The Gingerbread Girl

It was after dinner that things got weird. Grace was sitting at the counter admiring the gingerbread house Mom had made earlier that week when suddenly she heard a quiet, high-pitched noise.

            She leaned in close and peered inside the little window.

            Ah!

            Grace quickly pushed the gingerbread house away, alarmed, then closed her eyes and counted to three. “When I look inside the house again, it will be empty,” she promised herself. She put her eye to the tiny window again, but sure enough, the little gingerbread girl was still inside, running around in circles.

“Help me!” she exclaimed frantically in a high-pitched voice. “I’m trapped in here!”

            This time, Grace didn’t close her eyes. “I’ll help you,” she promised the little girl, and, shaking slightly, started to lift the roof off the house.

            Grace’s little brother Jake suddenly came running into the room, and when he saw Grace with Mom’s gingerbread house, he darted over. “What are you doing?” he asked. “I’m gonna tell Mom you broke her house!”

            “No, look!” Grace said, pulling the roof the rest of the way from the house. She set it on the counter and gestured for Jake to look inside.

            But his reaction was different than what she expected . . .

            Instead of screaming when he saw the gingerbread girl, he just picked her up and bit her head off!

            The little gingerbread girl turned back into a normal cookie pretty quick.