It was December, mid December, and I set out to figure out who the mysterious man was. I walked all the way to the candy house, I knocked softly on the gingerbread door and it swung open... a nasty smell came from the inside, despite the whole house being made of candy. I covered my nose and walked in. The man sat at the table, bottles of alcohol surrounding, some on the floor, some knocked over on the table and one in his hand.

"Ryan! Welcome back..! How've ya been!!" He excitedly greeted. I kicked one of the bottles by accident almost tripping over it, while walking to the kitchen table.  

"Brian... Its Brian... I've been good, how've you been?" I replied, hoping his response would explain the bottles of... what ever alcohol he was drinking... the labeling was in a different language.

"I've been dandy, the other... day I ordered... this Greek Liquor... Ouzo? It tastes amazing... Care... for a try?" He spits out, hiccupping between every few words.

"No thanks." Any other teenager would have probably said yes, but... I was a bit more mature and thought taking care of Mr. Thomas would have been a better option.

"Hey... Your the kid... who's sister died... in this forest..." He hiccups out.

"Yeah... hey I never told you she died in this forest, how'd you know?" The man laughs.

"I saw it happen.... If I... remember... correctly The... Queen of Diamonds... Killed 'er." He takes a sip of his Ouzo... He smiles and continued. "But... That just means... She has to stay in... Wonderland for the rest of 'er life." Wonderland? "She ain't completely dead.... Yet.... unless the queen released 'er soul." He stands up and stumbles to the fridge, he finished the bottle of Ouzo he had. He opens the fridge to get another bottle, he takes the cap of and chugs the terrible smelling liquid down his throat.

"Sir... how can you drink all of this liquor and not die?" I question pointing to the fifty- no eighty bottles upon the floor. "How did you even consume all of this in a day?"

"I've been up all night drinkin', that's what cha do when your lonely!" He turns and laughs.

"Why are you lonely?" I question him, hoping he won't try to turn off subject.

"My sister's gone... I killed 'er" He admitted.

 "You... What?" I gulped and backed up toward the door.

"I killed 'er... and the witch... she was so happy to have kids... she tried to eat us... so we ate her... then later I ate her my sister ... and now I eat the people who roam the forest... hey Brian... you know when I saw you when you found your sister... I knew one day I would eat you... so today is that day." He pulled a knife out and took a running start at me, I ran out of the house and slammed the door in his face... good bye Mr. Thomas.