Illustration Credit: Monica Rizzo

In the small town called old Crimsonville, in Maine, there lived a beautiful young girl named Elvira Tempress. You might be wondering, what could be so interesting about this girl with a weird name? Well, she has a dark secret: she’s a witch. However, even she didn’t know this before our story opens. Let me guide you through the story of how she discovered her powers.
It was the week of Halloween. The crisp, chilly air blew the red, orange, and yellow leaves along the ground. Elvira watched them aimlessly race through the window of her high school classroom. She was in a trance-like state until she was snapped back to reality by her teacher calling her name. 

“Huh?” she muttered, not evening looking up as her teacher spoke.

“Ms. Tempress can you tell me the answer?” the The whole class turned to look at her, waiting for her to say some nonsense so they could have a laugh. Elvira started to get anxious until she glanced across the room to see her best friend, Rune. Rune was mouthing something.

It took Elvira a second to understand, but once she did, she blurted out “X equals 22.” 

The teacher gave an almost-surprised look and said “Um- that’s correct? Well done, Elvira.” 

Flashing a fake smile, Elvira looked over and grinned at Rune who was giving her a thumbs up. The bell rang and the students raced to exit the room. 

Rune and Elvira reunited in the hallway. The girls made small talk about their days as they walked towards the exit until Rune spotted a poster and tore it off the wall. “Annual Halloween Bash,” she read. 

“Sounds thrilling,” Elvira retorted sarcastically. 

“We should go! It could be fun; we don’t have any Halloween plans anyway,” Rune begged sticking out her bottom lip. 

“I don’t know…” 

“It could finally give you a chance to ask Dexter out!” Rune interrupted. 

“Say it a little louder, why don’t you?” Elvira spat while shoving Rune. 

“Oh, come on, just take a chance for once. What’s the worst that can happen?” 

“Okay fine,” Elvira actually agreed, thinking it was now or never.

The next few days were slow and boring. Elvira walked through the hallways with her music blasting in her headphones. She looked down to quickly change the song, but as soon as she looked up, she was colliding with a strong chest. She fell down and started apologizing. “I’m sorry I totally wasn’t looking. Are you…?”

“It’s fine. Let me help you up,” she heard him say, looking up to see a hand in front of her face. Elvira grabbed onto it and froze as soon as she saw who the hand was connected to. “Sorry about that El, I should’ve been paying more attention.” Dexter smiled. 
Elvira blushed and nodded. “It’s now or never!” she thought. “All good Dexter, but I do have a question for you.” Elvira said shyly. 

“Shoot,” he replied. 

“Well, Rune and I are going to the Halloween Bash, and I was just wondering if you were gonna be there?” 

“Yeah, I am! I will see you there for sure.  You better impress me with your costume. I gotta go to class though. I’ll see you later!” Dexter flashed a devilish smile and turned away. If she could Elvira would’ve screamed. Elvira ran to tell Rune and they started brainstorming costume ideas immediately.

Finally, Friday rolled around. It felt like the longest school day ever, but Elvira practically skipped home.  She and Rune had plans to meet at her house and go to the party from there.

Elvira took her time getting ready. Dexter said he wanted to be impressed, so impressed he would be!  

Elvira and Rune had decided to dress as witches. Elvira finished her makeup, slipped on her black dress, boots, big pointy hat, grabbed her broom stick, and dashed out of the house. 

She and Rune were on cloud nine, blasting music and having a great time on the way to the party. When they arrived, Elvira touched up her lipstick one more time, and they headed inside. 

“I’m gonna go get us drinks. Go find Dexter. I’ll be back in a flash!” Rune shouted to Elvira over the loud music.

Elvira just nodded and went on her search. She couldn’t find Dexter anywhere, and it didn’t help she had no idea how the house was set up, but she finally found the living room. “He has to be in here,” she thought. Elvira rounded the corner and her smile quickly faded. She saw Dexter wearing a devil costume, but to her dismay he was sitting right next to a blonde girl wearing a halo and wings. Dexter looked at her and his eyes widened; she held eye contact for a moment before tears started to well and she stormed away. 

El heard Dexter calling her name but just ignored it. She ran into Rune on the way out and just gave her a look of sorrow. Rune knew exactly what had happened and dropped the two cups to chase after her. Elvira just kept running and didn’t stop until she reached the cemetery about three blocks down the road. There she sat upon a grave and finally let the tears fall. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes until Rune found her. 

“Elvira, tell me what happened!”

Once she heard Rune’s voice, Elvira snapped. She shouted, “Just leave me alone!” and bawled up her fist and squeezed her eyes shut. She imagined the ground breaking apart between them just so she could have some space.  Then she heard Rune scream. 
Elvira opened her eyes to see her vision became a reality. There was a huge crack in the ground and Rune ran in the opposite direction. Instead of being afraid, Elvira smirked. She was powerful now. There was no need to cower and hide. She was going to get revenge, so she started walking back to the party. The door swung open with such force everyone heard it and turned. It revealed Elvira standing there with smudged makeup and dried tears. 

Laughter started to erupt from the crowd, and Dexter stepped forward. Before he could even open his mouth to explain himself, Elvira interrupted. “Where is she?” she snarled. 

“Who? Rune?” he asked, worriedly. At that moment the blond girl emerged from behind him. 

“Babe what’s going on?” the girl asked, looking back and forth between Dexter and El. She couldn’t take it anymore. 

“YOU!” she screeched and squeezed her wrist. Without thinking twice, Elvira sent the girl flying back into the wall. The crowd of teens started screaming and running, some not seeing what happened, but knowing trouble was afoot. 

“Luna!” Dexter yelled.  He went to her aid. 

“Not so fast,” Elvira said with a chuckle and suspended him from the ground turning him to face her, “you’re coming with me.” She levitated Dexter behind her. She once again walked to the graveyard and finally set him onto his feet. Dexter knew better than to run; instead, he looked at her with the most fear she’s ever seen in someone’s eyes. Elvira didn’t feel a shred of guilt. 

“Why are you doing this? Luna didn’t do anything to you!” Dexter pleaded. Elvira just shook her head and snorted.

“No, she didn’t, but you did.” She started lifting off the ground once again “You told me that you would see me tonight. How are you going to see me if all your attention is on her? How could you Dexter! You know I’ve been in love with you for years! And all you do is lead me on. Well that ends tonight!” Elvira continued. She had him about twenty feet off the ground at this point and just simply let go. He dropped and laid like a crumpled piece of paper on the ground. El could hear his quiet sobs and went to crouch next to him. 

“I’m sorry!” he pleaded, “I never meant to hurt you!” 

“It’s too late now, Dexter. If I cant have you no one can,” she explained and planted a kiss to the top of his head. 

“Wha...” Dexter started, but before he could finish Elvira once again used her mind and sent Dexter flying into the nearby mausoleum. She saw his body hit the wall and crack it. She smiled to herself and walked over to finish the job when she heard a familiar voice.

“El! El! Stop! Please just listen to me!” It was Rune. Elvira turned around and wiped the little bit of blood that had started to trickle out of her nose. 

She expected to be screamed at by her best friend but was instead greeted with a big hug. 

“Oh my god, are you okay? That was awesome!” Rune said while squeezing her shoulders. 

“Yeah, I guess I’m okay, but he’s not,” Elvira joked, pointing at Dexter, who was trying to get up. 

“Jesus Elvira! You could’ve killed him,” Rune said.  

“Well yeah, that’s kinda what I was going for,” El retorted. 

Rune just shot her a “Seriously?” look and said, “Look, El, I understand your anger. I really do. And your powers are really awesome. Like how come you didn’t tell me sooner! Anyways, you can’t do this. Yes, maybe he deserves it, but you can’t kill him for being a jerk.” Rune always knew the right things to say, and it made Elvira realize. 

“You know what? You’re right, but I’m just going to do one more thing before we get out of here.” She turned around and collapsed the mausoleum that Dexter was still sitting by. “Okay, let’s get out of here. All this telekinesis really made me hungry.” Elvira joked and Rune just shook her head and laughed. 

“Man, I wish you could fly, this walk home is going to suck.” Elvira just looked at Rune and smirked. The girls made it home in less than two minutes.

The next week at school everyone acted like nothing happened. A few people at the party tried to make a police report, but they didn’t take a group of teenagers claiming a witch ruined their party very seriously. Dexter was in a wheelchair and had Luna pushing him around. He wasn’t seriously injured, but he was enough to know not to talk to Elvira anymore. Elvira and Rune now walked the halls with confidence knowing that they were never to be messed with again.