Deviation Actions
He had come home from his day of work. Nothing eventful, he just stood guard at the gates all morning, and was sent out on a patrol.
Squiglys home was along the route, so he stopped by to say hi. She gave him a gift. A tie that smelled of blueberries.
He walked into his bedroom, it was small, the walls barren and devoid of furniture. There was a small, comfortable looking bed, lined with 6 small blankets. They were his baby blankets. 2 were yellow, 2 were white and covered in colorful balloons, one was a mint green, and one was pure white. They meant a lot to him, they helped him get to sleep, and brought memories of happier times.
There was a large blue hand crafted blanket that smelled of blueberries that Squigly had given him. It was equally precious.
At the foot of the bed, there was a large chest-like trunk, filled with his most personal belongings. Old hand crafted toys, photos of his family, gem stones, boxes of jewelry, a bottle of high quality alcohol. A set of books, an old diary he used to keep, his old school uniform.
In his closet there were only a few sets of clothes, most of them were just his uniforms he kept for work.
In his night stand, there was his Holy Book, which he read every night before bed, and his prayer beads, which he used to pray to the Trinity for favorable dreams every night.
The only other furniture, was a vanity mirror with a table.
Inside were his medals and ribbons, which were awarded to him. And a tool kit, for his mask and weapons.
He wanted to try on the new tie.
He sat down, and let out a huff, he removed his old tie, and put on the new one. It fit well, and looked good on him, the scent of berries traveled up into his nostrils, even through the mask.
He straightened out his jacket and re-tied his shoes. Trying to look good, and he did, even in the mask.
Then, he had an odd thought cross his mind.
"…..maybe….without the mask"
He slowly stood up, and toke a step back.
He took off his helmet, and slowly removed his gas mask. Revealing a black head. He was wearing a soft mask underneath. It was featureless.
Then, slowly, but surely, with hesitation… he lifted the black mask
He then looked in the mirror, and saw a creature. A hideous deformed monster.
He always saw the thing, whenever he looked in a mirror with his mask was off. He always wanted it to go away.
It gave him nightmares….it gave other people nightmares.
The creature stared at him. With sadness in its eyes… and a little hatred.
It was well dressed though, in an Egrets uniform. Well formed body filled it out perfectly.
It was always there though, it was always there for 5 years.
He let out a sigh, and slowly sat down. His thoughts were quiet, he was simply doing things. He touched his own face, and the creature did the same, running a gloved hand over it.
He then pulled out his medals and ribbons, and pinned them into place.
He then pulled out his revolvers, all 4 of them. 3 of them were gifts from the Peacocks for Christmas.They were all identical.
He then loaded a single gun up, with a single bullet, and spun the cylinder, and moved it into loaded position. Then, he took all four guns, and began to juggle them, expertly. All while staring at the creature, who did the same exact thing.
All while sitting there.
After several minutes of doing this, he caught them all and placed them onto the table.
He had no idea what so ever, as to which one was loaded.
Then, he spun them.
He was playing a game, same as he played every so often.
Red Roulette.
If the monster wasn’t there, his life would be good. If it wasn’t there, he would not have to wear the mask all the time. If it wasn’t there, he would have a chance at love. If it wasn’t there… he would not have to wear the mask all time..but its the only thing that lets him be himself. If he didnt wear the mask, no one would like him at all.
He was tired. So tired. Tired of wearing the stupid thing, tired of risking his life for someone who didnt seem to care, tired of the hypocrisy, tired of not really doing anything. He was just so tired and unsure of what else to do.
He took the first one that stopped spinning, and picked it up, and placed the barrel at his temple. He took a deep breathe, and squeezed the trigger.
A loud ‘clack’ was heard. He squeezed again, and closed his eyes. Again, a loud clack.
Squeeze, clack, squeeze, clack, squeeze clack.
His breathing began to deepen, as he was on the last of the 6 shots for this gun.
His arm began to shake, the adrenaline began to pump through his blood.
He squeezed the trigger as he looked at the monster, and it looked back at him….’clack’.
The gun was empty, the round was in another gun.
He put this one aside, and picked up another one.
He fired each of the 6 shots, this one was empty too.
He picked up the 3rd, he was unsteady this time, full of rage and blood pumping, and hastily fired all 6 shots, all empty.
Then, finally he picked up the last gun. He knew the bullet was in there, in one of those 6 shots.
He put it to his skull, and squeezed
clack
squeeze
His breathing became deep and erratic
clack
squeeze
Tears began to swell up
clack
squeeze
He bagan to sob
clack
squeeze
His mind began to race
clack
He stood up
He stared the thing in the mirror…it was crying, tears were falling to the table, it was shaking like an arctic wind had cut to the bone, a gun held to its head.
This was the sixth shot, the bullet was there.
Thoughts of his past began to boil in his mind. Thoughts of his family, thoughts of his school, thoughts of his friends…thoughts of the one who made this creature.
He calmed down…he stopped shaking
Squeeze
Thoughts of the thing in the mirror
…….’CLACK’
34 paused… and slowly looked at the weapon, and opened its cylinder to find it devoid of any rounds. He looked through all the other guns. None of them had a round in any of them.
He slumped back down into his seat, salty tears running down his cheek. He was feeling the withdrawal of the adrenaline. He thought he had for certain put a round in.
He dropped the gun onto the table.
After a long while, he stood up, took off his jacket, shirt and shoes, and fell into his bed, ready to sleep, hopefully the nightmares would not come this night.
He moved to open his nightstand, and pull out his Bible and prayer beads for the night.
He opened the book, and fell out a bullet.
Confused, he examined it. It was the same exact caliber round for his revolvers. On it, there was a lipstick kiss.
He then saw a piece of paper in between the pages peeking out of the book, he didnt remember putting it there.He pulled it out, unfolded it, it had writing on it.
On it, read the following
"You’re a lot cuter than you think you are. You aren’t ready to die. Dont do this again…or Ill make you regret it. I didnt invest my favor in you for nothing.
-kissus”
He rolled this over in his head, thinking it over.
'Why? Why would anyone think im 'cute'?'
He looked over into the mirror, and saw the monster look back at him. It looked at him with a sad confusion.
He then slumped over into his bed, tired and exhausted with the sensation of safety surrounding him. He covered himself in his blankets, and the one that Squigly made him.
'Squigly…'
He slept soundly that night, no nightmares had come for him.
