Red Ridding Hood

Prologue

There was a calm breeze, as three little children were sat in the middle of a meadow playing. Their laughter echoing through the plain. The children, no older than six, were sat in a circle telling tales and giggling at the absurd exaggerations the other made. The youngest among the three was a little girl, wearing a white dress and a flower crown that the other two had helped to make, her eyes twinkling with the sparkle of hopes and dreams yet to come, and her brown hair fluttering in the wind. The two others were boys of a similar age, both wearing their smartest clothes but covered in the green from the fresh grass,  their hair was a mess. It was just after noon that the three had decided to sneak out of church to play. The calm day had passed by joyfully and now the sun was about to set.

James, the oldest of the three, suddenly stood up and pulled the two up with him. "The sun is setting and my mum said bad things come out at night! We should go home." James was the most mature of them, and was always trying to look after his two best friends.

"Those are just lies. Stop being a scaredy cat! You always ruin our fun. I was just getting to the best bit of my story, this is where I slay the dragon!" Jack complained, but still listening to James' orders. Jack was the more adventurous of the trio, this was obvious from the amount of scratches he had decorating his body from his journeys into the woods and back. He was very proud of them, though his mother thought the opposite.

"It's true Jack! My mum told me that there are wolves that come out of the woods at night. The are very big, bigger than us! They have very pointy teeth, and big eyes. She says they'll eat us if we're out all alone!" The littlest of the three was the most easily scared and always in the need of reassurance. With her eyes wide, Rose held the two boys hands and pulled then on the route home.

A few hours later the children were on the edge of the village entrance, close to the safety of their homes. The sky had turned a dark shade of blue, and the wind now had a bite of frost in it. There was the tang of danger clinging to the atmosphere now and the three where huddled close. "Jack be safe, will you." Jack lived on the outskirts of the village, whilst James and Rose in the centre. 

"'Course I'll be safe. I'm the strongest man here. No mean wolf will eat me, I'll kill him before he does!" Though he stated this, there was an obvious tremble in him voice, and his muscles tensed as he prepared to scram home. As Jack separated from the two, each went home into their mothers' arms.

However that night there was the piercing sound of a howl, that echoed and creeped in each house. It had been seven years since the last attack, but the curse of the wolf was back. There were cries of pain, and shouts for help, but nobody moved as they were seized by fear, unable to go save them poor souls that had been feasted on.

The next morning grief hung in the air as the villagers saw the destruction that had been caused and the bodies that had been ravaged, leaving only the remains behind. Seven years of freedom from the curse meant the villagers were free to live without fear in their every moment. However now everything had changed. The children knew they would never be allowed to play outside freely, but worse still one of them had gone missing.

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This is the first ever story I have ever written on Wattpad, so please be gentle on me, but any helpful criticism will be taken into account.

Thank you very much. 

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