The Girl Who Cried Wolf

Two

02 | t w o

She stuck her index finger in her mouth to suck out the blood seeping from the cut. Grandma was at her side in less than a second with a deep scowl etched on her face.

"Now look what you've done. You've cut yourself. Be more careful with a blade," Nana reprimanded with a glare.

She removed her finger from her mouth to defend herself. "Next time, don't drop that kind of information on me like that!"

"How should I have known that you would get such a fright?"

Red groaned loudly, inwardly chided herself for arguing with her stubborn grandmother, then spoke. "How did you get the offer?" She was still trying to recover from the shock.

"Okay, I just finished shopping for groceries from the market. You know my usual Wednesday shopping."

Red nodded affirmatively.

"And I was so happy with the prices. The vegetables were fresh and cheap. The carrots were—"

"You're deviating, Nana," Red interrupted her.

"Sorry." Grandma smiled sheepishly, deepening the wrinkles on her cheeks. "Okay, so when I got home, this was at the doorstep." Grandma Baker handed her a neat white envelope with the royal crest at the centre.

She cautiously took it and read the content.

To the Baker Residence,

I humbly bring to your notice that our beloved Prince Lycus le Roux shall be turning a new age tomorrow. We have been informed that your bakery is held highly in town and we would like to request your services at his birthday ceremony at seven am tomorrow.

All baking materials, items and personnel shall be provided at the castle. I assure you, you will be paid handsomely.

Yours faithfully,
The Castle Secretary.

"Oh my goodness, Nana this is so huge," Red squealed, bouncing her feet on the wooden floor.

Grandma Baker's face morphed into that of confusion. "That wasn't the reaction I expected."

"We get to be at the castle baking for the prince's birthday," Red stated the obvious.

Grandma clucked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Let me clarify where exactly this castle is. In the woods." She clasped her hands as if to pray and brought them to her lips. "You, Red—"

"Not my name," Red interjected with an eye roll.

Grandma ignored her. "—My grandchild wants to go to the woods, risking your life so she could bake some pastries for a birthday party. Have you lost your mind, child?!" Grandma shook her vigorously by the shoulders.

"Absolutely not, Nana. This is our dream come true. Didn't you read the letter? We will be paid handsomely." The information sounded too good to be true.

Grandma shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. "No, you shall not be going to the woods."

"What? Nana, baking is our job. It's what we do. You can't stop me from working." Red crossed her arms on her chest.

"Yes, I can if it is a question of the woods. You have no idea how dangerous that place could be." Grandma sounded hurt.

"It's the woods. It's a place with tall trees and shrubs and sun and-"

"And insects and wild animals and hunters. It's not a place for someone like you. It's not." Grandma placed her palm tenderly on Red's cheek. "Don't go, child."

"No, Grandma." She walked away from her grandmother. "You always say follow the path, don't go to the woods but whenever I ask why? You say the same crazy thing that—"

"They'll hunt you too," Grandma Baker finished for her. She let out a dry chortle and sat down on the stool again. "I guess I have kept you in the dark long enough. It's time I told you the whole truth. Come sit by me," she urged her and Red complied.

Grandma sighed heavily and looked down at Red sitting on the wooden floor beside her. "I never did tell you how your parents died, did I?

Red shook her head already dreading the story before it was told.

"It was long ago, you had just been born and our family, we were poor people. Your father's job didn't pay much. Your mother couldn't work because she just had you. It didn't take long before we couldn't afford to pay the rent and were thrown out of the house. Your father, Daniel, your mother, Coraline, and I." Red looked into her Nana's eyes and saw them glisten with tears. She didn't know she herself had been crying silently until she felt the wetness on her cheeks.

"Your father thought it would be a good idea to spend the night in the woods, and by the morning, we would look for a friend's house to lodge in. We journeyed into the woods with you swaddled tight in your mother's arms. When we reached the hearth of the woods, I saw shadows lurching." Grandma's eyes darkened as she recalled the events of that day.

Red inched closer, dread settling in her gut. She listened earnestly.

"Shadows?"

"Yes, my child. The hunters. Except they're not humans looking for animal meat. They were wolves. Shapeshifters."

Shapeshifters? Like the fairy tales?

"I thought those kinds of things only happened in fairy tales," Red said to Grandma Baker.

Grandma shook her head. "Not so, dear. Life itself is a fairytale." Grandma smiled proudly like she had just said the wisest thing ever.

Silly Nana, Red thought to herself, life was definitely not a fairytale.

"Anyway, the hunters came out of the shadows and charged at your father. In the blink of an eye, they tore him to pieces right before my own eyes. They killed your father,"—her voice broke—"my son, to shreds."

Red closed her eyes, still in shock at what her grandmother just told her. Her father was killed by shape-shifting wolves.

"And Mum?" Her lower lip trembled as she asked.

"She was thrown into the river. She couldn't swim so she drowned before I could do anything to save her. I couldn't even find her body," Grandma's words came out choked.

"My parents were killed by hunters?" Red cried miserably. Her parents had suffered at the hands of these heartless wolves and died the most excruciatingly painful death ever. Grandma hugged her close whispering words of comfort in her ear.

She finally understood why her Nana was so bent on preventing her from going to the woods.

"How did you survive?" she asked in between sobs.

"They let me go when they saw you. They were afraid of your eyes."

Her eyes. The reason she kept bangs. They were terrifying. She was scared of them. A brilliant red colour.

"Red," her grandmother called her by her pet name, cupping her face in her frail hands. "That's why I still call you that. You were the precious gemstone that saved both our lives."

Red leaned into her grandmother's touch. "Nana, I still want to go to the woods. I want to see—"

"I knew you'd say that. You are just as stubborn as your father." Grandma stood up from the stool and walked to the window.

"And just as hard-headed as you, Nana. Please I promise I'll be safe. If I see the hunters, all I have to do is show them my eyes and they'll run away in fear."

"You think you're so smart." Her grandmother turned to her, teary.

"No, I am a smarty pants. You said so yourself." She gave her grandmother a sad smile. "Please?"

Grandma remained hesitant for a moment, but eventually, she gave in. "Alright, you can go."

She pounced on her grandmother and squeezed her tight. "I promise I'll be safe."

"You better." She squeezed her back. "I love you, my stubborn brave girl."

Red smiled. "I love you too, Nana."