chapter 4

Miriam woke up in her bed. Well, the witch's bed, but she is the witch so it's her bed too. But that morning she was more Miriam than the witch, she just hadn't woken up enough yet to realize it yet. She stood and stretched and slipped a robe on over her nightgown. And then she heard a scream.

She burst out of her room, tying her robe as she flew down the hall, and tore open Gretel's door. Inside she saw Gabrielle, a look of almost comical dismay on her face, attempting to pull a pair of far too small panties up over the ample expanse of her rear end, craning her neck to look over her shoulder at the inexplicable bulge of fat on her hips, preventing the taut cloth from rising any further up her thighs.

Miriam's eyes went wide, and a multitude of complicated thoughts and feelings flashed through her mind at once. Confusion, amusement, hunger... desire. But because she was mostly Miriam that morning she simply said.

"Holy shit Gabrielle, your ass is fat!"

The girls looked at each other for a moment, baffled, their minds racing to resolve what they were experiencing.

"Fuck you! I know! WHY?!"

But they both knew why, they had all their memories of the past week. They were just flooding back to them too quickly for them to process. Confusing, alien, horrible, they were someone else's memories and yet they weren't. They were both parsing through them as quickly as they could, examining them, throwing some away, too dark, some white hot, not ready to be touched yet, Gabrielle seemed to seize on the important point first.

"You've been fattening me up! Y-you bitch!" The word was thrown out with a sense of wonder and shock, not real malice.

"Me?! You've been stuffing your face all week!! It's not my fault if you eat everything that's put in front of you!"

"Not your fault?! Look what you did to me!" Gabrielle turned and grabbed her belly - and unlike a week ago there was flesh there to grab, just enough pudge on her previously flat waistline to wrap her fingers around. Her stomach twisted with a knot of regret to even touch it, oh god, her belly!

Miriam's eyes locked on the pudgy belly and she felt her head spin. An impulse rose up inside of her, a hunger.

"Hey! Snap out of it!" Gabrielle grabbed her shoulders "I'm talking to you! What've you been doing to me?!"

Miriam shook awake, and saw the fear in Gabrielle's eyes, and immediately threw her arms around her.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be ok" she spoke without really knowing why, or how, she just knew Gabrielle needed it. Gabi struggled for a moment, then went still in her arms, allowing herself to be held, sniffling.

"I've gained like 30 pounds" she said finally, sulkily. Miriam kept holding her.

"You've got to understand... it's not me. Right? Something is happening here" Miriam could feel Gabi nodding her head against her shoulder, and, oh god she could feel her pudgy tummy pressed up against her flat midriff, she's coming along so well.... NO she forced herself back, clawed back control.

"It's something about this house, or is it a restaurant? And there was someone else here... right? A waitress?"

"Why would there be a waitress in a cottage?" Gabi's voice was muffled by the robe, and Miri could feel moisture soaking into the cloth. Oh god, this is the worst, her heart wrenched for Gabi. Getting fat again has been her worst fear ever since high school, and now... frankly she looked pretty fat.

"It's not really a cottage! I think, it's something else, its changing around us. And its changing us too. Remember, think back to what we've been doing all week." She winced, she didn't really want Gabi to remember this past week, she'd already remembered enough herself and most of it was mortifying.

Gabrielle stepped back, she put a hand over her mouth. Miriam could see the memories flooding back on her face. Mostly memories of food - a vast majority of her time that week had been spent stuffing her face.

But memories of Miri too, sitting at her side, praising her, petting her, encouraging her as she stuffed her face. Rubbing her shoulders or running a cold comforting hand over her swollen tummy when she's too full. Once or twice producing a small measuring string to pull around her tummy and hips, and noting down the growth....

Gabrielle took another step back. Her face growing red as she lived each memory. Flush with embarrassment, shock, anger. And then there was the worst part of it all, of course...

"Y-you" Gabrielle felt physically ill as the thought struck her. She staggered on her feet.

"No, no it wasn't me" Miriam had tears on her cheeks because she'd realized it by then too. They both knew the story of Gretel and the witch, they knew why the witch wanted Gretel so nice and fat. "Don't you see, it's the house!" She could barely look at Gabi, all her thoughts were flooding back, all the moments she looked up and down Gabi's fuller form and pictured her roasting, imagined tasting her pork, fattening her up to perfect and pushing her squealing into the fire... And the worst part was... they weren't entirely foreign feelings. They were mostly the witch, but she recognized a bit of herself there too...

"You - you need to get away from me" Gabrielle raised a finger in warning, stepping backwards. She turned and ran out into the hallway.

Miriam felt an instant flood of panic. She can't lose Gabrielle now. This place is dangerous! God knows what else might happen to her!

"Gabi, stop!" she chased after her, down the hall of the cottage, (which stretched in front of them cartoonishly long, although neither of them noticed) "It's not safe! Remember, there's something else in here!"

"It can't be worse than you! Jesus, FUCK Miri!" Gabrielle was slowing already, her week taking its toll on her, finally she slowed to a stop, hands on her hips she turned, gasping for air, her face streaked with tears "You want to eat me?!"

"No! No, of course not" Miri trotted to a stop a few feet back, giving her some space "Gabi, I would never, never even think of..." she paused, biting her lip, hating how her words - which she felt were so true - conflicted with every memory they both had of the past week "Gabi... I love you"

She couldn't hold herself back then, she rushed forward and scooped Gabrielle up in her arms. And Gabrielle let herself be scooped. Her face blank with shock at first, then her lips quickly curling into a smile. A warmth was blossoming in her chest, something she'd been holding down for too long breaking free, and all the terror and disgust from a moment ago melted away. In Miriam's embrace she felt safe.

"We're going to figure this out Gabi, I promise." Gabrielle muffled something into her robe, her face pressed tight into her chest "There has to be a way out, or something we can do to trick it, or beat it, or, or" Gabi spoke again, louder, but still muffled "What?!" Miriam took her shoulders and pressed her back, and saw with surprise Gabi was smiling and laughing

"I said I love you too!!" and then she threw her arms around Miriam, and for an instant they felt perfect. But just for an instant. Because in that moment of pure affection, Miriam swelling with adoration, Gabrielle basking in the safety of her arms, the dark figure saw Gretel and the witch inside of them, and with a casual flick of its wrist it unlocked them and let them step forwards.

"E-everything is going to be alright" Miriam said, her grip around Gabi growing tighter, her fingers grasping, feeling for a hint of growing softness "Just follow me, I'll get you something to eat" And Gabi sniffed happily and followed.