When His Perfect Mask Shattered, I Awoke 소설 & 이야기

she threatened and he snickered. "You're funny, Keisha…" he trailed off. He was caught off guard when she suddenly pulled his mask away. He was stunned for a moment before he grabbed her arm. "You're…" Her mouth opened as she stared at his handsome face without a scar or imperfections. He breathed heavily as she continued staring at him. He held her arm tightly as they looked at each other intensely. "Cat got your tongue?" He leaned forward and smiled as she stayed still. He let go of her arm before taking his fox mask away and putting it on.

The room was made up of sound proof and that's why it was hard for them to hear me scream. I remained standing at the same spot. Confused. Lost. Holding the black mask in my hand as many thoughts raced in my mind. I looked at the mask, then slowly raised my head to look at the window which was wide open, the glasses shattered. The perfect reflection of how broken I was feeling at the moment. How? I couldn't help but question myself.

I drew my knees up and rested my forearms across them, staring at the mess I’d made. The room smelled of smoke and liquor and copper. I reached up with trembling fingers and hooked them under the edge of the silver mask. Metal warmed from my skin as it peeled away with a faint sucking sound where dried blood had glued it in place. I let the mask drop into my lap. Cool air kissed the ruined half of my face, the twisted scar tissue, the puckered flesh that never quite healed right after the fire that took my mother and branded me monster. For the first time in years I didn’t reach for another mask to cover it.

That mask of his was second nature—his last line of defense and the only thing that kept him sane after all he’d been through. I didn’t care if he kept it, used it to give him some semblance of stability, but not with me. Never with me. Without an inkling of hesitation I closed the distance between us, stepping into his space until the gravitational pull that circled Dain yanked me in. His breath came in short pants, escaping lips that were tightly knitted together. I had to sink my teeth into my own to stifle the sound I made when he flinched under my touch. Like clockwork, I could hear his mask shatter a second time, and when his eyes opened, they were brimming with a century’s worth of un

I stared at my mirror, my reflection staring back at me—the mask hiding what I had become. My fingers curled around the edges of my mask, and I yanked it off. Pain exploded inside me as I saw my reflection—disgusting. “Arrrgghhh!” My scream echoed through my room as I slammed my fist into the mirror, shattering it. Glass shards rained down, slicing through my skin. I pressed my bleeding hand harder, watching the fractured pieces of my reflection staring back at me. The pain—it hurt, it shattered me. “Arrrggghhh!”

“Wait for me here. It won’t be long.” I watched them discuss as if I was just a chicken about to be slaughtered. The man pulled off his mask, revealing a hideous black scar that ran from his left eye to his jaw. My breath hitched, my body, shaking like a cat drenched in rain. “I…I don’t know you,” I stammered, my voice trembling. “I haven’t done anything against you. So why do you want me dead?”

He turned to me and this time he looked straight in my eyes and he continues, “I will try and come back here to see you. But if I can’t and you can recognize me without my mask when we meet once again, then I won’t hesitate to be yours forever. This I promise.” I became dumbfounded at the moment and couldn’t speak a word but just look into his sparkling eyes. He blinked and cleared his throat before looking away, he made his way out of the room without looking back. My heart that was accelerating at the moment stopped the instant he closed the door vanishing from my sight.

Catastrophic. My life was like a ticking bomb of fuckups already; this would only make it explode. "Get a grip, Shayle," I whispered, shaking my head hard. It can't be. But doubt gnawed. I had to know. Reaching out, my fingers trembled as I grasped the mask's edge but figured it was still tied. Gently, I worked them free, inch by inch. He shifted again, groaning in his sleep. I held my breath but my pulse roared in my ears. Please, don't wake up.

Convulsing, nails scraping marble, howling in my head—the wolf or me, I can't tell. But I don't break. Don't run to her. That's enough. Three a.m., four, five. Moon sinks, wolf ebbs. I lie there, wreckage, chest heaving. Five syringes scattered, three empty. Water spilled, dried. I won. Dawn filters through curtain edges. I push up, brace the wall, stagger to the bathroom. The mirror shows a pale wreck of a man—haggard, eyes bruised with exhaustion. But the mask slips on, cold, seamless.