Finding My Yellow Brick Road

Chapter Eight - The Wicked Witch of the West

"Aw, it's easy, just leave the Emerald City and go back the way you came." He says, shrugging.

"How will we find her?" I ask.

He chuckles. "Don't worry, she'll find you."

"All right, thanks Bulldog," I say, giving him a fist bump.

We head out of the Emerald City, and Dorothy speaks up. "Gabrielle, what did you say to that guard before? He seems like a different person now."

I shrug. "I just told him like it is. No big thing."

"Seems like a pretty big thing to me," the Lion says.

I roll my eyes, but before I can respond, we are surrounded by flying monkeys.

"Aw, crap!" I shout. "Anybody heard anything about flying monkeys?"

"Yeah, these guys belong to Evillene," the Lion tells me, hiding behind me.

My eye twitches. "Y'all world is trippin'."

We don't fight, letting ourselves get captured in a huge net, and the flying monkeys pick us up and carry us away.

After miles and miles of flying, enough that my head starts to spin, the monkeys drop us into a huge chute, and we fall into what seems to be a dark and dank dungeon full of people in heavy uniforms. A tall woman looks down at us. She is wearing a large black dress, open in the front, over black leggings, and a huge black crown on her head.

"So, you must be Dorothy and Baby," she says, sneering at us.

We get up and dust ourselves off.

"And you must be the Wicked Witch of the West. You sho'nuff look evil to me." I tell her.

"You two murdered my sister!" She growls at us. "And a saint she was. And stole her shoes! Give them to me!"

"No!" Dorothy says.

"No?" Evillene repeats, shocked. "Fine!"

She orders some of her servants to take us away, and we are immediately put to work.

For a solid sixteen hours we are made to work, without a break, without food or water, or anything.

I see the Lion and Dorothy and run up to them. "Hey guys," I pant, "how's it goin'?"

They try to hug me, but I back up, holding out my hand. "Believe me, you don't wanna hug me, I smell so bad I can barely stand to be around myself right now."

"That ol' Witch has me scrubbin' and polishin'." Dorothy complains. "I will never complain about any chore Aunt Em gives me ever again."

I laugh out loud at that.

"They got me on mop duty," the Lion says, "now that ol' witch is definitely afraid of water. She don't even bathe!" He tells us, holding his nose and waving his paw in front of his snout. "She sends herself out once a week for dry cleanin'!"

"Damn, y'all are inside all day?" I say. "I gotta take out the trash, all day. Back and forth, back and forth. Earlier, it was hot as hell, and now I'm bein' eaten alive by mosquitoes! And each bag of trash weighs a solid twenty pounds! My arms are noodles right now! And three or four of them spilled all over me, and they all smell so bad!" I complain. "I cannot wait to take a shower."

"Excuse me, Lord High Underling," we hear Evillene say. "But did you hear me give anyone a coffee break?"

"No, ma'am," Lord High Underling replies, "not in my lifetime."

"Please, Ms. Witch," my cousin begs, "we haven't seen each other."

"Aw, ask me if I care!" The Witch responds. "Back to work!"