The day began, not good, not bad, it just simply began.  Sunlight somehow filtered through the dusty window on the top floor of the duplex and streamed onto the face of a young boy.  As the rays touched his face the boy awoke.  Slowly sitting up his attention was turned to the window.  Rubbing clear a small circular patch he peered out into the street.  The little side street in the city had no traffic, no people, not even the typical stray cat was stalking down the sidewalk.  Rows of cars lined both sides of the street, leaving a path barely big enough for a two-door.  Something had caught his eye though.  The street…it was…quivering.  The boy shook his head before looking again.  He was right though.  Leaves on the few trees began to shake, the old window began to shudder in its cracked pane, pieces of the broken sidewalks shifted out of place and began to jump up and down.  The boy began to back away from his window, then it happened; in the middle of the street, floating in midair, a sphere of green light began to form.  First the size of a marble, then a baseball, a basketball, and then the whole street was flooded with its light.

            The boy had to turn away its light was so bright.  Then it stopped.  Looking back out the window the boy gasped; there, in the middle of the street, a woman stood.  Well, at least he thought it was a woman.

            Her skin had that same unearthly-green glow the street had just been flooded with.  Her hair billowed out behind her, its midnight black blending with the swells of her dark cape.  On her head a hat proudly sat, two feet high at least and tipped with a point that looked as though it could stab.

            The boy reeled back from his window in fear.  This woman, this thing, was, at least it looked like, a witch!  All of a sudden, a bemused smile began to play across the boy’s face till finally a full out grin appeared.  A witch?  He was too old for such things.  He was ten after all.  “Maybe it’s a parade,” he thought.  A look of doubt crossed his face for a moment but he quickly replaced it with one of determination.  He was going to simply go down into the street and ask the lady when she was doing dressed like that.

            The witch stood there in the middle of the street.  It certainly didn’t look like the yellow brick one she was used to.  Even the buildings looked different; no towers, green palaces, or even stupid flying houses.  The thought of houses yanked her out of her thoughts instantly.  “Dorothy!” she growled, narrowing her eyes.  Yeah, so maybe she shouldn’t have waited fifty year to come to find her rival, that murderer!  But after being almost killed by the water it had taken some time to recuperate, and the spell to even get here!  Well that took some doing.  In her heart she knew the girl was still alive though, somewhere.  “Dorothy…” the witch spat out again.

            She didn’t notice the door of a small duplex open behind her.  Nor did she hear the footsteps of a ten-year-old boy walk out, jaw set, face steadied, and a squirt gun tucked in his dinosaur-print, pajama bottom, elastic waistband.

            The boy was determined not to be scared, at least not visibly.  Imagine what his friends would think!  Resolutely he marched down the stairs and into the street.  “Dorothy!”  The boy stopped.  Dorothy?  He looked around; maybe he had missed someone when he had looked out the window.  Finding no one else he shook his head vigorously.  “I’m going crazy,” he thought. His mom always said that when she did something stupid.

            He continued walking forward, a little slower.  Twitching by the little squirt gun in his waistband was his hand.  He felt foolish carrying around but it was the only weapon he had.  With a grin he thought about how he’d won it from his friend Tommy, when they had bet on a Playstation tournament.  Then he saw the woman again and his smile faded.  What was he doing out here?  This was stupid.  The woman hadn’t seen him yet, he would just turn around and-

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