The Masks in Your Life (Ghost x Reader)

e l e v e n

While you stood in the middle of the room, torn and confused, Ghost opened one of the audio files.

A voice came from the speakers, then a different one. They sounded scratchy, but you clearly recognised one as Mike's and one as Aaron Harris's, your neighbour. You didn't speak to him that much, but often enough to remember what he sounded like.

Irritated, you followed the conversation. They talked about Mr Harris watching you, about Ghost, and about you acting up, whatever that was supposed to mean.

"Do you think she knows?"

That was the last thing you heard Mr Harris say before Ghost paused the recording. He looked at you, standing there like a statue, unable to put your thoughts into words.

"What is this?", you asked nobody in particular. Your voice cut through the now silent room, "what does he think I know?"

"Baby, look", Mike started, almost stumbling over his own words, a pitiful look in his eyes.

Your head snapped towards him, and you shrugged your shoulders in defiance.

"Open your fucking mouth Mike, I'm tired of this shitshow", you spat in his direction.

He just shook his head, and you could swear there was a tear in the corner of his eye. The droplet reflected the dim lighting as it rolled down his cheek, and you caught yourself softening up on him.

Just as you wanted to say something, he sniffled audibly.

"I told you not to believe him, why are you not listening to me? Don't you love me?"

With narrowed eyes, you looked him up and down. Paid attention closely and analysed his body language, his face, his eyes... There it was again.

The same, agonising feeling in your stomach as the night after Ghost had brought your container back.

Doubt, doubling down on you like thunder, worsening the turmoil in your heart.

If the situation wasn't so dire, you would have laughed, that's how satisfying it was to see everything fall into place.

Your entire marriage rushed past your eyes in painful memories, the times when you needed him and he wasn't there, just to be all over you lovingly when you had serious concerns, like your loneliness, missing your parents and your friends, wanting to have hobbies.

"How can you betray me like this?", Mike whined now, but his words merely reached your ears, not your brain. His voice irked you, his last, desperate attempt to make you feel guilty.

He always had access to your phone, your belongings, everything. It was his wish that you quit your job, his decision not to buy a second car, he chose this secluded neighbourhood. Guilt tripping you about finding friends, forbidding you to go to the gym, snarky comments when you went to see Mrs Lambert, planting the thought in your head that you didn't need your parents, and finally your lost passport.

Mike was a venomous spider, and you were a fly caught in his net. A being with its own life, but a dispensable sacrifice for him. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn't figure out the reason why methodically controlling and thus destroying your life benefitted him.

You just knew that you didn't deserve living like this.

"Oh my God", you whispered then, and now it was you who had to hold back tears. Bile rose in your throat, and you had to swallow harshly to not break the dam.

"Do you want to hear more?", Ghost asked softly.

"Yes", you answered quietly, your eyes fixated on Mike.