Stepping Into the Light

by giant 30

It was a beautiful day in the woods where I took my camping vacation, just me and nature, nothing or no one to bother me. I set out for a day of relaxation and fun, there would be nothing to stand in my way of enjoying myself, and I was going to see to it that I would make the most of this day, my name is Jerry, and this is my story.

I spent my day fishing, hiking, and just taking in all the wonderful sights that nature provided, I didn't see any reason that today would be different. I came to a spot I hadn't seen yet, but was tired from my walk, so I decided to rest. As I was resting, I was interrupted by a voice.

At first I couldn't pinpoint what the voice was saying, but as I listened, I heard the voice more clearly.

"Come to the light...." the voice seemed to whisper.

I got up from where I was resting and began walking. As I came to a corner and went around, I saw what appeared to be a white, glowing circle. As I came closer, the voice whispered again the same phrase it had said before. I stopped just before the white, glowing circle, and that's when it happened.

I was sucked in through this white sphere of light. I didn't remember much after that, because I blacked out from the force of the pull as I was sucked in. When I finally came to and sat up, I couldn't believe what I saw, it was a vision that could only happen in a wild dream, yet it was right in front of me.

I was in what appeared to be a tiny town. The scene resembled what it would look like if one lived out in the country, yet all the tiny houses were spread far apart from each other, the houses looked fairly modern, these structures of course, just barely came halfway up to my knees.

I decided to stand up to stretch my legs. As I looked out into the distance, which wasn't very far for me, I saw what looked to be the center of this tiny town. I decided to start making my way there, being sure to step over all the houses, and to watch as I stepped over the roads to make sure no cars were crushed under my feet.

As I approached the center of this town, I was met with the sounds of cheers. Balloons and streamers were dropped from tiny planes that buzzed past my head. I looked down to see a large crowd of tiny people who had gathered, but what had they gathered for?

I watched as gates these tiny people stood behind were lowered, then these tiny folks ran right up to me, as if they were greeting me. I looked down to see signs they were holding, all of them which had some sort of welcome message written on it, anything from "Welcome Giant" to "Glad You Are Here".

I watched as the crowd of tiny people began to separate into two groups, then a tiny man approached me, so I gently dropped to one knee, the tiny man appeared to be the mayor of this tiny town. He walked right up to me, not an ounce of nervousness on his face.

"We welcome you to our town." he squeaked. "We have waited for you to join us."

"Why am I here?" I asked in a whispering voice, not wanting to hurt their ears.

"You're here because you've shown kindness to the forest that houses our secret entrance, you are the only one who is permitted to know about us." the tiny man answered.

"Is there anything I can do for you guys?" I asked.

"Nothing now." the tiny man replied, "For now, just feel free to explore our fine town, get to know our citizens, we trust you are kind and will not harm us, therefore you are free to roam our town as you wish."

I was honored that these tiny people had so much trust in me, of course I had no intention of harming any of these tiny folks, all of whom stood about 2 inches in height each, except for the children, who were all about an inch tall each. I watched as the mayor left, allowing all the citizens to return, though the security asked them all to form a line and approach one at a time.

I greeted each citizen as they all welcomed me to their town, the tiny children tried their best to stay with me, but security sent them with their parents, trying to keep the line going. It took about two hours to greet everyone, but I didn't mind at all, it was really nice to be greeted, rather than feared.

Nightfall rapidly approached and I found a spot in an open area near one house that was out by itself, I laid down next to the house on my side, as I looked down into the window of this house, I noticed a tiny boy looking out the window looking at me, I waved a finger to him and smiled, then closed my eyes to sleep, though I would awaken to quite a surprise.

The next morning, I awoke to feeling something on my chest. I looked at my chest to find that same tiny boy I had seen looking up at me from inside the tiny house, he had wandered outside during the night to spend the night with me.

I didn't want to wake him, so I carefully placed my hand over him like a blanket to keep him warm, because the air was a little brisk that morning. When I finally felt him move, I lifted my hand to be met with his gaze.

"Why did you come outside in the night?" I asked in a whisper.

The tiny boy replied, "I had a bad dream, and I thought you would chase the bad dreams away if I spent the night with you."

I was so touched by the tiny boy's reply, that there was no way I could have been mad at him, I wouldn't have been mad at him anyway, at my size, getting angry at these tiny folks would only result in their calling the army in on me.

I carefully helped the tiny boy down to the ground, where his mother let him in the house after she figured he had been with me. His mother smiled at me as she let her son in the house so he could eat. Speaking of eating, I was wondering how I would be fed without eating the entire food supply of this tiny town.

To my amazement, these tiny people had brought me my meal, and had somehow enlarged it to my scale, which meant I would be eating a normal sized meal as if I were right in my own home eating my own food, this amazed me to no end, I began eating my meal in peace after it was brought to me.

After I had finished, I heard the door to the tiny house I had slept beside open up again, the tiny boy came back out and ran up to me. I lowered my hand so he could climb in. Once he was in my hand and sat down, I slowly brought him up to my eye level.

"What can I do for ya?" I asked.

"May I spend time with you today?" he asked, a polite tone to his voice.

"I don't see why not, unless your mother has plans for you." I replied.

The tiny boy squealed happily, hugging my thumb as I lowered it within his reach. I was about to get up to take him with me, when I heard someone coming, it sounded like someone my size. I looked up in front of me, to find a man my size approaching the area, I didn't know what his purpose was for showing up, and I wasn't about to just leave these tiny people unprotected. I watched as this man came closer to the tiny town, he stared at me, then looked down at the tiny house in which the tiny boy and his mother lived. I placed the tiny boy on the ground, telling him to go to safety.

As I turned around, I saw the man with his foot raised, about to crush the house the tiny boy and his mother lived in, with the boy's mother still inside. I ran at the man and tackled him to the ground before any damage could be done.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped as I held the man down.

"These little people wronged me, I'm here to make them pay!" he yelled back.

"You're going to have to get past me." I replied.

The man and I battled it out. The man threw me off of him, but I was able to get to my feet. I turned to find this offender charging me, but I simply sidestepped him, then tripped him as he passed. Then this evil man tried to take a swing at me, but I ducked, then sent him down for the count with a right fist to his jaw, the man then got up and left.

I turned to find all the tiny people from town cheering me, I had rid them of the evil that had been tormenting their town. I knelt down to meet the tiny boy, who ran back to me and hugged my finger, seeming happy that I hadn't been injured in the fight.

A few minutes later, the mayor of the tiny town approached me, he rewarded me with a celebration that would take place the next day, he said it was to honor my bravery in ridding the town of the evil man who tried to destroy their town.

The boy's mother was especially grateful. She walked up to me and hugged my foot, smiling up at me and thanking me for saving her life. I smiled back down to her, simply nodding my head silently, she took her son and returned to her home.

Nightfall once again blanketed the area, I laid down beside the house that the tiny boy and his mother lived in, being sure this time to be where the tiny boy could see me, it seemed to help him feel safer. I soon fell fast asleep, for tomorrow would be the big celebration these tiny people would throw for me, a celebration I would not soon forget.

The next day was the celebration that these tiny folks were holding for me. They quickly had the whole town decorated with streamers and banners, hanging as far as the eye could see. I approached the town square carefully and sat down in a spot large enough to accommodate me.

The mayor walked up to me, climbed up to a platform that was specially built so that he could meet me at my eye level, then held up a tiny medal.

"This medal is to award you for your bravery in defending our town from the intruder, we owe you our thanks Jerry, wear this with pride my giant friend." the mayor announced.

I leaned forward so the mayor could put the medal on me, when it suddenly grew to my scale.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"I cannot tell you." the mayor replied, "Our magic is to be kept secret, we fear that the giant you fought off yesterday will try to steal it from us."

"Is that why he came here?" I asked.

"Yes." the mayor replied, "He has tried numerous times to destroy us, just so he can have our magic."

"I won't let that happen." I assured the mayor, "Your people are my friends, I won't allow anyone to hurt any of you."

"We thank you." the mayor replied with a smile, "We have waited a long time for a giant like yourself to protect us."

It made me feel good that these tiny folks put so much trust in me, which is what I was hoping for. I didn't want these people to worry about me turning my back on them, because that just wasn't going to happen.

After the mayor was finished speaking to me and had left, I looked down to find the tiny boy's mother standing by my foot. I smiled at her to which she responded by acting very shy.

"Why so shy all of a sudden?" I whispered to her.

"Oh, n-nothing." she replied shyly.

The tiny boy ran up beside his mother, and without knowing he wasn't supposed to say anything....

"Mommy likes you!" the tiny boy shouted.

The boy's mothers' cheeks went five shades of red after that. She sent her son off to play, then looked back up to me, feeling completely embarrassed.

"Is this true?" I asked.

"Yes, but I was hoping my son wouldn't tell." she answered.

"Why're you ashamed to tell me this?" I asked.

"I didn't think you would want to get to know me." she replied, a hint of sadness in her voice, "My husband deserted my son and I after he was born, I haven't found anyone since, that is until you came. My son adores you, I'd be crushed if he was left unhappy."

I smiled down at the tiny woman softly, "What's your name?" I asked.

"My name is Telania." she answered, "My son's name is Tano, he talks about you all the time."

I was flattered that this tiny woman and her son thought so highly of me, but what would I do about my life outside of this place? I didn't want her to think I was abandoning her and her son, especially after all the misfortune she had been through in her past.

Nightfall once again fell quickly, as it usually did in this land. Since I slept next to Telania and Tano's house, I carried them home in my hand and carefully placed them both on the ground when we arrived at their house.

I was about to go to sleep, when I heard Telania's voice call me.

"Jerry?" she called.

"Yes Telania?" I answered.

Telania hesitated, "I just wanted to say goodnight." she lowered her head almost sadly and went back inside.

I laid down next to the house, but found it hard to sleep. What was I going to do with this situation involving Telania and her son? I couldn't just say no to her and abandon her, but taking them back home with me could cause problems also. I had a lot to think about before morning.

Morning came and as I sat up, a million thoughts ran through my head. I was about to stand up when the door to the tiny house opened and Tano ran out. The tiny boy approached me, giving my toe a hug, I smiled at him and offered him a hand.

As I lifted him to eye level slowly, I noticed that his face quickly saddened.

"What's wrong Tano?" I asked softly.

Tano shrugged, but replied, "Mommy feels bad for saying some things to you."

"What do you mean?" I whispered.

"Mommy feels like she's making you stay with us." Tano replied.

"She shouldn't feel that way Tano, your mommy is a very sweet lady, could you go get her for me?" I asked.

Tano nodded, and as I lowered him gently to the ground, he ran inside to get his mother. Telania soon came out with Tano and looked up to me, her face filled with the sadness Tano told me about, it was clear that guilt filled her thoughts.

"I'm sorry Jerry." she said sadly.

"Why?" I asked, "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes I did." Telania replied, "I feel like I'm forcing you to stay here, you've been too kind to us for me to do such a thing."

"Telania." I whispered, "You've done nothing wrong in my eyes, that's why I've come to a decision."

"You have?" Telania asked.

"Yes, I have." I replied, "I've decided that no matter what, I'm going to stay here to help you raise your son."

Telania looked up at me in shock, "But you're so much bigger than us, will this work out for you? Will you be happy here?" she asked.

"My happiness isn't what matters to me right now, Telania." I replied, "You need someone to help raise your son, I want to be that someone who offers you the help you need, no matter how much larger I am than all of you. If I have to become a citizen of this place to help you, then that's what I'll do."

Telania's eyes lit up with joy, she hugged as much of me as she could get her tiny arms around, I could tell she was happy now, which in turn made me happy. Tano, who had gone off to play elsewhere while his mother and I talked, came running back to see what was going on.

"Why are you hugging Jerry?" Tano asked his mother.

Telania replied, "Jerry's going to stay with us!" she replied happily.

Little Tano looked up at me, the cutest words coming from him, "You're going to be my new daddy?" he asked excitedly, "I'll have the biggest daddy ever!" he jumped up and down happily. I couldn't help but smile at Tano's words. Tano ran up and joined his mother in hugging me, I placed my finger softly against their backs as a way to hug them back without hurting them.

It's been five years now since I arrived in this tiny world, and believe it or not, Telania and I are indeed married. I gave up everything I had just to give Telania and her son what they needed. Even though I am a giant to these two, I couldn't be happier, but my happiness simply lies in knowing that I've made the two new people in my life very happy, even if they are very small indeed.

THE END