Red Riding Hood

Chapter One

Some mornings are spent wishing for another five minutes in bed once the alarm goes off. On other mornings, I can get out of bed and be ready for the day within seconds. Then there are the mornings like today, that start with only one hit of the snooze button, and yet it's fairly easy to get up. It felt normal, just like any other morning that didn't involve having a lot to do or any places to rush off to be. Yet as I moved about my room, still decorated with unpacked boxes and suitcases full of clothes, normal seemed to fade and the strangest feeling that something big was about to happen followed me around it instead. 

"Beth!" My mother calls.

From downstairs, I can hear her fussing about making breakfast for us which was as motherly as she got. We had just moved to a small little county located in the southeastern region of France and to say I was thrilled about leaving my life in London would be a lie, but it was my choice and I had no one to blame other than myself for that. Besides, Vence was a beautiful place that made the fairytales from my childhood come to life. Each fountain was magic, the paths winding and mysterious like the ancient buildings that made up this place. It was the kind of adventure I'd hoped for when I decided to make the move to join my family, though dreams were often quite different to reality.

Heading down the stairs my little brother James raced past me, causing me to trip on the steps to avoid being completely wiped out. I muttered a few curse words at him and luckily it fell on deaf ears. He was six and everything was a race to him.

Taking a seat in the dining room I sighed heavily, not interested in the pancakes that had been set in the centre of the table. The wildflowers in the small vase were new, and most likely freshly picked early this morning while I was still asleep and Mum was on one of her wanders. We'd only been here a couple of days, but the house we were in was old and lacked many of the modern luxuries I'd been taking for granted - like reliable hot water. 

"Please cheer up Elizabeth. It's only temporary." My mother was here for some inspiration, whatever that meant. 

She had been quite an admired artist in her younger years and her small fortune had been thanks to some of the pieces she had sold. The rest was thanks to my Dads legacy he left behind when he passed. With no need to work and still mourning his death, she had been floating around Europe with James and for the three months, I had been with them. Thankfully I had been able to stay with my grandparents when she first packed up and left, but once I finished school I decided to rejoin my family for a little while, despite not wanting to travel around. I did miss them and now leaving didn't seem like an option. One thing that kept me going was how she always promised we'd be heading home soon, but the more she postponed it the more I was beginning to regret it.

Like now.

Mum often got 'feelings' about things. Apparently, when she started doing her family tree, quite a few of her descendants had been gypsies and psychics, a few even labelled as witches. So whenever she got her 'visions' or whatever they were, she put it down to having magic in the family and went with it as best she could. We had only been in Milan, Italy for two weeks when she declared we had to come here.

Two days in, I was starting to hate her and her stupid 'feelings'. 

"Since it's Saturday I thought we could go into town for some shopping?" She enthused, clearly hoping my favourite pastime would get me on her side. Considering what I'd been made to leave behind in Italy, I was already wishing I had stayed in bed. But she was trying and so would I. Maybe.

"We left Milan Mum, I doubt shopping here will be anything too excited about."

If she noticed my sarcasm she didn't let it have an effect on her, but it was also hard to get excited for either of them since the butterflies I'd woken with were more like a swarm of bees within my stomach. Whatever my body was telling me was going to happen, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it.