Little Red Riding Hood

Chapter 1 Terribly Late

Winter's Pov.
(The Year is 1656, middle of fall)

I had woken up in my bed with this feeling of worry, as though something terrible was going to happen today. But it could not be that serious, could it? The only thing that I was doing today was taking a stroll to my grandmother's home through the gap in the forest. It was a fairly large gap that had developed over time from the need to get from town to town due to our seclusion from most people. My mother was not able to afford a home in the city, which caused my father to build this cottage in the middle of this beautiful forest. Sadly, a year after completing the cottage my father had passed away from a sickness that no one was able to identify, not even the most intelligent of doctors could understand what was happening to him. Though that was a long time ago, I still feel the grief over his loss. I still remember the day even though I was only seven.

I saw my mother on the sofa crying for the fifth time that day, It was at night and I was standing at the foot of the stairs holding my beloved stuffed wolf. My father made it for me and I hardly went anywhere without it. It was made of actual wolf fur. My father had found the wolf already dead in the forest and had skinned it and used a small portion of the fur to make the stuffed animal, using small blue buttons to look like the eyes. The fur was black and it had always soothed me whenever I was crying or in pain. I do not know how, but it just did. I was so young at the time and I did not understand the pain of losing someone that meant so much to you. Especially the person that you lost, being the love of your life. The only thing I knew was that my mother was crying and I did not like the sound of her short, painful sobs, one after another with her face in her hands. To me, she looked remarkably lonely, so fragile that if someone touched her, at that moment, she would break into a million little pieces. Thus, the only thought inside my mind was,' Go comfort her! She is crying! She never lets that happen!'

The next thing I did, I barely remember. It was like I was at the foot of the stairs one moment then the next, I was by my mother. I did the thing that first came to my mind. I handed her my stuffed wolf, I had thought that since it calmed me down that it would calm my weeping mother too. When she felt my tiny figure sit on the sofa she looked up, only to see my eyes filled with worry and me holding my wolf out towards her, hoping for her to take it out of my hands. An expression of befuddlement dawned on her face through her tears, she slowly took the wolf out of my tiny hands.

"Winter? Why are you letting me hold your wolf? You barely let it out of your sight, let alone your hands. Why my dearest?" My mother asked my young self, gently lifting me up and onto her lap.

"I heard crying and I was wondering what was wrong. I saw you and I w-(yawn)-was curious to why you were crying. I thought that if I gave that to you, you would feel better; like I always do after holding my wolf." I say, beginning to lean on my mother's shoulder as my mind fogs over with a new wave of tiredness.

Her warm hand stroked the hair from my face and tugged me into a hug,"It really is sweet of you to give me your most prized possession sweetheart but I must tell you something quite dreadful. I cannot fathom how to say this but, your father will not be coming back anymore. He has to go to a different place now, Winter." She bites her bottom lip, her face flushing red as she tries to keep herself from crying, but the already developed tears do not listen and fall from her eyes.

"Mother, do not cry, father is probably in the most wonderful forest there is right now." I pointed out to her, she knew of my father's obsession with the forest and I remember that that was where he had 'courted' her. (I did not know what courting was, or even what happened, but my mother said that when I was 14 years old she would tell me). After she had considered what I had said in her head; she nodded and embraced me in a hug. Her hugs always made me feel so warm and loved but this one felt different, almost as though she was trying to shield me away from the world. After that moment, we became closer. Not just as mother and daughter, but as a close friend I could tell anything to.