The Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time, in a vast, never-ending meadow that seemed to extend beyond the horizon, a tiny girl shrouded in a red cloak appeared, a spot of crimson on the endless green. She found that her mind was completely blank. She wondered who she was. Red. She remembered she was called Red Riding Hood. Where was she? She looked around, but all she could see was an ocean of grass. She looked here and there, but she found nothing. She looked up, but she found nothing. She looked down, and her eyes fell upon a basket. The basket had a small card that read ‘For Granny’.
Red walked over to the basket and picked it up. It was surprisingly heavy, considering its size. Upon picking up the basket, Red remembered ‌her Granny was long dead. But she had nothing else to do in this empty meadow, so she said to herself, “Let there be a Granny”. And poof, a small house appeared on a faraway hill. 
“Here I come, Granny!” said Red as she began skipping toward the house.
As she moved ahead, the meadow morphed into a forest, and the further she went, the thicker it got. Red thought aloud, “Where did this forest appear from? It certainly wasn’t there before.”
“It was always there. You just didn’t see it.” said the Owl. “Are you blind?”
“There was no forest. This is the first time I’m seeing it.” Red shouted. “And how dare you say such a thing! Vanish!”
And so, the owl vanished just as suddenly as he had appeared. Red continued skipping along the path that led deeper into the woods. She wasn’t about to let some owl come between her and her destination.
As she walked along, she stopped at the sight of blood. Her sight followed the trail of blood before her, and at the end of it, she saw the corpse of a bunny. It seemed to have been eaten by a wild creature. Fear screamed at her to stay away, but her curiosity triumphed as she moved closer to the bunny to inspect it. Looking at the deceased animal stirred an emotion in her that felt awfully close to guilt. It seemed to have wrinkles under its eyes. She felt a strange kinship toward the bunny. She wondered why. As she studied the corpse that lay before her, she was interrupted by something tapping her shoulder. She turned around to see the pale ghost of the dead bunny.
With deep betrayal in its cold eyes, it asked, “You were supposed to protect me. Why didn’t you?”
“What? How was I supposed to protect you?” cried Red.
“I’m dead because of you. You are responsible for my death,” said the pale ghost. It kept repeating this until the words flooded Red’s ears and she couldn’t take it anymore.
Red shut her ears with her hands and tried running away from the ghost, but it followed her steadily and kept chanting the same words that made her heart ache with guilt. Red screamed, “Stop! Go away! Why does such a pale ghost exist? Ghosts do not exist in my world. Vanish!”
The ghost vanished into thin air. Red sighed with relief and proceeded toward the house on top of the hill. 
As the sun disappeared, darkness took over the deep woods. The shadows seemed to dance, and every rock or tree could easily have been mistaken for a creature of the night. Red heard footsteps. She thought to herself that maybe it was just the wind. At least, she hoped it was just the wind. The footsteps grew closer and faster, causing panic to seep in. She hugged the basket close to her chest and dared to keep walking, too afraid to turn back and face whatever beast that was lurking in the shadows. She began to run, slowly picking up her pace. A misplaced rock caused her to trip and come tumbling to the ground.
Not knowing what else to do, she shut her eyes as tight as she could and clung to the basket for dear life. Each second brought the footsteps closer to her frail body. Soon, they stopped, and the sound of a rushed yet soothing voice filled her ears.
“Open your eyes. I will bring you no harm.”
She opened her eyes, only to see a skinny, toothless, clawless lion.
“Follow me,” said the lion, and for some reason, she felt she could trust it. After all, it didn’t seem to be in a position to harm her even if it wanted to.
The pair reached a cave and then the lion turned to Red. “You will be safe from the wolf here,” he said.
“Wolf?” asked red. “What wolf? No wolf exists in my world.”
“It does exist, and it rules this jungle,” the lion said accusingly. “You made me powerless.”
The lion fell into a fit of hysterical crying. The evident pain it was in scared Red. She ran out, confused. “A toothless, clawless lion like you should not exist,” said Red. “Vanish!”
Poof. The lion vanished, and so did his musty cave.
She made her way forward to her destination. She was almost there, and soon, she would be out of this wretched forest. The light of the moon now illuminated her path. As she kept walking, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being followed. She turned around, but was unable to see anyone. Red was scared and tired. She just wanted to reach her granny’s place as soon as she could so she’d be safe from the wolf that everyone seemed to fear so deeply.
She was walking as fast as she could, but the moment she heard someone sprinting toward her, she broke into a run and tried to get away. Her efforts were futile, as her body was soon scooped up, and she could feel herself being carried away. A voice whispered, “Don’t worry, I got you.”
She opened her eyes to see that she was now riding a majestic antelope. She held onto the antlers tight as she was safely delivered out of the forest in a matter of seconds. The moment she got off the antelope’s back, the animal was grabbed back into the creepy woods with a frightful cry. Afraid, Red didn’t dare turn back, and ran toward the house, which was now right in front of her. When she finally reached the door, she banged on it like her life depended on it.
“Please! Open the door!” she cried.
“Who’s there?” asked the calm voice of a woman.
“It’s me.” Red said, urgently.
“Me? ‘Me’ does not exist. Go away,” the lady said.
“It is me. How can I not exist?” Red panicked as she could hear howls drawing closer. “Please let me in, otherwise, the wolf will get me.”
“No. You will bring the wolf in. You will be the cause of granny’s death.” the lady said.
Red thought to herself, “it would be so great if I were strong enough to break down this door.” And so, she was now strong enough to break down the door. With one shove, the door popped open, and she saw a crippled young woman sitting in a wheelchair and an old woman in her last moments, sleeping in bed beside her.
Red stepped in and smiled at the woman in the bed. “See, granny? I’m here.” she said.
“You have made a grave mistake. You shouldn’t have done this.” The young lady said calmly.
“Shut up! Don’t you know granny is dying? I am here with medicines.” Red retorted.
The young woman tried to grab the basket from Red. “Throw it away! Throw it away!” she screamed.
But Red overpowered her and snatched the basket back, causing the woman to topple over from her chair. Granny just observed the commotion taking place in front of her with a serene expression. Red walked over to the bed with the basket. “Granny, look. You will be healthy now,” she said, extremely contently.
As Red opened the basket, a big, bad wolf appeared from the container and consumed the granny whole. Terrified by this monstrous sight, Red cowered in the corner, trembling with fear. The young woman tried crawling toward granny to somehow save her but it was pointless.
The wolf finished granny off and locked eyes with Red. “You did a good job this time, too.” It winked and vanished into the basket it came from. As the form of the mighty beast disappeared, so did everything else. The house, the hills, the forests, all of it. Gone. Only the meadows were left.
In a vast, never-ending meadow that seemed to extend beyond the horizon, a tiny girl shrouded in a red cloak appeared, a spot of crimson on the endless green. She found that her mind was completely blank. She wondered who she was. Red. She remembered she was called Red Riding Hood. Where was she? She looked around, but all she could see was an ocean of grass. She looked here and there, but she found nothing. She looked up, but she found nothing. She looked down, and her eyes fell upon a basket. The basket had a small card that read ‘For Granny'.
Category:Animals
Category:Mental Illness