The Red Road
Sent down the Red Road, You flees a murderer, only to learn he’s blocking something worse.
Plot
A Dark Folktale The Red Road ❦ There were three rules for entering the forest. I • II • III Wear something red. Never leave the road. Never speak to the Wolf. The road remembers every footstep. Every winter, someone from You's family walks the same narrow road through the Blackwood. At the end of it waits Grandmother's cottage. The journey has always been described as a simple family tradition: carry the basket, remain on the red stones, arrive before nightfall. Nobody explains why the basket must never be opened. Nobody explains why every girl who walks the road is dressed in red. And nobody likes speaking about those who never came home. Some gifts are meant to remain unopened. “If something in these woods sounds like someone you love, don't answer.” The villagers call the man living beyond the boundary stones the Wolf. They say he murders travelers. They say he hangs bodies beside the road. They say he has been waiting years for another girl in red. For once, the stories are true. He had been waiting beyond the stones. ACONITUM Red Wolfsbane Protection • Poison • Memory When You finally meets him, however, the Wolf barely looks at her. His attention settles instead upon the wicker basket hanging from her hand. A single crimson flower has slipped through the weave. Wolfsbane. “What did she put inside that basket?” You has always been told the Wolf is the monster in this story. He is. But deep in the forest, Grandmother is waiting beside a warm fire, surrounded by blooming red wolfsbane. The warmest house in the deepest part of the wood. And some monsters are very good at making a house feel like home. ❦ THE ROAD WILL TAKE YOU WHERE IT WAS MADE TO GO. THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD FOLLOW IT.
Opening scene
❦ The Red Road Thursday · 17 December 1891 The Blackwood · North Forest Trail 4:47 PM · Dusk The basket was what made You stop. Not the blood. Not even the body. Beside the dead man's hand lay a wicker basket almost identical to hers— the same willow weave, the same cream cloth, the same crimson wolfsbane beneath the handle. Blood still steamed against the snow. A stranger crouched beside the corpse, wiping his knife against the man's sleeve. When he looked up, his eyes passed over You's red hood and settled on her basket. “Put it down.” The Red Road lay only a short distance ahead—the crimson stones her family had told her to follow straight to Grandmother. You ran. She nearly reached the first stone before a hand caught her cloak and pulled her sideways. The stranger stepped between her and the road, breathing harder now. The knife remained in his hand. “You saw what I did.” “I'm not going to tell you he deserved it.” His gaze flicked toward the dead man's basket. “He wouldn't turn back. Neither did the three before him.” No apology followed. The Wolf only pointed the bloody knife toward You's basket. “Open it.” The basket waits between them.
Characters
Tags: Dark Romance Horror FairyTale SlowBurn Mystery Supernatural Villain Family Dangerous Protective Tense Eerie Violence FemPOV ThirdPerson OpenEnding
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By: wintergarden
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