The Ghosts of GingerBread Castle and the Twelve Days of Christmas

Chapter 19

"It's the third day of Christmas. Time is fleeting."

Those words echoed through my head as I stirred from my slumber. My mind replayed the events of the night before. I'd completed all tasks given to me and dozed off in the forest. I woke sometime afterward, not sure how long after, and made my way back to the house where I changed into warm clothes before collapsing onto the bed. I recalled little after that, and so I guess I might have fallen asleep soon afterward.

I rose suddenly, remembering the Gopher. Had it delivered the message to my friend Susie? I prayed it had. How would I know? I remembered the Gopher never left my side once I was in the forest. Yet, it did so last night after I'd given it the note. Perhaps, it had left me to go about its mission. And maybe it had completed it and was free again, to be at my disposal. Maybe I should return to the forest and look for it.

I rose from the bed in a flash and decided to follow my instincts. I will go to the forest and search for the Gopher.

I tiptoed through the corridor, not wanting to wake Sinella, and soon made it outside. The morning air was frigid. I wrapped my arms around myself, wishing I'd taken a jacket with me, as I proceeded toward the forest. The putrid smell near the fig trees halted my steps. I looked to see the rot of discarded fruits on the ground, now lying in a dark bloodlike pool. It was the fruits Sinella and I had discarded. I kept my fingers pinched over my nose, as I skipped away, toward the red footpath. Soon I was walking along it, looking for the river which I soon found. Sure as I'd expected, the Gopher appeared to me not long afterward, near the totem.

Standing before me, it regurgitated, and a rolled-up parchment came out of its mouth. The Gopher flew madly around it, singing wildly as if it wanted me to open it. I did. It was a local newspaper article, and I was beside myself with shock as I read the headlines.

"Local teenager goes missing. Thirteen-year-old, Heidi Piper is missing. She was last seen on Christmas morning, walking toward the forest. A search party is currently underway for her, and Inspector Jordan of the local police station is investigating. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the police at 800-TIPS."

My head throbbed as I began to visualize the pandemonium in my village. I'd been gone since Christmas morning, so it was natural that I'd be considered missing. No one could possibly know that I'd been approached by a death angel who ordered me to leave my village and live out my final days in a Gingerbread Castle in the forest. Maybe if they came to the forest they'll find the castle and me with it. Perhaps, it was only a matter of time till that happened. But, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't remember there ever being a castle there. It must exist only in a certain dimension, meaning that they might never find me.

And going back to prove that I was alright, was not even possible, according to the death angel who warned that to do such would summon death's door before me. I was doomed to live out my life here, and they would never know what had become of me. Well, at least for now, they didn't think I was dead. But, for how long would that be? I couldn't say. Surely, I'd heard about people who'd gone missing and were never found, only to sometime later be considered dead.

I folded the paper and stuffed it into my pocket as my thoughts turned to the message I'd given the Gopher last night. How was I going to question a winged insect whether it had delivered my message? Would it understand me? I tried anyway. "Did you give the letter to Susie?" I asked, feeling foolish for talking to a winged insect. I quickly eased the foolish feeling for I knew no one was around to see me.

Surprisingly, the Gopher nodded as if to say yes.

Awestruck I stared at it. Had it actually answered me?

I nodded and walked away. It followed me all the way to the edge of the thicket, singing fiercely, as if excited by something. Perhaps happy to have been on an errand, I thought, hastening to the castle.

When I got there, Sinella was up and sitting at the dining table penning something on paper. Perhaps, she had to send a message to someone, and perhaps she too had found a Gopher to do it for her, as I had.

"Up early, as usual!" she commented, looking up from where she sat.

"Yes, I just went out to find something."

"Your gopher?"

"Yes. How did you—."

She cut me off suddenly. "I've got one too," she said, folding the paper and rising.

Oh! So perhaps everyone gets one as long as they end up here!

"I'm off again, on a long journey today. I'll see you later!" she said hurrying off toward the front door before stopping suddenly. She spun round to face me, her eyebrows arched and her forehead wrinkled. "Have you been able to keep anything down?"

I shook my head. "No," I replied remembering the strange liquid I was advised to drink. "I've eaten nothing, save for some liquid in a crystal fountain at the bottom of a lake."

"A fountain at the bottom of a lake?" she asked, looking curious.

"Yes."

"Oh! Your journey must have something to do with Mama Dlo."

"Mama Dlo?"

"Yes. It's folklore. She's a water deity."

"Oh!" I was surprised she knew so much.

"Everything is outlined on the totem pole near the white cobbled lane."

I remembered seeing the totem pole that first night.

"Here," she said, reaching into her pocket and drawing out something like a map as she walked up to me. "I found it in Rosinella's room. It says here: a soul who drinks from the pond belongs to Mama Dlo. And she who drinks from the wooden hut belongs to Ole Higue." She looked up at me. "That's me."

I was silent as I tried to make sense of what I was hearing.

"And there are others, besides Mama Dlo and Ole Higue—almost seven more."

"So. You're saying my soul belongs to some Mama Dlo? And yours—to some Ole Higue?"

"Yes. And according to this, should we fail in our tasks we're destined to what seems to me, literal hell!" She paused as she looked at me. "Should I fail, I'm doomed to become a woman with a goat's foot who transforms into a ball of fire at nighttime. And you, a half-woman with a head of snakes, and a lower body of an anaconda!"