Deception

Bloody Headquarters

Chapter 14///
Bloody Headquarters

I sat in the make-up chair with a sour look on my face.

As my boss mentioned several times before, our new missions could require a disguise. My disguise being one that I'm not quite fond of.

I had to take on a whole new look with make-up, a face mask, and a wig. It wasn't the make up or the wig that bothered me, it was the mask. I would have my face reconstructed with this flesh-like, emotionless piece of rubber and contractor-strength glue.

The main reason for my complaining had to do with something that happened earlier in my childhood.

You know how prosperous my siblings are, so it wouldn't be a surprise if my parents were the same. We were all given a monthly allowance to use to our own expense.

One summer, me and a couple of elementary school buddies decided it would be totally rad if we went around scaring the shit out of people with a mask. Not just any mask, though, a professional one that would be so realistic that people would believe it was real.

So we went down to a nearby party store and bought the best materials that money could buy. Since I was the one who provided the funds for our little charade, I decided to be the one who got the makeover.

My friends carefully and skillfully applied the creamy glue onto my soft little face and smoothed the mask over it. I looked like Gordon Ramsey on crack.

After I got "all dolled up", we went around town scaring people on park benches, in restaurants, libraries, and even in the cemetery.

The sun was at its lowest peak, marking the near end of the day, but we weren't through yet. There was still one more person we had yet to visit; one of my aunts, May.

Aunt May wasn't that old, but she was still very ill, so she was spending a few weeks at the hospital. We crept up to the building and rode the elevator to her floor. When we looked inside the window, we could see that she was reading. And by the looks of it, it was a horror story. What a perfect setting for the scene that was to soon unfold.

I crawled in front of my Aunt, and slowly rose behind the spine of her book. It took her a couple of moments, but when she finally noticed me she let out a blood curdling scream.

My friends and I almost died of laughter at the scared woman. My knees became weak, and I pounded the tiled floor with my fist to try and stop the laughter that came bubbling out of me.

"That's what you get for reading scary tales before bedtime," I had said, mocking what grown ups always told us.

"You... You should be ashamed of yourself! Scaring people like that... I hope that no one else had to deal with you kids' absurd sense of humor today," I remembered her saying.

"Oh, yes they have! Nearly the whole town," replied one of my friends.

A team of blue clad figures in Crocs skidded into the room to investigate the scene.

I could recall them asking us what had happened, and my aunt retelling the story with embarrassment.

"Unauthorized guests aren't allowed in the hospital," spoke one of the doctors, "For your safety, we must identify all of the children, including the one over there with the mask."

"Come on and take that mask off so that you won't get into more trouble," Aunt May growled.

I tried lifting the mask off, only to find that it wouldn't budge. I tugged and I tugged, even receiving help from my friends, but all I ended up with was a very irritated face. Then we started to panic, thinking of every bad consequence that might happen. I was soon brought to tears at the fact that this mask would probably remain on my face forever.