A few years ago a mother-daughters photo that caught my eye.
It led me to write a very dark little story.
"PREY FOR THE HUNT"
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My mom read about this island where they do hunts for
women a couple of times a year.
“That’s cool,” I thought. “Women should be able to hunt if they want.”
But she told me no, there are men who actually hunt women for sport. They use guns or archery. They try to make a kill.
Me and my sisters were like, “WHAT??!!”
It got worse. She said the women have to be naked.
“That’s horrible!” I said.
Not only that but their hands and arms were fastened behind their back in order to make it hard or impossible to run – even jogging that way would be slow, difficult and tiring.
“Ugh!” I thought.
I heard the price is enormous, only in reach of billionaires and royalty.
“How could a hunter do this?” I thought. “How can someone try to kill another human being, especially when she’s totally vulnerable and helpless? Is that good sport?”
We heard that the odds of survival are not good. When a girl was killed, or “harvested” as they liked to say, the body was brought back to the main base camp. She got hung up by her ankles, legs apart, to sway and dangle. No one unties her hands. No one covered her up. Everyone can stroll by and ogle all they wanted. Ugh.
For a pretty girls who do survive sometimes there’s a marriage proposal. That would be a strange feeling.
I wondered about the prey girls. My God they must feel so incredibly exposed and embarrassed. Imagine knowing that men with weapons are trying to kill you, and everyone around you thinks this is good, fun sport. The poor girls must be terrified! Thinking about makes me feel sick.
I think it was my sister Amy who also said something like, “I know it would be totally horrible. But … you know … maybe it’s a little bit funny and sexy in some ways.”
Me and my sister Sophie were incredulous. “What? What??” we said. “You can’t say that!” Amy just smiled and shrugged. Mom was silent.
Over a few days and weeks I thought about it more. In spite of my fear and horror and disgust, I had to admit that maybe Amy had a point. Maybe being a prey girl could be kind of funny and sexy in some ways.
One day when we were having dinner I asked Mom about this. “Do they take volunteers? What if we wanted to do it?”
It seemed like Mom was ready for that question. She didn’t seem shocked. Mom said she’s support the idea if all of her three daughters wanted to do it. She said she’d join us if we all agree. But if any one of us backs out then we all back out together. That seemed like a fair.
I thought about what it would be like to get ready for a hunt. I’d be terrified. But if I was doing it with my mom and my sisters maybe it would also be fun in a way. We might help each other stay upbeat. We might be able to laugh at the crazy situation.
In the end we decided to do it. We’re catching our plane to the island tomorrow. There’s no backing out now! Before we go Mom wanted us to pose for some photos. I don’t know what all the emotions are going to be. I’m already scared to death. But I’m looking forward to it in a way.
People are complicated.