Page 68 of Hansel and Gerhardt
Hansel yanked at his binds. They stretched slightly, but he knew they were never going to break. “Please let him go. Please! I’ll stay. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“I know better than to believe that,” said Herr Candy, standing, running a hand along Hansel’s arm as he moved back to the foot of the table. “They always say that.”
Hansel sat his head up, just as much as he could. “How many have there been? How can you be so cruel?”
Herr Candy laughed. “What do you think I eat out here? This?” He waved his fingers at the gorgeous candy all around. “Magic. It’s not real. It can’t satisfy me like meat can. It can’t keep me going. But this…” He slapped his hands down on Hansel’s large thighs. “This will keep me fed for some time to come.” He gave them a squeeze, which made Hansel’s insides turn in on themselves. “I would have liked to feed you, to make you bigger, meatier. But I can’t have you running off with Gerhardt. Not before he’s plump and ready, too.”
“Ready?” Hansel pulled hard at his binds. “Even after me, you’re going to eat him?”
Gerhardt stretched out an arm to hand the knife across, but he was caught at the wrist. Herr Candy pulled his body across in front of him, flush with his own, holding him at the waist, stretching his arm out long. He dipped his head to Gerhardt’s neck and breathed him in. A deep, hungry moan broke from Herr Candy. “He is scrumptious, isn’t he?” He sunk dark pincers into the flesh of his naked belly. “You’d be surprised how long I can keep one alive while I take their meat. Weeks—months, even—if the weather isn’t too hot.” His snake tongue flickered out, almost licking Gerhardt. “And winter’s coming.”
“Gerhardt!” Hansel cried. “Wake up! Can’t you hear him?” For Gerhardt’s eyes had returned to hazy, were drooping, a lazy smile about his lips, even as those vile fingertips scraped across his skin.
“Don’t worry,” said Herr Candy. “He won’t miss you.” He plucked the knife from Gerhardt’s fingers and spun him away, where he came to a serene stop right by the oven door.
Herr Candy toyed with the sharp tip of the knife, silver in those hard and shining fingertips. “I’m going to have to smoke you, I think. To make you last. Turn you into sausages. Which means…” He scanned Hansel’s taut body, eyes landing on his abdomen. “I’d better take the intestines first.”
“No! Let me go!” Hansel cried. Then, settling his eyes on Gerhardt, who stared straight ahead as though he didn’t even see the monster about to cut his beloved into little pieces, he screamed, “Run! Why don’t you run? Why are you just standing there?”
Herr Candy brought the ice-cold, razor-sharp blade to Hansel’s flesh.
“Because, Hansel,” Gerhardt said sweetly. “You look so tasty.” Herr Candy smiled his devilish smile, then Gerhardt added, “And like I told you, I would never let anything happen to you.”
Herr Candy’s head turned sharply, but Gerhardt had already snapped down the clasp of the oven. An explosion of fire lit Herr Candy’s face as Gerhardt threw it open. One single breath of shocked terror escaped the vile creature, and Gerhardt had shoved him into the furnace head first.
An appalling scream filled the room, but Gerhardt didn’t flinch. He picked up the man’s legs, forced him through the opening with brute strength, then slammed the door closed on his agonised wails, locking it firmly.
“Gerhardt?” Hansel gasped out.
“Hansel!” Gerhardt shouted. “Hansel, my love.” He was up and on the table, fingers and knees sinking into crushed desserts as he clambered over to straddle him. He grasped Herr Candy’s dropped knife and sliced clean through the rainbow strap. Another slice and the raspberry licorice was undone, and Hansel’s two arms were wrapped around him.
Fingers lost in his hair, Hansel pulled him in to kiss him. Those loving, tender fingers sank into his bare shoulders, felt them shaking, from holding himself still and controlled for so long his body couldn’t take it anymore.
Arms trembling, he leaned back and sliced through the binds that held Hansel’s legs, then Hansel pulled him in, and held Gerhardt close against his chest, stroking his hair. “It’s okay. You did it. We’re safe now. I can’t believe you did it.”
Heaving deep breaths into their chests, their attention was pulled towards the oven. The screaming hadn’t abated, let alone stopped. A loud, dull clang ricocheted around the room, bouncing off the hard-candy walls, as Herr Candy slammed his limbs into the side of the oven, fighting to escape, screaming, screaming. But the oven was thick cast iron, the latch strong and unshakeable, no matter how hard he fought.
“Gerhardt, look at me.” Hansel’s gentle hand on his cheek brought Gerhardt’s terrified eyes back to meet his. “You’re all there again. I can see you.”
“Only now he’s burning. Even when I did that, I felt half asleep. I could feel it all over me. It was like a dream. I just… I saw that knife in his hand, and it felt like we were back in the cottage, and…”
“Oh, Gerhardt.” Hansel kissed him and kissed him again.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Gerhardt shook his head, tears falling onto Hansel’s chest. “I’m sorry I let that happen. I was sohungry. And then it was over. One bite, Hansel. One bite, and it was all over, and I wasn’t me anymore.”
“I know. It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault.”
“It’s all my fault. How can you have done this? How can you have stayed here and been strong for me? Hansel, it’s been days. And you never gave up on me. And you haven’t eaten a thing—”
“That’s because I love you.” He stroked the hair back from his cheek, holding his chin up to look into his eyes. “I love you. No life exists out there in the forest or anywhere without you.”
“You could have left me a thousand times.”
“I never could. Not once. Not you.”
Gerhardt’s hand fell on his chest, right by his big, beating heart. “I know it. I know it now. I’m sorry for everything I said. I was wrong. You know exactly what you want. And Hansel, I know it too. I love you.” He threw his arms around Hansel’s neck, pulling him in for a kiss. The screams and cries and pleas that escaped the oven drifted into the background. Hansel and Gerhardt became lost in that kiss. In that moment in time, in their love for one another. That they’d said it. That they knew it. That they’d made that promise. A promise of a bright future, starting that very day.
Hansel’s hands ran up Gerhardt’s sides, grasping at the bare flesh he needed to feel to reassure himself he was back in his arms. Gerhardt reacted with twice the passion, grinding forward, wrapping his legs around him. Breathlessly, Gerhardt said, “That candy… When I ate it, I want you to know… it made me think… of you.”
