"Sure is creepy out here." noted an unnerved Ivan as he traversed through the darkened woods alone in the middle of the night. To start things off, he has no recollection of ever arriving at this place or does he know how exactly he even got here to begin with. The last thing he remembered was reading a book with his friends in their library hideout, then lightning struck from inside the building somehow and he blacked out. How he managed to pass out in the library and wake up in an isolated clearing of a large forest in the middle of God knows where is anyone's guess. But Ivan had to gain his bearings and find civilization fast and see if he could locate a phone to try and call his friends. He might as well be in Germany for all he knew.

The further Ivan marched through the tall, thick trees, his feet crunching down on hardened leaves and small twigs and sticks with each step, the more confused and frightened he became as he really had no idea where he was or where he was going. Not helping is the fact that it's already dark out, so it wasn't safe to be wandering disoriented out in the woods at night, especially since there are dangerous creatures that roam the area in the darkness. Lenny constricted softly around his neck. Not only were there the sounds of crickets chirping, but other noises like the sound of a howl in the distance, though to Ivan, it sounded a bit close to where he stood.

"Probably just a dog." He told himself in his best self-comforting manner with a slight chuckle, giving Lenny a pat on the head, "Nothing to be afraid of."

More howls could be heard nearby, barking and the sound of their paws rushing by him in a mad rush, making Ivan walking even faster, hoping not to run into anything with teeth. Then another howl was heard, this time a bit closer than before and with that, Ivan was terrified as he instantly made a run for it with a scared yelp, not caring how much noise he made. The woodsy environment answered back to him as a murder of crows came flying at him in response to his shout, pecking him with their beaks and clawing at him with their tiny talons. They were small, but damn, they hurt as Ivan flailed around wildly with his arms to shoo them away, running even deeper into the woods, the black birds cawing loudly at him almost as if they were cursing at him, ushering him into the jaws of death, bringing fear and panic to the young hippie's heart and mind as he was helpless out in the wilderness. Finally, the crows gave up on him when Lenny hissed and snapped at them with his fangs, flying away from him at last, the sounds of their flapping fading off. However, in his current state of blind panic, poor Ivan ended up tripping on a loose root in the ground and fell right to the ground just as the crows finally left him alone. He panted heavily, trying to settle his nerves and calm down as his heart thumped against his chest like a bass drum. As he rested there on his hands and knees regaining his thoughts, he began to wonder how he was gonna find his friends or anyone at this rate.

Picking his glasses up after they fell off from his tripping, he suddenly heard a rustling in the thickets closeby, startling him out of his wits. Fearing it to be a wild animal, Ivan hid in the tall bushes out of sight, hoping to God it wouldn't find him. But as he peeked out to see if it was gone, there he noticed a small light in the distance, which brought some relief to Ivan. Where there's light, there's people. Perhaps it could be someone who could help him. Ivan crawled out from the bushes and through the tall grass to get a better look. While staying hidden and keeping his guard up, not knowing who it could be, Ivan peered through and saw two young children, which puzzled him. What could these two kids be doing out here in the middle of the woods at night? Surely, they must be lost just as he is, trying to find their way back home. The children were both young adolescents, probably at the age of 10 or 9. There was a boy, holding a bright lantern, the source of the light itself, who had short dark hair, wearing dark blue coat and pants with boots and there was a girl, chestnut brown hair held up in a small ponytail, wearing a pale yellow-greenish dress with slippers. These two could be friends or even siblings. Stealthily and quietly, Ivan slowly tailed the children from afar. He didn't mean to stalk them, but Ivan was desperate. Here he was in the middle of nowhere, not sure how or when he got here, lost and afraid. He needed answers and he needed them bad. After a few minutes, Ivan was about to gain the composure to make himself known and ask for their help when he noticed where they were headed.

It was a dainty and quaint little cottage that sat there right smack dab in the forest isolated from civilization. However, what Ivan really saw was that it wasn't an ordinary cottage. It appeared to be made entirely out of gingerbread and confectionery, the most curiously and oddest thing of it all. Everything was made from either cake, gingerbread, lollipops, sprinkles and frosting as it slowly dripped, tempting anyone who laid eyes upon it. In fact, Ivan's mouth started to water as he, too, nearly felt tempted to take a bite out of it. Though, a gentle nibble from Lenny reminded him to remain focused.

"I know, Lenny. I know." He reminded him. Observing the scene from his hiding spot, the two children veered closer and closer to the delicious-looking house. They each tasted the walls and were instantly hooked as they greedily munched on piece by piece before the door opened, practically inviting them inside. They both took the hint and stepped inside and the door appeared to shut itself behind them. Ivan started to feel skeptical about all of this. Two little kids out in the woods at night alone, a strange gingerbread house just standing there and they just walk right in. None of this seemed right. Ivan sat there against the tree, weighing out his options with Lenny giving him a questioning look.

"What? I'm sure those two are fine. They have all the candy they could eat. What's the problem?" Ivan asked him, trying to remain positive that nothing bad would happen. "Sure, a house made of candy deep in the woods, that sounds weird. But how bad can that be? A house made of candy, though. Who could've built that?"

Suddenly, a little girl's scream erupted from the house and echoed into the air, scaring the crap out of Ivan. He turned toward the gingerbread house with a new sense of worry and terror. He carefully made his way over there, careful not to draw any attention and cautiously peered through the window, growing pale to see that the children were now being held in cages with a gangly and frightening old woman standing here with a wicked and hungry grin on her face as the stove burned a hellish flame inside. Ivan pieced together that the kids were being held hostage by this mean old lady who was probably gonna kill them and maybe eat them for dinner. Backing down from the window, Ivan panicked.

"What do I do? What do I do?" He whispered with a tense heart. He needed to do something quick or else two little children will become that sick old woman's entree. Lenny hissed and pointed his head outward, gesturing to an axe sitting there on a tree trunk. This sickened Ivan with the thought of even using that, to think that he had to kill someone. Ivan wasn't a fighter nor was he a killer. This violates his own policy of violence. But the lives of these children were hanging by a thread at the moment and he needed to make a choice. Either step up and help them out or walk away and leave them to die. He mustered up enough courage to grab the axe and arm himself. Then he slowly made his way inside the house, fighting the temptation to sneak a bite out of the walls and as he gripped his axe tightly in his hands, the two children, both tied and gagged, noticed his presence. When they did, Ivan motioned for them to keep quiet. Thankfully, the old woman was busy throwing firewood into the stove to keep the fire going, making it hot enough to cook the kids in when it was time.

Ivan then gestured towards the children to look away or at least shut their eyes so they don't bear witness to what was about to happen in order to protect their innocence. Ivan himself hated that he had to do this and it would certainly haunt him, but this lady was trying to kill innocent little children and devour them, so it was do or die. Taking a deep breath in, Ivan raised the axe high above his head when the two shut their eyes tight and with the strength of a thousand men, he brought the blade of the axe down in swift motion right on the woman's head, plunging it deep into her head as the lady suddenly spasmed before ceasing all movement. Ivan held down his lunch as he yanked the axe out, revealing a deep gash in the lady's head, fountains of blood spurting out and spilling on the floor, causing Ivan to finally unchuck, yakking the contents of his stomach on the floor before the woman's body flopped onto the ground still convulsing. Finally, to make sure she was dead, Ivan reluctantly grabbed her corpse and shoved her right into the stove, allowing the burning flames to engulf her body and burn her to a crisp. Ivan took a moment to process what had transpired, he just committed murder. A dastardly evil woman, but a woman nonetheless. Then he remembered the children. He grabbed the keys on the table and unlocked the cages, freeing the two children, untying them both and removing their gags.

"Thank you so much, mister." The girl thanked him with gratitude, relieved that the danger was now over with.

Afterwards, Ivan marched outside the house and back out into the dark woods to try and forget what he had just done. However, the two children ran out of the house and caught up with him.

"Wait!" The girl shouted as she and the boy came up to him. "Where are you going?"

"I'm sorry. I'm just trying to make sense of what just happened." Ivan explained, still visibly shaken.

"You save our lives. That's all that matters. That mean old lady was going to eat us both up if you hadn't shown up." concurred the boy.

"Yeah, but…..I guess, I mean…" He silenced himself as soon as he laid his eyes back onto the house to see it was no longer made out of gingerbread or candy, but it was just an ordinary old hut made out of usual wood and stones, but appeared to be decrepit and abandoned. "That's so weird. Is that normal?"

The two kids saw the new house's state and replied, "No….?" as they were just as bewildered and befuddled as he was.

"Look, I don't mean to be a bother, but do you guys have a phone I could use? I need to call my friends." asked Ivan, shaking it off and getting back to the matter at hand.

"Uh,...what's a phone?" asked the girl with a funny look.

Ivan groaned as he rubbed his eyes, massaging the stress from his pores. Of course, they wouldn't know what he was talking about.

"Never mind." He sighed deeply. "What are your names?"

"I'm Hansel." greeted the young boy, then gestured to the girl. "And this is my sister, Gretel."

"Really?" Ivan pondered their statement. Those names sounded vaguely familiar to a certain fairy tale he had read about explaining two young siblings getting trapped in a house made of gingerbread by a hungry witch, similar to the predicament they were just in. It couldn't be possible or was it.

"Well, anyway, I was hoping I could reach the nearest town or city as soon as possible. Do either of you know a place?" asked Ivan.

"If you're looking for someplace bigger, the kingdom of Corona is a mere mile northeast in that direction." Hansel explained, pointing in the general direction as described, hopefully it led to where Ivan needed to go.

"That certainly helps, thanks." Ivan thanked them gratefully. "Where are your parents, by the way?"

That question seemed to make them both upset as their expressions dropped to look forlorn, if not, even a tad disappointed. Ivan wondered if there was some kind of family issue that they wanted to avoid.

"Our parents are the reason we're both out here in the first place." Gretel explained sadly, rubbing her arm. "They don't want us anymore. Which is why they left us out here in the woods to fend for ourselves."

"No!" Ivan gasped.

"Yes!" Hansel argued with a nod. "Our family had no food and our father was struggling to help provide for us, so our mother made him toss us way out here in the wilderness, hoping that we wouldn't find our way back."

"I'm so sorry about that." consoled Ivan with remorse. "Surely you could find a village nearby. Maybe someone can help you there."

"Even if we did, we have no money. We can't take care of ourselves." Hansel replied.

"If you went to Corona, can we go with you? Please?" Gretel pleaded with him desperately, giving him her best puppy dog eyes. Ivan just couldn't say no to that face and given his good heart and the obvious fact that these two were deliberately abandoned by their parents and about to be eaten by a deadly witch, the children were definitely susceptible to any sort of danger with no way to defend themselves. So his mind was finally made up.

"Okay, you can come with me. I need some company anyway." Ivan finally agreed and dropped down to one knee to their level, facing them both in the eye. "If you two stick with me, I'll be sure to find you two a safe home where you can be cared for properly. Just as long as you stay close to me and not take any candy from strangers, is that understood?"

Hansel and Gretel both embraced him tightly in a bear hug, thanking him for his thoughtfulness and he hugged them back with a smile.