The Mind beneath the Mask

Zenechka held the tiny slat of wood in her hand, still unsure as to whether or not she was going to do it. It wasn't just a momentary peek, it wasn't an easily broken commitment... it was a serious decision - and she was on the brink of backing down...

However, she had gone to all the trouble of arranging the meeting, of setting the stage for what was about to happen. Her breathing was shallow, and her heart was racing as she paced back and forth in the dimly lit room, staring at the tiny little door.

The knock on the door made her jump, and she hastily hid her hand in the shadows beside her.

"Come in." She called out, looking over at the door.

She could feel the chill bite of the breeze from the street outside, the rain pouring down in droves. At first she couldn't see anything but vague shadows and light reflected off the water as is fell from the sky... and then a bolt of lightning in the sky lit up the street outside, and there he was for a split second... the long coat hung around his ankles and his boots were drenched. The open umbrella was shielding his upper half, which was still bathed in darkness.

"You called for me." The voice was calm and gentlemanly as Umbrella Man stepped through the open doorway into the light of the single bulb overhead, folding his umbrella and shaking the droplets onto the ground outside before closing the door.

Zenechka was glad her face wasn't fully visible, because a bead of sweat was running down her forehead...

"Thank you for coming..."

"You said you had some questions for me." His voice echoed slightly in the room as he made his way forwards, slowly...

"Not quite," Zenechka said, stalling as she tried to summon the nerve to go through with her plan. "What I said was that I wanted some answers, to see what you're like on the inside."

"Presumably therefore you wish you ask me something." Umbrella Man responded casually, looking around the dingy building.

"Might I ask why you chose this of all places?"

However, when he turned back, he only had time to see a small multicolored object being thrown at his forehead. He dropped his umbrella as the psycho-portal stuck to the front of his mask, and the tiny door swung open, white light pouring out into Zenechka's face.

"You could have just asked..."

*****************************************************************

Zenechka found herself falling hard and fast, her backside growing red hot as the speed of her descent increased, sliding down what felt like a long pitch black tube. Flailing slightly, she felt the air catch in her throat as she tried to inhale...

And then all of a sudden the tube ended and she found herself tumbling into a bright white light. The ground had leveled out, and she eventually slid to a halt, in what seemed like an endless white expanse. The ground felt perfectly smooth, and Zenechka struggled to rise without falling over.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

Zenechka snapped around quickly at the sound of the voice, and found that behind her, a desk had appeared. It was a perfectly circular desk with a spotless surface, behind which a woman sat. Her hair was pitch black and it was tied back in a ponytail behind her head.

However, what got to Zenechka was the woman's face... or rather, her lack thereof. There was a shape of a nose, but besides that, not a single distinguishing feature lay on her skin... just a smooth expanse leading back in all directions.

"Who are you?"

"I am the receptionist." The faceless woman replied.

"Umbrella Man's mind has a receptionist?"

"Mind?" The woman appeared genuinely confused.

"Um, never mind... I'm... here for the... tour."

"May I inquire as to your name?" Said the woman, consulting a book which had appeared on the desk as though out of no-where.

"Zenechka."

Although the receptionist had no face, Zenechka got the distinct impression that she was being looked at with great shock.

"Excuse me..." She stood, turned, and vanished...

Zenechka stood for a moment in bewilderment, and then took a step forward, peering down at the book... on it's cover were the words Appointments and V.I.P's.

Her curiosity overtaking her, she turned the book to face her and she flipped to the front page of the Appointments section...

It was blank.

She flipped over to the next... blank.

Skipping the rest of that section, she opened the section relating to V.I.P's.

There was a list on that page at least, divided into two columns. The first column simply read Name. The second read, Significance.

Seeing no sign of the imminent return of the receptionist, Zenechka began to read down the page...

Adelaide - Unofficial Sister
Alish - Rival Photographer
Anko - Plaything
D.M.L - [Classified]
Drus - Fire-Twirler
Ncfa Wodtgnnc - Pgoguku
...
...
...


On and on the list went down the page, listing in alphabetical order people who Zenechka guessed had some significance to Umbrella Man... skipping to the end, she saw the final entry...


...
Zenechka - Arrest on Sight

"What the..." She breathed, and in that exact moment she felt a pair of strong hands seizing her hands and pulling them behind her back, a pair of hand cuffs being clapped over her wrists before she had a chance to react.

"Hey! Get your hands off me!" She kicked and thrashed about, turning to gaze over her shoulder to see who was seizing her... and her heart jumped into her throat.

"Eustace?" She gasped, seeing the fixed expression on his face.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Don't struggle, it's for your own good." Something was different about his voice... and his face.

"But what,"

"Please, I want this to go smoothly, we can still get you through this if you just co-operate."

"Why are you dressed like a secret agent?" She asked, baffled as Eustace dragged her through a door which she hadn't even noticed in the empty white expanse.

"Can't you guess?"

Zenechka thought for a moment as she was pushed through the door, and suddenly it clicked.

"Oh right... this isn't really you is it."

"No it isn't."

"You're just how you appear in Umbrella Man's mind... this is how he sees you."

"Correct."

Zenechka actually laughed,

"Why a secret agent?"

"Dunno, you should ask him... but that's only assuming you make it through your trial."

She was dumbfounded.

"Trial?! What did I do!?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you any more... you have to save it for the court room. Until then, you're under house arrest in the ball room."

"Ball room?"

But Eustace had gone, and behind her she heard what sounded like a massive pair of wooden doors slamming shut...

And then orange light filled her vision, and she threw up her hand to shield her eyes. When she lowered it, she noticed two things... firstly, a pair of yellow silk gloves had appeared on her hand, and secondly...

The Ball Room was massive, and filled with an assortment of men in tuxedos and women in ball room gowns, their faces all covered with smooth white mask. Only their eyes were visible behind each mask, but even then the shadows made them impossible to behold.

Zenechka felt quite out of place, until she took a step forward and realized that her rain coat had been replaced with a floor length brown dress with yellow trimming...

"My word..."

"Could I have the pleasure of this dance?"

Zenechka looked up in surprise. The man standing in front of her was dressed in identical fashion to the others, and his smooth white mask seemed to glow in the orange light. A wide brimmed hat sat atop his head, and his hands wore black velvet gloves.

"You... may?" She said, as puzzled as she was flattered.

"You sound apprehensive... is something not to your liking m'lady?"

"No, nothing really... I'm just surprised by the dress."

"It is a beautiful dress..." The man responded smoothly, his head moving slowly up and down her body. "And your favourite colors too I believe."

"Well - not really actually, my favourite colors are green and orange."

The man said nothing, but leaned back slightly.

"So... how is this dress not perfect for you then?"

"Well look at it, it's-" Zenechka looked down, and she stopped mid-sentence when she realized that the dress which had previously been a rather grubby shade of brown was suddenly a gorgeous shade of emerald with orange lacing...

"... yes, you're right, it is perfect. Shall we dance?"

The man said nothing, he merely extended his hand and took hers gently... as she stepped out onto the dance floor, the lights dimmed slightly, and a spotlight lit up on the stage... a man in a white mask stepped forwards and cleared his throat, holding up a microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen... would you please welcome to the stage, Kane."

"Oh you are joking!" Zenechka had to fight to stop herself laughing as Charlie walked forwards into the spotlight, her crimson gown flowing behind her as she took the microphone from the masked man, and began to sing...

"I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes..."

Somehow, it seemed to Zenechka as though more than one voice was emanating from within Charlie's mouth... as though several people were singing at once, using her one throat...

"...I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and it has been painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
Its not easy facin' up when your whole world is black..."

Zenechka had barely noticed, but she was already dancing... she wasn't making a conscious effort, it was as though the beat of the song was controlling her movements, and a quick glance about the room revealed that they were all dancing... all at once... and all in exactly the same way...

She turned and stared into the masked face of the man she was dancing with, and then she noticed something odd... his mask wasn't actually attached to his head with anything... it just seemed to sit perfectly on his face, despite the rapid movements.

They begun to spin faster and faster, her legs moving in such a way as she never thought it possible for her to move...

The shadows striking the masked man's face kept shifting as the candles flickered, and as the world behind them turned into a blur and the music began to engulf their senses, Zenechka blinked and found herself staring into a pair of deep black eye sockets and a rough bumpy gas-mask...

And then the song ended, and abruptly everyone stopped. Zenechka's mouth was open, but the smooth featureless mask in front of her had begun to bow...

Returning the gesture, she looked up and saw to her surprise that everyone had begun to remove their masks...

She would have fainted if she hadn't already known that she wasn't in a real world...

Gazing at her from every corner of the room, was her own face... every lady in the room, every last one... they were all her. Her heart was dancing in her chest, and she turned to gaze to the man standing before her as he pulled his mask from his face...

Zenechka could see a single spotlight in the pitch black room...

Looking down and seeing that she was back in her raincoat, she stepped forward and instinctively walked into the light, its beam focused on a tiny doll, dressed exactly how she was...

"The defendant has taken the stand."

"What?" She asked in surprise, but the voice didn't seem to hear her.

"The crime is theft of valuable property. What does the defendant plead?"

"Not guilty!" Zenechka answered, and she tried to take a step forward, but found her way blocked by iron bars...

Looking around, she saw that she was in a bird cage, suspended from a string on the desk of a witness stand... in a massive courtroom.

Where the Ball Room had been massive in size, the courtroom - and indeed everyone in it - was massive in scale...

It seemed to Zenechka as though she were tiny beyond belief, and she rattled the bars of the miniature bird cage with no discernible effect.

"Let it be recorded that the defended has pleaded Not Guilty to the charge of theft of valuable property from the man she knows as Umbrella Man."

"What did I steal??"

"This entire trial is a travesty!"

Zenechka looked up, and saw Eustace sitting at the defense councils table.

"Silence! You'll speak when it's your turn!" The withered old judge screamed, his jowls quivering madly.  

"I'll speak right now!" Eustace proclaimed boldly, his fist slamming down on the table.

"How can this girl possibly be accused of stealing from Umbrella Man? Have any of you even looked at her?"

The courtroom went silent and the judge shot a death stare at Eustace as the young secret agent stepped forward from his seat, approaching the witness stand.

"None of us here can change anything that Umbrella Man thinks... nor can we change the way he sees people in his mind..."

He looked around at the court, at the shadowy masked faces sitting in the crooked rows of stands...

"Maybe you can't see it, and I doubt even she sees it... but I know it's the truth - because I've seen it too..." He turned and looked down at Zenechka, his gloved hands supporting his weight as he brought his face down to eye level with her.

"I'm sorry about this..." He whispered, reaching forwards and opening the cage. "But it's the only way to prove my point..."

"Be careful!" Zenechka blurted out, but Eustace was remarkably gentle... even as he was ripping open the back of Zenechka's raincoat and shirt...

His fingers closed around her, concealing her from view from the court.

"Ladies and gentlemen... this girl is no criminal in the eyes of the Umbrella... and now you're going to see how he truly sees her."

And with those words, he opened his hands, and brought the pseudo trial to an end...

Everything went white once more, and Zenechka could see nothing but radiant white before her eyes, and a soft, kind, gentle voice in her ear whispering...

"Fly away my angel, spread your wings and fly... you're not supposed to be here."

****************************************************************

The dingy building felt remarkably cold, and a pool of water had begun to leak under the door as the psycho-portal fell from Umbrella Man's head and clattered to the floor.

Both figures stood staring at each other in utter silence...

"Umbrella Man?"

"Yes..."

"What did I steal from you?"

Umbrella Man said nothing... he took a step forward, and gently placed his icy cold hand against her cheek...

"I'm sorry Zenechka... but there is something I must tell you."

Fear and apprehension filled her, and she held her breath...

"Yes?" She murmured...

The gas mask leaned down close, and spoke the last four words on Earth she wanted to hear...

"Time to wake up..."

*****************************************************************

Zenechka awoke bleary eyed, groaning as she lay in her comfortable bed, sighing with dissapointment.

"Damn... what a cop-out." She sat up slowly, pulling her blankets up with her as she yawned and stretched.

"If my life were a story, there would be a lot of angry people right now..."

She rubbed her eyes and rose from her bed, pulling on her slippers and wandering down to the bathroom...

...

And behind her, under her bed, a tiny doll in a black raincoat lay on its side, a post it note stuck to its foot containing two beautifully written words...

" Case Closed "