The Real Little Red Riding Hood

There once was a young girl, no more than 16 years old, who lived in a forest with her grannie. Everyone called her Red. She lived near a small town and had been friends with a boy named Peter for as far as either of them could remember. The town was recently plagued by a fowl beast, the wolf. The wolf is a large creature, unlike normal wolves, and kills because it can. Red's grannie once faced the wolf as a little girl, after watching her 7 father and brothers be brutally stricken down by the beast. They had gone out to hunt the wolf, as it was killing their livestock, and she crawled onto the thatched roof and lay there. She watched them die and was so horror-struck that she fell from the roof and landed in a pool of their blood right in front of the wolf. The wolf latched its jaws onto her arm, then looked at her as though she were nothing, and turned its back and walked away, not glancing back once. It hadn't feared them men or their spears and this new wolf didn't either.

Red was very exasperated with her Grannie for holding her inside during the wolfing time for Red had fallen in love with Peter, and he her. The wolfing time comes once a month during the full moon and plagues the village for some while. She was hardly allowed out of their cabin, and was always told to wear her red riding hood when she was allowed out.

Once, after the hunters came telling of their hunt for the wolf, Red's Grannie had her go check the chickens to make sure the wolf hadn't gotten them. "Put on your cloak!" Grannie told her as she flew out the door. Red, wearing her cloak, checked the chickens. She gently grabbed their eggs and set them in her basket. As she was turning to leave, she noticed something hiding on the floor of the coop. And being a curious child, she crept over to the thing and looked at it. Snow White stood up quickly, a sheepish look on her face. She held two chicken eggs in her hands. "Are you stealing from us?" Red asked her. "Um… Yes, not much though." Snow replied to her. Snow White tried to hand the eggs back but Red told her to keep them and to come inside.

The girls became fast friends, though Red didn't know Snow's real name because the evil queen, or her step mother, was hunting her down, to kill her. Red divulged her love for Peter and Snow quickly decided it wasn't right for Red's Grannie to use the wolf as an excuse to keep her from seeing Peter. They twisted a plan to hunt down and kill the wolf during the day, when they had the advantage.

They trekked through the forest on foot. Red had her hood on and the snow was falling. It was quiet and peaceful, a beautiful scene. It was unfortunate that it would quickly become horrifying. Snow White walked around in the snow happily looking at tracks. She knelt down and pointed to a track. "Is that it?" She asked Red. Red snickered, amused by Snow's confusion. "No. That's a dog track. What we are looking for is far bigger, nearly 8 inches across with long claws." Red replied kindly. Meanwhile Snow White had gone a mere few feet ahead, and come across some other tracks. She stopped dead and stared. Her face had grown pale, not quite the color of the snow. "Like these?" She asked. Red caught up to her and stared with her. In front of them were two, very large, paw prints. They were very much like a dogs but much bigger and with visibly sharp claws. The girls looked up, realizing they'd only seen two tracks. There should have been four. Maybe twelve feet in front of them were the other set of tracks. One stride had covered that much ground.

Red began to grow animated in hopes of finally killing the wolf. Red and Snow followed the tracks for some time longer until they realized the prints were beginning to change. Instead of being a large dog print, they were now half dog, half boot prints. The wolf was a human, or a human was the wolf. "Aren't we awfully close to cabin?" Snow noticed. Red didn't reply as they came to the clearing where the tracks led. In front of them stood the cabin, with the wolf, now human, prints leading up to Red's window. "Who has been at your window, Red?" It was now Red's turn to grow pale. She started to whimper and tears dripped down her face as she realized who the wolf was. Snow White grew worried and asked her again, more concerned this time. "Peter." Red replied.

After Red calmed down, she went into action. She wanted to be with Peter forever and didn't think it was his fault that all those people were dead. She thought the wolf was using Peter's body. Snow took Red's hood as she was asked and lay down in Red's bed where Grannie would soon check on her. She tried her best to remain hidden and look like Red but to no avail. Grannie questioned her on Snow's whereabouts and when Snow couldn't reply without sounding like herself, Grannie knew. Snow quickly began to explain what they had found. "I know you're probably worried, but it's okay!" Snow White said, hurriedly. "We went out to kill the wolf and this may be hard to understand, but the wolf is a human. The wolf is Peter, but that's okay too because she's going to tie him up so he can't hurt her." Grannie looked horrified. "She's tied him up? That poor boy! We must hurry."

Grannie and Snow, who was still wearing Red's cloak, traipsed through the woods in search of Red and Peter. "You've known all this time?" Snow asked, exasperated. "Yes. I didn't tell her because I didn't want her to have such a large burden. Her mother was the same before she was killed by hunters. The cloak is supposed to keep her from turning but the darn girl doesn't ever wear it!" Grannie said, beginning to tell Snow White the complete story so she would understand. "The wolf that bit me was her grandfather. He turned me." She said. Snow began to grasp what Grannie was saying. "Grannie… how are you tracking her?" Snow asked. "I am tracking her with scent, what's left of it anyway."

Grannie loaded a crossbow with an arrow. "We are down wind so we have the advantage. Silver tipped arrow will drop her quick enough." Grannie said. They were so near Red now. Unfortunately, they hadn't arrived soon enough and Peter was strewn across the small clearing. Snow was staring at his foot, detached from his body, while Red ate him. She hadn't been paying attention and stepped on a stick, which snapped. She had now alerted Red that they were there and as she pounced, Grannie fired, striking her with the arrow. With a yelp she went down and the quickly dropped the cloak onto her, turning her back to a human. Snow and Grannie heard the hunters and tried to get out of the forest quickly before Peter's scattered remains were discovered and Red recognized what she had done. In her confusion, Red turned and saw Peter lying all over the clearing and uncovered the secret hidden from her for so long. Red was the wolf.