She said she was a witch but I didn’t believe her. Oh sure, she had a complete library of all the books of the trade, but even my younger sister showed interest in Witchcraft when we were young, and she doesn’t walk around telling everybody she’s a witch.

It was a week before Halloween when I first met this girl. Claudia is her name. She was very pretty, and when I finally had the opportunity to speak with her, I jumped at the chance.

She said she was a witch but I didn’t believe her. It was the eve of Halloween, and I took her out to a local pub where we talked about the occult all night. "Come on, please..., enough is enough!" I thought.

She finally invited me up to her apartment afterwards; said she wanted to ‘show’ me something. Well, you know me, bam, I’m up there. Besides, she was so gorgeous. I really mean it, a total knock out.

I swear, her apartment looked like it must have been spawned out of another dimension. She gave me a tour of the place and showed me her collections of witchy stuff she had hanging all around.

She said she was a witch but I didn’t believe her. She sat me down on the sofa and gave me some wine. Claudia told me she needed the heart of someone that loved her deeply, and as I sat and listened to her, I thought, "Hey..., I could do that. I could love her deeply. She’s a little weird, but I’m flexible."

She told me that if someone would actually give their heart to her freely, that it wouldn’t hurt them at all. They’d still be able to live a normal life without it, loving her intensely from that moment on.

"Okay, sign me up," I said jokingly. I finished the glass of wine and she led me down the hall to one of the rooms in the back. I watched the way her body moved as she walked ahead of me. "This is it," I thought, "it’s bedroom time."

She said she was a witch but I didn’t believe her. I began to feel a little funny, like I just couldn’t get enough of Claudia. The wine must have been effecting me or something, because I started feeling like I wanted to be with her always, and that I needed her desperately.

"Do you love me deeply?" she asked, as she put her lips close to mine.

"Yes, yes I do," I said, "but why? I..., I don’t understand. We just met, and I already have such strong feelings for you."

Claudia laughed, and laid me down on a cold hard table in the middle of the room. She began to undress in front of me.

"Will you give me your heart, freely?" she asked, coming very close to me.

"Yes, my love, freely," I said, thinking I’d just play along.

When she was totally nude, and looking pretty good I must say, she started dancing around the table. Faster and faster she danced. Until my head started spinning just from watching her. I felt ill, and not wanting to get sick in front of her, I tried to get up, but I couldn’t move. My body felt like lead, and I couldn’t lift it.

She said she was a witch but I didn’t believe her.

"Claudia," I said, "help me get up, I..., I think I’ve drank too much wine."

"Wine...? What wine?" she asked. "You have tasted of my Witch’s Brew, and you are mine now. Just lay back sweetie, relax and enjoy it. Don’t try to move," she said as she stroked my chest with her fingers. "It’s almost midnight, and it’s the eve of Halloween."

She produced a wicked looking blade from somewhere, and she waved it in front of my face, and rubbed it up and down my chest. I was becoming very frightened now, and sweat began pouring down my forehead. All I wanted to do at this point was stand up and get the hell out of there, but my body wouldn’t respond.

As the clock struck midnight, Claudia began to slowly cut open my chest with her knife. I couldn’t feel a thing, as I laid there and watched the whole operation in astonishment. My blood was being splashed all over the place, and my heart beat so rapidly in my chest, I thought it would burst. Then I watched horrified, as Claudia reached in with her hand and tore the heart from my body. I screamed like I have never screamed before, but no sound would come from my throat. "My God," I thought, "she has my heart in her hand, and it’s still beating!" I screamed again, and she must have seen the terror in my eyes.

"Don’t fret so darling," she said soothingly. "I will fix everything for you. You’ll be as good as new by morning, well..., except for this minor detail," she said waving my heart in front of me. "You go to sleep now dear, your Claudia will make everything all better." She touched my neck with something sharp and that’s all I can remember.

She said she was a witch but I didn’t believe her, but now as I sit here writing this, I begin to have my doubts. Oh sure..., I still get to see Claudia once or twice a week if I’m lucky, but she has other fellas she sees besides me. I’m okay with that, just as long as I can see her now and then. It’s just that, I don’t know, I keep scratching this scar on my chest and thinking about it. I guess it’s healing okay, but I wonder if Claudia would have something to put on it to stop the itching. I think I’ll call her.