The Masks

Day 7

I woke up the next morning alone in bed. I pushed the sheets off of me and climbed out. I had no clothing on. Well, that was to be expected I suppose.
I picked my black clothing up off the floor and began to put them on. As I was about to put my jersey on, Amethyst came into the room. She saw me getting dressed and squealed. "No! Those clothes are dirty. I have clean clothing here for you." I immediately got undressed.
"Sorry," I said, raising my hands defensively.
She came up to me and put her arms around my neck. "It's ok, baby."
She smiled at me sweetly. I needed to find out why this was happening. I needed to ask her what was going on. I needed to be more forceful. I needed to stop saying sorry.
She handed me the new clothing. It was all grey this time. Same clothing, just grey. She left the room while I put them on. Gloves and boots as well. No mask though.
I left the room, went down the stairs and into the kitchen.
She was sitting at the table. She smiled as I came into the room. I have to ask her why she's doing this.
I sat down on the stool opposite her, hands together in front of me. "Amethyst, who are you?" I asked, frowning. Why had it taken me so long to ask this question?
"What do you mean?" she asked, sounding confused.
"You know exactly what I mean. Who are you? Why am I here? Why can't I do things that I want to do?"
"I thought that the time you'd earned was gone," she said, to me apparently. "Well, I think I'll have to start from the beginning. I am one of the Fallen. The Fallen are angles of darkness who were thrown away by the Lord of Hell. He said that we were too big of a threat to him. So he sent us here, to Earth. There are seven of us left. The others have all died. A few have been allowed to return to Hell to serve our Lord once more. The ones who he forgave had to earn their way back to his side. They did this by giving him enough souls to prove that they were still faithful to him. The ones that died were killed by your kind or by the ones that they enslaved. We all were to enslave one human who we would send to retrieve souls on our behalf, as we are not permitted to kill humans. If a human we enslaved brings us a soul, we are required to give them a certain amount of time to return to their lives, but afterwards they would return to our service and would repeat the process over again until they either ended their mortal lives, or freed themselves by earning enough souls. Most die. A few have returned to their lives. During the time that they are under our power they do not have any control over what they do. Which is why you couldn't argue with me or ask the questions you just did. But during the time that they have earned to be themselves once more, they may do as they please." she stopped talking and looked at me, eyes unwavering. She wasn't lying.
"Why did you choose me?" I asked, unsure what else to ask.
"I thought you were quite handsome. And you looked like the one who would free me and allow me to return to my Lord. But I have thought that about each of my Slaves. Each one has failed me. But you have done well so far."
"How much time do I get for each soul that I give you?" I asked. I needed to escape from this. And I knew I couldn't do it any other way.
"Twelve hours for one soul," she replied, not looking at me. "Your time is nearly up actually. You've been asleep for a long time."
I looked at my hands. They were still pale. I would stay this way until I could free her. "What keeps me from doing what I want?" I asked.
She blinked at me. "Slaves wear a mask. It keeps their real selves hidden from the rest of the world. The mask is your cage."
"I wasn't wearing one when I woke up in that room yesterday, though. So why couldn't I do as I pleased then?" that didn't add up.
"The mask isn't something you can touch or see. It's something you can feel inside," she said getting up.
I could feel it now. It was taking over. I was going to be hers again. Why?
It took over and I stood immediately, looking at her as she came around the table towards me.
"I need you to free me," she said. You're the last Slave I will be allowed to have," tears streamed down her face. If I failed she would die. But why should I care? Her life was no concern of...wait. She had loved me last night. I couldn't do that to her. Abandon her after she had...
I would help her. I didn't really have a choice in the first place, but I would help.
She left the room and went upstairs. A moment later she came back with my mask. I put it on and zipped up the mouth.
"There are six other Slaves out there, Eric. Please be careful," she smiled sadly and gave me a hug.
I turned and left her. Alone.