They Who Lack a Face

[Blasphemy]

It’s funny how once you’re born, you’ll be lucky if you’re remembered when you die.

Rain pattered against the windows as the wind howled outside, keeping lighter sleepers awake. This was the third stormy night in a row, but hardly abnormal for Stockholm, Sweden. The interior of a certain apartment lit up with a flash of lightning. Inside there was kitchenette that led to the balcony of the cozy residence. From the entryway of the kitchenette, there was a decently sized living room with the bathroom on the other side of it, straight across from the kitchenette and the bedroom seated next to the bathroom. The flat was modestly furnished with only a TV, coffee table, and a loveseat in the living room and only the necessities in the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette. A foyer led to the front door of the complex, in which every lock on it was locked. Almost all of the rooms had windows, with the exception of the bathroom. In the bedroom was a dark skinned young woman wearing a plain pair of navy blue pajamas, sitting crossed-legged on her bed typing away on her laptop, the clacking of keys the only sound throughout the flat. The monitor light illuminated her lean frame as her gray eyes narrowed, scanning the webpage she was reading. A small smirk tugged at her lips as she stopped at one particular part. The letters “VG” was presented on the same line as a name that was presumably hers, Madeleine Eskelson. Before she could get the chance to relish her perfect grade, a loud crack of thunder shattered the peaceful silence. Madeleine’s posture immediately stiffened, her shoulders hunched. She grunted, annoyed that the storm startled her again.

After closing out of the webpage, Madeleine stretched and looked at the clock on her night table. It read 10:00PM. Surprised at how early it was she gave a light hum before getting up and checking the kitchenette for a snack. After putting some microwaveable sweet in the microwave, she stood at the balcony door, watching the rain hit the glass pane in a soothing rhythm. Abruptly, Madeleine blinked, swearing she saw something black fly past the balcony at breakneck speeds. She unlocked the balcony door and stuck part of her body out, curious as to what the object was. Lightning flashed again, and with it appeared a completely shrouded black figure that stood at about Madeleine’s height and had a white mask in place of where its face should have been, the bottom of the figure was a bit wispy and faded. The mask had black eyes and a mouth, with an odd black design on it. The mask had a large crack down the middle. Madeleine’s eyes widened as she shrieked. She backed up while grabbing a cleaver from the knife rack behind her and holding it towards the mystery intruder. The intruder drew closer, but as soon as it did, Madeleine thrust the knife at it, holding it only inches away from the being.

“GET BACK!” She screeched, gripping the cleaver handle tightly.

The wispy trespasser straightened up for a moment before slouching again. It lowered itself while drawing back, seemingly not taking its eyes off of the terrified Swede. Finally, it turned its back and floated away, seemingly dropping something in the process. Madeleine started to relax, her shoulders dropping and the adrenaline wearing off, still not sure if she could believe that it left her alone so easily, even more that she saw such a thing. Her heart still pounded in her chest as she put the cleaver down on the counter behind her and hesitantly made her way over to the item the strange being left behind.

Not caring too much that she was getting soaked, Madeleine picked up the small black object, and quickly began scrutinizing it. It was a…hand? Madeleine’s eyes enlarged as she realized was she was holding and she shrieked once again while stumbling backwards. The hand began fusing with her hand, wispy darkness quickly crawling up her arm. Panicking, she futilely tried to push the advancing unknown substance back but to no avail, it didn’t respond to her swipes. When she looked down at herself, she noticed that her torso was completely enveloped and her legs were close to being entirely covered as well. Desperate, she started flailing her arms and legs, rolling around on the floor, anything she could do to get the substance off or at least slow it down. Her whole person was enveloped in a black, cloak-like material as a white mask that matched the shape of her face materialized, hiding her appearance completely. Her mask had black eyes and a black mouth much like that of the intruder’s, but with a completely different design. It had an added black spot that resembled a nose, fuller lips rather than a line and large black spots on the side, connected to the lips by stitched horizontal lines coming out of both sides of the lips. The outside of the eyes had what seemed like flower petals and a geometric, straight-edged design between the tops of the eyes. Madeleine accidentally rolled straight through the bottom cabinets after the process finished. Noticing that everywhere was suddenly dark, she froze in place and started to think about what had just happened.

…Wait a second…Did I just…Roll through the cabinets? But they were closed and…! I should have hit them! Madeleine looked around, noting that she had no trouble seeing the items around her even though it was incredibly dark in there. So I’m inside the cabinets…Hmmm… She shook her head and moved out of the cabinets. She looked down at herself again and lifted up her hands to her face, looking at them. I feel fine…Am I alive? I must be, considering I’m still brea-! Cutting off her train of thought, she felt for her heart, but felt nothing; no sign of a pulse. Her hand shook as she took it away from her chest. I-I’m dead! But…! BUT…! I never had the chance to graduate or to get married or or…! She turned her masked face to the glass pane of the balcony door. In disbelief of her reflection, she slowly floated closer to it, and then squealed.

“Nonononononono that is not me. THAT IS NOT ME!”

Madeleine flew to the nearest mirror she knew of, looked at herself and yelled again, horrified by the fact that she looked like that creeper from earlier. She slowly brought her hands up to her mask and touched it. It felt hard yet strangely smooth. She hooked her fingers on the sides and tried yanking it off, pulling hard. The mask didn’t so much as budge, and strangely it didn’t hurt when she tried to pull it. She let go of it, letting out an exasperated groan. Figuring staying in the apartment and moping around wasn’t going to do her any good, she decided it was best to try and get used to her new form. She flew through the front door and into the building’s hallway, looking around. I have to admit, flying through walls is fun and useful! Madeleine perked up at sounds coming down her hallway and flew forward a bit, peering around the corner at the sources. It was two of her classmates, who were excitedly chatting away about some event. One of them had blonde hair, the other brown hair. Madeleine flew into a wall and stuck her head out of it, watching them curiously.

“I’ll see if Madeleine is awake or at home. You go check if any of the other tenants on this floor want to come see a movie at my place.” The blonde-haired male told his friend.

“Alright.”

The brown-haired male left to go complete his orders. Bored of what they were doing, Madeleine flew out of the wall right over the brown-haired male’s head and continued down the hallway. As Madeleine went further down the hall, the male noticed a black, shrouded figure floating down the hallway, not knowing it was Madeleine. Curious, he followed her, wondering exactly what or who she was. Her image faded away as just as she hit a two-way intersection. Madeleine turned right and continued on her merry way. The male turned left, taking a guess as to where she went. Moments later, a terrified cry rang out through the entire floor from the male, his screams echoing throughout the hallways. The yelps had stopped as quickly as they had begun.

NEXT MORNING

Madeleine groggily sat up in her bed, yawning and stretching. Her dark, chin-length hair was messy and sticking up in some places. She looked around her room, and found her laptop on her nightstand where she had left it. She quirked an eyebrow with a mix of confusion and relief while running a hand through her messy hair.

“Oh good…it was just a dream.” She murmured; her voice was hoarse from having just woken up.

After clearing her throat, she got out of bed and dragged her feet to her bathroom, still thinking about the bizarre dream she had. Even though parts of it were blurry to her, she remembered the start of the dream. Pushing her hair up, she washed her face and dried it on a towel. Taking the comb out of a cabinet drawer, she finally looked in the mirror at her face only to utter a surprised gasp. Her gray eyes were now a much lighter shade, appearing to have faded in color. She rubbed her eyes and opened the eye sockets on the right one to see if there was a foreign object in it. Her irises did not change. Worried about her eyesight, she immediately checked it to see if she was going blind. Strangely enough, her eyesight was just fine.

“Hmmm…They don’t look like cataracts…” She muttered worriedly, “This calls for a trip to the doctor.”

Madeleine quickly brushed her teeth, fixed her hair, and applied her trademark black eyeliner and crimson red lipstick before throwing on her clothes. She passed by the kitchenette and noticed the balcony door was still open, much like how she opened it in her dream. Ignoring the coincidence for now, she closed and locked the door then left in a hurry. When she walked out towards the open elevator area, she heard a commotion coming from one of the hallways. Curious and nosy, she went over to see what was all of the fuss was about. The other tenants from the floor were all watching the scene from behind yellow police tape. The blonde-haired male from the night before was talking to one of the police officers with a distressed tone in his voice. His eyes were bloodshot from possibly crying and he appeared to be on the verge of even more tears. He was in my dream! …Was he crying? Why? She lightly nudged through the other tenants to the front to get a closer look. Her eyes shot wide open when she saw what the policemen were buzzing about. The brown-haired male she saw in her dream was lying on the ground in a gory mess. His eyes had been gouged out, claw marks on the eyelids. His torso and abdomen were ripped open, a few ribs snapped off and missing. His heart and stomach were gone as well, while his small intestines were trailing out and away from his body, but still attached, his legs and arms partially eaten. ...I-I didn’t do this, did I? No, Madeleine, you didn’t! Snap out of it! Madeleine shook those thoughts out of her head and quickly left the scene, the smell of the rotting carcass getting to her.

A bit later, Madeleine walked at a brisk pace as usual, her black sneakers making light tapping sounds against the pavement. It was a nice mild summer day, perfect for leisurely outdoor activities. Her open black jacket trailed behind her, as she let her arms swing lackadaisically back and forth at her sides. She looked up, only to see someone moving towards her at a fast speed. She braced for impact only to find the male run right through her. Her mouth dropped open a bit out of bewilderment as she looked behind her. None of the other people on the sidewalk around her seemed to notice either. Did he just…?! Madeleine walked over to a woman and tried tapping her on the shoulder, only for her hand to slip right through her body. The woman stopped and looked about her, pulled her denim jacket closer to herself, and continued walking, not noticing Madeleine’s presence at all. Madeleine backed up and futilely tried tapping someone else’s arm. She yielded the same results as the last time. Then that means…My dream! But then… A plethora of thoughts rushed through her head at once, making her confused and dizzy. Her surprise slowly started shifting to panic as she tried to gather her bearings and straighten out her thoughts. Her body swayed a little as her vision started to fade, her blood pressure dropping. Within seconds, she tumbled to the ground, fainted.

--------------------------
AN: Yay for cruddy titles! Annnnd so much for making the first chapter shorter this time...Oh well. Anywho, this is the first chapter of my newest creation, which for goodness sake I hope goes for more than one or two chapters this time! I will also be drawing the character designs later (especially the mask designs). For Madeleine's mask, her style is heavily based on the Day of the Dead style (see here for an example).

And that's it! I plan on working on the next chapter very soon, which will explain a few things that first chapter didn't. But first, time for some Vindictus! YEE!

[Lamby]

One of my favorite tropes is the haunted mask/object that overtakes your identity. You've pulled it off in an original way. Seems pretty interesting so far.

I would get rid of this though: "It’s funny how once you’re born, you’ll be lucky if you’re remembered when you die." This sets the tone of the story before it starts. In my opinion, it’s more effective to just start the story and let even the subtext be a surprise. But hey, if it feels right to you, keep it.

[cinnamonstyx]

So hey, when's the update coming?
(this is partly me teasing, but also serious because this was pretty frickin' nifty.)

[Blasphemy]

Goodness this is a ridiculously huge bump and I am so sorry, but I felt this was relevant since it sort of adds to the topic so here:

I apologize for not continuing the story, but I didn't like the characters I was going to introduce in the next chapter, nor the character I introduced in the first chapter. Due to this, I put the story on hiatus until I was happy with the characters I was going to use for this story (considering they're the main cast, it would be best if I was pleased with them first). Even though I am a bit nervous in using the characters I want to, I decided that it's my story in the end, so I shall do whatever I please with it whether others like it or not.

That said, the first chapter is obviously getting a rewrite since the character that will be brought into the chapter has changed. Major events are generally going to remain the same, but have a few differences/tweaks to fit the personality of the new character as well as their setting. So for anyone interested, stay tuned I guess?

Sorry I haven't said anything earlier, when the thought popped into my head to write this, I usually forgot about it later.