The door flies open, with Helga standing behind it in a rage. Ignoring her, the twins quickly rush past her and settle by the fire, which only served to enrage her further. It doesn't take long for Whersmine to take notice, and he quickly realized what has caused the uproar. He is overjoyed but doesn't get the chance to say so before his wife cuts in. "What fine piece of work is this? Is there no way to rid the house of these creatures?" She shouts her voice at a steady bellow now. He starts stammering but she cuts him off "Is it possible, husband, that you are determined to keep them here to plague my very life out? Go, take them out of my sight! This time I'll not wait for the crowing of cocks and the cackling of hens, or else be assured tomorrow I will go to my parent's house as you have proved you do not deserve me. I have not brought you many fine things just so that I could be made to starve like a beggar woman on the street." She turns on her heels and exits the room in a huff.
Well past terrified and now fearing for his children's safety he wasted no time and ushered them out the door."Father stop, please! Where are we going?" Hansel pleads desperately as he and his sister are pulled along as they start heading to the thick of the woods. Whersmine says nothing, except to mutter over and over how sorry he was and he avoids eye contact. It is a horrific scene. The kids are dead tired, and they tug and are frantic but don't put up too much of a fight. Before long neither Gretel nor Hansel have any idea where they are and the overcast sky makes the situation all the more tense. They don't stop until the trees are so thickly grown together that you can scarcely walk past them without getting caught. The wind whistles through the trees, making an unsettling moaning sound and as it does cold a breeze passes over the tree of them, chilling them to the bone.
It was there, in that bleak and dreadful place that the poor man deposited his children, fighting free of their weak grips, and turn turning tail to run back home to his awful wife. Leaving his children to fend for themselves, little did he know that his efforts would all be for naught, as his wife would be long gone before he got there. Growing tired of him and his gentle ways, she took her leave of him, but not before leaving a note telling him what fine work he did. Her condescending words and the actions the woman he thought loved him made him take will leave a mark on him for many years to come, but this is not his story, no.
It is Gretel's.
Back in the woods Gretel is trying to help her and her brother keep it together. Hansel, despite being weak and having low energy is reacting like how he does most of the time in a crisis He is in a panic. Running around like a chicken with his head cut off, screaming in such a way that one might mistake him for Gretel if someone had heard, the young girl is forced to intercept him before he goes too far and gets himself even more lost.
"Hansel!" she calls as she chases after him, trying to cut him off, but the thick underbrush is making it difficult "Hansel calm down!" Gretel loses her footing and trips, screaming as she falls down. Hearing his sister in trouble is enough to get Hansel to temporarily put his panic aside and come to her aid.
Stopping in his tracks, he looks around, when he doesn't see her, he starts to get worried "Gretel! Are you okay? Where'd you go?" The brother called out urgently.
"I'm over here!" Gretel practically shouts, wanting to make sure she is loud enough to be heard "I'm fine but my leg hurts and I'm scratched up pretty good!" She feels a pretty nasty gash that a nearby pine tree has left on her forehead in disgust.
"Well don't get up, you could injure it more." Hansel points out, once again showing his cleverness."
"Well what do you suggest I do instead? Waiting for the crowing of cocks and the Cackling of Hens?" she asks dryly.
"Keep talking so I know where you are!"
"What do you suggest I say?" she asks sarcastically, trying to input a little humor in what otherwise appeared a bleak situation."
YOU ARE READING
Gretel
FantasyYou've heard the story of Hansel and Gretel before, but never like this. When Hansel and Gretel are abandoned in the woods, they think they won't survive-that is until they come upon a mysterious Raven that leads them to safety. They think they are...