The Candy House

an essay i did last year for english. Based on Hansel and Gretel

The asphalt of the road burned their feet as Jason and Ashley walked home from school. The hot sun beat down on their faces, music blaring through Jason’s ear buds. Ashley walked right beside him, kicking a rock with her black Converse shoes. She looked up at her twin brother, opening her mouth to try and say something, but discarded it. Jason wasn’t exactly in the talking mood. After their parents filed for divorce, he was never in the talking mood. That’s why they had to walk home from school, a three mile trek.

After about thirty minutes, the sidewalk disappeared, turning into lush forests. Ashley turned around, looking back to see where they made a wrong turn. “Where’s the road,” she asked, “you sure we’re going the right way. Whenever we go with Mom, I don’t think we ever see forest.”

“We don’t, that’s because we take the freeway home. This is the only way you can walk to our house--�"through this dark, creepy woods.” He turned to her, gesturing with his hand towards the tiny opening of trees. “Ladies first.” She gave him a look and walked towards the opening, slugging him in the arm and ducking into the opening. Jason followed after.

Inside was a dark and obscure, the shrubbery covering most of the sky, illuminating the light with a mossy green color. “Whoa,” Ashley said, “we need to walk home more often

Her brother walked up beside her. “Listen, we need to stick together. No wandering off, no ‘I’ll catch up with you later’, nothing. I don’t want to be the one who goes home to Mom and Dad without you there.” Saying that, he grabbed Ashley and began down a barely visible path. He stopped and let go of her hand, digging into his pocket. He pulled out a fistful of bright yellow, green, and blue beads. “If we get lost, we just find our way back to the start.” He dropped a bead and continued walking.

The trail began to become more visible the further they went. At least two miles later, a fork emerged in the road. “Which way?” Ashley asked.

Jason reached into his pocket, and pulled out a quarter. “Heads we take right, tails we take left.” Placing it on his thumb, he flicked it into the air. He caught it, slapping against his left arm. He lifted his hand away. “Tails, let’s go.” They started down the path. Unknown to them, next to a mossy tree, sat a sign, rotten and aged, but still readable. Beware, it said, beware of the witch.

§

At least an hour passed, and they were still on the trail, definitely lost. “Let’s face it, Jason, we’re lost,” Ashley said. But Jason ignored her, focusing on his iPhone, trying to find a decent signal. Then, he stopped, the screen no longer buffering. A clear route was displayed home. They both cheered, running in the direction of the arrow home.

A house appeared on the right, catching the children’s eye. It was constructed completely of candy. The basic structure was made out of gingerbread, the roof tiles made of chocolate, and various others made the masterpiece. “What the heck is this?” Jason asked, walking up to the house. He sniffed the house. “It’s real candy,” he said to his sister. “Why would someone make a house out of candy?”

“Who cares, it’s a house made out of candy! Thank god we found this; I was starting to go hungry.” She ripped a tile from the roof, almost stuffing her face, when Jason stopped her.

“What are you doing? Do you even know what this is? It could be poi--” Before he could finish, she shoved the chocolate brick into his face, laughing and pulling out another for herself. Jason licked his lips, tasting a thick, delicious, creamy sensation. He wanted more, he needed more. He ripped two more off the roof and feasted on them. Each one tasted better than the last. He got more, then more, then more, never feeling full. He stopped when he felt an eerie feeling creep over him. His eyes began to grow heavy, his vision getting blurry. He fell to the ground, falling unconscious, not before his sister fell with him into the muddy ground.

§

They woke up what seemed like hours later, the sun had gone down. They were inside the candy house. Jason sat locked in a iron-bar cage, hanging at least three feet above the ground. Ashley was sitting in a wooden chair across the room from her brother.

The door opened, and an old leathery witch came in, yelling to herself. She appeared to be blind, feeling around her as she moved. She snorted, breathing in the children’s smell. “Yum, children; nothing more delicious.” She reached the oven, twisting knobs to light the flame. She reached into the cupboard, grabbing the spices necessary for cooking the kids.

Ashley wasn’t strapped down to the chair (the witch didn’t really find it necessary; she had stuffed herself full of the toxic candy). Timing it right, she waited till the witch was knelt over, looking into the flaming oven. She got out of her chair and kicked her into the fire. She screamed like a banshee as her skin was charred off. But somehow, it hadn’t killed her; she crawled out of the oven, her flesh black and charred. , and grabbed Ashley’s leg, giving her a painful singe. Quickly, she came up with an idea. “Move back!” she yelled to her brother, as she grabbed the witch’s arm, tore it off, and tossed it at the cage. It barely hit, but that was enough to melt the metal away bit by bit. When the opening was big enough, he kicked a wall of bars out and jumped onto the ground. Together, they ran out of the burning house, as they left the witch screaming in agony.

They ran once they were outside, not in any particular direction, just away from the house. Miles later, the forest lightened up, giving way to street lamps and signs, and their neighborhood. They both panted in happiness. One thought flowed through their minds: how were they going to explain this to Dad?