Red Riding Hood

Last night I woke,
voice stuck in my throat,
choking and tears unstoppable.

A shadow of a girl was climbing
into the bed with me
to spit into my eyes
and my open mouth.
Unendurable fear
of her angry saliva
damaging my innocence,
unstoppable.

My arms paralyzed,
body trapped,
I groaned awake 
apologizing to the sleeping household
for my disruption of the peace.

"I'm sorry. . .
I'm sorry. . .
I'm sorry."

My heart awake,
the mind wandered to the woods
and the wolf
where good little girls 
in red hoods
doing good things
get off the path,
only for a moment,
and danger consumes them.