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People who are grabbed and taken away by the red shoes always initially feel that whatever substance it is that they are addicted to is a savior in one sense or another. Sometimes it gives a sense of fantastic power, or a false sense that they have the energy to stay awake all night, create until dawn, go without eating. Or perhaps it allows them to sleep without fearing demons, or calms their nerves, or helps them not care so deeply about, or maybe it helps them not want to love and be loved anymore. However, in the end, it only creates, as we see in the tale, a blurred background whirling by so fast that no real life is truly being lived. Addiction is a deranged Baba Yaga that eats up lost children and drops them off at the executioners door.