taunted. "Stop it! Everyone, please STOP bugging me!" William said after stomping his foot on the ground. "Ooh… he's mad now. Let's go… for now!" The circle of helicopters left.

"Argh! They make me so mad!" William angrily said. "I hope this business of getting chased down by helicopters ends soon." I stated. We started traveling, and made it across the Florida/Georgia line. "Some peaches, Will?" I asked. "No… these are someone's crops. I will not take people's crops away!" William said, still a bit upset. "Oh, come on, take a few." I taunted. "I can't. I have a question for you, Tom. What would you do if you were a giant?" he asked. "I probably would do a free-for-all on the crops, for one. I would travel during the day for everyone to see my towering figure. And I might smash a few things." I answered, wondering what he might say. "Then, you'd have the entire army on you within a few hours, getting ready to open fire!" William exclaimed. "Ok, I guess it's not such a good idea, then." I said. "I was just kidding, anyway. I'm not that mean!"

"Where are we going? I don't know why we're going this far." I was starting to wonder. "I told you, you'll find out when you get there." William answered. It was getting close to sunrise as they approached the city of Savannah. Time for a young giant to turn in, so he won't be seen by too many people. They were awakened by a thunderstorm. Heavy rains started to come down and lightning flashed. "Ugh, not this again! I'm getting drenched by the rain, and the lightning…" William says just as a bolt starts to head for him. BOOM! "What was that? It sounded like something fell down!" I wondered. I peeked outside and it appeared that nothing happened. I stepped out and I saw the youthful colossus lying on the ground. There was a big imprint in the ground, and I realized that he must've fallen down. "Uhhh… That hurt…" William looked like he had been knocked out. "How did you fall this time?" I asked. "Lightning came from the clouds and struck me," he said. part 5 added but not edited---shrinkingman

"The headline today- Hurricane Chantal headed toward the Southeast Georgia/ Southern South Carolina coast. You're not on the front page today? Oh well." I said as I was looking at the newspaper. "Wait a minute, Savannah is in Southeast Georgia! We've got to get out of here, Will!" "Read the rest of it." William said. "The storm is about 120 miles East of Beaufort, South Carolina, heading West Southwest at 20 mph. Expected impact is around 1 AM Eastern- about 6 hours from now! Its winds are 110 mph, with gusts of up to 125, and rain falling from about Columbia, SC to Jacksonville, Florida! We have to hurry." Tom said. "We have to help some people." William said in a serious tone. "No way! You'll never make it in time. This sounds like the type of storm that could even do in a gigantic guy like you, we must leave its path!" I shouted. "Come on, you can get out of its path in less than 4 hours!" "Exactly. We'll spend the next little while helping people along the coast, then leave." So I went along with him. If I had decided not to, I'd risk getting caught in the storm myself should the storm come quicker or turn further south. BOOM. "It's a great day for surfing," a teenager said to another as he went out to the beach with his surfboard. BOOM. Another said, "Yeah, dude, no storm is going to scare us." A big boom shakes the ground as William finally arrives. "It's not safe to be out here, a big storm is coming.", he said. "Hey, Mr. G, storms never hit us. It'll probably hit the Myrtle Beach instead.", one of them say. "Dude, chill, why don't you join us out here?" the other teen says. "You two are in serious danger!" William says as he reaches down and picks them up. "What are ya doing? Put me down!" one teen yells out. "See that storm out there? In 4 hours, that storm will hit this place. It's coming this way." William said to them. "This is most uncool. A dude with spiky hair that can touch the clouds telling us we have to leave.", the other teen said in an angry voice. "Make fun of me as you will, but you're not staying here!" William says as he puts them in his pocket. "Whoa! I was wrong about this guy, he's awesome! We can use this as our pad, man!", one of the teens say with excitement. "Yeah, Mr. G is cool. Makes you feel really small, though.", the other says.

"Hey, did you pick them up at the shore, Will?" I said. "Will, William, ah, I got it, cool! Just like the one in those radical comics!" one said. "But he couldn't be…could he?" the other wondered.

We started heading away from the coast and across the Georgia/ South Carolina border.

Our third night was almost half over before we got to Beaufort. "Hmm. The storm didn't hit here." William said. "Told ya! The storm went to Myrtle Beach!" the teens said. William saw a TV glow in a window. "And the storm is about to hit near Savannah, with winds over 120 mph, with winds gusting to 140 at times. Tropical storm force winds are being felt as far away as Beaufort, South Carolina and Brunswick, Georgia.", the weather report on the TV said. "The storm hit our area? How could that be? They're always supposed to go away from us!" the teens say. "Well, Tom, looks like we're out of the storm already. All we're getting is a little wind." William said. "Probably the winds they were mentioning." I responded. "Dude, how are you keeping your hairdo so well with all this wind?" The teens wondered. "Well, I guess it holds quite well, that's how." William answered. "You saved our lives, you know. If it weren't for you, we would have been washed away into the sea." the teens said.

We were out of the storm a while later. We stopped to get some food and drinks at that time as well. The teens marveled at how someone could eat and drink such huge amounts, when they could probably float in that much drink. "It's been fun, but we really should think about getting you home." I said to the teens. "What?! We can't go home now, we're having too much fun!" they said in a sad voice. "But your family needs you two. If you don't come back, they'll be worried." William said to them. "But, dude, we want to stay and have fun for tonight!" the teens responded. "Ok, just for tonight. But tomorrow you go home." I stated. "Alright! It's party time!" The teens run around, looking for something to do. "That's what we'll do! We'll tie a bungee cord to the top of one of those spikes and bungee down." One said. "Yeah, like totally awesome!" the other said in excitement. One of the teens goes first. "Alright! What a rush!" he says as he falls down some 100 feet, tied with a bungee cord. The other teen follows. "Yeah, awesome… ahhh! I'm not tied anymore!" he says in fright, as the cord came loose. "Aaahhhh… I'm falling! Help!" he yells. Luckily, William caught him some 50 feet from the top, so the teen landed softly in his hand. "Whoa… that was close," the frightened teen said. "If you hadn't caught me, I'd be a goner!" "Well, be more careful next time, I might not be there next time something happens to you." William says to the teen, with a serious voice.

The end of the night comes, and we went to sleep, while the teens continued to run around, looking amazed at seeing such a big guy. "It's not every day you get to see a giant," I said, and went to sleep. We slept until the middle of Day 4, and took the teens back to their family, then we started to head north. It looked like we might just reach Columbia by sunset. "We're almost there. What I wonder is why are we going this way?" I said. "Well, we don't have much further to go. Hold on." William said, slightly annoyed at me for asking the same question at least once a day.

"Um, where's the city?" I said. "All I see is a bunch of military buildings. I think the signs are lying to us!" "No, there is a city here. It's just no one sees it because of the base. But I, of course, can see over the buildings." William said. "This may be our last chance to eat. There isn't that much to the north." I said. So we stopped there for some eats. Finally, no major catastrophe after 3 days of disasters. Um, not. There was a tanker with a puncture in the gas tank, about to blow! And worse yet, there were lots and lots of cars on the road, even 3 hours after rush hour. "Gosh, fires, floods, hurricanes, now explosions? What will happen next? A blizzard?" I thought. "You know the drill. We must save them." William said. "But they will see you for sure. And being this close to a military base, I hope you know what you're doing!" I said. "Oh great, this blank traffic jam is really getting me blank annoyed!" One of the commuters said. BOOM! "Was that the tanker?" BOOM! "Aw-aw, no. Two explosions shouldn't come from one truck!" A big boom shakes the interstate. "Whoa! Who's that guy? Oh great, not only is the tanker going to blow, but a giant is going to destroy us as well!" the unhappy commuter said in despair. "Hmmm… let's see. How heavy is it?" William wonders. "Not very heavy at all, somehow I've got to get this out of here!" he says as he lifts the tanker with ease. William takes the tanker to the nearby woods. KABOOM! The tanker was that close to blowing up dozens of people, but instead, it's just going to cause a brush fire.

"Wow! He didn't destroy us, he actually saved us!" the commuter says in relief. A while later, we are at City Hall. "You did a good job, saving perhaps a thousand people, you're welcome here anytime." The mayor said. By this time, the 4th day of our journey was almost over. "I wonder if there will be anything in the papers about this tomorrow, Will." I wondered. "We'll have to wait and see." William said. We started to head north out of Columbia, rapidly approaching Charlotte. We came some distance before daybreak. Then, as usual, we went to sleep.

We were awakened by a howling wind that sounded like a train. It was just barely raining, but it was flashing lightning all over the place. It was… a tornado! It was coming from the west, heading for us rapidly. It began to get very windy, as it got quite close.

"What will we do?" I panicked. "Hope for the best, and that we don't get blown far away." William answered. The storm lasted for an hour. After that, we checked the headlines. "Tanker Explosion Diverted From Highway 77" it said, with a picture of the scene, taken… in night vision! "Wow, you look good in this picture. They must've been pretty close." I said to William. "We are almost where we're supposed to go, I'd say about 60 miles." William said. One last encounter with a circle of helicopters ensues. "Are those boots or boats?" A pilot questioned. "They're boots, they don't even have sails on them!" William said, quite angry. "Do you empty out the country's food supply every time you eat?" another pilot asked. "Come on, what's with these questions! I'll be going now!" William said in an angry mood. "If you cry, you could end the Southeast's drought!" another said. "That does it! I'm leaving!" William says in a fury.

A while later… "We're here! But you have to hide for a bit." William said. I look out from his pocket and see a HUGE structure, taking up space in two states at once!

"Mom? Dad? I have something to say." William said. "What is it, that you found a friend?" his Dad said. "Yeah, you could say that." "It can't be! Is that really you? We're sorry about that thing years ago, Tom. It was the only way at the time. We had to have you go through that because we were ordered to," his mom said, looking in his pocket.

"I have something to say," his Mom said. "Let me say it. 16 years ago we found a baby, only--- much bigger than usual. We didn't know what to think of it, so we decided to take him in. All was well, until he turned 8. Then, we found out from the father…" his Dad said. "You mean, you're not my father? That someone else is?" William wondered in a sad voice. "Your father and mother live up in the Giant Kingdom, and he is the King, and you… are his son." "Why didn't you tell me about this? Why did you put Tom through all that therapy?" William asked. "Well, we were ordered to by the parents, they felt it wasn't right to stay friends, so we went through with it fearing the consequences."

Suddenly a booming voice comes from the clouds. "I see you've found your friend… it's okay now. I thought about my action for many years. I was wrong to mess up your lives. Just don't make the same mistake and mess up everyone else's lives like I did." William's real Dad said. "We were having tough times and couldn't take care of another mouth to feed, so we left you with them," his Mom said. "We will now let you catch up on times with your little friend, don't worry about us messing it up again."

"Alright! I get to spend more time with you! Why don't we have a party sometime soon?"

William said. "Sounds like a good idea." I said. So we had a party, maybe I'll tell you more about it some other time.

The end of this story… but there will be others in the future!