Chapter 2-Seeing Red

The dusk sun barely illuminated the area, but she could at least pick out some details of the person in front of her.

His amber eyes bore into hers, with deep, half-moons under them. He had two large scars on each side of his face, stopping just short of his nose bridge. Dark, long bangs that didn’t look like they had a proper brush in weeks cascaded over his face, ending at a pointy tip. His bright red hood and cape stood out from his dull brown jacket with spiky fur on its collar and the cuffs of the sleeves. He had matching long pants that led to his scuffed hiking boots.

And on one of them, a large metal trap was sinking its teeth into his flesh, causing liquid the same color as his hood to trickle down. The person slowly stood up, using the bark behind him as support, and was now towering over her.

“A kid…” he muttered, his raised eyebrows betraying his scowling look. “What’s a little girl doing in a place like this?”

“I-I’m lost,” she whispered, trying not to look at his piercing glare.

“Lost? Ha! As if!” They narrowed their eyes. “No sane person would ever let a kid just wander into the Grim Forest. Hell, they wouldn’t dare to take half a step here at night.”

“I r-really am lost, I promise you.” The girl proclaimed, her body shaking.

“Yeah right,” he leaned back a little, his crossbow still aimed at her.

“Now, state your name and why you’ve been following me.” The person ordered.

She gulped again.

“I followed you ‘cause I need someone to help me out of here and back home.” The girl explained, toying with her necklace. “A-and my name is…erm…”

“Spit it out.”

What am I gonna say?! “Well I don’t have one 'cause I can’t remember that or anything at all!” Hood guy will probably just fire at me if I do!

"It's, uh…” The girl squeezed her eyes shut, trying to think of something, anything. She blurted out the first thing that surfaced in her mind.

“St-Stella!”

She braced for an arrow to pierce her, but it never came.

“‘Stella’,” he repeated, testing it out on his tongue. “That’s a peculiar name.”

“Hmm…” He sized her up, taking in her disheveled appearance.

The girl Stella smiled in response; the corners of her mouth were firm.

“Well… that still doesn’t explain how you got 'lost' in the forest in the first place.”

She let out a breath.

“It’s silly; you wouldn’t get it.” Stella gripped one of her arms.

"No, no, you're going to tell me exactly why you’re lost.”

Hood guy doesn’t believe me now, if I tell him “I just woke up here.” He’ll totally think I'm a liar, or crazy!

“Y-you see,” she gulped. "I-""

The person’s ankle wobbled, and the trap pulled him down. He collapsed on his injured foot, which twisted in an odd way.

“Damn it!” he hissed through his teeth.

Stella shuffled closer, reaching out.

“Are you all right?"

“Stop! D-don’t come any closer!”

He held his ankle to himself, continuing to try to pull the metal teeth open.

She watched him struggle, her brow creasing.

“I-I could help.”

They snorted, “With what?”

Stella pointed to the bear trap. 

“That… thing.”

“Like you could-"" the person yelped in pain when the teeth bit harder.

…

“Fine,” he sighed, “help me out.”

“Really?” Stella blinked.

The person nodded; their head hung low.

“Y-yes,” he mumbled. “Just… be careful.”

“I will, I promise.”

She ambled over to them, and knelt down.

“So, what do I hafta do?”

He shifted his ankle to face her.

“First, grab each side of the trap.”

“Like this?”

“No, not there,” he put his hands on the edges, “you have to hold here.”

Stella copied his actions, then looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Now what?”

“Alright, I’m going to count to three. On three, we pull.” The person explained. "Got it?”

She nodded with a grin.

He sighed. “Let’s just get it over with.”

His bandaged hands tightened their grip on the cold metal.

“One…”

Pull on three. Pull on three. Pull on three. Three on pull… wait-

“Two…”

What does "three on pull" even mean… Focus! What did you need to do again? Full-no push! Wait it’s- 

“Three!”

Stella yanked on the metal with all her might. She watched as the space between its jaws and the person’s ankle slowly increased.

Finally, the gap was large enough for him to carefully slide his foot out.

“There, now let go-”

She released her hands, and the trap slammed shut.

“-Or we could do that.”

He reached into a brown pouch on his belt, rummaging through it until he pulled out a roll of white cloth.

“Whatcha doin’?” Stella asked, watching him wrap the long cloth around his ankle.

“Bandaging the wound?”

“Why?”

“To stop myself from losing too much blood.”

“Whoa, you’re smart,” she remarked.

“Thanks?”

When he was finished, he used the point of an arrow to cut the excess.

“That’ll have to do for now…” he muttered, picking up his crossbow.

The person rose to his feet and looked down at Stella.

"Well, um, thanks again… Stella, was it?”

She nodded.

“No problem, Mister!”

“Anytime,” he replied, scratching the back of his head.

“You said you were lost, correct?”

“Y-yeah I am.”

“Follow me then, I’ll get you out of this place.”

“Y-you’ll really do that for me?”

Stella’s eyes sparkled.
“I can’t exactly leave a little kid alone in the forest at night, can I?”

“Thank you so much, mister,”

“You don’t have to call me ‘mister’ ya’ know? I have a name too,” 

“Besides I’m not that old…” He mumbled.

“Sooo, what’s your name then?”

His eyes flickered from the ground back to Stella.
“…Red Riding Hood, but you can call me Red.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Red,” she grinned.

“Er, same to you kid.”

Red turned around, gesturing for her to follow him.

“Stick close; it’ll be dark soon.”

“Okay, Red!”

Stella tagged along with him as they headed out of the forest, and soon, back to her home.