Entry #7

October 7'th, Sunday

Woke up this morning to a cookie running past my nose. It was a gingerbread man screaming a silly little rhyme. I can still remember it. "Run, run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!" What stuff. I immediately started running after it after I saw it. If I had been in a normal situation where I hadn't eaten only mushrooms and apples in the last two days, I wouldn't have even lifted a finger. But that cookie smelled so good, I just couldn't help it with my growling stomach. Even if it was moving, it still sounded appetizing to me somehow. As I ran I could hear a stampede behind me, and when I looked I saw a horse, pig, and a cow running along with all their might. They soon passed me and were out of sight before I could react. I slowed down but kept going, and soon came to a large expanse of river. The stampede of animals were pawing and letting out sounds of distress on the bank. I strolled over there and looked out across the river. The gingerbread man was no where in sight. All I could see was a red-ish bob out in the distance that might have been a beaver or some other swimming animal, though truthfully, I've never seen a beaver that was red. I felt jilted for having to wake up to running, and then not even being able to have a chance to catch the mocking thing. I sighed, and started to turn around when the dairy cow next to me suddenly let out a distressing "Moo!" and fell to the ground. A whizzing sound complied, and the horse and the pig did the same. Before I knew what was happening, a third whiz came, and something hit me in the neck. I went unconscious.

By the time I woke up it was evening. I was in a kind of wooden prison cage in a dingy room that smelled so disgusting that I gagged.The only light was a single candle standing on a large wooden table, that, by the cuts on it, I assumed acted as a large cutting board. A ginormous fireplace was a bit beyond it, with a cauldron hanging on it that looked a hundred pounds. Knives of all shapes and sizes were hanging by the hilt from the ceiling. When I looked closely at the ground, I could see dark stains that reminded me uncomfortably of dried blood. The whole place was a nightmare.

A moan came from my right, and, startled, I looked over. A dirty haired boy that looked a few years younger than me was curled up tight with his knees hiding his face. His clothes were in tatters. I scraped my way over to the edge of my cage closest to him. "Where are we? Why are we in cages? What's going to happen to us?" were questions I all asked, but the boy resumed his moaning and groaning, and didn't think to answer me. I could see other cages beyond his that held the horse, the pig, the cow, and another girl I didn't recognize with a blue dress and curled brown hair all pulled back by a ribbon. All of the others were still asleep except the boy and the girl, who was sitting with a sad look on her face. We must have been hit by some sort of sleeping dart. "Psst!" I whispered loudly over to the girl. The girl looked at me and stood up with her face between the wood bars. "What's going on here?" I asked her. The girl looked at me with that sad look on her face that really did not look very nice on her. "Where are we?" I tried again.
The girl finally opened her mouth. " Have you heard of the Gingerbread Witch?"
"No," I answered.
"She's a witch that lives in a gingerbread house and eats people." 
"People?"
"Well, mostly children, but any animal will do."
"That's-"
"We're in her basement."
 The girl turned her head toward her feet and stared at them. I was horrified.
"You mean..."
"Yes."
She sat back down and turned her face away as a sign she didn't want to talk any longer. I was left to my own devices of shock. I stumbled over to a pile of hay and laid down on it. A witch that eats people? That was crazy. But I knew it was true. The girl had not lied, and the place I was in was proof enough. I started tearing up. I was too young to be eaten. I hadn't even had a proper adventure yet! Perhaps the wolf would save us.
I sat up as I thought it, but soon dropped back down. The wolf didn't even know where we were. I had run after that gingerbread man without even thinking to tell him. I really am an idiot. A moving gingerbread cookie? Of course it was a trap. A trap set up by a gingerbread witch that eats children. This really was the most ridiculous thing I'd gotten into yet. I laughed even as I cried. I am not going to accept being eaten by some cookie witch as my death though. Not yet, anyhow.