Once upon a time 

Laughter mixes with bludgeoning music. The noise brings no smiles to Harry and Gina. Fear turns to terror as voices raise, doors bang, footsteps approach. Harry sits behind the bedroom door, pressing his scrawny back against its flimsy, dirt encrusted panels. His sister sits on the bed, her nails sunk into Ted, clutched tightly to her chest. A bang on the door, a shove, resisted by adrenalin-fuelled strength. Words exchanged, demands and pleas. The boy does not win. 

Morning brings no solace. With the man asleep, the mother seeks to reassure but they all know these are lies. The man is a troll, but hides his appearance behind a suit. The boy knows though. Mother weeps and offers a ragged apology. The boy is boiling. If he isn’t cooled soon he will explode. The girl squeezes Ted. Any harder and it will explode too. Given the chance she would squeeze the life out of the troll too, even though she knows he is too strong for her. A collective sigh as the front door slams. The troll is gone, but he will be back, they know, to feast again. The mother decides. Escape. She takes them to a safe place, although it is not. When the troll returns, he sees the mother alone. BAM. THUD. The mother screams and resists until she cannot. Later that day, Harry and Gina are back in the bedroom. That night, more noise, more barricades, more breaches. Mother cries. Her tears acid pearls that burn a path down her face. The troll leaves again the next day, fangs bared, knuckles hard and wild. 

Mother gathers up her bairns and flees once more. She hides them in a better place. Thinks about hiding herself but that is impossible. He is a magnet, pulling her back to his clutching hands. Once more when he returns he extracts the truth. She tries to avoid fists, boots, bites. She submits. The boy and girl reclaimed. Gina, beautiful, bright, bowed, but not broken. Harry, fierce, a fighter. He has the strength of the martyrs running through his core. For a third time troll leaves them alone. Mother realises that it must be now. She does not take them to a place she knows, because when asked she will eventually tell him. Instead, she takes them into the forest but will hide the way back. When troll returns she expects to pays in full this time. A price worth paying in exchange for her two children. Oft-times enormous bravery hides behind fear.

Gingerbread 

Harry has found a place for them. Led here by a jackal, who hides his teeth with a glistening smile. Gifts offered, although they are as fake as a politician’s promises. There is another jackal, a bitch. Tells Harry she will return them both to their mother when his sister ripens and looks more beautiful. Says they are safe if they co-operate, but they must not leave.  

Harry is young, but has the wisdom of ages. He can sense a jackal. After all, he has shared a home with a troll. They are not so different. The bitch jackal, he knows, is a ragged knife, a black hole, a demon. The other, the dog jackal, just runs with the pack. 

Harry knows that when his sister is ready, all will be lost, so he tricks the bitch jackal. He shows Gina how to hide her blossoming. Gina buys more time for herself by cutting her hair off with a shard of glass, retrieved from a broken mirror. Her brother may be brave, but she is cunning. A plan made by the two of them. They know when the bitch will be alone. Harry tricks her into showing her back to him. STAB. SLASH. The blade fashioned from the same shard of glass, wrapped in a sock. SLASH. STAB. Bitch jackal resists but he is a tiger fighting for his cub. She is dead. Harry’s soul is stained crimson red. His hands too, but with his own blood. Gina hugs her brother. They are joined by more than just their own blood now.   Harry knows they have to escape the gingerbread house. The dog jackal will return soon. Broken window, a fall to the ground. Moments later they are free. 

Harry leads them both back into the forest. They find mother. Harry has sensed her shattered, fluttering soul, and it acts as a beacon to him. The troll has long since gone to seek more children to devour. The three clutch to each other, and laugh, although there is a tear in Gina’s eye because Ted has gone too. Life is rarely fair, especially for the innocent.