MASK Chapter Two

          “What are these masks for?”
          The boy with a black and white checkered mask spoke first.
          “Well, uhm, where should we start? The masks? The angels? Ah, well first of all—”
          The boy with clock gear patterned mask interrupted his conversation.
          “You’re dead.”
          Silence heavily fell in the air. The atmosphere slowly drifted from nothing to black.
          “What?”
          “I said that you’re—“
          A girl with a mask had all the symbols on the deck of cards, such as the spade, diamond, clover, and heart, had spoken.
          “Well, let me start explaining this crazy mess you’ve gotten into. Besides, I’m captain,”
          She held her hand out. I stood up wearily and shook it. Her hair was long and silky, and was the color of dark red and ash. Her body structure was skinny but firm and strong.
          “My name is Alexis. 16 years old. How about you?”
          I paused, unsure what to answer. My mind coiled and churned, searching for my name. I fell to the ground on my knees, as I banged my hands on my head.
          “Memory problems? Everybody had that when they first came here.”
          Alexis reaches up and catches hold of me. I shook my head, trying to remember,
          “It’s no use, girl. Just wait till the memories come and get you. Till then we’ll call you Lacie. How’s that?”
          “Lacie…”
          A boy with clock gears on his mask named me Lacie. I whisper under my breath. Lacie, Lacie, Lacie… I smile slightly and introduced myself.
          “My name is Lacie. I think I am about 16.”
          Everybody laughs as they introduce themselves. The boy with clock gears started. He had a light bronze colored hair.
          “Leo, 17 years old. Special ability, time control.”
          I cocked my head sideways. Special abilities?
          “Ah, sorry. We haven’t explained yet have we?”
          The boy with black hair and checkered mask had interrupted. I spun my head quickly as I found him lifting his mask and making a bubble gum pop.
          “I’m Sky. 14 years old. Special ability? Mind reading, as you can see. We gain special abilities as we put these masks on. Your ability would slowly be drawing itself on the mask.”
          I nodded and glance at Alexis and asked,
          “How about Alexis? What’s her ability?”
          Alexis shrugged and sighed.
          “I still don’t know and haven’t found out yet. Some of our abilities are obvious but some aren’t. These abilities are pretty hard to pull out of us. But all I know is that I’m good with guns and knives. Alright, who’s next?”
          “I am!”
          A girl with blue-black hair jumped up with a sparkling atmosphere. Her mask was completely black with electric blue streaks all over.
          “Olivia, 13. Ability, intelligence. I am quite good at conning people with my mind.”
          There were many other people, like Amy, only 11 years old and has the ability of controlling objects with her mind. Max, who was already 18, had the ability to have high speed and agility. Peter has completely flexible body structure. He is only 6 but his IQ is quite high. Alexis then continued her explanation of chaos.
          “We are all in heaven, but angels have become chaos and are rebelling god. We have never seen crazy angels, right? So we were so surprised when we first came here. As you may know, billions of people die every day in a single minute, yet we seem to be the only ones. All we have are weapons and such. So far we have found out that angels eat the human’s hearts and faces, expressions, and we have received these masks. Questions?”
          I asked softly under my breath and tremble.
          “Why are they so rebellious? What happens if you take your mask off?”
          Everybody had created a silent atmosphere once again. Then Leo started off.
          “Well, if you take your mask partly off, it’s fine. It’s not much of a big deal. If you take your whole mask off, they’ll sense you miles away. Angels have speed over Max’s when they sense powerful feelings.”
          “Leo, can you get some water for us, just a sec?”
          “Why me?!”
          Alexis gave him a look and Leo sighed.
          “It’s her, huh? Thanks for the warning Alex.”
          Alexis’s eyes had a pitiful look and seemed to cry. But she held them back and looked at me.
          “Lacie, here’s a story we had of a loss of our friend. She was Leo’s little sister. She was only 9 and Leo was 14. So I guess 3 years ago. Leo was running away with his sister and his sister fell in the snow. She was so scarred, she never really knew much information about the mask, and neither did we. She lifted her mask off to wipe away her tears. The angels went to maximum speed and she died right in front of Leo’s eyes. We were ahead and we never saw them but Sky heard Leo’s thoughts screaming and told us we should go back. We did, and angels were already devouring that poor child. All we could do was watch. She—”
          Alexis burst into tears. Leo came back and pulled half of her mask off. He pulled his sleeve over and Alexis rubbed her eyes. I was shocked and speechless.
          “I’m so sorry. I know that almost everybody might say this just to be polite, but I really am. I—I really hope the flow of time cleanses the past and heals your wounds in the heart.”
          “Thanks Lacie. Thanks.”