:::Hansel and Gretel, Remixed. Featuring Larxene. Rated M for Violence and possible disturbing content:::
The starch noise of violent yelling awoken me suddenly, and I shut my eyes tightly ducking under the covers in attempt to block their words out before any of them registered in my mind. The old people I deemed my parents were fighting once more. Ever since my father had married that horrible excuse for a woman; his life, not to mention mine and my sisters, had become nothing short of an endless nightmare, she did nothing but complain of her misfortune of marrying such a poor woodcutter and yell at us children for being such sloppy, disobedient creatures. My father never fought against her and won in their arguments, he barely spoke a word throughout an entire fight with her and I had to say I felt sorry for him more then myself. He was absolutely terrified of her yet did not have the will to leave her, I knew that anyone with common sense who wasn't a coward would've left within moments of marry someone such as her.
"It's because of those foul brats of yours!" The hag screeched and I could just tell that she was slapping my father as she spoke. I grimaced slightly, sliding out from under the blankets, shivering as my bare feet touched the chilled planks of the floor. As much as I had been desiring to do nothing more but ignore the two of them and return to my sleeping I had been overcome with the feeling that this bickering of theirs was meant to be paid attention to by someone else for once. Silently I stalked across the stretch of my sister's and my room, my shadow painted on the floor gracefully in the flickering beauty of the moonlight. Though as my foot came into contact with the next floorboard that lay in my path, a sickening creak that brought despair echoed through my room from the rotting wood beneath me, silencing all sound in the still little hut. My heart was beating fast within my tiny ribcage, my breath hitched deep in my throat, unmoving for the fear of being discovered. The silence subsided though, and I heaved a small sigh before continuing forward to the crack that served as a gateway to our kitchen from our room. Surely enough the two adult stood there with tension flowing between the two, the woman's head was closer to my fathers though as she continued to scold him for seemingly nothing, this made it hard, near impossible actually, to eavesdrop on the two of them properly.
"Listen to me closely old fool, I have a plan that will save us from starvation for this year!" Father kept his lips shut tight, as to not upset the wretched female more then what she already was. "We shall take the two young ones into the woods tomorrow at the rising of the sun, and falsely tell them of a little family picnic. Here we shall tell them to wait for a moment as we quickly fetch something that we have forgotten, and then we shall leave them sitting there for the wolves to gobble up." Father's look grew to shock as he listened to his wife's words, and as she finished he moved his head side to side in denial to her 'suggestion'.
"My love, I fear that I cannot do such a cruel thing to my on flesh and blood, please let the children stay, we will find another way to feed us all!" Our father begged in sorrow, tears streamed gently from his blue eyes, but she merely shook her head in bitter disgust to my father's pleads; And thus the act was set. I backed away from the door in horror, my eyes were wide with fear and sorrow, I would've screamed, cried out in disbelief but again it seemed I could not breath as I took my spot again on my dusted bed at the other side of the room, as far away from the small door as I could get without leaving the cabin. The ticking clock above our fireplace moved slow and time seemed to stand still as I took in this deep and horrid fate that had been decided for my sister and I. Finally though, as I heard the old ones depart to their chamber I found the will to stand up once again, this time though trailing my weak body over to my sister's bedside and looked at her with apathy and I almost broke out into tears.
"Dear Gret..." I muttered cautiously, placing a hand on her cheek as a single form of comfort for not only her resting mind, but for my own emotions that raged on deep inside my heart. It deemed onto me then, that I could not let this tragedy fall on my sister and I, how from the time that my mother had died giving birth to this small child I had promised that I would let no harm fall upon her. Turning from her deeply breathing form I walked towards our window, towards the calming lunar circle that illuminated the night sky.
'We will need a way to return though, once left in the woods....' I thought, staring off to the outside world as my mind attempted to manifest a solution to my growing problem. My eyes drifted back and forth, until the sparkling of stone caught their attention so simply by reflecting moonlight. I nodded to myself, confirming my plan in which these pebbles would help us return home the next day when the moon raised itself high in the sky and made them glitter, leading us back along the way we came until reaching home. I grasped the seal of the window with all my might, and tugged upwards, it stuck fast and barely budged; frustration rose deep inside me and I tugged again and again. My fingernails split painfully on the wood, splinters wedged deep into the tips of my fingers causing me to grunt in deep agony. At last though after many agonizing movements the window freed itself open, sliding gracefully until the soft summer midnight breeze floated silently into the room with ease; my fingers trembled, stained with my crimson blood. Yet my work still ceased to be complete and painfully I hauled myself outside into the dark outside, hissing at the sting that came with it as fresh blood seeped out onto my hand.
With a sullen expression I walked through our yard quietly, pausing to listen to the silence of the night air to assure myself that the cruel woman I was forced to compare to a mother had not heard my movements while I opened the window or exited the house. The white marble stones that littered our pathway filled my soul weary with hope and I gathered them thoughtlessly setting them deep into the pockets of my coat when my hands could carry no more. It made me smile almost as they filled slowly, how that nasty hag would get such a shock when she found us back at her door again. With my pockets soon heavy and brimming with the pearly rocks I returned to the window leading into my chamber, sliding in with much more ease then I had experienced while exiting through the window. Tomorrow when our Stepmother took us into the woods I would be prepared, and would fool her simple mind with an obvious distraction, then lay the rocks one by one on the ground as we ventured deep into the woods to create a path that would grant my sister and I a way to find our home once abandoned, I saw no flaws in the plan, it was so simple.
Again I glanced at the sleeping girl named "Gret" and I swear small tears began to form again before streaming fire hot down my pale cheeks. How could anyone, as cruel as even my Father's wife was, have any desire to put an innocent child's life in such danger by leaving her to fend for herself in the woods? I shook my head in disgust at the sad excuse of a human. Staring down at Gret for only moments more I cleared my mind of all thoughts of waking her and explaining the situation; how she looked at such peace laying there, her mind and body needed the rest much more then one such as mine. She was still so young, not even the age of ten, no, I would let her sleep for the night undisturbed. Tomorrow though I would tell the her of our Stepmother's evil intentions, once we were left in the woods. Moving slower towards my bed I halted and replayed my thoughts in my mind much more. They brought the sick feeling of a heavy mass of a lump to my throat, and painfully I thought of the creatures lurking deep in the forest. Bears, wolves, the number of dangerous predators out there that would be willing to gobble us up was countless, and we would be defenseless against them, unless... I looked at the small wood carving knife in our room, given to us by our father when times were good and we could afford the luxuries of relaxing and carving beautiful art from the base of a tree. Now though it appeared that I would use it for defense only if an animal decided to attack while we returned back to our home.
Grabbing the dangerous blade from its place I slid it into my coat pockets amongst the rocks before creeping back to my bed to rest my body before the sun rose, I would need it myself. I laid down quietly, staring at the moon through the open window, breeze carrying in the scent of pine, filling my body with a calming sensation. Feeling sleep creep over me I closed my eyes slowly, drifted off in moments.