Little Red Riding Hoodie: A Modern Fairy Tale

by Phythyon, John

  “Ha! No way! He’s way too much of a take-charge kind of guy. Besides, he’s a playa. He’s never gonna be my boyfriend.

  “But anyway, no matter what, we’ll always be together. We’ll live next door to each other!”

  “In matching mansions,” Alison added.

  “Yeah!” Sally said. “I’ll have a swimming pool, and you’ll have a tennis court, so we’ll trade off going to each other’s house, and we’ll throw fabulous parties that are the toast of the town.”

  Alison clapped her hands and smiled. She hugged Buttons a little closer. Then she sighed back into her seat contentedly.

  Sally was happy. Up on the Ferris wheel, no one could harm them. There were no little brothers who wet the bed, bitchy schoolmates, or giant dogs from her dreams. There was just the two of them, and they could relax and enjoy each other’s company. She wished it could be like this all the time.

  ***

  Afterwards, it was nearly time for the girls to meet Alison’s parents. With great regret, they left the wonders of the carnival behind them and headed back to the prearranged rendezvous point. Both girls dragged their heels, reluctant to give up the magic of the evening.

  Before they finished their trek, however, Sally spotted a small tent at the end of the midway. She didn’t remember it being there on their way in. It was made of red velvet, and it had black fringes along the edges of the cloth. The fabric itself was badly faded and worn. It looked as though it was many years old and had been outdoors for all of them. A purple banner, which was as ragged and as shabby as the rest of the tent, was painted with red and white letters. Sally’s jaw dropped when she read the legend.

  Madame Zelda – Fortuneteller

  “Oh, my god,” Sally said, stopping dead in her tracks.

  “What?” Alison said.

  “Look!” Sally said, pointing to the tent. Alison’s mouth fell open when she saw it.

  “Sally, you don’t suppose . . .”

  The two girls stared at each other for a moment. Then they both turned back to the tent. Sally’s heart raced. Was it connected to her dream? Was it possible?

  “We have to go in,” Alison said.

  “Do you think we should?” Sally said, frightened.

  “Sally,” Alison said. “Didn’t something else from your dreams come true?”

  Yes. One of the dogs from her nightmares confronted her at the top of Parker Drive.

  “Oh, my god, I totally forgot to tell you,” Sally said.

  “What?”

  “Last night, Tommy and I had the same dream. I saw what he was dreaming in my dream. The dogs got him, Alison. They chased him down, and they got him.” Alison’s eyes widened.

  “Now we totally have to go,” Alison said.

  “Why?”

  “Why?” Alison exclaimed. “Sally, you need to know what’s going on. If it’s the same Zelda from your dreams, she can tell you what all this means. Don’t you want to know?”

  Sally wasn’t sure. She did want to know, but it was all so scary. She wasn’t sure she was ready for this sort of confrontation. But if Alison was right, if her dreams were coming true, if Tommy really was in danger . . .

  “Okay,” Sally said. “Let’s check it out.”

  They approached the tent but paused at the entrance. They looked at each other again. Alison gave Sally a tiny shove, and each holding her breath, they entered.

  Inside, the air was musty, thick with the smell of mold, scented candles, and spilled beer. Mysteriously, the space inside seemed bigger than it looked from without. Sally figured it had to be a trick of the light. Maybe she hadn’t been able to see the whole thing from the midway. Regardless, the effect was spooky.

  The area in which Sally and Alison stood was clearly an antechamber. It was exactly as she remembered it from her dreams. This was the curtained room where she started, where Mr. Pipich pulled the fly rope the first time she’d seen this. If it worked the way it did in her sleep, there was another room straight ahead through the drape on the far wall.

  As if on cue, a woman emerged from behind that curtain. She was young – very young, Sally thought. She looked sixteen, maybe seventeen. Her hair was long and blonde, and she had lily-white skin that was warm with a rosy blush and accented by blood-red lips. She wore a black cloak with a large hood that was down at the moment. When she reached out a thin hand to beckon the girls closer, Sally caught a glimpse of what looked like a white shift underneath, but it shimmered as though it had a life of its own. Sally recognized her instantly. It was Zelda.

  The fortuneteller smiled broadly at her two new customers. Sally had no idea what to expect from this woman. Seeing her here in the waking world made Sally shudder.

  “Come,” Zelda said, motioning the girls into the reading room.

  Sally did as she was told, pushing her way through the curtains. Alison followed her.

  “Welcome to my parlor,” Zelda said. “Have a seat.”

  The parlor, as she’d called it, had a small, wooden table with an Empire base. Around it were three chairs. Zelda slid into one of them with a smile and indicated with a wave of her arm that the girls should take the other two. On the table was a small crystal ball. Behind Zelda was a large, oval mirror. Sally’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the glass appeared to be suspended in midair. Candles burned in candelabra all around the parlor.

  “Is it—” Alison began.

  “Yes,” Sally said.

  “Just like in your dreams?” Zelda said.

  The two girls exchanged a look. Alison looked as scared as Sally felt. She had a wild look in her eyes, as though she were terrified of what might happen next. Sally felt the same way. She had seen things from her dreams in the waking world twice now.

  Without realizing what she was doing, Sally dropped herself into the chair closest to her. After a moment, Alison followed.

  “Look into the mirror,” Zelda said to Alison.

  “Why?” Alison said, suspicion in her tone.

  “Don’t you want to know your fortune,” Zelda asked.

  “Yes,” Alison said. “I mean, no. We’re here for Sally.”

  “Ah,” Zelda said. “So you think that you shouldn’t hear your fortune because you’re here to ask about Sally’s dreams.” Alison nodded. “Funny. You seemed interested in your future back on the Ferris wheel.”

  Alison stood up, shocked. The chair she had been sitting on fell over backward.

  “How do you know about that?” Alison said.

  “Relax, Alison,” Zelda said. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “How do you know my name?” Alison demanded.

  “I’m a fortuneteller,” Zelda said with a smile. “I wouldn’t be much good at it if I didn’t have the power to see such things.”

  Alison considered that for a moment. She chewed on her lower lip. Then she seemed to make up her mind, nodding. She righted her chair and sat back down.

  “Look into the mirror,” Zelda said.

  “Shouldn’t you be using the crystal ball or something?” Alison asked.

  “I am,” Zelda replied. “But you have to look in the mirror to see what I see.”

  Alison looked over the fortuneteller’s shoulder into the mirror. Sally watched as, a moment later, Alison’s eyes grew wide with surprise. Then she stared quietly, with her mouth hanging open. Zelda turned her attention to Sally.

  “Now, my dear,” she said, “let’s see about you.”

  Sally was suddenly worried. She didn’t like the fact that Alison appeared to be under a spell.

  “What’s the matter with her?” Sally asked.

  “Nothing,” Zelda said. “She’s just viewing her future.

  “But I want to talk about you.”

  Zelda waved her arm and a flash of yellow sparks suddenly appeared in the air. For a moment, Sally was dazzled. When her vision cleared, the crystal ball was glowing with yellow light, which cast an even warmer glow on Zelda’s serene face.

  “I believe you have s
ome questions for me,” Zelda prodded.

  Sally was taken aback. Zelda was always a step ahead of her. Things were moving faster than Sally could keep up.

  “How do you know that?” Sally asked.

  “Because I’ve been watching you,” Zelda answered. “You’ve had horrible nightmares. You don’t know what they mean, and you’re hoping that, because you saw me in your dreams, I can explain it all to you.”

  “Can you?” Sally asked after a pause.

  “No,” Zelda said. “But there are questions I can answer.”

  Sally didn’t know where to begin. There was so much she didn’t understand. She decided to start with the obvious.

  “Who are you?” she said.

  “I am Zelda.”

  “No,” Sally said, shaking her head. “I mean who are you really?”

  “I am one possible future,” the fortuneteller replied. “Shakir is another.”

  A possible future? For whom? What did that mean?

  “Who is Shakir?”

  “She is the wolf-woman you see in your dreams.”

  Sally cursed to herself. She knew that already. She wasn’t getting the answers she needed. She had to get better at how she asked.

  “What is Shakir?” she said. “Why am I seeing her?”

  “Like me, Shakir is a potential future,” Zelda said. “Soon, you will have a choice to make. It will be difficult. Your decision will help determine your destiny.”

  “Destiny?” Sally said. “I don’t have a destiny. I’m a sixth-grader.”

  “We all have a destiny, Sally,” Zelda said. “The decisions we make in our present determine our future.”

  Sally thought that sounded very strange. Destiny was supposed to be unavoidable, she thought. How could she be making it now?

  “What are those big dogs that keep chasing me,” she asked, changing the subject.

  “They are servants of Shakir,” Zelda said.

  “Why are they after me?” Sally said.

  “Because they do not want you to have the key,” Zelda answered.

  “Key? What key?”

  “The one you saw in your dream,” Zelda said. “The one Shakir hides.”

  Sally remembered Shakir holding it out to her. She’d had it hidden behind her face.

  “But why doesn’t she want me to have it,” Sally asked.

  “Once you have it, you will be able to unlock doors,” Zelda explained. “Doing so will allow you to make a choice about the future.”

  “And she doesn’t want me to do that?”

  “Right now, your destiny – and your brother’s – lead to her,” Zelda said. “Shakir does not wish for that to change.”

  Chills ran down Sally’s spine. Her destiny and Tommy’s led to Shakir? She could well imagine what that meant. She’d seen Tommy torn to pieces in their dreams last night. Shakir’s dogs had pursued her as well. If Shakir was a possible future, the mysterious wolf-woman meant for Sally and her brother to be destroyed.

  “Why?” Sally said, starting to cry.

  “Fate,” Zelda replied, as though that explained everything.

  Sally swallowed hard. She was tired of this, and it was getting scarier by the second.

  “How do I get the key,” she asked.

  “It must be purchased with a gold coin,” Zelda said.

  A coin! She’d seen that in several dreams. It went rolling down the hall of Roosevelt Middle School before the dogs came to chase her.

  “How do I get it?” she said.

  “I cannot tell you that,” Zelda said. “You must discover that for yourself. If you can find the coin, you can purchase the key and change your destiny.”

  Sally sighed. It couldn’t be easy. She wanted to cry more.

  “We’re out of time, Sally,” Zelda said. “You will be late to meet Mr. and Mrs. Jamison if you stay longer. We will meet again – if you can acquire the key. Until then, be safe, and be on your guard against Shakir.”

  Sally snapped out of the spell. She turned to look at Alison and discovered her friend had tears running down her cheeks.

  “Alison?” Sally said.

  Alison turned to her. Her eyes were red from crying. Her cheeks were puffy. She had a lump in her throat. For a moment she turned back to the mirror. Then she gave it a weak smile and cleared the tears from her eyes. She stood up.

  “Come on,” Alison said. “We don’t want to be late.”

  She turned and left the parlor. Sally returned her attention to Zelda to say goodbye only to discover the mysterious fortuneteller had disappeared. Sally spent a moment or two looking around. Another shiver ran down her back, and she hurried to catch up with Alison.

  Outside the tent, Alison looked at her very seriously. She’d stopped crying but she was clearly still upset.

  “Listen,” Alison said. “I want you to remember that you’re smart and capable.”

  “What?” Sally said. What on Earth had brought on a comment like that?

  “You’re smart, and you’re capable,” Alison repeated. “No matter what happens, you’ll figure a way out of it because you’re the smartest girl I know.”

  “Alison, what’s wrong? What happened?”

  “Just promise me you won’t forget,” Alison snapped.

  “I promise,” Sally said.

  “Good,” Alison said. “I love you. You’re my best friend, and I’ll always love you no matter what happens. Don’t ever forget that, okay?”

  “Okay,” Sally said.

  What had Alison seen to make her say such things? She hugged Sally. Then she released her and began walking away swiftly.

  “Come on,” she said, “let’s go find my dad.”

  ***

  Alison was silent all the way to Sally’s house. She had put on a good act when the girls rendezvoused with her parents. She told her father about some of their adventures, showed him Buttons, and talked animatedly.

  But she did not tell them about their experience with Madame Zelda. Sally was grateful. She had no idea what Alison had experienced inside the strange tent, but she knew that Mr. and Mrs. Jamison wouldn’t understand any of it. Outside, in the crisp autumn night, it felt like a silly dream. She wasn’t sure any of it had really happened.

  None of Sally’s other dreams had been silly, though. Even the memories of them terrified her, and somewhere, out in the waking world, one of Shakir’s dogs roamed in search of her blood.

  Mr. and Mrs. Jamison talked quietly between themselves as they drove Sally home. She was too distracted to pay attention to the conversation. Sally stole an occasional glance over at Alison, but her best friend stared blankly out the window on her side of the car, all the while clutching her teddy bear.

  Sally was relieved no one greeted her at the door. She’d have been embarrassed if her father had come out. At this time of night, he was probably blind drunk, especially since he’d been drinking while watching the football games in the afternoon.

  “Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Jamison,” Sally said as she got out. “I had a very nice time.”

  “You’re welcome, dear,” Mrs. Jamison said.

  “Good night, Alison.”

  “’Night, Sally,” Alison replied, but she sounded distant.

  Inside, Sally found her father passed out and snoring on the couch. She threw a blanket over him and then went to look in on Tommy. He too was out cold in bed. So far as she could tell, he was not having a nightmare.

  She retreated to her room and flopped on the bed, exhausted. As tired as she was, though, her mind was on fire. She pulled out her phone, turned it down to vibrate, and then texted Alison.

  U ok?

  She lay back on the bed and waited for the answer. It took a full minute before it came.

  Yeah.

  The delay in response time made her suspect Alison’s answer wasn’t exactly truthful.

  What did u see?

  She put her phone down, got out of bed and changed into her PJ’s. She had just gotten under the covers when
Alison texted back.

  I’m not allowed to tell.

  Sally gasped. Not allowed to tell? Why not? What had she seen?

  Who said u couldn’t tell?

  Sally’s heart raced. Alison was her best friend. If she knew something that would help her, she had to tell.

  She waited for Alison to reply. More than a minute went by. Sally was getting really scared.

  I have to go to bed now.

  Sally sat up in alarm. Alison couldn’t leave her hanging like that.

  Wait! Who said u couldn’t tell?

  There was another long pause. Sally thought Alison might actually have gone to bed without answering her. She wouldn’t do that, would she?

  Finally, her phone buzzed. Sally held it up, praying for the answer.

  U did.

  Sally’s blood turned to ice. She stared at the screen in blank horror. Another message came in right behind the first.

  Good night.

  Sally became lightheaded. She realized she was holding her breath and gasped for air. What did it all mean? What had happened in Zelda’s tent?

  Whatever it was, Alison wasn’t saying any more about it tonight. Sadly, Sally plugged in her phone, switched off the light, and laid down. She was afraid to go to sleep.

  Nine

  The remainder of the weekend was uneventful. Alison was strangely distant, barely texting at all and not responding to any of Sally’s inquiries regarding their mysterious experience with Madame Zelda. Sally was irritated with her, but she wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  With her father watching pro football and Tommy going over to a friend’s house for the afternoon, she found herself with an abundance of time on her hands. She took the opportunity to get all her homework done and then work on her lines for Romeo and Juliet. She wanted to impress Mr. Pipich with how well she knew things before he blocked her scenes.

  She went to bed early on Sunday night and had no dreams. She awoke Monday morning feeling rested and thankful.