Behind The Mask

Fourteen

*Christmas Eve*

"Get out from under the mistletoe and help me with dinner, you pigs!"

Gwen giggles and pecks Dallas lightly on his lips before slipping under his arm and dashing into the kitchen. Laura, Gwen's mom, whips her daughter's thigh with a kitchen towel and laughs. "You two lovebirds have GOT to stop 'accidentally' ending up under the mistletoe together, before I glue your mouths shut!" she says cheerfully. "Now peel those potatoes."

Then Laura twists around and snags Dallas by the collar. She yanks him away from Gwen before he can slip his arms around her waist. "And you, my dear, had better put together the best salad I have ever tasted before I kick you out!" she scolds, jokingly.

With a wink, Laura turns back to her cake. Dallas steals one more kiss from Gwen before hurrying out to the pantry for ingredients.

"Saw that!" Laura calls after him. Gwen smiles when she hears his deep laugh echoing down the hall.

Her smile doesn't fade as she remembers how the last few weeks have been. When Gwen finally came back from the hotel, her mom welcomed her back and explained everything with tear-streaked cheeks and a smile so wide it must have been painful.

It was as if her mother had had a paintbrush. With her words, tears, and laughter, she had painted picture after picture in Gwen's mind until her mother's life felt like a movie. No, Gwen felt like she was living it. She saw a woman named Laura- thin and small enough to seem weak- grow up vibrant and beautiful in a world where she was loved dearly. Laura painted the most amazing pictures, loved the deepest, and hurt the most. But she always managed to bounce right back to her feet. Until she met David.

For Laura, David was the one. He was perfection. He was her Savior. And before long, he was all hers.

But for David, their marriage was an excuse for it to be the other way around. Within a month, Laura stopped answering her family's calls. Whenever David was home, he expected Laura to do whatever he pleased, and he refused to let her out of his sight. When he wasn't home, David watched his wife by video camera. When she painted, when she went outside to get the mail, and even when she showered, he watched her.

Laura saw the cameras. One night, she tried to ask him to take them down, and David snapped. He threw her into a glass coffee table and laughed while she tried to get back up. Then, without another word, he picked her up and took her into their bedroom.

After that night, Laura never had control over anything in her life. David controlled everything from the brand of her toothpaste to what she did with her time. And soon, something else that she didn't have control of happened- something big.

She found out that she was pregnant.

David knew right away, of course. But instead of seeing her pregnancy as an opportunity to gain more control, he was scared. He was scared to take responsibility for something he had done. He was scared of the unknown, and of change.

So David dove head first into his work. He was never home with his soon very pregnant wife. He bought a studio for Laura to work in after the baby was born, hired a midwife for when the baby was born, and took the cameras. He didn't want to see his child. Ever.

When Veronica Gwen was born, David hired a woman to take care of the baby all day and night, every day and night. Then, he ordered Laura to stay away from the baby, "or else."

David went on his first "business trip" and didn't come back until his daughter was almost two. He left soon after.

As for Laura, she never felt quite content painting all alone in her studio. She missed the daughter she barely knew. But she was scared of her husband. And an irrational part of her still loved him.

More than Veronica.

Veronica grew up, and Laura painted through every stage of her daughter's life. When Veronica met Jason, Laura relaxed, comforted that someone would finally be able to make her daughter happy. And then Jason's plane crashed.

Laura saw how her daughter changed and cried every night because she couldn't do anything about it. She painted and sold her pain. She prayed to a God she no longer believe in. But eventually, she just gave up. Laura lost interest in her daughter; she stopped paying attention. Until she found out about Dallas.

When Victoria- now Gwen- fought back, it woke something up in Laura. And when Gwen left with Bea, Laura started standing up for herself. She and David fought all day and slept at opposite ends of the house. After Gwen came back the second time, Laura threw David's things out the door and called a lawyer. Soon, she filed for divorce, and David was gone before she could through anything else out the door.

Laura painted until Gwen showed up, and she's barely stopped since. But now she paints for, and because of, her daughter.

A tear slips down Gwen's cheek and falls onto a potato peeling. She sniffs and starts laughing at herself for being so emotional.

"You okay?" Laura asks.

"Yeah mom, I am. In fact, I'm beyond okay. Everything's perfect." Gwen answers.

"Sure is." Dallas agrees from the doorway. He slides over and slips his arms around Gwen's waist. "I wouldn't change anything."

"Alright you two. That's enough romance!" Laura says, grinning.

Dallas kisses Gwen on the forehead and goes back to making the salad.

Ten minutes later, the small family is at the dinner table, finishing their prayers and about to dig in. [Max is asleep upstairs] Then, the doorbell rings.

Laura and Gwen glance at each other, puzzled. And when Dallas gets up with a grin on his face, they look even more confused.

"I'll get it." he says. And then he's running to the door.

A few seconds later, they hear Dallas yell, "It's you!"

Gwen's eyes widen and she dashes away so fast she leaves her spoon bouncing loudly on her plate. "Dallas?" she calls out.

She turns the corner and rushes to her boyfriend's side. "Dal? What's wrong?

And then she notices the girl.

She's a pale-faced brunette dressed in a plain denim dress win a flower shop logo on her breast pocket. The first thing Gwen notices about her is the bunch of red roses in her arms. The second thing: her eyes, which are bright, bright green. And finally, the way Dallas is staring at her.

"Who are you?" Gwen asks brusquely.

"Umm... Samara. Couldn't you tell?"

Gwen stares back blankly.

"You know... from The Ring. At least, she's what I look like in the mornings."

Dallas starts to tremble.

"Dal, I don't understand." Gwen says, almost pleading. "Who is she? And what's with these flowers? And why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"

Slowly, Dallas chokes out an answer. "The flowers... are for you. And... I look like I've seen a ghost... Because I know this girl. She's... She's the girl I told you about."

He grabs Gwen's hands and looks her in the eyes. "Gwen... She's the girl I think I slept with."

-Alyssa <3