Shivering in the cold, I tuck myself under the sleeping bag. It was a very light one so the horse doesn't exhaust too easily. I didn't expect it to be dark so quickly. I've barely even gotten a quarter ways through the forest.
It took a long time to finally get the fire going and I eventually quit. That's how I came to be laying on the hard ground, with no warmth around me except for the covering of the sleeping bag which felt cold in the dark night.
I can hear the sounds of animals and critters scuttling over the earth's crust from where I lay. I feel something crawling on my leg and try to stay calm. The sleeping bag moves slightly and I freeze up. Something is under it and I'm not sure how to react to it.
I wonder how it even got under there? It didn't matter much after that because the thing, whatever it was, jumped out and landed beside me with a light thump before skittering away. It was something close to a squirrel or chipmunk.
Afraid out of my mind, I sit up and bring out the journal I got along with the pen with a replaceable ink tube.
Writing is the only comfort I have right now. Shivering, I write a fairy tail from the real works about a girl in a red hood skipping through the woods to bring treats to her granny. A good bedtime story may just be exactly what I need.
"Once upon a time..." I whisper the words of the story. I wrote of the wolf taking granny's form and when red riding hood realizes what's happened, she's running through the trees, the wolf right behind her.
The pen slides against the paper with a satisfying grace. The quickness with which I write forces my hand to pause. I'm writing forcefully on the paper and it's hurting my hand. I touch the ink and it smears.
Suddenly the ink looks red and I glance at it closely. No, it can't be. It really does look red. I look up, feeling a presence above me. A girl runs through the forest, limping and behind her is a feral growling.
Shivers scatter up my spine and sink deep into my bones. The girl wears a red cape, black shirt, red pants and black boots. Her hair is a dark black with a creamy headband. Her eyes are a magical golden color and her skin is bronze. She's breathing hard and still running toward me.
She grabs me up by my arm, this girl that looks about my age in this world and lifts me up. "C'mon," her subtly angelic voice rushes me. She grabs up my sleeping bag and shoves it in the horse's bag. The horse neighs its disapproval at being so fiercely awaken and the girl hops on the horse. "C'mon," she says again, reaching out her hand. I don't know what it is that makes me grab her hand and lift myself up on the horse, but I do it. The journal in my back pocket threatens to fall, so I hold it in my hand. This is so crazy.
We ride through the trunks of the trees and low branches attack my face. Surely this isn't because I wrote the story, right? I can't control the events of the book from inside it, can I?
"What are we running from?" I yell over the unsteady crunching of the horse's feet on the ground.
"The wolf." She mutters and I think I only hear it because it carries itself along with the wind. This really is because I wrote in that journal. Maybe it's just the journal. It was from a magic item shop after all. But it looks so normal, and it was so cheap. How could a journal that has that kind of power be so cheap? Did the seller not know the worth of it? Or is this the reason the mirror broke? Did it break because my power is to change and add things to this world as it's creator? If so, what are my limitations?
The wolf gains on us, ripping down the branches in his way. Red riding hood lets out a scream and I can't help but do the same. Red riding hood yells in my direction; "Do you have a weapon?!"
"Yes!" I yell back to her.
"Use it!" She screams. Adrenaline takes over and I look behind us. The huge burly wolf is so close to me, only a few feet away. I reach for my knife and leap off the back of the horse. Red riding hood slows down a few seconds after I jump and my body twists around to face the wolf. The knife in my hand is stiff as it cuts right through the wolf's left eye and it howls loudly and one of his arms reaches up to hold his new wound while the other rises up to swat me away easily.
I slam against a tree and brace myself for the impact of a huge wolf. Instead, I hear a guttural sound and open the eyes I hadn't realized were closed. Red riding hood found my pen and stabbed it straight through the other eyes of the wolf. Blind now, the wolf turns and snarls, "I'll find you again, Red!" Red finds my dagger and stabs it into the head of the wolf. The big wolf slumps into the ground and the wind takes him away, turning him to dust before my very eyes. Before I know what's happening, Red is collapsed into the ground and I think she's hurt but then she starts crying and yelling something about her granny. I glance around for the book, hoping I can fix it, hoping I can bring her granny back, but I don't see it anywhere. It looks like her granny will be gone for a while longer yet.