Mask
Will stared into the mirror.
An expressionless face stared back at him, a mask concealing most of its features. One eye glinted from behind it, the one not hidden by the purple hair swept across his face. It was only his reflection, but it seemed to mock him.
He hesitated a moment; then the psychic quickly removed the mask and turned away, trying to close his eyes to avoid any glimpse of his face without it, but he was not fast enough. The gleam in his visible eye seemed to transfix his gaze and he turned back, unable to look away from the horror staring back at him. The mess of raised scar tissue across his face, the other eye that was blind and milky white.
He found that he was clutching the edge of the countertop so tightly that his knuckles had become as white as his scars.
It was only his reflection, Will told himself. Only a reflection. It could not harm him. It was only his own face. There was no reason to be shaking so violently at the sight of it.
As he stared back into his own good eye, his reflection seemed to loom forward at him, and Will jumped back, his heart pounding. It wasn’t real, wasn’t real, wasn’t---
“You can’t run away from me,” hissed the scarred visage with a malicious grin. “You can’t ever get away. I’m part of you…”
“N-no!” Will let out a strangled cry, falling back hard onto the floor so he could no longer see into the mirror, but his reflection was following him, sliding snakelike out of the mirror and hovering shifting and transparent just inches from his real face.
“Look at me,” it hissed. Will couldn’t tear his eyes away, paralyzed with terror. “This is our true face… Faceless One!”
Will flinched, violently, as if the last two words had pierced him. Almost no one knew his true face; that was what he called himself, and at times he almost believed it, that there was nothing behind his mask but blank emptiness. He would have preferred it that way - but he could never fully forget this monster, no matter how hard he tried.
“You can hoodwink them into believing you are human, but you and I… we know better!” His reflection leaned closer. “Monster! Murderer! That is what we are!” Cold fingers closed around his throat. Will let out a gut-wrenching scream.
“N-no! Get… get away! Leave me alone!”
“I cannot,” the low voice hissed. “You are me. Accept it.”
“Stop! Stop it! Please!” Will’s voice broke in panic, a cold sweat drenching his face. It was becoming harder to breathe - the specter was choking him…
And then the door slammed open and a woman shouted, “Will!”
“You are…” the reflection rasped.
Someone’s arms suddenly grabbed him, picking him up from the floor and holding him tight. The vision suddenly evaporated as if it had never been. Will whimpered, breathing heavily. Karen was leaning over him, her long silver hair in disarray as she stared down at him with mingled sympathy and disdain.
“M-mask,” Will choked, closing his eyes tightly. The vivid memory of his face loomed behind his eyelids, so he opened them again, staring up instead into Karen’s worried face, which blurred unexpectedly. Something wet ran down his cheek.
She picked the mask up from the floor where it had fallen and pressed it into his hand; then she pulled him close to her, one hand resting protectively on the back of his head. “You fool,” she whispered with difficulty, her voice choked with suppressed tears. “It’s just a mirror.”