Little Red Riding Hood and the Prince

Chapter 18- Dealing with the Madwoman

It was quiet as I approached the door and knocked softly. Hearing no reply, I went into the room that appeared empty at first glance.

'Hiding again.' I sighed and placed the bowl on the bedside table.

First I bent down to peer into the shadows beneath the bed. Not there.

Walking over to the armoire I put an ear to the door and was rewarded by the sound of faint breaths. Slowly swinging the door open as I walked backwards, keeping it like a shield in front of me, I waited.

Ten, nine, eight-

"Aahhh, nooooo, the light!" The voice shrieked and warbled, weakly rasping.

'Ah, not dangerous today then" I thought, remembering several occasions when she had attempted to beat me with various objects for disturbing her.

"Whhhyyyy?! Why does the light mock me?!"

I sighed, and then came around into her line of sight, with a fake smile pasted to my face. A smile that was very difficult to keep while looking at the shell of a woman curled up under the hanging clothes. We had never gotten along all that well, but seeing the loud, boisterous figure of my stepmother reduced to this unkempt, frail waif was enough to break my heart every time.

"Hello stepmother! It's time for lunch." I held out a hand as my voice gentled. "Come now."

Eyes wide, she reached out her hand towards mine and allowed me to pull her out. Slowly, I lead her over to the window seat, before quickly bringing over the soup.

"Here we are. Doesn't it smell lovely? Chicken broth soup with fresh carrots, potatoes and peas. We've even got rosemary and green onion on top, see? Now open wide."

She complied, looking a little lost, and allowed me to spoon feed her.

All was going surprisingly well until a beam of sunlight came suddenly through the window and lighted on my face.

"Ah, bright." I squinted, blocking the light from my eyes with one hand.

Stepmother got a wild look on her face again as she stared at me.

"Burning flames, flames and ashes! You're burning, burning!" She shrieked. I stared at her, before realizing that I was still wearing the remains of my hood, the uneven loose threads glowing a bright red in the lighting.

Fortunately, the light dimed as another cloud moved in to block the sun's glare, but Stepmother continued to ramble.

"You were burning, burning. Now you're a coal girl, a hot coal, a pile of cinders. Cinders Ella! Ashes and cinders and ruin is all that is left to us." She muttered and cried, becoming hysterical once more.

There was only one thing to do at times like this.

"Clarice!" I used my sharpest, clearest voice, fixing my eyes intently on hers. "Come back to us now."

The shock brought her back to herself, her eyes clearing.

"What, what's happening?" She was back to childlike confusion.

I sighed. "Nothing bad, just come finish your soup."

The rest of our time together was uneventful, and I helped her to clean up and lay back down.

Afterwards, I went back to my room and carefully removed my hood, folding it and placing it in my treasure box. My own sadness continued to echo for some time, mixing with stepmother's cries.

'Cinders Ella! Ashes and cinders and ruin is all that is left to us.'

Perhaps I really was a cinder girl, the one remaining when the time of the merry flames had gone. Cinder Elenora. Cinder Ella.

Alone this time, I kneeled, letting myself feel the true weight of all that I had lost.

And then I asked God to give me strength, and went back out to tend to the three resilient flames still waiting for me.