Chapter 4

We arrived at the river, the sun nearly reaching its point to set. I hung my hammock on an old pair of trees just above water. Started a fire quickly and ate power bars for dinner.

We talked and he took pictures. He asked me why the hammock and I simply replied with, "It's tradition". He brought a tiny pop up tent that he set next to the fire. We listened to the river flow and when the stars came out and the fire burned itself to coals, everything was peaceful. I remembered why I loved the mountain. On the tops of the trees I saw the glow of the moon, lighting one wall of pine.

Only sweet trees and freshwater. It was warm outside and my hood was a makeshift blanket. I was content and sleepy. We have a long day tomorrow but honestly… wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm glad I came home.

I had fallen asleep easily but I was dreaming heavily. I'm at a theater, I'm running the show. I don't have my hood and everyone is wearing masks with the dramatic comedy face. I'm wearing a rich royal blue gown with no sleeves, my brown hair in a bun with a white diamond crown. Crystals hung from my ear lobes and around my neck held a long studded choker. I'm in a balcony seat watching everyone below and there, a pair of double doors enters a wolf. A large gray dark wolf, no one seemed threatened or perhaps nobody cared. He runs around sniffing various items as if looking for something. The wolf stops dead in his tracks and looks right at me. He barks. A sea of faces turn to me and while my eyes leave the dog for a minute he disappears. Looking frantically in the sea of laughing faces I am suddenly pulled to thfe floor and I feel like I'm falling. I awake with a start.

It's mildly dark outside as I sit up in the hammock. I yawn and shake my head side to side. The dream didn't scare me but made me think an animal was close by. I listened careful to the sound of breathing or footsteps but heard very little with the water running. Yet in the depths of it all I heard a mumble. My first thought was it might be Woodsmen but the noise came from somewhere else. A little panic sunk in as I listened harder.

"Little Red, Little Red… I like the color red…"

It was the same voice from earlier. I was still.

"Red sleeps in Hammocks, Red can dodge rocks, I bet Red might have an extra pair of socks." It rhymed at me, it poked fun, but because I couldn't see it I didn't want to face it. "Red has a goodie basket, and I wanna snatch it." My first thought to that was, fucking take it! Stop creeping me out and following me around but I remembered that I had things I really wanted to give my Grandmother… so I continued to stay quiet.

"Red… Red Riding Hood?" It was right by me now just on the other side of the tree closeted to land hiding besides a bush. I looked closely seeing a pair of yellow eyes appear from the bushes. "I see you…" It snickered.

"And I see you…" I said as calm and cool as I could muster.

"Red is like fire, one I do like to admire."

"Dude you are not freakin Dr. Seuss." I argued with the terrible poetry.

"Where's your goodie basket Red?" He snapped.

"I don't know." I said protecting my things.

"What a terrible liar you are, come now Red I'm very hungry."

"Hungry? I have a power bar, would you like that?"

"Silly silly girl, I want to see the basket instead."

"There's nothing you want in there." I tried to act like it was just garbage in my basket.

"Everything I want is in there."

"Who are you?" I asked. The eyes sunk back into the bushes. "WHO ARE YOU!?" I yelled and no one responded. I was alarmed ready for action. I listened again but my heart was beating so hard I couldn't focus. I couldn't see them… maybe it's a forest fairy. Those things exist right? Fucking come on girl get it together and stay calm!

I waited for a very long time and nothing happened. Was it all in my head? Was I going crazy? Or was I really talking to a person? I got tired of waiting for something to happen so I laid back in my hammock trying to stay calm. Before I knew it I had fallen back asleep not realizing it.

It was daybreak when I opened my eyes next. Woodsmen was packed. I sat up yawning rubbing my eyes.

"Sleep well Red?"

"Not really…" I took off my shoes putting them in the hammock.

"Oh? Everything okay?" I slid down the hammock into the water letting the cold awaken me.

"I hope I'm okay man." I rubbed my eyes again and threw off my hood for a moment.

"Hey someone's not Red anymore! What do I call you now?" I smirked and rolled my eyes. I squatted in the water splashing the cold liquid of the mountain snow on my face.

Woodsmen lifted his bag and started to walk along the rope bridge. I put my red hood back on then my shoes and began to untied my hammock. I could hear the clicking noise of a camera on the bridge as I hustled my stuff onto my back. We walked a few hours taking a break to see scenery as his camera sat on his chest. Woodsmen was a nice guy, he told me about his dream of journalism. He was an amazing tree photographer. He exclaimed to me how his tree pictures were globally seen but no one knew who he really was. He wasn't a big adventurist, the kind that travels to death defying cliffs. He was simple and traveled from forest to park in search of shots to bring people all around to nature. He was a really nice guy! Like seriously nice. He was kind and sweet and rather funny. Woodsmen was welcome to be my friend.