In Shadow

         It wasn't unusual to hear footsteps in this apartment building. Often, the simple force of ones foot making contact with the ground could be heard by the room below. Sometimes, even several rooms would hear the same steps, usually if that someone was angry. What wasn't usual was the impact of these footsteps.

         Regular and unchanging, the very foundation of the building would tremble, as if afraid of the source of these steps, approaching at an even pace, like a morbid metronome. What was coming was unbelievable; looming over the buildings with ease. A giant was far too simple to describe this behemoth, covering entire blocks in just two or three steps. Step by step this dark thing approached, its very surface appearing to be made from charred bark, like it had used the remains of a forest fire to form its exterior.

         It resembled a human, though only in shape. Two legs and two arms, a waist, abdomen and chest all there. The true problem lied in its face, shaded and unseen, only its two eyes, white and glowing, almost like headlights guiding its path. Where was it going? Well, that was the problem.

         "It makes no sense," Angie muttered to herself. "there's nowhere for it to go. It's just walking forward."

         Looking out at the scene from her third floor room in the apartment complex, she certainly wasn't wrong. The towering creature had not yet passed her, but it was simply going forward. Ahead of it was several more blocks and then simply fields and grassland, nothing for it to find. Why had it emerged from the lake just for that? Perhaps it was after something farther, something she couldn't recall or perhaps she didn't know.

         The colossal beast was soon to pass, and Angie decided it would be best to take shelter as it did so. The vibrations of its steps were getting stronger, and it wasn't out of the question that the windows or her vases might shatter from them when the thing was closer. She took one last look up the path this thing was taking, wondering if there was something she might have missed.

         What she found was perhaps a suicide attempt.

         Standing no less than a block away was a man who appeared to have been homeless. He was dressed in an overstuffed hoodie, mucked with dirt and torn in places where crude attempts to repair had been made. He had a beard, unruly and tangled, extending far past his face, well down his chest. In his hand was a simple kitchen knife. He stood before the beast, defiant even in it's massive shadow.

         Angie was astounded. Did this man truly think he could defeat this monster with a knife? He would be lucky if the sensation of being stabbed only annoyed the creature, let alone caused its demise. The two were now perhaps a block apart. Angie thought about pulling the curtains, but was more curious what this individual had planned. He was no more than two giant steps from the creature. It was starting to look like he was hoping to be stepped on. The beast's left foot landed with the toes across the road from the man. This was it. He was certainly trying to get crushed. The monsters foot landed just past him.

         The man released his assault.

         With rapid horizontal slashes, back and forth, he bloodied the back of the beasts ankle. He continued, cut after cut as the creature was caught lifting it's left foot, unseeing or uncaring of it's right ankle. There was a loud snap. It's right leg buckled, and it came falling to earth, letting out a groan of pain or perhaps surprise as it fell. When it hit the ground, Angie's table fell over from the impact, breaking some of her plates. Around the thing's head, blood started to pool. It didn't move or make a sound. The monster was presumably dead.

         For a moment, Angie forgot to even breathe. The man walked away into the shadows of an alley. Aside from the enormous corpse lying in the middle of road, it was as if the whole thing hadn't just happened. Angie was alone again, with just her thoughts. She sat down in her favorite chair, a cup of tea she had made almost two hours ago now cold and neglected. The only thought that crossed her mind was simple; what now?