One Hundred Nights

Chapter 6

A knock came on the gingerbread door. Zara wasn't expecting any guests that night but since she thought someone wished to have a bite of the cookie flower outside (a wish she knew she wouldn't grant,) she opened it.

A woman, hooded in black, dirty cape came into view. She looked right into Zara's black eyes and her eyes filled with tears.

"Zara...," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Zara asked, bewildered.

"Black velvet soufflés were your favourite," was all the woman said.

In an instant, Zara's eyes filled with tears. The sudden flash of her past felt like pang in her chest. She slowly backed away, hiding her shivering hands.

"Mother, is that you?" she breathed.

"At last...I've found you." The woman revealed her face. It was the same face she had wished every night to see. "After all these years..."

"M-m-mother? Are you alive? Am I dreaming?" Zara asked with a shivering, timid voice. Tears flowed faster down her face.

"You still doubt me?"

Zara ran to her and put her arms around her long-lost mother. She had lived independently for years and almost forgot how it feels like living with a beloved one.

"Darling, I've missed you so much. You look so beautiful. Flawless! Your little black tight dress is a good way to replace my black potato sack," Deloris praised.

Zara choked a laugh. "Mother...I made this myself. And...wait...how'd you get here?"

"Simple!" her mother answered gleefully. "I asked help from a friend of mine Mavuey and then journeyed some parts of the woods anyone wouldn't want to know." She shivered at the thought. "Then checked and scavenged a bunch of wild berry bushes and thank God one of them has brought me here. All I did for you."

"But why'd you take so long?" Zara asked miserably. "You have no idea what I've done to keep myself alive all these days."

"Zara, I'm sorry," her mother said softly. "My powers were weakening and I hadn't been able to recover from it. It took me over a decade to receive my powers back, sweetie. I was constantly worried about you."

"That's quite alright, mother," Zara replied sweetly.

"I need to tell you something, darling," Deloris said in a serious tone. "I'm very serious about this."

Zara gulped. Her mother was terrifying when she was little and that hadn't changed at all. "What is it?"

"Remember the girl who pushed me into the fire? Who made you miserable for the rest of your childhood?"

"Gretel?" Zara was now very worried. Of course I know her. That's because I'm keeping her safe and she's literally under us.

"I will torture her," Deloris seethed. "I am planning to catch that foul girl and burn, whisk, toast her alive!" Spits flew from her mouth.

"But she's gotten ill."

"Pardon?"

"She's gotten the Silya Plaque, mother," Zara replied.

Deloris scoffed. "That was no plaque. It was a curse."

"A curse?" Zara was bewildered.

"Some girl named Dorothy cursed Gretel and her husband. Jealousy, I bet. She's working with me now and we both will have a lot of fun torturing her. Oh, the agony Gretel will suffer."

As Deloris continuously cursed Gretel and explained how catching her was the only wish she wanted, Zara was conflicted. Grace was her friend, her only friend, who trusted her parents to her. She could not let her down and end their friendship. On the other hand, this was her mother she was talking about. And who knew what she would do when she found out that her daughter had been protecting her arch nemesis. And Zara really wanted to impress her mother and make her proud. She had to choose between her only best friend or her long-lost mother.