Suburbs of Santa Cruz. 6 AM...
Shafts of light peeked through Katelyn's window as she slowly woke up. She used one hand to rub her eyes and realized that the other hand was holding onto the mask. Taken aback, she jumped out of bed and threw the plank of wood against the headboard of her bed.
"What the heck is that doing..." Suddenly feeling a cold chill as a cool breeze blowed through her window.
"Oh My God... Why am I NAKED!?" She screamed internally.
Her head throbbed with a slight hangover. It was almost as if she drank barrels of beer the night before. "Ugh... maybe I should skip school today..."
She reminded herself, "Well, I did ask Mom to take me to school today... can't dip on her..."
Katelyn sighed and looked around her room. Typically, her room was a mess but today it looked even worse; like as if a tornado ripped through. "No place like home", she snickered to herself.
She then looked towards the mirror, still nude, and stared at herself. She couldn't help but feel a little empty inside, like something was missing since the last time she looked at herself in the mirror...
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"Have a good day honey~ I'll pick you up afterschool too at this same spot."
"Okay Mom, bye..." Katelyn started pacing towards the school's and waved towards her mom over her shoulder when she suddenly bumped into a tall figure.
"Sorry... I wasn't paying attention," Katelyn started.
"No I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going either," the boy replied.
Katelyn looked up and stared at the tall and somewhat handsome boy. She thought he looked familiar. A sparing memory fled into Katelyn's mind...
"I've gotta go. Sorry Danny."
"Wait, how do you know my name?"
Katelyn didn't know herself. She responded, "Gotta go!"
With that, Katelyn ran into school while the boy stared at her girl's disheveled blonde hair.
Danny shrugged and walked to his friends nearby.
"Morin' Danny, how's the new job at the club?" Malcolm, Danny's friend, asked giving him a high-five.
"Great... I met someone...," Dan replied.
"Better not be a new girlfriend," Maria said as she approached her boyfriend. "Who was it babe?"
"Don't worry Maria, it was all work, besides I must of had to many drinks myself as the bartender..."
"Better not be anyone. Let's go~" Maria demanded.
"Sure doll... just work... that's all." And with that, Dan and his girlfriend Maria walked into school.
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In homeroom, Katelyn kept thinking about Danny. "How do I know him? I never seen him before and yet it feels like we've recently met..."
In a different classroom, Danny also tried to figure out who that blonde girl was. "She reminds me of...", he pauses, "eh... never mind."
Maria, still feeling uneasy with the look on her boyfriend's face, thought "Somethin's going on... and I don't like it..."
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Afterschool, as Katelyn waited for her Mom in the front of the school, Maria strode to the school parking lot and eyed down on Katelyn.
"Hey blondie!?" Maria exclaimed.
Katelyn froze. She looked ahead and saw her mom's car pull into the parking lot.
Katelyn darted towards her mom's car. "You ain't leaving me now!" Maria yelled.
Katelyn frantically opened the car door and screamed "Go!" And with that, Katelyn avoided Maria once again.
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After dinner, Katelyn helped cleanup and later stumbled to her room. "Hey Mom, what are you doing in my room?"
"Kat, it's a mess. If you're not going to cleanup, I will."
Her mom started gathering her clothes and saw the mask at the edge of her bed.
"Kat, what's this?" her mom asked pointing to the wooden slab.
"Oh nothing..." she paused "it's just a... part of a halloween costume... yeah," Katelyn stuttered. "I'll cleanup my room tonight, promise."
"Okay then, I'll join your dad in the den. Let me know when your done. I want to see this room spotless" her mom demanded.
Katelyn nodded. And sighed in relief when her mom left.
Across the room, Katelyn stared at the mask. She felt it smiling back at her and drawing her towards it...
"No. I'll deal with you over the weekend," she thought to herself. "For now, I gotta keep you somewhere safe".
She went over to her closet and found her Uggs shoebox. She placed the mask on top of her boots and hid the box deep into her closet.
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In the middle of the night, a neon green glow could be seen emanating from the Uggs box. The mask's facial expression changed to a grin as it waited for the weekend.
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Close call... could you imagine if anyone else wore it? Katelyn should be more careful...
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