Little Hood under the Moon

Little red riding hood walked across the forest, and she pulled her red fabric over her miserable face. The shadows were cast by the full moon, and they were dark enough to hide her presence. She carried a basket of her baked goods and some extra tea bags. The terrors that lie within the darkness would have easily pinched any of those goods, but she was not as afraid of them as what she was during her daily life.

She knocked on the wooden door. She stood at the front of the tiny stray house. "Hey, gran!" She said. "I brought you some midnight snacks!"

"Isn't this late for you to be visiting me?" An old voice was heard from between the planks. "You should be in bed right now!"

"Please, let me in!" She pleaded as she grasped on her basket handle. She didn't look back as she would otherwise be frightened to death by a darkly figure. "The monsters will eat me if you don't!"

"You can't go in!" She hissed at a low volume. "I am in bed, and you can't see me like this!" Her gran wasn't generally like that. She was mellow and humble and was kind to the riding hood. Of course, it would be rude for her to interrupt her sleep at a time close to midnight, but she had a good reason to do so.

"Aren't you really kind and affectionate, and you would be willing to do anything to make me feel happy?"

Gran hesitated. She wanted her to leave her alone, but her heart strained as she tried to be as mean as she ever could. For a loving family member, this was quite a challenge for her to shoo her away. "Of course I-"

"Then why not you let me in before I get sad?" She remained still and looked down. She won't go anywhere. Any exit from her property at this time of the night would be suicide for her.

The place remained quiet. The hood looked up at the door after ten minutes. The girl's dry mouth opened and held her hands across her belly. At this rate, she would be swallowed by the darkness. There had to be another way. She thought.

With no time to waste, the little red riding hood looked for another way to get inside. She hugged the walls of the house for any opening. She shivered with fear of anything that lurked around the corner. She tried to be brave enough to be not afraid of the dark. Her mother told her that there were even worse things out there than just the darkness. She was right in the end.

She then found an open window. It was left wide open enough for her to sneak in. She threw the basket through before she climbed over. It was a struggle for her at that height. She wiggled and heaved to get her body over the ledge.

She fell in on her arms. She made it inside the house and inside the bedroom. A person emerged from under the bedsheets, and she appeared larger than she had remembered. She lit a wick of her trusty candle, and it lit one part of the wall.

She turned around to the hood and to her horror, she looked less human than she was before!

"Gran!" she exclaimed and crawled back on her behind. "What big eyes you have!"

"Darling"

"And your big ears!"

"Listen to me now,"

"And you have such big teeth!" She remained wide-eyed at the sheer monstrosity of that large creature in grandmother's clothing.

"It's not what you think it is," she gestured the sharp claws of her right paw. Her mouth was lined with salvia, which dripped on her stockings. Her raspy breaths gave the poor girl chills upon her delicate spine.

"Get away from me!" she screamed and guarded her face with her arms. She would rather not see that horrible face of hers.

"I think it would be best if you get out of here, right now," she deepened her voice, which caused the girl to make worrying noises. "Any second from now, I may lose control, and I may claw you to your death."

She screamed her lungs out, which echoed through the horrible woods. It can be heard for yards, enough to attract other dangerous creatures. Poor little riding hood, with nowhere to run and no safe place for her to stay at. Now her grandmother is gone, and there was no other person, or creature, that she could ever trust.

A huntsman noticed the shrieking. He became alert on his trip through the woods for his midnight hunt. He took notice of the faraway house with a dim light from a tiny window. He feared someone was being murdered there. It could be a wolf, or even a stranger attacking an innocent woman.

With no time to waste, he sprinted with his axe and a bag on his back. He made it to the door and tried to open it. "Hey! You okay?!" He bumped on the door. He noticed some squeaks, but he was desperate to go in before someone got hurt, or even worse, killed. "Hang on tight! I am coming in!!"

He smashed through the door with his elbow. The beast howled in fear, and the candle fell down. The light went out. The huntsman jumped over with an axe and made a swing at the creature. The hood had her vision covered by her numb hands. She couldn't see either way, as the beast fell down on the floor. She drew her last breaths before she went stiff.

She whinged close to her tears by her terrible fright. Some heavy steps were heard before a looming shadow came over to her. A hairy hand reached down close to her small digits.

"Hey. Are you okay?" He said. The little girl sobbed beneath her cover and curled into a tight ball. "It's over. That wolf there is dead. It's gone."

She could not look now, and she continued to hide away from any entity who might be a threat to her. The place went quiet.

A bright ray pierced through the closed window, and the hood slept in her grandmother's bed. She felt the comfort of its feathery mattress and pillows, while the huntsman snored on the chair in another room.

When she woke up, she looked down and noticed there were only a few stains on the wooden floor. She could not see the creature in full light, for it was taken out of the house.

The corpse was covered in flames just outside at the yard, emitting the thick smoke up into the heavenly skies. The hood never saw what she looked like.

"Was that a wolf?" she looked at her saviour with a frown.

"I don't know for sure." He shook. "But I know that he was about to take your life away." He stared at the pile of embers, which roared with devilish flames taller than any of their heights.

After a brief few moments, the fire subdued to a smaller size and the clouds thickened up above. The hunter then turned to kneel, so he can talk to the girl. "Do you have somewhere to go, little one?" He asked.

"No, I don't." She lied. She came from a small village with a few good people. She would have mentioned its name if it weren't for her abusive family. She was so scared of her violent father that she wanted to flee and stay with her grandmother. She almost forgot what she was there for. "Do you know what happened to my gran?"

"You have a gran?"

"Yes, and she lived here." She nodded with beamed eyes, but then her voice softened. "Do you know where she is?"

He hesitated, but then he slowly shook his head with a pout. "No, I have not seen her anywhere." He was worried about her. He feared that she would be in danger of being gulped or slain if she were to continue on her own. So, he gave a warm smile and placed his hands on both of her shoulders. "How about you stay at my place, while I call for help. How's that sound for you?"

"I guess." She looked around, unsure if this was the right decision for her to make.

He then gave her a warm hug. "Everything is going to be alright now. What's your name?"

"I-I don't remember." She lied again, and the huntsman released himself from her to make eye contact.

"You don't?" He said. "Not even Ruby?"

She shook. She thought it would be ridiculous for her to be called Ruby, or even other name based on red, the colour of her hood.

Nevertheless, the pair walked off into the light woodlands, leaving behind a trail of smoke at the place. Maybe it was a stupid decision for the hood to have visited that place late at night. If she was brave enough to deal with that confrontation, then she would have stayed with her loving grandmother and enjoyed tea with her freshly baked brownies. That did not happen.

She had mistaken her for a big bad wolf and had left with a strange man by her side. All that remained of her was a big pile of ashes...and dust.