Grimmly Suspended (Flash Fiction)

It’s my pleasure to thank Priceless Joy for this photo prompted Flash Fiction challenge (75 – 175 words). I’d also like to thank pixabay.com for this ominous shot.

Alice’s POV

“Missed me already?” Hansel’s acidic words drip down from the cage suspended above.

These swines have him locked below their castle. Not in the dungeons. Under them. For good measure, but I still despise them for it.

I shiver and wrap my dusty cloak tighter around myself.

Our nation’s darling princess tilts her diamond-clad head and squeezes my shoulder. “Are you certain you want to do this?”

I nod. Contempt straddles my tongue. I can’t risk revealing it with the tremble of my voice.

She draws back between her guards.

I lick my chapped lips. “How could I not miss you, Hansel?”

He bangs his body against the bars. Wide-eyed, he darts his gaze from me to the princess and her pigs.

Yet, in a split second, he becomes stone-faced. “You . . . shouldn’t have come.”

I clench my hands, willing my heartbeat to steady. “You should’ve kept your promise.” (To save yourself. Stay safe.)

His dark eyes gleam as his magic faintly prickles my senses. Somehow, it’s contained in that cage. Still, the guards behind me shift and tense their shoulders.

I lift my chin higher. “This is merely temporary. We shouldn’t worry about each other . . . ?”

Hansel grins, baring sharp teeth. It fades, and he inches back, out of view. “Don’t come here again.”

 (213 words, darn it! -_-)