The Biggest, Baddest Wolf

Red's mother forbid her to go out

For there was big, bad man creeping about.

But Little Red was a detective at best,

So out she went instead of staying in with all the rest.

She turned over any rock she could manage,

and squeezed through every nook and cranny.

And upon finding lack of interest or carnage

She took a minor detour to visit her granny.

Her thoughts were a'race

when she opened the door

to come face to face

with a man she hadn't seen since years before.

This was the man her mother had warned of,

The one who had disoriented her own image of self worth and love.

He was worse than a man, Red had concluded,

but a creature from her nightmares that vanished whenever he felt suited.

"How big you have grown!"

The man's smile shown.

But in this moment Red felt very small,

Or maybe she was only wishing to shrink down to nothing at all.

Was it her imagination or had he grown taller?

Odd she had been relieved he never bothered to call her.

"Won't you give me a hug?" The man had exclaimed.

Red felt a fear too intense to be named.

Over his shoulder Red's eyes could see,

the color of her name stained the wallpaper's bright paisley.

The blood wasn't real,

This much Red knew,

but it was what she could feel

That reminded her it was true.

And as the man held her with a bloodstained, clawed hand,

Red saw her father as the biggest, baddest wolf in all the land.