[It was midday. The witch was walking through a particularly crowded street, her silver hair tied under a sports hat, with sunglasses on and an almost masculine outfit that one would never expect her to wear. Her included. It was very hot, but the inhabitants of the city weren’t scared of the sun, it seemed; so they walked back and forth through the market, their voices mixed, and often they had to make themselves as small as possible to pass through groups that seemed to like to stop in the middle of the streets.
The witch sighed nervously when she hid a hand under her sleeveless shirt, pulling out a white apple that a merchant she passed close to couldn’t realize to have seen disappear in front of his very eyes. She gave it a small bite and kept going, looking around for something she had been told to be sold only in that place that she wanted. She usually didn’t allow herself to give up to such petty caprices… And I shouldn’t have, she thought now, feeling particularly uneasy while submerged by too many busy civilians.
She reached her limit while crossing the street, when she risked to be run over by someone on a bicycle that she didn’t see coming. She stopped right in front of them, staring at them for a few seconds, before just turning and abruptly changing direction. She was panting visibly, and for some reason she was starting to cry. She hated crowds. She couldn’t even escape using her usual tricks to get out of there, and she was starting to fear that she could draw someone’s attention like that. She searched for somewhere to hide, to catch her breath, to at least get some relief from the heat of the day. But there were too many people around, and she couldn’t find any quiet spot. She slowed down and stopped, just staring at the ones who kept walking around her, suddenly not even knowing what she was doing or what she was there for.]