AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I look at myself in the mirror in the silence of the night, I see the parts of me missing. I'm falling apart, leaving pieces of me everywhere. I wonder when I leave how much of me will be left. I wish I could move time faster so I don't have to watch myself fall into an empty hole, hoping there will be something left when I reach the bottom.
When I'm done feeling sorry for myself in the mirror, I turn to find a piece of paper on my bed. It is old, like it came from a leather diary found in an ancient library. The red script is elegantly scrawled over crème fine paper as I take it between my fingers, feeling the thickness.
Mistakes you have made are filled with regret you cannot shed. Your hands slide over your skin, washing away filthy secrets you dare not tell. Eventually, they will burn your skin. That is the part of you that I will take away because every time you try to say the name across your lips, it never reaches that point, only digging yourself deeper into the soil until you make a grave for your soul.
When you think it is over and the pain is dormant, I will always be there when you think I'm not. Watching you.
I will always be where the darkness and the light meet, waiting until you realize I'm already there when you cannot see.
Z
I re-read the letter three times because he writes in riddles. I don't understand what he means, but if he is always watching me, this means that he isn't going to stop. My mind is spinning a million miles a minute, wondering where my fate is headed. Death or destruction.
I stare up at the ceiling, hoping for a different life. A life where love and trust meet and mix into something beautiful like the colors the world has created.
A kaleidoscope of colors morphing into each other, creating a peaceful paradise.
A place where there is no regret and nothing but good things to come, but where I come from and where I am now, it all seems like a pipe dream. A well you are trying to crawl out of, and when you think you reach the top and are about to climb out, you slip and fall right back to the bottom.
My eyes drift closed, trying to stay awake in case Zero makes an appearance. I have so many questions to ask, but my eyes feel heavy with sleep, and I fall into the dark abyss, waiting for the memories I try to forget to appear. The ones that play on repeat.
It is always the same.
I wake up trying to breathe, looking around and seeing double. Re-living the moment of the first night Michael took advantage of me. My vision is blurred, and the sting of the burn between my legs leaks out, mixed with fluid and my innocence. Tears fall down my cheeks like blood from the shame.
I wake up, bolting upright from the small bed, like I'm being pushed to the water's surface and gasp for air. My body sags in relief when I realize it is just a dream. The sunlight streams through the small window, but the empty bed where Gia used to sleep is now occupied by a masked figure.Zero.
My body trembles in fear because it’s one thing in thinking you can handle someone's presence when you feel ready to confront them. It is another when they finally show up. The black mask with the long beak of a bird stares back at me like a crow watching its prey.
I let out a breath of air, making tiny half-moons on the palms of my hands with my blunt nails, seeing if this is real and I'm not going fucking crazy.
I lick my dry lips. "What are you doing here?"
He cocks his head. "Bad dreams. Suffocating, aren't they?"
My eyes sting because he isn't wrong. I comb the knots of my curly hair with my fingers and respond. "The bad ones always are." My eyes scan his black pants and fitted dress shirt, trying to look for a clue of who he his. "Do you always wear a mask?"
"Don't we all."
I gesture my hand over my face. "I meant literally. Isn't it hot under there?"
"No, but I like that you can't see me."
“ Why, are you ugly? Do you have imperfections you don't want others to see?"
"We all have imperfections. We hide what we don't want others to see, but this is me. This is my face and what I choose to wear. What…I choose to let you see. The same way you don't want me to see the real you. The part of you that you hide behind that fake smile you plant on your face for your friends to see. So, you see, we all wear masks." He stretches his legs over the bed and leans against the wall. "You intrigue me. I like the fact that you are all alone. What intrigues me the most is how you deal with your emotions and the sickness you carry inside."
"Is it because I'm considered Prey? Because you see me as vulnerable and want to take advantage of me?"
I'm getting annoyed. He may have power because he is one of them, but I won't sit here and let him taunt me and toy with me like I'm a pet he wants to keep in a cage.
He chuckles, a deep vibration coming from his throat. His voice is deep when he speaks. Demanding, dark, and twisted. "I don't think you are weak. I think you are underestimated."
"What are you doing?" He moves to get up from the bed, and I shrink back when he stops at the edge. His gloved fingers pull the comforter back, exposing my legs.
The tip of his mask is aimed at me, and I can feel the heat from his eyes watching me. I don't know how, but I do. It is electrifying, not being able to see what he looks like.
"I'm showing you the nature of us. The line where friendship and lovers exist. A place few people ever find."
