Adelaide envied the girls that received the coveted red riding hood each year which was an official invitation to the Prince's Harvest Ball where the young girls would meet their suitors. So when awakens on her eighteenth birthday she is elated to f...
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The sky was a mixture of blues and oranges, a cast from the sun that slowly rose from its sleep behind the hills. Adelaide stood surrounded by Dilys, Frances, and the rest of the villagers. Noticeably absent was her father. He had left on a journey to the prince's manor earlier in the spring but failed to return.
The night before he left, Adelaide over heard her father calling the village leaders cowards for allowing the village to be taxed for so long.
"I will not let our family suffer as our friends have." His normally gruff voice seemed to crack.
The morning he left, he kissed Adelaide on the forehead. "If I do not return, see to it that Frances and Dilys are taken care of."
Adelaide nodded and hugged her father tightly and hoped it would not be for the last time.
When spring gave way to summer and her father did not return, many feared the beasts in the woods claimed him. Growing up, Adelaide heard children telling stories of four-legged beasts that were half man and half wolf roaming the forest in search of human flesh.
"He would be so proud." Dilys smiled and placed a kiss on Adelaide's cheek.
"Will you come back for me?" A pair of blue eyes locked with Adelaide's.
She reached down and kissed Frances' forehead.
"I will. And you and mother will live with me in a huge manor and have all the cakes you want." A tightness formed in her chest. She feared she may not be able to keep the promise. Red Riding Hoods never returned. Perhaps it was a condition of their marriage. But if she has any choice in the matter, she would be returning.
A few of the older women gifted her a basket filled with bits of cheese and bread for the journey. It would take her a day and a half to get to the Prince's Manor and she would be traveling alone. The other girls left together a few days ago, giving them time to settle into their rooms and prepare for the ball.
It was a two and a half day trip comfortably, but Adelaide would have to make it in a day and a half, arriving to the Prince's Manor as the ball began.
A thought suddenly occurred that had escaped her mind in the midst of all the hustle to leave. Why wasn't she chosen with the original Red Riding Hoods?
"Don't waste more light than you need to." Dilys motioned over to the sun that had now broken past the hills. She grabbed her into a tight hug, "Watch out for the beast. Keep your eyes forward and never look back."
The warning made Adelaide's stomach turn. What would she do if she came across the beast in the woods? Surely, she would be dead. She shook her head, refusing to believe that would be her end.
Adelaide nodded and gave one last kiss to Francis, whose blue eyes were filled with tears.
Two burly men lifted the wooden beam that locked the gate. Adelaide nervously brushed at the skirt of her powder blue dress. It was the dress her mother wore when she married her father. Wearing it made her feel that both her parents were with her on the journey.
With a quick wave to the rest of the villagers, she pulled the red riding hood over her head as she walked away from her friends, family, and home into the unknown.
