Hiding Behind A Mask | ✔

C H A P T E R T H I R T E E N

I stare at myself in the mirror as I lift my hand to touch my face. Most of the time, I would wear my mask at home, not giving myself a chance to look at myself for not even a second. But, of course, there would also be times where I would actually not wear my mask, but still, avoid looking at myself. My mom would also come and knock on my room door, but it would be locked, giving me time to put my mask back on to answer her.

Now, I take the time to look at myself after such a long time. I have taken a shower, which resulted in my hair to be wet and tangled from the water. My eyes seem to have a bit of humor in them, and no longer look sad or depressed. I can see the faint smile on my lips as I lick them to moist them.

I turn on the hair dryer and pick up the hairbrush that's just sitting on my dresser and start brushing my hair, using the hair dryer to dry it. I watch as my hair slowly starts growing fluffy. After a few more brushing and drying, I pull my hair back into a low ponytail and then start twisting the end and wrapping it around to make a small, neat bun. I lean in and smile to see the girl in the mirror smile back, something I haven't seen her done in such a long time.

Feeling all set and ready for bed, I step back and turn around to start walking over to my bed. I pull the covers over me as I'm in bed, and close my eyes with a small smile on my face. Before I completely fall asleep, my thoughts drift back to the conversation I had earlier with my mom, sitting at the dining table.

She had just done making dinner as she settled the dinner plate in front of me, filled with her delicious, smelling food. I couldn't wait to dive in, but of course, I waited for her to sit down with me first, so that we can both start eating at the same time.

My mom sat down with a big grin on her face. "Let's pray," she said, and I nodded my head in agreement.

After she finished praying, we both dived in, tasting the delicious taste of her favorite dish to cook; Lasagna with raw vegetables to the side, Italian dressing on top.

We both finished eating and sat in silence for only a bit when I break it and said with a huge smile, "Thank you for this amazing dinner, Mom. Delicious as always."

"You're welcome, hun, and thank you!" She said, and I stand up, taking the plates with me as I walk into the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher.

I walked back out of the kitchen and into the dining room to see my mom still sitting there at the dining table. "I'll be going up to my room now," I told her as she turned around to look at me.

"No," she said, and I look at her with a confused look. She noticed and cleared my confusion by saying, "I mean, we need to talk about something."

I nodded my head and sat back down at the dining table, in front of her.

"You've taken off your mask," she started, and I could see the tears starting to form in her eyes, again. "Now... I need you to explain to me why you wore it."

My mom looked at me in the eyes, not caring about how glossy hers were. I sat up straight in the chair as I leaned back and swallowed hard.

We sat in silence before I found it in myself to speak up. "I wore the mask because of what happened in 8th grade," I choked up, feeling a bit weird talking about it, even though for all those times that I've been wearing the mask, I felt pretty confident about it.

She furrowed her eyebrows at me, wrinkles forming on her forehead. "This was all because of them?" she asked, and I nodded my head. "I thought you were over what happened... Why didn't you talk to me about that?"

"Because you were pretty busy with work, and I didn't really want to get in your way with everything that was going on," I frowned. It was true, she was busy all the time. When she's leaving for work early in the mornings and coming back late at night, I didn't have time to talk to her about what I was feeling and so, I came up with a better way on how to help myself.