Raynn has had a pretty normal life.

She lived with her grandma, had great friends, and rode her
bike to school every day. Despite having a normal life, Rayne was quite peculiar. She lived in
the middle of the woods. She went to school with unusual people and she wore a red hood. She
also had a weird name. Her name was Raynn Eden Danielle Hood. Even more peculiar were
her looks. She was small for her age. She was fourteen and every girl her age was at least a
foot taller. She had a small round face and big green eyes. Her eyes were olive green and her
hair was red with a tint of brown. Her nose was small and pointed and her lips were full and
pink. She had pale skin, but her cheeks were a rose color. She rode her bike every day to
school and her red hood flew. She had been small since she was a child. One day the local
carpenter called her Little Red Riding Hood. After that people started calling her that too. She
eventually started going by her initials. Red Hood.
Little red riding hood there she goes again
Riding on that bike of hers with a basket in hand
Her hood flew steadily in the gusting wind
Her face in the bright light shows
Her pink-tinted skin
Every which way she goes
Every which way lands
Everyone is looking
From her head to the basket in her hand
Fragile as glass
Pretty as a flower
All is well at this hour
Even as she passes
You can see
Her rosy pink cheeks
______________________________________________________________________
Red woke up and the sun shone from the window into her eyes. She sat there for a moment not
wanting to get up, but it wasn’t a school day so she had to go to work. She eventually got out of
her bed and got dressed. She brushed her hair and put on a blue dress. She put on her tennis
shoes and grabbed her red hood. She ran downstairs to where her grandma was.
“Hello, Red. Do you want a muffin?” she asked
“Yeah, but I’m going to have to leave in a second,” Red answered.
She ate her muffin and took another one with her for lunch. She finished talking to her
grandmother and got up to leave.
“Bye, Gram,” Red said before running out the door.
“Bye, Raynn,” her grandmother replied.
She walked swiftly out the door and got her bike next to the house. She got onto her bike and
peddled down her driveway. She tied her hood around her neck, as she tried not to fall. She
paddled so fast that she almost fell. She saw the familiar trees descending her driveway and felt
her bike rattle from the gravel. As she was riding the mud splashed everywhere. She passed the
creek and where the swan maidens lived. She eventually got to the spot where her friend Ryder
was.
“Hey, Red!” he exclaimed
“Hey,” Red replied.
“You going to work today?” he asked
“Yes,”
“Guess what,” he said, pulling out something.
“What?” I asked, annoyed.
“The old baker gave me a job,” he said, pulling out an apron.
“Funny,”
“No, he actually did,” Ryder said persuasively.
“So, he really did. That’s surprising. Considering you’re the most irresponsible human being
alive.” Red answered.
“That’s true, but that’s all going to go away when I start this job. I will become the most
RESPONSIBLE human being on Earth,” he said proudly with a smile.
“Well don’t get your hopes up, that doesn’t happen overnight,”
“How do you know, maybe the universe will make an exception for me,” he said with another
proud smile and Red rolled her eyes.
“You know what I think. I think you are definitely delusional. D-E-L-U-S-I-O-N-A-L, delusional,” I
responded with a smile.
“No, I’m not,” he said and we both laughed.
“We have to get to work now,” Red said.
He looked a little disappointed that we couldn’t stand and talk all day. We hopped on our bikes
and started to peddle. Red started to peddle very rapidly.
“Race you,” Red said, smiling at him while starting to pedal faster.
We were both going so fast that we were surprised when we got to the bakery.
“Beat you!” Red yelled while laughing.
“That’s not fair you always win,” he said, faking being sad.
“I missed you,” she said, parking her bike next to the building.
“I did too, I was on that trip forever,” he said and they both embraced each other. It was nice to
have her best friend back after three months. They let go of each other after Red had tears
running down her eyes.
Red wiped the tears off her face and walked into the bakery. The bakery wasn’t really a bakery.
Everyone just called it that because the baker owned it. It was more like a diner.
“Hey Thomas, what can I do,” she asked the baker, tying her hood around her waist and putting
on her apron.
“You can put these plates up…then go to table six,” Thomas replied.
At table six, there was someone Red had never seen at the diner or anywhere in town. She
walked to the table and there was a man. He looked about sixteen. He was super muscular and
had dark hair. He was wearing leather pants and a tank top. He had on thick black boots. She
surely had never seen him before. She would have known. She walked up to him grabbing her
notebook.
“I’m Red, what can I get you today?” Red asked.
“Uh, I don’t know, let me look at the menu,” the man replied in a deep raspy voice.
He thought for a minute and he looked through the menu.
“How about a sausage biscuit and some coffee,” he said smiling. His smile was almost haunting,
but not in a bad way.
“With creamer or not,” she asked.
“Black, please,” he replied.
“I’ll be back with you in a moment,” Red said with a smile.
Red walked toward the counter in front of the diner’s kitchen. She ripped out the page and
handed it to one of the cooks. In the back, she could see Ryder. He looked like he was scared. I
would be too if I was being trained by Marlene. Marlene was a dwarf in fact a rather mean
dwarf. She grabbed the sausage biscuit and the coffee and walked toward him.
“Here is your sausage biscuit and coffee,” she said, sitting it down.
“Red,” he said slowly in an airy voice.
“Yeah,” she said looking at him.
“That’s an unusual name. Is it short for something?” he asked looking at the red hood.
“Yeah, it's what my initials spell,” she replied.
“I thought it was short for Little Red Riding Hood,” he said with a grin that shot chills down her
spine.
Fear shot through her.
How did he know? She had never seen him before in her life. Maybe he did know her or
somebody told him. Either way, something was going on. Something weird. She wasn’t going to
wait around for it or was she?
“Good guess, but no,”
“Darn, I was hoping I was right,” he said in his normal voice.
“Well I gotta go,” Red said.
She walked back towards the counter where Ryder was. He looked at me with a sort of
empathy. He seemed to know what happened.
“Who was that?” He asked, raising his brown eyebrows.
“Some new customer,” She responded with a sigh.
“Doesn’t look like it,” he said with an irritated tone and leaned over the counter.
“Really he is,” She said looking him in the eyes.
“You seem off,” he said and looked at me with empathy.
:” I’m fine,” Red answered.
Red’s shift ended a couple of hours later. She ate lunch and then stayed to talk to the other
people.
“Bye, Thomas I’m leaving,” she said to the baker.
“Goodbye, Have a safe journey home,” he said
Red headed to the door, but someone grabbed her arm. She looked behind her and it was
Ryder he looked her in the eye.
“Are you sure you’re fine? That customer really seemed to scare you and ever since he left you
have been fidgety,” he asked. For the first time since this morning, I realized how different he
looked. He no longer was small and skinny. He was now much more muscular and seemed to
have grown a few inches. His light blonde hair was now a dirty blonde and his face looked older.
The only thing that stayed the same was his eyes. His brown eyes were still chocolate brown.
“I’m fine,”
“Okay stay safe,” he said and embraced me. His hug was very tight. He let go after a few
moments.
“See you later,” I said as he walked off.
I walked out the door. The air had a wood smell to it like something was being burnt. The sky
wasn’t quite dark blue or light blue because it was the middle of the day. She walked to the front
of the building and noticed something. It was that guy from the bakery. He was standing in front
of the building.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” she asked, and the man turned around surprised.
“I was going to each lunch her,” he responded in a mutual voice.
“Why not anymore?” she asked with a slight laugh.
“I don’t feel like it anymore,”
“Oh,”
“People told me. People talk you know,” he said.
“About what?” she asked.
“That’s how I knew about Little Red Riding Hood. I wasn’t stalking you if that’s what you
thought,” he said.
“Oh, you had me scared for a second,”
“I would be too,” he said smiling.
“How did you know it was me though?” he asked.
“Well let’s see. You have red hair, blue eyes, and are very pale. Oh let’s not forget that you were
a red hood. What’s not peculiar about that,” he said sarcastically.
“I guess your right. I do look a little peculiar,”
“A little,” he said raising his eyebrows.
“Okay maybe a lot,” She said laughing.
“You think,” he said with a lingering laugh.
“What’s your name?” She asked with curiosity.
“Fenrir, or just Fen,” he said.
“What were you doing, when I walked over here?” she asked.
“I was observing the environment,” he responded with certainty.
Red was confused.
He saw my look and said, “‘ Let me show you.” he grabbed her hands and put them over my
eyes.
“Now listen,” he said.
“Okay,” she said taking a deep breath.
“What do you hear?” he said next to my ear in his deep voice.
“A bird singing, footsteps, and someone talking,” she replied.
“See, if you practice a little more you can find out exactly what’s going on around you,” he said
encouraging me.
“I will,” Red said.
“Bye,” he said and looked into my eyes.
“See you later, “ she said then looked away.
“Your blushing,” he said smiling.
“Whatever,”