The Birth of a Wishing Heart

10. Schemes and Mischief

She slowly rose as she retraced her thoughts. He wouldn't-

Lucia raced down the hall. She was sure to leave Merilda's truffles high above Hansel's reach. Even she had trouble reaching them from their spot, having to stretch on the tips of her toes to reach them. She raced to the kitchen. It shouldn't have been a crime scene. He couldn't reach them. She removed everything that could be used as a stool of some sort. Even a toddler could figure out it wasn't worth trying.

She froze at the doorway. She felt her arms go limp at the scene. She didn't know what to make of it. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell agape. She wasn't surprised that the truffles were gone. No.

She was stunned by the storage bin that now had a hole in it. It was bent and on top of it lay the ripped beige curtains that were now barely hanging from a broken rod.

She was surprised by the counter door lying on the floor.

She was shocked that her baking supplies had spilled from the now uncovered cabinet. Even her hanging shelf had crashed down. The results were a floor coated in sugar, flour, and splatters of jam. The vase that had been on the shelf had crashed to the ground, its ceramic pieces now sticky with the jam-flour mixture.

Her eyes searched around the room frantically for any sign of injury. She held her breath. She shouldn't have left him alone. This was a horrible place for a child to be in. The storage bin was heavy, what if it fell on him? The glass and ceramic could cut him too easily. What if he slipped on the jam? Her eyes darted around the room. "Honey if you're here please say something. I don't have my broomstick."

She closed her eyes tightly and took a shaky breath. She prayed that the boy was safe. The problem was he tended to hide when he was in trouble, often close to the mess he made. This was no place for a game of hide and seek. She took another deep breath and looked around the room again, this time more carefully. No matter how slow she forced her breath to be, she couldn't rid herself of the quick heart rate brought by an onslaught of horrible possibilities.

She was relieved to find no droplets of blood on the floor, but there was one thing that caught her eye.

Lucia leaned forward to study a clump of flour. It looked like a trail that had been messily swept away. If that boy was making her panic only because he refused to come out, he really would have it. She followed the path to one of the closed base cabinets. "I am going to count to three. You have three seconds to come out. If after three, I find that you were hiding here I will get the broom that someone seemed to bury in the front. One..."

She couldn't stand idle for another moment. She opened the cabinet but it was empty. "Two." She prayed that the boy would emerge from somewhere unharmed. If he ran away to the forest to hide he could have gotten lost. He had never done it before and likely knew he'd only dig a greater hole for himself if he did, but there was a first time to everything. "Three."

"Here!" A cupboard door on the opposite side of the room shot open. His head peeked out to see her. She almost caught a glimpse of regret in his eyes but he looked away and avoided her sight. She felt heat spread through her body. He couldn't have come out the first time? "I don't want the broom." His plump lips pouted in protest.

She felt her jaw tighten and took a moment to be still. This was not the time to start raising her voice, especially not when she was partly to blame. Finally, she sighed. "Are you hurt?" The boy shook his head gently, though she knew by the strain on his face that it was a lie. She tried to scan for any injury but he quickly shifted to leave his confines. Her finger shot up in the air. "Don't" she warned. He huffed slightly before reeling himself back into the cupboard. She immediately understood his injury. He curled up into a ball with his feet to the roof of the cabinet, and his elbows folded over his neck. His spine lay bent against the floor holding his weight in position, along with his head that she hardly saw. She wasn't sure when he had stuffed himself in there, but it didn't look comfortable in the least. "It isn't safe. Let me clean up a bit first."