Chapter Twenty Eight

(Hey, y'all!

Fun Fact:

On 2004, the famous song, Over The Rainbow, was ranked as the Number One song by the American Film Institute on the 100 Greatest Songs in the American Films List.

I really liked that song when I was kid. It's kind of sad but it's very, VERY beautiful.

Here is the link to the song:

watch?v=ucdyjrHjn8c

The song won't be played in this chapter. I just put the link in this chapter as a song recommendation. You don't have to listen to it…so…yeah.

So, anyway, enjoy the story and life as it goes!

-imaginarytoon1

PS: Sorry if this chapter is too sad.)

Beatrice:

"What a nice little dog." The Witch said as he was petting Toto too hard.

Yes, the Winged Monkeys took me to the tower room (A really big room made of dark, smooth gray stone with both candles and light bulbs for sources of light and there were spell books scattered everywhere. Bottles of potions and a crucible were found next to torn spell book. A giant crystal ball was close to a giant glassless window, where Toto and I were carried in) of the Witch's castle. How the arrival went is not really important right now. I'm in a dangerous situation right now.

"Ouch! Not so hard, mister! Don't pet me so hard!" Toto exclaimed.

The Witch's red eyes began to glow a brighter red and the spirals in his eyes spun madly as he put Toto in an old wicker basket. Nikko, one of the Winged Monkeys (I know his name, thanks to the Witch), closes the lid of the basket and he made a screeching noise at me for a brief second.

Then, the Witch aimed his eyes at me and my heart begins to beat really fast. That was my same reaction after I watched Judge Doom smile for the first time at the Acme Factory.

This is one of Judge Doom's terrifying forms that Dad talked about! I thought. He was a man who works at the Houston Juvenile Institute and now, Doom is a witch!

"And you, my dear," The Witch began, "what an unexpected pleasure! It is so kind of you to visit me in my loneliness."

"Visit you?" I asked. "You made your Winged Monkeys carry me all the way over here!"

The Witch cackled his high, squeaky cackle.

"You got spunk! I never see that in girls, especially if they're like you!" He exclaimed.

I watched Nikko walk to a door with the basket.

I walked after him but he stopped me by chattering and screeching in defense.

"What are you going to do with Toto?" I asked the Witch angrily and nervously. "Give him back to me!"

"All in good time, my pretty, all in good time." The Witch replied with a smug on his face.

"Give Toto back to me RIGHT NOW! I'm not going to say it again!"

"Don't worry about me, Beatrice!" Toto exclaimed from the basket. "I'll be all right!"

"No, you won't, Toto!" I replied.

"I'll give you back your ugly little dog (I had the urge to punch the Witch in the face) but you'll have to give me those ruby sandals." The Witch said.

I gasped and the lights began flicker while a cold wind begins to blow through the window.

"Are you blackmailing me?" I yelled angrily. "If you are, then you are not going to get these slippers and you are so messed up! I will never give you the sandals because the Good Witch of the North told me not to!"

The smug on the Witch's face disappeared.

"Very well." The Witch said.

He walked over to Nikko and commanded him,

"Throw the basket in the river and drown that dog!"

"NO!" I exclaimed angrily. "Here, take the sandals! Take them! They're yours but give me back Toto!"

The Witch turned to me with a satisfied but vain smile.

"That's more like it." He said. "That's a good little girl."

As the Witch began to bend down, the cold wind blew harder and the light bulbs began to flicker. The Witch wasn't paying attention to what was happening and his green hands stiffened up, as if they were cramping.

Sparks of green and yellow electricity was shot from his fingers and the wind blew so hard that all of the candles blew out. I gasped in shock and I watched as my ruby sandals began to absorb the electricity.

"What's happening?!" The Witch exclaimed.

As if they were on cue, the light bulbs explode and the electricity that was absorbed in my sandals made them glow for a few brief seconds. Suddenly, the electricity strikes at the Witch, causing him to be pushed away from me and his hat flies off his head, exposing his white hair. It was sticking up in all directions on his head.

The wind stopped blowing and because it was so dark in the tower room, I couldn't see how messy the room looked.

I heard the Witch stand up and I heard sheets of paper, books, and bottles of potions going back to their original places by the Witch's magic. Another wind sound was heard and all of the candles and light bulbs were lit and repaired, also with magic.

The tower room was really clean but the Witch's hair was really messy. The Witch's hat flies back on his head…not before his hair twisted up into a single, giant curl.

The Witch looks down at the ruby sandals again and he attempts to make them come off my feet. But unfortunately for him, his hands get electrocuted by the leftover electricity that was absorbed in my sandals. The Witch withdraws and looked at his curled fingers that were just shocked by the power of the electricity.

I gasped.

"I didn't do that but I'm sorry!" I exclaimed. "Can I still have Toto back?"

The Witch looked at me angrily.

"NO!" He exclaimed loudly as the spirals in his eyes were spinning at an out-of-control speed. "Fool that I am, I should've remembered!"

"Remember what?" I asked.

"Those sandals will never come off of your feet! They will stay there and I will never have them until…they're removed after you lose your breath of life. In other words, the slippers will only come off of your feet when you're dead!"

I gasped and I felt tears getting ready to leak out of my eyes.

"But that's NOT what's worrying me." The Witch said. "It's HOW to do it that makes me worried. These sorts of things that must be done DELICATELY or you'll hurt the spell."

All of the sudden, Toto slips out of the basket and he begins to run towards a door at a speed that I've never seen from him.

"RUN, TOTO, RUN!" I exclaimed.

"CATCH THAT DOG, YOU FOOL!" The Witch shouted at Nikko.

The Witch and I watch Nikko chase Toto down a staircase but he quickly loses Toto.

"RUN, TOTO, RUN!" I exclaimed again.

Then, Toto ran to a drawbridge as it begins to be lifted off. He stops at the edge to catch his breath but he immediately jumps in to a trench at the bottom of the drawbridge after several Wickersham Monkey guards in 1917 Cossack suits chased after him with spears with the metal parts shaped like the donkey's jawbone that Samson the Nazarite used while fighting the Philistines.

Thankfully, the trench wasn't too deep and Toto climbed back up to the other side and ran towards a rocky hill.

"He got away!" I exclaimed happily. "He got away!"

But my happiness didn't last very long after I heard the Witch growl.

"WHICH IS MORE THAN YOU WILL!" He exclaimed.

The Witch pulled me away from the doors and he pushed me towards his giant crystal ball.

"DARN YOU…AND YOUR DOG!" The Witch exclaimed angrily. "You've been more trouble to me than you're worth, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, but it will soon be over!"

Then, he snapped his fingers and an hourglass with green, yellow, and red sand inside appeared before my eyes.

"YOU SEE THIS HOURGLASS?!" The Witch exclaimed. "All that sand inside of it is your last minutes of being alive! It isn't long, my pretty! It won't be long for me to possess those sandals! Your little friends won't be here on time and they won't be able to save you!"

"THEY WILL SAVE ME, YOU FIEND!" I exclaimed angrily with tears running down my cheeks. "THEY WILL SAVE ME! I KNOW IT!"

"But what about Lion? He doesn't have any courage! He'll run away from my castle before he takes one step inside! What about the Tin Weasel? He doesn't have a heart! He knows nothing about love or caring for others!"

"YES, HE DOES! I'VE SEEN HIM CRY!"

"But what kind of a creature cries or feels without a heart? Tin Weasel is THAT kind of a creature who doesn't feel! And last but not least, Two-Headed Scarecrow. Neither of those heads have their own brain! That scarecrow is so stupid that he'll be walking the other way and never find my castle! Your friends will never save you!"

The Witch turns the hourglass and the sand immediately begins to fall in to the lower bulb.

"It isn't much longer for me, my pretty! I can't wait forever to get those sandals!" The Witch exclaimed and stormed out of the room.

He slams the door and I heard him lock the doors.

I looked at the hourglass and I began to cry out loud.

Tears rolled down my face and my cheeks began to burn in sorrow. My breathing patterns went rocky because of my crying and I felt like I was hyperventilating.

I really needed someone to help me stay reassured that help will be on the way. The only person that I can think of was my dad. Whenever I felt sad, Dad would be there for me and he would always tell me that things will be all right. But Dad's not here! He's miles away from Oz and I want him to help me…or maybe encourage me to think of a plan.

That's it! I'll think of a plan!

I'll—I'll—I'll—I can't think of anything!

I'm never going to get out of here! I'll never be to go back home!

Oh, wait. I just thought of a plan.

The plan is: Abandon my destiny that's coming up in my future and die in the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West. Despite of my usual thinking of continuing to the future and face the inevitable results in my destiny, I don't think that I'll be able to fulfill my destiny. Although some people, like Greasy, tell me that I was never a mistake, I always have been thinking that I really am a mistake throughout my life. I screw up on everything and other people think that I make things worse for them. They're right. I walked with TW, Scarecrow, and Lion to the Emerald City and now, they're still in the forest and I don't know how they are doing right now. TW is probably squished, Scarecrow is probably torn up so badly that it'll be impossible to put him back together, and Lion…is probably running off to another place where he'll never be bothered by his fears again.

About dying in the tower room, I don't know if it'll be a quick and painful death or if I will die while I'm slowly falling unconscious.

I'm scared now. I really am.

"I'm frightened!" I cried out while still sobbing. "I'm frightened, Daddy, I'm frightened!"

I continued to cry and the tear drops slid down my cheeks and my neck.

"Beatrice? BEATRICE!"

"Daddy?" I asked.

"Muchacha? Where are you?"

"Greasy?"

"Beatrice!"

"Tommy?"

I looked around the room but I didn't see Tommy, Greasy, or Daddy. Then, I looked at the crystal ball behind me.

I gasped.

Image by image, Tommy, Greasy, and Daddy were displayed on inside the ball and every few seconds or so, the images would switch to another person, like Tommy would show up, then Greasy, and then, Dad would be seen last and the cycle repeats all over again. Greasy, Tommy, and Dad share the same look of concern on their faces.

"It's me, Beatrice, it's your daddy." Dad said in the crystal ball.

The image of my dad fades into an image of Greasy.

"Please, muchacha. Show yourself. I can't find you anywhere." Greasy said.

The image of Greasy fades into an image of Tommy.

"Beatrice, we're trying to find you!" Tommy exclaimed.

As the images switch one by one, Dad, Greasy, and Tommy say this in unison,

"Where are you? We're trying to find you. Where are you, Beatrice?"

As I tried to calm myself down, I said,

"I'm here in Oz, you guys! I'm locked up in the Witch's castle and I'm trying to get home to y'all!"

The images dissolve into various colors before they completely disappear.

"Don't go away, you guys! I'm frightened! I'm scared! Tommy! GREASY! Daddy, come back! Come back! Come back!" I exclaimed.

Then, a faded green shape begins to display itself.

"Daddy! Please don't go! I'm scared!" I exclaimed again.

All of the sudden, like a scary image of a screaming person from an online Halloween maze, the Wicked Witch of the West pops up in the crystal ball and screamed at me.

"AHHHH!" The Witch screamed with the red and white spirals in his eyes spin madly inside and with an evil grin.

I screamed and jumped back from the crystal ball.

"'Daddy, Daddy, don't go! Don't go'! 'I'm scared, I'm frightened'! 'Come back, come back'!" The Witch exclaimed, mocking me.

I frowned and cried at the same time.

"I'll give you your daddy, my pretty! Times a-ticking on that hourglass and pretty soon, those slippers will be mine and I'll have the greatest power in the entire world! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!" The Witch cackled and his image faded in to a black fog, leaving the crystal ball…'blank'.

I growled and started to bang my fists on the crystal ball.

"AHHH! BILGE RAT! HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME! HOW DARE YOU SCARE ME!" I exclaimed. "YOU FIEND! YOU RED-EYED SNAKE! YOU SPELL-CASTING PIG! YOU…SADISTIC…IMMATURE…BABY STINK BRAIN!"

Then, the light bulbs exploded and I slowly stopped banging my fists on the crystal ball.

"Oh, what's the point?" I asked myself. "I'm never going to get out of here. What if the Witch was right? What if TW, Scarecrow, and Lion won't be able to save me in time? I'm going to die tonight."

I sat down next to the crystal ball and I continued to cry my eyes out. I curled up in to a ball and let the tears run down my face.

"Screw my destiny! Screw my life! Screw everything!" I exclaimed.