Little Red Riding Hood: Revisited

Snow fell deceptively light at first, only to fall faster around her a second later. Carrie Hood gasped and pulled the collar of her black woolen pea coat up her neck. The gnarled long branches of the tall black trees seem to reach out to her. It was as if she were inside a biosphere globe. Carrie turned her head to find fresh fallen snow covering the breadcrumbs she left as a path to follow back out of the forest. How was she going to get out of here now? Carrie sighed and hugged herself in the chill. The forest clearing brought up memories of a same clearing ten years ago where she met the wolf. In his human form, he was very handsome. Carrie hugged herself as a sudden chill ran up her spine. She felt the hairs at the nape of her neck rise. There was a presence behind her. She turned around to find a man standing with his fingerless mittens propped up against the trunk of a tree. He wore a long brown tanned leather duster coat and matching boots. His mop of sandy blond hair was swept over one blue eye. It was the wolf.

"Hel-lo, Red," he said. "I knew you'd be back."

Carrie took two steps back. She swallowed hard and felt her hand shake not from the cold.

"I didn't," Carrie said. "I'm lost. I'm trying to get out of here."

"You never did know your way around my woods." He replied. The corners of his thin lips curled up into a smile.

Carrie rolled her eyes her full lips stretched into a smile.

Jack wolf's blue eyes roamed appreciatively along Carrie's body in her black pea coat. His thin lips stretched into a smile when he remembered the last time he saw Carrie. It was ten years ago, summer; at this same spot of the woods. Carrie was eight years old then. They danced all day and night that night under the lush green, of tall trees and singing birds. She was now all grown up. He licked his lips slowly as his smile grew larger.

He took his hand from the tree and let his shoulder lean against the bark. He folded his arms across his chest. Her thin lips stretched into smile as she remembered that night too. He looked so handsome that day wearing the same brown leather duster and billowing white shirt he was wearing today. The natural spark of something hummed between the two as it did that soft summer night. It was only until recently when she realized that it was a spark of attraction.

"Admit it, you came back because of the unfinished business between us."

"Unfinished business?" Carrie answered.

"There's a spoken attraction between us," he answered. "It was there the first time you were here."

"I just told you I am lost," Carrie shrugged. "I am heading for my aunt and my mother's house on the outskirts of the woods." Why are you in human form you were killed by the woodsmen in your wolf form."

"Yes, but I changed back to my human form when you left."

"Oh." Carrie lifted her hand to swipe two strands of her reddish blond hair that fell her eyes as the snow swirled down faster in front of her.

"Why are you here, now?"

"I am here to help you." He answered.

"To get out of here?" Her face lit up with a smile.

"Yes, after you forgive me." He answered.

"Forgive you?"

"For killing your grandmother," he answered. "I can't go into heaven without your forgiveness."

"So what, you're a ghost?" She asked her eyes grew wide.

"Yeah, you can say that." Wolf answered. He sucked his teeth annoyed.

"Why me?"

"Because you're the last person I wronged on Earth, before getting killed." He answered.

"Where were you all this time?"

"I was stuck in purgatory," Jack Wolf sighed. "So do you forgive me or what?"

"What happens if I don't?"

Jack Wolf sighed.

"I go to H, E, Double Hockey Sticks, Red." He mocked looking into her eyes. He took two steps toward her.

Silence. Carrie folded her arms against her chest.

"Dont' talk down to me," she aswered."I am no longer a child."

"Yes, I can definitely see that." He whispered. His eyes traveled appreciatively down her oh so grown up look.

Carrie felt herself grow hot with a blush despite the freezing cold.

"How am I supposed to forgive you when you killed my grandmother!"

"Hey, I didn't kill you, did I?" Jack Wolf shouted and shrugged his shoulders.

"Yes, only because the woodsman shot you before you could."

"Believe what you want," he answered. "All I know is I have murdered mothers, father's, children, grandmother's and grandfather's, even babies and never once have I ever showed them mercy the way I did with you."

"Mercy?" she answered. "You bared your fangs and lunged at me before the woodsman entered!"

"Yes, however if you remember, I hesitated for a long time before I did anything." The wolf answered.

Carrie Hood was silent as she stared at the wolf in his human form.

"I was different when I was with you, Red." He whispered, "I haven't been able to get you out of my mind all these years."

"I don't even know your name." She sighed.

He smiled.

"Jack, Jack Wolf."

A heavy silence fell between them.

Carrie's leather boots crunched on the new fallen snow below as she took slow and steady steps toward Jack. They met about an inch apart at the center of the clearing and stared into one another's eyes. Carrie took a step closer and laid her small hand on Jack Wolf's cheek. Jack placed his hand atop hers and licked his lips. She placed a soft kiss upon his lips, he responded by pressing his lips harder upon hers and pulling her closer against him. They pulled away and she stared into his eyes.

Inside she saw the image of an angry hungry merciless wolf. Its red eyes stared back at her with his mouth opened baring his sharp canine teeth as it salivated anticipating its next meal. Carrie pulled back. His real self showed in his beautiful blue eyes despite the reformation. He was the same old angry, violent wolf as always. He hadn't changed. Her mind reeled until she remembered the hunting knife the woodsman gave her as protection for this trip to the forest. In one quick motion, Carrie reached inside the pocket, felt the handle of the knife and pulled it out.

"I'll never forgive you for killing my grandmother!" She said.

Carrie plunged the knife into Jack's heart. Jack's eyes bulged with surprise. His sticky warm blood splashed on Carrie's hand and seeped through Jack's white shirt. He looked up to meet Carrie's dead eyes and collapsed on his knees at her feet. Carrie opened her hand and released the hunting knife. It dropped beside Jack in the snow. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She felt herself believing him again just like she did seven years ago. However, she found the truth this time in her conscious and believed what it was telling her. A shimmering light from above appeared and enveloped Jack making him slowly disappear before her eyes. A wind blew lifting the snow up from the ground and swirled up to expose an empty clearing through the thick trees so she can follow. With her past demon dead, Carrie walked toward the opening, feeling better about herself than when she first entered the forest.

The End. 2010

Joanna E. Lopez

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