Muma's Game

Author's note: 夢魔 (muma) is a dream demon, or incubus, in Japanese.



Branches sliced at my skin as I pelted through the forest, but I did not slow. Other than the crunching of leaves beneath my feet and my own panting, there was no sound that reached my ears. Come to think of it, I had not heard any sounds other than those of my own doing since I had awoken. The entire forest was eerily silent, as if someone had hit mute and a dense quiet had settled over the trees. No birds chirping, nor any crickets or stirring of leaves.

A branch snagged on my night gown and it tore up the side. Even that did not stop my sprint. I kept running, convinced that I would soon be out of the darkness and into the brightly lit lawn of my home. But the thought nagged at me: I didn't even know how I had gotten here, let alone how to get back...

Though my legs were beginning to seize up from all of the running, I did not want to stop. I couldn't. The thought of what would happen if I did terrified me, but I knew that I could end up hurting myself if I did not. Slowly, begrudgingly, I lowered my speed to a jog and then to a quick pace before clutching at a giant oak tree in front of me, gasping for air. The bark gathered under my fingernails and I breathed in deeply the scent of the wood. It soothed me, and I pressed my face against its grainy exterior.

If only I had the slightest idea of how I had gotten to where I was. It would have been far easier to calm down if I recognized anything around me. Not too long ago I had awoken to the snap of a twig near my head and bolted upright-- only to find myself in the middle of the woods. My only guess was that I had somehow sleep-walked out of the house and into the forest behind my home... But I had never sleep-walked before. Neither had anyone else in my family.

Crack.

Instantly I whipped around, still clinging to the oak tree. My eyes searched the tree line around me but I saw no discernible sign of life, even though I had distinctly heard the sound of a twig snapping in the distance. Heart thumping painfully in my chest, I dug my nails more deeply into the bark. I did not dare turn my face away from the woods again.

Still unable to see anyone, I could nevertheless feel eyes watching me. Every one of my instincts told me to keep running; that a moving target was more difficult to catch than a stationary one. My muscles disagreed, however, and threatened to give out just at the thought of running again.

A glowing in my peripheral vision caught my attention, and I turned towards the left. One solitary beam of moonlight had penetrated the forest canopy and illuminated a large area on the ground some fifteen feet from where I stood. Instantly I moved towards it, entranced by the particles dancing lazily in the rays. I stood in the middle of the pool of light and turned my face towards the source.

The sky above was a deep blue, and the cluster of stars twinkled down at me from millions of miles away. I found myself smiling at the sudden peace that filled me in knowing that the world had not turned into one huge, black forest. This was proof that life still existed outside of this new prison I found myself trapped inside of. My hands lifted upwards towards the sky and I tried to will myself back home, into the safety of my bed.

A whooshing of what sounded like fabric broke the silence near the tree where I had been standing not long before, and I turned to squint into the darkness. While standing in the moon rays, the forest around me seemed all the more ominous and black, and a chill ran down my spine. I could see nothing at first, but then my eyes found the source of the noise.

There, standing a few yards from the oak tree, was a large outline of...something. I squinted harder, trying to make it out, but then there was a blur and it was gone. For a few seconds I stood rooted to the spot, sufficiently alarmed, before immediately rationalizing to myself that it was just my mind playing tricks on me.

Heart racing, I jumped and whirled around. There in the woods behind me I could have sworn I had heard another noise. It was impossible but it had almost sounded like... a chuckle. A cold sweat formed on my forehead and I clenched my eyes shut, willing myself to remain calm. The only sound I could hear was my panting, and it seemed to echo in the yawning darkness around me.

"Breathe", I told myself. "This is all a dream. I will wake up any moment now."

A rush of air stirred my hair and sent goose bumps erupting on my skin. I could still feel eyes watching me but could see nothing, and my feet seemed to be rooted to the earth beneath them. Though every cell in my being screamed at me to run, I might as well have been frozen solid.

Hot breath blew against my ear. Terrified, I turned around but there was nothing near me.

"I'm losing my mind", I whispered, clutching my arms across my chest and shivering.

A deep laugh rumbled in the night air. In the distance a flock of birds suddenly flew out of their tree and away into the blackened sky. The sight chilled me. Slowly, not wanting to see what might be there, I turned around to face where the laughter had come from. Standing perhaps thirty feet away from where I myself stood in the moonlight was the same outline I had glimpsed earlier.

This time, however, there was no doubting what the figure I stared at was. There was a definite human shape, with broad shoulders and a head, although the entire frame was masked in a long cloak. My initial reaction was confusion. Long, raven locks streamed out from underneath the black hood, giving me the impression that the creature was female. However, as I watched in horrified silence, a masculine hand reached out from under the cloak and pulled the hood backwards.

The air sucked out of my lungs and I fell backwards out of the light, pressing myself against a tree that blocked my exit. The man's face was hungry as his eyes bored into mine, black and cold onyx. Though there was not even a hint of a breeze, his long hair stirred continuously around his exquisite face. The corner of his lips, an unnatural shade of crimson, pulled up into a smirk as my grip on the tree tightened.

The expression on his face made my blood run cold.

And then I was running as fast as I could through the trees. The branches swiped at me and cut open my skin, but I did not break speed. I had to get away from that creature, there had to be some place for me to hide! In the distance I spotted an opening in the woods that was lined with thick rose bushes. Instantly I got on my knees and crawled inside of one, the thorns pricking my skin repeatedly. Too terrified to cry out, I kept completely still, breathing low and deeply to quiet my panicking heart. I was frightened that he would be able to hear it and find me.

Straining my ears, I listened for any sign that the figure had followed me. For a few minutes I did this, not daring to move even as a spider crawled over my bare leg. More minutes passed and still no sound reached my ears other than my own breathing. Convinced that he must have given up his pursuit, I pulled apart the rose bush to crawl out.

A pair of pitch black eyes met mine on the other side and, before I could even cry out, two cold hands had reached inside of the bush and grabbed my arms. They pulled me out, the thorns leaving gashes in my arms and legs, and threw me down onto the ground. Dirt flew up my nose and into my mouth and I coughed, trying desperately to clear my air passage. After a few seconds I was able to inhale and, my eyes watering, focused on the figure circling me.

There was no point in running from him-- I could tell this just by the look on his face. It was challenging, daring me to try to escape. He would catch me. Instead I concentrated on breathing steadily as my eyes scanned the surrounding ground, searching for anything I might use in self defense. His laughter rang out again, and the coldness sent chills through my core.

"Do you really think you could hurt me?"

No words could describe his voice. It was musical, enchanting, sensual... With just those few words, I found myself unwillingly aching to hear him speak again.

"What do you want from me?", I yelled with courage I did not quite feel.

The answering smile was sinister, and sent me crawling backwards across the dirt. I rolled over onto my belly to get to my feet so that I could make an escape. He was on top of me then, shoving me flat against the ground and straddling my back with his long legs. My cheek was to the earth and my hair fell across my face so that I could see nothing, but I heard his voice whisper in my ear.

"I want to play a game."

Terror flooded through me, but his voice captivated my senses. I felt a strange churning in the pit of my stomach that had nothing to do with fear. He grabbed my shoulders and flipped me over so that I was on my back, looking up at him. His face was painfully beautiful, so much so that I knew instantly he was something more than human. I watched in muted horror as his eyes raked over every inch of me. They took in my brown waves, which were fanned out around my face, and my skin. When his eyes focused on my once-white nightgown, the strange churning sensation erupted in my stomach again. Then his eyes found mine, and his smile had no warmth.

"You lasted longer than I thought you would," he mused. My heart fluttered as his voice caressed my ears. "Most don't have as much stamina as you do."

My eyes watered as I stared up at him, his hands still holding me firmly to the ground. When I spoke, my voice was so shaky that I wasn't even sure if he would understand me.

"Are you going to kill me?"

His eyes flashed in the dim light, and I immediately wished that I hadn't asked.

"You will live through the night. But you will wish that you hadn't."

My mouth parted but no sound came out. I could not comprehend what he meant, and all I could think of was perhaps crawling home with a missing arm or leg... Terrified, my eyes searched him for any sign of a weapon, though they found nothing due to the dense fabric hiding his form.

His face was alight with some glee that I could not understand, as if he alone were on the inside of some darkly amusing joke. For a long time he hovered over me, staring at my face like he was waiting for lightning to strike. When I kept waiting for him to bring out a knife in silence, his hands grabbed my knees and pulled them apart.

Lightning struck then. I screamed and tried to squeeze my legs shut again but his hands did not budge. For all of the force I was exerting, he seemed no more put out than if he had been holding two feathers apart. At the sight of my terror his face glowed with pleasure, and I realized that such a reaction was probably what he must have been waiting for.

Unable to withstand the pressure, my legs finally gave out beneath his hands. He moved fluidly between my thighs, separating them as wide as they would go. My eyes watered and I turned my face away from him, but his hand reached out and grabbed my face, snapping it upright again.

"You will watch this."

"I will not!"

His eyes flashed dangerously, but I did not care. I hoped that I enraged him enough to kill me-- better dead than disgraced. My father had taught me that. Yet as I lay there waiting for his fury to overtake me, it never came. Instead he turned my face in different angles, inspecting every inch of it. I could not even begin to think of what he was searching for.

"How long have you been alive?"

A question I had not expected in the slightest, and oddly phrased. He seemed to have stepped out of a completely different time. My lips pressed together in indignation; I would not answer any of his questions. He seemed amused by something.

"No matter. I can tell that you are young. Seventeen years, most likely."

Other than my heart rate accelerating, I gave no inclination that he was correct. His face lowered so that it was mere centimeters from mine, and his long black hair hung around my face. He pressed his lower half into me. I could feel something hard pressing into my belly, and my face burned red. When he spoke, his voice was low and husky.

"Your eyes betray you."

Somewhere in my head a screaming voice demanded me to find a way of escape, to cry out for help; but I could not bring myself to even turn my face away. There was no one to help me, and crying out would only please the predator who stared down at me. I had no way out.

As if he could read my thoughts, the amused grin diminished to a cold sneer. His hand gripped onto the bust of my nightgown and, in one swift motion, it was torn from my body. I closed my eyes so as not to see the hungry look in his eyes as they burned on my skin, and I felt his hardness pulse. His mouth seared a trail over my body, licking and biting every bit of it along the way. His long hair brushed across my face and I inhaled. He smelled of earth.

When his teeth reached my chest, he bit down hard on my nipple. I cried out in surprise and pain, squirming beneath him. He held me steady and bit down again, and then began to lap up something. I looked down and saw glistening streaks of red running down my breast. Clenching my eyes shut, I tried to tell myself that this was nothing more than a terrible nightmare; that I would soon awaken to the aroma of my mother cooking bacon and eggs.

His lips moved down from my chest and across my abdomen, before they lingered over top of my panties-- the only barrier left between us. His eyes stared up at me, and I was taken aback by how beautiful they were beneath his perfectly sculpted brows. When he gripped the top of the fabric with his hands, I closed my eyes. A loud ripping met my ears and I felt the shield of cloth get pulled away from me. He was holding my legs so far apart that I could not even hide myself from him.

Then his mouth was on me. I opened my eyes and cried out. My hands flew to his hair which, from a lack of any other way of hurting him, I attempted to pull from his scalp. The actions didn't seem to deter him at all, and his tongue worked at the folds of skin between my thighs. I could feel it moving in and out of my opening and across the little nub near the top, which sent bolts of pleasure racing through my body. Hating myself, I yanked even harder at his hair, but my body betrayed me as my back arched to meet him. I could feel him smile against me and my eyes watered in anger.

His tongue did not let up, and continued to work at me with increasing pressure and intensity. My body began to tighten and I reflexively bucked my hips towards his face as my breathing became shallow. He held my pelvis up from the ground, closer to his mouth. Then, with the force of a bomb going off, wave after wave shook my abdomen before I fell limp in his hands, my face burning with guilt and shame.

Amusement lighting his features, he dropped my lower half to the ground and hovered over me, watching my shame with his venomous gaze.

"So much for fighting me."

I said nothing, and closed my eyes to stop the tears from falling. A flash of my mother’s face burned across my mind, and I wondered what she would have said about what just happened...about how I had participated.

Without warning his lips were against mine, and I could taste myself on his mouth. The flavor was revolting and I gagged, but he held my face steady and worked his tongue all over the insides of my cheeks. Defiance flared in me and I bit down as hard as I could on it. He reeled back, clutching his mouth and groaning with pain as I scrambled to my feet.

I ran for it. Though I was completely naked, I pelted through the trees as swiftly as my legs would carry me. Fresh cuts slashed over my breasts and thighs. He was not far behind me and, I could tell from the low growls that echoed in the night air, he was furious.

Up ahead I saw a yellow glow and narrowed my eyes to decipher what it was. Hope burst in me like an eruption of butterflies: A porch lantern. My legs were on fire but I sped up, trying desperately to make it to safety. Then there was nothing but black before me and I ran straight into it; it was rock hard. Long arms wrapped around me and I struggled with all of my might to get away from them. He laughed mockingly as I beat my hands on his chest, screaming bloody murder with the hope that someone in the house might hear me.

"You know," he said, his dark voice swimming with anger, "You are really making the game a challenge. I don't know that appreciate it."

He slammed me down onto the ground once more, knocking the wind out of me. Spots clouded my vision and I had to force myself to breathe; there was an excruciating pain every time my lungs expanded. My captor lowered gracefully to his knees and pried my legs apart, against which I could do nothing as all of their energy had been completely spent. One hand held my stomach down while the other disappeared beneath his cloak.

"Please", I whispered, pain racking my body every time I tried to breathe. "Please let me go."

His face was by mine again. The black hair fell in curtains around my face and his lips brushed against mine, but it was not a romantic kiss. There was threat behind his action, and I suddenly noticed how stony they felt against mine. His eyes were molten and a poisonous smile parted his lips. Then his cold hands gripped onto my hips and he plunged himself inside of me.

My scream of pain pierced the silent forest, but a hand smothered my mouth. I tried desperately to block him with my muscles, to force him out of my body, but his thrusts only intensified. When I beat my hands against his chest, he grabbed them and flung them over my head, pinning them to the ground. He was able to hold them there with his left hand alone, and his right hand remained pressed to my face. His thrusts tore at my insides and I could feel every inch of him forcing its way through me, tearing me. Each stab felt like it would cleave me in two as he pounded me mercilessly into the dirt, making me cry out in pain. My hands held over my head kept my face wedged between my arms, and I had no choice but to face him.

While his features seemed human in appearance, the greed and triumph that lit them were otherworldly, as was the strength and coldness of his body. The onyx eyes glistened with his fervor, and his gaze never left mine. Every time he shoved himself into me, he watched my face contort with pain and his raucous laughter further violated my dignity.

Up until then his cloak had hid him from view, but as it spread over top of us I could feel that the skin beneath it was icy cold against mine, and smooth as marble. The muscles were as hard as brick, and his skin had no elasticity. His manhood must have been built in much the same way, as it literally seemed to be breaking me from the inside out with each painful thrust. I found myself almost wanting to give in to him, thinking that if I stopped fighting I might be less damaged at the end.

Suddenly his face flared in anger and he struck my face with the back of his hand; I felt my bottom lip tear open and blood trickle down my chin. He pulled out of me and for one glorious moment I thought he had finished--uUntil he flipped me over and slammed me face-down onto the ground. Dirt got into the open wound on my lip and burned- I screamed and his hand resumed its place on my mouth to silence it. He shoved himself into me again and his hand pinned my arms to the ground over my head. I could only lay there with my face in the earth as he came crashing into me, harder and more violently every time. The shame boiling inside of me was unbearable, and the pain only intensified with the new angle of his body in mine.

My mouth opened in agony, but I tried desperately not to make a sound; I refused to give him that satisfaction. His chest was parallel to my back but not touching my skin anymore, and his hair draped around my face. There was no sound other than his panting and animal grunts, and the sound that our bodies made as he beat himself against me.

Then his breathing became shallow and I could feel his body tensing. He pounded into me with as much force as he could, and I wondered vaguely if I was feeling him actually destroying my womb. My insides were on fire, and I could feel something warm tickling down my groin and onto the dirt below me. Then his hands left their places on my face and wrists as he pulled my pelvis upwards, and I felt him shove himself as deep as he could go into my belly. Something strangely hot pulsed out of his cold skin and into me. He shuddered and fell onto his elbows for a moment, panting his hot breath onto my shoulders. Little pools of mud had formed from the tears that fell, unnoticed, from my eyes.

He rolled off of me and brushed the dirt from his cloak. I gazed up at him through the hair curtaining my damp face, my entire body numb. My pelvis was on fire, and gingerly I reached underneath me to make sure that I was still in tact. It stung to touch the folds of skin, and something wet warmed my fingers. I pulled my hand to my face and saw red liquid dripping down them, mixed with some other pale substance I had never seen before. My hand fell back to the ground and I watched my violator adjusting his cloak and hair. The question escaped me without even thinking about it, my voice hoarse from screaming.

"Will I ever see you again?"

Slowly he turned his face towards me. The look of hunger that had been present all evening had completely vanished. In its place was a cold, lifeless expression that was even more terrifying than his lust had been. His lip curled in a derisive grin, but he did not answer me.

When he turned his back on me I watched his retreating form with dead eyes. The long, raven tresses streamed out behind him until he had replaced the hood over his head, then disappeared into the woods in a blur of black. When he was gone, it was as if the volume had been taken off of mute. I could hear owls hooting in the distance, and a breeze picked up that made the leaves around me rustle.

The pain in my pelvis intensified as the shock wore off, and I lifted my head from the ground so that I could turn my face to the lantern in the distance. I knew that there was no way I could crawl there on my own, and my voice barely reached my own ears when I tried to call out. My pelvis throbbed with agony and I wondered if it was crushed, as just moving the slightest bit made colors erupt before my pupils. Unrelenting despair washed over me as I remembered him on top of me, inside of me...

When my eyes closed, I willed for death to come. Just as he had said I would.





"Is she alright?"

"Sandra, go call the ambulance. Go!"

Brightness burned at my eyelids and I flinched; if this was heaven, it wasn't as pleasant as everyone had said it would be. I realized that I was lying on my back. Then a wall of pain hit me and I turned my head to the side, vomiting violently onto the dirt.

"Oh God, miss? Miss, are you alright? What happened to you?"

I could not answer. With as much will as I could muster, I turned my face to see the stranger who was talking to me. A wrinkly old man was leaning over me, worry exaggerating the lines etched on his ancient face. I had known it wasn’t him; his voice had been angelic, and I doubted he would have stuck around anyway. Completely numb, my head fell back onto the soft earth with a thud. I stared up at the canopy of trees as the horror washed over me, feeling no gratitude for having been found.

Vaguely I heard the woman's voice approach me, and eventually the sirens of an ambulance. Another voice, a paramedic by the sound of it, talked in low tones to my male rescuer as someone poked various places on my body.

"It's hard to tell with the bruising on her face, but this does look like the Alice girl who was reported missing this morning. How did you find her?"

"My wife swore she heard screaming last night, so this morning we went out to investigate. We found her just lying here. How did she even get by our house? That girl's family lives miles away from us."

"The police found the window to her bedroom open and a long, black strand of hair near her bed. They think someone took her from her room as she slept. It looks like she has been raped, brutally. Have you moved her?"

"I flipped her over so I could see if she was still alive."

Warm hands cupped my face and a blur of tan obscured my view of the sky. I vaguely heard one of the men telling the old man to never touch someone they find, as he might have made any injuries I had worse just by rolling me over.

"Miss? Miss, can you hear me? What is your name? Are you Alice Bertram?"

I heard his words, but they meant nothing to me. I stared through him to where I knew the sky still glowed pale blue, and realized that I must have looked insane. The man was soon joined by another and, together, they slid me onto a gurney. The old woman was crying and her husband was saying something about the sickness of the world, but I did not absorb their words. My eyes focused unseeingly on the obscene, cerulean sky.

He had taken what he wanted from me, and now I had to put back together the pieces of what he left behind. I did not know how I could find the strength to do so, or if I even wanted to. My father had been right: Death was better than disgrace. What he had done was worse than destroying my body... he had destroyed my mind. And now his words made sense.

You will live through the night. But you will wish you hadn't.

Tears overtook me-- silently this time-- as the paramedics lifted me into the ambulance. When they crawled inside with me, I could have sworn I saw in the distance behind them a cloaked figure, watching us. His hood was down and his features were icy as he watched the doors of the ambulance slam shut between us. Then he was gone.

My eyes clenched shut as the tears pooled around my face, but not from the pain, nor even from the shame I felt for locking his face away in my memory. I cried from the guilt of nursing a desperate hope that he might someday return to me in my dreams. I cried from wishing that the Muma’s game had never ended.