Childs' Play

"Bang."

Winnifred Daemon Hoode, sixteen years old, aimed her pointer finger at the birds sitting in the nearby tree. "Bang... Bang!" She shouted, spooking the birds into flying away. She sighed. The birds were boring. The woods were boring, her life was boring. She walked down the crumbling stone path, aligning the rubber of her boots with the edge of the stones. She balanced herself so that her steps hung halfway off the path, causing the grass to bend over slightly. No doubt by this point her mother was looking for her. Red never understood why. Ever since she was a child she had wandered through these woods. Her mother had given up trying to stop her around two years ago, so long as Red promised to stay on the path. And she had followed that rule ever since, but today was different. Today her mother had forbidden her from visiting her friend Goldie.

It was earlier in the day, and Red was packing up some board games and snacks into her messenger bag when her mother came into her room. Now, she and her mom didn't always see eye to eye at the best of times... "Part of being a teenager," as her mother would always sigh. But today, something was different about her mom, something Red couldn't place. She seemed on edge, antsy, like something was wrong. Normally, Red could talk her into letting her do whatever she wanted, like when Red had convinced her to let the girls get tattoos for their fifteenth birthdays. That took some finagling, for sure. Goldie had chosen a small white daisy, her favorite flower, placed discretely on her ankle (so she could hide it from her parents). Red had chosen a bloody red rose, with black droplets pouring from it's petals. She had originally wanted it on her neck, where everyone could see it, but Goldie had convinced her that it may not be such a good idea when it comes time to get a job... so she'd settled for it being on her shoulder. It was painful, to be sure, but it was worth it... Red's mind tuned back into the current conversation as her mother snapped at her.

"...so I- Red!" She snapped, as Red jumped, "Pay attention! I don't want you going out today, it's just... well, it's not a good day to be in the woods... It's dangerous."

"But mom!" Red whined, "You said as long as I stay on the path-"

"You're not going!" Her mother cut in. "I'm sorry, but that's final."

She turned around and closed the door. Before she had time to react, Red heard the clock of the lock; her mother had locked her in her own room. Red's door, much like all the locks in the house except the front and back door, lock from the outside, a phenomenon Red had never seen in any other house. She'd even searched among her neighborhood, no one had ever seen such a thing, a lot of people even thought she was making it up. Red groaned, rolling her eyes before pressing her ear to the door. From within the old house she could hear her mother locking doors, shutting windows, and muttering to herself. Something big was going down today, and Red had no intention to spend the day trapped in her bedroom. After all, she reasoned, it's a teenager's job to disobey their parents anyway, right? Red returned to packing her bag. Something in her mother's tone though, Red hesitated, maybe something really was going on... No. She shook her head, that was ridiculous. Her mother never left home except for groceries, she worked from home. How would she possibly know if something were going on today? Even still, something about her mom's fear shook Red. She took the board games out of her bag, opting instead for some matches, the snacks, and her late father's pocket tool. It consisted of a screwdriver, can opener, a tool she never figured out how to use, and multiple length knifes. Her mother greatly disapproved of girls having weapons, but Red had refused very early on to give it up. Her mother eventually gave up, chalking it up to being "just like her father."

"Papa..." Red hesitated...

She'd never actually known her father, she just had random memories from when she was a baby. She knew he was tall, and had a square jaw, and she was pretty sure he had a mole on his right hand... at least, that's what she could remember. It seemed like his memory got hazier every year, not that she wanted to remember him. What kind of father abandons his baby one year after she's born, anyway? A crooked one, that's who. At least, that's what her mother always called him, a truly crooked fellow.

"And then he went and died..." Red muttered, holding back the sadness and resentment she'd always felt about him. A part of her would always miss him, a part of her wished he were still here, even if he wasn't a good person... But this was unimportant today. Right now she needed a way out of the house. She listened for her mother's door to shut. Red tried her own door with no luck, to no one's surprise. She studied her room before settling on the window. She peered at the window frame, which was locked firmly in place. As far back as she could remember, this window had never been opened. She grabbed the lock lever and tugged with all her might, but it was rusted into place. She let go as her fingers began to throb, there had to be a better way... She thought about the pocket tool as an idea came to mind. Opening the screwdriver bit, she placed it against the lock. With enough force, she figured, she could break the lock. She picked up a book, angled it perfectly, and held her breath. This was going to be noisy. On the count of three, she slammed the book against the screwdriver. With a groan the lock popped off. The house seemed to shudder in response as Red opened the window completely. Despite the noise, her mom didn't seem to hear. She quickly climbed out the window, grabbing onto the drainpipe and shimmying down. Once on solid ground she realized she still had the book in her hand. She stuffed it in her bag, silently saying goodbye to her mother before running off to the woods. Once she was safely hidden from her house by the cover of the trees, she stopped and breathed in the fresh air, enjoying the calm and beauty of the woods. It was very dark; the only real light was the few areas in the canopy where the leaves couldn't quite reach. It left little patches on the ground, like someone had poked holes in the dark with a needle. The trees were big and old, warped and gnarled from years of darkness. Dangerous, eh? Red rolled her eyes.

"Where's the danger?!:" Red shouted at the top of her lungs. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Her voice echoed down the path, laughing with her at her mother's fears. Dangerous, indeed. Scoffing at her mother's concern, she continued down the trail. Red knew the cobblestone path like the back of her hand. Some of the rocks weren't quite all the way in the ground, and would wobble as you step on them. Some of them were so well-embedded in the mud that slimy green moss covered them in a slippery mess, making for a dangerous way to hurt your ankle. Red knew this because she'd done it before, much to her mother's horror. She'd learned her lesson then, and would walk cautiously down the path ever since. The mossy stones continued for about twenty feet or so. It was at this point that the canopy cleared up almost instantly, as if something had prevented them from growing any further. Red thought nothing about it, instead thinking about how happy Goldie would be to see her. The girls were supposed to babysit Red's twin cousins today, she hoped Goldie brought stuff to do as Red had nothing but a book to occupy the afternoon. As she came upon the clearing she realized there was something she had been dying to do since she was younger. She turned to the left and faced the forest, walking up to the edge where the grass was crawling up over the stone. One dandelion had managed to come through the stones, poking it's young yellow face out towards the sunlight. Red smiled to herself as she slowly put her foot down on it, brushing her short black hair out of her eyes and tucking it back into her red hoodie. She slowly inched her foot closer to the edge. She told herself she would do it. Today was the day she would step off the path, as corny and immature as it seemed. She knew there was no danger in the forest, but it was hard to ignore her sweaty palms, or the butterflies in her stomach giving her an extremely queasy feeling. Her heart felt like it was beating slower and slower, her breath short. Her toe was hanging off the moss-eaten edge by now, the grass almost begging to be stepped on. The wood was silent around her, all noise tuned out by the insanely loud heartbeat in her ears. She lifted her foot, took a deep breath, but froze. She smelled something she'd never smelled before. Something that tickled her nose in a strange way, causing her to put her foot down and turn towards the source. A few feet from her, the bushes rustled and the strangely intriguing smell became stronger and more potent.

"Don't go off the path..." A watery voice gargled. The wolf dragged itself out from the shadows of the bushes. Winifred gasped. It looked like something had taken a huge bite out of him. His bottom half was gone, blood trickling down his ragged shirt like tiny crimson waterfalls, pooling around his hands. She took a step closer, drawn to the color; to the smell of rust and salt and decaying flesh. She felt herself drawn to the pitiful look in the wolf's eyes, agony and pain mixed with an overwhelming fear, Something about his state stirred in her a feeling of power she'd never felt before.

"Why?" She asked haughtily, "Why shouldn't I?"

Her voice quivered, not from fear of what could have done this, but from excitement at the thought of something being able to do this. She was no stranger to the wolf, he had made it clear time and again that she was no friend of his, she was on his menu. For some reason though, he'd always shown restraint. Nevertheless, seeing him in this state gave her satisfaction. She wished she could have seen it happen, seen the wolf get eaten. Perhaps she could watch the predator finish the job... Her eyes darted around the wolf's body, from the river of red trailing from his mouth to the pool of blood growing behind him, the light which was so quickly leaving his eyes.

"Do not... fear... the dark..." The wolf's head slumped to the ground, creating a small wave in the blood beneath him as blood poured between his teeth, staining his fur and the grass beneath. She watched intently as the blood settled like a ripple in a pond.

"Pity that."

She tore her eyes away from the fascinating corpse, to face a funny little man, only about half as tall as her, 'tsking' over the dead wolf. Under the canopy of the trees, she couldn't make out his face very well as he stood off the path. He wore an old, patched up red jerkin with tan pants and scuffed up green boots. She could make out a white beard so long it seemed to tough his knees, a relative measurement for her since she was only about 5'1". He reminded her of one of the seven dwarves from 'Snow White.' But fairy tales aren't real, she scolded herself...

She took a cautious step backwards. There was no reason to fear this man, she scolded herself, but something about him gave her chills. Perhaps it was his voice, gravely and raspy, like the wolf's as he drowned in his own blood. Perhaps it was the emotionless tone he adapted when referring to the dead wolf, which reminded her of how she felt stepping on the dandelion only moments earlier. It could have been any number of things, but when the man turned and met Red's eyes she knew. His eyes were tiny black slits, soulless evil that sent a shiver down her spine and set her knees quivering. It was as if he didn't even have any eyes, it was an empty abyss, but as he turned to her she felt his blood-thirstiness emanating. He smiled wide, revealing what looked like rows of tiny, razor-sharp teeth.

"You'd do best to look away now, little one." His voice became omnifarious, multiple tones overlapping like the devil incarnate. The voice shot right through her brain and into her heart. She could feel her stomach sink and her heart begin to beat out of control as she collapsed, the weight of the voice alone bringing her to her knees. She watched, frozen in fear, as the little man walked over to her, the grass making soft 'shuff' noises beneath his feet. Now at eye level with her, he smiled and she knew in her heart, he was the predator that ate the wolf. The salty-sweet smell of blood contaminated his breath and seized at her mouth and nose, suffocating her with thick invisible hands.

"So, are you scared of the dark?" The wretched man asked, a hint of amusement playing beneath the evil in his voice. Unable to think, let alone scream, Red felt herself fall to the ground, her head hitting the cold stone pathway with a dull 'thunk.' She felt her mind shutting down, blacking out as the little man walked away, disappearing from her line of sight. The last thing her mind registered was a slurping, crunching sound, then nothingness.

When Red finally came to, it was well into the evening. The sun was peeking gently through the trees as she sat up and looked around. The little man was gone, the forest was silent, but something was undeniably wrong. It took her a moment to realize what it was; the wolf's body was gone. She stood in an instant and searched cautiously, till at last she managed to spot the blood-stained grass where the body should have been. Nothing was left of it, no bones, not even the pools of blood. She found herself, much to her surprise, extremely disappointed by this fact. She frowned, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. She turned to walk away when the reflection of something shiny caught her eye. There, half buried in the bloody grass, was something the color of gold. She turned on the path, stepping till she was parallel with it, her toes dangling over the edge of the path. There was no way for her to reach it if she stayed on the path. It seemed only two steps away if she was quick enough. She peered through the forest, checking right, left, then right again. There was no sign of the little man, no sign of any life in the whole forest. Even the birds, she realized, had stopped chirping. She scooted her left foot over the edge, further and further till she felt the ball of her heel slip over the edge. Taking a deep breath and preparing for the worst, she willed her foot over the edge.

The soft 'shuff' of the grass seem to echo piercingly across the silent forest. She held her breath and listened, her heart pounding in her ears. After a moment of silence, she stood up straight, resting her weight on the grass as if she were testing her weight on an old bridge. Danger, she scoffed, there was no danger here, earlier was just a fluke. She nevertheless walked swiftly towards the golden glint, trying to appear more confident than she felt. She stopped with her feet only inches from the glint and squatted down. The golden prize was a puzzle piece, about the size of a quarter. It was not an edge piece, she concluded, it was a middle piece, based on the notched and grooves on it. She tried to make out the design. It looked, for all her knowledge, like a single rope, ending in some kind of knot. It was connected to something black, perhaps a dog or something? She couldn't make it out since the picture was cut off. She sighed in relief, releasing the breath she had forgotten she had held, when she heard a crackle in the trees directly in front of her. Trying her best not to move, she looked up into the blackness.

"Skriieee?" A distorted voice shrieked from above the tree tops. She felt her heart sink again. The hairs on her arm stood on end. Unwilling to move, let alone breathe, she wished for the entire world she hadn't left the path. What had earlier seemed like a barrier now seemed like such a security.

"Skriie?" The voice came from everywhere at once, a high pitched sound similar to an old squeaky door frame. Only a thousand times louder. It sounded almost waterlogged, as if, whatever it was, it was trying to talk underwater. She began trying to back up ever so slowly, praying she made no sudden moves. She put one foot behind her and felt the grass bow. 'Shuff.' She prayed that whatever it was hadn't heard that. She searched the skyline as her heart seemed to stop.

"Skriieieiee!!" The trees began shaking violently as somethin unseen began barreling straight towards her. She screamed and stumbled around, running desperately to get back to the path.