The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)

A Night in the Basement

Previously: "Making a Break for It" 

by Masktrix

You skid to a halt. "God dammit," you mutter. "Look, someone must have been in there."

"You sure you locked the door?" Caleb asks looking at your intently. It's strange seeing your own face, even concealed by the hooded top, eyeballing you.

"Pretty sure," you say, trying to remember. "I mean, I was in my PJs, dude. I didn't exactly want to hang around."

"All right. You hang back up here. I'm gonna go check if the coast is clear."

You fold your arms. "Why don't I do that?" you ask.

Caleb shakes his – your – head. "Because what if it's one of your little bro's friends in there?"

"So what it if is?"

"So maybe it should be me to talk to them," he retorts. "Like I was doing just now? I was dealing with them great. Umeko – we're really hitting it off, by the way – asked who they were and I was like 'friends of my brother'. Pretty proud of that, I didn't say 'friends of Will's brother'. So don't sweat it, I'll handle 'em."

He strides off toward the basement, and you fold yourself around the corner of the building, trying to hug the shadows and avoid being spotted. It's already cold out, and you stamp your feet with restless energy as you wait to see what happens.

Five anxious minutes pass. Then figures begin to emerge. You press yourself into the shadows and watch as Robert's two friends slink off, walking to their bikes and exchanging a few words with 'you'.

"Well, what are you gonna do?" you hear them ask.

"How the fuck should I know?" Caleb replies. "It's probably just some hobo, and I'm not going to bust someone for sleepin' rough." He chuckles as he closes the door. "Especially if they're my creepy doppelganger!" The last phrase is drenched in mockery, and you watch as he wiggles his fingers at the duo.

"We're not making it up! That dude looks just like you!"

"Yeah, you should watch out for pod people," his friend adds.

"Riiiiight. Well, when you work out if I need to call the Ghostbusters, or the Men in Black, or the Avengers, let me know and I'll hit 'em on speed dial. Until then stay out of basements."

Caleb smirks and waves them off with a shake of his head. You watch as they turn on their bike lights, the glow from the beams gradually fading up the road. It's only when the coast is clear that Caleb signals for you to come out.

"Kids," he sighs, gesturing you to follow him back inside the basement. "They thought they'd come down and see where their mystery man was," he says. "Managed to find the sleeping bag, a few of the supplies. I turned up, spun 'em some bullshit about checking out this mystery me, and said they probably saw a vagrant. Where's the book at?"

You head to where you stashed it, and breathe easier when you see it's still there along with the ingredients. The laptop and DVDs are still there, too. "So, now what?" you ask.

"What do you mean?" Caleb says, taking a breath. "This is incredible! Dude, we have actual magic! We are going to totally use it, that's what! There's no way I'm finished being you."

"You don't think they'll come back?" you ask. Caleb shakes his head.

"Pft, nah. Would you, if you were your brother's age? They'll head home, chalk all of this up to a trick of the light. I'll head home and deal with Robert. And the very lovely Umeko-san, too. You kept her up your sleeve, didn't you?" He gives you a conspiratorial smile.

You shift uncomfortably. Yes, you have an acute crush on her that Caleb seems to have picked up on. But – "Dude, she's my cousin! I just like hanging out with her is all."

"Methinks thou doth protest too much," Caleb grins. "I'll be back in the morning, after enjoying the comforts of your mom's cooking and your bed. Don't worry man, this is going to be awesome! I'll come back as soon as I can. After church I guess. Umeko was talking about some duet deal? Oh, yeah – and I'm going to talk to your dad too about that internship for me. This Will Prescott isn't going to keep flaking out."

You ignore the pointed reminder that you've been letting him down, and begin the process of fishing out all the items from where you left them. Digging through the care package, you also find Caleb's mask. "Hey!" you say. "I already told you, you can finish polishing it up on your own."

Caleb gives you a sly wink. "Just if you get bored," he says as he skips off back to live your life.

***

You do get bored. The community center's hotspot seems to be too weak to get a good signal. The ice for another mask has melted and you aren't going to risk being caught again. So, instead, you shove on one of the DVDs, watching a movie while you polish Caleb's mask. You try and doze, but the cold of the basement floor seeps into your bones, and without the comfort of a mattress you find your sleep fitful and restless. Every so often you jar yourself awake, limbs numb and stiff, trying to work out how much time has passed in the gloom – and sinking down when you realize it's barely an hour closer to dawn. When it finally does break, you feel tired and irritable.

Morning involves breaking down camp, partly for warmth and to stretch out of some of the fatigue, before you check and see the WiFi hotspot is back on. It only holds your attention for so long, so you return to polishing up Caleb's mask while you re-watch one of the movies, getting rid of the last of the streaks of grey and making it all a shiny, shimmering blue. It's a make-work job, something to keep you occupied, and you swear that you're going to get him to make the next couple as payback.

It's about ten-thirty and you're still belly-aching when you hear a noise upstairs. Caleb! You begin to dive through the tunnel you've created to your secret lair when you remember he said he probably wasn't going to see you until after church. That's not for another two hours. So who the hell is this?

Your pulse quickens, and your mouth begins to feel dry. Slow, deliberate footsteps sound down the stairs, and a flashlight's beam cuts into the gloom. "Hello?" a stern voice echoes. "Anyone down there?"

You can't see who it is in the gloom, but you already know what happened. Those little snitches! One of them must have told their parents this morning about some hobo living in the basement of the elementary school. Either a concerned parent – or, worse, the local police – has decided to check it out.

They haven't found your hiding place, but they're going to make a far more determined search than those kids so they're definitely going to find you. That leaves you with only a couple of options. You've got just about enough time to grab everything valuable (your laptop, the book and the mask) and try and charge past them. With any luck you can get up the stairs and bolt across Acheson and back home – with everyone at church you won't risk discovery.

You could surrender yourself too, and hope that you can deal with the fallout; it's not like you've done anything seriously wrong. But that only works so long as they don't call your folks. If they do, someone'll very quickly realize there are two Will Prescotts.

Or, there's the most desperate gambit of all. Caleb's mask is ready… and you know from personal experience that it'll knock someone unconscious in an instant.

Next: "An Ill-Thought Break-Out" 

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