The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

A Farce with Two Faces

Previously: "The Perils of Pushing Your Luck Too Hard" 

The voices above are faint and indistinct, but they're enough to frighten you. In all the times you've been out to the basement, you have never heard another voice nearby. You can only guess that the crashing bookcases made enough noise to alert that jerkwad of a security guard and maybe some other people.

Your first instinct is to hide—the basement is stacked with old cabinets and tables and bookcases and crates, making a rabbit's warren of tunnels and cubbyholes—but whoever came looking might decide to bring in a crew and start putting it back together, and what if they found you then? Besides, they would find all your stuff, which is out in the open.

A distraction! you think. I need to head 'em off at the pass, if they come looking! So you scramble for the stairs and duck outside, pulling the door closed behind you. You don't lock it, because Natalie is still inside—

Natalie! Surely that racket must have woken her up! Almost you dash back in to check, then change your mind. She can come find you, and it's best for you to stay out here to head off anyone who comes snooping. You do hang the padlock back on the latch, though, and arrange it so that from a distance it maybe sort-of looks like it's clicked shut.

You back away from the basement door and squint at the building. You've never paid close attention to this wing of the school. About three feet off the ground the walls are set back from the massive foundation stones and rise two stories to the eaves. They are punctuated by tall, narrow windows that blankly reflect the sunlight.

No, wait this wing isn't quite like the others. The windows in this wing rise from the foundation all the way up to the eaves, whereas in the other wings there are two rows of windows, one for each floor. And in these windows the blinds on the inside are shut. It makes you wonder what's in this wing, directly above the basement.

You've stood back far enough that you can see (and be seen from) around the corner, and your heart plunges when you see that security guard trudging toward you. He sees you too and stops. He frowns, then gestures you to join him. With a gulp, you trot over.

"Did you hear anything?" he asks, sounding vexed.

"Hear anything, sir?"

"Like a train wreck. Or two cars crashing into each other." He peers around the grounds. The wide, grassy field in back of the school is empty, and the playground equipment abandoned, and the streets empty of cars.

"No sir. Not a thing."

"You were over there?" He points back the way you came.

"Yes sir. I was just coming across the, uh, park to get to the other side." You point the way he'd come.

"And you didn't hear anything?" he presses. "Huh," he says when you shake your head. "Okay, it must'a been inside." Without thanking you, he turns back toward the cafeteria and parking lot.

But before you can breath a sigh of relief, he stops and looks back at you. "Are you on your way back to your truck?"

"Yes sir." You feel sick, for your truck is plainly visible in the lot, and he's obviously recognized both it and you. "I was off at someone's house that way—" you improvise, pointing behind you, "and I parked here because I didn't want to park on the street. Is that okay?"

"Oh, it's fine. Thanks for not parking on the grass again."

He waits, and on heavy feet you trudge up to join him, and together you march out to the lot. He gives you a quick, sidelong glance before turning to go into the center, and you duck your head and climb into your truck.

You sit there for a couple of minutes, chewing your lip and wondering what to do, before deciding to call Natalie, to see if she's awake and dressed yet. That's when you discover that in your rush you left your phone behind. You wait another minute, then hop out and bolt back around the school for the basement.

You almost bust your nose on the door when you crash into it, and look up to find the padlock clicked shut. You blink at it, wondering if you did that on accident, then fumble out the key, unlock it, and hurry inside.

"Natalie?" you call in a hoarse whisper. "Natalie!" There's no answer. You hurry into the back of the basement. She's gone. You yank your cap off your head and grab a fistful of hair. "Shit!"

You run for the door, then whirl and scramble back to the work station you and she had set up. The buffer is still there and so are the supplies. But the bags with the clothes are gone, and so is the second mask that you'd made, and so is the book.

And your cell phone is also gone.

So, you decide after some quick, frantic thinking, Natalie must've woken up, gotten dressed, seen the mess, seen I was gone, and gathered the stuff to go looking for me. It doesn't seem like that long since you knocked all the shit over, but who knows.

Except you didn't pass her on the way back. But— Of course! She must've gone around the school the other way!

You bolt for the door and jog around to the front of the school. There's no sign of her, but you keep running until you've rounded the last corner and are racing back toward the parking lot. You're standing by your truck, your mouth pulled down in a giant frown, when you hear voices and glance over at the door to the community center. Three girls, about middle-school age, are coming out. And in the middle of the pack is a teenage boy with your face.

You gape, then duck behind your truck and peer out.

The girls are laughing and chatting at your doppelganger, who is grinning back at them with a slightly panicked smile. Together they turn the corner and walk off along the same path you'd followed earlier, toward the basement. Your double is carrying a bulky plastic sack, you notice.

You wait until they're out of sight, then with your heart in your chest you jog after until you come to the corner, and peer around. They've crossed the street and are walking down the block away from you.

Why the fuck did Natalie pick up my phone? you wonder. Now you can't even call or text her to get her attention.

At least you've got the keys to your truck, and you run back to collect it. On the street you follow the quartet very slowly at a very discreet distance. You keep hoping and expecting the girls to peel away, so that you can race up and collect Natalie, but they never do.

Eventually you realize to your horror that they are walking to your house. You park on a far corner and watch with dismay as the girls and the guy who is your freaking double except that he's not wearing your cap turn up the walkway to your house and go inside.

Now how are you going to get to Natalie? You give some thought to parking and sneaking in through the back yard and back door. But that would be dumb, what with the chances of running into your mom, your dad, your brother, or one of those three girls. You'd also get caught, probably, if you climbed the trellis under your bedroom window and tried sneaking in that way. Go find Caleb or Keith, borrow his phone, call Natalie from it?

Thats's what you're about to do when the garage door opens and your doppelganger comes out, wheeling your bike. He mounts it and shoots into the street toward you.

You gun the truck and race toward him. He looks up, does a white-faced double-take, and spins out to the side, tumbling from the bike in a heap. You throw the truck into Park and jump out to help him up.

"Jesus Christ!" you yell. "What are you doing?"

"What am I doing, what were you doing?" he retorts. "Where'd you go?"

"Just get in the truck!" You grab your bike and throw it into the bed, then jump into the cab after him. "Keep your head down," you growl as you peel out past your house. Not until you're a block away do you let him put his head up.

"Where'd you go?" he squeals like a girl. "There was an earthquake or something and I woke up and you were gone and—"

"I knocked over a bunch of shit and went out to check that no one was coming. Where did you go? Who were those girls?"

"I ran into them inside that old school. I went looking for you—"

"Where's my phone 'n stuff?"

"Up in your room. Nice bedspread, by the way, you have it since you were five? But I went looking for you and couldn't find you so I went inside and I ran into those girls and they knew who you were so I—"

"Who are they? I don't know even who they are!"

"They go to school with your brother, they said. I think they've got a crush on him. Anyway, I was all trying to get away from them, said I had to go home, and they insisted on going with me—"

You can hardly hear the rest of it for the roar in your ears. Girls have a crush on your brother? That little pimple?

"—and I was going back to find you. So now what?"

* * * * *

The afternoon's events seem a lot funnier once you're back at the basement and have collected your wits. (And after Natalie has changed back into herself. She was conked out after pulled the mask off, and then she had to change clothes again, which gave you about twenty minutes total to calm yourself the fuck down.) But maybe it was all too funny, at least to Natalie, who when she lets you back into the basement marvels at how easy it was for her to fool someone by using your face.

"Let's get one for you!" she enthuses. "We could use the other mask on your brother, then we could hang out! I could be him! Or I could be you and you could be him! Or you could be someone else!"

Someone else? you think. Like Natalie? One of her friends? One of those girls so you could prank Robert?

Next: "An Outing of Fakes" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"