Little Red Riding Hoodie: A Modern Fairy Tale

by Phythyon, John

  Shakir looked right at her, clearly able to see Sally through the glass. The sinister wolf-woman held out her hand. The key Sally had seen before dangled from a chain. Shakir waggled it mockingly at her.

  Then she laughed a deep, bone-chilling laugh that sounded like it came from the belly of some ancient beast. Sally cried as the glass went dark.

  Eleven

  Sally was only a little surprised to discover the next morning that Tommy had wet the bed again. Between the stress of him getting suspended, her arguing with her father, and then her seeing him devoured in her dreams last night, it just seemed logical. Somehow, this was all connected.

  “Tommy, did you have a nightmare last night,” she asked him when she got him up.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Was it the same one?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tommy . . .” She hesitated. She wasn’t sure how much she should ask him about this, but she had to know. “Tommy, did you run to Grandma’s house in your dream?”

  His eyes popped open wide at the suggestion. She knew his answer before he gave it.

  “Yeah,” he said. “How did you know that?”

  “I dreamed that too,” she said. “I dreamed you were trying to get into Grandma’s house and you couldn’t.”

  She deliberately left out the part about him getting eaten. She didn’t know what he had seen or remembered, but she didn’t want to scare him more.

  Her father came in and told him he better get ready, because he was going to work with him today. Sally put his sheets and PJ’s in the washer as Tommy got dressed. She was relieved she would get to go to school.

  She was able to leave earlier than usual, and she arrived soon enough to meet Alison as her father was dropping her off.

  “Hey!” Sally called.

  Alison smiled and bobbed over to join her. Mr. Jamison waved to them as he pulled away, but Alison took no notice.

  “You’re here early,” Alison said.

  “My dad took Tommy to work with him today,” Sally said. “So I came early.”

  “How were things this morning,” Alison asked, a concerned look on her face. Sally had texted her some of the details last night.

  “Tense,” Sally said as they walked in the building. “Tommy had another nightmare last night.”

  “What about?”

  “The same stuff. This time, though, the dogs chased him to my grandma’s house. The door was locked, and he couldn’t get in. They ate him on her doorstep.”

  “Oh, my god, Sally,” Alison said. “That’s horrible!”

  “It gets worse,” Sally said. “I dreamed too. I saw Tommy’s dream, and at the end of it, when the dogs were devouring him, Shakir came out and dangled this key at me.”

  “The key to the door of the house?”

  “I think so,” Sally said, realizing the key Zelda told her about and the one she’d seen in her nightmares were probably the same somehow. “She was mocking me, Alison. She laughed at me while her dogs ate my brother.”

  “Holy crap,” Alison said. “Sally, don’t take this the wrong way, but I am glad I’m not in your dreams.”

  Sally didn’t say anything. She understood what Alison meant, knew it wasn’t intended to insult. But it still made her feel bad.

  “So is your dad just gonna take him to work with him for three days?” Alison said as they reached her locker.

  “I don’t know,” Sally said. “I didn’t know he was gonna take him today until this morning. Last night, he was talking about having me stay home from school to take care of him.”

  “Ooh!” Alison said as she got her locker open. “Three-day vacation!”

  “Not really,” Sally responded. “That would be three days of getting behind in my classes.”

  “Ugh. Good point,” Alison said. “Can you imagine how many math problems you’d have to make up for Mrs. Lamay?”

  “Yeah,” Sally said. “Plus, I’d probably get kicked out of the play. I’d miss three days of rehearsal, and I’d have so much homework to make up I wouldn’t be able to work on my lines.”

  “Crap, I didn’t even think of that,” Alison said.

  Sally wasn’t surprised. If you weren’t in the play, you didn’t understand how much extra work it was.

  Alison got her books for her first classes and closed her locker. They moved off towards Sally’s.

  “Anyway,” Sally said, “I just hope nothing else goes wrong. I don’t think I can take much more.”

  “Sure you can,” Alison said. “You’re strong, Sally. You’re a lot stronger than you think you are.”

  Sally glanced at her sideways. Alison wore a serious expression. Her tone echoed the things she’d said outside Madame Zelda’s tent. Sally wished to God she knew what Alison had seen, what it was that she knew. But she had promised not to ask about it anymore, and she didn’t want to make her best friend angry.

  She sighed as they finished their trek to her locker, weaving through the heavy, early-morning crowd. It was hard to talk when there were this many people jostling them.

  “Do you think Frank will have us do some lame, Spirit Week exercise again,” Alison asked as they cleared the crowd.

  Sally didn’t answer. She stood, horrorstruck, staring at the door to her locker. Her heart stopped beating, and her skin crawled. Stuck on her locker door was the yellow smiley face. She knew in an instant it was the same one she had torn up yesterday. Everything about it was exactly the same. This was the smiley face from her dream – the one that had been on her locker only yesterday before she had shredded it. Just like in her dream, it was perfectly whole again. It had not been taped or glued back together.

  “Sally?” Alison asked.

  Sally still didn’t answer. She dropped her backpack in naked fear. How was this possible? What was going on here?

  “Sally, what’s the matter?” Alison asked, now sounding very concerned.

  With a lurch, Sally’s heart started beating again. It thudded inside her chest so loudly she thought everyone in the hallway might hear. Wordlessly, she raised her arm and pointed at her locker.

  “OMG, did someone butterfly you again?” Alison said, turning to look. She stopped cold when she saw it. “Oh, my god. Someone put a new smiley face on your locker?”

  “Not,” Sally choked. She swallowed hard. “Not a n-new one. Th-that’s the same one.”

  “What?” Alison said. “Sally, that’s not possible. You tore that one up yesterday.”

  “I kn-know,” Sally said. “But I’m telling you it’s the same one.”

  Alison looked confused. She moved over to Sally’s locker and examined the smiley face.

  “Are you sure?” Alison asked, turning back to Sally.

  Sally nodded fearfully. Alison inspected it again. She cocked her head to the side.

  “It looks brand new,” Alison commented.

  She pulled the decoration off Sally’s locker. Then she turned around and brought it back to Sally holding it up. Sally’s blood turned to sludge. Something was written on the back.

  “Oh, shit,” Sally whispered.

  “What?” Alison said.

  “Turn it over,” Sally said.

  Alison did so. Her eyes widened. Then she went pale.

  “What’s it say?” Sally asked.

  “I . . . I think you’d better read this yourself,” Alison replied.

  She extended her hand to Sally, offering her the paper. Sally stared at it, horrified, for a moment. Then she raised her arm to take it. Her hand was shaking. She was already afraid. The fact that it scared Alison too frightened her even more.

  She took the smiley face from Alison, looking into her friend’s haunted eyes before turning it over and reading it.

  The key is in the mirror.

  “Oh, shit,” Sally whispered again.

  Her fear grew into full-blown terror. She wasn’t sure she could get hold of it. It threatened to overwhelm her and send her screaming out of the building.

 
“Hey, Sal,” Brian said, coming up behind her.

  Sally screamed. Brian, who had been reaching out to touch her, jumped back as though he had been burned. Alison put her hand over her heart trying to steady it. Sally, who had been white with terror, now looked embarrassed. She tried to smile.

  “Whoa,” Brian said. “Was it something I said? I don’t smell do I?”

  Sally’s heartbeat slowed. It was just Brian. She could relax.

  “Wow, you’re becoming quite the scream queen,” a haughty voice said behind her.

  Sally glanced over her shoulder to see Molly standing triumphantly with the rest of The Set. Could things get worse? Sally didn’t see how.

  “Yeah,” Moira said. “Shelly Green said you screamed like a little baby when Jeremy was saying his lines yesterday.”

  “I heard she cried,” Wendy added.

  “Yeah, I heard she cried,” Brinna said.

  “Did you?” Molly said in a mocking voice. “Did you cwy wike a widdle baby?”

  “Shut up, Molly,” Brian said. “It wasn’t like that all.”

  “Why do you care, Gay-Boy?” Molly sneered. “Or do you think because Cry Baby here has a flat chest that she’s actually a boy? Is that why you’re so interested in her?”

  “You better shut your mouth, Molly Richards,” Alison said stepping forward. “Or I’ll make sure you never open it again.”

  “Big words, Sidekick,” Kylie said. “But if I were you, I’d watch my own back.”

  “Yeah, I’d watch my own back,” Brinna said.

  “Shut up, Brinna,” Wendy and Kylie said in unison.

  “You know,” Molly said, “maybe I had it all wrong when I called you Little Red Riding Hoodie. Maybe we should call you Chicken Little instead.”

  “We’re gonna call you Dead Bitch on a Stick if you don’t move on, Molly,” Alison growled.

  No one said anything for a moment. Alison’s threat hung in the air. The Set glared at Alison en masse.

  “Let’s go, girls,” Molly said at last. “It’s starting to stink around her. Chicken Little probably wet her pants.”

  “Yeah, Chicken Little prob—”

  “Shut up, Brinna,” Kylie said.

  They started off down the hall. Alison watched them go, poised to fight. Brian looked equally murderous. Sally wasn’t sure what to feel about anything. She’d been turned inside out several times since getting to her locker.

  “And, Brian?” Molly said, turning to look back over her shoulder. “It’s Romeo and Juliet, not Romeo and Julian. Figure it out.”

  The Set strutted off. Brian shook his head.

  “Somebody definitely ate her Bitch Wheaties this morning,” he said.

  Sally thought that was kind of funny, but she didn’t laugh. She was too upset by other things.

  “That girl is gonna get hers real soon,” Alison said.

  “So, Brian, what’s up?” Sally said, trying to change the subject.

  “Oh,” he said. “I almost forgot. I was wondering if you could help me with the play.”

  She cocked her head quizzically. Alison shot her a suggestive look. Sally ignored it.

  “How,” she asked.

  “Well, I’m having trouble with some of the lines, and since you seem to be pretty smart about Shakespeare and all, I thought you could help.”

  Sally blushed. The only person who had ever asked her for help with homework before was Alison.

  “Sure,” Sally said. “When did you want to get together?”

  “Well, final bell is at 2:45,” he said. “Play practice doesn’t start ’til three. Do you want to meet in the auditorium right after school?”

  “Um, sure,” Sally said. “I can do that.”

  “Cool,” he said. He smiled broadly. “Okay, well, see you, Red.”

  He looked at her for another moment, as if trying to think of something else to say. Then he sauntered off, looking back over his shoulder once as he went.

  “He liiiikes you,” Alison drawled.

  “Shut up,” Sally said, blushing.

  “He totally likes you. You’re gonna be in the auditorium making out after school.”

  “Shut up!” Sally said, grinning. “He doesn’t like me. He just wants help with the play.”

  “Uh-huh,” Alison said. “He’s playing Romeo. He probably wants to get a little extra ‘practice’ in.”

  “Stop it!”

  Sally wasn’t angry, though. Yesterday’s confessions and today’s request for help notwithstanding, she knew she didn’t have a chance with Brian Pomeroy. It was nice to be teased about it, though.

  ***

  Brian was five minutes late. Sally had begun to think that he would stand her up. He smiled immediately when he saw her and came over.

  “Sorry, I’m late,” he said, though he offered no explanation.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “What did you want to work on?”

  “Okay,” he said, “the whole scene at the ball is really kicking my butt.”

  “How so?”

  “I totally don’t get it,” Brian confessed. “One moment, Romeo’s all depressed. Then he’s totally into Juliet. And his friends don’t get it. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

  Sally smiled. She had had a similar reaction. Romeo’s sudden mood swing had struck her as odd too.

  “I mean, if he’s hung up on this other chick, how can he fall so hard so fast for Juliet?”

  “I know what you mean,” Sally said. “It’s a little unrealistic. The whole play takes place in five days.”

  “Exactly!” Brian said. “I don’t know how to do this. I can’t think of a way to make it look right.”

  “Well,” Sally offered, “have you ever been really down, and then something wonderful happened to make you feel super-happy?”

  “Yeah,” Brian said after a moment. “One time, my mom lost her job. This was when I was, like, eight. It was right before Christmas. My mom was all angry about getting laid off, so she was, like, ‘There’s not gonna be any Christmas this year.’ She was pretty stern about it, and my brother and I believed her. We couldn’t understand why Santa wouldn’t come just because our mom lost her job. I think that’s when I knew there was no Santa Claus.

  “Anyway, Chuck and I were all pissed off because everyone else was gonna have Christmas, and we weren’t. We didn’t think it was fair, and we didn’t understand about not having a job and all. But on Christmas morning, we got up and there were presents and a tree and everything. It wasn’t like other years. There were a lot fewer presents than we usually get. But just having them when we thought we weren’t gonna made the whole day. My mom was in a good mood for the first time in weeks. She was all smiling and everything. I remember being so happy, I didn’t know what to say.” Brian paused.

  “I’ve never told anybody that before,” he added.

  Sally was moved. She’d never had a similar experience, but she understood how hard Christmas was. Ever since her mother left, there was less Christmas around the house. Her dad always made sure there was a tree and everyone had gifts, and Tommy was young enough to believe in Santa Claus, which made it kind of special.

  But there were fewer presents than in the years when her mother was around, and while most people seemed happier on Christmas Day, her father was more maudlin. He drank even more than usual, and he cried a lot. He thought Sally didn’t know, but she’d seen him.

  “Okay,” Sally said, pushing the memory away. “Remember what it was like when you realized you were going to have Christmas after all. That’s what it’s like when Romeo sees Juliet. He’s all depressed because the other woman doesn’t love him and she’s all he wants. Then he sees Juliet, and she’s more beautiful and awesome than the other girl ever thought about being. So Romeo thinks he’s not gonna get to have a Christmas, and then he does. And it’s a really good one.”

  “Hey, that’s pretty smart,” Brian said, smiling. “See, I knew this was a good idea!”

  “What do you mean?�
�� Sally asked.

  “I knew you’d be able to help,” Brian said. “You’re, like, the smartest girl in the whole class, and you get this stuff.”

  Sally blushed. She wasn’t very good at receiving compliments. She couldn’t recall ever getting one from a boy.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “No, it’s true,” he said. “I’m so glad we’re doing the play together. I might not have gotten to meet you otherwise.”

  A warm sensation spread through Sally’s stomach. She had no idea what it was or what it meant. She didn’t know what to do next and was scared that she would say something stupid.

  “I’m glad I got to meet you too,” she said. He frowned.

  “Really?” he asked. “Why?”

  “Because you’re really nice,” Sally said, confused. “Anyone would be lucky to know you.”

  He smiled sheepishly and looked down, shifting from foot to foot.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  He didn’t say anything more for a moment. Then he looked up at her again. Something was on his mind.

  “Does it make you nervous that we have to kiss,” he asked.

  The warm feeling left Sally, and her stomach tied itself in knots. Her mouth was suddenly dry. She had to swallow to speak.

  “What do you mean,” she asked.

  “Well it says in the script we have to kiss,” he explained. “There’s this whole big scene. Does it make you nervous?”

  It did now. She felt as though Alison were leering at her from afar. Why was he asking?

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it. Why? Does it make you nervous?”

  “Yeah,” he admitted.

  “Why?”

  Brian shoved his hands into his pockets. He shifted his weight back and forth between his feet and looked at the ground.

  “Because I’ve never kissed a girl before,” he said. “And my mom is already on my case about, you know, not letting ‘harlots’ distract me. I’m afraid she’ll freak out on me during the show, and . . .”

  “And what?”

  “And – I don’t know – I’m afraid you won’t like it or think I’m gross or something.”

  Sally was stunned. Brian was worried about kissing her? Why would he be nervous about kissing her? She wasn’t special. It wasn’t like she was beautiful like Molly or Alison. She was just Sally.