THE CHRONICLES OF GIN
A Serialized Gingerbread Man Retelling for Adults
Part 1: The Very Beginning
I am a person. I am also a man made of gingerbread. Some people are more accepting of that fact than others, but my need for acceptance is fairly low, so I don't care much either way. I’m obviously aware of my own strangeness, and if I’m in a sharing mood, I might even entertain a question or two.
Like: “How have you survived this long?”
I’m surprisingly good at running. Nobody expects me to be as fast as I am, and those first few moments of disbelief tend to work in my favor.
Or: “A friend of a friend of mine saw you eat a burger once. Isn’t it a bit hypocritical of you to run when anyone tries to eat you?”
Nice try, but my diet isn’t a good enough reason for me to just lie down and become someone else’s dessert.
Or: “You smell amazing. Do you ever just give in and taste yourself when nobody’s looking?”
Honestly, that’s a very personal question to ask a perfect stranger right off the bat, so… no comment.
One of the most interesting questions I’ve ever heard has to do with consciousness. When did I first think and therefore become? Was I aware of myself as flour in a bag? Did that spark of ‘being’ exist in the sugar, the ginger, or some obscure magical ingredient?
It was none of those things. In fact, my first recollection was the heat.
Before I saw my first sight or heard my first sound, I felt an incredible heat on the surface of my body. There was no accompanying pain (thankfully), but the heat was relentless as it gradually seeped into my core, hardening me and transforming me into something new. If you’d asked me at the time, I couldn’t have told you what.
As I lay there, I began to notice other things, bit by bit. I was bathed in orange light. A voice came from somewhere beyond the place where I was. I was stuck to a hard surface, and even though my limbs couldn’t move, I could feel them growing stronger in the dry heat that made up my entire universe. Then, from much closer than the voice came a new sound that startled me.
“Ding!”
To be continued…
Hooray, you made it to the end of the first installment of The Chronicles of Gin! I'm not sure how long this story will be, but I'll try to post new parts 3 times weekly until the end. Feel free to comment and look out for part 2, definitely eventually 😉.