Stay on the path

secret

Brown hues slipped from left to right. His hands gripped tightly onto the gun. Not even a minute ago a scream of pain and agony had filled the woods. Now silence again.

The huntsman ran as fast as he could, staying cautious of surroundings. It was the Wolf! He was sure that psycho killer had attacked again!

“Shit, shit, shit!”

The young man cursed, running even faster through the forest. It came from the old lady’s cabin… the cabin of Marioline’s grandmother.

Only a little bit further, then he’d be there, hopefully in time to save whoever was in need.

A laugh, a silhouette… and then something that bumped into him. Since the huntsman didn’t expect this he tumbled backwards in the carpet of snow, the silhouette falling together with him.

“Wha-“

He looked up in order to see who it was.

Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, a soft blush and a red coat.

“Marioline?”

His voice was soft, even a bit surprised upon seeing her.

“Oh hey there dear!”

She seemed so cheerful and even leant down to gently peck his lips.

“What are you doing here?”

She continued, smiling down to him, acting as if nothing happened and she hadn’t heard that scream earlier.

“Well I-“

He stopped, sniffing up the scent of the girl he fell in love with. Eyes widened in disgust as the scent hit his nose. Grabbing Marioline he swiftly shoved her off of him and crawled a bit backwards.

“What’s that smell?”

It was something rotten… gross and plainly horrible! The girl tilted her head to the side a bit confused.

“What do you mean?”

She seemed clueless… or was he wrong?

He knew the girl so well by now and her eyes shimmered so playful…

Crawling closer to the blonde, he sniffed up the scent again. What was it? Sweat… No her sweat wasn’t something he truly hated… it could be sweet like flowers sometimes? Her breath? No it didn’t come from her mouth. As he shifted a bit in place he leaned closer to her riding hood… and immediately backed away again.

“Jesus Marioline, when did you wash that thing for the last time?”

He pinched his nose displeased, eyes watching her closely incase she tried to lie or hide something from him.  He also inspected the coat, noting the red had become darker.. When did that happen?

“Umm… I don’t remember last time I washed it…”

She sounded a bit hesitant, not completely sure how to answer his question or something… IN the meantime her hands slid over to the basket that had tumbled next to them on the ground. The huntsmen followed her actions, eyes narrowed once meeting the brown object in which she carried cookies or drinks most of the time.

Something red was dripping out of it… dark red… the same color as her riding hood had. Was that… blood… dripping out of it?

He gulped, leaning forward and just when Marioline tried to pull away from him and get up, he snatched the basked from her hands, looking into it.

The sigh simply made him sick. He quickly threw it away, gripping onto his stomach as he tried to hold back the urge to vomit.

The basket had rolled on its side, open to show it’s contains to whoever would pass by.

A blood red knife, two bottles filled with that blood and some old wrinkly skin from someone… Or maybe her grandmother.

“WH-what is… why are you…”

He looked up to her with big eyes, expecting Marioline to be afraid, ashamed or something alike. But no, there she stood, lips upwards into a terrifying smile and eyes showing an ominous amusement.

Cold sweat ran down his neck.

“Oops, guess I’ve been discovered~”

Her laugh made him shiver. She wasn’t the Marioline he knew. Sure the same girl, but a different behavior. How could someone be so happy after being found with a basket of blood?!

Getting up the hunter growled. He left his gun on the ground and strolled forwards, grabbing Marioline’s collar while trying his best to ignore the horrible scent coming from her.

“What did you do?! Why did you kill her!?”

Marioline stopped laughing, eyes staring up at the man.

“Huh… I didn’t kill her, the wolf did. He ate her; after all she left the path she had to stay on.”

“Where is he then?”

“Who?”

“The wolf!”

Marioline giggled again, leaning closer so her face was only inches away from his.

“I’m the wolf silly…Or rather said… the wolf is inside me. He told me to kill those people; as well the fact that white doesn’t suits me, red does…”

He threw her on the ground, taking a few steps back while inspecting his once beloved girl. She went insane… mad! Had she killed all of them?! All those people whom she believed went of the path?!

“Why! Why did you kill them, why Sophia?! Wasn’t she your best friend?”

“And a liar too. I told her I liked you and she promised me to help me and you get together. But instead she just kissed you… leaving me heartbroken. It was back then that the Wolf spoke to me, telling it was not good. I shouldn’t trust those who left the right path. I admit, killing Sophia was hard and once I realized what the wolf had done with my body, using it to kill her, I was shocked… but it was worth it. The next kills were even easier…”

“Marioline…you… went mad didn’t you? There is no Wolf, you’re the only person.”

“Oh no he’s there, and unless he gets his dinner, he’ll eat me my dear huntsman. You know Wolves; they can be very hungry…”

More giggles. The huntsmen snoved, trying to control both anger and fear while grabbing his gun, pointing it at her.

“What about your riding hood? What’s that smell?”

“Like I said… Red fits me better. But I must say, getting so much blood to cover a whole cape wasn’t easy and only covering a few dots with dark red is not cute at all. So I decided to do it slowly, each death person gave my wonderful riding hood and extra tint of red~”

Now the huntsmen really felt sick! He tried to point his gun at her, tried to shoot, but was unable to do so.

“Such a pity you discovered me though. The wolf said you’d find me gorgeous with it. After all you are the only person I can trust. You never lie or go of the path… But Oh well, I guess we have to part here.”

She was not scared of his gun… she was not scared of him, of his anger or his hate. And with that she skipped off, the last sight of her was that red of the lives she had taken and was stained with.

~Her little red riding hood~