The mask was buried. Daniel started to make his way back to his car. He felt an odd sense of anticlimax now that the mask was finally gone. He had been expecting to feel… something. Something profound or significant, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. However, the burying of the silver mask had not left him feeling anything of significance. He felt a hot nugget of fear form in his abdomen at this. What did it mean? Had he done something wrong? He could not bear for it to go on any more than it already had.
*****
Bethany lay screaming on the ground, her body contorting as if she were experiencing unbearable pain. Daniel, face paper white with terror, grabbed the mask and pulled it off her. It was burning hot and the skin of his hand blistered as he cried out and threw it away.
“Beth!” he said, leaning down and grabbing his friend by the shoulders. “Beth are you okay? What the hell happened?”
Beth’s eyes were open but she seemed unable to see. She just stared wide eyed at the silent, completely silent.
“Beth,” said Daniel, shaking her by her shoulders, “Beth saying something!”
All of a sudden, Beth took in a deep, gasping breath and then started to whimper. “Behind you,” she whispered, “it was behind you, it was behind you, it was behind you…”
Daniel slowly turned his head only to see nothing there. “Beth what are you talking about?” he said. “What was behind me? Why did you start screaming when you put the mask on? How did it get so hot? Your face isn’t even burned but my hand got blistered just from touching it for a second!”
“It was… a face,” Bethany whispered, “a horrible, horrible face… oh Daniel, help me please… Please oh please help me…”
“A face?” said Daniel, “Bethany there’s nothing there. Look! It’s all empty, there’s just the two of us here and no one else I promise.”
Bethany stopped whispering, curled up into a ball and started to sob. Daniel hugged her, tears starting to flow from his eyes as well.
“What the hell is going on?” he groaned. The mask gleamed in the corner, and if Daniel had looked at it then he would have seen that the shimmering mirage behind it was starting to expand outwards. He was too preoccupied with
Bethany, however, and thus missed this crucial event.
He called an ambulance and accompanied Bethany to the hospital, all the while trying to understand the source of all of this strangeness. There was something otherworldly about the mask, there was no doubt about that at all. He just hoped that Bethany would be able to tell him what she had seen. Perhaps then he would be able to piece together some semblance of a narrative here.
Perhaps then he would be able to begin understanding the secret of the Silver Mask.
