Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel

We were lost to the forest the day our Mother and Father abandoned us.

I run fast; the vast collage of leaves and trees is a wild blur to me. My breath wheezes in my throat, my heart beats uncontrollably in my chest. This place is only the start of my anxiety, for where is my brother? “Hansel?” I mean to roar, but the noise comes out barely a whimper. The sound of the forest overpowers me; every creature is shouting, trying to devour my own cries. The tears in my eyes blind me and I fall, stumbling over a tree root that wasn’t there before. Many people have gotten lost in the forest, for humans do not belong in such a place. I cower in the darkness and try to merge with it; you can’t be hurt if you can’t be seen.

I must have fallen asleep for when I open my eyes it is day break; beams of light filter through the trees and create a deceptive tranquillity. I won’t be pulled into the forests illusion. Yet from this hellish place a wonderful sight appears; Hansel, my brother gropes his way from the trees and into the clearing. “Gretel.” He says, relief filling his eyes. We embrace tightly, he tells me it’s going to be alright and I believe him. It’s going to be alright.

We wandered through the forest for days, which soon bled into weeks. Time in the old world was a factor we revolved around, now here in the forest it held little meaning. We’ve survived on meagre pickings; berries, nuts and mushrooms. But we’ll need real food soon. I’ve noticed a change in Hansel, this place is affecting him and not surprisingly so; we’re becoming more apart of this forest everyday. He runs around now acting wild. Civilisation has loosened on him and is making way for more primal tendencies.

He made his pledge to the forest the day we crossed the huntsman.
“Stay down on the ground and pretend to cry!” He hissed at me. “The Huntsman is coming!”
“But what are you going to do?” I whined
He smiled at me through yellow teeth, his eyes a blaze with excitement, “Provide.”
When he acted like that I felt no need to ‘pretend’, I panicked and collapsed onto the ground, crying for all the wretchedness this situation had brought us. Soon the huntsman came along, alerted by my cries. His face contorted when he saw me, and I could read the pain in his eyes. “What are you doing out here, little girl?” He asked gently, “This place isn’t safe, it’s not fit for a child to be wandering here.” I dragged myself away from him. I didn’t want to be seen. I felt sickened being in a Gentleman’s presence and I had no right to stare at him; he was beautiful, proud and civilised. I heard the faint rustle of the leaves somewhere behind me and the image of my brother lurking in the depths of the tree developed in my mind. My eyes darted to the tree, where Hansel remerged, a boulder placed in his hands. The huntsman sensed my terror and turned round. Too late; Hansel brought the stone down with such strength that it bounced back on impact. The whole sordid affair seemed to drift by in slow motion; the huntsman fell to his knees, eye’s staring at my own and then they curled up in their sockets as blood and brain matter ran down his face.

I sat there, my body convulsing. Eventually Hansel slid down from the tree, “Don’t look at me like that. He was going to kill you.” He said simply, poking the body with a stick. I hated the way he treated the Gentleman’s body so undignified. At that moment every inch of me shrieked back from him, “He was going to do no such thing!”
He picked up the weapon, “Why was he carrying this then? Less he mistook you for an animal?”
I looked at the bloody scene. Eyes darting between Hansel and the body, I couldn’t comprehend it. “We might as well be.”
“Call it survival, sister, for we’ve got nothing else.”
I surveyed the way the forest had changed him – the rapidity of it horrified me, was I going to go that way to? Of course not, the years of abuse had changed my brother. Nothing else. Our Mother and Father’s betrayal only pushed him over the edge. It had simply manifested into physical light. He was a broken boy, who despised all adults, and the ways of their world. He knelt down on all fours and stalked round the body, eyeing up each inch of flesh. Strings of saliva elongated from his mouth as the hunger invaded his eyes. His hands tore forward suddenly as he ripped a slab of red meat and wolfed it down. The horror of it all was overwhelming, I had to vomit.

I felt his reassuring hand on my shoulder a moment after; it did nothing but send shivers down my spine. I couldn’t help myself, he was my brother after all and he was the only person I had. Smudges of blood remained on his face, it was only then that I noticed the stains of red freckled across my clothes. I had already become tainted by the kill, I realised it was too late for me. “Kill or be killed, Sister. It’s the way of the forest.” He whispered to me. And then I let him take my hand and lead me back to the meal.

“Nobody comes this far into the forest. Only the ones lost like us.” He had said days after, “The forest has claimed us, it will protect us.” Our parents hadn’t tried to find us and we didn’t go looking for them. So forth we made way for nature to take its course, for the spirit of the forest to take us away and never be seen by human eyes again.

It was when we had almost completely lost our former selves did we wander into the old hag’s territory – the last boundary that was to be tested, to be crossed. She peered at us from behind the windows of a small thatched house, even in all its meagreness it still stood prouder than that of our Mother and Father’s. “She must use magic.” My brother grunted. The old woman pulled herself from the house, hobbling on legs that would soon collapse and give way to younger flesh. She was like a ghost; the moonlight bleached out the colour of her tattered clothing. She pulled away her scarf; lines engraved her face like carvings on wood. In her hand she clutched at a staff for her mobility depended on it and leaned her chin forward, surveying us through weak eyes, “Come inside!” She declared, thereby concluding from our childish looks that we were harmless enough. How foolish.

“What are your names, dear ones?” She asked, bundling us inside, her face bearing a thousand creases as she smiled. The house was cluttered with the usual items, nothing of particular interest; a small cross hung on the wall opposite us and a large oven roared in the corner.
“Hansel and Gretel.” I answered, shuddering internally as I did so. Those were names linked with a world that my brother and I no longer lived in. We had given up our way of life and those wretched names afterward. They held no meaning. “How hungry you must be!” she continued, unaware of the ill-feelings she had caused me. “Come, girl.” She beckoned me to a small table and gave me bread and cheese. I watched my brother pick a small cross from the wall and toss it into the large oven. “Now I will see to your brother.” The old woman declared and turned to him. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, nor did it interest me until my brother shrieked in pain. From my eyes, although my vision was quite restricted, I saw her beat him, striking a blow across his head. Hansel fell back as she raised that staff to strike again.
“You witch.” I spat at her, “How dare you hit him?!” From within me some new found strength emerged; I ran to her and shoved her hard, her body gave way, falling inside the oven. I watched as she was devoured by the flames. Her shrieks and curses echoed within me and brought me back to the surface. He had a smile on his face. It was at that point I saw the blood on his lips and knew he had tricked me; he had made me like him. “I should have let her take you.” I snapped, “You’ve damned us both.”
“Damned?” He said as if the word was strange to him, “Why say damned when I have saved us?” The smile slid to either side of his face as he kicked down the door and proclaimed, “I’ve brought us home.”