***She might never have put on her Little Red Riding Halloween costume had she known she'd get trapped in the Haunted Forest with a big bad werewolf. But maybe her innocence will save her. Maybe the man behind the monster has a soft spot for lost little girls who find themselves scared and alone in the woods. And maybe, before the night is out, the shy student will have found the kind of happily ever after that surely only exists in fairy tales...***
Katherine hadn't specifically meant to go to a Haunted Forest. She had thought it was just going to be a few Hallowe'en-themed ornaments hung among some trees that she could take a photo with to prove she'd been getting out of the house. Instead she found herself suddenly in the middle of a place meant to terrify and thrill. All she could think about was how much she regretted going in there alone.
It was her first year at university and she had been determined to go out and try new things to prove to her parents that she really was now grown. September had gone by without a single outing and October had looked to go the same way, so when she'd seen the poster for the Haunted Forest she had mustered up her courage and decided to do it. She had dressed herself up as Little Red Riding Hood and had boldly entered the Haunted Forest alone only to immediately realise her mistake - this was not a safe place to go alone, it was specifically designed to be scary! So now here she was, stuck in the middle of a forest where nobody would even be concerned to see a frightened fairy tale character clutching at her basket and staring wild-eyed out into the darkness.
Katherine took another tentative step forwards, trying to catch up with the large group just ahead of her who seemed far more at ease with the thought of being frightened than she was. But she was stopped in her tracks by a werewolf who suddenly appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to sniff the air in front of her. As he stood up terrifyingly tall in front of her and prepared to howl, her nerve suddenly deserted her altogether and she threw her empty basket at him and bolted, running headlong back the way she had come, too scared to care what anybody else might think.
She glanced back, paranoid the werewolf was in pursuit, and barrelled straight into a man who was dressed like he had had some kind of terrible accident. She started to hyperventilate, her brain no longer able to process what was real and what wasn't as she staggered backwards into the very man she had been trying to escape.
The werewolf had followed her. Not in a terrifying pursuit, but to make sure the girl was okay. People usually loved it when he pulled himself up to his full height and howled. He put a calming hand on her shoulder and knelt down. "Shh, it's okay. None of this is real. I'm not a real werewolf! And do you know how you can tell?" He looked around as though double checking that nobody was listening before leaning forwards and pulling down his mask, putting his fingers on his lips as he did so as though it were some big secret.
Katherine giggled despite herself. While her breathing was still uneven, things felt a little less scary than they had. She reached up to his mask and tentatively stroked it. "Not as scary as it looks?"
He nodded, putting his hand over hers to squeeze it. "Not as scary as it looks."
She blushed and bit her lip. "It was so scary in the forest alone." Her words felt more like those of a child, but it was like she'd lost the ability to be anything other than a terrified little girl. She squeezed his hand tighter. "I don't like it here alone." Her words were urgent as her eyes got wider at the sudden realisation that there was still more of the forest to get through. "I don't like it here alone! I don't like it here alone!" Her voice was raising in an almost hysterical fashion as she rocked both and forth, gripping the man's hand tightly as tears blurred her vision. "Please, I don't like it here alone."
The werewolf looked between the girl and the forest. He could easily take her back the way she'd come, but then the medic would want to look her over in the crowded little tent full of squealing kids who'd cut their finger or grazed their knee. That wouldn't help her very much. There was therefore only one realistic way out - to complete the forest. He looked down at her with concern. If she had been terrified of his werewolf he dreaded to think how the chainsaw-wielding zombies would go down.
He patted her back reassuringly. "Shh. It's okay. You're not alone - see? You've got me! And a big, strong werewolf's gonna beat almost anything in a fight!"
She wrinkled her nose and biffed him lightly on the shoulder. "But you're not a werewolf! You said!"
He grinned. "I know that, and you know that, but they don't know that, do they?" He pulled down his mask again.
Katheine tugged at his wrist. "But, b-but werewolves can run pretty fast. How will I keep up with you?" Her eyes filled with tears again, her lower lip trembling. "P-please don't leave me here alone!"
He smiled softly and squeezed her hand. "I promise. Now, it's time to mount your noble steed so that I can rescue you from this fate worse than death!"
She giggled again. "Not a noble steed - a noble wolfy!" Without really thinking she climbed onto his back, clinging onto him as he straightened to his full height. "Wow! It's really high up here! I'm really tall!"
He laughed. "You are! Now, are you ready to also be really fast?"
She giggled and nodded, lightly kicking her little heels against his sides as though to spur him on. "Yes! Fast, fa-ah-ah-ahhh!" As she spoke he bolted forwards.
The werewolf smiled. He had successfully got her so caught up in fantasy that the other actors they passed no longer phased her - although he could feel her cling tighter to him each time one of them looked in her direction.
He continued to run until just before the chainsaw zombies, where he slowed. "Okay, Little Red. Up ahead is our toughest challenge yet. A horde of zombies have got their hands on some chainsaws and they don't really know how to switch them off! But they're slow and we're-"
"-Fast!" The girl enthusiastically interjected. "We're fast, fast, fast, fast, fast! Fast like a werewolf!"
The man grinned. "Very good. Now, do you think I should howl, just to be sure they know who's on top?"
She tilted her head for a second before nodding vigorously. "Yes - scare them with your scary howl. Then all will flee and we'll be free!"
He laughed and patted her leg. "Exactly. But do you know what? The more people who howl, the scarier it will be. Do you think you can join in as well?"
She bit at her lower lip shyly. "But...but I'm not bold like a werewolf."
He smiled and reached up to tickle her sides. "Oh but you don't have to be bold to howl. You just need to feel the howl inside of you and then let it out. Do you feel a howl building up inside of you?"
She squeezed herself up against him, clearly thinking hard as she concentrated on whether or not she could feel a howl inside of her before suddenly grinning and sitting upright. "Yes! Yes - I feel the howl!"
"Good, then after three we're gonna howl and remind those zombies that however scary they look, we're not scared of them. One, two, three..."
Howl!
They both howled in unison, drawing a few surprised looks at the sight of Little Red Riding Hood riding a wolf and enthusiastically howling her heart out.
The man grinned. "Good job! And now, we chaaarge!"
Katherine bounced against his back in excitement as the werewolf charged forwards. She gripped him tighter as she saw the scary zombies but found she didn't feel half so scared of them from high atop the man's back.
It took a little bit of clever dodging to avoid the reaching arms and noisy chainsaws, but they eventually emerged triumphantly, the first to beat the Haunted Forest that night.
The werewolf kept the girl on his back as he slowed his pace to a walk, whispering a quiet word to one of the other staff members before heading towards the actors changing area.
With the forest in full swing nobody else was around in the tented staging area. The man knelt down and set the girl back on her feet. "So, what did you think of your first Haunted Forest?"
She blushed and squirmed a foot against the floor. "How did you know it was my first?"
