To the enlightened.
From yours truly, deathless.
Behind the grainy screen, there was mindless chatter and thoughtless gray. He looked on. Securing the mask on his face. Staring in silence. The pleasant mask pleased the others; they laughed, they cried, they watched. They watched. Watching, they hoped to see, once again, the pleasant mask that brought them joy. He kept his mask on, people liked him. They admired him, his values. They thought they knew him, they thought they could relate. They didn't. They couldn't.
But they watched. Watching him, they saw the mask, but not the man beneath.
Then one day, he reached for his mask. He pulled it off, and threw it aside. But along with his mask, he was shattered. The mask consumed him. The mask betrayed him. It became him, and he became a stranger. The mask became his face, his face became the mask. Now they watched, the one that they loved. He was the same.
They did not recognize him.
