Suburbs of Santa Cruz. 7:30 AM...
Birds could be heard chirping overhead as Katelyn walked to school on a cool Tuesday morning. The world around her felt peaceful and calm. A welcome change in pace after her long night.
Katelyn felt no regrets from what they did to her attacker. She rightfully felt that she deserved it and, to Katelyn, last night was more of a warning; hopefully a lasting deterrence. Although, she did feel weird about how they demeaned her. She wanted to humiliate her but didn't think that they would make out. "At least we didn't actually kill her..." she thought to herself.
Approaching the school, Katelyn saw a rather large group of people huddled together near the entrance; looking closer she saw a crestfallen Danny. Upon running up to him, she asked, "Hey, what happened?"
"It's Maria... someone broke into her house last night and attacked her..." Danny slowly exhaled. "She's in the hospital recovering but..." then he broke down right in front of Katelyn.
Katelyn felt horrible; she hurt Danny. And now she knew who the brunette was; Maria.
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Katelyn's sense of justice soured as the day went on; Tuesday was certainly a rollercoaster of a day.
Katelyn tried to comfort Danny. After all, Danny grief's was her doing. Fortunately, Maria's friends started to warm up to Katelyn as they noticed that she was trying to be helpful and acting in good faith.
Afterschool in the parking lot, Katelyn called her mom. Katelyn wanted to visit Maria at the hospital; she wanted to see the damage her mask inflicted.
Katelyn entered Maria's empty hospital room and saw she was fast asleep. Both her arms and one of her legs were bandaged up and there were bruises and bandages scattered all over her body. On Maria's face, the cut that Katelyn accidentally caused with Maria's nunchucks was fully healed.
Katelyn walked over to a vase of flowers, that sat on Maria's bedside, and added her offering of a bundle of purple hyacinths. When she turned around, she saw Danny standing at the door staring at Katelyn. She looked towards the floor and walked past him without saying anything. She sat in the waiting room and waited for her mom to pick her up. After a few minutes, Danny tapped her shoulder and sat next to her.
"I really appreciated that you came. Maria's friends told me what happened last night..." Danny paused, his hands clasping together tightly.
"If I knew, I could have stopped her. Maria sometimes blows little things out of proportion..." he swallowed. "I'm sorry..." Katelyn started seeing Danny tear up again.
She put her hand on his clenched fists and reassured him, "It's okay". She paused and pulled out a pen and scrap of paper from her purse. "If you wanna talk... I'm all ears." With that she gave him her phone number and left the waiting room to get picked up.
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On the way home, Katelyn decided she needed to have an intervention with the mask. She needed to understand its magic; she never wanted to hurt anyone ever again with or without the mask.
Katelyn paced around her room thinking of a way to communicate the mask. If she wore it again, who knows what would happen; she might loose control and let the mask go on a rampage. She was having second thoughts about the mask; she didn't know if she would ever wear it again.
After several hours, she gave up for the night and decided to research more in the morning; and finish her homework. Unbeknownst to Katelyn, she would get the chance to speak to her masked self; in her dreams that night...
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When one door closes another one opens...
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