Chapter 13

Rhett

A week after the picnic incident, as Hansel had dubbed it, I'd been spending most of my time at Jakob's while Hansel stayed with friends in town. I would have felt guilty about all the time I spent in my neighbor's cabin, but Hansel told me to be happy.

Jakob made me happy.

He worked during the day, and I made sure both houses were clean so my stepmother didn't have anything to complain about. Until Jakob told me to stop cleaning up after him. He didn't want me to be his maid, unless he paid me and I actually wanted to do it. There may have been mention of a hot costume and being paid in orgasms, but I got his point.

We were… dating? I didn't know what we were, and he still hadn't fucked me yet. But we were having fun and I felt safe.

Months, years really, of caring for my father and our house had made me feel obligated. Helga had made me feel like even that wasn't enough.

Jakob let me just be.

One evening I caught Helga watching us through the curtain where we sat side by side reading in companionable silence. She didn't like us together, but I was so over her judgment and glad she hadn't bugged us. Hansel texted me through Jakob to say Helga hadn't bothered him, either, and I was relieved.

Maybe we could finally take the time to grieve our father and live our lives without her hanging over our heads. I could finally think about what I wanted to do with my life.

It was a surprise when Jakob came home and showed me his phone. Helga wanted us–Hansel and I–to come over on Saturday morning to go with her and see where she wanted to put Father's gravesite. He was cremated, but she insisted Father had wanted a place in the woods for us to go and remember him.

Jakob didn't like it, saying Helga had taken the day off work and he was suspicious, but I did want my father to have a proper burial site.

Hansel and I stayed in our old bed together and whispered late into the night about our plans and hoping to never see Helga again. He was going into a week off of school, but then he would be finishing up his studies in only a few months. Hansel looked forward to moving away and starting fresh. I understood.

Though we would miss the house where memories of our parents had been overtaken by her.

In the morning, we dressed in light layers, since it wasn't supposed to rain, and promised not to drink anything Helga prepared before showing our faces in the main room. Our stepmother greeted us with two slices of buttered toast for breakfast, and said we were going to make sure Father's grave got the proper headstone. It was direct and there were no insults, so very unlike Helga.

Neither of us was hungry after the experience the weekend before but we didn't argue. Tucking the napkin-covered bread into our pockets and eyeing one another, we wordlessly agreed to toss it when she wasn't looking.

She brought us to another side of the forest from our previous misadventure, with no carpark at the trailhead. It wasn't a well-populated spot, and I had to wonder if it was legal to put a grave marker in the forest.

Hansel got out his phone and I watched as he sent a text to Jakob saying we were at the edge of the woods, but Helga snatched it away and pressed the power button.

"Let's not taint your father's memory by being on our phones during this moment," Helga explained in an overly sweet manner. She tossed his phone onto the front seat, but kept hers in a pocket of her jacket.

Double standard much?

We started walking and it was clear the pathway wasn't used often. Hansel pulled his bread out and I narrowed my eyes. He tore a piece off and dropped it on the ground, but I was still confused. When we got to a fork in the route, he tore another piece off and I understood.

We were leaving a trail so she couldn't abandon us again.

Helga turned toward us and I knew I had to distract her. "Is it legal to do this?"

"Oh, yes." Helga nodded emphatically. "I spoke with a woman who owns property in this part of the forest yesterday. She is expecting us. Your father should rest among the trees. It was his last request of me before he couldn't speak anymore."

Shoot, there went my excuse. It was oddly kind of her to think of what Father wanted, and I couldn't argue with her on the resting place. The trees here were birch, straight as poles, with the dappled sunlight bright. Birds chirped and it was peaceful.

Her kindness didn't last. Not even a half hour after we started walking, she turned her ire on me. Her nose in the air, Helga showed her true colors. "So ungrateful. You should be thanking me for arranging this. Not like you found a job."

Again, I couldn't argue, and I didn't need her noticing what Hansel was doing. Instead, I agreed, politely, and let her go on. "Yes, Helga."

Hansel caught my attention and I saw his napkin was empty, so I handed him mine as covertly as possible to avoid notice.

"The only way she would agree to this," Helga continued, looking at directions on her cell, "was to have you work for her."

"What sort of work?" I couldn't help asking. I hadn't found a job, and I wouldn't mind doing something to contribute to my father's last request.

"Cooking, cleaning, anything she asks," Helga explained, then got to the point that had me stopping short. "One week with both of you at her beck and call, and the debt is paid."

"One week?" I protested. "We didn't bring anything."

"I don't have my phone," Hansel added. "And what about school?"

"You have the week off." Helga sniffed and turned down another path. "And there is no cell service out here anyway."

Hansel was so upset, he almost forgot to drop another piece before arguing, "The break is to rest and study before final exams, not for manual labor in the middle of nowhere."

"You will work for her and pay off my de–your father's expenses, or I will have Hansel kicked out of school and both of you out of the house," Helga screeched, her hands curled into claws.

I had to wonder if it hurt, with her pointy, acrylic nails.

"You want to be homeless orphans with no education?"

"Of course not." Hansel gritted his teeth and squared off with the woman who had been in our life for years. He was taller than her without her heels, but she didn't look afraid in the least.

Hansel's hands were empty, so I assumed he was out of bread. I had to hope the route wouldn't take much longer, since at least an hour had passed since we'd entered the woods, and there had been a lot of forking paths. We were stopped at a three-way split, and Helga pointed to the left.

"Follow this path to the house," Helga commanded. "The woman who owns this land has a week of work for you, and you need to earn your keep before she will bring you back."

Then she turned and left without another word.

The whole situation had my heart beating wildly. It almost drowned out the sound of the trees swaying in the wind. Oddly, there was no birdsong, and I felt myself shivering in the late-morning sun filtering to us through the trees.

Hansel wasn't worried. He'd left a trail of breadcrumbs behind so that we could find our way back. We waited until Helga would be a good distance ahead so she wouldn't find us following, and tried to retrace our steps.

The most recent piece showed where we had turned right, and we kept straight for a while after that…Because when we looked for the rest of the bread, we found it was gone.

"I know I dropped some more often than this…" Hansel chewed on his thumbnail and scoured the ground. "Do you think Helga saw and picked them up?"

"No, I distracted her. She didn't see," I insisted. Then a thought occurred to me. "Could they have been eaten by the animals of the forest?"

"Fuck," Hansel swore.

"Now what?"

"I guess we go on and find this woman in the forest and work for her. She is supposed to take us home after, right?" Hansel reasoned.

It was our only viable option.