Red had grown up going to church each week. Her mother had always told her that the church was the pillar of the community, and that every time her family attended, their bond with the Lord grew stronger. The very last time she stepped foot in that church, she wore a plain dark dress and a pair of new black shoes with pointed toes. Her aunts and uncles and cousins all gathered in the church lobby, where they stood around with empty looks on their faces, speaking very little. There was a photo of Red’s grandmother sitting next to a beautiful bouquet near the altar. She was twenty-three years old in the photo, ten years older than Red was now. There was a stillness in the building, a complete absence of happiness, which Red had never felt anywhere before in her life.

After the funeral, they moved to the city. Red didn’t like it at all. Brady was still young, and he hadn't known any other life, but she was sure that if her brother remembered, he would yearn for the wilderness just as much as she did.

In her earliest memories, she stood on the hill near the house and looked out at the fields surrounding her family’s property, which in the distance looked perfect as a painting. She’d heard a growl behind her, and when she’d turned, a large shadow ducked behind the bushes at the edge of the woods.

“That’s the wolf,” her grandmother explained to her, when she’d told her about it. “He’s been looking for me for some time now.”

She had seen a flicker of silver fur, now that she thought of it.

“Don’t worry about him,” her grandmother reassured her, “He’s not like most wolves; in fact, there are many creatures in these woods like him. They may take the shape of animals, but they’re not. They’re something else, something you and I cannot fully understand. As long as you leave them be, they’ll behave.”

Red’s mother later scolded her for encouraging such “childish beliefs” in her grandchildren. Red had heard it from the top of the stairs, when she’d supposed to be in bed.

For nearly a decade, the wolf pursued them. Red caught glimpses of him often, moving just quickly enough to appear in the corner of her eye, but disappearing when she turned to take a closer look. At night, she sometimes heard his chilling, mournful howling. Then, in the months before her grandmother left her, he began to haunt Red’s dreams.

“I am coming, so you’d better prepare.”

“I take whom I please, and I devour them whole”

“I am coming, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“I am getting closer.”

“Now closer.”

“Closer…”

----

Now, in the city, they went to the public school. The children left every day shortly after dawn, while the sky was still muddy with color. Red was usually awake by then, for she had slept very little since her grandmother had left. She enjoyed being the first one awake. There was something therapeutic about the silence of the morning, before everyone else's workday began. When her alarm went off, she crossed the hall and woke Brady. They ate breakfast, then bid goodbye to their parents as they exited the house and began the fifteen minute walk to school.

It had rained overnight, and Brady was extremely interested in the muddy puddles that had been left behind. After fetching him a few times, Red became extremely frustrated with her brother, and she turned to him with hands on her hips.

“If you don’t stop, I’ll leave you behind.”

Brady took a particularly heavy stomp into the puddle, ignoring her completely.

Red sighed. “All right, then. I’m leaving you. Goodbye.” She turned and took a few steps forward, hoping that it would scare Brady into following her.

The narrow city pavement suddenly opened on itself as Red attempted to cross the street. She tried to keep her balance on the trembling earth as the cobblestone bricks fell on top of one another and into the quickly growing hole in the road.

The quaking stopped abruptly, and she finally fell to her knees. She looked around, startled, but everyone seemed to have disappeared, even Brady.  Slowly, afraid it would happen again, she stood.

Her grandmother had often told her about people having magical experiences, that one could be whisked away into an adventure at any moment. At once she decided that this must be what was happening to her, and she couldn’t let this opportunity pass her by.

Red began her descent. The fallen pavement provided an easy entrance into the hole, and she found the bottom about ten feet below the street level. The floor was as smooth and level as marble, and a dark, damp tunnel extended out before her. More light disappeared the further she drew from the entrance. After a while Red couldn't see her hands. It all seemed very unnatural, and it left her feeling uneasy. She had craved an adventure ever since they’d moved here, but she wasn't sure this was exactly what she’d been thinking of.

After a while the tunnel started to lighten again, and she eventually came to the end of it. She was surprised to see the familiar green hills and old, twisted trees of home, back in the country. Red was back on her porch, the place she considered her true home.

At once she turned in the direction of her grandmother’s house, which was a short walk away, down a small, wooded path. There was smoke coming from the chimney. Red felt her heart rise into her throat. She’s there? Grandmother is home?

She took flight across the forest, as fast as her small feet could carry her.

Red pounded on the door. “Grandmother? Grandmother, are you there? It’s me!”

There was a moment of silence. “She’s not supposed to be here yet,” a gruff voice came from inside the house. Then, the door creaked open.

The wolf’s enormous, silver snout appeared first. He pushed open the door with a massive, clawed hand and stared down at the girl in bewilderment. He towered over her, his long, bristly silver fur making him appear even more massive than he was; but Red, overcome with joy at the thought of speaking to her grandmother, was blinded to his terrifying presence.

“Oh, grandmother, I knew I’d see you again!”

The wolf’s brow creased in confusion. Then, he pushed the door open wider. “Come in,” he invited her.

Red trotted happily into the familiar room. She’d played on this carpet as an infant, sat at this table during every family gathering. Long summer days had been spent in the kitchen mixing sweet tea, and special overnights had been spent on this couch. The house was small, but it was filled with the happy memories of a close knit family. Everything was in place, but something felt different. Strange.

Red turned to the wolf. “This is a magical experience, isn’t it, grandmother?”

“It is,” the wolf confirmed. He was standing still in the middle of the room, watching her.

“It that why you seem so much… taller?”

The wolf took a step towards her. “Listen, my dear, I think there’s been some sort of a mistake. You see, this isn’t your grandmother’s house, and I am not your grandmother.”

Red laughed. “If you’re not my grandmother, then who could you possibly be?”

“I think you know,” the wolf replied.

Red blinked, and all at once, she realized that her eyes had fooled her. She cried out in fear and cowered into the corner of the room. “What have you done with her?”

“I’ve done what I must. Are we finished here?”

“No, not until you show me where she is. Where is she?”

“You and I both know that your grandmother isn’t here. Now, if you don’t leave, then I’ll be forced to devour you; and since it isn’t your time yet, you’ll just have to face me again. Pass by me, and don’t waste my time.”  

In a burst of courage, Red stood tall. “You’re lying. Bring my grandmother and show her to me at once. I won’t move from this spot until I see her again!”

“Very well,” replied the wolf. He leaned forward, took her in his jaws, and ate her up.

----

All at once, Red found herself at the entrance of the woods once again. Any brief confusion she had about when or how she’d gotten there, was quickly drowned by a horrifying realization.

It was him. He killed her!  

The cottage in the distance looked innocent from the outside, but Red knew he was still there. The thought of it made Red grow hot, and she gripped her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her skin and reached blood. She had never felt rage before, at least not like this. She had never felt an anger so consuming that it reached from her toes to her fingertips to the tip of her head. Anger enough to cause her entire body to tremble in fury. Enough to cause a young girl to do something she might later regret.

Halfway down the path, Red began to notice that the woods to the right of her seemed thin, and she realized many of the trees in this area had been cut down. A woodcutter must live here. Sure enough, it wasn't long before she reached his shack. It was small and humble, and there were logs piled all around it. A little away from the shack's door stood an especially large stump. Wedged in the middle of it was a good-sized axe. Red thought it looked too heavy for her to carry, and yet she couldn’t shake the need to have it.

Take me…

She grabbed hold of the handle and placed her foot on the stump to brace herself.

Take me…

She managed to pry the axe from the wood.

Use me.

----

The wolf was still standing in the front room when Red opened the door to the cottage and entered, boldly. “You can’t trick me this time,” Red told him directly.

The wolf’s sharp teeth emerged in a grin. “Trick you? Now why would I do a thing like that?”

“You killed my grandmother. How dare you. You killed her, disguised yourself as her, and made a fool out of me.”

 The wolf’s eyes widened as she revealed the axe. He moved forward to stop her, and she felt one of his paws find her shoulder. His sharp claws dug into her flesh. With a reflex, she tried to push him away, and the blade hit him squarely in the chest. The wolf screamed and Red felt hot blood hit her arms and chest as the wolf's body crumpled away from her to the ground. Something devious was rushing through her, now, and she suddenly gained the strength to lift the axe above her head and bring it down squarely upon the wolf’s neck. Then, her arms gave into the weight, and she fell backward, dropping it with a clang in front of her.

The wolf’s head made a wet thud as it hit the ground, blood spattering all across her grandmother’s furniture. Red stared at it for a moment, her mind trying to grapple with what she’d just done. Then, the wolf's eye shifted towards her.

Red cried out in agony. “Surely, you must be dead!”

“An axe cannot kill me, for I cannot die. The answer lies past me.” The head replied.

“You aren’t mortal. Are you God?” Red asked. “You couldn’t be. You must be the devil, because only the most evil being would have taken a woman as good and godly as my grandmother away from me.” 

The wolf laughed. “I'm neither. It was simply her time. Everyone reaches their time, no matter how good or bad they chose to live their lives. All paths lead here.” 

Then the head slithered towards her, and his teeth wrapped around her ankles. From her feet to her head, she disappeared into the wolf's mouth again.