The Masks That Hide Us

The Shadow

It had been exactly one month since you decided to come here.

One month since you left it all behind, and yet you still feel like you have that countryside smell on you. You feel like the people that talk to you can tell you haven't been here long. You feel disconnected from them, like they just avoid you. Is it your accent? Is it the way you express some things? Is it because you've been too busy trying to find a job that you've only gotten 2-3 hours of sleep a night and that you have dark bags under your eyes because of it? Who knows.
You don't like to admit it, but a week ago today, you may or may not have almost been mugged. Some guy walked up with a knife and demanded all your money, and you started to get it for him when he just ran. It confused you. He just straight up ran away. Why would he just run away?
Also since that day, you've been hearing strange bird calls. None from a bird that would normally be in the city, or in the western hemisphere to be precise.

You've noticed... Something following you.

Its fast, and knows its way around the city. It follows you everywhere.

You don't know what it is, and frankly that scares you. Is it even a human? You thought you saw it plain leap over an alley once, and just that thought -that someone could leap over a wide alley like a fucking kangaroo- scared you.
If this... This thing... Could do something like that, what could it do to you?

You haven't been keeping up on the news, but in the morning Roxy and Rose like to talk about politics. This new president buisness. Honestly sometimes you think The United States would be better off with a monarchy like England has. You know they're just figureheads, but its still better than this messy democracy. Everyone doesn't have a say, theres too many people for that! So they elect representatives? Thats like an oligarchy. Just a few highly powerful people in control.

You finished up breakfast quietly while listening to Roxy rant about how this president is alright with installing a new water pipe that will contaminate yet another water source, but won't fix the water of some little town in Maine that hasn't had clean water for years.
You think to yourself how nothing like this would ever happen in England. Part of you even thinks about going back. Sure it rains alot but its better than all this discrimination and inequality. This place is called the Land of the Free but all these people are trapped by opression. There is no real freedom. No one is equal.
Your mind wandered to the thought of the three girls you had met on the curb, and what they had to do to survive in this cruel economy. They had to sell their body and their time... Just so that the little girl could eat? Preposterous.
You decided to do the dishes for them while Rose argued with Roxy about something environmentally-unstable that they do on a daily basis, and you chimed in.
"None of this arguing does anything unless you plan to take action." You said with a bit of annoyance in your voice.
They do this every morning. Politics, economics, education, discrimination, you name it they've argued about it.
"You two should go on a debate team." You heard another voice say as the front door closed, with a slight click. You recognized this voice as Jane Crocker, Roxy's friend. The short girl walked in with her usual plate of cookies, this time they looked like macaroons. She greeted everyone they way she normally does, and blushed at you. She walked up to you.
"So Jake..." She began to say. "Are you busy tonight?"

Oh bollocks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a particularly annoyingly pleasing day which consisted of you freaking out over everything and refusing to go outside. Once the girls had in fact dragged you out there, they said they were going to "Bring you somewhere fun".

This "fun" place happened to be a male strip club, where you remained a wallflower and tried to not be seen. You hadn't told the girls yet, mainly because you felt they had to reason to know, but you weren't only attracted to women. There were a few men here and there that would spark your interest. That interest was why you left England in your second year of highschool.
They were "messing around" said the boy's father. "Boys will be boys" said his mother. But you knew what the boy had done. This was not just a joke, and he was definetely not playing around. This rich bitch decides to use you for his own malicious intent then tells his parents "it was all in good fun". Oh yes sure lets traumatize the adventure nerd and ruin all future sexual curiousities for him because he said you were cute in your little soccer uniform. Good idea.