The Mask

And So It Begins

The party kicks off as a success. The house is overflowing with people in all sorts of different costumes. It has been going on for an hour already and there is still a long line of basic black cats, fascinating fairies from a fantasy world, cheerleaders and their football-player companions, sexy cops, sheet ghosts, Freddy Kruegers, blood-bathed brides, and the underrated undead all waiting outside for a chance to be a part of the party of their lifetime.

Marlene is having so much fun dancing with her friends, she no longer feels worried about anything. So, she decides it is time to let loose and forget about all of her stress for now. Her, Michelle, and Anna probably all spend a whole hour dancing non-stop and don't even realize it. They step aside, sweaty and elated, to take a break to rehydrate themselves.

"Marlene, I really think this is the best one yet!" Anna yells to her over the music.

"You're telling me! This is amazing!" Marlene yells back.

"Guys, I'm gonna go get some fresh air! I'll be back, don't wait up!" Michelle yells to them. They look at her and she is drenched in sweat, so they don't even question her.

"You better come back ready for round two!" Marlene jokes happily. She is so caught up in the excitement of the moment she just suddenly realized that she hasn't seen or talked to Ben since the party started. She decides she should go around and look for him; after all, it is a special day for them. She spots him walking out of the door to their guest bedroom in his every day t-shirt and jeans.

"Oh, come on, you're not even dressed up!" She shouts to him playfully.

"Not my style, sweetheart."

"Well, you wore a costume last year!" She starts to argue. "But hey, it's okay, I don't even care! I just want to have a good time."

"I agree."

"Wait, why were you in the guest bedroom?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I just saw you come out of there."

"What, are you spying on me?"

Before she can respond, some girl with a nappy head of hair and lost eyes walks out of the guest bedroom. She accidentally makes eye contact.

"Uh, you told me to wait five minutes." She stutters, confused, and not all there in the moment.

"I don't even WANT to know." Marlene exclaims furiously and storms off. Ben follows her, though, and grabs her arm to stop her.

"Please stop! I don't even know that girl!" He tries to defend the situation.

"Oh! Is that supposed to make anything better?" She argues back, almost laughing.

"It's not what it looks like... Please hear me out." He begs.

"I already have an idea and I really don't want to know. Just go, Ben. I can't do this. I'm done." She replies, hurt.

"WOW. Really, Marlene? I just hope you know you're gonna regret this!" He is yelling, angrily. "Good luck finding somebody else that will put up with you. You're an annoying, needy, stuck-up, high school drama queen. You don't even look that good!" He is intentionally hurting her now to hide the fact that he is hurt too. He begins to walk away from her, but turns around before he leaves. "Oh, word of advice since you won't have me anymore: you might want to either consider losing a couple pounds or going up a size in clothes." He slams the door behind him. Marlene can't even process what just happened. Never ever has anyone ever been so hateful and rude to her. Her mood to party has vanished. She rests her back against the wall beside her, and slowly allows her feet to slide from under her until she is sitting in a slump on the floor. She doesn't want to cry, but she can't help it. A year of her life just walked out the door and she doesn't even want him coming back after treating her like that. I don't know what he is on, but whatever it is has pushed him past the point of insanity. People don't just say things like that.

Twenty or thirty minutes has passed, when Marlene snaps out of whatever depressed and empty trance she was in. She looks around and people are still partying away, spilling drinks, laughing, and stealing kisses.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A terrified shriek comes from the direction of the haunted hallway. Still sitting in the same place, Marlene laughs to herself because the haunted hallway isn't even that scary. Ha, the girls here scare so easily. Then, suddenly, there are more terrified shrieks. What? Confused, she gets up and walks curiously toward the screams, but almost gets trampled on her way over there. Chaos has surrounded her in an instant and she doesn't even know why. Then, she hears the same shriek that she heard the first time, except this time it is more of a cry, and she realizes it is Michelle. She rushes towards the haunted hallway, pushing through the people that have started to run for the door, doing everything in her power not to drown in what is like a tsunami of people.

She makes it to the haunted hallway, strobe lights still flashing. It is empty, except for a girl crouching down at the very end of the hall. "Michelle?", she calls. The flashing lights make it difficult to make out who the girl is.

"Marleeeeeeeeeeeeene!" The girl calls out in distress. Marlene runs towards her, a step or two closer every time the lights flash on. She doesn't realize until she is right up on her, but Michelle is covered in blood. Marlene's eyes then focus on what Michelle is crouching over.

"She's dead." Michelle sobs. Marlene's heart immediately felt like it weighed 100 pounds. She can't take her eyes off of the blonde and beautiful Anna Turner lying face-down in her black leotard beside a pool of blood. Somehow, Marlene dares to inch closer, just to make sure that this girl is Anna because there is no way this is real. This is not the same person that is her best friend. But the dead body has the same perfectly pointy nose and high cheek bones as Anna. The only difference between this Anna and the one she saw an hour ago is that this Anna had a huge cut in her back, blood still oozing out. Also, this Anna had no life in her body. It had all been sucked out, escaping through just a cut in her back. When Marlene looked at this body, it was so hard to even imagine life ever being in it. It just lay cold, stiff, and unmoving. She had to get away from this.

She looks around and sees Michelle is gone. Marlene gets up and runs to look for help. Still trembling with fear, she runs into Sam Belue from her history class and asks him if he knows what happened. She can't focus but hears him say he saw somebody with a black cloak and a white mask running out of the hallway with a bloody knife before the chaos unfolded.

She was a little confused that Sam didn't seem scared at all, but he's always been kind of weird anyways. She was terrified. But she didn't have time to think about other people's reactions right now. She finds her phone to call the police.