Gretel

2

Both children's jaws dropped and hung there for a moment. It was a long beat of silence before any of them spoke.
"Took us long enough?" Gretel questioned upset on confused "We thought you told us to wait by the campfire until you came back with more wood."
Gretel thought that this would be the end of the debate. Their mother's face twisted up like a sour old lemon. like all narcissists, she hated the use of any logic that contradicted hers. That was why the awful woman said what she did next "Why you spoiled brat, we thought you wanted to stay there. Isn't that right, dear?" Their mother then turns to their father, who hearing the commotion had come to stand by her side and looked more than a little relieved to see his children. Unfortunately, the moment was halted by a venomous look from the wood cutter's wicked excuse for a wife and he immediately changed his demeanor. " I thought we got rid of them!" She hissed, keeping her voice low in an attempt to avoid being overly obvious, but failing miserably as the children overheard but were too exhausted to care. Pigeonholed, the poor man held up a hand and the children let out a sigh of relief.
"Come. Come in my dears." Their father called out warmly. "You must have had quite a journey." Hansel and Gretel didn't need to be told twice. Eager to get out of the cold, crisp autumn weather, the small little humans brushed past the adults and eagerly deposited themselves by the fireplace.
Whersmine was about to join them, but before he could his snake of a wife holds out her hand and clutches his shoulder to stop him. She gives him a meaningful look and his heart sinks, and he goes noticeably pale. This isn't the last he'll hear on the subject, and he knows it. Carefully dislodging himself from the witch's grip and doing his best to act like nothing is wrong, the poor man goes over to reunite with his children. The three go on to talk and laugh like they hadn't seen each other in years, ignoring the obvious scowl on their mother's face as she watches on.
Little did Hansel and Gretel know just how much their lives were about to change.
Things got worse that night when everyone went to bed. Just like two nights before, husband and wife are locked into a heated discussion, this time even more tense than the day before.
"We're taking them back into the woods tomorrow, husband. I will not be a slave to these children as I watch them reap the benefits of our hard work any longer."
"Love, you're making a bigger deal out of this than you should. Why don't we just find them some work in the village and-"
"No! I want them gone. I'm sick of having to look after them."
"I'm not abandoning our children again, Helga." A deafening slapping noise rings through the cabin. Gretel listens in horror, barely holding back tears.
"Did you think I was asking for your permission? The children go! Farther than we took them yesterday. Tomorrow, understood?"
There are no more words from the couple. A long silence ensued and Hansel and Gretel are frozen under the covers until Gretel manages to stir her brother into action. Quiet as a cat, she pads across the old wood floor until she was at her brother's side. When she gets there he doesn't notice Gretel at first. In fact, for the first few moments, Hansel is motionless, straining to hear if something else will be said by one of their parents. Hoping against hope, she could tell he desperately wanted to hear his father fight back against their mother- or at the least change her mind.
But they knew by now that they couldn't count on their parents to make the right decision.
"Brother?" The small girl prompted as she gave a light squeeze to his shoulder, causing Hansel to snap his head toward her direction. Seeing as she had his attention now, Gretel did her best to help him save themselves. "Hansel we need to get more stones again, come on." She urged as she gave him a light tug. Seeing Gretel was right, the boy came back to himself and allowed her to guide him to the window.
Like little spiders they climbed up the space above their beds. Hansel was the first to try to open the tiny window and when he did he nearly jumped back in alarm. Gretal gave him a questioning look, mouthing "what's wrong?"
"It's locked." He mouthed back. The little girl blanched, and they quickly climbed their way back to the floor. Once there, they began to attempt to reason out what their next steps were.
"We need those stones to find our way home." Hansel pointed out.
"Let's check the front door." Without making a sound, they crept around their mother and father and made a silent dash toward the door. As quietly as she could, Gretel jiggled the handle, hoping that it would give.
It didn't.
"The door's locked too." She silently cursed her luck.
"What do we do now?" The boy asked nervously, out of ideas and unsure what to do.
"I don't know," his sister replied "I guess we get back into bed, and hope we'll have enough time to collect rocks in the morning." She told him sensibly.
That was what they did, though neither of them managed to sleep.
The next morning came all too soon.
Mercifully, as they were all ready awake and dressed by the time Helga came around, they were spared the water bucket treatment, though Gretel thought her mom looked just a little disappointed in not having an opportunity to inflict abuse on them. Gretel almost laughed when she saw her mother coming, ready with the ice water only to see them awake and already fully dressed. "Come along, she snapped." Depositing the water in a nearby corner for easy access. "We have work to do."