Perilous Women

by Albert Oon

  She still has the same dress and hair ornaments she wore as a child. Tears come to her eyes over her lost childhood. She bears her pain and moves on. Further into the forest, she sees a familiar man with hunting equipment. The two stop to look at each other as they slowly approach each other.

  “Allie?” the man says with a quivering voice.

  “Daddy?” she responds in a similar voice.

  The two rush to embrace each other before her dad kisses the forehead of his adopted daughter repeatedly.

  “Where have to been for the past few years?” he asks, “The entire town has been searching for you. Some of them thought you were dead, but your mom and I knew better.”

  “It’s a long story, daddy.”

  Allie explains the story to her dad as she leads him to the large fire in the forest. Since her daughter is always honest, he believes her. They spread the tale to the town, and they honor Allie as a hero. A funeral is held for all of the children who died and didn’t submit to the mother and her master. The fire in the forest is still burning and turns into a popular tourist attraction that brings much-needed attention to the small town so it can prosper.

  A passing family hears of the tale and inquires about Ellie. It turns out that Ellie’s family has been searching for her ever since she left. They’re sad to learn of her fate but relieved to hear the news so they can let go of the past. They are accepted into the community despite their daughter’s actions. As for Allie, she makes up for the time she lost. She already went through one tragedy and recovered from it, and she wasn’t going to let another keep her down.

  The End

  Behind the Story

  This story is partially inspired by fairy tale type stories and the video game, The Witch’s House by Fummy.

  The monster in the fourth chapter is inspired by the Spawn monsters from The Evil Within 2 by Tango Gameworks. The camera monster is inspired by the Obscura monster in this game as well while the barbed wire snakes are inspired by the barbed wire theme in the first Evil Within.

  The demon cat is inspired by the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

  The river of teeth in the Alice in Wonderland inspired part of the story is inspired by the video game, Alice Madness Returns by American McGee.

  Chapter 1 – Summer School Just Got Worse

  If only I passed the final tests, then I wouldn’t need to be here. Almost everything I can think of is better than being in summer school. There isn’t even anything useful I can learn. I know what I did wrong and how to fix that. What’s the point of summer school anyways if I’m just going to waste the rest of June here? Maybe I can make plans for the rest of the summer while I’m here. I only have two more semesters of school left, so I guess I should be thinking about what to do after graduation.

  I actually came to school early to see if I can ask the principal if I could do something to lessen my sentence here, but no one is here yet. This is strange. I swear someone would since the school staff usually come here an hour before school opens. I guess that just happens during normal school hours, not summer school hours. Someone’s coming this way. Isn’t that…

  “Oh, hey Ian,” I say to him, “I’m surprised you’re here. Did you volunteer to add another accomplishment to show the colleges?”

  “These things matter, Pace. I can’t just plan past my death like you do.”

  “The present is more subject to change than the future. It’s better to plan for everything than to have only one plan.”

  “Whatever you say, man. Is anyone else here?”

  “Nope. No one at all. I searched the entire school too even though there are a couple of sections locked off. I thought someone might’ve been here since the doors are open.”

  “There’s no way you can get out of summer school early.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I know how you like to get done things early. It’s not going to happen. Remember last week when you finished your finals early because you wanted to do more of your “planning”? It’s probably why you’re in summer school.”

  “I still don’t know what you’re talking about. I should’ve passed those tests by the way.”

  “I’m sure you should’ve. I’m going to go set up the classroom for today. Have fun with your planning.”

  “I will. Have fun with your eventually useless college degree.”

  “Sure.”

  Ian can be a real a-hole sometimes but he’s a good friend. He’s way higher than me in terms of grades and status in school. If anything, he’s more prepared for me for the future. Maybe there’s something I can learn from him. Oh, someone else is coming.

  “Hey, Ella. How are you doing?”

  “Good, you?”

  “Same as always.”

  “That’s good.”

  She’s a weirdo that one. How can I not think that she is with all of those scars all over her body? She never stopped accusing Rita of killing off all of her friends during last summer and doing something awful to David to steal his heart. Ella’s been seeing the psychiatrist ever since. She’s even tried to seriously hurt Rita and get David on her side, but nothing happened because of it either than her failing her classes and looking like a freak. I hope she gets better since she used to be such a nice person. Here comes another unfortunate soul.

  “Nice to see you here, Oda.”

  “It’s nice to see you here too, Pace. I just wish it was nice to be here.”

  “Did you bring your violin? I’d love to hear you play it again.”

  “I did. I’m going to be playing at a nearby restaurant right after school. You can come to see if you want.”

  “I’ll definitely be sure to stop by. Can you play your violin now? It’ll be nice to hear it before we start today.”

  “Thank you for taking so much interest in my music, but I’m afraid I have to decline. I’m sorry but I’d rather not play now.”

  “I understand. I’ll see you in class then.”

  Oda is a pretty and quiet girl. That girl is already one step ahead of most people in school. She plays for places in town and makes tons of money while doing so. She’s doing so much work outside of school that her grades probably suffered because of it. Oh, great. Here comes trouble.

  “I’m surprised you’re here too, Pace. What happened to your grand plans?”

  “What happened to you cheating your way through school, Claire? Or did that just have to do with your boyfriends?”

  “That was just a lie! I never cheated on my boyfriend!”

  “Really? I couldn’t tell because of how many boys you’re with all the time.”

  “Oh, shut up. Is Ian here?”

  “He’s not into you, Claire.”

  “We’ll have to wait and see. Your best friend has better tastes than you do.”

  “Don’t blame me when he turns you down…again.”

  “Shut up.”

  Claire is known to cheat on tests and homework. I doubt that girl has done any kind of honest work by herself. She’ll be a good politician. At least there’s another decent girl like Ella and Oda coming.

  “Hi, Nita. How’s your sports team doing?”

  “What? The one I have bets on or the one I’m a part of?”

  “Both.”

  “Good. How are your plans going? I heard you want to become a doctor.”

  “I’ve been trying to write interesting blog posts for people to learn more about medicine. That’s been going well so far. I’m actually writing an article now.”

  “For what website?”

  “I don’t have a publisher yet. I’m just writing it now.”

  “Oh. I wish you luck on that.”

  “Me too.”

  Me too?! As in I wish myself luck in my own efforts. Dang it. She’s too far to tell her my correction. Nita is an athletic girl that’s as school smart as Ian. Just like me, she plans for the future. With her choices, life can throw whatever it wants at her and she’ll still ha
ve ground to stand on. I wonder when I should ask her out. Her mind seems completely concentrated on her work, but she has shown interest in me from time to time. Oh.

  “Earth to Pace. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Tage. Just thinking.”

  “You’re always thinking, but you never stare out into nothing like that unless Claire passed by here. I wonder why she’s here.”

  “I didn’t ask her.”

  “So she is here.”

  “And?”

  “I’m not after her, so you don’t have to worry about me. How’s that blog you’ve been working on?”

  “It’s fine. Nothing too special going on with it. Why?”

  “I want to be an investigator when I grow up. Last time you talked about several ways to treat poisons and I thought it was interesting. Keep up the good work.”

  “Thanks man. I will. Why is someone like you here?”

  “Part-time job to add to my resume. You?”

  “Unfair grading.”

  “Or maybe it was thinking too many steps ahead.”

  “There’s no such thing.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you inside class.”

  “See you.”

  Tage is a good guy. He’s friendly to everyone and is almost your perfect student. Great with students, great with teachers, great with strangers, basically everyone. I’m a bit jealous but I’ll get ahead of him one day. I don’t think anyone is going to show up since class is about to begin. This is weird. Not a single teacher showed up nor is one in the building that I know of. Maybe I can skip today. I might as well wait in class with everyone else.

  Everyone seems to be keeping themselves busy, so I might as well as too. Let’s see, what should I do after Christmas-Woah! Metal shutters come down and cover the windows. Now a pink cat just popped out of the teacher’s desk! It has a weird swirly chest and dark pink eyes in the shapes of arrows.

  It says in a feminine cartoony voice, “Welcome to summer school boys and girls! I’m Kat the Killer Kitty Kat! I will be the overseer to this fun game we will be playing along with…”

  A half light green, half dark green snake with two heads slithers into the classroom and puts itself around Kat’s neck like a scarf.

  “Siv the Slithering Snake!” the snake says in a cartoonish masculine voice.

  “If you break the rules of our game, then we’ll cut you to ribbons!” the Kat says while cutting the desk in half with her claws, “So don’t think about doing anything dumb!”

  Come on Ian, just a little further. Dang it. The snake quickly slithers over to Tage and pushes him back into the room. Despite its size, it’s strong. Ian is a tough guy and Siv just pushed him as if he were a doll.

  “That includes leaving before we explain the rules!”

  “Okay, fine.”

  “The rules of the game are going to be explained by our masters!”

  The Kat activates a projector that shows us David and Rita who are wearing weird masks that cover their eyes. The two are also holding hands. David is wearing a green mask that’s like the snake’s while Rita’s is like the cat’s. I guess Ella is sane and her story is true if things continue going this way.

  Ella says, “David! Don’t let Rita do this again!”

  “You saw through my disguise?!”

  “It’s not like you were trying to hide it with that small mask that covers your eyes,” Siv says.

  “Bah, it doesn’t matter anyways because only one of you is getting out alive! That’s right! We’re playing a death game where only one of you can escape if you kill one of your friends.”

  What?! This is crazy. What happened to you, David? You were one of the nicest people I knew. What did Rita do to you last summer?

  Rita says, “But it’s not as simple as killing everyone in this room. You have to do it without anyone figuring out it was you. Once a body is found, your friends will have an hour to find out who the killer was. If they choose the right person, then the killer will be extravagantly and painfully executed. If they choose wrong, then everyone else is executed and the killer goes home free. Oh, and there’s a special reward if you kill Ella in particular. Show’em, Kat.”

  Kat brings out a case full of-!

  “Five million dollars!” Kat and Siv say together.

  “Stop this Rita and David! What do you have against me?! What did I do to you?!” Ella says as she begins to cry.

  Tage and Nita try to comfort her while Oda, Ian, Claire, and I look at each other unsure of what to do.

  “If you don’t kill anyone by the end of the day, then everyone dies,” Rita continues, “But since we’re such nice people, you can have this day off.”

  “And remember,” David adds, “We’re watching you. Have fun! Good luck, Ella!”

  “Fuck you, David!” Ella screams back as the projection shuts off.

  “This is ridiculous,” Nita says.

  “This is great, what are you talking about? We’re going to have so much fun together,” Kat says with that weird grin of hers.

  “Shut it!”

  Nita punches the cat in the face and hurts her hand. It’s apparently made of some strong metallic substance by the sound of it.

  “You’ll pay for hitting my love!” Siv says as he slithers towards Nita.

  “Your love is a pussy!”

  Nita kicks Siv and is again hurt. Both animals are made of a strong metal that can’t be dented even by one of the strongest people in class. The two laugh at Nita who’s bruised after hitting them.

  “Thanks for punishing yourself and giving us a laugh!” Kat says.

  “Try to formulate a plan for your survival and the deaths of your friends.”

  “It’s time for thrills, chills, and kills!”

  Kat and Siv laugh as they run off into the school leaving us in stunned silence.

  Ian looks at me then says, “Come on, Pace! Do you have anything planned?”

  “No, not yet that will get us all out of here alive. The only thing I can think of is to check out the school and hope that David and Rita left a hidden exit. Maybe they’re just lying to us to see if we’ll actually kill each other. Do you know anything that could help us, Ella?”

  “It’s no use,” she says, “People are going to die again, and Rita is going to win.”

  “Your negativity isn’t going to help. Just tell us what you know.”

  “Kat is indestructible. She was blown up, shot at, and hit with every kind of weapon and wouldn’t be destroyed.”

  “That’s obvious. Anything else?”

  “Don’t trust who you’re closest to. They’ll use that bond to betray you.”

  “We can’t use any of that. I doubt any of us, even Claire, will do that.”

  “Hey!” Claire screams.

  “I said doubt.”

  “I still don’t like that you singled me out. Apologize.”

  “I’m sorry. Now can you make yourself useful and go search the school for an exit.”

  “Fine if it gets me away from you.”

  She leaves the room in a fit.

  Tage says, “I’m going to see if the nurse’s office is still open. Maybe we can find some supplies to use. Nita, do you want to come with me to fix up your leg?”

  “Thank you.”

  Nita limps away with Tage. He better not be trying what I think he is.

  “I’ll stay here with Ella to calm her down and keep her safe,” Oda says as she brings out her violin and starts to play it.

  “What are you going to do, Ian?” I ask.

  “I’m trying to contact the authorities and my parents, but the signal is weird for some reason.”

  “They could’ve cut off our connection to the outside. They made two mechanical animals after all.”

  “That makes sense. I’ll try to help Claire find an exit. She may be a troublemaker who likes to skip school, but she doesn’t know the ins and outs like I do.”

  “Okay, but be careful with her.”

  “I doubt s
he’ll try to make another move on me at a time like this.”

  “She’s probably thinking this could be the last time you two see each other if one of us tries to kill one another.”

  “That’s right. I’ll be careful.”

  “Good. I’ll check around the school after finishing my plan.”

  “Great. I trust that you’ll have one by tonight?”

  “I should.”

  “That’s the great strategist I know.”

  Ian exits the room leaving only Oda, Ella, and I in the room. Who am I kidding? I don’t have a plan right now. After waiting a couple minutes for something to come to mind, I exit the classroom and take a look around the school. The first place I check is the normal exits. All of these doors have metal barriers blocking them.

  “Hey! Can anyone hear me?! We need help!” I scream while banging on the doors.

  Kat comes running to me to say, “No one can hear you outside this school and no one is coming to save you!”

  “What about the teachers that are supposed to be here today?”

  “We sent them a fake email saying that this place is under lockdown because of a broken gas leak or something in the school. I forgot what David said exactly, but yeah. No one is coming to save you!”

  “I heard you the first time.”

  “I thought I’d just reinforce it just to be dramatic.”

  “You’re being annoying.”

  “That’s what I’m here for.”

  Kat runs off back into the school wherever she came from. I might as well check up on Nita and Tage to see if they’re up to anything. They aren’t here in the nurse’s office, but I can tell they were here because there are different items moved around. I might as well take most of these just in case those psychos decide to close the office in a moment of panic-

  “Boo!” Siv screams giving me a scare.

  “Ahhh! I wasn’t doing anything!”

  “I know you weren’t.”

  “Then why are you here.”

  “Two things. One, I wanted to scare your pants off. Two, I want to let you know that everything is not as it seems. Kat won’t tell you this nor does she know of it.”