The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Party of Five, Chapter 16

Previously: "Party of Five, Chapter 15" 

The PM from Sean jazzes you, so although you've got homework you're able to push out another chapter before going to bed.

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DOUG WAS OUT ON THE DECK, relaxing with a book, when Alfie and the two girls came wandering back up. He looked over as they mounted the steps for the door. Susie ignored him, and Scarlett gave him a gnomic smile. But it was Alfie's attitude that bothered him: his glance as he went inside was cold and unfriendly as it settled briefly.

There's so much drama going on around here, Doug thought. I thought I knew most of what was going on, but I'm totally lost.

He was still trying to wrap his head around that scene earlier with Scarlett, and wondering whether to try talking to Susie about it, when Scarlett's voice sounded nearby: "Hey, whatcha doin' out here?"

Doug nearly came out of his chair. Scarlett had come out again and was smiling down at him.

Her appearance didn't shock him, but he hadn't been expecting her, either. After that colossally awkward moment with the mojita—thank God those troopers had shown up when they did—he had been both dreading and hoping that she would come looking for him. Hoping, because maybe he could get a straight answer from her about what she thought and felt about him. Dreading, because ... Well, because the answer he'd get probably wouldn't be the one he wanted.

But he hadn't been looking for her to show up so soon. Yet here she was.

"Oh, reading a book," Scarlett said, and Doug winced to realize he'd just been staring back at her. "What is it?"

"It's, uh—" Doug closed the book and blushed at the title. "It's one of Tanya's. I was getting sick of looking at a computer screen."

"You like to read, huh?" Scarlett pushed the other lawn chair toward him, until they touched. "I wish I liked to read," she said as she lowered herself into it. "It would make school so much easier."

She giggled and rolled sideway until one of her bosoms just touched his shoulder. She brushed back a long, stray lock of hair, and turned a bright stare onto him. Doug stiffened all over, and he gripped the book tightly.

"Listen," Scarlett said in a low but thrilling voice. "I know what people say about me. That I'm a flirt. That I'm a tease. That I talk too much about ... sex. And I couldn't help overhearing you and Tanya earlier."

"What about us earlier?" Doug squeaked.

"You asked her if you ... had a chance with me. And she said I was just looking for attention."

Doug swallowed.

"I don't know what's wrong with liking attention, Dougie," Scarlett said. "Don't you like attention?"

"Well, I—"

"I'm paying attention to you now. Don't you like it?"

Doug would have swallowed again, but his throat was frozen.

"Anyway, it's not attention I want. I know that's what Tanya meant, that I'm just a— an attention whore." Scarlett's mouth pulled down into a frown, and she blinked. "And it hurt me when she said that. But I don't blame her. I know why she said it, and I know she means well. She doesn't think that I— That I could—"

Scarlett slid down a little in the chair, and went limp all over. She turned big, wet eyes up at Doug and said, "I don't want attention, Dougie. I just want a nice guy. Aren't you a nice guy?"

Doug's mind whirled. From somewhere distant he felt words coming to him, and he said them: "What about Brad, isn't he a nice guy?"

"Oh, why are you asking about Brad? When I'm asking about—"

Scarlett reached for Doug. She clasped him firmly by the back of the head and pulled his face toward hers. Doug just had time to think, I don't know how to kiss! when she had her mouth on his.

He hardly knew what to do, hardly had time to think. He was only aware of Scarlett's warm mouth, of her lips and tongue pushing at him. He opened his mouth a fraction, and she was inside, sucking at his tongue. Rallying, he just had the presence of mind to try imitating what she was doing. It left him dizzy and sinking.

Then she broke off and pulled away. Doug stared with dismay as she got to her feet.

"Not here, Dougie," she said. "I don't— Alfie and Susie, they— Look, let's go off, okay? There's too many people here, and I don't want them— Dougie. Doug. Please?"

It was probably the "Doug" that did it. He nodded, and Scarlett went limp with relief.

"Listen, there's a trail head a little ways down the road that way"—she pointed—"and I'll wait there. You go inside, just be casual, change your shirt maybe, just tell people you're going for a walk. Then they won't—" She bit her thumbnail. "I just don't— I want to do this with you, Dougie. But I don't want Brad finding out. It would make things ... weird ... between the three of us. You know?"

That would have changed his mind back, maybe—he liked Brad too much to want to screw up a friendship—except that Scarlett pulled at her bikini top, giving him a good look at her smooth and creamy breast. And she ran a tongue over her upper lip before turning away.

Doug hurried into the cabin and into his bedroom, where he quickly exchanged his Hawaiian shirt for a closer-fitting blue one. He also changed from sandals into sneakers. Tanya was in the living room when he came out again, but he dodged her eyes as he murmured, "Going for a walk" and ran out the door.

Scarlett was down the road a ways, but she turned off into the woods as Doug jogged up to meet her. There was a trail, as she had promised, and she was well up it as he turned onto it to follow her. "Hey, wait up," he called, but she hurried on ahead. "Just come on," she called back when he called to her again. "I want to get to— Just hurry!" Just what is the hurry? Doug wondered to himself as he puffed up the steep path.

It was hard going in spots, almost vertical in a few places, and Doug's legs were trembling with exhaustion when he finally came out onto a wide shelf. He looked around with a frown, for there was no sign of Scarlett. Then he saw the dark crevice that split one part of an outcrop from the main body of the hill. Wait, is that a cave? he thought.

As if in answer, Scarlett's voice wafted from the dark depth of the cleft. "Dougie, in here!"

He halted forward. "Is this—? Are these those caves?" he asked.

"Yeah! It's the best place for— Come on in!"

Doug made a face. He did not like dark, enclosed spaces. They took his breath away and made him feel like he was being squeezed and crushed. But Scarlett—

It's just like going into a dark bedroom, he told himself, and plunged in.

He soon lost the daylight, and he tripped and nearly twisted his ankle against a rock. "Scarlett!" he called. "Scarlett!"

"Where are you, Dougie?" she called, sounding very far off.

"I don't know! Where are you?"

"Just stay where you are!" she called back. "Don't get lost, I'll come back and get you!"

"How can you see in here?" he shouted back, but there was no answer. "Scarlett!" he called again. "Scarlett!"

It felt like an hour before he heard footsteps, and he called her name again. She answered with a giggle.

"Yes, it's me," she said. "I went off to get a flashlight."

"Flashlight?" Doug asked. "Where did you—?"

Suddenly her face bumped into his, and he felt her groping mouth. He reached out to touch her, and his palm closed onto a naked breast. With wonderment, he ran his palm down her naked belly to her naked hip.

"That's right," Scarlett whispered as she closed an arm around his neck. "I dropped all my clothes off back in— Oh, Dougie, I want you to do me! Right here, right now! Take off your own—!"

He didn't need another suggestion. As she slipped from his grasp he tore at the buttons of his shirt while kicking off his shoes. He slid off his khaki shorts and boxers, and was just starting to tug his t-shirt off a bright, white light broke into his face. He squinted and raised a hand to ward off the glare. In its dim penumbra he saw Scarlett, sprawling on the cave floor, grinning up at him.

Then he saw that she was actually grinning at something behind him. He heard a rustle of feet, and whirled.

A man in a rough blue work shirt and pants was standing just behind him. His black eyes glittered in the flashlight beam, and his long, lank hair fell past his shoulders. His expression was hungry.

Doug just had time to recognize the face he had seen in the photographs before the man raised a knife and slid it across his own throat. Then, as Doug gaped, he pushed his fingers up inside a gaping wound on his neck, and pushed the skin out. His features seemed to bubble and lose their shape as he pulled the skin loose, tearing it up and over the top of his head to reveal a quite different face beneath.

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Sean has left a comment on the previous chapter when you log in to publish: Nice! I like seeing some of it from the side of the convicts who are doing it, though another commenter is confused and asks, Wait, so who is in which body? You answer his question, then log off for the night.

You've been working at your plan for a week now, and have polished up a mask that you can use on Sean. But your plan requires a second mask, because you plan on disguising yourself when you hit Sean with the mask: no way you want him connecting any weird ambushes with you.

So although it's fairly late, you drive out to the old school to quickly make up a second mask (and then a third because why not) and take it back home to polish. You also make up another of those metal dinguses because again why not.

Next: "Party of Five, Chapter 17" 

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