The Masks

Day 6

I woke up in a dark room. It was cold. And I wasn't wearing anything. My back was freezing and every movement sent a shiver down my spine and made me gasp for breath.
I sat up in the darkness. I raised my hand in front of my face and couldn't see it. I flapped it around and still, I couldn't see it.
I felt what I was sitting on with my hands. It was cold steel. A bed.
"Hello?" I called out to the darkness.
At first I heard nothing. Then I heard a loud bang, like someone slamming a hammer on the ground. A moment later the room lit up with a bright white light.
I raised my hands to cover my eyes, but they didn't hurt. I looked around at my surroundings. The room I was in was completely white. The tiled floor, the concrete walls and the ceiling made entirely of lights. All white.
I looked down at myself. My skin was pale. As if it had never seen the sun. My hair had gone white as well. Where it covered my arms and legs and groin. It was all white.
I got off the steel bed and put my feet onto the tiled floor. It was freezing.
I stood up on shaky legs, but didn't fall over.
Where the hell was I?
"Hello?" I called out again. The wall in front of me suddenly stopped being a wall and turned into a window. It was tinted glass, so I couldn't see anything on the other side in detail. But I could see a silhouette. There was someone standing there.
Watching me.
I stepped closer to the window and touched my fingertips to the glass.
The glass melted away at my touch. And behind it stood that girl. The one who had attacked me in the classroom blocks.
What was her name again? Amethyst Sorrows?
"Oo," she said pouting, "someone's happy to see me this morning." She looked down quickly to my groin and smirked. She came closer to me and asked, "Did you enjoy your little nap, baby?"
"Yes, Amethyst," I found myself saying.
What the hell? Where was I?
"That's good, baby," she said, grabbing hold of my waist, pulling me close to her. "I've missed you," she whispered.
"I am sorry, Amethyst."
She looked into my eyes, frowning, "It's okay, baby. I know you needed your rest."
She took my hand in hers and led me out of the room.
We were in what seemed like a basement. She took me up the stairs and into a lounge area. There were a few couches around a large wooden coffee table and a TV on one side of the room.
The thing that really disturbed me about the room was that there were two corpses on the center couch. A man and a woman in loving embrace. Their faces masks of pain and anguish.
Who were they? I wanted to know, but didn't seem to have the ability to ask.
Amethyst led me past the dead lovers and up a second set of stairs to the second floor of the house. She turned left down a hallway and into the bedroom at the end of it.
There was an unmade bed up against the wall in the middle with bedside tables on either side, a lamp on each one.
She let go of my hand and pointed at the bed. "Lie down," she said. When I was lying down on the bed she grinned at me and left. A few minutes later she returned with clothing and what appeared to be a mask. She put the mask onto the table on my left and proceeded to lay the clothing out onto bed next to me.
I tried to sit up, but she pushed my chest and forced me onto my back again.
"I am going to dress you," she said. She blushed.
Why? After all that she'd done to me, why would she blush now?
She took the pair of black jeans and began to put them onto my legs. She slid them up to my waist and zipped and buttoned them after giving my groin a stroke.
"Amethyst," I said, uncomfortable.
"Yes, baby?"
"Not now, please," wait. Did I seriously just say that?
She pouted, but didn't do it again. She then took the black jersey and pulled it over my head and shoulders and down my waist. The clothing fit well. And it was good to have something warm on.
She handed me a pair of black socks and allowed me to put them on myself while she left the room again.
By the time I had them on, she returned holding a pair of black leather boots with laces. She put them down at my feet. I put them on and tied the laces.
She seemed to like me in black. It might just be to contrast my extremely pale skin, though.
I stood up.
She took the mask off of the bedside table and held it out for me to take. It was black. With a zip on the front where my mouth would be. The zip was closed. On the inside of the mask were two metal hooks on each end of the mouth hole.
"What are those for?" I asked.
She pointed at hooks and said, "Each hook must pull on the corners of your mouth."
I raised an eyebrow. I shrugged and put the mask on, hooking my mouth. It was painful. But I had to put it on. I strapped the mask around the back of my head.
My hair fell loose over the mask and covered my eyes.
I was smiling because of the hooks. I unzipped it and allowed her to see me.
"Now you will always be happy to see me," she said.
"I always am happy to see you, Amethyst," Why did I say that?
She took my hand once more and started to lead me out of the room, but she stopped. "Wait. I forgot your gloves."
She opened the drawer in one of the bedside tables and pulled out a pair of black fingerless gloves. I slipped them on. Flexing my fingers to get comfortable.
"There. Now you're perfect," she said. She stood up on her toes and kissed my forehead.
She took me downstairs, back into the room with the corpses. "Now," she said, letting go of my hands and pointing at the front door, "kill."
I nodded, silent. I zipped the mask closed and left her alone in the house.
"He's so hot," I heard her say to herself as I closed the door.
It was dark outside. Probably midnight. The stars were bright in the sky because the moon wasn't there.
The city stood before me. A few lights twinkling in each building. Most people would be asleep right now.
It was quiet. And chilly. But I was warm in the clothing that Amethyst loved so much.
I stalked down the empty street.
There was not a soul in sight. But that didn't mean that there weren't souls out there.
I could feel a few of them, but they were either too small, too weak or too far away for me to be bothered with.
There was one though. I could smell it. It was strong and young and not too far into the city.
Amethyst needed souls for some reason. I don't know how I knew this, but I just did.
The soul I could smell was moving now. Away from the city. Towards me. It was hunting. Just like I was. But it wasn't hunting for a reason like mine. It only needed to feed.
I began to run down the street towards the dark city.
I ran faster and faster and faster, trying to catch my prey. Everything around me was a blur.
I was so fast. How? I'd never been athletic in high school. But now I could run as fast as I liked without tiring.
I reached the bridge that connected the city with the suburbs and began to run across, a little slower now.
I reached the middle of the bridge and stopped. Something wasn't right. I couldn't smell my prey any more. Or any other souls for that matter.
It was quiet too.
A little too quiet...
I leapt to my left, evading the attack of the soul I had been trying to find. I landed on the edge of the bridge and stumbled before regaining my balance. I turned and looked at my opponent.
He was a tall man, wearing only dark grey and a scarf of deep red, wrapped around the bottom of his face.
He was looking at me, but he didn't have any eyes to see me with. Only black, empty sockets. His hair was the same colour as the night. Black, with white specks here and there.
I unzipped my mask, revealing my smile. He cocked his head to one side.
I bent my knees slightly, getting into a position that would allow me to dodge further attacks or to break into a run if he tried to escape. I wasn't going to attack him just yet. I needed to see what he could do first.
He got into a similar position as me, except he moved one hand behind his back.
A weapon. Or a taunt.
Maybe he was saying he didn't need both hands to kill me.
I raised an eyebrow. This was going to be fun. My opponent dashed to the side, running fast across the bridge towards the city. I gave chase.
The hand behind his back was empty. He had nothing hidden up his sleeve. We crossed the bridge and ran down a street, lined with tall buildings on either side.
There were no cars or people at all. And the lights I had seen in the buildings before had gone out.
My opponent leapt onto one of the buildings on the left. His boots landing in the walls. He began to run on the wall as if it was the ground.
He turned away and began to run up the side of the building, trying to escape. I stopped running and looked up at him. He didn't turn to see my reaction.
I bent my knees and built up the strength to jump. When I was ready, I shot myself up into the air and onto the top of the building in front of me. My opponent came over the edge as I landed on the roof.
He dashed towards me, hands turning into fists. He threw a punch to my stomach, which I blocked and another to my face, which I dodged.
I returned my own attacks, but he defended himself too well and I couldn't get a hit in. We continued like this for a few moments before we both swung our fists at the same time and hit each other, square in the teeth.
I stumbled back and he flew backwards through the air and landed on the edge of the rooftop. I recovered quickly and wiped my mouth. Blood came off on my gloves.
I approached my opponent. He was still conscious. I put my boot onto his chest and pressed down. His ribs began to crack and he screamed in pain.
"Stop stop stop!" he shouted. I pressed harder and his chest caved in. He died screaming.
I lifted my boot from where it was and stepped back. I knelt down beside the corpse and dug my hand into the hole I had made. I pulled his heart out.
I held it before me and looked at the wet redness of it.
Disgusting.
I kicked the corpse over the edge before jumping down with it. As I fell I grabbed hold of it, placing my feet on it. The body hit the ground with a sickening crunch with me, safe on top.
I stood. The corpse would fade into the darkness before the morning.
I turned back to the bridge and returned the way I had come.
A while later I reached the house. I knocked on the door and waited for Amethyst unlock it for me.
She did and when she saw the heart in my hand she squealed with joy. I stepped inside with her and closed the door behind me. I handed her the heart and she grinned at me. I took off my mask and gloves and felt my face relax.
Amethyst went away for a moment and returned without the heart. Instead she was wiping her hands on a cloth, which she handed to me. I have her my bloodied gloves and mask and wiped my hands. She took the gloves and mask away.
I threw the cloth into the kitchen to my right and went upstairs. I went down the hall and into the room at the end.
The bed was made.
I pulled my jersey off and dropped it on the ground.
I got onto the bed and waited.
Amethyst came into the room a little while later.
She wore a tiny skirt and stockings. With a black crop top.
She was beautiful.
She closed the door behind her and got into the bed with me. She climbed on top of me and smiled at me.
She kissed me and pulled my jeans off. We were both virgins. I don't know how I knew this. But again, I just did.
She loved me for the first time that night.