As Long As You're Here (A Hansel and Gretel Story)

A Secret Finally Told (6)

Second dedication to Sunshine2201, just for being awesome! ;D hehehe enjoy xD

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The next morning, Carlyle woke early, his mind bustling with fear of telling his children the truth about their mother. He had only told them that Arielle had died. He didn’t say how. He didn’t want to wake the twins, so he went outside to chop some wood until he heard the buzzing of them getting up. Carlyle’s house was in a large clearing in the forest. So all around were trees. The clearing used to be smaller, but after all the years of cutting down trees, they now have enough room to build the sheds and the cellar. It had gone from about ten meters, from one side to the other, to fifty.

It was now a lot safer to knock trees down, as most of them are only ten to twenty meters tall. He went to the last tree not standing, and started taking his anger out on it. His anger about how Sereine treated him, about how Gretel stole and lied to him, about Arielle dying, about everything, really. Before he knew it, he was done. He dragged the logs over to the wood shed, and stacked them against a wall. He went back to the edge of the clearing, and looked intently into the forest. He sighed, and went to the next tree. He got his axe, and started cutting at the base. When he was about half way through the trunk, the sun began to rise. He stopped, and looked at his work. He realised that he cut it at the wrong angle, so when it fell, it would fall into the forest. Oh well, Carlyle thought, maybe it will knock down a few more trees.

He cut a bit deeper, so only a quarter was still connected. He then threw the axe aside, and pushed against the tree. It groaned at Carlyle trying to push it over, and put up some resistance, then gave up, and fell with a deafening crash. The ground shook, and hundreds of birds flew up out of the forest. But the tree hit another on its way down, which hit another, which hit another. By the end, five trees had fallen over. Carlyle considered this a small victory, as this cut back hours of hard work.

Hansel stumbled out of bed, hearing several loud crashes. He looked out of his small window, and saw his father, axe hand, looking at five trees on the ground. Hansel guessed that he had just cut them down. TIMBER! Hansel thought sleepily. He shrugged his clothes on, and slowly made his way outside, and over to his father.

‘Nice work dad,’ Hansel said.

‘Thanks, I cut them all down myself,’ Carlyle said proudly.

‘Oh, as if! I’m surprised you could even cut one down!’ Hansel teased.

‘Yeah, yeah, whatever. Is your sister awake?’ Carlyle asked.

‘Um, I don’t know, let me check,’ Hansel said, hearing something he couldn’t quite detect in his fathers voice. Anxiety? Or maybe fear? He hurried upstairs, eager to wake Gretel and find out what was troubling their father.

Carlyle took a deep breath, and prepared himself. This was going to be hard. He had never talked to anyone about Arielle. He packed away his axe, and sank into the lounge. He closed his eyes, and images of Arielle popped into his mind. Beautiful long red hair, face like an angel. Pale, freckly skin. She was so thin, petite. It was almost like a gust of wind would push her over. She was so fragile, totally unaware of the troubles of life, and just focusing on the positives. That was what he loved about her. She took his sadness, his anger, and turned it into total joy.

That last week must have been horrible for her. She was so strong, but it would have been a lifetime of lessons of the cruelty in the world, packed and demonstrated into one week, with a punch in the stomach. Carlyle wondered, if she had survived, whether she would have been the same bright, happy, bubbly girl he fell in love with, or someone totally new. Totally different.