Raincoat

The Mask

                                                                  chapter five

Vanity sighed as she rested her head on her hands. She and I had been taking a break in her library, leaving Rodger to watch the children--Six was practicing her reading, due to my recent discovery that reading wasn't very easy for her. Vanity had just sent her grandmother down to the depths of the maw, where all the machines were working. If it were me, I would have fired the old hag, but I suppose that's just how Vanity is built, she shows people mercy even if it could cost her greatly. I was comforting her to the best of my ability, though it didn't appear to be working much.

To my surprise, I felt Six tugging on my coat sleeve. I turned to her, to see she had the raincoat on with the hood up. She seemed frightened by something. I thought it was just a spider, and told her we were busy, but she insisted. Vanity and I exchanged glances at each other, before the woman stood up and followed Six to the other side of the Library. I let out an annoyed sigh and followed the pair, firmly believing that it was something stupid like a spider or a fly, or maybe even a word she needed help with.

Vanity came to a sudden stop, causing me to bump into her. I apologized and looked down at Six. The little girl was cowering behind Vanity, holding her hood down over her head in the process.

When I looked up, I caught sight of the white mask lying on the floor. It looked like one of those masks you'd see someone wear in a horror film, or one you'd have to wear a wig with so that the top of the mask wasn't visible. But there it was, just some random mask lying on the library floor.

"Six.." Vanity started, causing Six to look up at her in worry and fear. "Do you know how this got here?" Six responded with various hand motions that we couldn't understand. I knelt down to her level to see she was slightly panicking..

"Six--Six look at me." I ordered. Unlike other children, she did as she was told and looked me dead in the eyes. I was only able to catch a small glimpse at her brown eyes under the shadow of her hood and her dark hair. However I didn't need to see them completely to tell she was terrified of something. She kept her gaze on me, and continued to point at the mask in a panicking manor. I put my hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "Six, we can't understand what you're trying to tell us. Could you speak for us and tell us what happened?" she stopped pointing at the mask and averted her gaze to the ground, not making a sound. I sighed and looked up at Vanity for help, she was much better at this than I was. Vanity thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers.

"I know!" she started. "I'll take the mask and we can investigate it, while you give Six a journal of her own so she can communicate with us better." Six and I looked at each other for a moment, as if asking each other if we both agreed to this plan. Six gave me what looked like a neutral face of displeasure, which reminded me of the fact that she can't actually read. Well, she'll just have to try her hardest.

Entry Number 10

I'm attempting to read reading the subject's journal now, hoping to find some kind of evidence on who put that mask there. The girl's handwriting is horrible and her vocabulary is extremely low, even for an eight year old child...very interesting.

Nothing...

Well, nothing I could make out that is.

All I could really use as a source of information were the little pictures she drew in the corners.

Just a bunch of imaginary friends that look like something you'd see in your nightmares.

A shadowy little girl in a raincoat

A shadowy version of the--

Of my daughter.

She seems to be very superstitious of the mask we found in the library, I'm guessing it was some kind of game she was playing despite the fact that I told her to work.

This is why I don't like children...'

I can assume these figures are her ways of coping with her PTSD, although I've never seen anything this specific...I'll have to look into it...

Entry Number 11

2:00 AM, Something isn't right...