A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

“Ash!”

I raised my head off my palm to look expectantly at my mother. She stood in front of the stove, one hand on her hip, one foot tapping rhythmically against the tiled floor.

“Were you listening to a word I said?” she asked, an eyebrows raising over her dark blue eyes.

“Mhm, of course I was,” I mumbled, a yawn leaving my lips as soon as I said it. “Something about going somewhere.”

“You, young lady, need to pay attention more,” she accused, pointing the spaghetti sauce stained wooden spoon in her hand at me. She waved it a little bit, sending some of the red sauce onto the floor.

“Nice going, Ma,” I smirked.

Her body turned back around, and she started to stir the pot of spaghetti sauce. I heard her mumble to herself while she turned the spoon around.

“….children these days. Why’d I have one anyway….”

I stifled a laugh, and cleared my throat.

“So, what was it that you were saying?”

The spoon stilled for a moment and she sighed. She looked over her shoulder at me, flipping her dark brown hair at me as she did so.

“I need you to take that,” she nodded to the covered dish on the table “lasagna to your grandmother’s.”

“Why?” I asked, an eyebrow raising questioningly.

“Do you have to question everything?” she grumbled. I grinned innocently at her. “Because she won’t be able to come over for dinner on Saturday like originally planned, so I made an extra one for her.”

I stood up from the kitchen table and stretched.

“And you want me to take it now because…?”

“I’m making another one for dinner tonight. I figured you could go while I do that,” she shrugged.

I nodded slowly to show I understood.

“Well go on,” she insisted, shooing me out of the kitchen.

“I’m going, I’m going,” I grumbled, then left the room. I walked over to the coat rack by the front door to get my sweatshirt, but it wasn’t there. “Hey, Ma. Where’s my red hoodie?”

She poked her head around the corner and shrugged.

“I don’t know. Did you check your room?” she asked. I shook my head, and she laughed. “Then go look.”

I left the entry way and went to my room. Clothes were lying all over the floor, and my back pack was half open on my bed, spewing pencils and papers across the comforter.

“Damn, I need to clean in here,” I mumbled, and started digging through the piles. “Aha!”

My favorite red hoodie was half laying out from under my bed. I tugged it out, and stood up. In one swift move I had it on and zipped up. It was soft and warm, and I hugged my arms around my body in comfort. I grabbed my wallet off the desk, along with my phone and keys, and stuffed it all into my pockets.

“Ash!”

“Yeah, I’m going!” I called, and left the room.

When I walked into the room, my mom was laying noodles out across the bottom of a casserole dish. I grabbed the already baked lasagna that was now in a insulated container off the table, and started to leave.

“What’s with you and that sweatshirt anyways?”

I stopped in my steps and turned around.

“It’s super comfy and fuzzy inside. Besides, I’ve had it for ages,” I shrugged. I began to walk out again, but she stopped me once more.

“Are you going to walk or take a cab?”

“Cab, duh. I’m not walking with this thing,” I scoffed, nodding to the dish. “I’ll be back later.”

I finally left the apartment, and closed the front door behind me. I went to the elevator, and pushed the down button. A few seconds later it opened, greeting me with the view of my elderly neighbor, Ms. Cohen who lived a floor above us.

“Oh, hello Ash,” she smiled as I stepped in.

“Hey Ms. Cohen. How are you today?” I asked politely.

“Good. Where are you going so late?” she questioned.

I glanced at the screen by the buttons to see we had one more floor to go.

“Dropping something off at my grandma’s,” I nodded.

The doors dinged open, and we walked out. We chatted in the lobby for a minute or two, before I finally decided to leave.

“Well, I’ll see you later,” I called, sending a small wave in her direction.

“You too Ash. And be careful!” she warned.

“I will Ms. Cohen!”

The New York streets were crammed as usual, people walking up and down the sidewalks. Even though it was nearing 6:30 at night, the city was still bustling. A group of middle-aged women passed me, one stumbling, but all of them laughing. I shook my head at their drunken antics, and stepped out a little onto the streets.

“Taxi!” I exclaimed, lifting a hand in the air. One slowed down by me, and I quickly hopped in before someone else took it. “Hi. 52nd and Columbus please.”

The driver nodded before he took off. I settled against the seat, and watched the cars pass by. I must have really not been paying attention, because after what seemed like a few seconds, the cab stopped.

“Miss? We’re here,” the cabbie said.

I pulled out some money from my wallet, and gave it to him.

“Keep the change,” I smiled, then got out, the casserole dish heavy in my hands.

I crossed the street quickly, and dug my keys out of my hoodie pockets. The only gold key on the ring open the front door, and I slid it in. It turned, and opened without a problem. The lobby of the brick apartment building was completely deserted when I walked in. I shrugged, and went down the left hallway to apartment 1B. I knocked on the door and waited. Nobody answered so I rapped my knuckles against it once more.

“Grandma?” I called through the door.

When silence came for another few minutes, I hefted the casserole dish into one hand to pull out my keys again. Just as I was about to push the key into the slot, the door opened.

“Oh, god!” I screamed, jumping as I did so.

“Ash, are you okay?”

I looked up and shook my head at Ryan, my grandmother’s home health aid. He visited two times a day. Once in the morning, and again at night. I had completely forgotten he would’ve been there considering we hadn’t visited in about two weeks. Personally, I had never talked to Ryan long enough to make an opinion of him, but my grandma seemed to like him. Honestly, he had always freaked me out a little.

“Ryan, you scared the crap out of me,” I breathed, a hand over my heart. I could feel the erratic pulse beat against it.

“Sorry,” he mumbled sheepishly. “What brings you here?”

I raised the dish a little in reply.

“My mom made a lasagna for my grandma. And she made me deliver it,” I tacked on the end with bitterness.

“Oh. Well Aggie is actually sleeping right now. But come on in,” he smiled, and pushed the door open more.

I hesitated a little bit before answering.

“Thanks,” I said, and walked into the apartment.

It was neat and orderly, everything in place and none of it messy. I went over to the kitchen, and put the casserole dish into the fridge. When I turned around, Ryan was standing right behind me. I jumped a little at the closeness, and backed away.

“So, she’s asleep right?” I asked, and started to move towards the bedroom door. “I’ll just go see if she’s up.”

“No!” he exclaimed, then stopped. I raised an eyebrow at him in question. “I mean, you wouldn’t want to wake her up, would you?”

I glanced back at the door, but decided not to go over there if he was that concerned.

“Would you like something to drink?” Ryan asked.

I nodded silently, and sat down at the kitchen table. He dug through the fridge and pulled out a chilled water bottle, then set it on the table. I picked it up and unscrewed the cap to take a drink.

“So, you’re a junior right? How’s school going?” he asked, then took a seat.

“It’s okay,” I said quietly. For a moment I vaguely wondered how he knew I was a junior, but figured Grandma must have told him.

“I can’t believe how young you are. You definitely look older than seventeen,” he said, and leaned a little closer. “You’re a very beautiful girl.”

I pushed my seat back a little away from him, and clutched the bottle in my hands.

“Oh, um, thank you,” I said uncomfortably, fidgeting in my seat. “Know what? I think I’m just gonna go. My mom is probably wondering where I am.”

“Are you positive? I’m sure Aggie will be waking up any moment,” he rushed out.

“No, really. I should go,” I mumbled, and started to walk to the door.

I heard the scrape of the chair, and hurried my footsteps. Something was off. I could feel it all the way down to my bones. It was then that I noticed a lamp in the corner was broken, the pieces laying across the floor.

“What happened there?” I asked the question before I could stop myself.

“Nothing.”

His voice was so close it caused a shiver to travel down my spine. A hand curled around my forearm and spun me around. I instinctively took a step back.

“Nothing happened there,” he breathed huskily.

My eyes darted around the room, looking for something heavy if it came down to defending myself. Nothing was in my near vicinity, and I was still pretty far from the door. Panic began to settle in.

“You’re such a tease, aren’t you?” Ryan hissed. “Always showing up in tight little jeans and skimpy shirts.”

“W-What?” I squeaked.

“And you always pretended to ignore me. But I knew better. I knew you were waiting till we were alone.”

His fingers wrapped around my arm again, and yanked me forward. I stumbled, and we both went down. My head slammed into the edge of the coffee table, and spots floated in front of my eyes. I ignored it and started to scramble away towards the door. He grabbed my ankle, and started to pull. I kicked, hoping to make contact with something. The deafening sound of a crack met my ears, and I knew I probably had hit his nose, successfully breaking it. I clambered up and began to run towards the door. I had merely gone three feet before my hair was grabbed and I fell backwards onto the floor. Ryan looked down at me, a sickening gleam in his eyes.

“We’re finally alone now,” he grinned wickedly. Blood was dripping from his nose, and it was bent at an odd angle. “I’ve been waiting forever. I watched you every time you came over. I watched you in your red sweater.” He fingered the material of my hoodie for a moment before continuing. “You always wore this thing. Just like Little Red Riding Hood.”

One hand ghosted over my waist, and I whimpered quietly.

“Don’t worry Ash. You won’t feel a thing.”

At this I went rigid. Fear was pumping through my veins at an alarming rate. Moves of self defense were going through my head, looking for something that would help me. I went for the most basic, and drew my knee up and slammed it into his crotch. Ryan’s face twisted into a look of pain, before he fell to the side. I pushed him off of me completely and he rolled to in front of the door. My escape was gone, so I ran towards the bedroom door and slammed it behind me. I locked it and backed away.

“Ash?”

I turned around to see my grandma slumped on the floor, a spot of blood on the side of her head.

“Grandma?” I asked quietly, then ran forwards. “Oh, my god. What happened to you?”

She coughed slightly and sat up completely. I helped her stand, almost all of her weight on me, and lead her towards the bed.

“It was that boy,” she coughed. “He barged in here, demanding his job back.”

“He what?!”

“I fired him about a week ago,” she breathed out. “He was staring at a picture I had up of you and mumbling to himself about how beautiful you were a couple days before that. I asked the company he was sent by about his background, and learned that he had molested a few teenagers before.”

“I had no idea,” I said, thoroughly shocked.

A loud banging came from the door, and I started from the noise. My skin prickled again with the thought of him.

“Ash,” Ryan called from outside the door. It sent a chill through me in cold fear. “Ash.”

I dug through my pockets, praying that my phone was still in one of them. I fished out, and quickly dialed 911.

“This is dispatch, what’s you’re emergency?” A women asked.

I quickly filled her in on what had happened, and she tried to calm me down when tears threatened to leak from my eyes. A loud crash came from the door, and I screamed quietly. It happened again, and I realized Ryan was ramming himself into the door, hoping to break it down.

“Please hurry,” I whispered faintly. My knuckles were turning white from clutching the phone so tightly. “He’s coming.”

“Don’t worry, ma’am. Help is on the way.”

The door vibrated with the force of Ryan’s body weight, and I myself shook with dread that they wouldn’t come soon enough.

“Please hurry.”