Tales For A Darkened Mind

I wrote this for anyone who’s ever related to the darkness we all have inside. Carry on, refuse to live on the sidelines of life. Live while you can my friends.

Walking Under the Wolf

A twist on the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood

The woods always seemed like a slow paced environment. Food never seemed to be scarce and I was a king. All the creatures were afraid of me, of course who wouldn’t be. Standing on my hind legs I’m almost as tall as a man creature. I’ve seen my reflection in the eyes of my prey. The fear there is something that can’t be faked. The little rabbits scamper when they hear me coming. I watch as they try to hide, all the woodland creatures do but, I’m too quick. When I run my legs carry me faster than flying birds. I am dominant over every part of the woods, well I was.

I’m not sure when it happened but, food became scarce. The woods began to become less and less. These strange structured things began to pop up throughout my woods. With these squared structures came the man creatures. I’ve only seen them a few times but, now they seem to be popping up all throughout the woods. With the trees disappearing so does my food. What is a wolf supposed to do when strange creatures eliminate all food sources? Those darned man creatures scared off all of the animals. Even worse now all the wolves have been at each other’s throats. It won’t be long until they start eating one another I believe. I was not planning to become someone’s meal. After all I was the king of these woods.

I wasn’t sure what to do about losing food. I traveled all throughout my woods looking for a good hunting ground. I just couldn’t find one and whenever I thought I had it would become populated with the things I came to know as men. They were constantly walking through my woods. What was worse is they had no care for me or my home. They were filthy beings, always leaving things lay about. The young men beings were the worse. They would run through my home, making a complete mess of things. They had absolutely no regard for me or the woods around me. I understood why all the prey had ran off. These filthy men were ruining our homes. Time after time I just ignored what was going on. There didn’t seem to be anything I could do. My temper just flared and flared as the men continued to invade. It got to the point where the woods were so tiny I was the only wolf left. What is a king without subjects to boss around?

I couldn’t take it anymore; something needed to be done about these evil beings. They intruded upon my home, scared away my food, and left me with nothing. I would have my revenge no matter what. That’s when my plan came into action. I began observing the young beings more frequently. Since I was the only wolf around they didn’t seem very frightened to be in the woods. Little did they know I was behind the scenes plotting how to take them out? It started as a way to scare them. I was walking sneakily behind the trees as a little man walked down a path. I was quiet and stealthy; the little man didn’t suspect anything.

I decided to put the plan in action. I threw a pretty stone onto the path just before the little man passed. They seemed attracted to shiny things. Of course the evil little thing stopped to look at the stone. That’s when I swooped in. I was just going to take him and observe him and try to explain. It seemed he couldn’t understand a word I was saying. He tried to fight his way from me but, I was not letting him escaped. As we struggled he kicked me in my snout. That really hurt and before I knew what I was doing I bit him. Instinct just took over. My teeth slid easily through his light skin, and the liquid that flowed didn’t taste awful. That’s when the idea sprang into my noggin. I could eat the evil man beings. They could become my new source of food. It was easy to chew through the little wretch. I ate all of him slowly until I was gnawing on the bone. Who knew something so disgusting could taste so delicious.

After the first little man I didn’t need to eat for a while. My stomach felt full and content. My mind would race on how easy it was. I heard murmurs from the grown beings that they were worried about the missing boy. As of now nothing was going to be done about it though. So what if they did decide to do something, I am king of these woods after all and a mighty wolf. No one will ever defy me again. I lolled about in the woods relaxing until my stomach began to feel hungry again. I knew I would have to go on the hunt again soon.

At first, I thought I would feel wrong about eating more of those men. Then I began to remember my destroyed home. They deserved what was coming to them. They took everything from me. I almost wasted away because they scared off all my food. So they will have to suffice as a new food source for now. An older man being had wandered from the trail to gather some herbs. He would be my next meal. Or so I thought.

I approached the man with the stealthy ease I had approached the younger man with. The man turned and I wasn’t fast enough to hide. The man’s eyes went wide and he grabbed a stick. He began shoving it at me. I turned and ran. It wasn’t worth being poked with a sharp stick. Hiding behind trees I watched to see what the man did next. He simply went back to picking his herbs. I thought for sure he would have run off telling everyone of his encounter with me. Nothing though, he just went about his business. This left me unsettled and with an empty stomach.

I wasn’t going to get the strange man that was clear. I went wandering off to see if anyone else happened to be in the woods. I hadn’t had much luck. I continued on my search listening to my grumbling stomach. I was going to give up when I heard the pitter patter of small feet. Sneakily I hid behind the underbrush. Across the path was a little man in a pant suit. This being had long black hair and seemed to be different than the other beings I had seen. The voice of this little being was so sweet it made my mouth water. The little being just kept walking she had no idea I was stalking her.

The little girl continued down the path as I hid behind the trees. I followed close behind; I wanted to see if I could get close enough to have a bite. Suddenly I had an idea. I quickly gathered some flowers and laid them in a trail going off the path. Just as I hoped the little one followed the trail of flowers. She wandered deeper into the woods until she came to the meadow. My plan was almost ruined when I heard her talking to someone. Of course the herb man just had to still be there. I overheard their little conversation. Where are you heading little one? asked the man. Just off to grandma’s to give her this basket of food. Why are you so far off the path then? Oh I saw these lovely flowers and I just had to gather them for grandma. What a coincidence I just happen to be gathering these herbs for your grandmother. You should get back on the trail little one, it’s not very safe this far out into the woods. Oh I will Mr. Herb; I just wanted to gather some flowers and then back on the path I go. The little girl started gathering her flowers and skipped her way back to the trail. I had an even more brilliant idea then before.

This plan was just so perfect it had to work. I quickly headed further into the woods. I stumbled upon a quaint little cottage. On a mailbox it said Red’s cottage. This had to be the little girl’s grandmother’s home. I sniffed the place out, searching for a way in. I saw an entrance to the cellar on the outside. Luckily for me it was big enough for me to wiggle through. Once in the cellar I crept up into the house. I searched all over but there was no one around. I was so disappointed. I thought I would have a meal out of the little one’s grandmother but it seemed easy prey was not on the agenda today. I found a note from the grandmother saying she ran out for some tea. Well since I couldn’t have grandmother, I would settle for the little one. I pulled on a night cap to cover my ears and curled into the blankets, waiting for my prey to show.

A little while later there was a knock on the door. Grandmother are you there? It’s me little Red, I brought some food and flowers for you. I had to think quickly, I let out a cough to let her know someone was home. Thankfully she heard and decided that was enough to come in. The little girl was certainly naïve. She came right into the bedroom without giving it a second thought. Grandmother you look awful. You’re growing hair everywhere. When did your eyes get that big, or your ears for that matter? I knew I would have to act quickly before she would get frightened and start screaming. I nudged the bed showing her to sit. As little children should, she listened and sat obediently. That’s when I took the leap. I thought I had her but she moved way too fast. I was not used to my prey getting away.

Around the house we tussled. I was determined to eat her. After all, her species owed me for destroying my home. As we ran through the house there was a commotion at the door. I quickly hid behind a curtain. I didn’t need anyone seeing me. Of course grandmother just had to come home now. Well more food for my stomach. I wasn’t giving the child a chance to explain. I leapt out at them and lunged. I almost had them but the child pushed grandmother out of the way and slammed the door on my tail. I was caught.

I tried my best to pull away but there was a big part of my tail slammed between the big door and the frame. I was trapped. I began to panic, there was no escape. I heard a commotion as grandmother and little red came from the cellar entrance. Approaching from the other side was a big man. In his hand was a tool I saw the men use on trees. This was it, my reign as king was over. I saw my reflection in a puddle, the fear I used to see in my prey’s eyes stared back at me. Looking death in the eye I knew revenge just wasn’t worth it.

Naïve Little Gremlins

A twist on Hansel and Gretel

The woods were such a lovely little place. There was no where better to build my little home. It was out of the way from society and I really didn’t expect many visitors. This was the perfect way to recover from my problem. As long as people stayed away I could avoid the temptation. I would prove my mother wrong. I Margarita Cherry would not be a cannibalistic witch like the rest of my family. There had to be a way to not eat other people.

So there I was building my home out in the middle of nowhere. Trying to cure an abnormal addiction I’ve been taught since birth. Growing up eating other people was natural. My mother did it, my grandmother did, and many before them did. I wasn’t sure who I was to question this tradition but, I had to try. No matter how good people taste I needed to stop this evil thing from continuing.

Being a witch made it easy to build a home from scratch. Of course it helped that I was building my home out of my favorite things. The base would be gingerbread my favorite kind of cookie. The house had all the ingredients to make a happy home; licorice for the siding, icing to add color, and gumdrops for planters. There even were little colorful sprinkles just to give it the wow factor. A candy house should be the perfect way to help cure my abnormal addiction. Sweets are my second favorite food so why not surround myself with them.

At least I thought a candy house would help. I was wrong though. As I secluded myself off in the woods I began to miss human interaction. I just wanted to be close to someone again. I began to think maybe I had been away long enough that I wouldn’t crave human flesh.  As fate would have