Octover

Chapter 4- The Mask

It was the day after Octover. Everyone was outside working on their jobs outside or just admiring the red trees. Almost no one was found inside. I was the only one that stayed inside on this beautiful day. I heard a knock on my door. I walked over to the door to find Corith standing there. He was in a baggy, dark grey tank top and the same jeans.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked

"I'm just here to help start your mask training!" Corith said as proudly as possible.

"What?" I gave out a small sigh.

"You know, making it so that when you take off the mask you don't go on some kind of murderous rampage?"

"Yeah, why can't we just do this tomorrow?"

"Because we're gonna train everyday!"

"You sound like some sort of cartoon hero."

"This is how I was trained, and it worked. You're going train no matter what until our goal is reached, or even past our goal!" Corith exclaimed. He stood in a 'trying to hard to be a hero' pose.

"Like fake heroes?"

"Sort of!"

He grabbed my mask and slowly pulled it off of my face slowly. I grabbed it out of his hand and yelled, "Be careful!" I brushed it off as if he got some of his human 'sickness' on it. I finally could see what the actual mask looked and felt like. It was cracked, yet smooth. It was a light gray with crimson lines that said 'Veridith' in the ghoul language. Even though it was small, it was still noticeable enough to see.

"Are you just going to stare at your mask or something?" Corith asked with a confused look.

"Um... I... I was j-just... um..." I somehow managed to say.

He saw what I was looking at. "Faitā... I still feel terrible."

"Human guilt... one of their only weaknesses. It's fine."

"I guess I do see you as a friend... well enough to care about the death of your friend."

"I-it doesn't..." I tried to say, but I cut myself off and yelled, "It is your fault! You thought that I didn't care! She was my ONLY friend!"

He stepped back and said "Just put on your mask... you'll be okay."

"You... I... you're right..." I put the mask on again. It was slightly more cracked. I sighed and layed down on my sofa.

"Um, can I come in? It's really warm out here."

"Oh, yeah. Come in."

He walked inside and sat on the floor where he sat yesterday. I looked at him as he was befriending a rat in the floor. He reached into his pocket as he brought out a small piece of bread and gave it to the rat. The rat bit him and ran away with the bread. "You can sit up on the sofa you know." I said as calmly as possible.

"No, I'm more comfortable down here. It is you're house." I said as he was scrambling up. He waved he hands. The finger that got bitten by the rat was slightly bleeding. "Are you okay? You're bleeding." I asked as if I didn't see him get bitten.

"I'm fine... do you smell that?"

"No?"

"It smells like that flyer that was staying at your place yesterday."

"What? Lead me to it!"

"Just because I can smell it doesn't mean I know where it is!"

"What do you mean! Can't you just follow your nose? I just need to free this place from damned rodents."

Corith looked in a corner where the rat was. "I won't hurt your little rat friend." I said as I rolled my eyes.

Corith slightly chuckled. He stopped and said, "Man, this smell is strong."

"Why can't I smell it then?"

"Maybe because you're wearing a mask."

I tore off my mask and said, "I still don't smell it...."

"P-PUT YOUR MASK B-BACK ON!"

"It's not a big deal right now."

"It will be soon if you don't keep it on."

"Just trust me this time."

"I'll try..."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You are a ghoul who kills people!"

"Just shut up and try to find the damn flyer!"

"I-I don't know where to find it!"

"Just follow your nose."

"I'm just a human, my nose isn't as accurate as a ghouls."

"Just try."

"Fine" He started to sniff the air. He walked towards a dark bedroom under the crooked stairs. He covered his nose as he said, "It's in here."

I walked in as I began to get nauseous. I set my mask down as I turned on the lights. A small, very dark red bat was sleeping on the ceiling. Every now and then, it twitched. I grabbed my mask and poked it. I began to wake up. It squealed and scrambled off of the low ceiling. It attempted to flap it's wings to fly, but they were injured by my sharp mask. As much as it tried, it couldn't go farther than five feet. I held my stomach as it made it's way to Corith.

As terrifying as Corith can be to monsters, it still curled it's self up in Corith's shirt. It fell asleep as I fell to the ground because of my stomach. I shoved on my mask and said, "Corith, kill the damn rodent."

Corith looked at me with puppy eyes and said, "But she's so cute."

"First of all, no, it's not. It's a flyer! And second of all, how do you know it's gender?" I asked.

"Flyers are people too! They may suck blood, but they won't kill you."

"Au contraire monsieur" The bat soon turned into a tall, dark woman. She wore a slick, black dress with large, bat like wings coming from her back. She had her hair up in a messy bun that was tied with a long strip of black thread. Her eyes were narrow and black with a tint of red, and crimson lips. "Toi, I mean, you may be surprised. I do have a taste for human blood."

Corith blushed as the flyer jumped out of his arms. She lightly dusted off her dress. "What are you looking at?" it said to Corith. "I, um..." Corith tried to say.

The flyer laughed, "You are a vierge? Oh how hilarious!"

"What is a vierge?" Corith asked

"It's means virgin" I said.

"T-that is true, I guess." Corith mumbled.

"Aw, how cute," the flyer giggled out.

I sat down on the floor, keeping my breath steady. I looked at my mask and put it back on. A cracking noise filled the room. I almost fell back as I realized that there was a large split down the middle of the mask.