Save me a Story – Cottage

This is the continuing story of my adventures in the tale: Save me a Story. If you wish to read the introduction to understand what is happening, click this link: 

https://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=3431 

Otherwise, I’ve tried to summarize what happened at the beginning of most of the sections of this story.  

Cottage

This quest to find the stolen stories of Selat seemed impossible. A mystic’s quest, a ghostly town, and now a talking beaver. What strange occurrence could be next?

The beaver’s path to wherever it was going may have been simple to the beaver. However, to me, it was a series of misfortunes. If I wasn’t tripping over some root of a tree, I was having my shoes fill up with water from sloshing through nearby ponds and streams. I had no idea where I was being led, yet I knew that this was the path I needed to take. 

We finally made it to a clearing, and there in front of us was a cottage. It was rustic looking, with no apparent occupants, and the door was ajar. 

The beaver stopped before the open doorway, turned to me, and said, “You must look for clues within. I have stayed with you too long and must disappear so as not to raise suspicion. When you have found what you need, continue to your next destination, which will appear behind this cottage. With any luck, you will meet the next helper on your quest. Remember, eyes are always watching you, and not all eyes are on your side.”

The beaver immediately turned around and headed in a different direction, not the path they had taken, nor one that was supposed to be behind the cottage. I was about to ask the beaver where it was going, but before I could say a word, a voice sounded, “All in good time.” And the beaver disappeared. 

I had no choice but to enter the cottage.

The first thing I noticed was that the contents of the house looked very familiar. There was a dining room table that had three bowls on it. Two were filled with breakfast porridge, and the third was empty. 

As I moved to the living room, I saw three chairs. One was sturdy, made out of wood; a second, relatively cushy, was covered with plush upholstery; and a third, much smaller, which might have been a chair but was broken, and pieces of whatever it had been were lying scattered on the floor.  

There were stairs leading up to another floor, and I guessed what I would find there. Three beds came to mind;  a big, a medium, and a small one, with the possibility of a little girl sleeping in the small bed. I was partially correct.

In the room at the top of the stairs were the three beds, as I expected, except no one was sleeping in any of them. I discovered something that did not fit where I was. I examined the smallest bed and the room and found a lock of golden hair, which made sense as I assumed I had entered the house of the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears. However, draped across the window sill, with the window wide open, was a red hoodie, clearly in the wrong story. 

There was a note inside the right pocket of the hoodie, which read, “Gone to Granny’s. You know the way.”

As I looked out of the window facing the back of the house, I saw a shallow river that appeared to end in a wooded forest. I grabbed the red hoodie, went back outside, and walked around the house, where I found a dappled gray horse waiting for me. 

As words and music filled my head, “Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go…” it began snowing.

That song had nothing to do with stories. It was not even Thanksgiving. Then again, who knows what day it was today on Selat if they even celebrate the same holidays as we do?

I got onto the horse and said, “Lead on.”

To no surprise, it replied, “As you wish.”

Continued in…Destiny