Playing with Fire

Facing the cauldron filled with a bubbling liquid, waving her arms while she casts the spell—Elle prepared to poison an apple.

httpa://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFSu_ac_v_U

“Mua ha ha ha,” exclaimed the witch as she dipped a fruit into the boiling liquid. “With this… I’ll get my revenge.”

Elle pulled the apple out of the cauldron and stared at it—all her years of hard work were finally bearing fruit.

You thought I would forget what you did to me, Elle thought, when she heard her son opening the door.

“Mom…” said Corvi, “can you stop screwing around?”

“This time it’s different,” Elle said soothingly. “I’m preparing a present.”

“Anyway…” said Corvi, rolling his eyes. “I was just going to tell you that I’m about to leave.”

“I imagined you would,” Elle said. “Why don’t you take this gift for the princess?”

“Another one of your useless curses, seriously?”

“I’m a different person now, my son,” Elle said.

“Okay…” Corvi said, taking the glowing bright red apple. “Well mom… I’ll see you later.”

Elle smiled. “I hope so.”

“You’re really weird today,” Corvi said before leaving the house.

And so, Corvi took a path through the forest to reach Molly’s castle—the princess, Sally’s daughter. Little did Corvi know, his mother and the queen used to be partners of the king. Sure, before the marriage left Elle out of the game.

Worse still, Corvi was unable to imagine that his mother had planned her revenge for such a long time, and Elle looked forward to the return of her son—but he never came back.

The next day, after spending a sleepless night, Elle went out to find an answer. The road was long and painful, her mind created thousands of terrible scenarios. However, upon reaching the village, she discovered that Corvi did not make it to the party.

Elle ran back to her house—this time she took the path through the forest. Despite the bright sunlight, there was a damp chill in the darkness of shadows. The huge trees had never looked so dark—Elle paid little attention to the signs and ran. Desperately looking for her son, but she couldn’t find any traces of him.

On the verge of losing hope, crying over the dry leaves, she heard a peculiar sound—this was the first time she heard something like it. However, it was very much like the growl of an animal.

“I was expecting you,” said the dark voice from the shadows. “It took you long enough.”

“Who are you?” asked Elle as she got up.

“Can’t you recognize your own son.”

Elle saw the creature’s glowing eyes. Then, the beast emerged from the shadows and landed on top of the witch. She felt the claws piercing her skin.

People still talk about the creature living in that forest—the monster product of revenge.