UNMASKED (mha)

28

T/W: this chapter contains content that might be disturbing for some readers

Aiko watched as a small stray grey cat waltzed up to her. It rubbed against her jeans and gave a friendly meow. She briefly gave it a careful rub in-between the ears and then continued forward.

Her and Beatrice were currently walking down the street. It has been a day since the attacks in Hosu and Thunderstruck had given them the ok to run errands together in street clothes.
The two girls had already visited a few shops and hadn't had too much attention. Because it was technically a school day Aiko's fan interactions were at a minimum, considering the people that make up most of her fan base were in school.

She was glad about it though. For the first time in awhile she actually felt normal. Just shopping with her friend, no fans and no hero stuff.

"I can't believe I left my phone!"
Beatrice groaned.

"Well at least you have your wallet still, I keep my money in my phone case. So if I had forgotten that i would have been screwed."
Aiko said with a laugh.

They browsed the shop they were in for some snacks and ended up buying ice cream.
The two chatted on their way back, passing a fairly quiet part of town. It was basically empty because everyone had work or school at this hour.

Aiko stopped, spotting something on the street just ahead of her.

It was an odd dark streak on the concrete sidewalk. It hadn't been there thirty minutes ago, when they had first came this way.
She frowned and walked forward, trying to see what exactly it was. She stepped up to it and then she heard Beatrice gasp.
It was a red streak of burgundy liquid.

Blood.

And it was fresh.
The streak lead to an Alley. Which as you can imagine is one of the most creepy and suspicious things you can see leading to a dark alleyway.

She took a nervous step forward.
Was there someone in there? Someone that needed help? She bit her lip and started to walk towards it, Beatrice grabbed her arm. Shaking her head no.
Aiko looked back at her friend.
"Someone could be hurt."
She whispered.

Beatrice frowned but let go, allowing Aiko to step to the alley. She couldn't see anything at first. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dark of the shadows.

Once she was actually in the Alley though she felt something odd. Something off.
It felt like she was missing something, like a white noise that was constantly playing was shut off. Or like something she'd been carrying around in her pocket for hours suddenly disappeared.

It felt wrong.

She ignored it though. She ignored the feeling and looked around the Alley. Beatrice was right behind her, Aiko wondered if she felt like something was wrong too.
Aiko stood there and finally noticed something.

Humming.

A foreign, sweet tune. She peered down to the end of the Alley she could just barely make out a figure sitting there.
"A-are you alright?"
Aiko asked, they were sitting on the ground. Slumped forward, the trail of blood lead straight to them.

Aiko walked forward cautiously.
"Hello?"
She whispered. God, if this was some horror movie she'd be dead already.

The humming got louder, it wasn't really a melody. At least not a steady one. It changed from high to low, from sweet to angry.
"Poor little kitty~"
The voice hummed.

Aiko blinked, unsure of what to do.

"Poor little girl~"
It sang sweetly. The figure lifted their head, Aiko was close enough to make out details now. It was a girl, probably between the ages of seventeen and twenty. She had straight black hair that fell forward and eyes that were completely yellow.
And then there was her smile.

There was something uncanny about that smile, it was wide and grotesque. It was wider than most, like the slit of her mouth was too long.
Aiko normally wasn't put off by mutations. After all people couldn't usually help it, but that smile combined with the blood and the creepy singing was definitely putting her on edge.

She watched the woman and noticed her hand moving over her lap. Then she lifted it up and moved it back in a petting motion.
Aiko looked at her lap and saw a mound of gray fur.

"Poor little kitty~"
She sang with a giggle.

Aiko felt like barfing. This girl wasn't the source of The trail of blood Aiko had been following. It was coming from the animal. The gray fur sparkled with red oozing liquid, coming from its neck.

Aiko's eyes widened as she stood there staring at it.
The woman sat there for a moment, tenderly stroking the soft fur of the creature she herself had killed. The fur stopped at the neck because there was nothing above that.

Aiko didn't know WHERE the head was. But it definitely wasn't on the cat's body any longer.

The woman hummed and her pale fingers trailed down the spine of the dead cat.
"Tell me, Aiko Zhu..."
She whispered, Aiko's heart pounded.

"How would you like to die?"

A/N:
Aaahhh creepyyyyy
Yk I've never written anything horror related, so how did I do?

Also if you thought this was too disturbing I suggest just skipping the next chapter.

(Sorry if this was traumatizing)