the little black riding hood and the wolf

the little black riding hood and the wolf(Amy Zhu) She plods upon the flooding ground,
Yet none could see her knitted frown
For there lay her ginger hair that danced in the rain,
Was a dripping black hood
Her eyes were red, or green or blue?
For different people had different views.
The thin quivering line above her chin,
Was vaguely curled into a miserable grin

A shivering petite silhouette, treading in the downpour
Her feelings singing out to the earth
The sound, the beat of the rain
With the freeze of her heart
Her path had led her to the forest;
Beckoning to her
Despite the rain, she could still hear
A song that was calling out to her
The same melody that lured her in, every time
A melody for her.

The time she was lost in the woods, was her first
The next few, she chose to be
Take the wrong route, something had told her
Was it the melody? Or her rebellious thirst?
And she flew,
Involuntarily into a twisted tale
She was fearless, she did not care
The woods protected her, the woods had cared

The black coat and hood draped over her
Hardly protecting her from the cold
She swept through the woods
Trenched through the puddles
Her movements danced with flow
As though a raven swift in sky
In the crying sky

She followed the tune through the maze
Past the vines and through the weeds
Wavered skilfully through the trees
Away the branches and the leaves
Ignoring the chill
Never had she had problems locating the melody
That only she could hear
The song that belonged to her

The music was louder, as she drew closer
She closed her eyes and followed the voice
Low gentle peaceful
With a twinge of sadness
The voice swept her mind from the cold
Leaving her with only numb joy
So what of the dark eyes?

The voice was near
And both had stopped
For he had heard her so he had stopped.
The melody lingered in the woods
Slowly fading into the song of the rain
Sensing their presence, forest halt
As they stared at the two
Him and the hooded girl.

Their minds swirled
For both had read the book
Feelings were hollowed out
He hid behind the tree
She pretended not to know, not to notice
But only resting at the tree innocently
The same old tree

Both sat in the rain, both oblivious to the rain
The black hood had fallen off
The girl’s hair was plastered onto her cheeks
Rain, not tears
Very convincing
The sky thundered and they wondered
What fate was drawing at

They should not talk
They would not talk
For their meeting signals the end
Why do they have to be what they are?
The little red riding hood and the big bad wolf
How she desperately tried to change
The tragic, the unfair
Of the ending

She tried not to be the red ridding hood
And he obviously was not the bad wolf
The claws were still there
But in the hooded girl’s imagination
He was but another boy
A boy with grey strings over his dark black hair
The boy who had protected her discreetly
The day she was lost in the woods
It was the wrong fairytale story

Yet
At the corner of her eye
The girl could not lie
At the shadow she saw
Distorted images folded into a menacing wolf
But was not her wolf
For the wolf that she knew
Had saved her
From the dangers in the forest

Her hair was still flaming ginger
A bright red fleeing creature
Was what that caught his attention
What that started the miserable tale
The beginning of a twisted love
The end of the big bad wolf
The start of a rebel
Of the little black ridding hood

The rain kept pelting down
Pelting at the unfair fairytale
At either side of the tree, they sat
Silence swallowing into the darkness
Dragging them along
Fate had tormented them

He knew he had to die
He knew how he died
He had not spoken to her yet
For if he did, he would not later
Fate could not be changed
Enjoying her presence in silence
Like a coward
She was still sitting there in the rain
He did not like her suffer
For him

Fate could not be changed,
But surrendered to
They were only a pathetic story for the indifferent world
Written down with the aid of fate
Who thought that they had no feelings, no life
Bounded to the way they died
There was no escaping
Only accepting

Her lips were chewed
Rain, not tears
She was no longer convinced
The cold was chilling her bones
Her head was screaming
She lay back for support
And felt something soft
The fur of an animal?
The arms of a boy?
Her eyelids met and like the wolf
They treasured that moment
In agony

When her eyes fluttered open
She was back where she begun
By the side of her bed, the book of his life
It was short
It was just a fairytale
The title of the book is her name
And by pure cruelty, both had read the story
The day they had first met
Anger, fury, rage
Injustice, cruelty, sadistic
Something hit the girl’s chest painfully
The floor was decorated with shredded pieces of paper
In seconds
Sorrow arrived later
To help rip her willowing soul

The book’s ending was torn
She would write it herself
Stop the ending song
The girl snatched a quill
And froze
The ink blotched the page
No one was suppose to decide fate
Fate has her own way of thinking
But so does she,
The little black ridding hood

The wolf sang to himself sorrowfully
As he awaited his death
Love, despair, anger, longing
All mixed into that simple melody
He would meet her one more time
Meet her grace, her laugh, her innocence
Her hood, her eyes, her hair
Her beautiful, ever so beautiful singing voice
Only for the last time

He sensed her presence before she heard it
He saw her lovely smile
That brought ever-lasting peace to the mind
Forced himself to play the act
Through his strangled throat
He tried to speak
Follow fate, allow fate
For he knew what happened next
Till he saw that tiny glint in the girl’s fiery eyes

In that split second, he understood
He understood and knew
Before he saw
Before he saw the book
With the ending missing
Before he saw the paper and quill
That he could record his life
While the ending
Not before
Like a journal
Something fair

The rain had long stopped
But the clouds finally parted
Filtering the sun rays
Shinning at the fairytale
The uncompleted fairytale
As the little black ridding hood ran away with the wolf
Singing the song with the newly added melody
Hope.



The end!