Hans checked his sister’s harness, LED headlamp, and helmet. He gave her orange helmet a pat and then turned. Following the safety guidelines, Gretzi’s fingers inspected his gear. He felt her sharp tug on his strap that meant A-OK. Like always, Gretzi was burbling with excitement.

She had been researching this cave for months. Witch’s Eye had been found by a farmer searching for a lost goat back in 1967. His horse’s leg punched through the cave’s ceiling. The farmer shone a flashlight into 120 feet of darkness and ran home.

Later the town sheriff and a high school science teacher expanded the entrance with pickaxes and dropped a weighted line. They unearthed a world of stalagtites and stalagmites. Crystals sparkled in the murky gloom. The frightened farmer and his hole made the front page of the Sunday paper.

The cave was popular, luring tourists and locals. That first summer, the hole claimed its first victims. A group of middle schoolers, five boys, taunted each other into exploring the cave late that night. The morning found a long coil of rope ladder and two shivering twelve-year-olds. It took two weeks to recover the bodies.

All the survivors could say was they got lost in the dark, in the water. Some whispered that once inside the cave the walls moved and a woman’s voice called you to dead ends. No one knows where the rumors of a witch and her curse came from. A vengeful trickster or a siren hungry for flesh, the stories carried at slumber parties and around campfires sprang up like mushrooms. The cave was dubbed Witch’s Eye and sealed for the protection of the public.

Hans had heard the story from Gretzi a dozen times. The only thing spelunkers love more than an uncharted cave was a good story. Gretzi had explored caves up and down the Eastern coast and Hans followed along. Gretzi had flitted from one thing to another when they were kids, horses, mountain biking, rock climbing. Once she explored her first cave Gretzi was hooked. Next summer they planned to visit Scotland for the whisky and the caves. But today they were here. With bolt cutters, Gretzi was working on the entrance’spadlock.

Other cave explorers had breached the Witch’s Eyes and lived to blog about it. Gretzi had even made her brother watch a grainy documentary on the secrets of this cave. Still every few years there would be an accident or a tragedy and the cave’s notoriety grew. Gretzi gave him a fist bump after together they lifted the trap door.

Hans looks down into the cave’s opening. The crystals winked back at him. Together they tamped down the lines and set up the hoist. Hans looked up at the sky hoping for rain or anything to put off this dive. Eyes closed, he listened to Gretzi clamp in.

“Last one in is a rotten egg,” she yelled up at him as she descended.

Hans swallowed and quickly followed her into the darkness.

In an old mill house, there lived a brother and a sister named Hanson and Greta. Their father was laid off from his job as a timber faller, and they were having trouble getting enough food to eat. One night, Hanson and Greta overheard their father and stepmother arguing. “I don’t know how we’re going to get through the summer,” their father said. “At least during the school year, the school provides them lunch so they can have one meal a day. We don’t have enough money to feed them.” “Surrender them to the state,” their stepmother said. “We can’t afford to feed them. They will live better lives as wards of the state.” That night, Hanson and Greta made plans to leave the old mill house. “We’ll seek our fortunes elsewhere,” Greta said. “I’ll walk dogs to support us. We won’t go hungry or have to be separated from each other.” “I can help too,” Hanson said. “I’ll mow lawns.” They left in the morning before their parents woke. “What if we change our minds?” Greta asked. “How will we get home?” Hanson pulled one of Greta’s many beaded bracelets off of her hand. “We’ll leave a trail of beads,” he said. They walked along the road, leaving a trail of beads on the curb. Then, they entered the woods, leaving the trail of beads along the path. “I’m not sure about this,” Greta said. “Maybe we should go home.” They looked for their path and saw a crow flying into the air with a bead in its mouth. The other beads had vanished. “The crow took all of my beads,” Greta moaned. “What will we do now?” Hanson pointed at a house. “Let’s see if they have a phone. Maybe we can call home and our parents will come to get us. They’ve probably changed their minds by now. Since we’ve been gone, I’m sure they’ve realized they’d miss us too much to give us up.” So Hanson and Greta walked to the house in the woods. As they approached the house, their stomachs rumbled, and they longed for even a crumb of food. “The house looks like it is made out of candy,” Hanson said. “I must be imagining it because I am so hungry,” Greta said. Hanson put his hand on the wall of the house. He broke off a part of the house. He ate it. “It’s so good.” Greta, too, began to eat the house. “It’s a real house of candy!” “Stop!” a shrill voice screeched. “Stop! That’s my house you are eating!” Hanson and Greta stopped. “We’re sorry,” Hanson said. “We were just so hungry.” “Come inside,” the witch said. “I will feed you.” They went inside and the witch fed them a frozen pizza, potato chips, fruit salad, and large ice creams for dessert. “Thank you so much!” Greta said. “What can we do to repay you?” The witch laughed. “Have a nice rest,” she said. Hanson and Greta fell asleep at the table. When he woke up, Hanson was in a cage. “What did you do to my brother?” Greta asked. “He’ll stay in the cage,” the witch said, “so that you will do as I say.” The witch put Greta to work. Greta cleaned the candy house from top to bottom. She repaired the wall that she and Hanson had eaten. She cooked the witch three meals every day. Hanson stayed in the cage. One day, the witch said to Greta, “Get into my oven. I feel like eating little girl today.” “No,” Greta said. “I won’t fit.” The witch laughed. “You’re small. You will fit.” “I don’t believe you,” Greta said. “Here,” the witch said, “I’ll show you.” The witch went to stand beside the oven. Greta tipped the oven over on top of the witch. Trapped under the oven, the witch screamed. “Let me out!” Greta ignored her. She stole the witch’s keys that the witch always wore around her neck. She freed Hanson. She and Hanson called their dad. Their dad was able to figure out where they were based on their description and came to pick them up. “We missed you so much after you left,” their dad said. “We searched for you everywhere. And while we were searching, your stepmother and I both found jobs so you won’t ever have to go hungry again.” And they all went home and lived happily ever after.

I often wondered if our story would have been different somewhere else. If the age of our surroundings caused the tragedy I know know. I looked at them, one dead, the other a glutton, and I question things. In the age of science, would her house have been gone? In this form, probably, but she is adaptive, and the home would have changed.

I suspect we were not the first, the clothes on her body give proof to that, and I know we will not be the last.

For her house is a tale new and old, a conclusion of the battle for gluttons or greed.

We are a warning, then, that throughout all time, throughout the old and the new, greed takes to much, and we lose.

HansUg ag GretGunk ook ugg ug oog ooga boo. HansUg gunk ook ook gunk ahg ugg. Ugg bungo, ag Ugg no bung.

“Ook ook!” GretGunk ugged ag ook guk.

“Gonk gonk, Gretgunk?” HansUg grunk gook ook.

Ook ug ooga Gretgunk bungo HansUg agoo gunk unk, ook, ag ooga.

“Chu!”

Ug oog boogaloo gunk gunk ook ahg ug. Gunk ook gunka dunk agoo goo ook. Ag ag ook guk grunk no boo. Googa goob boogaloo. HansUg ag GretGunk ag WitchOog aboog gunko boo dunk.

Gook ook!

“What’s a smeet?” asks Gretel.

“I’m not sure.” Hansel shrugs. “Let’s find out!”

The children approach the vehicle. Gretel taps on the glass window, tinted so they can’t see inside.

“This person is rich.” Hansel whispers.

The window rolls down creakily. Inside, they see a small, old looking woman at the wheel.

“Hello, dear children. Would you like some cakes and sweets?” The woman’s voice was frail and shaky.

“Oh yes!” Hansel and Gretel cried in unison. The woman beckons them to sit in the back, and they clamber into the automobile.

“Here, children, have some cakes. Have some sweets.” The woman holds out beautiful little boxes of cakes and colorfully wrapped sweets. Hansel and Gretel reach for them greedily and began feasting. The woman starts driving.

“Now then,” the woman says as the children stuff themselves with sugary foods, “I can take you home and butcher you.”

“I’m sorry?” Hansel says.

“Times are hard, dear children!” The old woman laughs, the sound like a screech. “I have to eat too, you know.”

“You can’t eat us!” Gretel cries, aghast.

“Says who?” The woman chuckles.

“No!” Hansel yells.

Gretel drops her sweets on the floor of the automobile. She brings her little legs to her chest and slams them into the back of the old woman’s driving seat in front of her.

The woman exclaims loudly, and Gretel continues to kick her seat.

“Stop that!” The woman hollers.

Hansel cranks his window down and sticks his head out. “Police! Help!”

His yelling and Gretel’s kicking cause the old woman to slow and eventually stop her flashy automobile. A policeman comes to Hansel’s window.

“Sir, we’ve been kidnapped. Please help.”

“Lies!” The old woman screams. “Lies, these children are my niece and nephew.”

“No we aren’t!” Gretel yells. “She’s gonna cook us to eat, mister policeman. Help us!”

The policeman quickly opened the back door of the car. The children scrambled out and hid behind him while he talked to the frantic old woman.

After the woman was away in handcuffs, Hansel and Gretel stuffed their pockets with sweets from the woman.

The policeman escorted them back to the Hooverville, where they were met by an anxious mother and father. They had heard that the children did not make it to their Aunty Carla’s house and were worried.

But the children told their tale with great drama and emptied their pockets for all the sweets to be seen. Their parents were wide-eyed with surprise and joy.

“Then was all care at an end, and they lived in great joy together.”

THE END

~part two~

Historical context: This story is set during the Great Depression, around the mid-1930s. This was a time of economic hardships on many Americans due to the stock market crashing in October 1929. “Hoovervilles” were communities of people living in tents because couldn’t afford their housing. Named after President Herbert Hoover, they were often dirty, violent, and overall not an adequate place to reside.

———————————————————————

In the massive Hooverville of New York, in a time of great poverty and depression, there lived a poor man with his wife and their two children. The man struggled to get work, so the family had very little to eat.

The man lay next to his wife on their makeshift bed one evening, unable to find sleep.

“What will we do?” he asks. “I can’t find work anywhere. We cannot feed the children, nonetheless ourselves.”

“I’ll tell you what we’re going to have to do,” answers his wife, “we’re going to have to send them away.”

“And where to?” says the man.

“Your sister Carla will take them. She’s still in her house, and her husband’s got a job working directly for some big manager, am I right?”

“You are right, but we can’t separate. I won’t allow it.” The man declares indignantly. “We may not have food, but we are a family and we stick together.”

“Are you stupid?” The man’s wife hisses, “We will all die, and who will afford us coffins?”

The woman did not let him rest until he agreed to send the children to his sister’s house.

The children, like their parents, had not been able to sleep. They laid quietly in their shared mattress nearby and listened to every word their parents had discussed.

“We’re gonna die,” wept Gretel inconsolably.

“Shut up, Gretel. I’ll figure this out.” replies her brother, Hansel. They laid for a while longer, listening to the sound of their parents’ breathing. When Hansel heard the deep breathing of their slumber, he rose as quietly as possible.

Hansel put on a coat and walked out of their tent. Hooverville was coated in the white glow of the moon, bright and eerie. Many fires from the evening before were dwindling down to ash.

Hansel quickly found who he was looking for, Charles. Charles was the guy you went to for anything in Hooverville. As a collector of junk, he had all kinds of little trinkets you may need, although none of them seemed to alleviate hunger.

Charles was half-asleep and rather disoriented when Hansel approached him.

“I need a map.” Hansel told him.

“A map?” Charles sniffed.

“Of the city,” said Hansel, anxiously shifting his weight between feet.

Charles rummaged through a bag with one hand, grunting and using his other hand to rub his tired eyes.

“What do you need this for?” Charles asks.

“I can’t say.” Hansel replies. He leaves Charles’ tent and returns to his family.

Gretel was still awake.

“Calm down, little sis. I got this.” Hansel joins her on their mattress and they soon fall asleep.

—————————

The next morning brought chirping birds and a bright sun, as though the world below was just as perfect as the sky above.

The children’s mother came to awaken them. “Come on, sleepyheads. We’re going on an adventure today!”

Hansel and Gretel woke. Gretel followed her mother out of the tent, and Hansel carefully slipped the map from under his pillow into his pocket.

Outside of the tent, their mother was handing them each a piece of bread.

“Eat this for lunch, and not any sooner.”

Then, she took their hands in hers and led them on a walk.

It was a long walk. Gretel complained of cramping legs, and Hansel’s feet were very sore.

“Don’t worry, children,” their mother finally said, “we’re here. You two get to ride the bus! Isn’t that so exciting!”

Hansel and Gretel both knew they were being separated from their parents, and despite the fear and sadness that came with that, they were both in awe that they got to ride a bus for the first time.

“You’ll get to stay on the bus for six stops.” Their mother continues, now handing Hansel a coin. “After six stops, get off and your Aunty Carla will take you to her house for a little vacation!”

And with that, Hansel and Gretel were left alone to wait for the bus.

When it finally came, they boarded and Hansel paid the driver their fare.

When they huddled together in a seat, Gretel began to cry.

“Now, don’t start crying.” Hansel told her, “We’re going on an adventure like Mom told us. Just we’re not really going to Aunty Carla’s house. We’re going to get off sooner and use the map to get home.”

Gretel calmed down with those words. She curled against Hansel and fell into a light sleep, but he woke her up soon.

“It’s been four stops.” Hansel said, “I think we better get off now.”

Once off, Hansel pulls the map out of his pocket, peering at it with confusion. Gretel chews on her stale bread and watches him hopefully.

Hansel was not sure where they had to go, but he didn’t want Gretel to see that. He led Gretel in the way the bus had come, hoping to be able to successfully backtrack by looking at landmarks, as the map was not apparently working.

After a while of wandering, however, the children had gotten nowhere.

“You can’t read the map.” Gretel whined accusingly.

“No, I can’t. I don’t see you trying.” Hansel snapped. He was tired and hungry and didn’t know what to do.

“Look at that…” Gretel said. She pointed down the street and Hansel followed her finger.

There was an automobile, painted a bright happy pink color. It seemed to be playing music, as well.

“There’s words on the side, Hansel. Oh, what do they read?” Gretel asks, tugging on Hansel’s shirt sleeve.

“Cakes and smeets.” Hansel tells her.

“What’s a smeet?” asks Gretel.

~part one~

Where to start? No can’t start there it wouldn’t make sense? There? No that too wouldn’t make sense. Ok let’s just start from the beginning so that everything makes sense.

Ok. So. My name is Gretel and I live on the planet of witches called Wicken 3. I didn’t always but when hard times fell upon my father, especially after my mother died, well it was either feed his belly or mine. Can you guess which one he chose?

Anyways, he sent me here to Wicken 3 so that I would have a better life. That and he was paid very handsomely for me to go here. And you know what burns my bottom - the fact that I didn’t even see a single credit of it. So when I got to Wicken 3, not only did I just have a duffel bag filled with all my stuff, but I was also flat broke, which meant I slept in a dingy room with a paper thin mattress with a blanket so thin it could have been considered a tissue.

That is where I met my brother Hansel. Now Hansel isn’t my real brother, nor is he a real person but I think of him as one. In fact, Hansel isn’t even his real name, well not until I met him. His original name was HA-53L but I didn’t think that was appropriate considering he spouted poetry all the time. So I gave him a new acronym: Humanoid Android Needlessly Spouting Eloquent Limericks or HANSEL for short.

Now the first time we met, I didn’t like Hansel very much, mostly because when we met he insulted me. Now to be fair, I wear my long hair in a weird way, meaning I hang it down in the front, but he didn’t have to say anything about it but he came right up to me his joints buzzing, and said to me, and I quote, “You look silly little girl, You make my head twirl, You look so very weird, With your hair like a beard, I think I may just hurl!”

Needless to say I kicked his shin and ran off. After a crappy sleep and having nothing to my name, I was in no mood for that kind of thing, but as I ran I felt tears stream down my face, blurring my vision, and when I stopped I found myself in front of one of the witches houses. I was warned to stay away, at least until I had my own magic to defend myself but I had to admit had gotten lost.

I approached the house amazed at what it was made of. Gingerbread. Gingerbread from top to bottom, with intricate icing work, and giant pieces of candy adoring it as decoration. My stomach was growling, mostly because I couldn’t afford food, and I made the stupid decision to take a piece of the house. Big mistake.

As soon as I touched the house, a witch appeared and started yelling at me. Screaming at me that she was going to eat me for touching her home. Tears ran down my face as I huddled in a ball. This was it this was how I was going to die. Nine years old and this was how I was going to die, at the hands of an alien witch just for touching her house.

But just as I thought the end was near, a familiar voice came from behind her. We both looked to see Hansel standing there hands on his hips and with gusto shouted, “Let her go you witch, Whose looks give me an itch, Let the girl go free, Or you’ll have to deal with me, Let’s hope you’re rich!”

The witch gave him one look, laughed, picked me up, threw me at Hansel, and walked into her house, yelling at us to get lost. Hansel picked me up, smiled, and held out his hand, and said, “Dear brown haired girl, With eyes of chocolate swirl, I sorry for before, My words can be sore, May our friendship unfurl?”

And with those kind words we became friends. And now, five years later, we are as close as siblings. In that time I have joined the witching school, become a level 3 witch trainee, and have my own house that Hansel shares with me. He still only talks in limericks, and I still have problems staying out of trouble, but we are making it work, sort of.

Anyways, I have to go now. Hansel is trying to make a version of pizza that involves, well it’s best if you don’t know, and we’ll I don’t want the house to smell like smoke again. So this is Gretel fourteen year old, level 3, witch in training signing off saying… Hansel why do I smell smoke?! You better not have burned dinner again! Oh you did didn’t you? I am going to kick your….

Once upon a time a long time ago, in the year 1314 to be exact, there lived a husband and a wife, Hans and Greta and their two children.
It was the year of the great famine. The crops had died and there was nothing to eat. Nothing. People were starving. Dropping like flies.

How do you explain to someone who has always had a full belly what starvation feels like? When you are so hungry you would do anything to stay alive. Some in the village where Hans and Greta lived had taken to digging bodies out of the graveyard to eat the corpses.

Hans and Greta knew they didn’t have enough food to last the winter. They knew they were all going to perish. They talked in hushed voices in the dead of the night about what they could do. The little boy Hansel overheard them despite their best efforts. And he heard their plans so he collected stones in secret.

Hans and Greta woke the children in the morning and dressed them warmly. They took them deep into a nearby forest and left them there.

“Don’t worry, we’ve at least given them a chance to survive. We would have all perished, had they stayed. “ Hans said “Yes, and next year when the crops are better, we may have more children.” Greta replied

However at nightfall, who should come out of the forest but little Hansel, and little Gretel following behind. Hansel had secretly dropped stones along the way so they could find their way home.

Hans and Greta glanced at one another. Their plan had been foiled.
The next day Hans and Greta took their children even deeper into the forest. Hans had not realised soon enough, so hadn’t collected any stones this time.

Hans and Greta emerged from the forest alone, being sure the children would not return any time soon.

Days turned into weeks and then into a month. The winter was over and food became abundant once more. Just in time for Hans and Greta. They were a sorry sight, all skin and bones. They were so weak and had survived on mere morsels of food.

And miraculously when the snow had melted, Hansel appeared coming out of the forest and little Gretel was following behind. They too were not in the best of health but had survived in the forest.

Hans and Greta were overjoyed at seeing their children again as the children could help Hans and Greta while their health improved and they could all spend a beautiful spring, summer and autumn together.

“See, I knew we made the right decision. Those neighbours in our village, who ate their children out of desperation and hunger now have no-one to help them now.”

Henry and Gabby Mischief you make Your antics make you happy But watch what you take.

Mall shopping is fun. Watching and shopping You’ll be on the run. Shoplifting then hopping.

Then comes a calling. Just when it’s safe. They think it’s appalling. Your gall and your pace.

“Hey! Yo, yo…yo!!! It’s ya boy Hansel B’ Hatin! And I’m here with my one and only SissyPoo, the most incredible sister in the whole damn world, Gretel Da Great!!”

“Yo, Yo, Yo Kiddie poos! Y’all ready for the live stream event of the summer!?” asked Gretel with a seductive wink to the camera.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase because that's what yall are here for right?! Tonight, the SissyPoo and I will be doing something that involves this lovely joint."

Hansel flipped his phone's camera to display the massive house before them. The Witch's house was crafted with a flurry of delectable sweets, the mere sight made the siblings salivate. The walls were made with the most golden of graham crackers, Hansel could see the flakes of sugar as they twinkled under the moonlight. The corners and window frames of the house were lined with a candy cane so glossy that it glowed with radiance. The roof was made of the flakiest of chocolate wafers, and on top of that was a vanilla frosting that oozed with perfection. Fat and juicy gumdrops lined the edge of the roof and each one spanned the colors of the rainbow. Red, blue, green, and orange, each one flirted with Hansel's tastebuds.

"I wish you guys could smell how sweet this crazy lady's house smells. It's nothing short of Orgasmic!!" Hansel said as he returned the camera to himself. "SissyPoo! Get that ass over here so we can tell all of our streamers about tonight's play!"

Gretel let out a giggle and shuffled through the dirt to her brother's side. She gave a playful wave to the camera, her eyes taking in all the hearts as they came in rapid succession across Hansel's phone screen.

An Absolute Beauty- Commented GingerBMan23

I think Im IN LOVE- Boi4Real85

🍆🍑👅- TheBaddestWoof

The comments kept coming and each one provided a surge of electricity that sparkled through her veins, providing her with a feeling that she couldn't get from anything else. She tossed her head to the right, her wavy golden locks of hair falling with elegance across her face, and then she blew a kiss for the camera as the hearts kept on coming.

"Alright, my FairyTale Followers, here's the play. Word on the street is that the Big ol' Bitch of a Witch has gone MIA. She hasn't been seen in weeks, maybe even a month or two. SissyPoo and I are going to break in...and what do we expect to find in there Gretel?"

Hansel turned the camera toward his sister.

"One of two things," Gretel said as she waved two fingers in front of the camera. "The Witch's dead and decomposing body."

"And what else?" asked Hansel through a grin.

"And that giant mountain of gold that everyone's been going off about. All those riches that she's been hoarding for her fat and ugly self! We're here to see if that wild rumor is true!!"

"That's right SissyPoo!! The Leiderhosen siblings are finna be rich, and all you fine folks get to see it first hand!!!" Hansel turned the camera around to the house once more. "We've been told by a little birdie that there's a way in through the basement, so that's where we're headed. Lead the way SissyPoo."

Gretel made her way down a narrow dirt path that led to the back of the house. She ran her middle finger along the side of the house, taking in all the flakes of sugar that lined the graham cracker walls. She spun around for the camera and playfully licked the side of her finger.

OMFG-FooLishEyeVan

Guuuuurl you something else!!!!- Hillz4Jill

You two are INSAEN-Fiddler#2

Hansel followed Gretel as she made a left turn for the backyard, his camera not leaving his sister as the comments and hearts continued to pour in. Their fans loved her, and he didn't have a single problem with it.

"Your little birdie was right," Gretel said as she came to a stop, eyes locked onto the small window at their feet.

The basement window was slightly ajar, as the little birdie had told Hansel. Hansel gave it a playful kick and it moved up and down, proving that there was more than enough space for each sibling to squeeze in.

"Un-fucking-believable." said Hansel in a shocked whisper. "Maybe she is dead?"

Gretel flashed her heart-stopping smile for the camera, "Only one way to find out right?"

She got to her knees and lifted the window upward, just enough for her to comfortably squeeze through and into the basement. Hansel fixated the camera on Gretel as she disappeared into the darkness of the Witch's basement.

"Yikes," said Gretel in a low tone, so low that Hansel barely heard her.

"What's wrong?"

"Completely different aesthetic down here," she muttered. She reached her hand out the window for Hansel's phone. "Give me your phone and get down here."

Hansel handed her his cell phone and carefully slid through the basement window to join his sister. He was greeted with a sour smell that was so foreign that it almost made him lose his footing. The sweet and succulent smells of the house's exterior were gone, replaced by the dilapidated odor of a neglected basement. It reeked of mold and rot, he could smell the pools of stale water in the corners of the basement and the aged and cracked wood of the staircase directly in front of them. He could smell all of it and it brought tears to his eyes.

The comments continued but the hearts stopped. If Hansel had looked at his phone, he would have seen comments like:

GTFO!!!-PracticalPiggy

I got a bad feeling about this...-BellesRose

Ummm turn around and leave?-GolDeeLoks

Those Gold Rumors are False!! Turn around and bounce!!-RobinHood1883

But he didn't see a single remark, and neither did Gretel because both siblings were stunned by the condition of the Witch's massive basement, it seemed to span further than the house itself. The surrounding walls were lined with aged cobblestone, dark from years of despair. To their immediate left was a granite countertop, littered with rusted-over tools and dull stones for sharpening. Wooden shelves lined the wall in front of them, the shelves caved inward, with the contents spilled lazily over the shelves and onto the floor. Hansel could see crates on top of crates, packed with contents he didn't care to scrutinize.

Further into the basement, off to their right were a series of rusty steel cages, and past that were more granite countertops, but these were lined with what looked like rotting meat. Hansel could see the buzzing flies as they sporadically went from one chunk of rot to another. At the basement's center was a large black, steel cauldron, large enough to fit a human being. A fire burned below, its orange flames and embers were the basement's only source of light. Hansel could hear the water as it boiled, as it bubbled and gurgled in the silence.

"I don't think she's gone, Hansel..." Gretel said in a cracked whisper.

Hansel did a panned shot of the basement, ensuring that their viewers saw everything that he did. He walked further into the basement, past Gretel who stayed behind.

"This is fucking bonkers," Hansel muttered. "Nothing like the outside."

"Hansel!" Gretel shrieked through her teeth. "I don't think this is a good idea!"

But Hansel continued forward, recording the cauldron’s contents of the boiling water, glossing over the questionable chunks that bobbled up and down. He panned his camera over the rotted chunks of meat on the granite countertops, his phone cutting through a swarm of hungry flies. He turned around and faced Gretel, who remained by the window. He realized at that moment that the window was too high. That they'd have to help one another to get out of the basement...

But by then, it was too late.

The ground above them shook with violence, but only for a moment. Then he heard a door swing open, and frantic running down the aged wooden stairs. Hansel watched in horror as the Witch emerged from the darkness. She was massive, standing so tall that her head nearly brushed the ceiling above them. She had wild and graying hair that shot out in every direction, her crazed eyes were littered with red veins. Her nose arched outward, over a series of black and sharp teeth that looked far more like fangs. Her body seemed so huge, so round and out of proportion. She wore a thinning shirt that hung down just above her waist, and Hansel could see the nipples of her sagging breasts.

The Witch let out a shrill scream, one so loud that it rattled the basement walls. Her head snapped toward Gretel who let out a scream of her own, before turning her attention toward Hansel, her beady eyes locking onto his. She bombarded toward him, withered arms arched upward, aged fingers poised to grab him. He could see the fangs in her mouth as she left behind streaks of saliva. He could see her sagging tits as they flailed wildly from left to right. Hansel Leiderhosen saw all of this, but only for a few seconds. The Witch moved at an alarming speed, cutting through the basement in the blink of an eye.

The next thing Hansel felt was the wind being knocked out of him, as a few of his ribs cracked from the Witch's herculean strength. His brain didn't have the time to register the fact that he was being thrown backward, he saw the basement in a blur as his body flew through the basement and into one of the rusted-over cages. His back hit the metal before his head and then he saw stars, and after that was nothing but darkness.

Hansel didn't see what the witch did to Gretel...but his live stream sure did. His phone landed against the cage he was in, the camera facing outward, so everyone saw everything. His viewers watched in horror as Gretel attempted to climb out the window, failing because she was too short. They watched as the Witch grabbed her by the ankle, lifting her over her head and slamming the Leiderhosen sibling onto the concrete like a rag doll.

They saw the streak of blood that Gretel left as the Witch dragged her lifeless body to the boiling cauldron. Not a single viewer closed out the live stream, they simply couldn't find it in themselves to do so. The comments stopped and so did the hearts as the Witch vaulted Gretel over her shoulder before throwing her into the boiling water.

Everyone heard her final screams. Everyone saw her as she bobbed up and down, her arms flailing wildly as her flesh melted off her bones. As her beautiful golden hair became one with the boiling stew that surrounded her. Eventually, her screams stopped, but viewers could see her body as it floated in the boil, they could see the skull beneath her skin.

Hansel's phone battery would eventually die, but not before he perished by the witch's hand. Viewers couldn't see what happened to him, because of the camera's angle...but they certainly heard his screams. Some say the Witch cut him up into tiny pieces while he was still alive. Others say she skinned him as he begged for his life. A few think she removed his organs before dumping him into the cauldron with his sister.

The Leiderhosen's viewers never saw the meal that the Witch was making. Hansel's phone battery died just as she was adding pieces of his body to the stew. Some viewers attempted to go to the last known location of the siblings, but no one was brave enough to set foot in the house of The Witch. Some say that you can see Hansel's phone from the basement window, that it's there against his cage where he left it.

But of course, that’s just a rumor.