Grimm's Little Red Riding Hood adaptation: Dissociative Identity Disorder Edition
Once upon a time, there was a little deaf girl that was adored by everyone, especially her grandmother. Once she gave the little girl a beautiful, red velvet riding hood, which she liked so much that she never took it off. For this reason, she earned the name ' Little Red Riding Hood'.
One night Little Red Riding Hood's mother left her a note:
Dear daughter,
I am leaving a bottle of wine and a piece of cake in the basket on the table for you to bring to your grandmother. She is feeling ill and weak and I think some food and drink would do her some good. You should head out before it gets too hot and make sure to stay on the path. Don't stray.
Don't forget to wish her a good morning.
Love, Mom
Little Red nodded to herself. She would make sure her grandmother got what she needed, for she loved her grandmother and would be devastated if anything were to happen to her.
So she set out to deliver the basket of goodies.
Her grandmother lived out in the woods, a little way from their village. After walking down the path for a few moments, she heard a voice.
"Little Red…" The voice whispered.
The girl was afraid. With her being deaf all her life, she had never heard a sound in her life. Not the wind, nor the trees, nor animals, and certainly not a voice.
She let out a little sound and glanced all around her for the voice. She saw no one.
With her heart racing, she took a few steps backwards and in doing so, her left foot stepped off the woods pathway.
Then she heard it again.
"Little Red… How are you?"
"H-how am I?" She whispered.
"Yes." The voice said back.
"I am well," she said," But…. who are you? Where are you?"
"Who am I?" The deep voice said, "Why, I'm you of course. And as for where? Right here."
Little Red's eyes slid nervously across the tree line. "Right where?"
"Inside you." The voice whispered.
"W-what! I don't understand!" She trembled.
"Shhh. Don't worry, Little Red. I'm you. And you have nothing to fear from yourself, do you?"
"I… I suppose not." She answered.
"Good," the voice crooned,"By the way, where are you going?"
"To my grandmother's." Little Red said cautiously.
"What is in that basket you have there?"
"Some cake and wine. She is sick and my mother asked me to take them to her."
"Where does your grandmother live, Little Red?"
Little Red pointed her down the path. "That way. Only a few more moments and I shall be there."
"Is that so?" the voice mused, "Well, could I accompany you there?"
" Well, you are me and I am you and I am going to visit her, so that means you have to come regardless, right?" Little Red challenged.
The voice let out a bark of laughter. "Ah, you are very witty aren't you? I think we will get along marvelously. Let us be on our way then, shall we?"
Little Red nodded and set out down the path.
As they were walking, Little Red addressed the voice. "So…. what should I call you?"
"Call me? I suppose you could call me Wolf, if you must."
"Wolf? What an odd…"
"Look!" the Wolf interrupted, "What pretty flowers those are. Wouldn't your grandmother love these?"
Little Red looked around and saw a bush of beautiful, glowing yellow daisies. Her eyes widened.
"Wow! Those are beautiful! My grandmother loves the color yellow."
"Well, perhaps you should pick her some? To wish her well."
Little Red bit her lip, thinking. Her grandmother would love them, that's true, but the bushes of flowers were off of the pathway and her mother had told her not to stray.
"Ah, don't be afraid, Little Red. It won't take much time at all. It will be real quick, I promise." The Wolf insisted.
"Well…. I guess it would be alright." Little Red muttered to herself.
She stepped off the path and started towards the flowers. She was so intent and mesmerized by the flowers' beauty that she wasn't paying to where she was stepping and in turn she didn't see the root of a tree that had broken though the earth.
As she took another step, her foot caught the tree root and she tripped.
"Ahh!" She gasped as she fell, the wind getting knocked out of her. Pain exploded through her head and when she reached up to touch it, her fingers came away with dark red blood. She had hit her head on a rock.
Little Red's vision started to become fuzzy around the edges and the last thing she saw before she passed out was a dark shadow looming over her.
The first thing Little Red noticed when she awoke was the blood.
She shakily stood up and looked down at herself. Her dress, her hood, her boots, even her skin was stained in blood.
Little Red whimpered and looked at her blood encrusted finger nails. "What happened…?" She whispered.
She then noticed that she was standing in front of her grandmother's house.
The door to the house was open and the door was engraved with finger nail marks. Like someone had tried to escape.
Little Red slowly made her way inside the house and what she saw frightened her.
The little front room that her grandmother used as a bedroom was in tatters. Blankets were thrown everywhere and shredded like some wild animal had gotten in. And the blood! It was smeared on the floor and walls and stained the sheets.
Little Red noticed that there was a weirddrag mark of blood leading into the kitchen and decided to follow it.
But the blood stains stopped at the kitchen door. The rest of the kitchen was spotless and in order. Except for the pot boiling on the stove.
Little Red walked over to the pot, lifted lid, and peered inside. At first it just looked like a pot of tomato soup. Then something floated to the top.
A hand. Complete with her grandmothers silver ring still attached.
Little Red let out a blood curdling scream and fainted right there on the kitchen floor.
As she was waking up, Little Red noticed she was sitting in a bed. Her eyes fluttered open and all she could see was white. White walls, white ceiling, and white lights.
Where am I? She wondered. Is this a hospital?
Little Red sat up in bed and looked around her. At the end of the bed was a clipboard.
She gently crawled to the end of the bed and picked up the clipboard. It read:
Patient: Mary Thompson
Diagnosis: Dissociative Identity Disorder
Treatment prescribed: HYDROTHERAPY
HYDROTHERAPY: Use of water to treat a disease or to maintain health
Dissociative Identity Disorder? Little red thought about it.
The Wolf. He said he was me, but is that possible? I'm I crazy? She wondered.
Just then then the lights in the room turned off, startling her. I guess it's bed time she thought.
Little Red put the clipboard back at the end of the bed and laid down, pulling the covers over herself.
As she started to drift asleep she thought of one word.
HYDROTHERAPY
*Dream Sequence*
Little Red was sitting in a bathtub full of ice cold water. She shivered. What is she doing in here?
A flash in the water caught her eye and she looked down. Her eyes widened.
One half of her face looked like her normal face that see was so used to seeing and the other half was… wolf. Her eye on the wolf side glowed a golden yellow and its mouth turned up into a grin. It growled, showing sharp yellow teeth.
"Hi again, Little Red." The wolf commented.
Little Red let out a small scream and gripped the side of the tub. "No! What did you do?! I loved my grandmother!" She cried.
"Oh please. She was old and dying anyway. I was doing you a favor." The wolf said.
"No you didn't!" Little Red insisted, "I want you to LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" The wolf gloated.
Little Red stilled for a minute and then let a small smile come across her face.
"This." She whispered.
And before the wolf had time to reply, Little Red submerged herself in the cold water.
At first there was a little struggling, a few curse words, and fingers scrambling for the outside of the tub. Then, there wasn't.
And everything was silent.
* End Dream Sequence*
In the next few weeks following Little Red's stay at the hospital, they tested and tested her, but couldn't find anything. They didn't know how a sweet young girl like this could ever kill someone.
So despite the claims of the person who found her in the woods, there was no evidence. The hospital had to let her go.
Little Red's mother came to pick her and was relieved to have her back. They both started to head back to their village and back to their old lives. And they lived happily ever after.
Sike! What do you think this is? A glorified Disney movie where everything is always magically better at the end? I don't think so. No, this is a brothers Grimm fairytale, and they didn't believe in a happy ending for everyone. So why would this be any different? Ok, now back to the story.
*One month later*
After a meal of sausage and potatoes, Little Red excused herself for bedtime.
She wandered into the bathroom to do her nightly routine. Bath, put on pajamas, and brush her teeth.
As she was putting toothpaste on her toothbrush, she heard it. She dropped her toothbrush. Her heart stopped.
"Hello, Little Red. Miss me?"
Little Red slowly looked up to the mirror mounted on the wall. She shook her head, tears spilling out.
The left half of her face contained the wolf. The eye glowing and sharp teeth on display.
"No….." She croaked.
"No? Well, I certainly missed you my dear."
Little Red's scream echoed off the walls of the small bathroom.
THE END