The Forbidden Game

Pain. Darkness. ESCAPE. These were the things running through her mind as she ran. They were catching up to her and quickly. She did not know who they were and what they wanted, but she knew she needed to run. As she did, the thick trees in the forest became a blur as her vision started to go from lack of oxygen. Her legs screamed in pain as they began to tighten from overuse. She was going to collapse. And then...she tripped over a branch on the forest floor, hitting the damp ground with a loud thud. She moaned in pain and the last thought she had before the dark claws reached out to grab her was "How typical!" She awoke from her deep sleep from the sound of her phone going off. She squinted her eyes at the tiny screen and swiped the X to stop the alarm before throwing her phone back on the small nightstand. With a stretch and an unladylike yawn, she threw her floral blankets off of her and stood to open the pink curtains, letting sunshine fill her bedroom. "Who's ready to start the day!" she exclaimed in a sing-song voice. She flipped her black curly hair over her shoulder as she turned to smile brightly at her two furry companions, eyeing her with disdain from the sudden bright light. "Oh, don't look at me like that you two, you know youre hungry anyway! Plus, mommy has to get ready for work with Auntie Shelby" The two animals arose from their beds to stretch dramatically before walking into the small kitchen for breakfast. Aristotle, her husky/wolf mix, waited patiently at her side while Kuromi, her black cat, meowed at her impatiently, as if she hadn't eaten in days. Kuromi was just a tad bit dramatic. As she handed them their plates of food, she kissed their heads lovingly and went to the bathroom to shower and put on her makeup for the day. She dressed in her usual black button down shirt with a brightly colored cami, today's color is pink, peaking through the first few buttons, purposefully left unbuttoned. A girl's got to make that money somehow right? She threw on her black skinny jeans and black Chuck Taylors and threw her silver tipped black hair in a half up do with a pink bow in the back to match. She did a double take in the mirror to make sure her winged-eyeliner was on point before she heard a car horn beeping in the driveway of her small cottage home. "Bye guys, Mama will be home in a little while to check on you. Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone!" With that, she kissed them both again and headed out the door to greet her friends in the car. "Girlfriend, I'm gonna need you to hoof it!" stated the driver, a mixed girl with beautiful black curly hair to her shoulders and naturally beautiful caramel skin. This was Shelby, her best friend in the whole world. "See, this is why we get her last. She takes too damn long!" exclaimed a girl with a fake tan and dyed fire engine red hair. This was Katarina, we all have our project people we try to be nice to. She rolled her eyes as she ashed her ciggarette out the back window. "Don't be a b***h Kat, she IS our bartender after all," said the only male in the vehicle. He smiled and waved at her as she approached the car. This was Cain, a tall skater boy type with long brown hair tied back into a bun and gages to match. He was popular at the restaurant they all worked at. As he states, he is every emo girl's wet dream. He did his signature wink and blew a kiss to her as she approached the passeneger side of the white Honda CRV. "Hey beautiful, is today the day me and you hang out after work?" "Youre adorable Cain," she said sarcastically. "But as always, not interested" "One of these days doll, you will come to the dark side," said Cain, as he lit a ciggarette Katarina had handed to him. "Anyway," Shelby said with a roll of her big honey-colored eyes, "are you ready to make some f*****g money today?" "Hell yeah!" With that, the foursome drove off to their restaurant, blaring a range of music from trap to metal to k-pop. Who is she, you may ask? Her name is Luna, 23 years old, porcelein skin, sweet as can be, the best damn bartender anyone in this city has ever seen and someone whose life is about to change. The group arrived at the restaurant an hour before opening. At the front door was Lily, the young hostess and trying to unlock the door next to her was the manager Helen. They all gathered in the kitchen for their morning meeting with the cooks to discuss the plans for the day. "Alright kids, we got Lily up front seating and doing to go orders, Shelby and Kat taking the main dining room, Cain in the party section and Luna in the bar. Julius takes fry side, Rob gets salads and sautee, Corey on the grill and Ruthie on prep and stock. Anybody have any questions" asked Helen. "No Mama Helen!" they all shouted in unison. "Excellent, go make me proud today!" she exclaimed. Luna went to work behind the bar, making sure she was stocked for the lunch and dinner rush and cutting fresh garnishes for the various drinks. She erased the chalkboard to make an artsy picture and font for the drink of the day: Grateful Dead. She bluetoothed her phone into the speakers of the bar and hit a random station on Pandora to get some good vibes going for her customers. She wiped the counters down and made sure everything was ready to go when Lily opened the doors. As the day continued into the night, Luna did as she always did. She sang as she made her drinks and took care of her customers and servers. She would sing Disney princess songs to not only be family friendly but to give everyone a relaxed feeling being in a bar. She had a lovely voice and all of her customers found it sweet and ended up giving her more tips for the entertainment. Lily approached the bar with 2 gentlemen a few years older than Luna. One had porcelein skin like her with shoulder length black hair, tattoos all over the place and wore ALOT of black. The dude looked like a k-pop star! He had an almost crimson look to his almond shaped eyes, and gages to boot. In short, he was exactly her type! The other man was more normal looking with shaggy brown hair, green eyes and an easy going smile. They both looked at Luna with an almost confirming look, as if she was exactly who they were looking for. Ignoring the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach, she smiled at the men and headed to the table Lily was seating them at. "These guys specifically requested to sit with you Luna, I hope this table is ok?" she said with a smile. "Of course my dear! I super appreciate you" said Luna as Lily handed them their menus. Luna waved goodbye to Lily and turned her attention to the two men. "Hi fellas, my name is Luna and I'm the bartender here. What can I get you to drink? I make a mean mixed drink" she said with a wink. "Ill have your drink of the day please," said Mr. K-pop. "Same" said the regular guy. "You got it guys, I'll be right back with those. Anything to eat tonight or just out for a couple of drinks?" she asked as she walked back behind the bar to start mixing. "No, thank you on the food. We heard you are the best bartender in the city so we wanted to see for ourselves" said regular guy. "Oh that's so cool! I hope I live up to the reputation," she giggled as she flipped bottles over one by one. After finishing their drinks, she set them on the table. She continued with her other customers and singing for them. She couldn't get this nagging feeling about the two guys out of her head though. On a few occasions, she caught them both staring intently at her, it was almost scary. Luna brushed it off, she was a beautiful girl and was used to men and women staring at her but this felt...different. As it got closer to closing time, the two guys closed out their ticket and continued to just sip on the one drink. Shelby popped up at the bar, looking exhausted. "Lulu, I'm done with my tables for the night, you want to take a break and go smoke?" "Yeah totally I'm done cleaning the bar up too," she said as she went to the guys table. They were the only ones left at this point and she wanted to let them know she was going outside if they needed anything. "Do you mind if I join you?" asked Mr. K-pop. Not wanting to be rude, especially since they tipped her 100.00 bucks she said happily, "sure come on, we will go out the back." Shelby leaned in close and whispered to her "Isn't it weird they havent left yet?" "Yeah" Luna whispered back, "what's weirder is I get this vibe from them, like I know them from somewhere. I just can't figure out where or when" Unknowingly to them, the k-pop guy heard every word and gave a very discreet signal to the other man at the table. The other man got up and went out the front door, waving to Lily with a friendly smile. As the trio went out the back kitchen door and into the parking lot, they each lit a ciggarette. The black haired man smiled at Luna in an almost devious way and it made both Luna and Shelby tremble. "Hey Lulu, I think I'm going to go ask Julius if he wants one too, I owe him a pack anyway,"said Shelby as she walked back inside hurriedly to get the 6'4" cook. This was a plan that the girls of the restaurant had whenever they got a bad vibe from someone. One would go get the big and bad-looking cook. This left Luna alone with this man for a few minutes. "So, what do you do for a living?" asked Luna trying to not sound awkward. "If you tell me k-pop idol, I totally nailed it" He laughed "yeah, you always used to say that about me, even back then." "Pardon me?" Luna asked confused. She hadn't met this man before, at least she thought she hadn't. "You used to love men like that, still do I see. So I told you I would change my look just for you, so long as you loved me," he threw his ciggarette down and looked at her intensely. "But you forgot about us, didn't you Princess?" "Umm, I think I hear my friend calling me so I will just-" Luna was cut short by the sound of screeching tires behind her. She turned to stare at the blacked out van with its back doors swung open. She quickly realized what was about to happen and tried to make a run for the kitchen door. The black haired man rushed her with inhuman speed and pushed her back and into the van. In the same movement, he shut the van doors as the brown haired man drove the van off the lot and onto the interstate. "What the f**k do you think you're do-" Luna was cut short by the black haired man putting a cloth to her nose and mouth. Before she could mouth off anymore, her vision went black and she passed out, fearful for what was about to come.