The Dark Fur Of The Forest: The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood.

Chapter 9: The Waterfalls that Howled

We walked for a while, hiking up and down small hills. Irvin gave a decent enough tour of the forest that made me laugh.

" So on the left side is another pack of trees and if you look on the right is another pack of trees." He said, making me giggle a bit. Then he grew serious when he pointed west.

" You should never go that way, EVER!" he exclaimed to me. " Promise me you won't." I nodded my head in agreement but my thoughts turn to the west. Maybe there are really dangerous creatures out there, or maybe ...that is where he lives! I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't realize that Irvin had stopped until I bumped into him.

" Sorry, " I said, a bit red in the face. He smiled at me that made my heart skip a beat.

" Okay, I need you to close your eyes, it's a surprise." He said to me. " do you trust me to lead you?" he asked. I thought about it. Do I trust him? He did help me, my grandma, many times over. Yes, I guess I do.

" Yeah, I do," I said to him. I closed my eyes but not all the way.

" Hey, no peeking!" he said in a laughing tone. I shut my eyes firmly and we started to walk again. After a while, I started to hear a roaring sound.

" What's that?" I asked as I stumbled over a tree root or rock. I didn't know which.

" That is the sound of music," Irvin said in a musical tone. I started to laugh at that. Finally, we stopped with the roar loud in our ears. I thought I knew that the sound was, but wasn't sure.

" You can open your eyes now!" Yelled Irvin over the sound of the roar. I open my eyes to be shocked at what I was looking at. There was a beautiful waterfall that flowed over rocks that were different colors. The water itself seemed to danced in colors as it flowed down into a pool of water, that then flowed underground which was lost to my vision. There were grass and flowers of every kind. This place looked exactly like a fantasy wonderland. There were bird songs that I can hear over the falls.

" This is beautiful!" I gushed out. " How did you find it?"

" long ago when I went exploring and stumbled on this place." He replied. I looked up at his green eyes and then I rushed off through the flowers. I was laughing and ran over to the river. I was wild! I dipped my hands into the river and it felt cool and fresh. Suddenly a fish jumps out of my hands and back into the river. I laugh and dump the rest of the water back into the river. I stood up and looked around for Irvin.

I didn't spot him at first and for a moment, fear crept to me. What if he fell into the river? Or he-

" Hey, I am over here!" Shouted Irvin. I turned to his voice and saw that he was on the other side of the river. He smiled and pointed to the falls.

" Follow me!" He yelled over the falls. I was confused but I followed him, from the other side of the bank. He started to climb the rocks that support the waterfall. I look up at the rocks on my side. I don't think that would be a good idea! But when has that ever stopped me. I started to climb and peeked out to spy Irvin. At one point he seemed to disappear from my view. I gasped and was about to climb back down when a hand shot out of the falls to me. I screamed in fear until ahead of Irvin came out. He had a goofy smile on and held his hand out to me.

I was still shocked and held out my hand. He then pulled me into him, though the falls, I was soaking wet. I open my eyes to see that we were behind the falls and in a cave. A hidden cave! Why am I not surprised?

" Where am I?" I asked.

" We are in the rainbow falls secret cave." He answered jokingly. I laughed and realized that he was still holding me. I blush and moved out of his arms, and start heading inside the cave. He follows me. It didn't take long till I reached the end of the cave. This cave is quite small! I turn to Irvin and saw just his green eyes. The cave was pretty dark, but it almost seemed like his eyes were glowing.