The Only Heart Amongst The Crowd

It was so dark. Aligned against the walls were rows of thin cages. In between the sections of cages were caves, their openings eery and filled with dread. It gave him the chills. As he continued to walk, he saw blurry figures pass by him. The only thing he could clearly identify about them was a distorted shape in their chest. It was blackened and detracted then retracted every second. He could hear deep thumps coming from it. 

Every once in a while, one of the figures would look at him. He could see they did not have faces. Or at least he could not see them. Because masks covered them. The masks were grey with big eyes that could have been pretty if not for the discoloring that surrounded the top of them. They had a smile that stretched very wide and could have been pretty if not for the bright colors that covered the lips. Every mask was the same. Big eyes and a big smile. 

From a quick glance, the masks could be very deceiving. They almost looked appealing to him, until he got a good look at them. Then they looked so sad. It hurt him to look at them. But he still continued to walk. One figure stopped walking. It came over to him and pulled something out from behind them. It was a mask. He looked at the mask and back to the figure. Then he looked around. Everyone had one. He didn't want to be the only one who didn't. So he took the mask from the figure. Then the figure continued walking aimlessly, just like everyone else.

He looked at the mask and turned it around so the inside faced him. He was about to put it on when he noticed something. Someone. A little further down from him was a figure. But it looked different. It was not dark. And had no mask. It wore a clean white outfit and had bright blond hair that fell down it's back.  It's face was bare. No discoloring, no bright lips. Just plain perfect.

In it's chest he expected to see a dark black shape, but instead he saw a bright red one. It seemed to shine, glossing over everything about the figure. The figure looked at him and motioned for him to come to it. He lowered the mask from his face and walked over. 

The figure looked him in the eyes. Then slowly, it outstretched it's hand and took the mask out of his. It replaced the mask with it's own hand. Suddenly, his vision changed. 

The cages were lockers. The caves were classroom doors. The figures were students. And the figure in front of him was a beautiful girl. He looked around. Everyone didn't look dark. But he knew they were inside. He knew they were struggling to find themselves. And wanted to have others feel their pain. But he didn't. Because he had what they did not. A heart.