Faultless

Fantasy

15-21

Currently 47,419 and climbing

Nina Jackson

High fantasy has been forgotten...It's time for it to come back.

A little girl loses her innocence and splits her heart in two for her love. And so she loses the ability to feel empathy...this is the story of why we must remember empathy.

Fairytale combinations. Red goes from little girl who works at the palace to Queen of the land when her fairygodmother involves her in her personal vendetta towards revenge. Through the story teenagers will be exposed in a thoughtful way to topics such as stockholm syndrome, addiction and abuse.

Teen and young adult

The silence is pressing, there is no noise, no light. All there is is Hansel's hoarse sobs long into the night. I'm not sure if it's been an hour or one single second...I can't tell but-

"Red” I hear a pained whisper and open my eyes.

Hansel still holds his sister's corpse in his arms, his face is twisted with agony-the most wholly consuming agony I've ever seen. As if I've ripped his heart right out of his chest. My eyes rest on Gretel's face, her expression is so peaceful, it makes me wish I had killed me instead...Then I could feel quiet peace like her. Then I see her eyes and my breathing quickens, I want to scream again but one look at Hansel's tear streaked cheeks and I know that it is not the time to panic.

"Red," We lock eyes, but his eyes are dull, as if he's dead too, "Please, please, I don't care why you did this; but please please kill me."

My heart sinks into my feet. How could I purposefully kill someone I now know is innocent? If he didn't kill Jack then he is the Hansel I've always loved, how could I end it for him. I try to speak but I cannot, so I wordlessly shake my head.

"Please," He whimpers, "Please, I can't live without her; she's all I have. I want so badly to die Red. Please, I can't bear this pain. It's like my heart is broken in a million pieces and I know deep down it cannot be repaired, it can only die."

"No, no, please;" I whisper pleading with him, I've shed enough blood.

Hansel suddenly rushes me. He seizes me by the hair and pulls me to my feet. His eyes are wide and his hands are covered in Gretel's blood, his face is dirty and red from wiping away his tears through the night-he looks insane.

"Why did you do it?!" He yells at me shaking me hard, "Why?" He throws me hard against the stone floor; "I hate you! I hate you!"

I curl up on the ground and hide my face, my whole body aches from hitting the stone and my scalp is on fire. Suddenly his demeanor changes and he falls to his knees sobbing hysterically before me. He crawls to kneel before me and places his hands on my cheeks.

"Look at me, look at me." He whispers and I open my eyes, he holds my face in his strong hands so I cannot look away. "Please, please kill me," He sobs, "Please I cannot live now, please."

He lets go and falls face down on the floor shaking with sobs. I hear him whimper for quite some time "Please, please Red. I want to die. Please. Please help me. Please, kill me. Please."

I don't know how long he cries, I don't know how I manage to live, his sobs still ring in my ears. But every cry is a stab through my heart, until bit by bit I lose myself completely.

"Please," I whisper, "Stop crying, I'll kill you." My voice sounds dry and hoarse, it hurts to speak because my throat is so parched.

I struggle to my feet, he scrambles on his hands and knees, slipping in the shallow pools of his sister's blood. His hands find the knife that rests firmly in Gretel's breast, he grips the handle and pulls hard. With a deafening squelching noise the blade comes free, I draw breath as I watch the corpse shake ever so slightly and fresh blood runs onto the floor around her.

He scurries to me and takes my hand. He curls my fingers around the cold metal handle and my dead eyes stare at the red blade dripping slowly onto the ground. He takes a step back and stands in front of me waiting.

"Please," He whispers, "please."

I take a deep breath and stare into his deep brown eyes. I want to scream at myself to stop, I want to undo everything. I want to tear my hair out and beat my breast, I want to die, I don't want him to.

I raise my arm high above my head and a relief floods his features. A tear rolls down my cheek. He smiles softly and his eyes move upward, waiting to see his father, his mother and his sister again. He always yearned for death, I know that, but something in me cannot kill him; maybe it's good, maybe it's selfish. Either way my arm goes limp.

"I-I cannot kill you." I say weakly.

"Then I'll help you," He says, and before I can say anything he grabs my hand and together we stab the knife into his heart.

For the second time in a day I hear the horrid sound of flesh tearing and ribs breaking. Hot and sticky blood pours onto my hand and my mouth hangs open. I stare at the wound, he will die, and I will be alone.

I look up at him, into his eyes, he looks peaceful. His hand lifts to my cheek, it's warm and covered in sick blood. His finger brushes softly across my chin and he mouths the words, "I loved you," before he falls to the ground with a sickening thud next to his sister.

I stand for a moment without moving, and then I scream, I scream so loud I believe I've gone deaf. And then I drop to my knees and scream again, I scream at myself, I scream at my mother, I scream at my fairy, I scream at Hansel, at Gretel, at Jack, at my grandmother, I scream until that's all there is-one long scream.