Red Riding Hood (#wattys2016)

Chapter Four

I was gone. I was somewhere else. Was I- dead? No. I was alive. I was alive and in the Enchanted Forest. I looked around. Fog covered most of the brush around me, limiting my sight. I took a step forward. I stepped on a twig and it snapped in half, creating a sound that echoed all around me.

A figure from my left stood up. I instantly backed away. I could just make out her face. A woman. A woman with jet black hair looked at me in confusion. She seemed as puzzled as I was. I turned my body away from her as her eyes shifted up and down my body. Her mouth hung open slightly. Suddenly, she spoke.

"Red?" Her voice was small and timid like mine. My head throbbed. Did she just say my name? She came bounding towards me. When she finally reached me she threw her arms around me. I pulled away and looked her with uncertainty. Her eyes glistened a sparkling silver. Her face was soft, but masculine like mine. She put her arm on my shoulder. Suddenly we began to part as if the ground between us was stretching apart. She reached her arm towards me and yelled my name again. I stood there, motionless, and gave her a looked of sorrow. I looked down and shook my head, and when I looked up again, I was looking at Granny.

***

I sat wanly beside the window, thinking about my dream. Why would I dream about anything even close to that? It was so strange, yet so real. She felt so real. Granny came over with a wet ragged cloth in her hand.

"Here, Red," she said as she placed it over my head. It was hot. She must've heated it in the furnace. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Granny stood up and opened it. A gust of winter air blew inside, making me shiver. The town crier stood on the other side of the door, panting. He seemed out of breath. His back bent forwards in the shape of a C. If he was any taller his chin would've touched his wobbly knees.

Granny and I live deep into the woods, away from Wolven Ridge, but close enough to be considered townsfolk. The weary old man grabbed his bell from his bag and yelled in a faint unsteady voice.

"Six reported deaths in the village last night! Mother Goose found dead! An unknown cause indeed!"

"Mother Goose?" I interrupted, "would that mean school is canceled?"

"Indeed! Now if you excuse me, I must run back to town and spread the news," he puffed as he turned and ran back into the snowy wood.