240 - oak

luttering in and out of the shadows, she did her best to avoid drawing any attention to herself. This particular stretch of sidewalk was relatively dark, and there were a few other people around. She tried blending in with them. He was getting near, approaching from the opposite direction.

They were just a few paces apart, now. She threw her hand up beside her face on the side he would be passing by, masking her appearance without looking too much like she was actually hiding herself. For a millisecond, they were directly next to each other, but as they each continued upon their respective paths, their proximity diminished.

She would not look back. If he suspected anything, he would be anticipating such behavior. She counted her steps. Two, three, four. With each footfall, she gained confidence. She felt the faintest of hopes that she had succeeded.

"Hey, witch," a deep voice called out from behind her, "hold on for just a moment."

She had failed, after all. Sighing, she slowed to a halt. The man that she had tried to avoid was now moving in the same direction that she had been, and in a moment he stood in front of her.

They stared at each other, face to face. She knew what would come next, but how tortuous it would be depended on him. He smirked after thoroughly examining the features of her visage.

"You thought you could really avoid me just by trying to cover your face? Don't you know your kind has all sorts of dead giveaways? When you put your hand up, my attention was just drawn more to your hair," he explained. "Although, I have to admit, looking now into the deep abyss of your black eyes, you probably made a good call to try and hide them."

The slow stream of people on the sidewalk continued to trickle past the two of them, just as the river's water flows around a stuck branch. She considered pointing out to him that she had appraised him based on his appearance from afar as well. Their kinds both faced similar limitations here on Earth. While they could alter their appearance as they wished, certain features remained invariable.

She decided to go with a different angle. "Having to identify me by sight? How pathetic. Are your senses growing so dull? Shouldn't you be able to simply feel my presence?" she said with vitriol.

"Oh, please," he snarled. "You and I both know how being around these creatures dilutes our abilities to sense each other. These humans are so mixed up with their feelings, it's impossible to get a reading on just about anyone here."

"Then, have you ever accidentally tagged one of them as a witch?" she asked. "You don't know, maybe I'm just a really mixed up human."

He shook his head. "No, I never have. And I'm quite certain now, standing here next to you. This is my job, I'm pretty good at it. Besides, if you really wanted to use that excuse, you should have acted more confused from the start. You didn't, because I think on some level you want to go back. Deep down, you know you don't belong here."

She would have argued if it could possibly do any good. There was no chance for her from the moment they had crossed paths, and all of this was just him toying with her. Impatiently, she blurted out, "Okay, so, what's next?"

He appeared disappointed at her unwillingness to draw the situation out. He exhaled sharply. "We go back," he said, as he placed a hand upon her shoulder.