The Devil's Mask

The night

The summer of 1978 would change my life. I was seventeen, full of hopes and dreams of going to college and escaping the hell my town was. For me, Denver always had a bittersweet place in me, this was the town that watched me grow. But it would also be the town that would haunt me until the end of my days, but I didn't know that yet.

Denver was a peaceful town, with a local school, parks, and some shops. I lived in a big house on one of the best streets Denver could offer. The house was gorgeous, painted a beautiful pale blue with white windows, and surrounded by trees. The house I lived in could host me and my family. We lived with my parents, me, and my three siblings in that house, and even though we were a big family, the house felt lonely sometimes, mostly because my parents worked long hours.

My parents loved me a lot, or at least that's what I think. Even if they never told me, I knew I wasn't planned, as they had me in their early twenties, but then, years later, my siblings came to fill the house. I adored my siblings, even if we had a big age gap between us. I enjoyed their company and playing with them, but what I never liked was being their babysitter.

Being young and intelligent allowed my parents to get great jobs, but they had to work a lot of hours weekly, which led to me taking care of my siblings and being their caregiver since I could remember.

My state, Colorado, was never into any trouble, until some months ago, young boys started disappearing, and they never came back. That led the whole state to panic, especially Denver, as all the boys came from this town or nearby, which meant the kidnapper was around here. The town had a curfew for after-school activities, but only until kids aged fourteen. That meant that my younger siblings had tight schedules, and the one who was responsible for bringing them to every activity was me.

With this new routine, I was really worried if I could be able to study and care for my siblings. So when I had some time to myself, I decided to invest it in studying at home or in the library the contents of the next school year, so I wouldn't be so behind.

One night, after dropping off all my younger siblings at home, I decided to go back to the library and return some books that had sat on my desk for weeks. I never really had loads of friends, maybe I wasn't really popular in school because of my looks, but at least I would be known as a great student who got the best grades in my year. At least my parents would be proud of me. I knew I wasn't their priority, but I tried my hardest to make myself stick out with my intelligence.

It was almost closing time, the sun was already down, but I needed to return the books, so I took my bicycle and started my ten-minute route to the library. Nobody was on the streets, everything was silent, a strange quiet to which I didn't pay much attention. Soon, everyone would go back to the routine, so perhaps they were starting to adjust their lives to go back to their mediocre lives.

After successfully returning the books, I went back home, but I chose a longer route, so I could smell the summer air and observe the vast forest surrounding my town. This was my last summer in Denver, so I had to capture it before I could forget how my town was. I had always been really careful with cars and moving safely around Denver, but as no cars were around, I thought I would let my hair move with the air. So, I took off my helmet and continued looking at the neighborhood.

I was almost in my street, from far away, I could see my house with the lights on, which meant my parents had arrived, and soon it would be dinner time. Suddenly, a black van, with its bright lights, came speeding up on me. I knew it was not going to stop, and in a rush, I tried to get myself out of there as I was just in the middle of a crossroads. As I tried to hit the brakes, the wheels of my bicycle stopped, which consequently made me fly onto the hard pavement, hitting my head and scratching my arm.

The last thing I remember, my vision was blurry, but I could see the van quietly stopping in front of me, as if it wasn't supposed to be heard, and then a tall figure quickly got out. I couldn't see the person really well, but before I could properly react, the person who approached me covered my mouth in a cloth that smelled horrible, like some chemical. Then, as I tried to fight, I became more and more sleepy until I lost consciousness.