A Giant's Hands [ON HOLD]

Chapter 3d [MARTIN] - The Rat

Martin barely remembered Mom or the others. There used to be a family once, a large one. So many uncles and aunties. Other children too, none his siblings, but they might as well have been. But that was a long time ago, and Martin had been very young then.

He was sure, his Dad had meant to tell him someday, maybe when he was older, but.. Dad never got the chance.

All he remembered was that something terrible happened and that his Mom had died, and everyone had been very angry at his Dad, or maybe it had been Dad who was angry at everyone, Martin wasn't sure.

Dad had packed two bags, a very large and heavy one for himself and a smaller one for Martin, and had told him they were going to go hiking, just for a few days, my boy, don't worry, it will be an adventure, just like in the stories you like so much.

Martin had asked if they were going to go out to look for Mom, and his father had smiled, but had looked very sad, and had said that yes, maybe they would eventually come to the place where Mom was now, although that was very far away.

And so they had left and never returned.

The next few years had been hard. In the beginning, his father had tried his best to shield Martin from the harsher realities of life, but in their situation, there was only ever so much he could do.

Play-pretend cannot hide the fact that you are starving, and there is no room for fun and games when you are trying to escape from a predator. Rats, even mice, are highly dangerous when food is in short supply, and being caught by cats, dogs, birds or spiders means certain death. Ants and other insects can be just as dangerous and need to be avoided at all cost.

The outside is vast and full of things out to get you, but so are the houses.

Humans are most dangerous of all.

Being dragged away from the cozy security of his family and tribe, there was no choice but for Martin to grow up fast. He and his father led a nomadic existence, always moving on, never staying long anywhere, no matter how good or secure it appeared to be.

They hunted, scavenged and stole what it took to stay alive, never more than a few meals away from starvation, never more than a few steps away from disaster.

And inevitably, one day, disaster had struck.

The manner of it had been stupid, really, far too mundane for something so monstrously devastating. There had been no drama, no fending off of a predator, no heroic self-sacrifice, no whispered last words.

There had been the unthreatening ordinary, as ordinary as it ever got, and from one second to the next, the world had ended with nothing more than a short startled gasp.

Martin had been a few weeks shy of his 14th birthday when it happened. He and his father had been inside someone's house, and after a somewhat successful supply-run, had found a nice hidden spot on a shelf to rest for the night. Martin had been setting out dinner while his father had busied himself storing their latest acquisitions and setting up camp.

Martin hadn't even been looking in his direction as his father tripped over something or other, and with nothing more than a soft, startled noise, fell clean off the shelf.

Just like that.

No desperate gripping of edges, no calls or screams. Just that one tiny sound, that made Martin look around-

just in time to see his father disappear over the edge and fall to his death below.