12. Don't Start A War You Know You Can't End.

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A few days later...

Knives. Blood. Where to run. Who to call for help. In which direction do I run...? I am surrounded. Blood dripping off of knives. Masks hiding sources. Hiding identities. Hiding truths. Let go of my hand, I'm scared. But no, he still holds me as tight as ever. Tears fall freely from a child's face, courtesy of pain like no other. What wrong have I done? Who has it out for me? What are they trying to tell me?

I am in a dark room with almost no light. Red smoke surrounds my feet. Incoming! A knife darts towards me with the speed of light. But as quicky as it moves, it stops... right between my eyes without touching my face. I stare at it in shock and confusion. My heart beats out of its cage as my fate was almost sealed. Another one follows but it too, stops right before it touches my face. Many others follow but stop at the exact point. I stare at them as my mind tries to process what is going on, my eyes as wide as saucers. Then they drop and clatter to the ground. I look at them for a moment and finally lift my head.

A full length mirror with white boarders appears infront of me. I step closer to it and look at my reflection with shock and confusion once again. A vital part of my identity is missing. No scar, no blood, no cut. There was no evidence of a cut on my face. I only see a beautiful brown skinned girl with the look of fear in her eyes. I subconsciously bring my hands up to my face, but as soon as I started to like what I see, the mirror shatters and its pieces bolt to me but none of them touch me. Except one.

I shoot out of bed with my eyes shut. I hear a distant sound of a scream before I notice its creator. Me. I can not feel anything except my pounding heart. I cannot hear anything but my ragged and uneven breathing. I suddenly feel all wet and soaked before I realize I am covered in sweat. I fall back down on the bed with my forearm on my forehead. My body starts to respond to the environment as I begin to hear voices. I look towards my feet and see Jaime and Trevor. Trevor sitting on the bed beside my feet and Jaime standing infront of the bed with his arms folded. They are both looking at me. My screaming must have woken them up. This is what I feared.

"Are you okay?" I hear Trevor ask with concern in his voice.

Right then and there is when I notice something. My mask is off. My face is bare and exposed. Everything I have been trying to hide has been exposed. With a dreadful feeling of defeat, I move my body so my upper body rests on the head board. I play with my fingers as I ready myself for the insults, disagreements, words of disappointment and anger that will follow. But wierdly enough, they never came. Right then is when my mind finally processed what he asked.

"Mask? Are you ok?" Jaime asked. Once again, I do not know how to answer his question. I snap my eyes towards him. My eyes dart between the two men infront of me with disbelief. They both look back at me with an expectant look.

"A-Adani. My name's Adani. And yes, I'm ok." I mean, they have seen my face already, I might as well just tell them my name already. I do not sleep with my mask on. Especially now that I sleep in a bedroom. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm sorry for waking you guys up and making you worry."

"Hey it's alright. What's important is that you're okay." Trevor said. I have no idea what was happening. I still await their looks and words of disgust. But instead I am met with, "Do you need anything to drink? Water? Juice? Or do you want to talk about it?"

Deciding not to question their actions, I give them a simple reply. "No, it's ok." I spare a glance at the alarm clock on the bedside table. The numbers 4:09 shine in bright red. "If you guys don't mind, I'd like to go back to sleep please."

They look to each other and look back to me. Trevor lifts himself off of my bed while letting out a loud breath. Jaime readies himself to vacate the room.

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