Little Red

A leisurely walk to Grammy's

Clari smiled broadly as she buttoned her red, rabbit fur lined hood. She had gotten it as a gift from her older brother before he left to the city, that was years ago and he was married now. 

Clari blinked back to pulling on her thick winter boots, excited to go out in the snow again. Winter was her favorite season, aside from Spring and Fall. She grabbed her winter notebook and placed it atop the cookies and covered the sweet smelling basket with a little white cloth, kissing her pet rabbit goodbye and skipping out the door, waving a mittened hand at her mother who watched from the window.

As she set off, the snow crunching beneath her boots. She looked up at the snow laden trees, enchanted by this arcadia -like scene. She could hear the snow dropping from trees when it became too heavy for the limbs to bear it and sometimes the scratch of little animals moving in their frozen burrows.

"Winter is long, but long is my cloak. filling me with longing for..." Clari sang absently, struggling to think of something she had longed to do. There was nothing she could think of. So she continued plowing her way through the snow. "There is a reason I don't write." she chuckled, mocking herself-there was nobody else around to do it for her.

She froze, looking down at her feet. Her eyes stretched wide as she beheld the biggest animal track she had ever seen, the four toes of the animal track were spread out wide acting as a snow shoe. Clari set the basket down and knelt beside this paw print. She took off her mitten and traced the indentation, noticing four narrow holes in front of the toes. "My, what big paws it has..." She squeaked, comparing her hand to the track and finding them the same size.

Her blood chilled, or maybe she was cold? Clari slipped her mitten on and picked up the basket again. Standing and looking around warily, she had the suspicion this track belonged to a wolf. But, that shouldn't be possible. Wolves were gone. Extinct.

She took out her note book and wrote down the information she had gathered. Then snapping the book shut and replacing it back in the basket she carried on. More cautious and jumpy.

It was probably just her imagination but she had the feeling something was following her, but every time she turned to look behind nothing was there.

"Pardon me, but those cookies smell delightful." a deep but lovely voice said, seemingly out of nowhere. Clari jumped with a squeak as she turned, looking for the owner of the voice that made her heart pound so loudly.

" Didn't mean to scare you." the same voice said, still originating from thin air. Clari could feel the blood rising, warming her ears and cheeks, already rosy from the cold. "who are you?" She asked, her voice wavering slightly.

"Wulf  Resita." the voice said, as a figure stepped out from behind a fir tree.

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