Little Red

Continuing On

My mother never wanted to live in the woods, but my father loved the idea and had a house ready near town right after they got married. We have never moved from that house and even though my mom still doesn’t like the woods, she loves the house. My father has been M.I.A. since last month. The war has taken all the men of age and leaves many to believe the government doesn’t care about anyone, but more on that later.
By ‘training’ I mean I was in a group of high school girls that was trained to protect the town if anything were to happen. I say ‘was’ because it has been two years of nothing and the team fizzled out. We still go to practices and such but they are only when the news has heard that the invaders are coming closer. Which is every two to three months now. I practice in my spare time when I’m bored or done with my chores. All we learned how to do were some basic defense moves and strategies on how to get someone off your trail. I kept this in mind as I walked because those eyes looked familiar, and not in a friendly way.
I started walking again but kept my eyes peeled.
I entered town through the south gates and kept walking north on the main road. I waved to the villagers I knew and continued on my way.  On the edge of town near the north gate, I stopped into the store Just Fruits and bought my grandmother’s favorite jam, strawberry.
I paid for it and left what I could for a tip, money was hard to come by these days. I continued on my walk out of town to my grandmother’s small cottage on a hill. The way up was treacherous and the way down was much worse, every time I come I have to grab the trees for balance and so I don’t fall back down.