Out of the Woods (Goldilocks Meets The Modern World)

Out of the Woods

Chapter 4

I started to run. My second wind had kicked in, fueled by adrenaline. Sparrow quickly ran along beside me. Rose's wings flapped furiously trying to get back to us, but I couldn't stop. I had a whole world to explore and it all began down that path.

The woods ended and in front of me was a cottage. It looked just like the one I'd left back in the Enchanted Forest. I slowed, as I began to fear the worst. That it had all been a cruel joke. I walked to the small window in the back where my tiny bedroom would be. The windows were open and green curtains billowed out towards me.

I patted the dagger I'd placed in my bag for safe-keeping. My mother had used her powers to make it especially for me, saying I might have use for a special dagger one day.

This wasn't my house. I tried the handle on the back door and not unlike so many years before with the bears, the door opened.

Amarilla? What are you doing?" It was Rose again. I supposed I should stop pretending I didn't hear her as I investigated the house.

I'm looking around Rose. This place is so much like mine in our forest. I wonder what they have to eat."

I hadn't eaten anything that morning. I'd been so filled with excitement that it was all I needed. Now I could feel the early signs of hunger begin to cross my stomach and I heard Sparrow's stomach make a loud growling sound.

"I know girl. I'm hungry too." I opened the cabinets hoping to find something we could eat, even if the house had been abandoned.

"You do realize we are in someone's house? Not your house. They could come back at any time and who knows what they are like!" Rose was buzzing annoyingly in my ear again.

I pulled a bag of rice and a can of beans out of the cupboard. Sparrow's tail began to wag and I could feel my own tongue become wet with anticipation. But I still had to cook it.

"Yeah, I know. I wish it was cooked already too!" I could practically taste the rice and red beans. Something I hadn't had since three years after mom left.

"Ouch!" I cried out and dropped the bags on the floor. They were hot and the moisture wet the floor. Sparrow turned excitedly in circles as I looked at the two bags near my feet. I bent down and poked the bag of rice with my finger.

It really was hot. Now I could see the steam rising into the air from the bag of rice and the seal on the can of beans had pulled loose. I looked around quickly for something to take the top off the large tin can and grabbed the dusty towel by the sink.

When I opened the can I fell back on my behind, startling Rose and Sparrow. They were cooked. They were both cooked!

"How is this possible Rose? How did they just cook like that?" I asked still in shock. "The house must be magical!" I exclaimed even before Rose could offer an explanation.

"Maybe." Rose said back without commitment. I could tell she didn't like it. She hadn't actually wanted to leave.

"Well let's eat. I didn't know there was magic outside of the forest. Maybe there are others like me Rose!" The idea that maybe mom was wrong and that everything would be alright was comforting.

By afternoon we'd made it to town. We could see what looked like a main road as we passed the backsides of buildings.

Then I saw it. It moved past the empty space between two buildings. I needed to know what it was really like. I walked between the buildings and as I approached the other side I pressed my back to the brick wall. I gasped. There were lots of them. Walking like I did, talking like I did, and being taken around in these strange carriages. This place did have magic.

I smiled and started to walk out from the tiny alley we were hidden in.

"Don't," Rose shouted. "Remember, they aren't to be trusted. They might look like you, but they aren't like you."

Rose was right. They looked just like me and I hadn't seen anyone who looked like me in seven years. Even if they weren't like me they were close enough. And besides, they had magic too.

I stepped out of the shadows of the alley and onto the small street where people walked beside the big street where the magical carriages rode. Perhaps I wasn't fully paying attention. Perhaps I'd tried again to look at the sun or to understand the spell that made the carriage move. Perhaps I was trying to figure out how bad these things might be and just how much to not trust.

But I somehow walked straight into him. I guess I can call it a 'him' since it looked like the males I had known. I thought he seemed like a person. I'd head-butted him square in the chin.

He stepped back and grabbed his chin as I reached for my forehead.

"You should probably look where you're going, Goldie." I stared at him in disbelief. I couldn't believe what had just come out of his mouth.

"What did you say?"

"I said 'You should look where you're going'," he repeated. But that wasn't it.

"No. I heard that. What was it you called me?

"Goldie?" He asked confused.

"Yeah. That. How'd you know that?"

He looked at me as if I had two heads before realizing I was still waiting on an answer.

"Because of your hair," he answered motioning to my blonde hair.

"Oh."

"Don't sound so disappointed. Why'd you think I'd said it?"

"No reason." I would've looked even sillier if he knew it was because my friends and family had called me that as a child.

"Hey, are you okay? I mean I know I'm the one you plowed into, but you're the one who seems out of it," he asked.