As Long as Somebody Loves You

Chapter Seven

The rest of what happened felt like a blur. When I pulled away, he simply stood there frozen like the idiot he was. I couldn't spend another second in the same room with him. I rushed back outside and sped walked back to the car. If I had stayed any longer with him, I wouldn't have been able to contain myself. I would've been revealed and out-casted for what I truly was. They could've seen my eyes, my outstretched toothy grin, and possibly the scalp underneath my wig!

 A truly evil witch knows when to flee, and so that's what I did. My blackened blood was still rushing, and the feeling of non-emptiness was able to remain inside me for a long while before fading again. Never in all my centuries on earth have I heard of a witch kissing a human. Yet, there I was, recovering from just that. I was so sure of myself when I had entered the party! I thought it would only take a few seconds for him to fall into my gloved claws, but no! It was complicated and tedious! I knew one thing for certain, I needed to kiss him again. I needed to catch him alone. Perhaps he could explain this mysterious feeling of anti-emptiness I had yet to name. But until then, I would indulge myself in a quality child hunt to get the image of that horrid baby out of my mind. I had my driver drop me off at Central Park.

By now I was nearly recovered from my little encounter with Demetri, but I hoped that exterminating a few more brats would cool my emotions. I've mentioned that I've visited New York many times. This is why I knew Central Park was always abuzz with children. It had everything children adore ranging from wide open fields, boring sidewalks to step all over with their tiny feet, large trees to hang from like the wild animals they were, and a large playground that enticed them like flies. I stepped out of the car and told my chauffer to leave. He did so without question, just as naïve as any other human. It almost made me laugh to think that he was unaware of the fact that he had just released a witch into the wild. I strolled down the sidewalk calmly, looking at the blue sky and the trees to relax. Demetri still plagued my thoughts. I kept asking myself why I did what I did. I kept justifying that in order to accomplish my plan of winning him, it was necessary. 

"Here you are, little one." I snickered ever so sweetly at a small little girl who looked to be about maybe seven or eight years old. In my hand, there was a large bar of chocolate. It was poisoned of course, but the dumb brat was too oblivious. When she took it from me, another child approached after abandoning her skipping rope on the sidewalk. "Hey! Where's mine? I want one! Gimme!" She tugged at my sleeve. The two children looked alike, so I immediately knew that they were sisters, twins perhaps? No, the little one was too small, tinier than a shrimp. As always, they smelled horrid, but I didn't let that stop me. With one hand, I raised a finger as if telling her to wait. With the other, I did my magic and presto! When my other hand revealed itself, there was another bar waiting for her grubby little mitts to take. She smiled in amazement, "Thank you nice lady!" Giggling, she and her sister ran off again, leaving me to laugh evilly once I was alone again.

Giving out candy was an old and predictable trick, but it never failed to make me pleased. And so, I continued doing it. I walked around the park, passing out bars of chocolate to those that were foolish enough to get caught in my web of lies. Some were boys, others were girls, but babies were too hard to get close to unless I wanted to be seen by the parents. Again and again, I went about my business. I cursed one of them there, one of them here. When I got tired of the park, I walked into the zoo where I could find more prey. It was so unbelievably easy! Didn't parents ever warn their children about taking candy from a perfect stranger nowadays? HA! Children were even more small-minded than I anticipated. I gave a chocolate bar to my fiftieth child before deciding I was done for the day. Since I was already at the zoo, I decided to buy myself a nice cool bottle of coca cola. 

Here, the rush of the city seemed to freeze. I sat at a bench just outside its gates with my feet crossed and my eyes fixated on the now pink sky of central park. The sun was going down. I hadn't realized it, but time had run away with me.