THE TALE OF A CLASSIC INVASION

Long golden locks, tied into neatly braided plaits. The face of an angel, with a pale complexion, Goldilocks’ bright blue eyes sparkled. The day was just warming up, the sun shining high above the clouds, over the pleasant little cottage she called home.

“Goodbye Mother! Goodbye Father!” Goldilocks called out, ironing out the creases of her pleated white dress, and tying her boot laces. “I’m going out to play!”

She shut the wooden door behind her, closed the wobbly gate from her garden and smelled the beautiful scent of bluebells growing. Goldilocks lived opposite a thick dense wood, where only darkness lived. She was told never to venture inside, but circumstances had changed for the young girl and she made her way into the wood, trotting along.

As Goldilocks entered the woods, she felt colder. A draft on the back of her neck was whistling around. She wasn’t scared one tiny bit; she was an adventurous little girl who knew everything there was to know. As she skipped deeper and deeper into the forest, the trees wrapped around themselves, creating a ceiling of nature. Very little light from the outside world, ventured inside. Goldilocks was trapped in almost darkness.

There were tales of beasts with ferocious teeth, that roamed the woods, but they seemed to be old wives tales. However, although Goldilocks wasn’t afraid of these creatures, lurking in the shadows, she did seem to be lost, as she didn’t recognise this dark area of the woods.

“Drat!” She cursed looking around her.

Each tree bark, leaf and bush looked the same. Unfazed and unafraid, Goldilocks marched on. She had no clue where the dark forbidding path led to, but she kept on walking.

After a while, she started feeling peckish. Suddenly, out of nowhere, hidden behind a group of trees, she saw a cute, little cottage, like the one she lived in. With its thatched flooring, handmade wooden door, and handcrafted gate, it looked so inviting and homely. The stone chimney puffed smoke, and the smell of baked goods filled the skies.

“Yum…” Goldilocks licked her lips. “I can’t resist.”

She stepped towards the front of the cottage and could tell nobody was home, because as Goldilocks got gradually nearer, she could see that the door was slightly ajar, inviting anyone inside. The smell of freshly baked bread, was the first thing Goldilocks noticed, entering the home. It was decorated beautifully, a family lived here. The portraits of Mother Bear, Father Bear and a Child Bear were hung above the open fireplace, all with beaming bear faces.

The fire had just recently gone out, but the warmth still radiated around the room. Three chairs of various heights, sat in front of the fireplace. The first, a larger beefy armchair, made from cloth material, the second, a slimmer looking armchair, made from the same material and lastly, a tiny chair that slotted in between them both. Goldilocks rushed over and flung herself upon the largest armchair. It seemed to be like sitting on wood. Springs digging into her back.

She jumped off as quickly as she had sat down. Secondly, she carefully sat upon the medium sized chair. This time, the opposite problem, this chair seemed to make her slide inside, like being swallowed up by a monster. Goldilocks hoisted herself up using the arms of the chair. She shook herself off and chose to sit upon the smallest chair. Perfection. Goldilocks had found the perfect chair to sit upon. Her legs dangled, as she rested inside the warmth of the cosy room for a moment or two.

Hungry, Goldilocks searched for the sauce of the delicious smell. In the kitchen area three bowls were set all in a row. Inside them, bread pudding, that smelt of sweetness and homemade goodness. She placed herself down on the counter and began to tuck into the bread pudding from the largest bowl, with a gigantic spoon.

“Yuck!” She spat the mixture onto the floor. The taste was too tangy, too sour for her taste buds, so she sampled the second bowl of bread pudding along the line, taking a big mouthful.

“Oh no! This too!” She turned her nostrils up, and again threw the mixture upon the ground. This bread pudding tasted too salty and peppery.

Lastly, she took a small mouthful of the smallest bowl. Finally, her eyes lit up with delight. Perfection. Not too sour, peppery, or salty, just right. Goldilocks had swallowed the entire mixture, filling herself with goodness.

As she sat upon the stool, she let out a big yawn. “Surely there should be somewhere to take a short nap…” She wondered looking up at the balcony above.

Goldilocks climbed the wooden stairs, pulling herself up with the handles on each side. She was full of the hearty meal she had consumed, feeling her eyes becoming heavy. She entered a bedroom. The door swung open, creaking like a mouse, to reveal three beds inside. One large, one medium, the other rather small. Naturally, Goldilocks rushed over to the biggest bed, jumping upon the mattress like a trampoline.

To her disappointment, when Goldilocks fell straight onto the covers with a large belly flop, the mattress was so hard and tough, like a plank of wood, that she just lay on top, boards sticking into her front.

“Oh no thank you!” She cried jumping back off.

Secondly, Goldilocks tried to lie upon the medium bed. No such luck. As she fell into the mattress, she sunk into it like quicksand, pulling her inside.

“Help!” She murmured, trying to push herself up by holding on to the covers.

She dusted herself off and sighed, staring at the final, smallest bed. She dived onto the sheets wrapping her body around her, like a slug.

“Hmm…” She smiled; her eyes closed. “Just right, now to just switch off for a few moments.”

She drifted into a deep sleep and was undisturbed by the front door creaking open. The family of three bears had returned home from a long day foraging for blackberries. Father Bear couldn’t speak as he saw the state the house had been left in. Marching into the sitting room, he noticed his favourite chair dented and broken.

“What’s happened here?” He growled.

His wife looked at her own chair, to find her seat had been mushed like a marshmallow.

“Same here!” She cried.

And as the child of the family walked towards his own chair, he saw that the entire frame had been broken and smashed into pieces.

“No! My chair!” He started to weep.

An angry Father Bear, marched over to the kitchen counter, to find dirt stains upon the floor. His own bowl had been tipped upon its side.

“My bowl!” He growled.

The wife soon followed, tutting and inspecting her own bowl, which had been thrown upon the ground.

“Mine too!”

“Mine has been completely eaten!” The child bear wept, head inside his mother’s blouse, while she patted his head.

“Ssh!” Father Bear whispered, looking above him. “I hear strange noises.”

The mother and child bear followed father closely, tiptoeing up the stairs. Strange creaking and sounds of heavy breathing, were heard from their bedroom. Father Bear edged nearer, his claws at the ready to strike. The door to their bedroom creaked open slightly as each bear entered the room.

Inspecting his own bed, he could see it had been broken into two pieces, covers and springs all over the place.

“My bed!” He grunted angrily.

Like her husbands, her own bed had been ripped apart. The sheets thrown around the room, springs bouncing and mattress bent. “No! My bed too!”

The child began to scream with fear, seeing Goldilocks asleep inside his bed, tucked inside without a care in the world.

“She’s sleeping inside my bed!” The child screamed.

Father Bears claws were at the ready, peering over at the sleeping girl. As he growled, saliva dripped down onto the bed covers, waking her up from her slumber.

She stretched and yawned casually, as if she had woken in her own home. She blinked, to find the three bears looming over her, with monstrous teeth, like knives. The child tried to copy his parents but didn’t look the least bit threatening.

“How dare you come into our home!” Father Bear bellowed, making his body appear larger.

In an unusual turn of events, Goldilocks just smiled to herself and yawned once more.

“Oh, you have no idea…” She smirked, pulling herself out the covers and landing on her feet.

Mother Bear also had her large, knife teeth on show, her claws ready to scratch out her eyes but was puzzled by the girl’s blasé nature.

“I don’t think you understand Miss, we’re going to attack you!” She tried to say, frog stuck in her throat.

“No, you don’t understand” She smiled sweetly, but as her mouth opened more and more, her jaw looked as if it was about to rip off from her head. Rows of razor-sharp teeth glistened in her mouth and her tongue danced like a snake.

Her body started to grow, her pale skin turning hairy and monster like. Goldilocks loomed over the bears as if they were ants, her head touching their ceiling. One swipe of her large claws, resembling butchers’ blades and Father Bear’s fury throat was slashed. Blood poured upon the floor, while he fell to the ground with a large thud.

Mother Bear quivered in her spot, her brown fur shaking. She hugged onto her child tightly, his head buried inside. A second slash from her claws and Mother Bear’s throat was slashed too. Pools of blood gushed from them, upon the wooden floor, pouring into the cracks on the ground and into the room below.

Goldilocks smiled, evily bending down to look at the child bear more closely. He shook like a leaf, his fur blowing like the howling winds outside.

“I really enjoyed using your things.” She hissed into his ear.

He tried not to cry, or make any sound, as he felt her warm breath inside of him. He tried to take deep breaths to calm himself down but he knew that he was going to die. With a grasp from Goldilocks’ enormous, clawed hand she tightly held onto the child. He couldn’t breathe, like being choked by a python, his muscles starting to cease up.

However, Goldilocks didn’t try to kill him, rather she took him away into the woods. Crashing out of the bear’s house leaving his parents to die horribly, Goldilocks crashed through the forest disturbing the peace. Every step she took made the child bear’s heart drum. Racing through the woods, making large oak trees fall, Goldilocks reached her own home.

The grasp around the bear’s body loosened as Goldilocks began to shrink to the size of a little girl once again. Her matted hair, teeth, and claws, retracted into her skin, returning to the girl with long golden locks, tied into neatly braided plaits, face of an angel with a pale complexion. She smiled sweetly at him, guiding him inside her home. The bear gingerly walked towards her, while she opened the wooden door.

Creaking open, he was met with a glimpse of horror. A massacre in the middle of the lounge, lying upon the floor. A rug that used to be white, now stained in blood. Two humans ripped apart and tangled around each other, dead upon the floor.

“You’re special to me.” She told the bear. “The others didn’t understand. I want you to be with me, forever.”