Crimson Hood

F I F T E E N

Numb.

My eyes glazed over, not fully taking in what I had just seen. I felt my body sway from one side to the other. I could feel soft, yet rough hands holding firmly onto my forearm but didn't register who they belonged to. The shock that fully consumed my body overtook my vision.

My ears could only decipher a loud ringing sounding deep in my eardrums and the hazy feeling running through my mind. The person's callous fingers wrapped delicately around by small arms to keep me in place.

I squeezed the hand holding onto my arms to get their attention.

"She's in there," I whispered out. She was there, I saw her. I recognized her long flowy brown hair and her chocolate brown eyes that seemed to sparkle despite the condition of the picture. And her smile was one I couldn't forget.

"Who?" The voices whispered back. There was more than one, they echoed one after the other. Then I was spinning. I stopped suddenly, my hair whipping me in the face. I first saw the golden hazel eyes I grew to know and recognized it as Enzo.

"Enzo... my mother's in that book." I told him, raising my shaky pointer finger at the enchanted book. Enzo's eyebrows furrowed together as he frowned.

Enzo reached over to take hold of the book. I held my breath in anticipation. Many questions arose once catching a glimpse of my mother in that book. Why was she there? How did she get in there?

If my mother is human...and a beast is my father... then what does that make me?

I never did meet my mother. My grandma said she died a few weeks after giving birth to me due to the war, strangely I never was informed who my father could have been. I never asked because I was ignorant, I thought every child was raised by their grandparents.

When grandma finally sat me down and told me where my mother was, I couldn't feel one ounce of sadness because I didn't know her. I couldn't cry over someone I hadn't formed a connection with.

But then I had a weird dream. I was her for a night, I experienced life before the war. Ever since then I've been having these short flashbacks of my mother. How she lived leading up to meeting her beast, my father. They came to me as if someone sent them as a sign or message but I could never think much about them because once a flashback happens, I'm either in the middle of a risky situation or about to be in the middle of a risky situation.

Then they mysteriously stopped, and then I found this library.

Enzo held the book firmly while it fluttered and switched pages. Finally, it stopped at mates where the picture popped up. "See!" I pointed at the picture only to recoil my finger back. Shock consumed my senses as what I just saw a while ago was no longer there.

"N...No, Enzo I'm not crazy I swear! She was there! She was there!" my breathing picked up as I pointed at the book and regarded Enzo with desperate eyes. He has to believe me.

"Red..."

"No! I know what you're going to say and I'm not crazy. I saw her." I cut him off. He leaned back surprised from my outburst. Enzo opened his mouth to speak but I shook my head and turned from him. I closed my eyes and tried racking my brain for a possible way to solve it when one came to mind.

I need to contact my grandma.

Pain and guilt consumed me once I realised my grandma must be missing her only grandchild after hearing about her recent events. I had to call her. I turned towards Enzo.

Almost as if he read my mind, his face turned hard and anger grew in his eyes. "No."

"Enzo I -,"