Once upon a time, when the days were longest and the sun shone brightest, two sisters drank ice-cold gin tonics in their backyard. While sipping their drinks on a sultry summer evening, the two girls were enthusiastically talking about their upcoming trip to a small but beautiful country. ‘I cannot wait to bike through the city together, even through the rain. I heard about the changeability of the weather, apparently, it's insane.’’ Gretel said with a smile on her face. ‘The ‘stroopwafels’ is what I cannot wait to try, I bet they are even better than grandmother’s homemade apple pie.’’ Hansel said. ‘Firstly, let grandmother not hear, secondly, I think she would love some as a souvenir!’ ’At the beginning of the year, the girls were surprised by their parents with the possibility to study abroad together. After weeks of researching and discussing together, they had made up their minds; they were going to follow a Creative Business study in the Netherlands.
The sisters had a very special relationship; they hardly spent time apart since they were extremely close, and no one ever could separate them. The sisters supported each other on their brightest and darkest days, as much as they could. The urge to take care of each other was not to ignore, even during their most intense fights. Because of course the two of them fought sometimes, they were sisters after all. The emotional connection that they had was unusual; whatever one of them felt, the other could feel it as well. This made them understand each other in ways that their parents were amazed by.
The promising summer holidays, wherein the two sisters spent almost every day together, were almost over.
The two of them had lived those days to the fullest and gained tons of unforgettable experiences, which would turn into their most cherished memories. And to the delight of the two girls, they were about to make even more amazing memories.
The day of departure had arrived, and the two sisters were packing up some last things. Hansel and Gretel had filled up the car that would bring them to their destination with tons of bags and other stuff. Both of them secretly had very mixed feelings about that day, they had never felt more excited but sad at the same time. Saying their goodbyes to their family and friends was extremely hard, but fortunately, they would see them all again in Christmas Break. Besides that, those sad feelings quickly disappeared while driving and singing along with their favourite songs. Because of course, the girls had created an amazing, feel-good, sing-along car playlist.
Together, the girls had set up an Instagram account where they would post pictures and videos of what they were doing on their great adventure. It would take the girls about twelve hours to arrive in the Netherlands, so during the trip they posted plenty of stories; a picture of Gretel wearing silly sunglasses at the gas station, a picture of Hansel eating a huge hamburger at Burger King, and tons of other selfies. Their friends were following every breath they took on their Instagram, and they loved to see the amount of fun they had together.
After hours of driving, the girls finally arrived at their destination. On Facebook, they found an amazing apartment just outside the city. Two bedrooms, a spacious living room, a kitchen, and the best part; a roof terrace. Traveling had exhausted the two girls, so they decided to inflate their inflatable beds and go to sleep, leaving all the other stuff for the next day. ‘I have never felt this tired. I never knew about the effort driving for that long required.’’ Hansel said with a sigh. ‘Well, Hansel, I appreciate that effort a lot. Why don’t you sit down, I will blow up the air mattresses that mom bought.’’
The following days consisted of decorating, decorating, and decorating. The sisters pulled out all the stops since they both lived for aesthetics and making things look pretty. The sisters roamed through all the vintage shops they could find to search for the most exquisite room decor. ‘Hansel, we should put plants everywhere. I heard they refresh our air. It is good for your body, and it reduces stress. Hansel laughed at this; ‘You do whatever you want, as long as I may hang up Christmas lights, for some extra cosiness.’’ After days of hard work, their apartment was finally done. They had added beautiful artworks, golden accessories, and a vintage, Persian carpet with red tones. The sisters had outdone themselves, their place looked like a small palace.
The first weeks had been amazing, for both of the sisters. Every day, the sisters went to school very excited to learn more about the things they were already passionate about. The girls met a lot of interesting and fun people, and they had the time of their lives. Until one day, things started to change.
For her studies, Hansel and her groupmates got the assignment to do a professional photoshoot. Hansel was assigned to be the model for the shoot and the pictures turned out amazing, she looked absolutely stunning with her blonde hair shining in the sun. Hansel decided to post the pictures on her Instagram, and to her surprise, she got a DM from a modelling agency. The DM said that they loved her looks and that they were looking for a model just like her. If she wanted to, she could stop by their office to discuss working with them. ‘GRETEL, COME HERE,’’ Hansel screamed full excitement ‘I am going to start a new career!’ Gretel walked into the living room; curiosity written all over her face. ‘And what is that going to be?’ She asked. ‘Have a look, you are going to be as excited as me, I guarantee.’’ Hansel showed Gretel the DM and she was right, Gretel felt utterly happy for her sister that she got an opportunity like this. ‘Hansel, you are going to be an amazing model, I can feel it from within. We need to celebrate this, with tonic and some extra gin!.’
School, work, and parties filled up Hansel’s weeks and weekends, and she felt higher on life than ever. Until she received that life-changing DM, Hansel did not even know that she would love modelling. But she definitely did. She took her career more seriously than anything and she got cast for more and more shoots. One day, Hansel could model for a clothing brand she absolutely loved, she thought it was one of the best days of her life. But little did she know that one little moment that day would have such an impact on her life. After Hansel had the shoot of her dreams, she got surprised by a comment made by the photographer while she was having lunch; ‘Hansel, are you sure you want to eat all of that? You would be better off with just a salad’’. Hansel looked at the photographer. ‘Do I look like a rabbit? But yes, I know, these donuts are a bad habit,’ Hansel said it with a little smile, but deep down she could feel that the comment bothered her.
Later that night, when Hansel was standing in front of the mirror, comments of several photographers were racing through her mind. What she saw in the mirror was not even close to what she wished she looked like. ‘Only looking at myself makes me want to cry. There is no one that this body is going to satisfy’’. She did not understand how she could have been so blind for such a long time. Hansel realized her body looked nothing like the body that belonged to a model who would end up on the cover of the most famous magazines. She thought to herself: ‘If I really want to get to the top, there are some things that I do that need to stop. I better start with that right away; I will start eating much healthier from today.’ With making that decision, she already felt more relieved. After litters of healthy, green juices and extensive workouts, Hansel finally started to feel proud of herself.
On a cold but glittering morning, Hansel walked through the city centre. You could tell that autumn was coming; the streets sparkled with the sun reflecting on the rain-wet streets. Autumn was Hansel’s most favourite season, so the girl was filled with excitement about what was coming. To her, autumn was a wonderful time of change, before the harsh winter would arrive. While enjoying the refreshing smell of the air, Hansel thought happily back to yesterday’s shoot. The photographer had told her he could see all her hard work, effort, and dedication when he looked at her stunningly beautiful, slim body. Hansel thought to herself; ‘I cannot believe that I have achieved this, I feel more confident than ever! I do have to make sure, that my body stays like this forever. It was just one photographer who told me though… I mean, what does he know? I am sure that I can do even more. I want to have a beautiful body that everyone would adore. I need to lose more weight; I am not even that skinny yet. There are a lot of models that look way better, I bet. Hansel, you were stupid for thinking that your body looks good. You felt bad about your body earlier, as you should! You have to stop eating, go-getter. This is the only way to make your body look better.’
The green juices, salads, and low-carb foods soon changed to eating only when she could no longer keep up the fasting. Every morning the scale hit the bathroom floor again, and the majority of these mornings, the scale made Hansel feel greatly disappointed.
Hansel knew that her sister had started to worry about her; Gretel had made several comments about the diet and the necessity of it. ‘Hansel, why do you feel like you need to diet? You know how I feel about this, and I am not going to stay quiet.’’ Gretel said with an unmissably concerned voice. ‘It is not that I feel like I need to, I have just had this breakthrough. Eating healthy and exercising a lot, is good for your mental and physical health and whatnot. I can see you are concerned, which is really kind. But there is absolutely nothing to worry about, so I am going to continue my work out if you do not mind.’’
Hansel had never lied into her sister’s face like that, but she knew she had to.
She did not even want to think about what would happen if her sister found out that she was trying not to eat at all. She had tried everything to hide that she was eating, and not without a reason. Her sister would definitely try to make her eat again, while the thought of eating a bread crumb already scared Hansel to death.
One day, Gretel came up with an idea to make sure that Hansel was not doing as bad as she thought she was. While Hansel was out shooting, she prepared a delicious, three-course meal with all of Hansel’s favourite foods. Including doughnuts for dessert, of course. When Hansel came back, Gretel said; ‘You have been working so hard, and I am so proud. And I know, I have never really said that out loud. So, I organized a surprise for you! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. Hansel’s face turned from exhausted to delighted, she knew how amazing her sister’s surprises could be. But those feelings disappeared like snow in sunlight when she noticed that the table was fully packed with food. Hansel was filled with shock had no idea how to deny such a sweet gesture from her sister. Fully going against all her principles, she sat down with her sister at the dinner table. The first course was a few pieces of her favourite sushi; ‘This is not that bad, the number of calories is not that high, I am so glad’’ Hansel thought to herself. But then what she had feared happened; the second course consisted of a huge hamburger, just like the ones from Burger King. Hansel looked at the hamburger and decided to take a bite, but as soon as she did, she started to panic. Hansel could not control her emotions anymore, the thought of eating this made her sick, she literally felt like she was going to throw up. Tears started to fall down Hansel’s cheeks and before she knew it her sister was holding her in her arms, not trying to comfort her but to show her that she knows what she is going through. ‘Hansel, you do not have to explain. I think know what you are going through, I could feel your pain. I can imagine how hard it has been for you, but this is something that, together, we can get through. I want you to realize, that you will only be fully happy with yourself when you love what’s inside. You have been defining your worth on your looks but try to put that aside. You love me so much for who I am right? Do that with yourself as well, it will fill me with delight.’’
The two sisters talked hours and hours about how the past months had been for Hansel and what she had been through. And, in the end, Hansel started to realize how much more value her sister’s opinion had than every photographer that she had ever met. Hansel realized what she was doing to herself, she could not understand how she did not notice how wrong it was and how she was neglecting herself. Because of the help of her sister, she decided to go and find someone to talk to about how she felt. She wanted to restore the damage that she and the model industry had done to her.
Hansel found a therapist, a real powerful woman with amazing energy who could make sure that hansel could see how sincere and beautiful she was on the inside. Recovery was not always easy, but in the end, every effort that she made had given her a positive, happy life filled with amazing opportunities.
Hansel had always loved her sister so much, and now, she could say the same about herself. From now, Hansel and Gretel could start to live the life in the Netherlands that they had been fantasizing about all summer.
And the lived happily ever after.