Chapter 14 – Questions Without Answers
The protagonist looked closely at the siblings, trying to better understand what was happening to them. Something was wrong—a strange feeling about the children's very presence. Hansel, with his messy hair and vacant gaze, seemed lost in his own thoughts. Gretel, by his side, fidgeted with a small rag doll, as if it were a distraction from something deeper she was feeling.
"How did you get here?" Cael asked, trying to mask his concern. "And... how long have you been in the witch's house?"
Hansel looked at him with a tired smile and answered, as if the question were the most natural thing in the world:
"The witch? Oh, she isn't our mother, but... she takes care of us. I don't really remember how we got here."
Gretel, for her part, seemed restless, her eyes fixed on the floor.
"You know..." she whispered, swinging the doll between her fingers. "She told me never to talk much about what happened before. I only know she takes care of us. The witch... is the only thing I remember."
The protagonist paused, noting how both seemed unable to form a clear idea of their own existence. Something seemed to be missing from their eyes, as if they were devoid of any deeper awareness of their situation.
"Don't you feel anything strange about yourselves?" Cael asked, more directly. He observed their thin, pale bodies, noticing how their movements seemed automatic, almost mechanical.
Hansel laughed, but it wasn't a genuine laugh. It was hollow, disconnected. He shrugged his shoulders.
"What would be 'strange'? We're fine. The witch takes care of us. We don't feel anything other than what she tells us to feel."
Gretel, on the other hand, bit her lip, glancing quickly at the floor.
"Sometimes, I feel like something is... missing. But the witch tells me not to worry. It doesn't matter."
Cael frowned, knowing these answers weren't enough. He couldn't understand how the children could be so disconnected from their own lives, as if they were completely conditioned to follow the rules of someone who controlled them, but he knew that, in that moment, he needed to understand more before acting.
"So, the witch... Dorothy... does she make you forget all of this?"
Hansel and Gretel exchanged brief glances, as if something were forming in their minds. However, before they could respond, Hansel's eyes narrowed.
"She never did anything like that. We don't need to remember anything... The witch takes care of us. She always has."
The conversation had stalled, and Cael felt a growing weight that, perhaps, the witch had something to do with the children's strange condition. But for now, nothing more would be said, and the answers remained evasive, as if a veil had been placed over their minds.
Now, he needed to go to the witch and understand what was going on.