I've never seen her face before.
Her name is Mary, and she's the new girl in my brother's class.
They're third graders, and I'm in the sixth grade. What's weird about that girl is that she always wears a mask of some sort.
The teachers said Mary has some kind of physical deformity that we don't know of. They told us kids not to forcefully take her mask off, or force her to do so.
But why? What is she afraid of? So what if she's not perfect? She should not listen to rude, immature people.
See, I have an imperfection too. I have a cleft. Do you know how hard it was to swallow everything they said? But I learned to accept it. Okay, so I have a cleft. What are you gonna do about it?
I want to talk to Mary. I really want to.
Mary's alone in the playground, wearing her favorite mask, a simple brown paper bag over her head. She's sitting on the swing.
I approach her. I take the seat next to her and she looks at me.
"Where are the other kids?" I ask. "Usually, lots of little kids play here."
"It's because I'm here," she replies.
Her voice hits me hard. I've never heard such loneliness. No, it's deeper than that. Like despair, and anger.
"So are you gonna tease me too?" she says, looking me straight in the eyes. I look at hers too. She has beautiful baby blue eyes.
"No, silly. I'm here to be your friend," I say.
A twinkle appears in her eyes, making them more beautiful. "Really?" she asks. "No one's tried to be my friend before. I mean, besides adults. The doctors, some teachers..."
"I really want to be your friend," I reply. "I'm Liz. You're Mary, right? My brother told me about you."
"Your brother?"
"Oh, Jeffrey Adams. He's in your class."
Mary looks away. Even though I can't see her face, I could feel that she's frowning.
"What's wrong, Mary?"
"Jeffrey," her voice begins to tremble. "He and his other friends... They're mean. They're bullies."
I suddenly feel mad at my brother. He discriminates kids like me.
"Why? What do they do to you?"
"T-they - They throw things at me," her paper mask slightly goes wet. She's crying. "They call me names and accuse me of bad things. They tell everyone to keep away from me."
"I'm gonna kill that brat," I mutter.
"They tell everyone I'm a monster. They even accused me for the disappearance of the missing kid."
"You mean Johnny?"
"Yes. Just because he bullied me a lot."
"Don't worry," I touch her shoulder. I feel really sorry for her. "As you see, I'm not different from you. Look at me, I have a cleft. It makes my voice as irritating as possible."
"But I like your voice," she says. "It's so sincere. So true and so caring."
What she said makes me happy, no one's ever told me that before.
"You know what? You're beautiful. Listen to your voice. So sweet and innocent, just like your heart. Look at your eyes, clear and pretty. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Here, let me take off your mask."
