Shadows Of Fear

Summary: A woman encounters the Slit-Mouthed Woman
Warning(s): Violence; AU; minor injury

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There was hardly any light from the moon.

Haruka shivered as she crossed the street, pulling her jacket tighter around her shoulders. It didn’t do much to stop her shivering, though. After all, she was shivering because she was nervous. Not so much because she was cold.

Normally, there would be cars driving backwards and forwards even at this time; even when there were no people to be seen.

But not tonight. Tonight, there was no sign of life. Other than Haruka herself. There was no sound, other than her own footsteps that echoed along the pavement.

And then another pair of footsteps joined her own.

Haruka paused and so did the footsteps. She began walking again and the footsteps sounded once more. She sped up her steps, nearly running, and heard the louder, faster steps sound out behind her. She stopped abruptly and heard the footsteps halt. Hand reaching into her pocket for her phone, she turned around very slowly.

“Do you think I’m pretty?”

A woman with long black hair stood mere feet behind Haruka. She was tall, easily several inches more so than Haruka herself. Her eyes were large and a very dark brown. Her face was smooth and unlined, at least what could be seen above the white mask that covered the entire lower half of her face.

“What?” Haruka frowned.

“Do you think I’m pretty?” the woman repeated.

The hairs on the back of Haruka’s neck rose and her skin crawled. She backed up a step and then another, not taking her eyes off the woman.

The black hair tumbled down in curls to the long white dress the woman wore. Despite the chill of the night air, the dress was thin, but the woman wasn’t shivering. She approached Haruka, taking a step forward for each step Haruka took back. “Why do you not answer?” she asked.

“Who are you?” Haruka whispered.

“Do you think I’m pretty?”

Haruka’s eyes darted from side to side, looking for someone. For anyone. She gripped her phone tighter, pulling it out of her pocket with a hand slippery with sweat.

The woman raised a hand to her face and ripped off her mask.

Underneath, the woman’s face was marred. Mutilated. A gash ran from one side of her face to the other, making her look like she had a smile that stretched across the whole of her face. “Do you think I’m pretty?” she screeched.

Haruka couldn’t move. She could barely even breathe. All she could do was stare, shocked speechless, at the bloody wound in the woman’s mouth. She had to leave. Had to run. But it was like she was frozen in place, unable to move. Her skin crawled and a hollow pit formed in her stomach. Sweat and a cold finger of fear ran down her spine.

A knife materialised in the woman’s hand and she stepped towards Haruka, raising the blade threateningly. “Do you think I’m pretty?” She whispered the question this time.

Haruka’s eyes moved from the woman’s face to the knife and back again. Her eyes were the only part of her body she could move. Her voice was frozen in her throat. The knife moved closer, the sharp edge brushing against her skin. “You were.”

The words didn’t seem to belong to Haruka. They came from her lips, but she wasn’t the one speaking them.

The knife grazed along Haruka’s cheek, scoring a line of fire across her cheek. She felt blood well along her skin, but her gaze was locked on the woman’s face now. She couldn’t even blink. But something else, some other force, had control of her mouth. Was speaking through her lips. “You were beautiful,” the other being made her mouth say. “But you were only ever beautiful on the outside. Now, your ugliness is clearly visible to all who see you.”

It was like a string had been cut. Haruka suddenly fell to her knees onto the pavement and pain sliced through her. Her hair was grasped in a tight, painful grip and her head was yanked back. The knife flashed towards her face.

Her hand came up, closed fist connecting solidly with the woman’s wrist. The knife dropped and Haruka’s hand travelled to her face, catching her a glancing blow to the nose.

The woman stumbled backwards, ripping out a chunk of Haruka’s hair as she did so. Ignoring the pain, Haruka rose to her feet and her body spun, one foot lashing out and sweeping the woman’s legs out from under her. And before she could get up, Haruka grabbed the knife and pinned her with a knee against her chest, holding the knife against her throat.

The same force controlling her continued to speak through her. “I will banish you to the underworld you crawled back out of.”

The woman stared up at Haruka, into her eyes. Moisture filled her own and she blinked, then whispered, “Do it, then. Send me back.” She grabbed the knife, closing her fingers around the blade, and pulled it towards her throat.

Haruka yanked back. She pulled back control of her own body and fell to her hands and knees on the pavement, once again sending pain shooting through arms and legs. She felt cold all over, shivering violently. The knife had skittered off into the darkness. Bile rose in her throat and she didn’t think her legs would support her if she tried to stand.

“Get up.”

Haruka raised her head, looking into the woman’s eyes and determinedly ignoring the mutilated mouth. “I can’t.” She whispered the words. Looked at the woman’s hands and saw no hint of the knife. She closed her eyes and waited for the spirit to kill her. Waited to feel the sharp blade slice into her skin. Her cheek stung already, the cold air making it throb and burn.

A hand, light and soft as silk, touched her face. Stroked through her hair. Ran gently over her cheek, leaving a cool numbness behind. And then the touch was gone. Haruka opened her eyes.

The woman was gone. As if she’d never been there.

The End