Prologue

There was something curious about the instinctive reactions of humans. Every time one felt something dangerous coming, a survival mechanism was activated in a matter of seconds and before one knew it, they acted without thinking, almost like an animal hearing the crunching of footsteps in the forest. Maybe that Darwin fellow was right about humans being animals after all. That concept sounded interesting, if only she had paid more attention that time the scholar spoke when visiting her home. After all, if humans were just animals like any woodland creature, that would explain many of their involuntary reactions like when her pupils got smaller like cats when near candlelight at night; or like when her body suddenly became faster when hunting bears, or rather running away from them when her chances of hunting them dropped to zero.

In any case, the young girl found that behavior fascinating. Although every time she thought about it, she felt conflicted. That theory could explain many of her actions a few hours ago in that place she was leaving behind.

It had been a long time since her last visit to the village. She wouldn't say it was a nice experience, but then again, leaving home was never a pleasant event at all. At least, it was a relief to be free from chores. That morning when grandma carelessly babbled about having to run an errand and how troublesome that would be, Scarlett thought convenient to give her busy granny a rest and do it herself. The poor old woman had been spending most of her time working, it was the least she could do for her dear family. Nevertheless, the old lady had her own doubts about letting her granddaughter handle it. The village was half a day away from their house, and until today, the young lass had never been out of their land on her own, at least not since she was child.

In spite of it, she insisted and convinced her in the end. The young girl felt confident back then, but now that everything was settled, and considering how mentally exhausted she felt, she had to agree with her eldest about her doubts.

Her palms were still sweaty, and her stomach clench at the thought of that place. So big was her headache that she had to politely decline the village head's proposal of spending the night, as it was agreed beforehand by her granny's request.

Once again, the young maiden recalled her confident words that morning about being prepared for this quest. How silly she felt now. Her only reassurance was that she did accomplish her mission, and that she was currently on her way back home. How much she wanted to surprise her grandmother for the successful transaction and for arriving the same day of her departure, she guessed. It might deduct points from her brave act that morning and bring back some doubts to the old lady, but no one could deny she made a big step that day. And for that, she deserved a rest.

The cool breeze felt delightful on her damp skin; it was there in the woods where she could feel at ease. She filled her lungs with a much-needed whiff of fresh air and could finally feel like breathing again. Her feet had been leading her back home quite swiftly, but they seemed to have returned to a normal pace, probably once she stopped hearing people noises.

This is what she needed, peace and quietness. In every direction tall, green, leafy pines stretched for miles, making impossible to meet another human being on the way. That was her favorite part of her home, intimacy. Right now it was just her and the woods, the ruffle of the leafs, the almost imperceptible sounds of owls flipping their wings, the crunch of branches she was making with her leather boots.

And despite all that, she had a bad feeling she couldn't shake. Maybe it had to do with the lack of stars in the firmament. She had seen moonless nights since she was a child, but she couldn't recall seen this type of phenomena before. It made her restless.

In point of fact, Scarlett did not frequent the forest at night, everyone knew the dangers of such a reckless act. Her grandmother had always warned her that nighttime was the hour for nocturnal beasts to come out, although she still had enjoyed the pleasure of a night walk in the safety of her cabin. That's why she knew something wasn't right about tonight. The air was too chilly for this time of year, she had goosebumps underneath her long, red hood. There was thick fog, making the road invisible. If it weren't for her lantern, she wouldn't be able to see her own feet.

Her blue eyes abandoned the idea of adjusting, instead, she entrusted everything to her ears and tact. When she first detected an anomalous sound, her fingers tightened her grip around the basket she was carrying on her back. Her orbs instinctively followed the noise, slowing her footsteps to avoid tripping on the protruding roots.

Something was there, of that she was confident. The shuffle of the shrubberies was increasing in volume, she could almost feel how her blood was flushing to her veins. Underneath her thick eyelashes, her peculiar eyes spied her right quadrant. It was a minor inconvenience that her right hand was holding the lantern. For that, she gently switched the objects she was gripping, preparing herself for what was about to come.

The chilling breeze intensified, freezing her cold finger placed on the base of her backpack. The foggy atmosphere clouded her vision and chocked her lungs. Her feet stopped wherever she was standing for that the violent noises were about to manifest in physical form in a matter of seconds.

Her ribcage was about to explode from her hammering heart pumping blood on her system. Even at the verge of collision she had to reaffirm the impressiveness of the survival instinct. But there would be time for contemplation later, the beast appeared.

However, it didn't come from the bushes she was guarding, in fact, it wasn't even near them. All of a sudden, her confident features were painted with horror as her shocked eyes found the critter standing at her left. Scarlett recovered quickly from her fright and observed the creature.

A wolf.

She was expecting as much, although wolfs were rarely seen alone. Furthermore, the color of its fur was even rarer, jet black. It remained her of her own hair. And the coincidences didn't cease there, the most extraordinary feature the animal in front of her possessed and what was hypnotizing her with its persistence were its blue eyes. It was unprecedented she had a carnivorous canine a couple of feet away from her, and yet she could not move, breathe, or blink.

The bizarre experience felt like an eternity, almost as if time had stopped and her whole being was absorbed by the uncanny brute. That certainly refuted every rule of subsistence they ever taught her. Somehow, calling that thing an animal felt deeply erroneous. The presence of that being felt sinister. Whatever was happening, it was wrong.

Unexpectedly, the biting wind came back, this time her body shivered anxiously, panic rushing worse than before. That was when it jumped at her neck. The obscure quadruped forced her to go back to make some space between them. She had little time to think before successfully dodging the beast. The monster landed with ferocity on the bushes, but quickly recomposed and attacked her once more. In response, her agitated body jumped out of the way.

Losing no time, her right hand slid to the base of her backpack. There, a secret compartment opened, and she was able to extract what would be her tool for salvation. In the process, her lantern was thrown to the ground. That would have been a minor inconvenience if only it weren't so misty.

Scarlett was safe now, but she could barely see where she was standing. That was an important disadvantage considering the craftsmanship she was holding required eyesight to be used. It was not the best position to be in, but she was compelled to rely on her other senses to survive.

Yet again, the wonders of human instinct amazed her. She could feel how her body felt lighter, ready to react as all her senses were focused on the branches' movements. When her eardrums caught the ruffling in the far corner of her left eyes, she reloaded the object secured in both hands.

Scarlett waited patiently, moving her special-looking eyes from left to right in search for any black spot in the immense gray cloud. Her legs were spread and slightly crouching, breath steadily, and heartbeat racing at a normal speed. In all honesty, her confidence was due to the metallic and woody object, and it made her proud to know that it was sweet grandmother's doing, almost as if she was protecting for her from afar.

Her granny. The warm sunshine of her life would be waiting for her return the next day; she had no idea that her granddaughter was in the woods. She disliked the idea of worrying her, more reason to kill the menace.

While taking big strides, her hands were occupied preparing her shotgun. But it was making it impossible to aim correctly for the creature was trying to jump at her at every turn. Its fangs were inches away from her throat and somehow, she could feel their painful pierce as if they had dig in. The ferocious monster became more vicious, and its motion more precise. Soon, the young lass was not just dogging, she was hardly keeping herself away from it.

It was unsettling how the beast was hiding in the obscurity. These were cunning creatures, but not this intelligent. A chill run down her spine when its growling came from behind her. This time, she bumped with a tree while moving away. It was tempting to dart from there but running away was not an option. Her restless eyes spotted the warm light of her lantern farther than before. She tried to ignore the idea of that creature trying to get her in the deep darkness on purpose, and concentrated on getting her tool back, otherwise, it would be impossible to reach her cabin.

And so, she pushed her worries away and concentrated on her experienced years of shooting. One knee went down and placed itself on the grass, the other leg right in front of it. The beautifully crafted shotgun was lifted in the air and positioned in the steady arms of its owner. She could not perceive where it was, but judging by its frightening accuracy, and using the tree she was corned to as a shield for her back, she faced at the front, waiting for it.

El silencio consumía el tiempo de espera mientras sus ansias crecían exponencialmente. A cold sweat ran down her back, firmly pressed against the tree, and her teeth bit her lower lip unconsciously. There was no sign of it yet, but she was certain its following jump would be the last. She was prepared, her body, her mind, everything was settled for this moment.

A steady thumb pulled the safety at the same time her eyes narrowed, focusing in where she was certain the beast would appear. She had no idea what that thing was, but it had picked the wrong prey, this young woman refused to fall victim of that animal. And so she proved it.

The big jaws of the wolf tried to bite her at the same height as before, only this time, she was waiting for him crouched down. And once she aimed her gun at the persistent malice´s snout, with precision and confidence, she pulled the trigger.

The echo of the shot rang throughout the forest. Only cold silence followed.

The weapon in front of her was pulled down, next to her. Finally, her tense shoulders relaxed as a deep exhalation escaped from her lips and her heavy body laid back on the trunk. The beast lying in front of her feet was motionless, and the increasing pool of blood was the final signal to accept it was over.

Minutes later, Scarlett took the lantern from the ground- thankful that the flame had not died- and resumed her walk back home. It had been an exhausting day: a long walk, a difficult transaction with the village, and a fight with a creepy wolf. She couldn't wait to tell her grandma. A small smile formed past her tired feature, picturing the sweet old lady in front of the chimney, drinking a cup of warm herbs tea, listening to her story with her usual snarky comments, but changing her expression once she told her about the epic battle using her trusty-

In less than a second the path illuminated by her lamp turned as the weight of a beast threw her ferociously to the ground. A searing, sickening pain shot through her nerves along with a red-hot burning heat in her throat. Her backpack and her only source of light were blown into the air before she collided with the ground with the weight of a beast on top of her. The girl struggled with her bare hands, punching at something hairy and fleshy, but she couldn't move it. Her legs were kicking and doing everything they could to move and try to access some branch that she could use as a weapon, but it was useless.

Her desire to scream for help was desperate, but her cloudy mind, numb from pain, could not be sure that she was conscious at that moment, although she did feel that she was moaning in pain. It was the only thing she could do with the animal's fangs squeezing her windpipe tighter and tighter.

Soon arms and legs collapsed to the ground, officially ceasing movement. Her mouth was open, gasping for breath, but held in check by the clogging of a pool of liquid that she could feel escaping from her lips in warm traces, which she could guess were red. Part of her mind was still awake when the sound of her blouse ripping apart reached her ears. The last thing she remembered was the hellish heat on her torso, and the feeling of that warm liquid spilling and splashing around. Against her own will, her drowsy eyes started closing, she couldn´t let that happen, her grandma was waiting for her. She was going to be scold for catching a cold if she fell asleep there in the woods. She needed to surprise her that night, otherwise, there would be no surprise. She wanted to be praised for going back to the village. She-

Woke up after the heaviest eyelids allowed her to. She found wood planks. Everything was the same color. The room was very luminescent and calm, but brighter than she could handle at the moment. Where was she? What day was it? What was she doing? Her cloudy mind provided no answer and returned to the realm of dreams with no permission.

Scarlett, Scarlett. She could hear a distant voice calling her name. Her head ached trying to focus on that sound, but somehow her eyes opened, meeting the dimmer light of day. For the second time she met wooden walls and ceiling. It was a cabin, she recognized. And the languid wool mattress on which she was resting must be her bed. In the background she managed to catch the sound of the flames crackling, something that comforted her because of the delicious heat that emanated from the chimney. That place must have been her home. So that meant the person calling her was…

Granny. Her rough, tired voice took her by surprise. That was when she realized the dryness of her throat. But only that, her whole body was in pain. Her muscles were sore, aching at the slightest motion. Nevertheless, she clumsily shifted her heavy head to meet the person she wanted to see most.

But that was not her. It was the old woodcutter.

Grayson? Her confusion became audible. What are you doing here?

The quiet old man stared at the disoriented young lass who haven´t realized where she was yet. Though it was a surprise to find him when she woke, it was nice to see a familiar face. Half of it, however, was covered by a long gray beard hiding his expression. What it couldn´t hide were the lines in his forehead. Those showed concern, rarely seen on the self-sufficient hermit. He had something to say.

Scarlett, this is my cabin. You´re not home. He corrected briefly, his tone as crude as ever. Delicacy has never been his fort; however she could perceive a note of decorum. That important detail didn´t go unnoticed.

She nodded too weak to respond.

You remember where I found you? In her state, the silent hooligan was forced to do the talking. It was in the forest, almost a mile and a half from my home. He did not wait for her answer to proceed. A nasty wolf attacked you, remember?

Memories of said event invaded her mind. She fidgeted under the covers while her hand placed on her forehead. Everything hurt.

I rescued you in the nick of time. He got away from her to tend the boiling cattle on the fire. He was preparing tea, she spied from her place.

Once he was done, he carefully took a seat on the chair next to her with the warm cup of tea in his hand and started drinking it. The convalescent looked at him accustomed to his insensitivity.

That was a week ago.

That information got all her divine attention, in fact, she almost jumped from the mattress. And yet, the shock muted her completely.

It was his turn to explain. You´ve been asleep all this time. That beast almost killed you, lass. He sipped his tea. I´ve never seen so much blood before, thought you wouldn´t make it.

Scarlett could not believe her ears, but her eyes uneasily crept downwards where evidence confirmed everything. She was patched with white wraps stained in maroon. They extended from her belly button up to her neck, partially explaining why it hurt to speak. Pieces were coming together as she fought back her rising heartbeat. The walk home, the moonless night, the wolf, the attack. Everything was starting to make sense; the old woodcutter saved her life and she´s been asleep for seven days. But there was still one unsolved issue.

It was no small matter that she was in Grayson's cabin instead of hers.

Why?

Since the old man informed her, there was a very unwelcome sensation bothering her. Her mind was running wild, she blamed it on her weak state, otherwise, she wouldn´t feel so uneasy.

Before anything, she swallowed the lump forming in her throat. Underneath the sheets, her hands started trembling unconsciously. She did not like how her body was reacting. It was a simple question, just a simple confirmation of her biggest fear.

It frightened her to ask, but she ought to. W-Where´s granny? She cursed her chocked voice betraying her. She must stay positive, she must resist the trembling of her hands, now gripping the sheets, she must restrain her uneasy imagination and that obscure feeling in the back of her head that was causing small drops to form in the corner of her eyes.

Grayson was going to tell her that she was home, preparing something, and would be back in a few minutes. After all, she was her beloved grandmother; the woman would have left everything including her hectic work to ensure the health of her dear granddaughter.

However, all her hopes were crushed by the look in the sincere eyes of the old man. It was incredible how he produced no sound, yet he conveyed the message by casting down his gaze.

A crippling pain clouded her senses. The tears she was fighting back flowed like a torrent. There must be a mistake, maybe she misinterpreted the message. She refused to accept the sole idea that her grandmother…

In an impetuous act, Scarlett threw the sheets into the air and lifted her heavy body from the bed. She had to see for herself. She would never believe in such a calumny. Her clumsy feet moved quickly, but after a couple of steps, her weakened and hurt body collapsed on the floor.

Scarlett. The old woodcutter reached out for her, his tone in a limbo between scolding and worry. But she did not allow his help and crawled back to her feet, stumbling with the walls.

Hot tears were tracing down her cheeks, but her hands were occupied on the wall to clean them. That was when her finger bumped with a small frame. It was the mirror Grayson used to shave. Her blue eyes swimming in a pool of red meet her own reflex after the calamity for the first time.

Her breath was caught by the horrible image in front of her. One hand supported her weight, while the other one rose to untie the bandages on her neck. Her bare throat moved with a swallow as she watched the small scar protruding from the bandages dig deeper and deeper down her torso as far as she could see.

Scared, she looked at Grayson for answers.

The cumbersome hermit explained what her crushed eyes were imploring to know. It almost killed you, lass. I had to tend your wounds quickly or you´d have died. It took me all night and morning to patch you up. But once you were stable, I went to fetch your grandma. That´s when…

Her teeth bit her lip to stop the capricious whimpers forming in her chest.

The cabin was torn to pieces. I tried to find Rosehip, see if she was fine, but when I walked into her bedroom…

The most pitiful cry scaped her limps, her hands were giving in.

She was lying in her bed… Grayson seemed to have stumbled with his words, maybe traying to not hurt her feelings, although they were already shred. There was nothing I could do.

Her nails dig in the planks, trying to hold on to something other than misery. Hopefully there must be something, anything to keep her together.

…Who? Her raspy voice conveyed the message. From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of her own outrageous stare.

I don´t think it was human.

Her blood ran cold. No.

I think it was wolf.

Before her miserable expression in the mirror, the young woman dropped her body to the ground, having lost all trace of hope left.

A/N:

Well, that was longer than I intended to. Hello, everyone. I´m starting this new series based on the popular fairytale we all know, though it´s not going to be like it at all.

As in known, "The little red riding hood" is an antique story of oral transmission with no official author, therefore, I won´t claim ownership of the concept and iconic characters of the tale. However, I´m the owner of this specific story and original characters, and the image´s cover as well.

With that said, I´d like to clarify a couple of points:

1) English is not my mother language, so I will make mistakes, but I will always try to be as grammatically correct as possible. In fact, I take this as practice to improve my writing and vocabulary.

2) This story will be located in England of the past, so considering my lack of knowledge about the use of the language back then, the dialogues won´t be historically accurate with the time period. It´s a shame; believe me that I´m the first one to feel frustrated about this. If I could, I would write the dialogues matching the time period and social classes, but that exceeds my limits with this language.

3) I´m not quite sure which age rating should I choose for this story. I picked T because it won´t get too violent or gory (maybe that will change in the future), although I AM planning to add a few scenes with sexual content (maybe that will change in the future). In any way, I´ll make sure to warn the readers when/if the time comes.

4) In relation with the genre tags, I chose ADVENTURE and SUPERNATURAL because those two were the most relevant, though this story will also have MYSTERY and ROMANCE, and I believe that HURT/COMFORT as well.

As you may have seen it´s going to be a project, so wish me luck, and I hope you enjoy it.

Bye!