My Second Closet (World of Mr. Plant + Other Ashur Gharavi Creations Fanfic)

Chapter One-Where It All Begins

It's a pretty good day so far. I've woke up about ten minutes ago-although I am never a morning person-and I'm sipping on my life's essence: a cup of coffee. Whenever I have a good morning, I get really suspicious about how bad the rest of the day is going to go. Maybe I'm just paranoid about today. It is the last day before Christmas Break, after all. I might start making some festive masks after school and wear them around the house instead of the regular ones. I can make a reindeer and an elf. Right now, though, I'm not wearing my regular flower mask. I need to drink the coffee, since the masks usually don't have a hole for the mouth.

As soon as I finish my coffee, I walk to my room and pick out some clothes to wear. To give you a good idea of what my room looks like, the walls have been painted a faded light blue. There's a small group of masks hanging from the ceiling at the corner of my room, near the secondary closet that has been locked for who knows how long. My bed matches the wall's paint, and there's a pansexual flag hanging over it right under a shelf full of track and field trophies from middle school. The desk and chair I usually sit at in my spare time is at the end of the bed, with a bookshelf on the right of the white desk. The bookshelf is full of books ranging from How to Craft a Mask to The Five People You Meet in Heaven and a bunch of Stephen King's books. Horror is a really cool genre, and most of the creators who keep it going are pretty chill.

Well, while I've bored you with a long wall of descriptions, I got dressed and put on my flower mask. This one scares a lot of people, most of my masks do, but I still wear them anyway. No, I don't have paranoia about thw government. And, no, I'm not thinking aliens are going to cut humans' faces off.

I just really, really hate my face.

My nose is crooked to the left. My mouth is too close to my nose, and I can feel it go all the way up to my ears on the certain times I smile. My ears are huge and stick out the sides of my head like a Mr. Potato Head. My eyes are small and far apart, bordered by the bridge of my nose like two countries and a wall. I don't allow myself to look in a mirror. Mirrors have ruined a perfectly good day way too many times. 

"Alice! Are you done yet?" 

Molly is waiting right outside my bedroom door. Trust me, I love her to bits, but I don't even let her see my face. My parents are up by four and at work now, and I bring Molly to school before me. The elementary school doesn't mind early students, the kids just hang around the playground until it's actually time for school. Early high schoolers just go in the study hall for an hour or so. Absolutely nothing else. Luckily, I always get to school five minutes after free time starts. Free time is the only times that students hang out in the courtyard. 

"Yeah. Give me a sec!" I say, hoping my little sister hears through the door. Why am I not going out yet? 

I feel watched. As if dozens of eyes are watching me from one place. It's almost like how I felt constantly during elementary and middle school. Until three years ago. When my dad still lived with me. Cameras everywhere. Tapes all on one shelf. All of me and Mom and younger Molly. Drunk men laughing because I look funny. Then it all stopped.

Maybe it's just nothing. If it's something, I'll tell Mom. We can call the authorities if it's bad enough. It shouldn't be as bad as Dad though.

Nothing will be as bad as Dad. 

"Come onnn!" Molly shouts. 

Yeah. It's nothing. I'm probably just being a little paranoid. Everything is fine. 

"Okay, okay," I say. I glance at the secondary closet before I pick up my backpack and walk out of my bedroom. 

Molly walks out of the house before I even reach the living room. I have to run to the car just so she doesn't get impatient. I love her to bits, but I wish she could wait a little bit longer than she already does.