It Never Ends Hansel and Gretel

Chapter Six

"Hansel, I need you to take this bag to the mill and Gretel, you go to your father or corse both of you need to go." Hansel nodded and grabbed his broken trap, hoping that someone would know how to fix it.

The forest's trees seemed to be closer to the road. Hansel kept looking into trees, studying the darkness and shadows. "What's wrong with you?" "Nothing, the forest just looks so odd." He said. "It's nothing," Gretel said, looking at the trees.

They found their way back to town and met with the head baker for their father's job. Hansel left Gretel to do the other thing. He went past the bakery and to the mill and dropped off the first bag that Mother had given him.

He passed by the mill and then hurried over into another part of town. He stopped at the smith shop and stepped inside. "What do you have there, Hansel?" The smith asked. Hansel took the broken trap out and gave it to him. The smith studied the trap closely. "Hansel..." He whispered. "Where did you get this?" "It's mine from when I left it in the forest last night," Hansel said. "Do you know anything about that black stuff?" Hansel shook his head. "Do you know?" The smith shook his head. "It's something." He said reaching under some wood and taking out a book.

"I've heard of something like this in stories though. It's said to be the way that the people have gone missing in the forest... A creature takes them to a place where their worst nightmares are found and one day it will take someone's soul away so that they will carry on with the taking of people." The Smith said. "Who came up with that?" Hansel asked. "Don't know." He replied. "But it's a pretty interesting story, almost enough to scare you." Hansel nodded. "It sounds like something right out of a fairy tale."

The smith fixed the trap and sent Hansel on his way as quickly as he came. Gretel met Hansel at the bakery and they both went home to finish the rest of the chores. Gretel ran quicky behind Hansel to the cottage and Hansel hurried inside. Gretel stayed out, finishing all of the needed jobs for the next day and moving stack after stack of wood from the edge of the forest.

The forest was deafly quiet. The quiet rang in her ears. She slightly jumped when she heard the very faint sound of leaves being brushed away from something. She looked at the still trees in front of her. Nothing was there but in the silence of everything else, it was there even if she couldn't see it. "Hello?" She squeaked, trying not to have any fear in her voice but it still came out.

"Gretel." She heard. "Yes?" Silence. The breeze blew at her face through the trees letting the fear slip away slightly.

She scampered to the house and quickly looked back at the trees before she opened the heavy door. Nothing was there by her sight but there was something there.

She crawled into bed and looked at the other side of the room where her mother was lying. "When's papa getting back?" She asked. "Don't know. I'll have to go look for him if he doesn't come back soon." Hansel sat up. "I can go find him." He said. "Not without me," Gretel said from under the covers. Mother sighed. "I guess both of you should. That would make things much easier."

They both got off of the beds and opened the door into the darkness. It felt damp and nearly cold outside. The sides of the cottage were wet with dew, rubbing off on Hansel's fingers. Hansel took a few steps and shivered. "Are you scared?" Gretel asked. "No..."

Hansel whispered. "What's so bad about the forest?" "The forest isn't scary, it's what is here." He whispered. "Here?" Gretel said. "Here... The forest is somehow peaceful." Gretel nodded. "I somehow understand that." She said, walking to the road. Hansel swallowed. "His job is already closed down for the night." He said. Gretel nodded now hurrying down the road. "Wait," Hansel said pulling out the pebbles from his pocket. He dropped a few. "Okay, we can go again." He said. "Why do you need pebbles?" Gretel asked. "I don't want to get lost," Hansel said. "Come on, we always go down this road." Hansel shook his head. "Not at night." They nearly ran through the road and it seemed like they weren't making it anywhere at all. They only had the moon for the light and the pebbles that Hansel was dropping.