Behind The Mask

Chapter 4: His Highness

There are three things which strike me as odd when I enter.

The first is the pink décor in this restaurant. Pink tables, pink walls and pink clothes. It's by no means ugly, merely... jarring. The second are the 7 waitresses. They're all identical. A chubby women with blonde hair. I must say, if they're all related, genetics really screwed them over. They wear a (say it with me) pink apron and have an obscene amount of lipstick... which is pink.

Huh. Since when did I become such an expert on fashion? Maybe I was a kid model before I lost my memories. If I had identical siblings like these waitresses, it would mean we could cut down on the number of clothes we each have to wear for fashion shows. Doesn't seem very interesting though. It'd be cool if we were all performers though. But multiple identical siblings would be hard to handle. Maybe it would be best to have one. A twin to do a double act with. We could perform all sorts of mischief – I bet we'd give our parents a hard time!

A mother, a father and a brother... people to love and be loved by...

But all that, if it ever existed, is all in the past.

Shaking the melancholy thoughts out, I focus on the third thing that strikes me as odd. Apart from the waitresses, there's only one person here. I suppose it's the king, who asked the restaurant to be cleared out for this meeting.

As I get closer, I realise exactly what the Pigmasks meant when they that the king has changed a lot from what the statue depicts. The statue showed a child.

This was not a child.

You could take every single known definition of 'child' or 'kid' or any synonyms of these two words and none of them – none of them, would be appropriate for this... thing. Put it this way, I remember wondering whether Porky was A: a man, B: a women or C: a chimera.

I was not expecting option C to be closest.

What stood before me was a being with the shape and appearance of the boy depicted by the statue but he looked incredibly old. He looked ghostly white – his hair, his body, even his clothes, looked as if they would fade away at any moment. I can't say I'd be sad if he did. This abomination was inside of a weird capsule – if he was as old as he looks, I suppose it was some sort of life support.

Then, with an ominous hissing, he got out of the capsule.

Oh no.

He slowly lumbered towards me, with his hands out. Like a zombie.

I'm going to die. Die at the hands of this child zombie thing in a pink restaurant manned by 7 waitresses who all look the same.

He lumbers even closer until he's right up to my face. I... I... I can't move. My feet refuse to. He's so close I could smell him. Only I can't. His scent...I'll always remember it because...

Because he doesn't have one.

He smells of nothing. It's so strange. I could smell food before and now, I smell nothing. Nothing at all. For a minute, I wonder if I've died and lost my sense of smell. But I can still see him. He's so close that our noses are touching. He leans in and...

"Boo."

If backwards long jumping was a sport, I think I'd do rather well in it. I leap what feels like 3 feet backward in surprise. And then, the oddest thing...

"Ha. Hahahaha. Heeheehee!"

He breaks down laughing right then and there. I'm still in shock. He keeps laughing for quite some time. Eventually, he stops laughing and transitions into... coughing? A rather violent coughing fit at that. I almost feel sorry for him. Finally though, he stops and takes a seat at a table, regaining his composure. By then, I've regained mine.