Warning: This story is about rape and attempted rape. It is written from the understanding that the reader knows the difference between fantasy and reality. Genuine rape is a criminal destruction of the safety and security of other, and can crush a person physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Fantasy around control is a healthy and creative form of entertainment, and should not be regarded as anything else.
In summary: Two people meet with one thing in common, they follow their passion. When their worlds collide, they melt into a complicated world between prey and predator, with the conscience of this.
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Mia breathed the scent of the forest and felt a tremendous relief flood through her body; a break from office life was a blessing. The different shade of green on the grass, the trees, everything around her, beautiful colors followed her like a companion.
The day trip was amazing. Mia had followed a small path into the forest, and her final goal promised a fantastic swimming spot. The sun was shining without mercy, and the heat was beating down sharply, but this did not bother her because she was well prepared. In her travel bag she had three large bottles of water; heavy, but necessary. In addition, she had a cap, a towel, a jacket, her trusty cellphone, and a baguette with ham and cheese. She had always been adventurous, and in her blood a curiosity and exploratory urge prevailed that was difficult to stop.
After a peaceful divorce, 39-year-old Mia wanted to relocate to the countryside, having become tired of the hustle and bustle of city life. She had been offered a job as a business developer in a small village in France and jumped at the chance immediately; a new country, with new opportunities was just what she needed. She could speak French, originally been raised in Belgium.
After the dream home was purchased, it was time to get to know the area. Her neighbour, a kindly gentleman, recommended a great location for Mia to explore. He was 72 years old and a widower, and Mia's youthful joy and contagious laughter were quickly becoming a positive feature of his dull everyday life. Mia wondered why he got so serious when he insisted that she should not go to the right at the turn he mentioned, but only to the left. He seemed to have genuine concern for her wellbeing, asking time and time again relatively seriously whether she really should go alone in the woods, and if it was not better that she had a companion. However, Mia was fiercely independent and a feminist at heart; thanking him for the tip, she stated, politely but firmly, that going alone into nature was the most natural thing, even for women, and that there was no need to worry. Honestly, she thought the man was old-fashioned and had listened half-heartedly to his urgings.
She never saw the worried look of her neighbor staring at her back, never observed his obvious inner struggle - and she would never see him shake his head in despair and irritation. Nor did she ever see the neighbor sitting crying over newspaper clippings of missing women, one Sunday night after giving her the advice on a day trip. He couldn't tell her anything about these things; that was the law of the village, and the source of his heart ache. He looked at the photos of the eleven women who had disappeared for months before returning to society, devastated, especially mentally. Each of these women had the same story; they had been walking in the woods towards the factories, and all of them had been found later, stumbling around in shock and mumbling incoherently about monsters in the forest. Not much information could be gleaned from them, so very little was done to investigate; instead, it was hushed up, as the small community didn't want anyone outside the village to know about a potential attacker running loose in their forest. The police kept a low profile on the cases, as did the local newspaper, knowing full well that rumors could change how attractive the area was to potential residents. Due to property prices, tourism and a strong desire not to create panic, Mia had no idea about this.
Her crying neighbor looked at one picture specifically, his daughter Chanel. She had disappeared six years ago, and when she was released from captivity, her family realized immediately that she was no longer mentally present. Instead, they saw a shadow of a human, always in anguish, always in hiding. The village's rule of keeping silent about a possible attacker was sacred, which meant that Mia's neighbor never uttered a word about the significant potential threat to her safety.
On Mia`s trip that day, at the last steep turn up towards the forest, she forgot the neighbor's warning to only turn left. She did not care about left or right, and in her curiosity of the surrounding area around her home she slowly started to walk up the path towards the factories. She loved finding and exploring empty paths like this one; she was a little surprised not to meet a single soul out there, especially with it being the weekend and a beautifully sunny day. The neighbor had said that it was a great swimming spot that everyone flocked to, but Mia thought that it was perhaps a little too hot for many of the locals, or that it might be a route to the beach. Normally, Mia preferred to go alone, as the silence was magical.
Satisfied, she strolled through the forest on the trail, her thoughts drawing her attention to everything strange like they always did, her fantasy really blossoming. She was dragged suddenly back to reality as she became aware of a sense of uncertainty. In her quiet mind, she realized that this would be a perfect place for an attack, and the story of little red riding hood and the wolf played through her mind. Slowing her pace, she began to look around her surroundings a little more, the little alarm inside her vibrating, her inner warning -system, screaming its displeasure a time before the unease was cut short by the sun and light catching her interest again. Her concerns evaporated as quickly as they appeared, and, after telling herself she was worrying for no reason at all, she ambled slowly along for a while before taking a break to drink some water. The sweat dripped down between her clammy breasts, and she longed for a cold dip in the sea.
Right next to what looked like a large factory area, Mia saw a long fence that followed the shape of the bay, separating the path from the waves that crashed over the rocky outcrops along the shoreline. She took in the beauty of her surroundings, the chirping of the birds, the smell of the sea, and the warmth of the sun. The water tempted her with the offer of a compassionate relief for body and soul. Following the path towards the sea, Mia came to a new part of the forest. A little uncertain at first as to whether or not to continue, she decided to press on; and soon welcomed relief as the shade enveloped her, keeping the sun from roasting her tired body.
To her surprise, however, she soon arrived at another industrial area with several factories; surrounded by large, high fences. Coming upon another turn in the path, she saw a red and white caravan with a door open. Her curiosity increased as she observed a pair of bare feet sticking out of the door; they looked as if they belonged to a man, a man who was obviously lying down and resting his body in the heat. The earlier feeling of unease crept over her once more, despite the fact that the caravan was separated from the path by a high metal fence, and she hurried on, laughing to herself over her foolish fears. Behind her, the man sat up suddenly and listened intently.
At last she's there; paradise appearing in front of her. The smell of the sea was filling her nostrils with every step, her eyes scanning the fantastic beach and finding not a single person present upon the sand. She looked around in surprise, wondering where everyone could be; she had expected to find the sand packed with people sunning themselves and bathing. Shaking her head in disbelief that she is alone in taking advantage of this gem, she made her way to a large, almost flat rock right next to the water.
Unbeknownst to Mia, the beach was known to the locals as "The Guaranteed Death"; there were so many strong underwater currents there that the beach was regarded as being too dangerous for bathing, and indeed swimming there had been banned after countless drowning accidents. A warning sign to that effect had been installed many years previously, but as all the locals were by now well aware of the danger, it had been allowed to fall into disrepair and had faded to the point that it was no longer easy to read. With only the path leading to it, and the factories spewing their toxins into the sea, only a few bold seasonal workers from the factories made an occasional foray there for a walk on the sand.
Mia hurried to her selected sunspot; over the course of several hours, she relaxed and enjoyed herself on the sand. Normally one to dress conservatively, she took full advantage of the opportunity provided by her isolation and the warm day, and daringly decided to sunbath in her little orange bikini. After a while, she decided to cool off by taking a dip in the sea, enjoying the playful waves, oblivious to the possible dangers.
In pure joy of life, she hurled herself out in the sea, sensibly remaining in the shallow water where she could still gain a foothold when needed; it was this that kept her safe in the hazardous waters.
She spent the afternoon in blissful happiness, eating and drinking well and enjoying spells sunbathing on the beach and frolicking in the surf. After a while, the water's soothing effect on her warm skin began to make her feel sleepy; spotting a space in the shadows under some trees, she decided to stretch out and relax in the shade. In Mia's mind she had been on the beach for a maximum of two hours, but In reality, she had been there almost twice that long. Sitting down on the towel under the tree, staring at the birds wild dance over the roaring ocean, she fell asleep with a faint smile on her lips.
Richard.