Little Red Riding Hood - Part 1

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood, as everyone called her, was 15 years old, 5'8", thin, blonde, and beautiful like a fashion model. Her real name was Katie, but no one had used that name for years. She had a heart-shaped face with perfect cheekbones and wide, large, blue eyes. Her long blonde hair flowed down to just about the middle of her lower back. She parted it in the middle. Her eye makeup was heavy and dark, like a Kardashian, only less slutty. The lipstick on her perpetually smiling mouth was bright red, as was the hoodie she wore every day over her tight white tank top and denim shorts. Her boots were tall and black, up to her knees, with 4 inch heels. They weren't comfortable shoes to be wearing as she walked back and forth for hours at the corner of Shady Grove and Briarcrest. But they served their purpose. It was her corner. She walked it every single night. Shady Grove could be a rough place for a girl of 15, but it was the only neighborhood she had ever known.

Occasionally cars would stop, windows would roll down, drivers would speak to her, invite her to get in. And sometimes she did get in.

One dark night, as Little Red Riding Hood was leaning in the window of a Porsche and talking to Brandon, a 17-year-old boy she knew from school, a strange black boy approached her. He was wearing black jeans, black shoes, a black shirt and a black hoodie, with the hood up over his head obscuring most of his face. All that could be seen of his features in the darkness were the whites of his eyes. And his snarling teeth, when he spoke.

"Yo, bitch," he barked "what you doin' out here dressed like that? You workin'?" He hoped.

Red Riding Hood looked over at him. She hadn't even heard him walk up. She wondered where he came from. He clearly wasn't from this neighborhood or she would have recognized him. She knew everyone around her particular 'hood.' He was a total stranger to her.

"Red, I gotta go," Brandon said, checking the clock on his dash. "I'll see you tomorrow." And he drove away into the shadowy night, with the light from the huge Spring moon reflecting off the bright red paint of his Porsche.

The black boy stepped closer to Red Riding Hood until he was just a little too close. "Cuz if you is workin' then I is buyin', know what I mean?" He smiled.

Red did not smile. She stepped back slightly and put her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. As she did so she noticed that the boy also had his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. "Who are you?" she asked him.

I'm Wolf

"I'm Wolf," he said with an overconfident sneer. "No one could pronounce the name my momma gave me so everybody just call me Wolf. Who you be?"

Wolf was tall, at least 6'2", and skinny. And there was something about him that made Little Red Riding Hood feel very uncomfortable, but she wasn't sure yet what it was.

'Who you be?' That bothered her, too. Red didn't know anyone who talked like that who wasn't poor or pretending to be gangster, and she wasn't really into either one.

"I'm Red," she replied somewhat annoyed. "Everybody calls me Red. And no I'm not workin'. I live here. Do you live around here, too?"

"Girrrrrrrrl," Wolf drawled, "you mos' definitely workin' it!" he laughed, and he took another step forward.

"Look, I gotta go home. It's late and I have homework ..." Red took a step back and turned slightly to show that she was leaving.

"Whaaaat?? Wait, where you goin'? Girl, don' leave me here. Don' leave me with a broken heart. You FINE. You SO fine!" Wolf said, and he took two steps forward until he was right in Red Riding Hood's face. It was then that she could see into Wolf's eyes. They were glassy eyes, solid black and watery. They were the eyes of a man high on something. Worse than that, his breath smelled like rotting flesh.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," Red sputtered, "but I have to go home now."

"Oh no," Wolf said, pulling his hands out of his pockets. "Don't go, baby. Don't go. Stay here wit' me."

And then he grabbed her arms with both hands and pushed her to the ground.

(To Be Continued)

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