A/N: I have a severe case of terminal writers block and my inspiration keeps running away from me. So, as a sort of exercise to try and keep writing, I tried my hand at a super short one shot or more like drabble of the iconic tale of Little Red Riding Hood. It's in rhyme which is something I have never don't before so it was fun to try but I don't know if I'll ever try to write something like this again as it was quite difficult, or more so than I had thought. Anyhow, I hope you'll like this sort of out of nowhere fanfic. Enjoy~
Disclaimer: This is a fanfic, I don't own the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
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"It's time for bed, little Red. Tomorrow, you'll have a long journey laid ahead."
Red blinked, her eyes heavy with sleep, and muttered the rules she had to keep, "Don't worry mom, I'll wear my cape and protect my skin, keep all my fingers safely hidden within."
Her mother twirled at one of her short black locks and pecked her on the cheek before looking at the clock, "Good, but don't forget to hold your knife warm and ready, for when monsters come to query."
Her mother then stood and opened the door with a soft creak and Red answered softly, already half asleep, "Of course mom, I know the rules, you've always bewared me of all those fools." before she lost herself to dreams of counting sheep.
The following morning, Red was standing by the door, she put her socks on and some more. Like her boots and gloves but not to forget, a cape like blood the color so red. Her mother came near and pressed in her hand a blade made of silver by a talented man; their local blacksmith, older with a voluptuous beard and many wrinkles —though he looked kind of weird. He was nothing like her Granny, who could pass for fifty years old, while she was supposed to be ninety if Red believed what the others had told. Red took the blade in a strong sturdy grip before she tied it with strings onto her hip.
Her mother nodded and clearly approved as she told Red of the quickest route that rarely was used, "From here, walk the main road straight on ahead till you come to a statue of a horseman holding his head. Then go to the left down a winding, pebble stone, path bordered by large creaking trees, and if you see a small shed you're on the right track."
Red replied with a simple: "I understand.", and smiled when her mother held out her hand. She held out her own and wasn't surprised when a basket woven from reed, that smiled of anise, filled with bread, cheeses and the finest wine was given to her and she lifted it from her mother with a small content sigh.
She was going on a quest, very important indeed, to bring her granny the things she might need. On the surface it looked like food but Little Red knew that underneath lurked her granny's medicine too. Her granny was a little sick, everyone knew, and to Red this wasn't a shock as her granny had always been at the end of her clock. But still she needed her food and Red wanted to help so that maybe granny could outlive even her, Red; the strongest girl in the village if she said so herself.
She looked at her mother, steeled her resolve, and pushed at the door into the cold. It had just turned to fall but the leafs where still green, all still spiky and sturdy in the morning it seemed.
Red took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and took her first step into the abyss.