Prologue

I burst through the door leading to the restroom covering my face. I loomed over the sink as each tear sprawled down my pale freckled face, each one heavier than the last. I coughed frantically, struggling to breathe. I felt my throat closing; Like I was suffocating from all the pain this cruel world has caused me. I glanced at myself through a cracked mirror. My once tidy, short, brown, hair now tangled and slick with cold sweat. My white collared shirt now uneven and torn, my mouth parched and lips cracked as the taste of dry blood lingered in the air like perfume. I violently rubbed the tears off my bloodshot eyes. How had this wonderful night become such a disaster? Hours ago I had been dancing in a grand ballroom with a stranger, who had felt like someone I’d known prior… His stunning hazel eyes paired perfectly with his chocolaty skin now burned into my memory… I desperately wanted to return to him, dance, and be engulfed in his comforting embrace as we floated along the dancefloor. The thought lingered in my mind for a moment before I returned to reality. My breathing had started to regulate and the salty stinging tears managed to vanish.

I stood there, the sink supporting the very few pounds that made up my slim figure, my eyes locked on the dripping faucet. Recuperating my thoughts slowly, I eventually began to trot to the balcony, my footsteps heavy. I glanced down at the mask I wore earlier this evening, now tightly clamped between my fingers, almost crushed, the poor thing I slipped from my threatening grasp into my pocket as I climbed the cold steel ladder to the roof. I sat under the star-filled sky. I pulled the mask out of my pocket, placing it softly in my hands. Fear and rage filled my mangled heart as my eyes traced the outline of the mask. My eyes burned as tears filled them. I flung the mask out into the depths below, beginning to sob drifting into a deep slumber, cradled by the soft moonlight.