Red

• Giorgia St Henry, Grade 6, Burleigh Heads State School
• Short Story
• 2017

Excellence Award in the 'Spread The Word 2017' competition

Tumbling swiftly down a jagged rock cliff, the willowy girl in the red hood ran for her life. Sliding, a sinister snake-like creature with piercing, blood-red eyes, slithered over the rough rocks and crumbling ground.
“Arghh!” Red screamed, with her face turning white like a ghost.
Moments before, an adventurous girl named Red, was hiking in the Magic Forest and caught sight of a sprite. It was going too fast so she lost it which made Red lose her way.
Desperately, she was calling out to her friends but heard no reply. Frantically, Red was looking at the ground looking for the path she was last walking on. Suddenly, to Red’s horror, she saw a troll waking up, its eyelids slowly lifting until they were wide open.
“Who dares awake my slumber!” thundered the troll as it spoke.
“M…me,” whispered Red, in the tiniest voice.
“Well, I’m coming to capture you!” the troll shouted.
“No!” screamed Red, as she ran as speedy as a bullet and in no time she out ran the troll.
After some time wandering in the mysterious wood, Red suddenly heard whispers coming from behind her.
“No!” begged Red as she saw the soulless looking serpent sneaking out from a bush. Red ran as swiftly as she could, away from the darkness. The devilish shadowy snake-like creature chased Red out of the forest and in the distance, she could see a colossal castle. Tripping over loose stones and wet grass, Red ran on.
Unfortunately, Red saw up ahead of her a rocky, unstable cliff edge. All of a sudden, she skidded to a halt. Loose rocks slipped and fell down the steep rock face into blackness. Her mind raced.
“What should I do?” thought Red. The evil serpent was slowly edging towards her. Thinking Red was trapped, the creature’s mouth gaped open. Terrified, Red stared at the slithery serpent’s razor sharp teeth with dark red blood dripping from them.
Slowly, Red raised her leg, as the sinister snake-like creature slid forward, its mouth still gaping wide open. Without warning, Red kicked the blackened shadowy creature with mighty force.
“SSSSSsss!” the soulless serpent shrieked. It slid back as swiftly as a bullet, back into the dark forest.
Without losing her opportunity, red swiftly sprinted away to a bridge a few metres on her right, across the rock cliff, towards the crystal castle. Out of the blue, the devilish snake like shadow came back. There were more of its kind right behind it. Running for her life, almost tumbling on her way, Red sprinted across a wobbling bridge. Fortunately, the shadowy-like black creature couldn’t fit through the tiny bridge. Suddenly, the creaking bridge started breaking and the serpent like shadows were starting to fall.
“No!” hissed the blackened soulless shadows.