Suffer!

"Welcome everyone, today we have a new member for our group. Everyone say hello to Little Red Riding Hood," The speaker said calmly as I sat in the brightly lit room. Comfortable chairs were placed in a small circle, there were roughly ten or twelve of us not counting the speaker. "Afterlife Support Group", it's called. It's a place where dead souls go to get help in overcoming their deaths. Rape, murder, genocide, accidents, all came here if they did not overcome it alone. Not war though, war deaths had their own place in the afterlife. It's my first time here, and..... i still can't believe what happened to me.

"Hello Little Red Riding Hood," they all said in unison.

" Call me Lil' Red... it's what my grandmother used to call me..." I stopped, for the words cut deep in my memory. They all repeated their chant, this time with my dear grandmothers name for me. The speaker then said what I'm sure he's said a million times before.

"As everyone here must know, the first step usually is the hardest one to take. You must release the evil that was your death. This is the first step to empty and cleanse the soul of what it has gone through. If you would please tell us what it is you went through?"

My eyes looked at the group of people. Faces full of pain, just as mine was, I'm sure. I then shifted my vision to the floor, strangely smooth and with a unique shine. I knew that I would not be judged here, if anything I'd be pitied. No one in the room was younger than I'd say mid-twenties. Yet here I was a ten year old girl among what were supposedly the most brutally killed souls. Although there was this exception. A child even more so than me in a chair as well. He couldn't be more than six yet here he was. I wonder what his story is. I lifted my head up and, with tears already on the verge of spilling out, I started.

" I guess I should start with the reason I was going to my grandmothers house. In school the day before, I won a small children's oven off a raffle. I was really happy about it looking back. I rushed home to my mother who taught me how to use it. I then thought of my grandmother, who lived on the other side of the forest. I asked my mom if I could make my grandmother something in the morning and then go give it to her. She said yes she would even help me decorate what I baked.

The next morning I got up early. My mother and I made a basket of love in the form of cookies.I left out the door with basket at hand and gave my mother a goodbye kiss, not knowing it would be the last time I would ever feel her warmth. I went through the forest like I had a hundred times before. I went to my grandmothers home. It was beautiful as ever, grandma, being a humble person, had a humble home. Small, with one kitchen, one bedroom and no living room, a small dining room, and a bathroom. I'd gone there many times before, at first with my mother, but as I grew older I began to go alone.

I opened the door and everything seemed quiet. I called for my grandma and got no answer. I started to worry. I rushed to her room, and what I saw when I looked at the door made me run faster. From the end of the hall I saw blood smeared on the door frame. When I reached the doorway and looked inside, I froze completely. The sight was truly repulsive. It made me want to vomit. I wanted to scream, but i was too scared to even do that.

There lay on the blood covered floor what seemed to be the remains of my grandmother. Clothes ripped, an open stomach with its intestines pouring out. Oh I hoped she was dead, for the pain would have been unimaginable. Her body was just shattered to pieces, and the worst was on top of her. There resting on her, gnawing on what I believed to be her liver, was a wolf. A gasp betrayed me and it looked up. Our eyes met, such hunger and power in his, and fear and pain in mine. Before I even thought of moving a muscle he pounced on me.

There the first surge of pain set in and I screamed. His fangs were driven into my neck. His hind legs held mine down. I coughed up blood as I was choking on the hot liquid. It was as if my very life force was trying to kill me. The pain was unlike anything else I'd ever felt. I tried hitting it with my hands, but then it just chomped at my arm. I heard a loud crack and the second even greater surge of pain came. I stopped resisting and fell into submission. My head was cloudy and I couldn't think. All that was there was the blood and the pain! Oh the pain was unbearable! My eyes struggled to open as my mind prayed to die to just end all the pain. Then I saw a horrible sight. I saw my intestines pulled out by its teeth. What an invasive feeling is having a part of your body yanked out. Over and Over again the gnawing and biting and breaking of bones.

How long it all lasted I do not know, but it felt never ending. Surge after surge of pain came with immense intensity. I couldn't even breathe because of the blood. Why I wouldn't go under? I didn't know... After some time I don't know what ended up doing me in, the blood loss, or just my mind shutting down because of the pain. It was over and I was grateful. Even now the feeling of having my body pulled apart bit by bit comes back."

I stayed silent and saw them just look at me and my tear-drowned eyes. They were crying, too.

" Well, Lil Red, how do you feel?" asked the speaker. I pondered the question for a brief time and felt a void in me. But a good void. Like a bit of the pain is gone. I sighed, looked up at them and said

"Better... at least somewhat." And I burst into full tears. Two of the other souls comforted me. And for a split second everything seemed a little more okay.