“I think we’re
lost.”
“Why would you think that?” the
man said to me.
His words were
partially muffled by the mouse mask on his face. It reminded me of a
something from a child’s costume. It was made from thin plastic
with fading gray and pink paint, strapped to his head with an elastic
string. The man was twice my size, easily twelve feet tall. He was
wearing all-white scrubs, like a doctor. I had no idea who he was.
“We’ve been
walking through this fog for hours. It feels like we are going in
circles,” I spoke.
“It’s been
closer to days, I believe.”
“Days? Now, I
know we are lost.” I stopped walking, spinning around and looking
for anything besides the thick, night fog. I couldn’t remember the
last time I had seen something other than the grass below my feet and
the relentless fog.
“Perhaps if we
hold hands you would feel more comfortable to continue,” the giant
man said through his mouse mask.
He turned his hand
to me, opening one black-clawed finger at a time until I looked up at
his inviting palm. I place my hand in his, feeling compelled to
trust him. His oversized hand swallowed mine as the
malevolent-looking claws wrapped around. He squeezed just slightly
and then began to lead me the way we had first been walking.
“I don’t
remember seeing sunlight,” I said to him. “It feels like it’s
always night here.”
“There is no
sun,” he said.
“Oh.”
We walked for what
felt like another few hours until the man suddenly stopped. I looked
up at him, waiting for an explanation. He said nothing but released
my hand pointing forward through the fog.
“Do you want me
to keep going?”
The large man
nodded. His cartoon mask shifted slightly askew.
I looked forward
into the fog and began walking. I could feel it covering me,
swarming around. When I glanced back over my shoulder the giant man
was gone, replaced by fog. I felt lonelier than ever.
My legs never
seemed to tire. My eyes never got sleepy. I never felt hungry or
thirsty.
Am I dead?
The thought tumbled
through my head but I was never able to grab a firm hold of it. Too
many other things were bouncing around in there with it. Images.
Memories. They all seemed so far away. Another life maybe. I
pictured a young girl smiling at me. She looked beautiful.
Did I have a
daughter?
My feet knocked
into something. I nearly tripped over it, regaining my balance just
in time. It took me a minute to register what was lying below me.
A body.
I jumped back
startled by the sight. The body didn’t move, not even a twitch.
Once I composed
myself, I squatted down and placed my hand on the arm, hoping to wake
whoever it was. The skin was so cold. I pulled my hand back
immediately.
Dead.
I looked for a
head, searching for eyes to help confirm that they were deceased, but
it was facing away. Carefully I grabbed onto the head and turned it
to face me.
Shit!
I fell backwards,
flailing from the sight. There was no face.
Carved out from
forehead to chin, the skin where the face should have been was taken.
Cut out. Removed. A bloody mess covering the hints of a skull was
all that remained. I felt sick. I turned to vomit but only dry
heaved. There was nothing to puke up.
Quickly I stood to
my feet and ran passed the dead, faceless body. I ran blindly into
the fog, terrified that I would trip over something else just as
awful. Within seconds I saw another faceless body. This one a
woman, the skin of her face had been removed just like the other. I
continued to run.
I wished the giant
man would return. I was so confused and had so many questions.
Where am I?
What’s going on?
Up ahead I saw a
dark spot in the fog. It grew larger and larger the closer I got to
it. When I finally reached it I saw another giant man, only this one
was wearing black scrubs instead of white ones. The large man turned
to me and I saw he wore a cat mask. It was orange and white. A
cartoon tabby. Below the giant was a boy lying on his back. The
masked man was cutting the boy’s face off just like the others. In
his hand a small blade was dripping fresh blood.
I backed away as
the giant man stood up and turned to me, the knife aiming in my
direction.
“Your face is a
much better fit,” he said as he removed his cat mask. Beneath it
was nothing but black. A bottomless pit of nothingness.
The giant reached
for me but I ducked his hand. My heart was screaming in terror. I
knew if he got me I would surely die. I tried to run but something
latched onto my shoulders holding me in place. I struggled until I
saw the face of the mouse mask standing over me.
“Run home,” the
mouse-masked giant said. Then he released me, stepping in front of
the empty-faced man.
I didn’t
hesitate. With my legs pumping fast, I sliced through the fog
running with everything I had.
Run home. Where
is home?
It didn’t matter
at that moment. I just needed to get away. I felt the fog
thickening. Felt it penetrating my lungs like poisonous smoke. It
was like trying to run with a hand squeezing out all the oxygen from
your body. But I couldn’t stop. The giant told me to run home. I
had to make it.
Right when I was
about to give up I saw a light breaking through the fog. The
coloring was wrong for sunlight. It was more like a flashlight than
the sun, but it was just as large. It was overpowering, dismantling
the thick, poison fog. I slowed to a walk, unsure if I should
proceed towards it.
“He’s waking
up!”
I heard a voice.
It sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it right away.
“Daddy!” This
time I knew the voice. It was undeniable. The images and memories
that had been bouncing around in my head came pouring out. I did
have a daughter. I remembered. Maybe not everything at once, but I
remembered her. I remembered my wife giving birth and holding that
beautiful life we had created in my hands for the first time.
The light got
brighter and brighter until it broke into objects. Walls, furniture,
people. I was in a room. It looked like a hospital. I realized
that I wasn’t walking anymore. I was lying down.
My family was
around me. My wife and daughter were there both crying and smiling
at once. In my baby girl’s arms were her favorite stuffed animals,
a tabby cat and a gray mouse.
Two doctors stood
over me.
“Try to relax,”
one said placing a hand on my shoulder. He had on white scrubs and a
mask covering his nose and mouth. He pulled it down around his neck
and then told me again to relax.
“You were in an
accident. Fell into a coma for a week,” the other doctor said. He
had on similar scrubs but his were black.
I wanted to tell
them I was okay but I couldn’t speak.
My face felt numb.
I lifted up my arm
and touched my face, feeling bandages all over it. I tried to pull
them off. I wanted to touch my face.
They stole my
face!
I started to flip
out, enraged by the idea of being faceless.
The doctors held my
arms down.
“Relax.”
“Relax. We will
explain everything.”
I saw my wife and
daughter staring at me. They weren’t smiling anymore, just crying.
It was enough to make me stop struggling.
“You were in an accident. We had to
do some surgery,” the doctor in black told me. “You had
extensive damage on your face.”
“Everything went well. You will
have some scarring but I believe a full, healthy recovery,” the
doctor in white spoke.
I nodded my head that I understood and
then they let me go, giving me something to help calm my nerves.
Later that evening, once my daughter was asleep, my wife filled me in
on the car accident. There had been another car involved. A
husband, wife, and their young boy had all lost their lives. I had
been the only survivor.
I wanted to tell her about my dreams
in the coma. I wanted to tell her that I think I saw that other
family; saw them dead and faceless. I wanted to tell her
about the giants with their masks. Tell her how everything felt so
real but unnatural at the same time. In the end, I didn’t tell her
or anyone. I kept it deep inside where all strange dreams live.
The End.
