Gretel

9

Once she had finished drying and fighting off the horses, Gretel made her way back home. Passing by the well, she decided to wait for a moment to see if the well talked or moved again. Looking at the crumbling, old, mysterious and unusual architecture, it didn't take long before the rocks began once again to shift into a face. Like before, It was a very rough face, with hollows for eyes and a large bulky nose The well paused as, if contemplating something. Then, after what felt like an eternity,  it spoke.

"Please ms," the decrepit old well begged. "Make me clean and tidy and I will do you a good deed in return." the old well promised hopefully.

Learning from her previous mistake, Gretel smiled. "Of course I'll help you now. I'm sorry I ignored you before." The girl felt regret not only for the consequences she indured, but also how callus she had been. Without missing a beat, she took a look around and began to collect supplies. In one pile, she gathered rocks that she found laying around nearby and in the other, she began to take mud and thatch and mixed until she was sure it would make a decent motar. Working quickly should she be spotted or missed, Gretel hastily moved the broken bits and debree from the well. Once that was done she began smoothing over the makeshift motar and putting new stones in place. She only wished the witch wouldn't notice what she had done. 

As for the well he was more than pleased. Smiling he began to glow within. "Thank you ma'am. You have done me a kindness, so now I will return the favor. Look with in my depths. and you will find what you have been looking for all these years."

The young Witch looked skeptical, fearing this was some kind of trap, yet something about the strange being seemed so genuine, and she dared not look a gift horse in the mouth. Body trembling, she slowly began to make her way over to the well's opening. The glow from inside illuminated the empty stone walls perfectly. It was about a ten-foot drop inside. At the very bottom was the largest boy she had ever seen. Barely contanied within the walls of the medium sized well. He looked vaugely familiar, but Gretel couldn't fathom where she could have ever seen a boy like him before with his clothes pulled tightly around him and buttons close to bursting At first he seemed not to notice her, but then his eyes widened and he looked up, the whites of his eyes shining like Ivory.

"Gretel?" The boy's voice was deeper than she had known it to be but she recognized it all the same. "I can't believe it!" He cried between sobs. "I thought I would die down here!"

"Hansel?" The girl could hardly believe her eyes.  Silently kicking herself, Gretel finally understood why the witch had been behaving so oddly once her brother had gone. Well odder than she had been before, anyway. That was why she never let her near the well. Why the older woman  always took a large sack with her- a sack bursting at the brim with food  Now she finally could see what the horrible woman had planned. She was stuffing her brother like some kind of farm animal. Gretel nearly got sick on the spot.  Tears threatened to spill though she dare not let them. There was too much to do. Too much at stake. She would save Hansel or die trying.  "Hang on!"  She told him as calmly as she could "I'm going to get you out of there!"

Gretel removed her head from the well's opening, Stepping back to think, she caught a glimpse  of the Well's face, peering at her expectantly. "Thank you." the young witch told it, her voice just above a whisper. The face in the rock seemed to nod, then slowly fade away. She then set her mind on how she would get Hansel out of the Well without being seen by the witch- that is if she hadn't been seen already. Pacing, Gretel thought about what would be the best way to complete the task. There was a rusty old bucket and chain, but it was nearly rusted through, so it made Gretel reluctant to think it could hold the unfortunate boy and his newfound weight. She thought about  going to the stables and getting supplies, but she dared not trust the horses. Besides it was the last place she wanted to go.  If they didn't eat her first for neglecting them before they would most certainly rat her out to the witch. The girl though about trying to sneak in without the flesh-eating creatures noticing, but she knew it wasn't fesable. If they didn't spot her, they would most certianly smell her.  She was caught between a rock and a hard place. In the end Gretal decided she had to chance it. Gathering her will she popped her head back into the Well's opening. "Hansel?"