Prompted Challenge

Prompt from - Doingthewritething.wordpress.com

Masks. They’re worn to have fun, to play a joke, to be mysterious, to hide one’s true natures, or to scare. Sometimes, the mask is worn so well and so long that the wearer can no longer know who or what is beneath. And sometimes, we are grateful for the mask because we cannot bear to know what the mask hides.

This month’s writing invites you to explore masks. Who hides beneath the mask? What is the mask covering up? Could a mask save a life? You decide.

A Mask of Premonition

A shudder ran down my spine as I opened the door to find my boyfriend with blood dripping down his face his eye hanging from the socket and what looked to be a huge flap of skin taken halfway off his skull. I almost screamed, instead I said “Take it off, that is not in the least bit funny”

“Oh come on Chrissy, It’s just a Halloween mask” laughed Mark

“I know but I don’t like it, it’s too real, you would actually look like that if someone tried to take your head off.” Saying it I couldn’t quite repress another shudder, it really did look as if someone had tried to take his head off.

“Awww, ok but now I’m really going to scare everyone” he pulled back the mask revealing his own smiling face.  I didn’t think his face would scare anybody; in fact his was a face I was hoping to have around for awhile, maybe even the rest of my life.   

”Better?” he asked looking down at me.

I nodded I don’t know why it had freaked me out so badly it was just a cheap mask after all”You can wear it, it just surprised me is all”

“Nah, can’t drive in the thing anyways” he grinned at me “and besides I don’t want you running away from me tonight or I’m going to be living in a cardboard box next week”   

I laughed and stood up on tip-toe to give him a kiss.

Tonight was going to be the first night Mark would be staying at my place after tonight this would be our apartment not just mine. Marks own apartment was already packed up and ready for us to move everything over in the morning.
We walked down from my 3^rd floor apartment or “the penthouse” as Mark liked to call it and out to the Rolls which in reality is just an old Chevy. We were heading to a party the next town over and we were almost there when around the last curve came two cars side by side.

Mark pulled the wheel hard to the right and suddenly everything was much too bright and loud as metal scraped against metal and the cars collided, with a sickening crunch they broke through the guardrail and went tumbling over the edge.

I opened my eyes seconds or maybe minutes later to an eerie silence. Aching all over and hardly able to move I slowly pushed myself up and turned towards Mark.  My breath caught in my throat he was wearing that terrible mask again “that’s not funny” I yelled and reached out a hand to pull it off.

I grabbed the edge of the mask and pulled but instead of Marks grinning face being revealed I heard a terrible squelching sound as his head rolled bonelessly towards me and the chunk of skin and hair in my hand tore clean off.  I couldn’t help but scream, this time Mark wasn’t wearing a mask.