The Red hooded Cloak

Prolouge: All in my Head?

The red cloak. One of my favorite pieces of clothing that I've ever worn. My mother found this cloak at a garage sale, she thought it was a costume that I could wear on Halloween. The cloak was of course red, there were boots, gloves and an old looking outfit to go with it.

The cloak was a deep, crimson red, and it was stitched with lace and the bottom and along the hooded edges. It had two long strings at the neck of it, to tie the cloak around so it wouldn't fall off because there were no sleeves.

Though, I was too small to wear it at the time, she got it for me. I grew up short. My mom was short, my older sister was short, my aunts was short, even my grandmother is too. But, the men in the family was always tall. My father, brother, uncles, and cousins were taller than me. So, I skipped out on wearing this costume for years.

One day out of every year, on my birthday, my mother would call me over to the height wall. Where she marks how tall I've gotten, cause she believes that one day, a girl in the family would become tall, like the men in the house. This one day granted her wishes. From being a slow grower to a growth spurt. I was 5'1 and one this one day on my birthday, I was 5'4.

It put a smile on my mom's face, and I remember her falling to her feet. Then, she started to cry tears of joy. She always talked to me about how the men in our town always called us "Useless women" because of our shortness.

No one in the town wanted short women as wives or daughters. They think it's a curse. To my mother, this was a blessing, I was her blessing.

This was when I turned 12. And on that Halloween, I could finally wear that costume. I could hear my mom coming up the stairs, maybe to get her costume on. Then, I wanted to be a big girl and find out how to put in on myself. I wanted to save my mother the trouble.

Almost instantly, I turned around at the sound of the suitcase that I kept the costume in, forcing itself open. I watched the costume slowly floated up, as it did, it glowed golden and disappeared into golden dust. I frantically, looked along my wooden floor where it feel for it, then I gasp when Isaw that it was on my body.

I was so confused and appalled of what I saw. My mom came into my room and smiled. Then, she noticed that something was wrong. She hugged me tight, I think she thought that I was so excited, that I got confused of what was happening.

She was wearing a witches costume, from the hat on her head, to her boots. She had me go sit on the bed and she did my hair. She decided to do two French braids and put the braids on my shoulders to make them stand out.

She put the hood over my head and had me turn around towards her standing. She had tears in her eyes and her hands cupping my cheeks, calling me her beautiful girl. My big sister wasn't coming down for Halloween this year and my brother was already out of the house. So, its just me and my mother that night.

It was a normal Halloween, the occasional stones being thrown at us. I was so upset and my mother was too. We kept going to houses and most of them didn't reject us, and little did.

At school, people throw rocks at me and some didn't, just stood there and watched. While in class, my teacher Ms. Henning, always called on me. She liked my unique family.

She was also friends with my father. They always talk about me, how I was doing in class, grades, all that stuff. As for my mother, she talks to her about personal stuff and hangs around the house with her and father sometimes, so they won't feel lonely.

But even the teacher gets scolded by the class and staff because of her relationship with me. And when I head to another room, she would stay by my side to protect me.

I have some friends who would do the same if she was ever absent. Shelly and Lance would sit at lunch with me, play with me, keep me from thinking about what the other kids do to me.