Little Red Riding Hoodie: A Modern Fairy Tale

by Phythyon, John

  She had no resolve left to fight the world. Whatever doom awaited her in this bleak place she was willing to accept. At least then, the pain would stop. Just like her father, she simply couldn’t take any more.

  “Sally?” a voice said next to her.

  She stopped crying. She thought she was alone in this nightmare that would not end, from which she could not escape. But now a friendly, concerned voice had spoken to her.

  She turned to see who it was. In a different mirror, she saw Alison, who was staring back at her looking surprised and concerned.

  “Alison?” Sally said. “Alison, you can see me?”

  “Yes,” Alison said from the other side of the glass.

  “Where are you?” Sally asked, confused and desperate.

  “I’m here at the carnival,” Alison answered. “I’m here with you and Madame Zelda.”

  Sally wiped tears from her eyes so she could see more clearly. It was true. Alison sat in the chair she had taken last Saturday. In front of her were Sally and Zelda.

  “I thought I was seeing my future,” Alison said. “But when I look in the mirror, I see you. What’s going on?”

  “Oh, Alison,” Sally said, and she began crying again.

  Sally crawled towards the mirror on her hands and knees. She put her hands to the glass, wishing she could touch Alison, hug her.

  “What’s the matter,” Alison asked, concerned.

  “Alison, this is the future,” Sally tried to explain through her sobs. “Sort of. It’s Thursday afternoon. I’m five days ahead of you.”

  “Where are you?” Alison asked.

  “I’m—” But Sally didn’t know how to answer that. “I’m somewhere else. Trapped in my dreams, I guess. Alison, something horrible is going to happen to you, and I can’t stop it. I can’t prevent it from happening.” Sally began crying uncontrollably again.

  “It’s okay, Sally,” Alison said. “Just tell me where you are.”

  “I don’t really know,” Sally said. “It’s like my dreams came true again, only I’m in the room with all the mirrors, and they show me different scenes, and they’re all horrible.”

  “It’s okay, Sally,” Alison said again. “You’ll be okay.”

  “No, listen,” Sally said. “Molly is planning this horrible revenge on us. Thursday at the football game, you go for a Coke, and they ambush you.”

  “What?”

  “Just listen! They knock you out, and they drag you into the boiler room. They pour paint and packing peanuts all over you, Alison, and they take pictures to post to Instagram.

  “I couldn’t stop it, Alison! I failed you!”

  Sally started crying again. Alison shushed her.

  “Listen, Sally,” Alison said. “You’re in the future, right?”

  “Yes,” Sally sobbed.

  “That means, to you, I’m in the past.”

  “So?”

  “So, if you’re in the future, and I’m in the past, then you know what happens to me.”

  “I know,” Sally said, crying. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Sally, you don’t understand,” Alison said. “You can change the past.”

  Sally stopped crying and looked at Alison confused.

  “How?” she said.

  “You know what happens,” Alison said. “I’m in the past. If you tell me what is going to happen, I can prevent it.”

  Sally blinked at her. It was the most obvious and amazing thing she’d ever heard. Why hadn’t she thought of it?

  Use the key to change your destiny.

  Yes! She’d always thought of destiny as prearranged. But with her in the future, and Alison in the past, she could actually change destiny.

  But she had to be careful here. If she told Alison too much, Alison could change everything. Then Sally wouldn’t get here to warn her, and the present Sally knew – what was the future to Alison – might not change at all.

  “Okay, listen,” Sally said. “Kylie and Brinna are waiting for you in the boiler room. Molly, Moira, and Wendy will be spying on you when you buy your Coke in the second quarter of the football game. Brad goes with you, but he leaves to go to the bathroom. That’s when they get you.

  “You’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen. If Brad is with you, they won’t be able to hurt you.”

  “Yeah,” Alison said. “But then they’ll just wait to get us a different time.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Sally said. It seemed she couldn’t save anyone after all.

  “I’ve got a better idea, Sally,” Alison said. “What if I don’t set it up to prevent them from getting me? What if I set it up instead that they get caught?”

  “If they got caught doing that to you—”

  “They would probably get expelled,” Alison said. “At the very least, it would be a major suspension.”

  “But, Alison, that means—”

  “That means, I’ll have to play dumb,” Alison said. “It means I’ll have to bait the trap myself.”

  “But how will you get them caught?”

  “You said Brad is with me. I’ll be sure to text him to meet me in the boiler room.”

  “Why would he want to do that?” Sally said.

  “I’ll make sure he does,” Alison said.

  “Oh.”

  “He’ll show up, catch Molly and her bitch-friends, and that’ll be the end of The Set at Roosevelt Middle School.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Sally said. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. You’re all I’ve got.”

  “Don’t worry, girl,” Alison said. “I’ll make sure I come out on the winning side.”

  Sally nodded. Then she swallowed hard.

  “Alison,” Sally said. “You can’t tell me about any of this. If I know, I might not do the things I have to do to get here. Then I won’t be able to warn you, and all the horrible things will come true.”

  “But you’ve already warned me,” Alison said.

  “Just because I’ve changed the past now, doesn’t mean I can’t screw up and change it back,” Sally said. “I’ll probably beg you for information. You can’t give it to me.”

  “Okay.”

  “Promise.”

  “Okay, I promise.”

  Sally started crying again. She had chosen a different destiny. If everything went well, at least Alison would be saved.

  “Alison, I don’t think I’m ever going to see you again.”

  “What?”

  “I’m trapped in this dream world,” Sally said. “I don’t know how to get out. Zelda told me I had to use the key to change my destiny, and I think I just did.”

  “Then I’ll see you again.”

  “She also said, no matter what I choose, I would lose something,” Sally said. “I chose to save you. I think that means I lose myself.”

  Tears leaked from Alison’s eyes. She looked shocked.

  “Listen to me,” Alison said. “You’re a smart girl, Sally. You can get out. I know you can figure out the answer.”

  “No, I—” Sally began, but Alison cut her off.

  “Yes, you can!” Alison barked. She was sobbing as she spoke, but she was determined to make Sally hear her. “Sally, you’re super smart. You’re a god at school stuff, you got the lead in Romeo and Juliet, and you can do all that math I can’t. I know you’re smart enough to get out of wherever you are. I want to see you again, so you keep trying. You come back to me.”

  Alison turned her head. She looked at the Sally from last Saturday night.

  “Listen, Sally, I have to go,” Alison said. Angrily, she wiped tears away from her face. “But you can do this. Remember, I believe in you. Find the way out, and come back and see me. I love you. Au revoir, cherie.”

  The mirror went dark. Sally suddenly felt more lost than she ever had.

  “No,” she cried. “Alison come back.” She beat her fists on the mirror. “Come back!”

  Then she heard another sound. It was unmistakable – the baying of dogs. She turne
d her head to look behind her. Shakir’s vicious, evil dogs appeared in a mirror some fifty feet away.

  They raced towards the edge of the glass. The lead dog leaped. The glass shattered, and the beast landed roughly on the ground in front of the frame. Its mates followed suit.

  The entire pack stood glaring at her for a moment. Each stared at her with its unholy, red eyes.

  So this was how it ended. She’d made the choice to save Alison and stay here in the dreamscape. Now Shakir and her dogs would destroy her.

  The lead dog charged. The others rushed after it. They would be upon her in seconds.

  But something changed in Sally. She stood up, but she did not run. It was not the suicidal urge of her father, thinking it was better to die than to keep going. She had not given up. She was simply tired of running. She was tired of being scared. She was fed up with the horror of this strange place, and she wasn’t willing to take it anymore. Defiantly, she faced the charging dogs.

  When they got within a few feet of her, she held up her right hand and yelled, “Stop!” at the top of her lungs. The key burned in her hand. She could feel its power coursing through her. She suddenly felt alive in a way she never had before.

  She realized something wasn’t right. She still had the key. Zelda had told her once she had used it, it would be gone. Hadn’t she used it? She’d made her choice.

  The dogs did not leap at her as they had in the past. Instead, they slowed. The lead ones skidded past her. Those in the rear of the pack pulled up short. Slowly, they surrounded her. They formed a ring so she had no possible escape, but none of them came closer.

  Behind her, she heard a slow, mocking clap. She turned. Shakir made her way around the mirror in which Sally had watched her father commit suicide. Her red cloak flowed behind her. She ceased clapping and put down her hood.

  Sally glared into Shakir’s wolfish face. The demon had red eyes like the dogs that served her. Her jaws dripped with drool. She smiled wickedly, showing Sally her teeth.

  “Very good,” Shakir said. “Very good. Now, give me the key, Sally.”

  Sally was confused. Why would Shakir demand the key? If Sally had used it already, why would Shakir want it back? Something was up.

  “No,” Sally said.

  The dogs bristled and inched closer to her. Shakir appeared amused.

  “Give me the key, Sally,” she repeated. “Give me the key, or I will have my dogs rip you to pieces and take it from your dead body.”

  Sally shivered at the thought. Despite her earlier despair, she wasn’t ready to die.

  “So?” she bluffed. “I’ve got nothing else to lose. I’m trapped here anyway. If you kill me, at least I won’t hurt anymore.”

  Shakir laughed softly. She came closer to Sally.

  “You’re very brave,” Shakir said. “That’s admirable. But it’s also foolish. You’re not trapped here.”

  She wasn’t? She could get out? If that was true, it meant she hadn’t actually altered her destiny yet. That meant the key was still useable!

  “You have choices, Sally,” Shakir said. “I can give you what you want.”

  “You don’t know what I want,” Sally spat.

  “Oh, really?” Shakir said.

  Like she had in several of Sally’s dreams, Shakir grabbed her snout and pulled her face off like it was a Halloween mask. Sally stood staring at her mother.

  “Hi, sweetie,” her mother said.

  “Mom?”

  “Yes, sweetie, it’s me. I’m so glad to see you.”

  “You are?”

  “Yes,” her mother said. “How would you like to come live with me? You wouldn’t have to cook and clean anymore. You wouldn’t have to take care of Tommy. You and Alison could go to the mall on the weekends. We could visit Grandma for the holidays. Ooh! I can come see you in Romeo and Juliet! I bet you’re going to be amazing.”

  Sally’s mouth fell open. Was this really possible?

  “I love you, Sally,” her mother said. “I’ve missed you terribly. I can’t wait to have you back in my life.”

  Sally continued to gape. She couldn’t put what she was feeling into words. Finally, she said, “This isn’t real.”

  Her mother’s head vanished in a puff of thick smoke. It swirled around her body for a moment, and then solidified. A moment later, Sally was looking at Shakir again.

  “But it could be real, Sally,” Shakir said. “If you give me the key, you can have that.”

  It was tempting. Sally wanted it badly. But what about her father? What about Tommy? She had to save them, and choosing to live with her mother wouldn’t do that.

  “No,” Sally said. “You’re evil. If you want the key, it must be wrong to give it to you.”

  “I don’t think you understand with whom you’re dealing,” Shakir growled.

  She ripped off her face again. This time, it was replaced by Molly Richards’s. Sally’s eyes widened.

  “You see,” Molly said. “I can be with you every day of your life. I can torture you just as I have been. I can make your life at Roosevelt Middle School an unending Hell. There are worse things than death, you know.”

  Sally swallowed hard. Seeing Molly brought up all the horrible memories of the assault she had endured in the bathroom. Could she really face this again? Mightn’t it be better to do as Shakir asked?

  But just as Shakir pretending to be her mother was a trick, this had to be too. Shakir was trying to scare her.

  Sally still had the key, and Shakir had said she didn’t have to remain here forever. Sally had told Alison how to stop Molly’s assault, but Sally was still here. She hadn’t actually changed her destiny at all. She hadn’t made a choice.

  Molly’s face melted and became Shakir’s again. Behind her, the image of Sally’s father in the bathtub reappeared.

  “That isn’t what you want, and neither is this,” Shakir said, sweeping her hand towards the image in the mirror.

  Sally realized what she needed to do. She’d come here to save her father, to fix everything. She still had the chance to do that.

  “You can’t win,” Shakir said. “The only thing to do is give me the key. I’ll let you live if you do.”

  Shakir’s words rang hollow. Sally didn’t think that her life for the key was a good bargain. What would she get out of that? More torture from Molly? The death of her father? Weren’t those the very things with which Shakir had just threatened her? Which was it, torture or death? Was there no other choice? This wasn’t any kind of fair trade. Shakir was offering her something valueless for something very important.

  You’re super smart, Alison had said. I know you’re smart enough to get out of wherever you are.

  So if giving Shakir the key was the wrong answer, what was the right thing to do?

  Save her father. Save Tommy. Fix it all.

  Yes. Shakir had been kneeling over Tommy and her father in her dreams. In both instances, she had their blood on her jaws. She’d been killing them.

  You’re super smart.

  “Give me the key, Sally,” Shakir growled. “Give it to me now.”

  “No,” Sally said in a calm, clear voice. “You don’t get to win.”

  Shakir signaled to her dogs. All of them leaped at Sally, their jaws wet with anticipation.

  Sally rushed past Shakir to the mirror showing her father. She gripped the key tightly, put her hand on the glass, and wished to go through it.

  “No!” Shakir howled.

  She whirled and snatched at Sally, trying to rip the key from her hand, but it was too late. Sally felt the strange pulling sensation in her stomach again. The dogs passed through her as though she were a ghost, yipping as they collided with one another. After a blast of white light, Sally stood in front of the bathroom door in her home.

  For a second, she was disoriented. Then she remembered why she was here. She turned the door handle. It was locked.

  Let me in, she thought.

  Her right hand burned. She looked and saw t
he key. A moment later, it vanished in a flash of golden light, and the doorknob turned.

  Sally flung the bathroom door open and practically charged in. Her father sat in the tub with the vodka bottle between his knees and the knife poised above his wrist.

  “Daddy, no,” Sally said. Her voice was firm but even.

  “Sally?”

  “Give me the knife, Dad,” she said, crossing the bathroom. She held out her hand.

  “Sally, I—”

  “It’s okay,” Sally said. “You don’t have to explain anything. Just give me the knife.”

  He started to cry. This was the first time he’d wept openly in front of her in a very long time. He didn’t know she’d seen him cry other times.

  “Sally, it’s better this way,” he protested.

  “No, it’s not, Daddy,” she said.

  She sank to her knees to be eye to eye with him. Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks too.

  “I love you, and I need you,” she said. “I need you here with me.”

  “I can’t even take care of you,” he shouted. “I’m a drunk and a loser.”

  Sally swallowed hard. She reached out and took hold of the vodka bottle.

  “You’re only a loser if you quit,” she said. “And you can stop being a drunk.”

  She pulled the bottle away from him. He didn’t resist. He just sat there weeping in the tub.

  “I don’t know how,” he said.

  “You start by not drinking anymore,” she said, trying not to shout. “Quit buying booze, go to AA, and get yourself some help. I’ll help if you need me to.

  “But there is nothing wrong with you that we can’t fix by getting rid of the liquor, Dad.”

  He still didn’t look at her. Tears continued to stream down his face and onto his chest.

  “You’d be better off with your mom,” he said.

  “No, we wouldn’t!” she shouted. “Mom doesn’t care about us! She didn’t just leave you, Dad; she left Tommy and me too. She never visits, she never calls, she only sends us gift cards for our birthdays when she remembers. She doesn’t want anything to do with us. She’s got her new family now, and that’s all she cares about. I would not be better off with her, and I don’t want be with anyone who doesn’t care about me.

  “Now give me that knife! I love you! You’re my daddy, and I want to keep you. We will get this fixed somehow. You’ll get sober, you’ll get a new job, and I’ll do all the cooking and cleaning I have to until we get back on our feet.”