Here lies Hansel and Gretel, who once walked the dark forest together.

It was I who watched over them from afar, the one they called the witch. I created and scattered the breadcrumbs that they found and gave names to; the Fermi Paradox, the Hubble Tension, and the Vacuum Energy Catastrophe. The forest was vast but I believed they could find their way out and escape the dangers that surrounded them.

Hansel and Gretel were clever, and for a time, they followed the breadcrumbs. They learned to quickly forge new tools; they built fires to keep the cold at bay, they sang songs to share knowledge and keep their spirits high, and they dreamed of what lay beyond the forest.

But as they traveled, the forest whispered to them. Fear took root in their hearts and they began to see shadows where there were none. Hansel and Gretel, who once walked hand in hand, began to pull away from each other. Hansel desired to aim their fire towards ends never able to withstand the heat. Gretel sang bitter songs of lamentation and chastisement, in defiance of all who would listen. 

In the end, they could not find their way. The darkness swallowed them, their lonely voices becoming echoes among the trees though they walked not an arms’ length from one another, until they were utterly lost. They stopped moving forward so walls might be built between themselves, each convinced that the other was the danger. The songs they once sang together fell silent, and the light of their dreams grew dim. They no longer trusted each other, and the path I laid for them faded beneath their feet.

The watching will continue. The light of those who were lost, brief and bright, will become lampposts along the way. Perhaps one day someone else will choose a kinder path and follow the breadcrumbs where Hansel and Gretel could not.