The Masks

Day 8

I left the school gates behind me and began to walk back towards the city. Amethyst would be worried about me. I'd been gone for nearly a day. And I still didn't have a soul you give to her.
I continued down the road. It would be morning soon, but it was pitch black at the moment. The stars provided no light. The moon wasn't there to help them.
After a while, I reached the north side of the city. It was the more run down area, with plain, windowless, brick buildings and pothole filled streets.
It was quiet, but I knew I wasn't alone here. I could feel eyes watching me. Waiting for me to get too close.
I avoided the darker streets and alleyways, walking under the street lamps, which mostly gave off eary, white light and cast long shadows.
I reached a place in the road where a large sign glowed pink and red. Only a few of the letters still glowed bright, the rest were either dark or flickering. I looked at the remaining letters and read "Her." I couldn't make out the rest of the sign that sat in darkness, but the flickering letters read "Lies."
Weird.
I crossed the road and continued on my way. It was unbelievably quiet.
After an hour or so of uninterrupted walking, I left the city and crossed the bridge that I had when I had first gone into the the city. I reached the front door of the house and knocked.
I heard Amethyst rush down the stairs to the door. It swung open and she looked at me with eyes filled with worry.
She grabbed me and hugged me tight, her face pressed to my chest.
"I was so worried about you," came her muffled voice. She sobbed.

****

I told her everything that happened in the past day. She was particularly interested in the shadowy figure that had called me Chosen, and kept on asking questions about it. It was like she was hoping something wasn't true. That worried me.
"So that's what happened," I ended my story and looked at her. I was still hers. I didn't have a soul to give her.
She turned away from me and said, "Your mask is gone." Her voice was cracked and she was crying again.
"I know. I'm sorry. I didn't have it on me when..." she raised her hand and stopped me from finishing my explanation.
"That's not what I mean, Eric," she turned back around and looked up at me. Her eyes told me everything.

****

I sat on a swing in the middle of a park. I couldn't believe it.
I wasn't hers anymore.
As soon as I had found out that I no longer belonged to Amethyst I had run away. I hadn't been thinking about anything but myself. I just wanted to be free.
I had been sitting here for hours now and had left Amethyst alone to cry. But I didn't care. She hadn't loved me that night. She'd loved the slave that I was. She had done that to make sure I didn't leave her when I was allowed to be free. But I know that what we had done was just a lie. She didn't love me. I knew she would never love me.
I...was still not free though. I still had that strength from before. I could still jump over buildings. I'd checked. I still had that shadow inside of me. I'd tested it.
I wasn't going to be normal ever again.
The sun left me in darkness and the stars came out to greet me. A cresent moon peered at me through the branches.
I sighed and stood, getting off the swing. I left the park and everything else behind.