Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Upon finally reaching her Grandmother’s house, Mel pushed open the front gate and made her way up the stony path towards the front door.

“Grandma!” she shouted as she let herself into the house, “I’ve got your shopping!”

She continued straight into the kitchen when she got no answer, figuring that her Grandmother must be in the garden. She put all of the different items into their respective cupboards, nibbling at a bar of chocolate as she went.

Once all of the food had been put away, Mel stuffed the plastic carrier bags into a specially appointed drawer and made her way out into the garden to look for her Grandmother.

The first thing that she noticed was that the garden seemed to have been completely overturned. The second thing that she noticed was a man who she assumed must be the culprit of the garden mess.

“Excuse me,” she said, venturing further out into what was supposed to be the garden, “Who on earth are you and what are you doing in my Grandmother’s garden?”

The man turned around to find the source of the voice and caught sight of Mel, flashing her a blindingly white smile.

“I’m David,” he replied, with an air of cockiness that made Mel scowl at him, “And I am in your Grandmother’s garden because she asked me to be here.”

Mel frowned at David’s arrogant grin and stepped a little closer to him.

“In that case,” she pressed, “Where is my Grandmother? Why is she not here with you? I would have thought that she would want to see what you are doing to her garden.”

David stuck the shovel into the freshly dug up ground and leaned his arm on the handle. He flashed another grin at Mel before answering.

“She said that she needed some fresh air,” he told Mel, “Wasn’t feeling too well, you see. She said that she wanted to stretch her legs. She has gone for a walk in the woods. No idea when she will be back.”

He turned away from Mel and continued to move compost and dirt back into the ditch that he was standing next to. He picked up a few potted plants and pulled them from their plastic containers before planting them in the soil.

Mel furrowed her brow. Something wasn’t quite right. Her Grandmother never left the house alone, nor did she ever invite strangers into her home. There was no way that she would have done both of these things – particularly not in the same day.

“Are you sure?” Mel inquired, “You must be mistaken. She would never leave this house alone. Especially not to walk in the woods.”

“Look,” David sighed, exasperated, “I’m just telling you what the old woman told me.”

Mel glared at David and moved even closer to him.

“Fine,” she huffed, “When did she leave?”

“Oooh,” David smiled, in mock thought, “About half an hour ago.”

“Hmmm,” Mel regarded David with a suspicious stare, “Can I ask you a question about the garden?”

David looked taken aback by the seemingly random change of topic.

“Yeah,” he replied, almost as a question, “Of course you can.”

“Why are you just working on this small part of grass just here, in the corner where it can’t be seen?”

David’s eyes widened, “Oh... erm... she asked me to do it here. I didn’t understand why either.”

“You’re lying!” Mel cried, “What are you hiding? My Grandmother didn’t leave the house, did she? What have you done to her?”

David’s look of shock slowly evolved into a sinister smile.

“If you are asking me that, then I assume that you already know the answers to all of those questions,” he smirked.

“You monster!” Mel launched herself at him and started hitting every inch of him that she could reach.

David struggled with the flailing girl and eventually managed to throw her away from him. Mel landed heavily against the fence. She pulled her mobile from her pocket and swiftly dialled 999. David pulled her phone from her hand and threw it against the wall of the house, smashing it into many small pieces.

All the operator heard before the line went dead was a strangled scream.