The Chocolate House

There was a pink house in the middle of a forest, entirely made of chocolate and candies. The pink dining room was quiet. The walls were covered with pictures of a housewife in all stages of her life and hanged near tall cupboards. They were coloured pink as well. The light shined through pink coloured windows and shined on the boy and girl that were sitting beside each other, in huge pink biscuit chairs. In front of them, on the huge chocolate table were empty plates and cups, painted in the same pink color as the rest of the house. The whole dining room was covered with pink powder, so that no one can see the natural colours.

"My dress is ruined", said the little girl and showed him the pink staines on her dress. "Let's get out of here."

He wanted to reply, but was interrupted by the entrance of an old lady in bright red dress. Her thin lips were coloured red. "Children", she observed them and then spotted an uncoloured spot on a cupboard. She opened a drawer and took a brush and pot with pink color and painted the dark spot with swift, short strokes. "I don't like when things aren't perfect", she said. "Maybe a little more", she added a new layer and painted it persistently and added more and more color until the pink powder fell on the ground. "Now its perfect", she exclaimed, and accidentaly pushed the cupboard. An old, pale pink, heart-shaped box fell from the top. She stood suprised, in all the redness and yellowness of gold she was wearing and turned to little children who were peaking from the edge of the table. "Don't touch the table! You'll ruin the paint!" They moved away, frightened, wiping their pink-coloured hands on their clothes. "That's better!" She smiled and observed them carefully and quickly painted the table and messed spots with a lot of powder. "I have to tell you a story about this box." She showed them the old, dusty box. "First, I must find his picture. I'll come back in a minute.", the old lady walked out of the room.

"I don't like her", the little girl whispered. "She's mean and she's deliberately keeping us hungry."

"I am not sure", the boy said. "But she is definitely weird. I suggest we say goodbye when she comes back and walk away as soon as possible, or at least before the night falls."

She came after couple of minutes. "My sweet little angels, I wanted to tell you a story about this box. I couldn't find his picture. I wonder where it is now."

"We're hungry", the little girl shouted. The grandma approached the girl, smiled and pulled her ear. The girl screamed. The boy was too surprised and scared to react. "Little children must not interrupt nice ladies when they are talking!" She crossed her arms and stepped away from the girl. "The sweet is the right word. In my house, everything is sweet and super beautiful. There is nothing wrong or immoral with my house. No curses, no ugly words, no interruptions", she emphasized her last words, "no dark thoughts and no need for such because everything is perfect, beautiful, and sweet and joyful. Why are you trying to destroy my happiness?" The children were quiet. Dirty and scratched after running through the wood, they huddled in their chairs.

"I am really sorry," the girl said.

"That's better." She raised the box, playing with a tie on the front.

"Many years ago, I received this box as a present for Valentine's from a lovely man. Men worshipped me. But this guy! I was his perfect girl, his only and perfect girl, the others didn't exist for him, the others were nothing but shadows compared to me. I could see it by the way he looked at me with sheer admiration! I was perfect! The most beautiful, the most wonderful, his icon and his only idol, the most important and only girl that mattered in this world, completely and absolutely perfect, without a flaw. He adored me! How he tried to please me", she wiped a tear from her eye and touched the tie on the box. She started dancing to the sounds of waltz she could only hear. The children looked at each other and girl broke the corner of the table.

"What are you doing?", she screamed when she noticed the girl wiping the chocolate. Her face was changed. "Why did you do such awful thing to me? To kind, wonderful and special me? You insulted my hospitability!" The girl dropped the chocolate piece on the floor. "You must not break other people's furniture! Tiny barabarian!", she approached the little girl.

"We're hungry!", cried the girl. "And the table is made of chocolate!"

"Of course it's from chocolate!", her expression was changed. She was mad. "Everything is perfect around here! Sweet, pink-colored, chocolate-made, beautifully arranged and extraordinary beautiful and it's too wonderful to be destroyed or changed!" They started running away, but she was quicker. She grabbed their hands and dragged them to a huge pink-collored iron cage in cellar.

"It's not our fault! We were hungry! We still are!"

"Shut up, filthy animals", she shouted. She locked them in the cage. "I'll put you in the oven!"

"Please, have mercy! We are lost!"

"Little punks", she watched them beg and cry. "If this world was a better place, there would be no need for cages for animals like you." The girl kept crying. "Now you're crying! When you were breaking my furniture and having fun with doing bad things, you were laughing! You were full of joy!"

Her red dress and white hair had a peculiar white glow under the pale light coming from small windows.

"When I get rid of you, my house will be peaceful and idyllic again." She sat on the chair and soon started dwelling in the past with a look in the distance. "He adored me. Oh, he adored me absolutely. He never said a bad word about me, he never dared. He adored my beauty, my looks, my style. He often said how charming I was and how adorable! What a man! I was his woman, a true woman, the only one who's worth spending his money and time. The only one that mattered in his life!" The fervor was gone, as well as the glow in her eyes. She kept the smile, singing some old song. "Those were the days! I was adored and worshipped as a true goddess!"

"What happened to him?", asked the boy.

"He walked away!", she shouted. "Be aware", she spoke to the girl, "All men are corrupt and evil! Why do I even botter with you two? You are corrupt as well! You have bad intentions and hate my hospitability, so I must cook you in the cauldron! I have no other options left!" She threw few logs on a pile under the cauldron and was very disappointed when she couldn't start the fire. "I'll be back!", she walked away slowly.

The girl cried. "She's crazy! We're doomed!"

The boy was desperate. "We're stuck in a chocolate house with a real witch!"

"Do you think the whole house is made out of chocolate?"

"I suppose", said the girl through the tears.

"Calm down. Maybe there is a way out", said the boy. The witch came back after some time, with newspapers for fire and tiny can. She smiled and fixed her hair style.

"Miss, we have a last wish."

"You're right. I am a Miss." She raised her chin in the air. "One year, I was a Miss of the Universe. It was a great year for mankind!"

"We would really like to see your house once more before you set fire and put us in the cauldron. It's too lovely!"

"You're cute and smart.", she said. "Maybe I could make a larger fire and make your death quicker and more bearable." With heart-shaped key in her hand, she was approaching the cage and suddenly stopped:

"Are you trying to trick me? I know what you are up to: you are planning to break something else cause you are deceitful and offended by my rightful punishment! Do you think that my punishment isn't justified? That your crimes aren't big?"

"No", he quickly added. "My sister really likes the decoration of your house. She wants to see it once more. We promise we'll behave and we will not break or steal anything!"

"That's fine. My house is wonderful, after all. But, you're too spoiled and too barbaric to enjoy fine things. My answer has to be: no." She moved away from the cage and was very upset when the fire didn't burn. "I'll be back soon with more gasoline. Soon this whole thing will be over. Be patient!"

"You are the most wonderful", said the boy. "You are young and beautiful." She was smiling and walking out the room.

"I've got the key", the boy showed it to the girl. They opened the cage and went slowly up the stairs. The gasoline can spilt when fell on the ground and fire spread. The whole house started melting. They hid in a warm closet in the hallway and waited for her to come downstairs, but there was no trace of her. "Let's go", whispered the boy, stepping out and there was she: tall, hideous in her rage, holding a huge opened black bag. "Run!" They ran to the door, but running was impossible. The floor was half melted and their shoes were stuck in layers of pink coloured chocolate. She had similar problems, screaming. She stained her dress with chocolate and made a strange sound. "Brats! Awful brats! You are ruining my sweet, wonderful home!" The boy opened the door, with half of the pink-colored chocolate door handle in his hand . "Move", he grabbed the girl by her arm. They slowly managed to walk out of the house. This hell wasn't over: on the second stair, the girl cried: "Help me! My shoe is stuck!" The stair was almost melted and curled. He tried to untie her shoe, but it was difficult and slow. The old lady was behind them. "Help me! This chocolate is getting really hot!"

"You cannot escape!", the old witch shouted. "I will hunt you and catch you!" She looked at her dress that was dirty and ruined, and cried: "My dress! My beautiful dress! It's stained and ruined because of you!" The boy managed to pull her leg out of the melted chocolate, so they struggled a bit until they came down the stairs. The last thing they heard before entering the woods were her angry screams and threats and curses.

"Run!", the boy said. "We must find a place to hide before she comes out."

"I don't think she'll come after us.", the girl was running behind him. "She'll probably try to find a clean red dress and paint the ruines pink."

"Maybe you're right, but we better hurry." The night was falling down and it was getting colder. They could hear owls in the trees.