Dark depths: The Wolf Within

Once, she entered the forest as Little Red Riding Hood - innocent, curious, and unaware of what waited among the trees. The old tale was never truly a gentle story. Before it became a children's fairy tale, it carried darker warnings about growing up, temptation, danger, and the wolves hiding behind charming words. In the oldest versions, there was no hunter waiting to save the girl. There was only the forest, the wolf, and a choice that ended in tragedy. But what if the story did not end there? What if the girl survived the forest by becoming something the wolf itself should fear? She no longer wears red as a symbol of innocence. She carries the forest within her, and the wolf is no longer only the predator in the story. It has become part of her. Sometimes the darkest part of growing up is discovering that the monster you feared was not the only thing waiting in the woods. And sometimes, the girl becomes the wolf.