The next morning, Tom and I had breakfast—more venison, which I’d learned was a word meaning deer meat. It tasted very good, so good that I almost felt guilty, thinking of the deer that mother and I would often watch from our window together.

“So, I’m gonna bring ya down ta the pulice station today. They should be able ta find yer folks.”

I nodded, but deep in my heart, I knew that my mother and grandmother were somewhere far, far away. We finished eating, and I offered to clean our dishes while Tom went outside to give his wolf some food. The thought of being so close to a wolf still made me shudder.

Once everything was tidy, Tom led me out back. There, stood a large, metal, gray carriage-like thing. The front half of it resembled a carriage, but the back was open like a wagon. And there was no place to hitch up a horse team, either. Tom opened the right-side door and helped me up into the strange carriage. He hopped up in the left seat and said, “Strap yerself in.” I guessed he was talking about the long, flat rope hanging at my right side. I watched what Tom did with his rope then copied him, grapping the shiny metal part and pulling it to fit into a hole on the left side of the seat. The metal piece went in with a satisfying “click.”

“All right,” Tom said as he took a small piece of metal (it looked like a weird house key), put it in a slot beside a wheel that was on the inside of the carriage, and turned it.

**_VROOOOOOOOOOM!_** I nearly jumped out of my hood as the blood drained from my face. The carriage was alive! It was rumbling and growling all around me! It felt like I was in the belly of a dragon. I clutched the arm rests on the sides of my chair and held on for dear life.

………..

As we drove, the forest eventually faded away. The tall oaks were replaced with towering buildings. I wondered if our castles back at home would resemble anything like this. As I looked around, I started to feel overwhelmed by it all! There were so many carriages, buildings, people, sounds, and words all crowded and squished together! I felt as small as an ant—insignificant.

Tom brought the carriage to a building and brought it to a stop in an area where several carriages were kept. I saw that the sign on the front of the building read, “Police Station.”

“This is our stop,” Tom said. After we got out, he nodded his head toward the building. “C’mon, li’l Red,” he chuckled.

Inside the police station, they asked me questions about my parents and where I’d come from, but I knew that they would think I was crazy if I tried to say I was a person from a story book. Clutching my hood, I kept my head down during the interrogation. My answers were mostly, “No” and “I don’t know.”

After we were done, the police man shook his head and turned to Tom. “I think we’ll have to take her into our care as a ward of the state. She will be well taken care of at our Children’s Home Sanctuary on Belmont Street.” They shook hands, and Tom rested a hand on my shoulder.

“I’ll miss ya, li’l Red. It shore was nice meetin’ you.”

I smiled back at him, “I’ll miss you, too. Thank you for taking care of me last night.” He nodded at me and waved as he left.

The policeman shook his head again as he looked down at me. “Come along, then. I’ve got some paperwork to fill out in order to register you in the foster care system.” Having no idea what he was talking about, I nodded silently and followed him.

………..

As our “car” pulled up to the children’s home, I shifted nervously in my seat, clutching my little “backpack” that held my few possessions in this world. I had chosen to take it off for the time being. I knew it would make me stick out, and my goal was to blend in.

“Here were are,” sang Sandra, my “caseworker.” She turned to look at me in the backseat and smiled. “I’m sure you’ll like it here, and if you run into any trouble, you can always text or call me.” I nodded. The “cell phone” that had been given to me by the “state government” was something I still barely understood and had hardly touched.

We walked up to the door together, and Sandra knocked on it loudly. The door was opened by a tall, slender man with black hair and large, circular glasses. He smiled, “Hello! You must be Rochelle. And Sandra, it is good to see you again.” He welcomed us inside and shut the door. We followed him as he continued talking. “My name is Spencer Frost, and I welcome you to our sanctuary. Let me show you around.”

………..

Our last stop on our tour was my new room. As Mr. Frost opened the door, I was greeted by an assault of horses: horse posters, a horse blanket on one of the two beds, and horse figurines on the dresser. “You will have a roommate, Rochelle. Her name is Sally White. She is not here right now because all the school-age children are still at school.”

I grinned. I felt that Sally and I would get along splendidly. I had found a fellow horse lover in this world. Walking over to the empty bed, I asked, “Is this my bed, then?”

“Yes, and there is a dresser assigned to you as well as some closet space.” He turned to leave with Sandra. “Make yourself comfortable. We will go shopping tomorrow for things that you need.”

Smiling, I thanked him, and they left. I walked over to the dresser he had mentioned and unzipped my backpack. I took everything out to assess where I could place it. First was my red hood, which I folded and set inside the bottom dresser drawer.

Next, I took out a couple shirts and some skirts. Sandra had taken me shopping a couple days ago for a few things. They were intended to hold me over until I would go shopping with my children’s home since they would have government funds to pay for everything I would need. Because I had only come with the clothes on my back, I couldn’t keep wearing the same outfit for a week. She had suggested “shorts” to me, but that was too much for me to accept.. Thankfully, she didn’t push back and helped me find clothes that were more fitting to my style. I had even found a couple shirts with horses on them!

The shirts and skirts all went into the drawer with my hood. Next came a couple dresses. These I hung in the closet. There was a small bag of “toiletries,” as Sandra referred to them and a hair brush. Then, lastly was my phone and its “charger.” I had learned about this new kind of magic from Sandra: power flowed from the walls to charge things! This world was incredible! There was an “outlet” beside my dresser, and I was able to “plug in” my phone there and let it rest on top of the dresser as it charged.

Once I had taken everything out of my backpack, I flopped into my bed and took a nap. These past few days had been draining, and I finally had a moment to myself.

………..

I awoke to the sounds of laughter, thirty pairs of feet running through the halls, and slamming doors. I groaned as I sat up, and I realized that I felt a strange sensation. It gradually grew stronger and stronger. I walked around the room, trying to figure out where it was coming from. Suddenly, the door to my room opened, and there stood a girl with skin that was almost as white as snow and raven-black hair. The way she looked at me said that she could feel the sensation, as well. When she closed the door, the sensation stopped, and we both stared at each other wide-eyed.

We both sat died together on the edge of my bed. “Who are you?” she asked.

“My name is Rochelle, but a lot of people call me Red. And you are?”

“Here, I’m known as Sally White, but back home, my real name is Snow White.”

My jaw dropped. “Aren’t you the princess who disappeared? At least that’s what I heard from the traveling merchants. The Queen claimed that you had died, but—“

“How do you know that?” she asked as she seized my arm.

I looked her in the eyes as I murmured, “Because I’m not from this world, and I’m guessing that you aren’t either.”

Sally shook her head and released her death grip on my arm. “This is unreal,” she whispered. “How did you get here?”

“I have no idea. A few days ago, which must have been Monday, I woke up in a field in the middle of nowhere. Then I met a kind hunter in the woods nearby who helped me. He’s the reason I’m here now.”

My voice became a whisper. “I learned that in this world, I am nothing more than a child’s story: ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’” I turned to her. “Is your life a story, too?”

She nodded solemnly. “Yes, and there’s even a popular Disney movie about me. I watched it because I thought it would be fun, but now I know how my story is supposed to end!” She groaned. “Talk about a spoiler alert!”

“A what?”

“Sorry, that’s a word people around here use when someone tells you how a story ends before you finish reading the book or whatever.” Sally sighed. “Back home, I was living with seven dwarves who had kindly taken me in after I was forced to flee the castle in fear of my jealous stepmother.”

Biting her lip, she murmured, “I remember as a child how much fun my father and I had. We would do everything together. My favorite activity was horse-back riding.” I watched as her face fell. “Then _she_ came and ruined everything.” Sally paused. “I have a feeling that she enchanted my father. Though she denies knowing magic, I know from watching the movie about me that that is a lie. And she’s supposed to come find me in the forest disguised as an old lady and give me an enchanted apple. Biting into it is going to make me fall into such a deep sleep,” she wailed, “everyone will think I’m dead!” Tears began to fall down her face, and she held her face in her hands.

Wide-eyed, I gently put my arm around her. Eventually, her sobs ebbed, and her fear turned to anger. “And apparently, the only way for me to wake up is for some stranger to walk up and kiss me! What kind of creep kisses a corpse in a coffin? And then I’m supposed to just fall in love with him on the spot and marry him?” With a grunt, she fell back onto the bed and sighed.

“I’m sorry. I’m not normally like this. It’s just—you have no idea what it’s like to go five whole months without any idea where you are or how you got there. And then, you start feeling like you must be going crazy because your life is a literal fairytale! And not having anyone to talk to about any of this—“

Sally sat up and turned to me. “I’m glad you’re here, now. Together, we should be able to figure out what in the world is going on.” Then she asked, “So, what’s your story, Red?”