“I know you told us not to play in here! I’m sorry- I’m sorry!”
The words came out of the young boy’s mouth in a tremble, his eyes filled with fear as he laid his body flat against the cabin floor. The wooden home around him, one long since abandoned and now left to decay was slowly crumbling in on itself. The poor boy, tears in his eyes, held his hands over his head to protect himself as debris fell from the roof onto the floor around him.
“It’s okay, bud. We’re not mad. Just, try to stay calm, okay?” His father spoke back to him as confidently as he could, barely contained fear on his face as he kneeled in the doorway. The archway had buckled under the pressure and was threatening to crumple entirely. He looked past his son, at the interior, eyes settling on the singular wooden support beam that still stood, the one thing stopping the whole cabin from caving in on itself. “Just stay right there, I’m gonna grab you.” Taking a deep breath, the father rushed inside, scooping his son up in his arms before turning frantically back towards the exit.
Crack.
The sound echoed throughout the cabin, the support beam creaking horrifically beneath the weight of the cabin. The father held his son close, walking towards the entrance when the home let out another terrible groan, the fixed beams in the corners slowly giving way. Every step he took was accompanied by the sounds of the house giving way.
Step.
Snap.
Step.
Snap.
“Dad, are we-” the boy could barely finish his question, looking up towards the roof, the lights of the level pouring through broken paneling as the roof continued to give way. He buried his face into his father’s chest, tears pouring onto his shirt.
“We’ll be fine,” his father said back, lying as much to his son as himself. He couldn’t run for fear of the floor collapsing, nor could he walk without knowing if the beams would break. “I- I just need to get to the door.”
Creak.
“I love you, dad.”
“I love you, too.”
CRACK!
There’s silence for a moment, the man’s eyes closed. Yet nothing happened. He opens them, glancing at the beam which had clearly snapped in two and yet the house was still standing. It wasn’t until he looked forward that he saw a mountain of a man standing in the doorway, holding the weight of the home upon his shoulders. “Go.” He spoke in a soft, yet powerful tone. The father nodded, walking quickly across the floor, all but throwing himself past the man in the doorway and safely out of the broken home!
The giant let out a massive groan, pushing away from the doorway and letting it collapse behind him. The father, meanwhile, looked up at him in awe.
“How could I ever thank you?”
“No need,” he replied. “I help because I have the strength to. This is my burden to bear.”
“Can I at least know your name?”
“Goliath,” he replied softly. “They call me Goliath.”
And with that, the scene slowly fades out, Goliath taking his leave.