These Masks We Wear

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Guardian Angel

“You really think I KILLED Mom? My god you’re even more drunk than I thought you were! I did nothing wrong! Mom died while giving birth to me! I was her final gift to you! And what do you do? YOU THROW, HIT, KICK, STARVE, AND BEAT ME! I am your SON! How dare you even say that I killed Mom! Because of you, I have felt like a poor excuse of life! I always thought I was wrong! Wrong to even live! Everything I did; you spit it back in my face! You treated me like a dog! You starved me for two whole days once! Do you even remember that? NO! You don’t! Because you were out banging some whore to get your rocks off! Just like the PIG you are! You should be the one dead! Mom would have never let you do this! She would have put you on the curb like the garbage you are! You have no idea what you have caused me! I have cut, bruised, and even burned myself! ALL BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID! My only escape from your drunken rage was my own personal stories! I have written two stories! With another on the way! I have written poem, after poem, after poem; all of them because of you! Only one good thing has happened because of you. I got into a creative writing class in my school. I have new friends that actually understand why I write! So how dare you call me a murderer when I did NOTHING! You are nothing but a pot bellied, idiotic, asinine, poor excuse for life; you have ruined every waking moment of my entire life! I am done with your drunk rage, your unacceptable insults, and most of all YOU!” I felt the anger leave me as I yelled at him. Letting out all my pain, regret, anger, sadness; everything.  I turned to walk up the stairs as I take one last glance at his face covered in disbelief at my words. Before my foot even touched the first step I felt his hand wrap around my arm. He ripped me off my feet and slammed me to the ground with the might of a god and the speed of a missile. I was in to much of a daze, I didn’t even notice that he wrapped his hand around my throat and squeezed.

“You little SHIT! I know everything you did! You killed her! You ruined my life! You have no friends! You have no life! You are nothing more than a waste of space! I SHOULD KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!” With each word he squeezed harder. I couldn’t breath anymore. I began to panic as my mind was already shutting down.

Get him off! Gotta get him off, I thought hastily! I groped blindly for anything to hit him with but to no avail. “Ge-kch-get o-o-OFF,” I screamed with my last bit of breath! I grabbed his wrist as my vision began to blur. I tried and tried to pull his hand away. I couldn’t squeeze anymore... I was done for.

“GET OFF OF HIM,” a voice bellowed! I didn’t know the voice. Even if I did... I was to far gone to know it. I couldn’t see now. My vision was gone and next would be me. Suddenly I heard Dad gasp and loose his grip. A scream escaped Dad’s mouth as a heard flesh being torn open. My vision returned only to see Dad lying face-up with a knife deep in his side, near his ribcage. I looked around for the source of the knife or that voice; but no one was in the house but Dad and me. I turned my head only to see the back door open and the dark of night almost consuming the light of the living room. I got to my hands and knees and crawled over to Dad. I was still weak and was weasing by the time i had gotten to him.

“Good riddance Dad,” I said darkly and pulled the knife out of his side only to plunge it into his heart. I pulled the knife out and gazed at it’s new crimson sheath. I smiled and plunged it into his calf then into the other. “Hehe... nighty night Daddy... you can sleep now... Its okay now... you don’t have to worry about anything anymore,” I said insanely. Lucky..., I thought. I took the knife and walked outside, wobbling all the way thanks to my weak legs. I walked to the shed only to find it locked. “How rude.... I hate rudeness,” I stated simply. I placed the tip of the knife into the lock and twisted, successfully breaking it. I opened the shed door and gazed into the darkness. I reached out a shaky hand and flipped a switch and light filled the room. I looked around the room for my writing desk and smiled as I saw the familiar worn, old, white wood. I wobbled across the small shed and leaned against my desk. I reached with my hand and opened the secret draw (that I installed myself) revealing my notebook. I looked at the title on the front and smiled. “Black Magic for Dummies,” I read aloud. I flipped through the pages and found my personal favorite. “This life that has done me wrong... kill it now by the siren’s song. Fires burn and waters rise... now he pays with his life,” I read in a sinister tone. I could hear Dad screaming from the house as the words took effect. I turned only to see the house flooded on the ground floor and the second floor set ablaze. “Yay! It worked,” I squealed happily clapping my hands! I could hear the panicked splashing as Dad yearned for air but he was bleeding out and paralyzed so he couldn’t do anything. As I listened for the splashing to stop I began to grow bored. How long can one man fight for his life?  GOSH he was always stubborn,” I thought as I began growing impatient. I stopped the spell and walked back through the back door only to see Dad dead on the ground. "What on Earth? I heard him splashing; I know I did." I looked around the now sodden room I could hear someone coughing as if they had almost been drown. "Who is in here? I would advise you leave before I get all of my stuff out; because after that this house is gonna be ash and sea shells!" I leave the person to escape and walk up the charred and sopping wet stairs. I strolled through the blackened halls and into my room where nothing was touched by water nor flame. I opened my small hope chest and moved the cloths aside to reveal my old duffle bag. I took the empty bag and laid it on the ground and gazed at my room. "Well! Time to pack! Whoopie," I said insanely and began grabbing random pieces of clothing and throwing them into the bag. In five minutes flat I had basically emptied my room of all my belongings. I skipped down the halls and down the stairs and stopped to listen for any sort of life. All that greeted my was the dripping of water and smoldering of embers. "Let the fun continue!" I raced out of the back door and out onto the street and raised my hands into the air. The water returned in a tidal wave and the fire began its golden blaze once again. I ran down the street, duffle bag in hand and into the woods at the end of our dead end street. I ran for about half a mile before I came upon my old home-away-from-home. High above the ground, held aloft by a slew of branches and leaves sat my tree house. I climbed the hidden latter up to the small shack and opened the door. I looked around at all my old drawings and poems I had done when I was younger. This tree house was where I would run to get away from Dad when I was younger; before he started locking the door every chance he got.

 I grabbed one drawing from the wall and smiled. It was a picture of me holding a woman's hand. The woman had crudely drawn features but still decipherable. Her emerald green eyes and snow white teeth all showed a feeling of happiness. Her coal black hair drifted weightlessly in the wind. She wasn't the only person in the picture though. To her right she held a man's hand. The man held a brown bottle in his hand and seemed to squeeze the woman's hand tightly. At her left was a little boy. A little boy with snow white hair and skin, with eyes that seemed to have a slightly pink tint to them. But that was the closest thing to color he had on him. In his hand he held a small notebook. It was me... the woman was my mother. Or at least what I imagined Mom looked like. The man, of course... Dad. I felt the tears begin to gather in my pinkish eyes as I realized that I was now and orphan. The tears felt as if they were ripping my soul apart, piece by piece, and I couldn't take it.

I fell to my knees in the small, airborne, wooden shack and let the tears stream down my face. I held the drawing against my chest in an attempt to stay the pain of loss. I stayed this way for what seemed like days. By the time I had run out of tears to cry the sun was beginning the rise and I could hear the police sirens at my home.

"You know, if you want to get away with what you did; you should get farther away from the crime scene," a voice suggested. I swung my head only to see a small boy sitting in the corner of the room. How had I not noticed him before, I asked myself? The boy wore a simple grey and black stripped tee shirt with black, loose fitting jeans. His bear feet were white just like mine; while his face looked like a normal fifteen or sixteen year old boy, pigment and all. He looked me dead in the eyes and we locked gazes. His azure stared into my pink as we held the look for a few seconds. "Well; are you gonna say something?"

"Who are you?"

"For now, just think of me as a Guardian Angel; we can get more into detail later. Now; are you going to follow me or what?"

"Uh.... follow you?" He sighed in exasperation.

"We need to get out of here because the police are going to comb the woods. There isn’t a more obvious place than up here. Now do you trust me or not Winter,” he explained? I looked him dead in those azure eyes, searching for any sign of lies. Finding nothing I nod uncertainly. “Good. We leave now. Get anything you need from here. And... take that drawing.” I nodded as he rose from the floor and smoothed out his cloths. I gasped inwardly as I realized he was actually about 6’1 in height. Which made him taller than me by 2 inches. I looked him up and down again and noticed his feet were now tan. Just like the rest of his body. I brushed it off and got on my feet. He started towards the door and pushed past me. I waited for him to turn around to climb the latter down but he didn’t. He peered over the edge and jumped. I gasped and ran to the edge and looked over. I sighed in relief as I saw him role on impact and stand up, unscathed. I turned to climb the latter down but just as my foot touched the old, wet, rotten wood it slipped and I was hanging on by only my hands. I panicked as I realized that the next rung was to far down for me to step on and I would have to fall to get to it. I won’t be able to stay on it! I’ll fall, I thought in fear!I could feel my hands beginning to slip and I screamed.

“I can’t hold on!” I looked down to see the boy looking up at me with a disapproving gaze.

“Shut up! The cops will hear you! Let go. I’ll catch you,” he ordered. I looked him like he was crazy and shook my head, squeezing tighter.

“You are crazier than I thought! I am NOT letting go!”

“Winter. I promise I will catch you. I won’t let anything hurt you.” The sincerity in his voice was very evident. I couldn’t say no. I let go.