Maybeck

My heart had never pounded harder. Not for Maleficent. Not for Chernabog. Not even that first time I was stuck in SBS in Space Mountain. This was the real deal. This was the Wicked Witch of the West. 

"Who killed my sister? Who killed the Wicked Witch of the East? Was it you?" The Wicked Witch of the West went off on her programmed spiel and I sighed with relief. Maybe she was going to be one of those animatronics that didn't do anything to us. But it did worry me that her eyes were locked directly on Amanda, who was far out of her programmed reach. 

"Wh-what?" Amanda fumbled over her words. 

"Maybe try responding the way the CM does?" Philby suggested. Amanda gulped and rattled off the rest of the CM rehearsed speech. After she was done, the witch did her programmed stagger backwards and responded the same way she did every time.

"Very well, I'll bide my time. But I'll get you my pretty, and your little friends too!" The Wicked Witch of the West cackled and the fog went up, but we knew when the smoke cleared, she was still going to be there. Wanna know how we knew? One word: friends. Put the puzzle together.

"What. Is. Happening." Willa whispered. 

"Should we run before she can catch us?" Philby suggested. Of course he wanted to run. 

"Can't run from the wicked witch." I laughed, knowing I had tried to make the 'w' sound like a 'b'. Amanda glared at me for that, which only made me chuckle harder.

"Shut up." Jess snapped. I gave here a fake hurt look. 

"You're one to talk," I smirked. She stiffened and instinctively hid behind Amanda, who out of force of habit wrapped a protective arm around Jess.

"Guys..." Finn tried to get our attention, but we were all staring each other down. Well, everyone was staring at me, and I was dividing up my glares equally among them, but lingering on Jess just a millisecond more, but it was enough to make her shuffle uncomfortably. 

"Guys." Finn attempted one more. 

"Hey!" Charlene harshly whispered, which got everyone's attention. Maybe it was a cheerleader thing. 

"Wow, okay." Finn threw up his hands in defeat. 

"What?" We all replied in unison.

"Look," Charlene and Finn motioned around the room, where there were maybe one hundred eyes focused like lasers on us.

"Déjà vu." I muttered, which got an elbow to the rib cage from Charlie. 

All the Munchkins were looking us up and down as if we were lunch at Via Napole. And who I assumed was their leader, the Wicked Witch of the West, was standing smack dab in the middle of the track. She was giving us a smirk only a fellow troublemaker knew was a clue to make a break for it. Then one simple word broke the dead silence that hung in the air.

"CHARGE!" The Wicked Witch of the West screamed into the air. Instantly, there were maybe fifty Munchkin animatronics after us, just like in It's a Small World. 

"RUN!" Philby hollered in response, taking off directly towards the Munchkins. I don't know what he was thinking, but he wasn't going to come out to the other side without a few scratches and bites. 

"That was not a good approach." Charlene rolled her eyes as she scurried over to one of the towers. With only the skills a gymnast would have, she got to the top of the tower in seconds and started to make her way across the room on top of the giant flowers and homes. Willa, being a rock climber, followed Charlene's lead. 

"See ya' suckers." Amanda ripped a loose looking piece of the house from it's foundation and hopped on top of it, carrying herself and Jess over top of everything as if she was Alex and/or Justin in the Wizards of Waverly Place movie. 

Finn and I just kind of looked at each other and did the only logical thing: We ran straight into the Munchkins waiting to bite our faces off with the Wicked Witch of the West as their ruler. 

"Ahhhh!" Finn screamed as the little beasts nipped at our arms and legs. 

"I think I'm bleeding!" I heard Philby yell towards the other side of hell.

"Ow! Me too!" Finn inspected his arm carefully.

"Weaklings!" I called in response as I dodged the mouths of the Munchkins left and right. Although I was trying to be brave, it was hard to ignore the blood trickling down my dark skin from several places up and down my arms and legs.

"Is this what it's like for girls to shave?!" Philby asked in a panicked tone, which caused Finn and I to bust out laughing.

"Probably!" Finn replied, closely avoiding a big Munchkin mouth. 

"Look out!" I gave a short warning before throwing Finn out of the way of the Wicked Witch of the West's broom, which was secreting some sort of fog that I didn't think any of us would want to come into contact with. I shuddered at the reminder of the Fantasia brooms, which were probably going to show up at the end of the night with our luck.

"How many more are there?" I called to Philby, who was farther along than I was. Hopefully there wasn't much more, as the Wicked Witch's cackling was fading away faster as I got father in the sea of tiny people. 

"I see stars!" Philby replied, referring to the starry screen at the end of the ride.

"Yes!" I heard Finn call from behind me. He must've gotten up from me knocking him over. In protection, of course.

"I'M FREEEEE!" Philby shouted. He was only meters away. The end was within my reach. It was there. 

And then I blacked out.

*In Rico Suave voice* A cliffhanger... MUAHAHAHAHA! 

You know I love you guys, but these cliffhangers are just too good not to do. I've been waiting to write the Wizard of Oz chapter for like three chapters. I wanted to write it much sooner, but there was just too much fun to be had in the other scenes. This went much different than how I had originally planned the chapter to go, but it all works out. And now I have new torture to bring up on to Maydork! Yay!

Maybeck: Excuse me?

Me: Love you too, Maydork. 

Anyhoo, don't forget to fan, comment and vote! Oh, and I've dedicated this chapter to @percyjacksonfan9261 cuz they were fanning over my chapter here a little while ago and I figured hey, they deserve some credit! Thank you!

xoxo

~bcruzy_02