It was a warm spring day in Ohio, the smell of the flowers, freshly cut grass, and previous rain filled the afternoon air. In a small, northern-Ohio town lived a divorced mother and her two children, each of them the jewel or her eye. She silently watched over them with love and care, just like her mother did for her, before she disappeared. She sat there at the back porch of the little red house, cross-stitching and sipping lemonade as her two darlings played ball. She smiled softly as her kids’ laughter filled her ears. But her smile soon faded as she began to shout out.
“Amy, I’ve told you a million times to stay away from the edge of those woods! Now do as I say or go inside.” Amy quickly retreated from the entrance of the forbidden woods, but the look in her eyes showed that she wasn’t going to give up that easily. The mother sighed as she went back to work, looking up every few minutes to make sure Amy was being obedient. An hour passed and mother soon grew tired. She laid her things on a small table, brushed her pants, and stood up.
“Alright you two, it’s almost time to go inside, I’m going to go put up some laundry, and then you need to head in with me.” She walked inside for a moment and then came out with a basket of clothes and pins. She turned her back to her children and began to hand the items up, Amy saw her chance. But how was she to get Jimmy to come with her? She quickly formulated a plan and put it into action.
“Hey Jimmy.” She said. “Let’s kick the ball around some more.” Jimmy smiled and ran into position, Amy then kicked the ball hard. She missed Jimmy and it rolled off into the woods. He sighed as it disappeared. “Now what?” He asked. “Let’s go get it.” Amy said. Jimmy’s mouth dropped. “But where not supposed to go in there.” He whimpered. Amy rolled her eyes. “Please, it won’t take that long, and we’ll barley even be going in.” Amy quickly ran through the brush and out of site, Jimmy slowly followed. “Let’s just hurry up and find it so we can get out of here.” They searched for minutes, here and there, but no luck.
“Anything Jimmy?” Amy asked. “Not a thing, now let’s just forget about it and go.” But Amy was persistent. “No wait; let’s just go a little further, it has to be here somewhere.” They ran around in circles, looking high and low, but they still couldn’t find the ball, and the sun began to set. “Okay, it’s getting dark, please, let’s just go.” Said Jimmy, Amy sighed. “Okay.”
“Great. Which ways out of here?” Jimmy asked. Amy stood there bewildered and shrugged her shoulders. They began to walk, looking for clues to tell them that they were going the right way. It felt as if they wandered for hours, but they couldn’t find their way out. As they traveled deeper they came across many bushels of thorns, they began to get scratched up as they walked, there pants legs ripped to shreds. The sun was almost gone and the two children began to chill. Howls came from the woods and the children became frightened.
“Jimmy, I’m scared, I don’t want to be here.” Amy whimpered, grabbing onto her brothers arm. “Maybe we should try going the other way; I don’t remember all these thorns before.” He grabbed her hand and they set off in the other direction. But as they turned around, disaster struck. There in front of them was a large wolf, it was big and gray, its eyes set upon the children, and its mouth watering. It slowly circled them, sniffing the air; you could almost see it grin with pleasure at the smell of fresh meat.
Jimmy and Amy froze, unable to run or speak, or even blink. They knew what was going to become of them. The creature jerked its head back and let out a large howl. It then proceeded to lunge at them; they closed their eyes, waiting for the kill. They heard it yelp and opened there eyes to see it skimmer away. There before them was a blue mist; it glowed as it came towards them. They stepped back and the tiny particles transformed themselves into a person. Hovering in front of them was an old woman.
“Don’t be afraid.” She said. “I’m your grandmother. I am here to bring you safely home.” They stared in disbelieve. “No, ghosts aren’t real, and our grandmother is dead.” Amy replied. The figure nodded her head. “I am as real as you. I came in here to find your mothers cat twelve years ago, I placed bread crumbs down so I wouldn’t get lost, but that pesky wolf ate them all. But I finally found the way, O my dears you must follow me, the sun is almost down and we have such a walk.” The figure began to glide off, Amy and Jimmy followed.
They soon made it to the edge of the woods, where they found their mother weeping. “Mom! It’s okay, were safe, we made it out!” She quickly wrapped her arms around them. “What did I tell you about going into those woods? O, it doesn’t matter, your safe, now come on, let’s go inside.” She kissed their heads and walked them in. She turned her head and saw the glowing figure. “I’m still looking.” It said, and then disappeared into the woods.