No--Never Again!

The person left their shift late at night. They were walking out of the store when they decided to take the long way home. They could drive, take a bus or walk.                                

Walking, the person avoided the parking lot because her car wasn’t there, is good. So she decided to walk. Taking the sidewalk rather than the normal dirt path, she decided to go for a McDonald’s Slurpee. Sucking on it, she headed into the forest. An adventure awaits! She headed out of the restaurant into the forest behind McDonald’s. Traipsing through the woods, the person’s Nike sneakers crunched on the gravel driveway. Huh? Is this…? Does this lead to someone’s house?

She squinted but saw nothing but trees. Cautiously, she continued walking.

The sound of someone clearing their throat startled the person. She gripped her Slurpee, widened her eyes and sucked with power. The person froze for a second and then clutched her Slurpee with both hands. What…what’s going on? Branches snapped, and she whirled around.

“Who’s there?” She yelled. Balling her right fist after letting go of the Slurpee, she glared at the place in which the branch-snapping came. “I’ll…

“Aw!” The person knelt down, setting down her Slurpee. She beckoned the squirrel closer. It budged maybe an inch. The person sighed. “Whatever!” As she walked, she narrowed her eyes as the trees’ moss and leaves boasted of brilliantly beautiful emerald. The bark looked like it was used to build a home rather than growing out of the ground. The person twisted her head this way and that. Branches, twisting around each other like lovers entwined, looped above her head like she was going through a magical wonderland of—

“Magical creatures!”

The person inhaled, her eyes staring all around, as she found herself encircled in a whole new world of little winged fairy creatures and big huge stomach-bulging giants and ogres with massive spike-boasting clubs and foxes and wolves each conversing about the rabbits they’d chase and then forget. Like best friends, they frolicked, laughed, showed off and rolled their eyes when forced to watch the other’s antics. The person stayed on the gravel path but then found herself walking on dirt.

A dirt path. Just for me?

One of the butterflies, with electric blue wings, landed on her shoulder.

“Oh!”  

Another creature—a dragonfly with enormous transparent wings—buzzed overhead, seemingly leading the way. Did the forest end? More and more trees appeared parallel to each other, like crowds cheering runners. Further on, the person wondered whether she was going home for real. She searched for a shortcut—

“No! The others didn’t come back.”

The person shuddered. “Where have they gone?”

The fox told her the sorceress forces travelers to sew and dye her dresses of violet, ruby, emerald, gold, silver, pure white and scarlet. Crowns are made from the rubies and pearls and diamonds found in mines dug from these travelers’ pickaxes. They must dig out the goods, welding them together to make the crowns. All day, every day. Till they die.”

The person shook her head, taking a few steps backwards after stopping dead in her tracks, her feet planted to the earth itself. “A materialistic witch? How do I avoid her?”

“Keep walking down this path! Don’t bite into the green or red apples. You’ll forever fail to match those who have stitched the more beautiful dresses and crowns, forever envying them. The red apples are wrath and fury—you will forever be angry over your forced slave labor of making volcanoes and try to escape but fail. Don’t let them erupt, or they’ll explode, the lava falling on you, but you won’t die. You’ll just get severely burned.”

The fox’s gold and green eyes shimmered with truth. The person bobbed her head, continuing her walk. Soon, she reached the apples. Licking her dry lips, she wiped a hand across her forehead. “And it’s so hot!” The blazing sun, she saw for a split second, glowered down at her, as if the witch herself wasn’t so happy with her standing around in a forest when she could be working for her forever. “My Slurpee!”

“Wait!” The fox jumped out in front of her. “Put this on you. It’s a flower bracelet meant to keep you here. The enchantress won’t take you if you remember why you have this on. The others didn’t listen.”

“Please, fox, I’ll wear a bracelet when I get my Slurpee. I’m…so…” The person panted. As she journeyed, the fox bounded after her. She grabbed the blue stuff, sucking it down. After, she took a breath of relief. Turning to the fox, she held out her wrist. “What were you saying?” But she sounded intrigued!

“The others” the fox sighed, “gave into temptation. Remember the green and red apples? They’re all juicy, shiny, ready-to-eat fruit.”  

“They gave into temptation?” The person furrowed her brows.

“They wanted to be better than others. Or get everything they ever wanted for selfish reasons. Or--”

“The witch bribed them.”

The fox nodded.

“If you eat one of those apples, you’ll immediately wear beige rags for clothes, eat stale cake and drink lukewarm water. Your bed is a slab of rock. Your future is slavery.”

The person rolled her eyes, and journeyed to the apples, the fox crying that she’d end up just like those travelers. “Oh, please.” She tossed her blond curls. “Do you know how many times I’ve tried avoiding Anita at school? She’s constantly pulling my hair and calling me names and tripping me and throwing away my homework. Besides, revenge is sweet—or in this case, delicious!” 

The person reached for an apple, and yanked it off the tree. Dusting it on her pants, she studied it. “I’ll give her this snack during school tomorrow. When she takes a bite—”

“NO!” The fox lunged for the person’s apple, its claws just missing it as she jerked away. “You two will be slaving away. All lies!”

“No!” The person snarled. “I’m finally teaching her what it means to go to school!”

“If you cut up that apple and then eat it, you’ll be stuck going in that direction forever in that type of world.”

“Hm. Besides, I’ve got to get home.” She dashed off, the apple gripped in her hand. She didn’t dare bite into it, but she ran and ran, soon slowing down and looking for a rock or creek by which to sit. The person wished she had a knife or apple slicer. “Oh well.” she shrugged. “Maybe someone will help me.”

She diverged off the path into a den of wolves licking their paws, panting, sleeping or watching young roughhouse near a crackling fire. The person looked at the invitingly warm fire, and then at the wolves and then over at a person whittling a stick. The person wore a rhubarb shirt with a mud-brown and pure-white pair of business pants.

“Hello?”

The other person jumped, like the person when startled way back in her journey. She cocked her head. That’s weird. I jumped the same way. The person asked the other teen whether he wanted to pick a mouthwatering apple. He shook his head viciously, his eyes bulging. “No! You’ll be slaving away under that witch.” He dropped his whittling stick and knife, going over to the fire. The person joined him.

“Can I have your knife? I need to eat this.” Her stomach rumbled. “I’m so hungry!”

“No!” He grabbed the apple. “No! You’ll be her slave. I don’t want that for you.”

“I just want to rest. I’m tired. It was hot. I need a break—and a snack!”

She fought him, failed and then studied his eyes. Sharp auburn and mud-brown eyes looked back at her. She looked for the apple, fought for it and then the teen threw it into the fire. Yelling at him, she didn’t see him turn into a wolf. When she was done, she saw he was. She gasped.

“I’m cursed.”

She thought. Then, she looked right at him. “So, you’re here for all of eternity, whittling the wood into a knife to eat one of the apples? If you don’t, you’ll go hungry forever?”

“I had to. I had to eat something. Either you’re a slave here, or with her. Either way, you’re trapped. That fox back there didn’t tell the whole story. You’re starving, you’re desperate for a change back to who you were and you’re needing freedom. But you can’t.”     

The person’s stomach rumbled. Outside the cave, foxes chased rabbits. She wiped saliva off her mouth. She looked left—rabbits, pigeons, pigs and baby lambs frolicked to and fro. The bubbling brook caused her mouth to open, and the saliva to pour forth like water finally free from behind the dam. The person whizzed right—the trees, with their branches, held up red and green apples, glistening in the sunlight. Maybe if I go back and slit those apples apart, I’ll take a small chew and then spit it back out! I didn’t eat it, right?

She hurried through the forest again, back to the teen. She begged him to let her borrow his knife. He trotted over to the fire. “Don’t even put the apple to your lips. You must be cautious. This forest—”

“Please! I’m starving.”

“We all are. We must use caution.”

The person clutched her moaning stomach. Memories of Anita tearing her pigtails out one scissor clip at a time by attacking those hairbands, killing all fun of hair and personality, flashed into her mind. Finding the knife next to the stick, she told the wolf she’d carve the apple for Anita and give it to her tomorrow at school. Nodding, she said she was heading home, and hurried through the forest, taking the long way home. Imagining herself getting home, this is how it went, she narrated: finally, when she got home, she promised her mother she’d have a gift to her favorite person at school, Anita.

“Oh!” Her mother raised her eyebrows in surprise. “What a lovely girl you are.”

“Yeah!” The person lied, bobbing her head, holding up the apple. “I’ll cut it up and give it to her. She’ll love it.”

The person did just that, putting the sliced apple into a bag and then stored it in the fridge. After writing herself a note, the person obediently finished her homework, did the dishes, ate dinner and went to bed, barely getting any sleep before giving that apple to stupid Anita—

“Even people who hate others or have some kind of something against others or want things selfishly get turned into those very things and then dragged to the witch’s world to slave under her.” The teen cut into her thoughts, stopping her journey home. He explained how he deceived others in the past, and how he had to suffer for his lies and cunning by becoming a wolf in this den. He wanted to shapeshift into one, not just be one for all eternity. He begged the person to listen. “Please—it’s not worth it. That fox—he deceived and lied to others. He’s a fox slave!”

Yawning, the person returned reluctantly to his den. She blinked, her face feeling the fire’s intensity. She sat back. “I don’t want Anita to go to school anymore—”   

“Yeah, well, your vengeance is going to turn you into a lioness. You want to be a starving lioness, slaving away for an evil woman?”

“No.” I took off the stupid bracelet, casting it aside.

“I can convince one person to not eat that apple, nor give into temptation, and I can return as a teenager again. If you listen.” The wolf’s ribs showed. “Please!” The person muttered something, and the teen stood up—like a human being. He walked out of the cave, a grin stretched from ear to ear stretched across his face. He jumped with joy. Then he disappeared.

That teen went to her school. Was in some of her classes, even. The person got up, walked out of the cave amidst the growling and whining wolves (whom she told to shut up) and walked away. Holding the teen’s knife, she chucked it into the fire. The wolves growled and barked, but the girl snickered.   

Then she stopped. Are all these animals people, too? Was that fox a person? Were all these animals people at one point? Could I…? She dashed back to the forest, striving to convince the whole forest to forsake their ugliness so the witch didn’t have to rule over them forever as they slaved away for her. The person begged the fox to become a person again, and it did, morphing into an orange business suit and tie-wearing cars salesman. The rabbits all became grey dress-wearing dancers. The other animals became their human counterparts.

Grinning, the person turned to the apples. Her stomach growled, and she felt her ribs as she pressed her fingers to her sides. Maybe I can just… She shuddered. Five more years of school. Carter’s there, but… She bit her lip. What if Anita bullied her at home, too? Carter wasn’t there to protect her. He lived hours away. Anita lived two seconds, in the neighborhood. Anita and the summer heat tortured her. Summer was hell.

Maybe my parents can move away. Carter and I can be neighbors. She knew Anita would still bully her at school, regardless of residence. The person looked at the trees, needing answers.

Snakes, gold with very thin lines of silver entwined around them, slithered into her sight. She saw their eyes, telling them of her problem. The snakes smiled knowingly. They turned into people, their clothes splendid orange and bright yellow and deep green. Silver bowties decorated the men and silver necklaces decorated the women.

“Come on!” They beckoned her. Their eyes innocent, their laughs fine. Those apples looked pretty enticing. The person sighed. I guess…bye, forest animals!

Behind her, the people all stared in horror. The person explained her school life to them.

“Or you can take this apple to make everything feel better. Besides, doesn’t Anita deserve it?”

The person pursed her lips. Suddenly, a hand shook her shoulder. Carter! She smiled up at him but he looked deadly serious at the other people. She looked right into a woman’s envy-green eyes. Such an innocence she never drew her away from Carter, him warning her. The person offered the woman her hand. The other people applauded. “Come on! You’re the first.”

Her laugher was so nice. It wasn’t malicious at all.   

Carter’s pleadings fell on deaf ears. The woman introduced her to all the men and women. Shaking their hands, the person nodded, grinning, even discussing her thirst for vengeance upon Anita.

“Yeah, at school. She’s all like, ‘You’ll never graduate with top honors!’”

“Well, don’t we have the antidote for that!”

The people told of their dreams that have become real—the businessman owned a company, the cook fancied herself a kitchen and utensils used to serve the masses of people sitting at her tables and the gymnast sparkled in her uniform as she practically flipped for the roaring crowds. Each adult prided themselves on their accomplishments. The person scratched her head. Who am I again? Anita reminded me I was a failure who would never even graduate.

Right—I’m a writer!

She grabbed a red apple from the counter’s basket, chopped it in half with a kitchen knife, turned the knife over and wrote in it. Hours later, she looked up—the adults congratulated her on all these creative ideas and fanciful words. The person, grinning, continued writing, struggling to keep the knife straight as she brought her avenging attitude to life. Worlds complete with only her characters and creatures of dragons and winged serpents and literally flying fish and mermaids and other winged creatures fluttered and flew, calling her name.

“Come on, Rocky!”

After swallowing the last bite of this apple (for she thought she’d avenge Anita even more by eating her story that would bring her characters to life with them appearing beside her when she imagined them), Rocky headed outside to the path towards home. When she saw Carter, she waved, beckoning him. “Come on—you were bullied, too!”

Face stained with tears, he pointed at her. She stopped, looking down.

And almost fainted.

Beige rags clothed her scrawny, knobby-kneed body. Her hair was like grey withered rope. And her teeth had green and grey stains on it, a toothbrush never able to wash away. Her eyes were bloodshot like she hadn’t slept in weeks. And her food was a stale piece of cake and lukewarm water. Someone stood in front of the jail cell.

“What do you want, witch?” Her raspy throat burned like she hadn’t drunk water in weeks—

That night, I walked in the forest, going home.  

Someone’s hand stretched out. In the moonlight, it sparkled with polished nails. Many bracelets, all gold and silver and copper. Beautiful. A glistening apple shone in the glistening moonlight. “Join me—and we’ll live happily ever after!” 

I took it, eating. The core was the last thing—

“No!” No. Anita, I forgave you. 

I took the long way home, thinking only of Carter, laughing at stories of his weird weekends at the mall. Carter and I can go to the mall. All the animals left the forest. It’s not a forest anymore.

The snakes watched her. They disappeared in gold and silver smoke, telling the witch of the person’s plans never to return. At the mall, they spied on the person, deceiving others. Like obedient children, several people listened to the men and women in silver necklaces and fine suits. They also exited the mall, deceiving millions. They went to the forest, becoming animals, too, befriending the first animals.

“The witch needs more slaves.”

These people filled the forest again. The person and Carter never saw. They wouldn’t until the men and women surrounded them. And the witch was before them.