The Ghosts of GingerBread Castle and the Twelve Days of Christmas

Chapter 9

My frenzied pace turned into a light march as I plodded along, carefully avoiding massive brambles. I continued along a northern path, as much as I knew, all the while wondering if I'd suddenly gone mad. The forest grew thicker and thicker, and daylight somehow seemed to dull the more I traversed. Was I actually in daylight mere minutes ago? I knew I was. Still, it was unbelievable that the entire scenery lay shrouded in shadows, and had become befogged so quickly.

After what seemed like an eternity contemplating whether I'd been going around in circles, I came to the edge of the forest, overlooking a series of misty hills and valleys. The hills contained numerous mounds or peaks on top of them. Atop one hill, a majestic gingerbread castle loomed, its steeples shrouded in the early morning mist.

It must be the house the creature spoke of. At the thought of the creature, I wondered how come I hadn't heard from him since I left home. As I neared the hillside, raised angry voices shook me out of my thoughts. Quickly, I scampered into some bushes close by and peered out. The voices seemed to originate inside the forest beyond the hill, further ahead. Suddenly, two men appeared, dragging a young girl by her arms, her loose dark hair half covering her pale face. Another man appeared behind them, and not long afterward he grabbed the girls hair and pulled it hard drawing her to him before flinging her onto the ground beside something resembling a stone altar. The two other men grabbed her arms and legs and lifted her onto the altar, as the other man approached with a dagger.

The young girl screamed. "No. I can leave. Let me leave," she begged.

"It is too late," the man with the dagger said, placing the blade at her throat.

"You should have decided that before the clock struck 6:00 a.m."

"Yes, you are doomed to die," another man said.

I held my breath as I looked on, wondering about the scene unfolding before me. Was the same thing going to happen to me, soon? I tried to calm my racing heart and ragged breaths, but I couldn't. I needed to get out of here as fast as possible.

"Wait. It's not yet 6:00 a.m." A woman shouted as she ran from the reputed gingerbread house on the hill. "I will leave, so she can take my place. She's too young, and it's the fitting thing for me to do."

The man with the dagger froze as he looked at the woman who removed a necklace from around her neck and flung it onto the ground before walking away into the forest further north. She disappeared into it, just as the trees close to where she entered fell over and sunk into the earth, only to spring up mere seconds later as withered uprooted trees, that took roots again as a million silvery roots emerged from it, entwining themselves everywhere. The forest appeared to have died in the area the woman walked into. Died, and rebirthed as something bewitching and strangely personified. How was it possible?

Trailing my eyes to the altar where the young girl lay, ready to be slaughtered, the man, holding the dagger against her throat, suddenly vanished, and with him the other men too. Destiny or faith had spared the young girl's life.

Slowly, she rose from the altar and walked as if in a trance, to the discarded necklace before picking it up and placing it around her neck. Then she turned and looked straight at me, as though she knew I lay quaking in my hiding place. "You can come out now. It's safe!" she said.

Hesitantly, I emerged from my seclusion, and stood facing her wondering how she knew I was there. I remained silent wondering about the creature who'd proclaimed my doom and why he never reappeared to me after I left my home earlier this morning. Maybe he'll appear later when I was alone again, I thought.

"So, you're Heidi. Heidi Piper!" It was not a question, but a statement.

I was curious. "How do you know my name?"

"I saw you over there!" she said, pointing to the gingerbread castle. "Come, you must take your place." She turned and began walking toward the castle.

"My place?" I asked.

The young girl said nothing and continued strolling toward the castle. I followed her wondering if it wasn't some kind of trap. "I think I should find someone first."

The girl turned to me. "Who?"

"Someone who told me to come here."

"The death angel?"

"Yes."

"You're alive, so it's unlikely that you will ever see him again."

"What do you mean?"

"Just follow me. You'll soon learn everything." She turned around and continued walking and not long afterwards we were standing in front the castle entrance. There was no doorknob on the door, but she touched the door and it magically opened. I followed her inside.

In one corner of the foyer stood a life-sized crystal ball, amongst a collection of crystals of varying lengths. The young girl turned to me. "Touch the crystal ball and enter it."

I was puzzled. Does she mean that I can enter that huge ball? "Excuse me?"

"Touch it."

I approached it hesitantly and looked at her to see her staring at the huge ball. I turned and touched it startled to find that it's hardness soon morphed into a jelly-like feeling. In fact my hand could pierce through the ball.

"Enter it." The young girl repeated.

Hesitantly, I did as advised and at once I found myself in a desert. I turned to where the ball was to see it slowly disappearing. Why was it disappearing? "No." I shouted to hear my voice echoing back at me.

The place grew dark suddenly and I could not see a thing. I waited for too long, until an eerie bluish glow surrounded me. And then came the familiar scraping scratching sound I'd heard before. The one that always appeared before the death angel.

The creature appeared before me at once. "Heidi," he screeched. "Do you know what you have done?"

I eyed him suspiciously. Why hadn't he appeared earlier? Was this some kind of sick joke? "What have I done?"

He continued. "You have outwitted death."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Your recent good deeds have tipped the scale of judgement so much, as only a rare few have ever done. And as a result, you have been given a second chance at life."

I was elated. "So, I can return home?"

"I'm afraid not."

"What do you mean?"

"Afraid, it doesn't work quite like that, little Heidi."

"How does it work then?"

"If you return home, you're as good as dead. For you to remain alive, you have to stay here."

"Why?"

"Your time was up, naturally. It's just the way it is," the creature said with a wave of the hand.

I imagined my face as the the epitome of visual perplexity.

The death angel continued. "My time is up, Heidi. I cannot touch the one who has been granted a second chance at life. Not until your time comes again."

My time comes again? At once, the darkness turned into daylight, almost blinding, and I had to close my eyes from the glare.

The creature's grave warning thundered out. "Remember, you can never again return to your village, for if you do, you're as good as dead."

When I opened my eyes the creature had disappeared. Instead, I found myself standing inside the foyer of the gingerbread castle. The huge ball had vanished, and the young girl stood not far away watching me, a blank stare plastered over her face. Had she witnessed this sort of scenario before, I wondered. The wonder soon diminished, as I suddenly recalled the creature's words: You can never again return to your village, for if you do, you're as good as dead.