Birdie
In panic, I glanced back up at the roof of the fun house, finding it vacant once more…
Surrounded by a hundred people — I’d never felt more alone.
Stares behind masks assessed me as I stumbled forward on my stupid stilettos.
“Lu!” I called out over the carnival music.
Though it was no use — my friend was nowhere in sight.
Just as I was about to park my ass on a bench by the spinning teacups, the music cut out with a loud scratch. A crackly, mechanical voice rumbled over the speakers, and the crowd cheered. Was this what everyone had been waiting for?
“Welcome, players,” the ominous voice began. “On this hallow’s eve, pursuer and pursued come together for the thrill of the chase, the pleasure of being caught, and a night of mischief and seduction.”
The crowd roared with applause again.
Wait… what was happening?
“Your disguises have you sorted into your roles. Now, listen closely for the rules of this wicked endeavor.”
My heart jumped into my throat. This wasn’t just an average, somewhat illegal, Halloween party. This was… this was…
“One: Everyone keeps their masks on at all times. No exceptions.
Two: If you’re caught, you’re got.
Three: No one speaks a word of this night to anyone — ever.
Now… prepare to run to the finish as fast as you can.”
The crowd stirred, people separating, and drifting into the shadows. What once was a mass unit of bodies now dispersed, clearing the area as folks ducked behind rides and fought to conceal their whereabouts.
“Ready?” the announcer asked, and my chest constricted. Suddenly I felt exposed — too exposed. “Set… GO!”
A gunshot rang out, and the maniacal melody of cackling laughter peppered the surrounding fog.
I imagined this is what a hare felt surrounded by a pack of hungry hyenas.
Two figures leapt from behind a run-down game stand.
One tall person in a red hockey mask, another shorter and sporting a scarecrow mask.
My shoulders tensed, and I felt my knees buckle in fear as I held onto the side of the bench.
The hockey masked figure let out a muffled laugh before pointing to my high-heeled feet. “Easy,” they muttered to their friend.
“She’s just asking for it, isn’t she?” The smaller one replied as they stalked forward.
A girl screamed in the distance.
Then another.
My mouth dried as I fought with my brain, begging my body to move.
With a quick glance over my shoulder at the fun house, I pushed off the bench, breaking into an unsteady run towards the open clown mouth.
My pursuants chuckled in my wake as the sounds of their footfalls haunted the click-clack of my pumps.
Bounding into the mouth of the faded clown, I stopped short at a row of wavy mirrors.
My distorted frame gawked back at me, my cat ear mask clinging against the upper half of my face in sweat, my skirt feeling way too short, my boobs almost hanging out of my tank top.
I made a sharp left as the echo of laughter sounded behind me.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” someone called, chilling my bones. What would happen if they caught me? I didn’t want to wait around and find out. I needed to hide. If I could hide somewhere, I could wait this thing out… whatever this thing was.
Someone shouted, “Split up! You go left and I’ll go right.”
My body trembled as every tap of my heels sounded too loud, my panting breath giving me away as I tripped forward, frantic in my escape efforts. Suddenly, as I rounded a corner, a hand wrapped around my mouth and yanked me backwards into darkness.
A scream muffled from my throat as my back landed against someone’s hard chest.
“Shh…” their grip tighter around my mouth. “It’s me or them. Which would you like, Little Birdie?”
Footsteps approached, and long figures appeared in the distorted funhouse mirrors. “Come out, come out, stray kitten. We just want to pet you.”
My body recoiled and pressed harder into my captor on instinct. A dark chuckle answered in my ear. “Good girl.”
Maybe it was the warmth of their hard body against mine or the heat of my breath against their palm, but that good girl sent all the fire in my body straight to my center.
“You’re trembling.” Soft lips brushed against my earlobe.
“What can I do to calm you down, little bird?” The stranger’s free hand pressed against my ribs, and it’s then that I felt their breasts against my shoulder blades.
In a moment of courage, I turned my head, and to my surprise, keeping their palm over my mouth — they let me.
A familiar green glowing purge mask greeted me, as I realized I was now face to face with the woman from the fun house roof from earlier. Those broad shoulders, those thick arms, and that muscled torso now pressed into me from behind. The awareness had me breathing faster — and not from fear.
“What’s your name?” I whispered in a breathy mumble against her palm.
Her hand skimmed down my belly, stopping at the waistband of my skirt. “My name is Jax. Now tell me, Birdie, do you like where this is going?”
Without thinking, without even questioning how Jax knew my name, I nodded against their strong hold.
My assailants called out again, making cat pspsps noises, however, their voices were farther away now.
Jax’s touch dropped between my legs, pushing the fabric of my skirt against my panties.
I held onto her wrist, not to pull her hand away from my mouth, but to hold on to her, onto something for balance.
My knees grew weak as her fingers cupped between the apex of my thighs, rippling her touch in a rhythmic motion.
“You like that?” She growled into my ear. “Those two idiots wouldn’t have been so gentle… and neither will I after this moment… so don’t think this is how the rest of the game is going to go.”
“The game?” My breath hitched as her fingers hooked over the fabric, pushing my now soaked panties into my center. My hips thrusted, grinding against her wrist.
Jax let out a small groan. “Keep acting like a whore and you’re going to get fucked like one… and with a lot more than just my fingers.”
I found myself nodding as my head rolled back onto the masked stranger’s shoulder.
I’d never had such an intimate, random encounter before.
Sure, I’d made out with women in bars plenty — but nothing past kissing.
Sex was usually a relationship thing. Something that was fun at first but after a while faded into the space in-between separate sides of the bed.
No part of me knew what this game was, or why I was being chased, or the reason this stranger behind a purge mask pulled me into a dark corner — but every part of me wanted their touch.
This excitement, this novelty, and even the fear of the unknown…
something about it exhilarated my senses and pooled between my thighs.
GAME OR NOT, ONE NIGHT OR NOT, THIS WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED.