Once Upon a Paradox

Chapter 4: Das Große und das Schlechte

A surge of nothingness took over the body of Red, she was blacked out cold. She was stiff and felt empty, dark.

Her body sunk into a deep dark void, as if consumed by a pool of ink itself. She felt numb as if there was a layer between her and her sense of touch.

Her eyes vibrated with a gentle rhythm, a flutter. The first thing she sensed was pain. Burning pain from her leg and from her forehead.

That was all she felt before even having a sense of what surface she was laying on.

Her hearing came slowly as she could pick up on the gentle breeze of the night, the swaying of branches, dances of leaves. Until, slowly, following the gradual appearance of her sense of hearing, then followed her sense of touch, she could sense that she was in a bed, with covers over half her body, cotton.

The cotton fabric was a comfort she missed, being in the woods for the longest of her life, the hostility and ruggedness that a forest brings forth can either tear you to threads or carve you into something, new.

The fabric felt like a light sponge caressing her body and keeping her warm. It was a dream.

Red's eyes fluttered once more, more aggressively this time. She was becoming awake.

With a jolt, her eyes burst open, frantic. Until her eyes met the consoling gaze of her grandmother.

Red sighed, her eyes relaxing as she saw her grandmother preparing tea. "You're awake Little Red?"

Red began to ponder, "Is this real?"

"Grandma, what happe-" but before her words could even leave her mouth she threw the sheets off of her body in a panic. It revealed bandage cloths wrapped around her legs, her incubus was solidified.

This, all this, was a reality. One she resented.

Her grandmother walked over and rested a cup of tea on the bedside table, she sat on the side of the bed and grasped Red's hand into her's with a sparkle in her eyes. "You will be okay, dear."

"How did you know that?" responded Red, her eyes gazing down along her bed. "How can you be sure?"

She continued, "That creature is still outside this very window for all we know." She sighed, "We are in a bird box."

"With the big and the bad looming around, waiting for any chance to take us."

"In a bird box?" Her grandmother interrupted, "A haunting presence?"

"Das Große und das Schlechte."

Red resumed, "Yes, we are in a bird bo- wait, what?"

Her Grandmother continued, "A creature unimaginable is what we call it, a relentless beast with a great presence, it was told to lurk in these woods. It was a caution to children, a warning to not go out too far."

Her Grandmother shrugged, "I'm sure it was just a lesson for disobedient children. That animal, out there is real but it couldn't be what I thought of it to be, if so, we would be dead."

"It takes your life quickly, effortlessly."

"But, I assure you, this bird box is competent, more than competent."

A few minutes passed as Red drank up her tea as if she was starving, she was indeed desperate for any sort of nourishment. But despite starving and thirsting in her time in the woods, Red never once even thought about touching the food for her grandmother.

Maybe this was intentional, or it was the result of high levels of adrenaline and panic, but regardless, Red's commitment to her grandmother was nothing short of ideal.