Hansel's Secret

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Hansel pulled his brown cotton cardie back over his sister, Gretel, shoulders. It was a cold, damp night in the thick, dark forest and it had started to dribble. We were sheltered from the worst of it by the canopy of leaves above.
No one comes to this part of the wood, especially at night. Tales of a witch that lived in the hart of it. They say she eats naughty children. They say she fattens them up with sweets, treats and delights.
But only we know the truth. There is no witch. There is no Gingerbread house. There are no breadcrumbs for that would endanger everyone outside the forest.
Gretel shivered, her pale face turned grey, her thick, blond hair turned to straw as her fingers lengthened as her small frame huddled inside the soft cardie that smelt of the earth they lay in the night before.
Hansel slowly drew away from his adorable little sister. Her nails grew shaper, longer still. Her perfectly round face became long and drawn.
He crept backwards, never taking his eyes off his baby sister as she grew into a hideous hag.
He was almost far enough from her to climb a tree to hide out in when there was an audible snap that echoed into the quiet night. Her head strained the loose skin around her throat as she turned to face him. Her blue eyes looked dead, vacant and he knew no one was home. She would not remember come the morn, she never does. She smiles an empty smile at her brother, lips apart to show her sharp pointed teeth. Gnashing them together sharply.
Hansel when low to the ground. He has established that where his sister had perfect vision day and night, this version of her was almost blind. So he lay flat to the ground, blending with the undergrowth.
The woman frowned as she could no longer see him. Hansel watched as she stood up tall, taller than his sister ever could be, threw her head back and let out a cackle worthy of the witch stories. The cardie fell off her shoulders and caressed her arms as if reminding her Hansel was there with her, always.
Something crashed through the other side of the clearing, a deer I think, stopping dead when it saw the creature before it. The dear bleated, turned tail and ran back in the direction it came.
The chase excited the creature, she flicked a lizard-like a tongue out across her teeth, sniffed the air once and ran after the scared deer.
When she was gone, Hansel slowly got up to retrieve the cardie and retreated into a high tree. She would not come back until she had fed. Sometimes she didn’t come back at all. Those were the nights that worried Hansel. She could be dead or worse she could have murdered and eaten someone.
She would survive until our father found us and killed us. After all, Gretel did eat out mother at birth.

~ Jess Bagnall