Burning with the Skull-face Man

Chapter 1: Who is she?

                     Chapter 1

        Her face was round and deeply tanned. She had hair like that of a lion’s mane. She was the curvy kind of girl, not a pound overweight but far from skinny. Just as I caught myself admiring her beauty just a little too much, her image faded. This was the girl I kept dreaming of. I wondered what it meant; who she was...but the questions kept adding up and I had not had a single answer. Then it hit me like an electric shock, she was me.

            Though she favored me in someways, it was not it her image that made it hard for me to believe she was not me. It was her actions, the way she was thinking, things like that. This was such an unfamiliar side to me. I could not comprehend how this could possibly be me? At the same time it was impossible to deny. I could see the resemblance. I could see what she saw, think what she thinked and feel what she felt. It was like she and I were one in the same. Although I could see her full appearance before my own eyes, I could also see right through hers. 

        I remember seeing her run through this crowded mall. The mall was familiar but I knew it did not exist. I looked nothing like any of the malls I had ever been to, yet it was still so familiar. "Maybe I had seen it in a movie or a magazine." I thought to myself. It was not convincing.

         As I captured a blur of her running past me, I could feel our heartbeats in sync. Buh-boom. She leaped. Buh-boom. She ran. I could see the terror in her eyes. She was out of breath and tired, but she did not stop. She was running for her life around a mall. I could not quite understand if she were in danger, why didn't she just run out of the mall, but I left it alone. She quickly glanced back, checking to see if whoever she was running from was not anywhere behind her. Then took off running again. I thought she might have been looking at me, but it seemed she was looking through me. How is this at all possible?

        I remember seeing her attempting to hide. It was thee funniest thing. She ran into this beauty supply store in the mall. It might have been the one time she actually was not running around it. She gathered things quickly in the supply store and tried to alter her appearance. She grabbed a wig, some lipstick, and contacts, whatever she could find that would make her look the slightest bit different. She then changed within the store, hoping no one would publicly see her cloak herself in disguise. However, somehow no matter what she attempted to do, whoever she was running from knew her exact whereabouts.

        It was like she could be sensed, and there's nothing she could do to change it. I guess the poor girl got tired of running because, within a moment of weakness she finally gave in. I felt like she was trying to protect someone she loved. Maybe that is why she did it. She decided to sacrifice herself and put the endless running behind.

         To what extent would we go, just to protect the ones we love? She went directly to the source of her problems, the man who was looking for her.

       His appearance had me in disbelief. He had no skin, no flesh. He was literally all bones. Somehow he was very musclar or maybe it was all an illuded by his oversized leather jacket. There was something odd, yet familiar about him. His bones scorched flesh like fire. I swore he came from hell himself because he definitely looked the part. I caught a glimpse of the rest of his outfit. Deep blue ashy jeans, and black leather biker boots. 

       Then the most unimaginable thing happened. That thing evolved right before my eyes into a human. He had flesh and muscles the whole nine-yards. He whispered something soft in her ear, I could not hear it. Why couldn't I hear it? What ever he said to her, he made an offer she could not refuse.

           Poof. He then turned back into original form, it was all so sinister.

         She looked at him for a bit, and stared into his eye-less skull. The look on her face was unusual. She looked...wretched. Somehow she could not turn away, something about him had drawn her in. It was like he peered into her soul and captured her very essence. It was impossible for her to turn away.

           With a simple kiss they sealed what ever deal they had secretly made. He then placed his markings on her. I guess he was marking his territory. I would never! There is no way she could be me. The bones of his hands scorched her skin like fire, but she did not feel the pain. She was still locked-eyed with him. He burned the skin of her forearm in sections like puzzle pieces, and instantly she was like him.

         I swear I felt her heart skip a beat. Her body collapsed from within and in that moment, it seemed like she was at peace. She appeared calm and happy like a person feeling acceptance for the first time. There was nothing she wanted more in that moment outside of him.