Backstage Pass to Mortal Kombat

Chapter 6 - A Dinner Announcement

Chapter 6 - A Dinner Announcement

It only took two weeks - two weeks of pure hell for my fingers to blister, for my knees to scab from kneeling so much, and for my mouth to get a rash from wearing that damn mask. Worst of all; I had learned to hate Johnny's smirk. Sure, at first he was hesitant to make me do anything, but now when he asks me to do something, adding a please, he then shakes his head and puts on that ridiculous smirk, "Oh wait, it's your job." He was only joking, I knew, but I swore to him if he ever did that again I would put spiders in his pillow case that night. It wasn't fair that he got to see this as one big joke, whereas I saw it as torture; slow, agonizing, torture.

Today I was washing his bed sheets, and he watched from the corner of his hut, asking again and again if I needed help. "This just sucks, you know?" He sighed. "I'm the one who told you to enter, I'm the reason you're here; and what do you get to do? Washing sheets and wearing a dumb mask."

"If you say my mask is dumb one more time, Johnny." I threatened. He was starting to make me feel selfconscious about it.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Well, at least you're my servant; who knows what Liu would do to you if you were his."

I smirked, but no one could see it. I reached up and tore at the ties in the back, ripping off the mask. My hair fell into waves on my back, having been scrunched to my head all day. I viciously scratched at the rash on my cheeks, probably making it much worse, but I didn't care. This was so riciculous! "I hate this thing! I hate working for Leia, I hate training with Bo' every night and I hate sleeping in a mud house! It smells like elephant poop, have you noticed that?" I snapped, turning to Johnny when I had finished my rant; he looked terrified, pressing against the wall, looking like he wanted to fade into the background.

With a huff, I fell onto his cot. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be yelling at you... I shouldn't be yelling at all. You're right; I'm lucky I have a friend as an...employer," I hesitantly said the word, for lack of a better term. "But it's just hard to see the bright side when it all seems so dark. First my best friend is taken away, the only person I've loved, and then-"

Johnny suddenly jumped away from the wall, pointing a finger in my face. I glared up at him, wondering what he was doing now. "Did you just say you loved Keanu?"

My throat went dry as I finally realized just what had slipped from my mouth. I snatched up my mask, his bed sheets, and ran out of the hut. Johnny followed though, "You did! You said you loved him... Wow, I always knew something was going on between you two, I didn't know you were officially dating, though-"

"We weren't." I snapped, tying my mask back on. It did hide my blushing, and I was thankful for that.

"No? Then why did you...?" The poor thing looked so confused...good!

I whipped around to face him, only inches between us. "Look, Keanu and I knew each other since we were in middle school, so yes I love him. Yes, the love became bigger and bigger for me, and I love him, I love him, but he never felt the same way so I didn't tell him! This doesn't mean you get to rub it in my face that I said-"

"Wait, you think he didn't feel the same way?" Johnny cocked an eyebrow, looking even more confused. What was going on? I shook my head, giving him an irritated look. He quickly decided it was best to continue, or I just might follow through with my threat and he was be eaten alive by spiders tonight. "A year ago, Keanu came to a party with me. He was with some girl he met in Thailand - didn't speak a lick of English, they had to speak Thai the whole time. Well, I asked who she was and he just shook his head, saying 'some girl'."

"Johnny, if you don't get to the point-" I hissed, my eyes closed.

"Well he looked depressed! And I asked what was wrong, he said 'She's not Zak'. Then we ended up going outside and talking about you. When he talked about you, he was glowing with happiness...then I finally got him to admit he loves you. But you were dating-"