Chapter 2
Chapter 2
“Who is it?” Wei Sen asked, staring warily at the front door.
Outside, everything went quiet for a moment. Then the knocking sounded again, growing more urgent in the still night.
Whoever was knocking couldn’t speak!
Wei Sen’s gaze darkened.
It was most likely the Wolf outside, but she couldn’t rule out the possibility that Little Red Riding Hood was mute.
“Is that Little Red Riding Hood outside? If it is, knock once. If it isn’t, knock twice,” Wei Sen said.
A heavy knock came from outside.
“Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma has caught a chill. If Grandma lets you in, can you give Grandma your Red Hoodie to wear?”
“If you can, knock once. If you can’t, knock twice.”
Outside, it was quiet for a brief moment. Then another knock came.
Now she could be one hundred percent certain that the one outside was not Little Red Riding Hood!
Rule Number Five: Little Red Riding Hood loves her Red Hoodie. She will not take it off on her own, and you must never try to forcibly remove it!
Wei Sen took the scissors and returned to sit in the rocking chair.
After a long while, the thing outside began to grow impatient.
The “knock, knock, knock” at the door turned into full-on slamming.
She could feel how powerful its body was. Every time it crashed into the front door, the entire wooden cabin shuddered, and the iron chains on the windows rattled loudly.
Wei Sen didn’t dare let down her guard, but the cabin was far too crude. Aside from the scissors, she couldn’t find any sharper weapon.
A while later, the impacts stopped. In their place came the sound of sharp claws scraping against the doorboards.
Then came the sound of something being torn apart, followed by the noise of ravenous chewing.
The thing outside had finally chosen to give up and eat the corpse she had thrown outside.
Wei Sen went back behind the door. While the thing outside was eating, she brought her eye close to the crack in the door and looked out.
The forest was far too dark. By the faint light spilling from the cabin windows, she could only make out a huge, furry body. Its razor-sharp claws plunged into the corpse’s abdomen, effortlessly pulling out the organs and eating them with wet, smacking sounds.
The rules said the Big Bad Wolf had to eat one person every night before it would leave.
Tonight, the Big Bad Wolf was eating this corpse that looked exactly like her. But when the Big Bad Wolf came again tomorrow night, what was she supposed to feed it?
The hands of the grandfather clock in the living room ticked on. The cabin only had the bedroom upstairs and the living room downstairs. Wei Sen had already searched everything and found no new clues.
For now, she could only wait until daybreak before checking outside.
“Knock, knock, knock!” The door was knocked on once again.
Wei Sen looked at the grandfather clock. It was now eight-thirty at night. An hour and a half had passed since the Wolf first came knocking at nightfall.
Before Wei Sen could speak, a voice came from outside.
“Grandma, it’s me, Little Red Riding Hood.”
It was the voice of a very young woman. She sounded around twenty, much older than the Little Red Riding Hood Wei Sen had imagined.
“Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma has caught a chill. If Grandma lets you in, can you give Grandma your Red Hoodie to wear?” Wei Sen repeated the question.
“I can’t, Grandma. But when I come back tomorrow, I can ask Mom to knit you a new sweater,” the person outside answered.
Wei Sen still hid the scissors inside her wide sleeve, then stepped forward and opened the door with some effort.
Standing outside was a tall, thin girl. Her head was lowered, and she wore an oversized Red Hoodie that completely obscured her face.
“Grandma, this is what Mom asked me to bring you.” Little Red Riding Hood lifted the basket in her hand, looking as though it took quite a bit of effort.
“What’s inside?” Wei Sen asked.
“Apple pie Mom made.” As Little Red Riding Hood spoke, she stepped one foot into the cabin. “Grandma, it’s so cold outside. Can I come in?”
The rules had said not to shut Little Red Riding Hood out.
Wei Sen let Little Red Riding Hood into the house, then locked the door again.
Little Red Riding Hood walked over to the hearth and held out her hands to warm them by the fire. Blood stained those slender hands, and under the glow of the flames, the shadow cast by her Red Hoodie on the wall looked exactly like the silhouette of the Big Bad Wolf.
Wei Sen hunched over and slowly moved up behind Little Red Riding Hood, her hand silently tightening around the scissors. “What’s that on your hands?”
Little Red Riding Hood turned her hands back and forth in front of the firelight. “It was too dark outside and I fell. I accidentally got some mud on them.”
“It’s so late. Why don’t you stay the night with Grandma?”
The rules had said she always lived alone!
If this Little Red Riding Hood wanted to stay overnight, then she had to be fake!
At that, Little Red Riding Hood looked up at Wei Sen. “I can’t, Grandma. I have to go home, or Mommy will worry.”
A chill shot from the soles of Wei Sen’s feet straight to the top of her skull. In the firelight, she finally saw Little Red Riding Hood’s face clearly.
It was a face wrapped tightly in red, with only the shape of her features strained into view.
It was as if her face and the Red Hoodie were one seamless piece.
So that was why Rule Number Five said Little Red Riding Hood loved her Red Hoodie very much, would never take it off of her own accord, and that no one must ever try to forcibly remove it.
Because forcibly taking off Little Red Riding Hood’s Red Hoodie would be the same as peeling off her face with it.
“What’s wrong, Grandma?” Little Red Riding Hood’s eyes, visible only as sunken outlines, seemed to blink. A smiling curve tugged across that red-skinned face.
“Nothing.” Wei Sen’s voice was calm.
The person before her was Little Red Riding Hood, because she had brought food, refused to take off her hoodie, and would not stay overnight.
So Wei Sen could not hurt her. Otherwise, she would be violating the rules.
“Do you come at this time every day?” Wei Sen asked, turning to sit down in the rocking chair.
“No. Did Grandma forget again? Normally, I arrive by noon. After I deliver your food, I still have to get home before the sun sets.” As Little Red Riding Hood spoke, she took an apple pie from the bamboo basket beside her and walked toward Wei Sen.
“Then why are you so late today?” Wei Sen watched that tempting slice of apple pie warily.
She had been starving ever since the Big Bad Wolf had feasted outside the door, but this was the Eerie World, after all. She had not yet reached the point where hunger would make her eat anything in front of her.
Besides, the note with the rules had explicitly warned her: Do not trust Little Red Riding Hood!
Which meant the food Little Red Riding Hood brought most likely could not be eaten either.
“I played in the forest a little too long, so I came late.” Little Red Riding Hood crouched in front of the rocking chair and offered up the apple pie with both hands. “Grandma, Mommy’s apple pie is delicious. Have a taste.”
“I’m not hungry. It’s getting late. Put the food down and hurry home. Don’t make your mother worry,” Wei Sen said.
That red face lifted again, staring straight at Wei Sen. The girl’s voice also turned a shade colder. “Once Grandma finishes the apple pie, I’ll leave.”
Wei Sen refused to back down. She stared directly into the sunken eye sockets on that red face and said, word by word, “Grandma isn’t hungry.”
The two of them remained locked in a stalemate for a long while. At last, Little Red Riding Hood’s shoulders slumped, and she dejectedly placed the apple pie on the plate atop the small white wooden tea table beside the rocking chair.
“All right…” Little Red Riding Hood sounded terribly disappointed.
Wei Sen secretly let out a breath of relief.
The rules had only said not to shut Little Red Riding Hood out and not to hurt her. They had not said she could not refuse the food Little Red Riding Hood brought.
“Hee hee hee…” Little Red Riding Hood suddenly laughed and lifted her eyes again. “Since Grandma isn’t hungry, why don’t you play a game with me?”
Wei Sen’s expression grew grave. Rule four of the Identity Rules: she could not refuse to play a game with Little Red Riding Hood!