He remembered Katherine bending over him, wrapping him in her large, black cape and suddenly they were no longer in Colin's old wooden house. Instead what now appeared before him was a wooden cottage, covered in the strangest of bottles and jars, and its walls were full of dried herbs, plants and even an old sickle, perhaps for decoration purposes.

The moment Colin had registered the shift in environment his entire body jerked and he felt a sickeningly nauseating feeling in his stomach, and Katherine gave him a strange, small cube to eat. It instantly made his body settle and regain its strength even prior to the encounter with the witch, but it had no effect on his mind: he was still just as confused, sad, angry and scared as he was, and these feelings would only strengthen now that he got a better look at his whereabouts.

He escaped from Katherine's embrace, pulled her cape away from him and then made a run for the door, but the door was locked and didn't even budge.

"Let me out of here!" Colin yelled and banged his small fists against the heavy wooden door, feeling the bounding in his entire body as he kept screaming and hitting. He then tried to go to a window, but no matter what he did and how much he pushed and kicked, the glass wouldn't break.

"You can't just keep me here!" the boy then shouted, but Katherine didn't seem to even hear this - instead she had taken off her travelling cape and was now sitting by the table, browsing through what seemed to be a newspaper.

"Do you hear me, witch?!"

"Calm down," Katherine groaned from behind the magazine. "You'll just exhaust yourself if you keep on doing that - and I will run out of patience faster than you wear yourself out, so this is your only warning, boy."

Colin stood still, blinking his eyes in confusion.

"When... will you let me out, then?" he finally whispered.

"I won't. You're mine now, and this is your new home."

"No."

"No?" the witch asked in a warning tone.

"I... I-I can't, I just can't stay here. I want to go back home, to my mother and my siblings!"

"Tough luck, kid, because you're not going anywhere. You're my servant now."

"I refuse," Colin said angrily and grit his teeth. He walked over to the door and then sat down on the wooden floor, leaning against the exit and pouting.

"It's no use behaving childishly like this," the witch said and turned a page of her newspaper. "The faster you accept this as your new place, the easier it is for the both of us. You won't get any food until you get off the floor."

Colin remained silent, turning around so that he was now showing his back to the witch.

"Ugh, children..." she whispered and rubbed her temples with her hand.

But Colin didn't move. He remained where he was, pouting and staying silent no matter what the witch said or did - and she soon gave up and left the boy alone in the kitchen.

And when she was gone, Colin finally let himself to cry. Large, hot tears found their way into his eyes and then fall on his cheeks and run down his neck, and he'd sob and hiccup, trying not to let the witch know he was crying. And he cried, all the while scratching the door like a cat hoping its family would hear it and let it out; hear his cries and help him.

But, of course, nobody would come to help him.