THE CHRONICLES OF GIN
A Serialized Gingerbread Man Retelling for Adults
Part 10: Into the Outside
Once I finalized my decision not to return to the playroom and officially requested safe passage, Scruff seemed pretty keen on getting me off the farm as quickly as possible.
“They’re decent folks, but baked goods seem to bring out the worst in them,” he said. “Every second you stay here basically quadruples my workload, so we’re heading out ASAP. That means now.”
And so we walked. I could have run much faster, but when I mentioned that to Scruff, he just muttered something mean about me being “sexually attracted to life-threatening situations.” So I shut up.
I guess he could hear the despair in my silence after a while because he made a half-hearted attempt to cheer me up.
“Look, cookie-”
“You know my name!” I snapped.
“Alright. Gin. Don’t feel too bad about all of this. Hardly anyone makes it to adulthood without making some stupid decisions with their...” He trailed off, confused, as his gaze drifted somewhere between my lowest button and my knees.
“Why exactly did you do any of that?”
“Hey, I didn’t even exist yesterday. Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Hmm.”
And with that, the awkward silence was back like it never left. It lasted for the rest of the walk, which lasted until the sky started to lose some of its darkness as we reached a fence at the edge of a heavily wooded area.
“Alright, coo- Gin, you’ve got two choices. Follow that trail until it takes you to the road that leads to the nearest town, or head into the woods. You smell like food, so there will be things trying to eat you no matter where you go, plus, you’re a little stupid. On the bright side, you’re fast, and hopefully that will help. Just whatever you do, don’t head downhill to the river. Even a few seconds in the water could turn you into mush, and you will not survive that. Got it?”
“Got it. Thanks for everything, Scruff.” I said with a sad smile.
He nodded in response, then turned and headed back to the farm.
As soon as he was out of sight, I let the smile slip from my face and grimly started heading downhill.
Yikes, Gin is not in a good place right now. Is this where it all ends? Not if you've been paying attention to all the spoilers I've been dropping! But you'll need to read the next few installments to find out why. They're coming, definitely eventually 😉