Short Tales of Abominations

Mask In The Window

Five in the morning. An alarm blared, filling the room with it's annoying buzz. The smaller hand of an excited sixth grader quickly snoozed it.

Benny had a new morning ritual that he was plenty excited about. Next year, he started middle school and would have to wake up early. Hhe normally woke up at seven, but he decided to start waking up at six to "get used to it."

The reality was, there was some good stuff on tv at six in the morning, to his surprise. The cartoon channel was still playing the adult cartoons, which was always funnier than the kids stuff. They had swear words!

Benny swore at school, but he would never tell his parents. That didn't make him a bad kid though. Everyone does it! Right?

He threw the blankets off of him and got up. His room was a little chilly but he figured he'd warm as he woke up.

Down the stairs he went, through the hallway and into the pantry. A box of cereal, chocolate flavored, seemed to shine with divine revelation as his eyes met its cardboard glory.

He made himself a bowl, pouring slightly too much milk, and sat on the couch. On the television was a sketch comedy show, only the actors were dolls and it was highly inappropriate. He loved it.

He got through the first couple sketches completely content. His cereal was good, he had warmed up and the show was almost too funny to watch while eating.

Out of the corner of his eye, through the archway to the dining room, something moved. He wasn't sure if he had made a movement that reflected back at him. Thus, he began to make ridiculous gestures to see if it was his own reflection.

A few results came back positive and, knowing he didn't do anything near the gestures he had made, he
reluctantly accepted that he was the cause of movement.

The show had gone off. A few minutes of commercials later, one being a toy that looked really cool, the same show came back on with a different episode.

Once more something strange entered his periphery. During the shows intro, he glanced at the window and jumped. A few breaths later he realized that the light of the lamp bouncing through the arch and hitting different objects had only created what he saw as some sort of mask.

He couldn't help but stare at it though, it caught him off guard.

"It's alive!" A faint voice sung from the program's introduction. Coincidence.

He was halfway through his bowl of cereal and decided he'd had enough. His eyes were hogging all the sugar and clearly fooling his brain.

He took the bowl to the kitchen and, with his spoon creating a filter for the cocoa spheres, dumped the milk down the sink. Seconds later, he was back on the couch.

He watched the show with half his original enthusiasm. The light oddity in the window kept drawing glances from him.

He sighed to himself, I'm not a little kid anymore. I can go check it out.

He got up and pushing past his fright, approached the window. The mask had a weird shape, but it was definitely a trick of the light. There was nothing solid on the other side of the glass barrier.

The longer he looked at it, the less afraid he became. He more so began to admire it. Half of it was a white reflection, with a black eyehole. Only the cheek and bottom jaw was revealed while the other side was shrouded in darkness.

He turned around. The room was devoid of anything glossy, save for a vase that held a bouquet of plastic flowers. He hopped over to it and positioned himself beside it, turning to watch his reflection.

He swiped his hand over the vase, watching his reflection do the same... but the mask remained, unbroken by his investigation. In fact, his reflection seemed off.

On his own face, he wore confusion. On his reflection's, a slight smile could be seen. He stared. Moments passed before he decided he really shouldn't eat sugar so early morning.

He shrugged. No. Not him. His reflection shrugged. Benny gasped.

Reflexively he pointed at the window and turned to yell for his parents, stopping himself just before his mouth could produce the alert. His eyebrows furrowed and he turned back to meet his mirror self.

Mirror Benny bent a beckoning finger at him. Calling him closer before positioning himself to be a normal reflection once more.

Realizing his arm was still up, Benny relaxed himself. He began to do small dances to confirm what he was looking at was just him once again.

Confirmed.

Throughout the whole ordeal, the mask remained. Unchanged. Unaffected by Benny or his mirror twin. Unsettled, but brave, Benny approached and looked at the mask.

The closer he got, the more slight details he could make out. There seemed to be a shape around the mask. He got closer. The shape remained transparent.

He pressed his forehead to the glass. The mask remained. He could now make out the rise and fall of the figures chest as it breathed.

He shuddered.

The mask changed its orientation slightly. It was looking at him. Benny started to back away before his vision was blocked and enormous pressure closed in points around his face.

Some kind of hand. Rough skinned. As if it were charred human flesh. It had a hold of him. It pulled. Benny entered the window. No longer physically present to create his own reflection, Benny disappeared.