GINGERBREAD MAN

The wind howled loudly, the sound eerie and stomach-sinking. Branches tapped against the window, casting shadows over the glass and the gold curtains beyond. The shadows retracted and stretched with each movement the branches made. The sun was just setting, the moon begini g to rise and take its place.

Loud humming filled the Bakers' house, filtering from the kitchen to all of the rooms in the house. Alice Baker took no note to the odd sound of the howling wind outside of her windows, or the branches that smacked against them, or even the odd shadows that filtered into her house that looked odly like long, boney fingers tapping against her windows.

A soft tune began filtering through the house, some humming before it shifted to a few sentences of a song before returning back to the soft, melodic humming again. A long, womanly shadow filtered into the living-room, the origin being in the kitchen. Alice, wearing a long yellow summer dress, danced in the kitchen with melodic hums. With each twirl, the dress swung and lifted into a beautifully displayed circle. Everytime she stopped spinning, the dress would drop out of the air and drop at her sides, the previous movement causing it to sway against her legs before stilling at her sides.

Alice glided over to her kitchen counter, plucking a plastic, solid cooking spoon from its hook on the wall. The black plastic glinted as the light met it, showing off how clean the cooking utensil is. Alice glided back over to the opposing counter, spinning and humming loudly before stopping her spinning by gripping the counter with clean hands, her fingernails scraping against the marbel countertop. On top of the counter sat a large blue mixing bowl, that contained many ingredients all piled on top of each other. An open cookbook sat directly to the right of the bowl, displaying large blwck leaders that read 'GINGERBREAD'.

Sticking the plastic spoon in the bowl, Alice grasped said bowl in her other hand to pick it up and brace it against her chest as she mixed the ingredients. It took several minutes for the mixture to be completely mixed, but once it was it became a soft, brown color. Still humming a tune, alice moved to the sink to place the dirtied utensil into it. Alice placed the bowl down where it previously was, reaching down below the counter to flick open a cabinet door. Reaching in, Alice grasped a metal baking sheet to place it beside the bowl of gingerbread mixture. Moving back to the sink, Alice slid open a drawer that sat to the sink's left to pull out a gingerbread mold. The sharp metal glinted in the light, easily reflecting it into another wall.

The wind outside continued to howl, getting louder and louder each minute that passed. Branches continued to beat against the window, also becoming louder and louder as the wind sped up.

Retrieving a bag of flour from her fridge, Alice dunped a sizeable amount onto her counter. Taking the dough from the bowl, Alice placed it onto the small amount of flour on her countertop. Kneading and rolling the dough, Alice let the flour cover it. Once it was kneaded and covered in flour, Alice retrieved a rolling pin from the drawer directly below where the dough sat on her counter.

Patting the wood of the rolling pin, the young woman set the wooden object on the edge of the dough before rolling it onto it. Moving the pin in different directions, Alice stopped once the dough was properly rolled into a long, flat shape. Setting the pin aside, Alice picked up the mold and began to press it into the dough in different spots. With each press of the mold, Alice relocated the raw, man shaped gingerbread dough onto the baking sheet. Once all possible gingerbread men were placed onto the baking sheet, Alice lifted the mold above the baking sheet to place it to the side.

When her hand hovered above one of the gingerbread men, a loud, startling bang sounded from outside, causing the metal mold to slip from her fingerd and slice her palm. A loud gasp interupted her humming, red blood welling at the surface of her hand. Alice grasped her wrist, yanking her hand to cradle it against her chest. In her pain and discomfort, Alice failed to notice that a few drops landed on one of the gingerbread men, slowly sinking into it as if it was sinking to the depths of a lake.

The mold clattered to the ground, all but forgotten as Alice rushed to the washroom to clean and bandage the wound. Once she cleaned and bandaged her hand, Alice returned to the kitchen in order to clean up the mess on her counter, pick up the discarded mold, place the rolling pin in the sink along with the dirtied bowl and mold, and slip the baking sheet of gingerbread men into the pre-heated oven.

Setting a timer and placing it next to the oven, Alice exited the kitchen, entered the living room, and sunk into the couch to watch some tv while the gingerbread men cooked.

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Alice hadn't noticed she had fell asleep until the loud blaring of the timer blasted throughout her house. Lazily switching off her tv, Alice slipped off of the couch and re-entered her kitchen. With one click of a button, the alarm shut off as she grabbed a ovenmitt. Slipping the ovenmitt over her right hand, Alice opened the oven door with her left and stuck her covered hand in to grasp the baking sheet. Placing it onto the top of the oven, Alice let the oven's door slam shut with a bump of her hip as she reached up with her left hand to turn off the oven.

Slipping off the ovenmitt, Alice returned to her spot on her couch in order to wait out the time it takes for the gingerbread men to cool. In her sleep muddled mind, Alice didn't notice that, while most of the gingerbread men were a deep, ginger brown, one of the gingerbread men had a soft hint of red.

Alice once again jolted awake when a loud crash of metal sounded from the kitchen, taking little note of the silence from outside. Alice didn't even switch off the tv in her rush to check what the sound was.

Entering her kitchen, Alice froze at the absolute mess that covered her kitchen. Crumbs were spread everywhere, alomg with parts of gingerbread men that seemed to had bites taken out of them. The baking sheet lied upside down on her kitchen floor. Alice moved around the half-eaten limbs of gingerbread men, moving to the bakingsheet that seemed to have something under it as it was tilted at an odd angle. Reaching down, Alice's fingers slipped under the bakingsheet. A loud hiss sounded from under the metal, white-hot pain filling her system as a loud cry left her lips. Alice launched backwards with a yell, foot crushing a leg of a gingerbread man to dust. Alice's body shook with pain, blood spurting from her hand in large amounts that splattered onto her kitchen floor. One glance at her hand made her stomach lurch.

Two of her fingers, her pointer and middle, had been bit clean off. Another loud snarl sounding from under the baking sheet had Alice's gaze snap towards it. The sheet bounced once, twice, a third time before it flipped over and away from its previous spot. Alice's eyes met the piercing brown eyes of a gingerbread man. Alice's body felt cold, the pain forgotten as she watched one of her gingerbread men stand on two feet with an animalistic growl.

A loud scream filled Alice Baker's house seconds after the very much alive and deadly gingerbread man launched at her with sharp, cerated teeth.