O – Origins

O – Origins

This continues the story Back to Selat, followed by D – Darkness, F – Fox, J – Jack, and L – Lies. If you haven’t already, you may want to read them first. 

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Certain parts of Selat stand out in my memory. Granny’s house was one of them. Once I left Fox’s den, I was not to be deterred. I headed straight for Red Riding Hood’s grandmother’s cabin. It was slow going getting there. In a dark forest with nothing but my flashlight to guide me, I had to be careful where I stepped. 

As I approached the house, I could hear someone sobbing from within. I recognized the person sobbing as Granny. I pulled on the rope attached to the door, which sounded a bell inside, notifying Granny that someone was there. 

“Red! Is that you?” she called out. I could hear her rushing to the door.

Before I could answer, the door was flung open, Granny saw me and collapsed to her knees, continuing to weep. 

I helped her up and asked her, “What’s wrong? Did something happen to Red?”

“She’s gone,” Granny wept, trying to control her tears. “I don’t know where she’s gone. It had to be the book.”

I couldn’t make any sense of what Granny was talking about. I sat her down at the kitchen table and made chamomile tea for us both. Once Granny had calmed down and regained control, I asked her to tell me what had happened. 

This was her story:

“It started when you defeated Necroma and rescued all of the characters. Red was the first of those you rescued to recover. She found a book on her way back from the Island of Lorn. It was old and tattered, with strange symbols on it. Red was convinced it belonged to Necroma. Whether it had spells or other bad things in it, Red never wanted to find out. She knew that in the wrong hands, it would be dangerous. Not knowing who to trust, she decided to keep it herself.

I told her the book should be destroyed, but she insisted she would have none of that. She commented, “What if destroying the book unleashes untold evil upon Selat?” 

She kept the book buried somewhere in the woods and told no one, not even me, where it was hidden. The only thing she did was periodically check on her hiding place to make sure the book was still there. 

I’m sure the problem was that the dang wolf. He was always nosing around. He must have known Red had something special around and followed her. One day, she went out to check on the book and never returned. A few days after that, everything went dark. 

I didn’t know what to do. At first, I tried to search for her, to no avail, and then, when the darkness came, I lost hope. Since then, I have been here as you see me today, a tired old woman who has lost the one person who meant anything to her.”

After hearing the story, I added more information to Granny’s tale. I told her that Wolf had indeed gained control of the book and that he had Fox had learned how to use it enough to create all of the darkness. I didn’t tell Granny about Wolf’s comment that he and Fox had made someone disappear once before. Personally, I hoped that Red got away once the book was stolen and was in hiding to protect Granny.

I told Granny I would find out what happened to Red and save her, if possible. Granny suggested I find one of her friends and see if they’d help. Granny was determined to stay home in case Red did return. She didn’t want Red to get frightened should she come home and Granny wasn’t there.

So I left Granny there. The only friend of Red that I knew of was Goldilocks.

To be concluded in R – Rescue and Return