Red Riding Hood

Chapter 14

I woke up screaming and writhing on my own bed. My hair and neck were soaked with sweat, as I tried to fight the beast on top of me. Instead of paws, a pair of soft hands tried to soothe me as I trashed around the bed sheet covers.

"Get off me!" I screamed, still seeing the fangs of the red wolf on my legs.

"Honey," a distressed voice pleads, "it's just me."

I looked up half-delirious. A pair of swollen, sky-blue eyes peered down on me. She looked like she had been crying.

"Mom," I whispered, relieved that it was just a dream.

A very terrible dream.

Suddenly, sobs broke out of my chest. I grabbed on my mommy's arms and buried my head to her chest. I filled my nose with her comforting smell, trying to erase the memories of blood and death in my mind. My shoulders shook uncontrollably as tears ran fiercely down my face.

I felt her hand soothingly glide down my brown hair. She gently patted my back, a silent reassurance that she was there and that she felt my pain, too. I continued crying on her shirt until there were no tears left.

"Wolves?" My mom asked me when my tears dissolved to nothing but small hiccups.

Something was blocking my throat. So instead of speaking, I nodded. My mom sighed heavily. "I wish I could take away the fear from you, honey. Do you want me to stay here with you?"

I shook my head to signify a no. What I really wanted was to feel the night breeze against my skin. It helped calm me down.

Mom looked like she didn't want to leave me. But eventually, she got up from the bed and gave me a dubious smile. "I'll just be in my room if you need anything, okay?"

I gave her a warm smile. She hovered over the doorway for around a minute, hesitant to leave. But eventually, when I pretended to be in deep sleep, she left me alone. I waited for ten more minutes, before stepping out of my dinky bed.

I wore the red jacket over my top, and then slowly opened the bedroom door. I peered at the room where my mother slept. When I saw that the light was closed,  I went down the stairs as quietly as possible, into the back part of our house.

I immediately felt myself relax as the breeze hits my skin. I sat down on a neglected log and looked up at the twinkling stars. I watched in wonder while the stars boasted their radiance. It was my dad who first told me that stars were actually humungous. But because they were so far away from us, they appeared to be little specks of beautiful light. If their specks were as beautiful as this, I wondered how much more beautiful their real forms were. I didn't realize that tears were already falling down my green eyes until I tasted something salty.

I wiped the tears away, but the tears didn't stop from falling; a nasty side effect of remembering dad.

"Stop falling, stupid tears," I mumbled to the air.

That's when a whimper disturbed my thoughts. I looked at the origin of the sound, and my heart seems to stop beating.

The white wolf.

The wolf was lying down on his four legs, with his head down to the damp earth. His usual perky ears were down into submission.

"Go away," I said angrily. 

In response, the wolf only whimpered, as if telling me that it won't leave me in my miserable state.

A jagged rock caught my attention. I took it and played it with my hands. I made sure the wolf could see how sharp and big it was.