The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)

A Girl with Two Faces

Previously: "Keith Finally Does It" 

You stare into Caleb's half empty book bag. It takes you a stupidly long time to realize what he's telling you.

"What did you do?" you yell when the realization finally strikes.

"I did what I had to!" he hollers back. "I had to shut her up before any teachers came and caught Keith with—" He glares murder at Tilley.

"Yeah, but now—! That girl!" You point at the school. "Are you saying she's—?"

"Yeah, she's wearing that mask I made, of me and Maria."

You grab your head. "Jesus! The fuck? Wh-what are the teachers saying? Who's with her?"

"I don't know what's going on in there now, but when I went and looked, they just had the two girls out in the halls, checking on them to see that they're—"

He breaks off to do a double take at Keith. Then he flushes, and growls, "Maybe you better take off, you fuckwit!"

Keith looks dumbfounded. "How come?"

"Because they're gonna be looking for the guy who 'assaulted' that girl in the restroom, that's how come! And you're—"

He doesn't have to say anymore. Keith wheels and flaps off for the parking lot as fast as he can run.

"And you and me," Caleb says, turning to you, "are gonna have to go back in and see if we can fix things."

* * * * *

Caleb's notion of "fixing things" doesn't extend further than finding that girl. You yourself are full of questions that you don't bother to ask, because you know Caleb won't have any better answers than you. Questions like, What happens when that girl looks in a mirror? and What happens when she tells the teachers that she's got 'the wrong face'?

Caleb slows up when you reach the junction with D wing, and peers around the corner. Then he tells you to go back to F wing and follow it down to the main corridor at the other end: "In case the girl goes out the back way," he explains. "Meet me at E wing."

The hallways are deserted, but a few of the teacher's doors are still open, so you keep quiet, even as you peer inside a few of the rooms as you pass. You reach the main corridor at the other end of F wing—the main spine of the school, where most of the wings meet—and shake your head at Caleb when you see him coming out of D wing. Together you approach the entrance to E wing. But it's empty too.

Caleb tells you to guard the doors leading out to the tennis courts and to watch the length of the main corridor: that girl, if she tries to leave, is likely to come that way. He meanwhile takes off at a sprint to explore the rest of the school. A few minutes later he texts to ask you for an update; you tell him you've seen nothing; he replies that he's going to make another circuit.

It's while he's making this circuit that you get an idea: a dreadful idea, but at least it's an idea. You make your way back down to E wing, pause in front of the door of the girls' restroom, then slowly push it open.

Someone is in there, sitting against the far wall with her face buried in her knees. She looks up quickly with a ghastly, fearful expression. Her cheeks are stained with dried tears.

She has the face that Caleb made with the mask.

You glance up and down E wing, then beckon to her. She only stares back, terror in her eyes.

"Come on!" you hiss at her. "I know what's going on! If you want help, you have to come with me!"

She scrambles to her feet, but shrinks back against the wall. "Who are you?" she asks in a small, quavering voice.

"I'm a guy who knows what's going on! I know about—!" You wave your hand in front of your face. "Did you tell anyone else about this?"

"About what?"

"About this!" You point to your face, then to hers. "Did you tell them—? The teachers—? What did you tell them? You've looked in a mirror, right?"

She bites her lip and says nothing, but her eyes widen.

And so you lose all patience with her.

"Look, I can leave you here, and then what are you going to do?" you hiss. "Are you going to go home looking like that? What are your parents going to say? But if you come with me, I can fix it! I promise, I can change you back!"

Warily, she detaches herself from the wall and totters toward you. She pauses when you beckon impatiently, so you jump into the restroom, grab her by the elbow, and haul her out. Thank God she seems to come alive, and lets you pull her along as you race through the school.

"Where are we going?" she asks in a voice that shakes with fear.

"Out of here," you reply. "Where's your car?"

"I don't have a car."

You stumble to a stop. "No car?" you ask. She shakes her head. "How were you going to get home?"

"I was gonna text for a ride. My mom—"

"Will!"

You look around. Caleb is coming out of B wing, and he stops and stares, bug eyed, when he sees you.

"Okay, let's go out front," you tell the girl. "Don't worry, it'll all be over in just a few minutes."

Caleb falls in beside you as you dash down B wing, which is the fastest way outside. "What are we doing?" he asks.

"Fixing things," you breathlessly retort. "It's what we want, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but—" But he apparently doesn't know how to finish that sentence, and falls silent.

You all three come bursting out the front doors next to the office, then wheel to the right toward the library. Around the front corner of the latter you should be invisible from most of the school, even if you are totally exposed to the street.

"Okay, I need you to sit down," you tell the girl once you're in place. "On the grass. Against the wall."

She has recovered some of her spirit, though, and wants to argue. "What is all this?" she demands. "Who are you? How do you—?"

"We can talk about it after we fix it. You want it fixed, right?" you repeat when she just thrusts out a belligerent lower lip. "Then sit down."

With a darkening expression she complies, and you bend over her, putting your hand to her temples. "Close your eyes," you order, and after she's fluttered her lids shut, you rip the mask from her face.

But you don't wait to explain anything to her. As soon as you have the mask in hand, you grab Caleb by the shoulder and take off. "Where was she?" he huffs as you sprint for the parking lot. "What did you tell her?"

"I found her in the E wing restroom and I told her I could change her back. I don't know what she told anyone else. And I don't wanna know." You hope that this will be the end of it, for you don't know the girl and you've never seen her in any of your classes: she looks like a sophomore or a freshman. Maybe she won't recognize you if she chances to see you in the hall; and if she does, you hope she'll be too freaked out to approach you.

* * * * *

After the excitement of the afternoon, neither you nor Caleb feel like doing anything else, so you drop him off at his place and go home. You don't call or text Keith, but he calls you after dinner, full of self-pity after the phone call he got from Caleb.

"Dude, I wasn't trying to fuck anything up," he snivels.

"No, but you managed to," you retort.

"It could'a happened to you or Caleb!"

"Maybe, but it happened to you." Still, you'd have to confess that he's right, and make a mental note to be extra careful if you ever try to use one of those masks again. It really is just massive good luck that you and Caleb got out of the theater without discovery, and that Keith managed the trick twice before.

"You and Johansson don't gotta hold a grudge," he says.

"We're not holding a grudge."

"Johnasson is! He says he's not gonna let me touch any of this shit ever again!"

"He's gonna take your masks away?" you ask.

"Well, he didn't say nothin' about that. But he says he's not gonna let me make any more!"

"Well, maybe that's for the best. I think we've got enough."

"At least I got this other one out of today's disaster. 'Cept I'm gonna have to seal it up. Unless—"

"Unless what?"

"Well, unless we take up to school tomorrow, and try puttin' a third—"

"Jesus! Listen to yourself! You're not—!"

"Alright, alright!"

"You don't even take it to school, you hear? We'll pick it up at your place tomorrow, after class, and take it—!"

"Alright!"

"I'm serious, Keith! I'm gonna fuckin' search your bag and your locker and your car tomorrow, to make sure you didn't bring—!"

"Alright, dude! Jesus! You don't gotta go after me like you're— Like you're Johansson or something!"

So he doesn't bring the mask with him to school the next day. But he manages to fuck things up anyhow.

* * * * *

Caleb only glowered at Keith the next day before lunch, then stalked off in another direction, so you it was just the two of you eating together. He was very morose and apologetic, to the point that you finally told him gruffly to forget it.

But he looks even more miserable when he catches up to you after school. He looks boneless and unstrung, like marionette with all but one string cut, when he comes shambling up to your locker after the last bell.

"Hey," he says in a barely audible voice. "This is Teresa. Turns out we have science class together."

You frown at him.

Then you see a girl peering out at you from around his shoulder. It's the same girl, in the horn-rimmed glasses, that had hold of him yesterday. And she's again got a death grip on the tail of his t-shirt.

Next: "Some Awkward Explanations" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 1)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)"