Red Riding Hood-A Fairy Tale of Terror

Alice could hear it gaining speed as the sound of trampled leaves grew louder with each stride her short legs took. Ever since she was a little girl, Grandma insisted they only visit her in the evening because the wolf hunted during the day and was rarely seen about at night time. She always wondered why her mother would send her and her brothers and sisters out so late just to bring Grandma her precious jars of strawberry preserves, even when it has cost some of them their lives.

Usually the wolf would always make its presence known with short grunts and howls, and Alice always knew it was following her. But this time, it would circle around her, trying to force her to run the other way, toward home. She would fool it, running behind trees and across streams until she returned to the path leading to Grandma’s house. Alice was not fooling the beast tonight however, it kept pace and equally maneuvered every move she made leading right up to Grandma’s front door.

“Grandma! Grandma!” she screamed as she pounded hard on the front door causing her knuckles to bleed and her jars of preserves to smash to the ground. “Please open the door Grandma! The beast has finally found its way!”

The wolf had her in its sight. It took two quick skips and leapt in the air toward her. Her face frozen in horror as she slid down with her back against the door when it suddenly swung open dropping the back of her head against the floor.

“Leave my family alone!” Grandma commanded as she cocked the shot gun and squeezed the trigger, sending the beast into a blood splattered back flip. “And don’t ever come back!” she yelled as the wolf gingerly disappeared into the darkness. “You poor dear, let me help you up, you must be terrified,” she whispered as she walked her over to the bed. “Lie down here, I will get you a nice warm compress for your head,” she said as she made her way to the cupboard.

“Grandma?” Alice, whimpered.

“Yes dear,” Grandma answered as she walked over to Alice and placed the warm rag on her forehead.

“When will the wolf stop chasing me? Why has it started to hunt at night? Why has it killed so many of my brothers and sisters? And why can’t you just live with mom and the rest of us so we don’t have to come here anymore?” She asked as her tears emptied from her eyes like melting icicles on a warm winters day.

Grandma sat down beside her on the bed and began to caress her black hair. “I’m sorry for what has happened to you Alice, but you see, the wolf chases you all the time because…well because it has nothing left to chase.

“What do you mean Grandma?” Alice asked, puzzled by her Grandmother’s answer.

Alice’s Grandmother got up strolled slowly to the window, she opened the shutters and stared straight up observing the full moon through the leafless branches of the forest and turned.

“Alice, I think you're old enough now to know the evil secrets that this forest keeps. And hopefully all of your questions will have answers to them when I’m through with the story.” She said as she sat back down next to Alice.

“What story Grandma?” Alice asked anxiously.

“It’s the story of a girl, a girl they called…Little Red Riding Hood.”


***

“It all started about forty-years ago, the village was suffering from vicious vampire attacks, nothing was spared. The villagers lost countless amounts of livestock and the population was being reduced weekly. The townsfolk held a meeting and decided something had to be done to save themselves and their families. Nothing worked. For every vampire that was killed, it was repaid three-fold.”

“Vampire attacks? I thought those were just stories to keep the children from wandering out into the forest at night.”

“Oh no my dear, the vampire legend is all too real, and no one was exempt to its terror…except for one man. The townspeople called him a savior, he called himself ‘the hunter.’ Nobody really knows where he came from but he had all kinds of weapons to fight the creatures of the night, as they came to be called.”

“Did the hunter kill all the vampires? And what about Little Red Riding Hood, what does this have to do with her?” Alice asked.

“Well legend has it that the ‘hunter’ had killed all of the vampires but one, she masqueraded as an old woman who supposedly occupied this very house. He would come up here every night and wait silently in the brush, but she never reared her ugly head for him. He returned to the village and explained to the handful of folks that were left, that they had nothing to fear any longer and he would be leaving early the next morning.”

“But what about the old woman, how could the hunter leave without making sure everything was safe?” Alice asked nervously as she looked around the cottage.

“Oh but he tried my dear” She said with a slight grin. “He went back up one more time before day break and found her swooping down from the sky with a bloody sheep clutched tightly between her teeth near its throat. She sensed him right away and a bloody skirmish ensued.”

“What happened Grandma! What happened?” Alice said, seeming more excited then scared now.

“Well, the hunter tried his best but he could not restrain the creature long enough to bury his wooden stake into her heart. It was his most powerful foe by far, which led him to believe this one was the leader. She quickly overcame him and dragged him into the house. Feasting on his blood was a welcome treat from livestock and wildlife. Human blood rushing through her veins rejuvenated her weakened state.”

“Did she kill him, Grandma?” Alice asked sadly.

“No. She could have easily but she felt an awkward admiration for this man. Even though he killed off all of her children, she knew he was only protecting his own as she would herself. So she cursed him.”

“What do you mean cursed him?”

“She turned him into a beast. Now he would know what it was like to feed off the land, and hunger for the blood that sustained her. She released him with one warning. If he was ever to return, Hell could offer no torture greater than what she would unleash onto him. He was never seen again for a very long time…not even from that little girl who lost her way in the woods.”

“You mean Little Red Riding Hood?” Alice pressed.

“Yes. It was a few years later that Red, one of the last remaining children of the villagers, was sent to pick some berries on the other side of Shimmity’s Creek. The village had been free of vampires for quite some time and the only thing that went missing were a couple of chickens now and again, which was quickly blamed on a coyote that had been spotted in the thickets. So her parents didn’t think much about sending her on this chore especially since it was during the day. What they didn’t count on was her getting lost.”

“How did she get lost Grandma?”

“Did you ever hear that expression ‘curiosity killed the cat’?”

“Oh yes, mother tells me that all the time when I ask too many questions.” Alice snickered.

“Well, Red caught a glimpse of the most beautiful butterfly she had ever seen. She simply began following it as it fluttered between trees and bushes, and before she knew it, she was lost and it was now getting dark. The poor dear wandered for hours, crying for help that was not to come. Until suddenly she spotted a light! A very dim light, but a light all the same. Quickly she found the strength to run toward it, as she drew closer she saw it was a small cottage with a single candle burning in the window.”

Alice began to tremble at the thought of what her Grandmother was going to say next. “Was it the old vampire’s cottage?”

“Don’t get ahead of the story now dear,” her Grandmother said with a wave of her hand. “She started walking up to the door when she noticed an old woman lying down and whimpering just to the side of the cottage. She offered her hand in support as she tried to help the old woman to her feet.

“What has happened here ma’am? Please let me help you into the house.” Red said sincerely.

“Red and the old woman stumbled into the cottage,” the Grandmother continued. “Inside was a site no human would ever want to see. Bones of birds and small animals were strewn about the floor. The putrid smell of death lingered heavily throughout the small abode. From what Red could see, the old woman was starving and eating her prey without even cooking it first. She was also too weak to clean up after herself.”

“Thank you my dear," the old woman said as Red helped her to a small bed in the far corner of the room.

“Why do you live in such squalor?” Red asked with sympathy in her voice.

“My dear I am much too weak to forage for my own food, I have been living on small animals and bugs for quite some time now. Every time I manage to get up enough strength to make it down to the nearest village for a meal, that dastardly wolf- beast chases me off. I finally managed to grab a chicken, but the beast stole it from me as I was coming up the path to my home.” The old woman said between labored breaths.

“Red searched the cottage for anything she could give the old woman to eat or drink, she reached up to the dusty old cupboard and cut her wrist on a jagged piece of wood jutting out from beneath cupboard door. Red found an old wash cloth she dipped into a pot of water hanging from inside the fireplace. As she began to wipe away the dirt from the old woman’s head, Red didn’t notice at first her warm blood dripping into the mouth of the frail woman.” Grandma continued. “When red realized that her blood was dripping right into the old woman’s mouth. She quickly pulled away and started to apologize.”

“As she started to clean herself up, she was astonished at the transformation the old woman started to take on.”

“Ma’am, what piercing blue eyes you have?” Red said to her as she cocked her head in amazement.

“The better to see you with my dear.” The old woman explained.

“Ma’am, what red youthful lips you have.” She said, taking a step back.

“The better to suck the blood from your veins with my dear.” The old woman said with a flicker of her tongue.

“Oh no! Alice said, “vampires like blood don’t they Grandma?”

“Yes they do dear,” Grandma said sadly. “The old woman, who hadn’t seen the sight of fresh human blood in some time, jumped off the bed with a renewed sense of life and pounced on poor Little Red Riding Hood. She sucked on the wound and began to drain Red’s blood when she suddenly stopped.”

“Why did she stop Grandma? Why?” Alice asked in the hope the old woman might have had a change of heart.

“Well dear, the old woman, who by the way was getting younger by the minute, decided Red was worth more alive then dead. She would strike a deal with the young girl, her life in exchange for her own immortality.

“What do you mean Grandma?” Alice asked.

“She promised Red that if she would bring her fresh blood once every week, she would spare her life and the lives of the people left in the village, and to never whisper a word about her existence to anyone. Red wiped the tears from her face, nodded in agreement, and walked out into the black forest and never laid eyes on the creature again.”

“Wait Grandma, I don’t understand, if she never laid eyes on the creature again, who or what brought the fresh blood every week?” Alice asked inquisitively.

Her Grandmother got up and walked around in small circles before she spoke. “At first she would convince strangers she was lost and lead them unwittingly to the cottage. When there, she would say she was afraid to go inside because her father would beat her for getting lost again. Of course the stranger would take pity on her and knock on the door, only to have it opened by hell on earth. Red could never stand the screaming, and she would run off running when she knew the package had been safely delivered.

“As the years wore on,” Grandma continued, “she would no longer be able to convince a stranger she was lost, so she began to drain the blood from animals, put them into jars, leave them in front of the cottage, bang on the door and run away. This did not please the creature at all, but at least it was fresh and it would sustain her thirst until human blood came along”.

“What ever happened to Little Red Riding Hood Grandma?”

“Eventually she met a man, had many, many children and lives a lonesome life right down in the village,” said her grandmother.

“Well if she met a man and had lots of children, why is she so lonely?” Asked Alice. “And what do you mean she lives in the village? I have never seen her,” she prodded.

“My dear, the creature grew angry, it hadn’t had fresh human blood in years, so she made her presence known to Red. One night her husband never came back from the barn after feeding their horses. Red went to see what was taking him so long and she found a bloody scene. Her husband was hanging upside down from the rafters, white as a ghost with his throat ripped open.” Grandma said as she licked her dry lips.

“From that day forward, she would never love again…oh she would have lovers, but only to spawn more sacrifices.

“What do you mean sacrifices?,” Alice asked nervously.

“As her children got older, she would tell them that their old, feeble, grandmother lived up on the mountain, always sick with fever so she had to stay away from them. She would send one child a week with jars of animal blood to leave at the foot of the cottage door. And if the child made it back safely, she would send the same child until the creature hungered for human blood and took his or her life. So my dear, that is why so many of your brothers and sisters don’t return home, and as for that blasted wolf-beast! More of them would be alive today if they hadn’t run from him. If they would have made it to my cottage without dropping those jars in fear, it might have spared them for a couple of more weeks!” She snarled.

“And to think, you all thought that cursed beast was chasing you, or hunting you. When all he was doing was trying to protect you…from me! She screamed as she grabbed Alice by her hair and tilted her head.

“Grandma, what big teeth you have,” Alice said with her last breath.

“Better to eat you with my dear,” the creature said as she bit down.