Ruby (Landry 1)

girl." He lifted the mask from his face, but I couldn't

see him well in the shadows. Before I could flee, he

embraced me and pulled me to him.

"Please," I said, s

truggling. "I must go. I don't

want to do this."

"Sure you do. It's Mardi Gras. Let yourself

loose, abandon yourself," he told me, and pressed his

lips to mine, holding me so tightly, I couldn't pull away. I felt his hands move down my back and begin to scoop up my skirt. I turned and struggled, but his long arms had mine pinned against my sides. I started to scream and he squelched it by pressing his mouth into mine. When I felt his tongue jet out and rub over mine, I gasped. His hands had found my panties and he was tugging them down as he swung me about. I felt myself growing faint. How could he keep his mouth over mine so long? Finally, he pulled his head back and I gulped air. He turned me around, pressing me toward what looked like an old, discarded mattress

on the alley floor.

"Stop!" I cried, twisting and turning to break

free. "Let me go!"

"It's party time!" he cried, and laughed that dry

cackle again. But this time, as he brought his face

toward me, I managed to pull my right hand out from

under his arm and claw his cheeks and nose. He

screamed and threw me back in a rage.

"You bitch!" he cried, wiping his face. I

cowered in the dark as he lifted his head and released

another sick laugh. Had I fled from Buster Trahaw

only to put myself into a worse predicament? Where

was Annie Gray's magical protection now? I

wondered as the stranger started toward me, a dark, dangerous silhouette, a character who had escaped

from my worst nightmares to invade my reality. Fortunately, just as he reached out for me, a

group of street celebrants turned into our alley, their

music reverberating off the walls. My attacker saw

them coming, lowered his mask over his face, and ran

in the opposite direction, disappearing into the

darkness as if he had fled back to the world of dark

dreams.