Wicked: After Story
-Chapter 1-
The first time I met her, I was just 7 years old. I had wondered into the Dark Forest playing with a wooden sword and hadn't noticed. I was running around fighting an invisible creature in my mind, slashing the sword as it got closer. "Back you evil thing!" I yelled and laughed as I jumped avoiding its "claws". My sword fell from my grasp and I went to go get it. As I walked over to get my sword, I saw a light. There was a soft green light emanating from the forest and I abandoned my sword walking over towards it. The Dark Forest was known for once housing terrible creatures of all sorts and people still stayed away from it. The biggest legend from the forest had to do with the most wicked person there ever lived, the Wicked Witch of the West.
My mom had told me stories about her, but her stories were a bit different from the stories I heard from others. My mother told me that she once knew her, a long time ago. She said the "wicked witch's" name was Elphaba and she wasn't what everyone thought. My mother and Elphaba were friends in college and studied magic together, even shared a room together. She said that everyone didn't like Elphaba and thought she was scary even because she was very powerful but she was also different from everyone else; she was born with green skin. Mother said that Elphaba was the "purest soul she had ever met" and that in trying to make things right for everyone she was framed as evil, as wicked. My friends all said that their parents swore the witch was just that, an evil thing with skin the color of sin. She had been killed and they said she deserved it.
As I walked toward the green light, it flashes once a bright emerald color and stopped. I ran over hoping not to miss what it was. Instead of a green light, there was a girl. The girl was about my age with long dark brown hair that was slightly wavy and went down her back. Her skin was a nice normal color, not green like I had hoped. When she turned around, I saw her eyes. Her eyes were the brightest shade of green I had ever seen; they were emerald green. Her face was soft but serious looking and she wore a black puffy dress and black shoes and on her head was a big black bow. She raised her hand toward me, "Who's there." She said. I stepped into the clearing and toward her holding my hands up, "Me. I don't mean harm." I said back. "What's your name?" she asked, her hand still pointed at me. "I'm Nikko Upland. Who are you?" I asked back curiously. She slowly lowered her hand, which I had no idea what she was going to do with, and spoke cautiously, "Galena." She said.
"Don't you got a last name?" I spoke as we sat together on a tree branch. She was a bit distant and kept space between us but she was starting to warm up to us. "No." she said and looked down at the hands in her lap. "Galena, you're name kind of sounds like my mom's." I said looking at my wooden sword. She raised her head toward me, "Really?" she asked. I nodded, "Her name's Glinda but she used to go by Glinda with a 'Guh' sound. Have you heard of her? Most of Oz knows her." I said and she shook her head no. We sat in silence for a bit until I looked further up to the tree and back at her. "Wanna climb with me Galena?" I asked as I got to my feet and put my wooden sword in its toy halter. She looked at me curiously before standing up and brushing her dress, "Sure." She said in her usual flat tone.
"See! You can see everything up here Le!" I yelled back at her as we made it to the top of the old tree. "Le?" she questioned standing beside me. "Yea, it's a nickname! Galena is pretty, but's it's kind of long so I'm going to call you Le." I said smiling. I stared out toward the horizon where you could see the green lights of the Emerald City from a distance. It was a very pretty sight, my hometown from a distance. She stood in silence beside me and stared intently at the horizon looking deep in thought. I looked at her eyes and then at the city; they shared the exact same bright green shade…
"When will I see you again Le?" I said looking down. She looked down too, "I don't know." I looked up into her green eyes, "I hope to see you soon." I said hopeful. She nodded, "Me too." I saw a trail of small bubbles make their way over to me and when the first one popped, I heard my mother's voice. "Nikko! Nikko where are you? It's time to come home!" it said. I looked back at Galena, "I have to go too. My mom's looking for me." I said sadly as a large bubble appeared to take me back to her. Hurt flashed over her eyes for a second before she went back to her stoic face. "I'll see you around!" I shouted as I got in the bubble and it floated upwards. I saw Galena wave at me before turning her back and suddenly the same green light filled the area and then just like that, Galena was gone.