Fairy Tale Fantasy: Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood is the one that is in control of her world like Alice in Wonderland and goes around making slight alterations to her story in dark and creepy fashions, such as stealing from grandma and skinning the wolf, who is the son of a werewolf.

Now, Let us begin.

"Good Morning!" Little Red cried out to the first person that she saw, only to be greeted in kind. She was out and about doing her normal things that she does, which weren't so normal to the normal folk. As she passed by, the person that she spoke to dropped a personal item onto the ground, and promptly picked it up. Such seems like any normal accident, but wherever Red went, there were no accidents...

From the window, the ghastly sight of what looked like a pale corpse with womanly flesh upon it called out in an authoritative tone, "Young lady!" The woman was Little Red's mother, cross with her for fooling around during the time where she was supposed to be getting her chores done. "Make sure you keep up with your own tasks and don't worry about greeting any old person that passes by and we might get done sooner!" Naturally, her mother had her own chores to tend to. "You have one job today," Red's mother declared from the window, "And already you are distracted from it! You must take what I've given to you to your grandmother's house over the river and through the woods before nightfall. You can stay the night with her, but you must be sure that you do not go too late! There are terrible creatures like wolves and such lurking about and prey on young ladies that are as attractive as their mothers." She fluffed her hair. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes mum." Red responded only half paying attention, sparing her mother a quick glance as she strode into the house. Attractive was such an odd word for her to use, and though her mother may have been vibrant in her youth, Red could never see her paired with such a description. What child would be able to say such a thing about their parents if they were scowling most of the waking hours.

Red made her way into the kitchen and finished the basket that she had been dressing since... Yesterday? No wonder trouble seems to follow her. "Dear child," her mother said with a stern tone. "How are you ever going to make it in this world if you can't seem to finish simple tasks?" Red stared down at hunk of cheese, wrapping it with some bread and cured meats before placing the food into the basket next to some apples and a bottle of alcohol. Her mother rushed her up the stairs to grab a small travel bag for personal items, and a long red hooded robe. "Now, listen here you silly little girl. Heed my warning and don't you dare stroll off the path." Her cold bony fingers griped Red's shoulders hard as she turned her to the door and set her off on her journey. Red furrowed her brows as she settled the basket on her forearm. 'She didn't need to push,' She thought and stomped out of town.

She donned her head and set into the forest, after looking at several different blades of grass and waving good-bye to the townsfolk.

Little Red wasn't too far along the way to reaching the bridge that went over the river, toward the deeper part of the forest. It was nearly a hop and a skip away, and the townsfolk were still somewhat visible over the clearing by the time she came to the cobblestone construct.

"Hmmm..." Red thought, turning around to observe the townspeople in the distance, "I wonder if they can see me..." As she spoke, the image of the townspeople became a bit faded, as if they were getting farther away after red stopped moving; hazy, like the heat wavering in the desert, lacking only the aridity. She was already having thoughts about straying from her path that she might play in the stream, since she knew that people often lost things over this particular bridge. Red was the scavenger to find them. Sometimes, she would collect a reward, but more times than not, she would keep the spoils of what was under the bridge to herself.

"As long as mother can't," Little Red continued, "Then I guess it's fine." She wholeheartedly decided to cross over the bridge first before going treasure hunting underneath, just in case the watchful eye of her mother or some townsfolk were peering about. "The hungry eye is like a ravenous wolf, they say. So it's best to stay out of sight." After saying this, Red fluttered the cape attached to her hood and the space around her became warbled; warped, something like the vision of the townspeople in the distance, who could and would no longer be seen by the young adventurous one. She giggled with glee as she passed over the bridge and off to its side on the other end.

Here steps seems lighter, as if she were dancing her way to grandmother's house. It was a breath of fresh air for Red to have this amount of freedom. Red's giddy mood was infectious. She eventually followed the stream far enough where the bridge was just barely in sight. 'And the path isn't too far either,' she thought pleased with herself. She kicked off her boots, tied her skirt above her knees and stepped into the cool running water.

Her palms skimmed the bottom looking for anything. She found some coins, buttons, and a fish hook. Red frowned a bit and tossed the hook to the other bank, she stood up and stretched up to the sky. The sun was still just high enough to give her another fifteen minutes before she had to trek.

During that time, Little Red began to daydream. Around her, the world became elucidated and her perception became slightly askew, all as to accommodate her fantasy going on through her head. It was that of being both rich and famous; glamorous and gilded, like a fair maiden. Twas every young lady's daydream who did not already live the lifestyle, really. As time went on, eventually, Red's thoughts had to return to her progress to her grandmother's house, and began to daydream about that, as well.

She figured that she could skip her way to granny's house after getting her feet wet a little bit, and the water became a little more temperate and clean for her. At first, Red did not notice this, but when she was in the midst of her daydream about skipping to grandma's, she saw near her feet something shiny that immediately took her out of her la-la-land and back into this realm's perception of reality. "Gold!" she cried out in a muffled fashion, knowing the worth of a golden nugget in the river bank.

Screaming quietly to herself, Red picked up the nugget and began to search for more in the river, placing the first one in her hood pocket. "And some silver!" she continued, picking up the silver coins that were hidden beneath the rocks, seemingly for quite some time.

"Better quit while I'm ahead," Red said to herself, letting her feet dry by wiping them on the grass a bit before putting her traveling boots back on. "'Sides, I gotta get to granny's before nightfall, anyway. Can't hang around all day." With that, Little Red scooped up her basket full of goodies for grandma and hop-skipped away, keeping the new valuables for herself.

The woods became very deep and very dark very fast, but there was a clear path made on the ground for those who needed to traverse the woodlands, which Red was not supposed to divert from by any means, to avoid getting lost.