Little Red Riding Hood: A Story Retold | ✔️

The Little Red Riding Hood

The old, almost rotten wooden door smeared with a clashing red stain and claw marks stared back at Red as she tried to process the event that took place. Her grandmother's once lovely house was a bloody mess, quite literally. The noiseless fireplace that gave them warmth every winter was in shambles and the family portrait that perfectly hung above the mantelpiece was crooked, which was unlikely unless the world fell apart. Old Mrs. Hood was very particular about things being in order. There was only one explanation for it. Red's world was indeed falling apart as she connected the pieces.

It was no ordinary burglary or break-in. It was an attack. It was a lycanthrope attack!

Red turned to the man standing next to her. He was tall with a full brown beard and a bald head. The bulkness of his arms indicated that he was a daily wager and the rifle he carried with him revealed that he was a local hunter. The man was searching frantically all over the place with an ecstatic, maniacal expression on his tanned face.

"Are you okay, young lady?" He finally asked, a bit disappointed that he couldn't find any evidence of the lycan's trail, "Those darn werewolves are tricky. I almost had them!"

Red's hazel eyes filled with tears and her legs grew weak. She sank to the ground and started sobbing. A million thoughts about how she fell so easily into the traps of the supernatural emerged into her mind and her rage started growing by the minute.

"D-Do you think Nana is still...?" Red trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. Somehow even thinking about what might have happened brought a bitter taste to her mouth.

The huntsman laughed. This was not a funny or polite chuckle but a full-blown demented laugh, "With these bastards, nothing is certain. Once they've taken people hostage, it is extremely unlikely that one might escape, much less an old woman."

Red felt crushed. Her heart beat palpated heavily against her ribcage while her head started spinning. She could feel the blood rushing through her veins and her head throbbed in anger and despair. Red took a broken piece of glass lying on the ground next to her and clenched it. Crimson blood started dripping onto the carpeted wooden floor but she didn't care. None of it mattered anymore. Her grandmother, whom she had loved and cherished beyond measure, was gone. And she felt remorse for being the cause.

If only she hadn't pointed out to the lycan about her grandmother's whereabouts. If only she had realised that he was a lycan sooner. The huntsman seemed to have somehow noticed her train of thoughts and offered her a little black box.

Confused, Red took it and opened it. There were three, very shiny silver bullets placed in a neat file. She took a single bullet and held it to her chest, her bloody fingers coating the pure silver, red, "I will avenge you, Nana."

_____

A few moons later, the huntsman and Red arrived near a little den in the middle of the forest. The den was dark and hollow and she could feel death in the air. It was the kind of place a mother would warn their kids about and Red's mother certainly did warn her. Suppressing her fear and nervousness, she took a step into the den following after the huntsman.

"A-Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Red, as her left eye twitched in nervousness. The huntsman, not turning towards her, nodded.

"Look at this place. This reeks of death. It's definitely a lycan's lair," He said casually kicking away what seemed like a very real piece of human skull. "And besides, people have spotted them frequently here, so it's a death cave for sure."

Summoning all the courage and anger she had within, Red squared her shoulders ready to fight the hoard of lycans that might attack her. She carefully loaded the silver bullets in her revolver and cocked her gun.

A sudden roar arose from the deepest part of the cave and heavy footsteps rushed towards them. A tall, dark-furred figure emerged from the shadows. Its eyes glowed a mysterious yellow while its sharp, elongated canines had a little bit of blood on them. The lycan ran towards them at full speed and tackled the huntsman to the ground.

Scared, Red took a step back and stumbled on a rock. She fell down on a thud and a sharp pain projected from her ankle. She tried standing up but she realised that she had sprained her leg pretty badly. She watched in horror as the lycan aimed for the huntsman's throat and ripped out a layer of flesh. He, in turn, plunged the sharp dagger into its stomach and the lycan wailed in pain.

"Red, now! Shoot it's heart." Shouted the huntsman, his voice groggy from the injury. Red aimed her gun at its chest and with a nervous gulp, she pulled the trigger. Thrice. Two of the three shots were fired to its neck and head while the last one went through the chest.

The heavy monster fell on the ground with a loud noise and the cave was filled with an eerie silence. The only noise they could hear was the water droplets from the stalactite falling to the ground and the sound of their quickened heartbeats.

"D-Did I do it?" Red asked, her eyes welling up with tears. Her hands shook from the aftershock and her gun fell on the rocky ground. The huntsman got up and rushed towards the fallen creature. He fiddled around it for a few minutes before he turned around and started laughing uncomfortably, "Y-You did it. You k-killed the monster."

As Red tried to process her victory, she noticed something glimmering on the beast, "No, it couldn't be..." Red mumbled to herself as she sprinted towards it. Her ankle throbbed in pain with every step she took but she didn't care. She wanted to know the truth. She prayed that what she was speculating was not true.

She pushed the fur away to reveal a piercing on the lycan's ears. It was a Ruby piercing that shone in the dark. Red remembered her grandmother saying that it was a gift from Old Mr. Hood and that she hasn't removed it since his death.

"No, no, no," slurred Red. Her veins turned cold and her fingers froze mid-way, "That...That can't be true."

Red pointed out the piercing to the huntsman, and showed a picture of her and her Nana in a picnic wearing matching piercings.

"What?" asked the hunter in surprise and stuttered, "Y-you killed it. You've a-avenged your N-Nana. It is stupid to assume-"

Red, still in shock, tuned out the rest of the hunter's sentence. She bent down to stroke the fur of the beast. Now that she was looking at it, she was reminded of her Nana's once brown, shiny hair, much like hers. Tears began pooling in Red's tired eyes as she let go of the gun and fell on the ground, wailing.

Red always knew her granny was hiding something. Something big but she never liked to talk about it. Not even during the time when she was bed-ridden and sick. But to think that she was holding this big of a secret was something Red couldn't get her head around.

The hunter scoffed and winced in pain, "People warn their k-kids about strangers and ironically enough, it's the closest ones that ultimately harm us more."

The hunter lifted the corpse and dragged it out of the cave, "We have to discuss this issue with the town council. H-Hurry up."

With a dizzy look and a wandering mind, she followed the huntsman back to her town.