I never thought the forest could be so dangerous. I always thought it was a place of wonder, a place where I could find peace, a place where imagination knows no bounds. Sadly, I've discovered what the forest can be. Everything happened all too fast, I couldn't hardly comprehend what was going on. It seemed to me that the more I thought about the less I could remember. Thankfully I remember everything. Lucky you.
The day started like any other. My mother in the kitchen preparing something that smelled oh so delicious and I, Sarah Lee, dressed and ready to "deliver the goods". I'd found out earlier that day that my grandmother had fallen ill and couldn't get out of bed. Personally, I was pleased with this information, I never liked my grandma, she never showed any concern when I was hurt, she never showed any love when she came to visit. All she ever harped on and on about was that I wouldn't take off my crimson red, cloak. Grandma would say, "Why don't you tell her to get rid of that thing? It's filthy! And why red? Blue is a much better color." always just about the same thing every time. Red's my favorite color, if you didn't know by now, and for her to even think she was going to take my cloak away was reason enough to put on my execution list.
So as mom was baking her legendary apple pie and famous sweet bread, I prepared myself for the verbal accusations and  I would soon receive from "grandmamma", I didn't want to kill her right off the bat. I wanted her to suffer. She doesn't deserve a quick death. Besides, mom still loves her, she is her mom after all. So I'll wait until grandma finally strikes mom's last nerve then, and only then, will I launch an all out attack on the conniving witch.
Anyway, back to the story. Mom had sent me to deliver my grandma some "get-well goodies". They smelled so good, I almost devoured them myself. I'm glad I didn't too. To show up at the witch's doorstep and have nothing to offer was a dangerous move. You wouldn't stop hearing about it until the cows came home. So I covered them with a cloth to help block the glorious scents from reaching my sensitive nose. Best not tempt the already tempted.
Taking my time getting down to the path to grandma's house, I noticed how beautiful all the forest looked, how absolutely amazing the scenery was and continued to be. All the way down the path it was spectacular to my gaze. That's when I heard the ear-splitting, blood curdling howl ripping through me like bullet through rice paper. It was too contrasting from the calmness of the rest of the forest, I instantly froze, afraid to even breathe. All I could think of at the moment, all I could even picture in my mind's eye was....a wolf.
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I'd heard many stories and tales from my mom. Ones where people had been ripped limb from limb, eaten until there was nothing left but bone, and little children torn to shreds. At first they terrified me, sent me shuddering to my very core. I used to be so scared that I wouldn't even sleep in a room with a window.

"What's wrong Sarah?" my mom asked, concern and grogginess filled her words.
"He's watching me!" I nearly shrieked, still shaking uncontrollably from what I'd seen.
"Who's watching you?" she asked, this time sounding a little frightened herself. Probably thinking there was a peeping tom wandering around some where.
"The wolf! He was staring at me with big teeth and he looked like he was going to eat me! His teeth were really sharp and scary." That's when I started to cry. I couldn't help it. I was only 6 or 7 yrs old. How else do you expect a child to react? Run over and give the thing a giant hug and hope it doesn't slurp me up like a handful of berries!
Not only did I start to cry, but that's when my mom really freaked out and woke my dad. He got up and ran for his gun, a huge one at that, probably bigger than I was at the time. As soon as he had the gun he bolted outside and tried looking for the beast. It turns out it was a wolf, a fairly large one as dad tells us, and he shot at it, but he never got it. Do you want to know why? Are you sure? The reason why he didn't get the wolf was because.....the wolf got him.
The thing had slipped out of his sights when he fired his third round and flitted behind him without him hearing it. He didn't even smell it until it was too late. I didn't actually see it get him. That's just what mom said she saw. The worst part was that, she couldn't do anything, but watch. She had to protect me and had shut and locked the door behind her so it couldn't get to me. I was so scared that it was going to eat her, I couldn't stop crying. But, then I heard my dad scream to high heaven, and that's when I shrieked like no other. I was banging on the door to let me out, to let me help him. Mom wouldn't open the door, she told me to go hide but I didn't. I stayed they until she came back in and hugged me in an almost crushing grip. She was so scared that another one had gotten in the house and was after me. She didn't know I was the one trying to get out there to help them. I know I was only a little kid but I still wanted to help. She was shaking very badly now. Frozen with fear and grief, we didn't budge for what seemed like an eternity. It wasn't until nearly dawn that Mom finally stirred. She put me to sleep in my room and she lay down next to me, cuddling. I don’t think either of us wanted to be alone after what happened. We slept for the whole day it seemed. Not caring if we missed someone at the door or if we had gotten mail. We just stayed inside for an unfathomable amount of time.
Now-a-days we're doing better; mom and I don't really talk about dad anymore. It's till too painful to talk about. But, I've lost my fear of wolves, I'm not frightened anymore. It's actually turned into a kind of passion for me. I can't stop looking up old tales and stories by other families in books at the library. I turned a phobia of wolves into an obsession. I guess you could say that I love them. (And to be completely honest, I now realize how much I didn't really care for dad. I found out he was rather abusive and mom was crying and shaking because she knew that we were free from his tyranny.)