Little Red

Now, what I am about to tell you is the honest truth. No lies, no secrets. I know you want to hear a true story written from the author’s imagination, but I can’t give you that. This story (if you can even call it a story) is real. It’s not from our time. Maybe not even from our world. This story is told many a time by many people who have tried to grasp the true meaning of it. It’s been passed down for so long, no one knows how the story actually went. Well, lucky you, ‘cause you are going to learn it.

Okay, now don’t shut me down because it’s a fairy tale. This is a twisted, painful, true tale that is bound to get your attention quick. You see, this is the real story of Little Red Riding Hood. Of course, it still contains the basics—the hood, the wolf, the girl. Just not the same details. Little Red wasn’t sweet. She wasn’t innocent. She was a slayer. And being that, she was sent to save her grandmother, not deliver goodies.

I’m not sure who came up with that. That ‘goodies’ thing. Who goes into the woods to deliver goodies to her sick grandmother even though the forest in infested with blood-hungry wolves? Probably to keep the children from getting nightmares...

Well, I guess you’re bored of me talking, aren’t you? Maybe I should get on with the story?

So, I’ll start this like any other fairy tale should begin:



In a faraway land, there was once a little girl by the name of Red Evangeline. This little girl was different than any other child in the village. She never left the safety of her home. She wanted to, but she was never allowed. She understood why her parents never let her out, though. She knew she was different from the very beginning.

Every child is born thinking they’re human. Not Evangeline.

From the moment she saw herself in the mirror, she knew she was different. Mommy didn't look like her. Daddy didn’t look like her. Every day, she would wonder who she was. What she was. Why didn’t she look human?

“We can’t keep her locked up in here the rest of her life! She needs to be outside! She needs people—” Daddy would scream, and mommy would always reply:

“I know! But you know as well as I she will not blend in! If we let her roam free, they will know about her! How will we hide that?”

"We could always hide it under a cloak, or a—”

"We could, but there are plenty of ways that wouldn't work."

And Eve would sit against the door, listening. And each time, she would cry silent tears, even though she tried and tried and tried not to. Slayer's don't cry, she told herself. Would you cry if you felt different? Would you cry if you so abnormal your parents would hide you from the world like a caged animal?

How was Eve different, you ask? If she were seen by The Outside, they would scorn her. They would call her the devil’s pawn. She was never allowed to eat meat—what happened could reveal her secret also.

Eve had only been five when her mother had come to her during the night, cloaked, and battle-ready. “You cannot tell anyone, Eve. I must do this, for the sake of the village, alright?”

Although reluctant, Eve nodded and continued chewing on the tip of her thumb—something she did when she was nervous. She didn't cry as her mother crept out the door, careful not to wake her husband. Clad in armor from head to toe, and her shining red hood glistening in the moonlight, she fled into the night—to do something even the most foolish person wouldn't do.

She was heading to the wolves’ den.

And as the sun rose, Eve was already up. Truthfully, she hadn’t slept at all. She just sat at the old wooden dining table and awaited her mother’s return. When her father strode in and the small girl caught his eye, he questioned her about her mother’s whereabouts.

It took several moments for her to move. When she finally did turn toward him, her throat was scratchy and dry. She spoke in a dry whisper, “Mu…Mummy.”

And that was all it took for him to know that mommy had done something very horrible. His chocolate swirled eyes widened, his night-dark hair suddenly matting to his face in a waterfall of perspiation. He walked quickly to the door and flung it open, taking a step into the sun. It didn’t take him long to find her.

He called out her name. Over and over again, like sad bird singing the same song it had sung for many years.

Eve slowly came from behind him, peering out the doorway to see if mommy would answer to his heartbroken call.

And so she did.

Emerging from the nearby wood, a shadow came in sight. Then, as light slowly reached it, a woman in bloodied army appeared, with a long red hood flowing behind her. It was a truly earthshattering, beautiful sight.

Daddy did not speak.

And neither did mommy.

And neither did Eve.

People from the village had already begun to pour from their houses, and saw the scene that played before their very eyes. But they were still confused, unknowing to what was going on in front of them.

Mother changed into a wolf.

The wind whistled, ruffling the wolf’s reddish brown fur. In it’s mouth, it carried a red fabric. Mother’s hood.

This wolf had sent a message. These wolves that live in the magical forest can change into anyone they eat. This wolf had eaten mommy—and brought her hood back as proof.

But her mother hadn’t come up empty handed in her plan. She had accomplished something that probably no one will accomplish—she slayed the village’s biggest fear. Cerberus: the leader of the wolves.

Daddy fell to his knees, tears silently slipping from his eyes. He gaped at the wolf, his body shaking visibly. Eve wondered what he would do. It was hard to tell. His eyes wide, and angry, and sad...would he lash out with his bare hands? Would he sob until it left?

The wolf set the hood down on the grass—then looked at the villagers who sat in shock, then at her father—and then at Eve.

Eve gasped and pulled her head back through the doorway.

After a minute, she looked out the door again. The wolf had fled into forest. Daddy began to crawl toward the place where mother’s red hood lay. Eve watched—careful not to let the villagers see her. They didn’t know she even existed. She couldn’t let her ‘secret’ get out.

It took him a while, but daddy got to her hood. He picked it up in his large hands, and used it to wash his tears away. He cried into it.

The flabbergasted villagers seemed to be brought back to life, and immediately began to flood around him. To comfort him, to help him.

Eve closed the door.

A week went by. Daddy spent each and every day in silence. Evangeline was afraid he was mad at her. He had never treated her as so, and this scared her.

And then finally, he came to her, right before bedtime. He came into her room and kneeled down beside her bed. She sat up to look him in the eye. From behind his back, he pulled a package wrapped in paper. He told her to open it and she did so. Inside, was her mother’s hood.

She looked at him. “Why would you give me mother’s hood?”

“I’m taking you out into the village.”

And so he did. The next morning, he helped her put on her new hood and he took her outside.

The people questioned, asking who the girl in the red hood was. He answered, “She is my daughter. Her name is Red.”

Red. That was her first name. This was her mother’s name. Why would he want her to be called that from now on? In remembrance of her mother?

And so with the hood, Red’s secret was hidden.

Red Evangeline was part wolf—complete with two red wolf ears.