Mask of A Legend

by Stephen Andrew Salamon

  “Yeah, she’s in the kitchen, just sitting there,” Sylvia replied. He jolted down the staircase and headed for the kitchen. He stopped before he entered and said to himself, “Alright, you’re just going to say your true feelings to her, and that’s all. You have to do this, it’s the only right thing to do!” He walked into the kitchen and saw Legend sitting down in a chair. He moved up to her and said, “Legend, I have to tell you something.”

  “You were right about Mark,” she said.

  Stephen sat down and looked at her. “About what?”

  “I mean, you never told me the way he was, but you told me in other ways. . . . I found Mark cheating on me.” She looked away from him, prevented her guard from coming down and showing her feelings for Stephen. But something allowed her guard, shield, her gate to open up on its own.

  “I’m sorry. But, if it makes you feel any better, you were right about Dina. I just found out that she was cheating on me with Mark.” He grabbed onto Legend’s hand with love in his grip. “But I wasn’t upset about that.” He then looked at her heavily. “Why?”

  “I wasn’t that upset about Mark. Why?” she asked. She finally stared into his eyes. “Stephen, I’m so confused about everything, I don’t know myself anymore. I thought Mark was the one, but he was just wearing this character that wasn’t him.” A tear came down from her left eye. “Do people accept me for my beauty only, or for me?”

  Stephen felt her face with his soft hand. “I think this world accepts you for both, but your beauty more,” he said. Legend stared into his eyes heavily. “But if it makes any difference to your confusion, I accept your character more than your beauty.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, Legend, I’m crazy over you.”

  She got up and went over to the back door. She turned around and said, “You know, the reason why I wasn’t that upset when I found out about Mark was because – was because of you, Stephen.” She paused, knowing her guard was finally coming down all the way. She felt bias toward her feeling for him, only because she knew she didn’t belong in this lifestyle of riches, fame, luxury.

  Her mask caused her to be prejudiced toward this lifestyle, but for some reason she turned away from thinking in that way, and turned toward her feelings for one man. She looked at him, her guard coming down more, and realized that she definitely was in love with a person who she thought accepted outer beauty only, but won her heart in her pursuit to find his true character, and to put his puzzle together.

  As she stared at him, no words uttered, she smiled and realized this life, and this position she was in now, was meant to be. Her mask of beauty was still in her thoughts, but her love and happiness for Stephen, shined and covered over her memories of her ugly mask, and finally allowed her to break free from her feelings for Stephen. It allowed her to break down her guard, and confess to the man she loves that she really, truly, is in love with him. “This whole time, I knew your real character, and for that, I respected you,” she said. “But, even though I hated the way you only liked girls for their beauty, I still, somehow, in some way–”

  “Go on,” he said, approaching her more and gazing deeply into her eyes. No breathing, but yet they were breathing, and no sound, yet there was sound. They immersed themselves into the lingering moment and stopped thinking, rather following their emotions.

  “I still, somehow, some odd way, for some apparent reason, fell in love with you,” she said. A shield of tears formed in her eyes. “And now, even though I’m sad for reasons that you can’t know, I still feel happy in my confusion of loving you, only because you . . . make me feel beautiful.”

  He began stroking her hair.

  “Legend, you are beautiful.”

  The bun in her hair fell, and with it came her beautiful, blonde strands.

  “You see, you don’t know that, and I can’t tell you the reason why I deny that term for me, ‘beauty.’ Nevertheless–”

  “Shh, don’t explain if you don’t want to tell me.” His guard was finally coming down all the way, as her guard fell at the same speed. “Legend Conaway, I admit . . . I did fall in love with you when I saw your beauty. But now I fell for all of you.” She closed her eyes to his soothing tone. “And for what it’s worth, I love you, because of you.” Suddenly, the phone rang. “Shit, I’ll be right back,” he said. He ran to the other room and picked up the phone.

  While he talked over the phone, Legend heard the sound of thunder in the November night. She followed the sound, walked outside to the backyard and stared at the heavens above. Suddenly, it began pouring down rain, and Legend still stared at the stars. But while she was staring at the raindrops falling, Stephen was on the phone saying, “Alright, Father, Legend will be there for the dress rehearsal tomorrow!”

  “Alright, Stephen, but make sure she isn’t late. The Styling Awards are a big ceremony, and Legend needs to practice her lines. After all, she is going to be handing out the award for the best designer of the year,” William said. He sat in his private jet, smoking a cigarette.

  “Goodbye,” said Stephen. He left the phone off the hook and followed his intimate emotions back to the kitchen. He looked around the room, and finally discovered Legend was outside in the darkness.

  Out of his kitchen window, he saw the lights in his backyard as they covered the silhouette of an angel called ‘Legend’. Stephen went to the open doorway and looked at Legend, it seemed like she was dancing in the rain. He looked more closely at her and saw a smile on her face, though she was dancing in the cold wetness that God created. It was like the rain was her creator, and the dance was for it, and not for anyone else. He whispered, “My God. . . .” He slowly walked out toward her and the rain fell on his face also. He approached her and said, “Legend.” She then cut him off by placing her index finger over his mouth. She grabbed his hands and began dancing slowly with him, while the rain fell upon her face, and the sight was too beautiful for Stephen’s eyes. She stepped up to his face, closed her eyes, and allowed the rain to fall on her lips and make it noticeable to him.

  “Do you promise you will never hurt me?” she asked.

  He still stared at her beauty.

  “Yes, forever and ever, I will never hurt you.” He closed his eyes and allowed the rain to fall on his lids. Suddenly, instead of Stephen kissing her, Legend kissed him forcefully. The miracle took place, and with the rain came happiness of a love that was lost, but now was found. They danced till the moon went, and the sun came into sight. They kissed till the rain vanished, and the morning dew set in. To Legend, her confusion on her true self went away, but only for a little bit. To Stephen, his confusion went away, but only for a little bit. They were content for the moment. “I love you,” he whispered into her ear.

  She opened her eyes and said, “I love you, too. . . .”

  She continued kissing him with her passionate lips, frozen in time, as if dancing on a silver cloud.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The next day, Legend and Stephen spent a lot of time together, as they normally did. But this period they spent with their guards down, and their real feelings being shown. By that, Legend showed warmth, her love for Stephen. She knew, or else thought, that he loved her for her inner as well as outer beauty. You can say she craved so deeply to believe that he fancied her for her inner self only, that it caused him to make her mind believe that he did. Once again, she forgot about her wish, she forgot that she was wearing a mask of beauty, since her love for Stephen allowed her to forget, the love simply blinding her to her past truth. Legend didn’t have a care in the world, she only cared for him. She found her fate and held that blessing in her thoughts as they both walked together, while holding hands in parks, down sidewalks, and even alone in her bedroom. They would only show their love by touching lips; Stephen’s love for her was so tremendously strong that he was willing to wait for the ever-lusting physical love with her, and show his love in another way.

  Stephen didn’t know about her mask of beauty, he thought
it was real. For that, he loved her for her beauty more than her inner self. But Legend didn’t know that because she forgot about her mask of beauty, and felt that their love was real in a sense of a heavenly bond, where love is made, created, and never destroyed. They both were prosperous, especially Stephen when he looked into her eyes, and she looked at his. Stephen finally knew the meaning of Legend’s stares more as she looked at him and that allowed his love for her to grow stronger, to grow to an infinite state of happiness.

  Through it all, Legend and Stephen were finally together, a couple with true feelings for each other. Legend finally had it all: fame, fortune, and a love that was real, and not phony. But that all altered when she walked behind the stage of the ‘Styling Awards’ ceremony, and got ready in her dressing room.

  The awards had already begun, and Legend just came off after handing out the ‘Best Designer of the Year Award’. “Stephen, how did I do?” Legend asked. Stephen walked into her dressing room and gave her a tight kiss. Legend looked at the mirror in the room, saw her ugliness, so she stayed away from it, and pulled Stephen away from the mirror. “So, um, how did I do?” She pulled Stephen out of the dressing room and into the main hallway at the back of the stage.

  “You did great, honey. You weren’t nervous when you announced the name of the winner, and you smiled the whole time,” he replied, kissing her again, this time with an even stronger clench in his lips. “But now, you have to get your butt out there again, because your category is coming up in ten minutes.”

  Legend pulled away from him and went back to her dressing room door. “I know, I’m nervous,” she said, entering her dressing room again.

  “There’s nothing to be nervous about, you’re a goddess to everyone. . . . But I’ve got to go back out in the audience now, we’re sitting in the first row, just in case you forgot.”

  She walked up to him again and kissed him. “Stephen, I know that, I was just sitting there for an hour now. I’ll be out there in five minutes.” She kissed him once more and then shut her dressing room door. She sat down in her chair, and stared heavily at her reflection. “Well, Legend, you got this far, let’s do this.” A knock came at her door. “Stephen, I said I’ll be right there.” Another knock came at the door, and Legend was forced to go see what it was. She got up from her chair, left her reflection behind, and opened it, only to reveal her worst enemy. “Dina, what do you want?” Legend asked.

  Dina forced her way into the dressing room and shut the door. She had a crazy look on her face, like she was going to kill Legend. Damp eyes, red skin, sweaty hair and she held a bottle of champagne that was just opened, staring at Legend with a pathetic look. She sat down in Legend’s chair and laughed, “Well, I guess you have it all now. You have the man whom I’ve loved ever since I was fourteen, and now you have his love. . . . Everything that I wanted, you have.”

  “Dina, you’re drunk. I don’t think this is the time or the place to have that sort of talk.”

  Dina jumped up from her chair and ran up to her. “Well, I think it is!” She grabbed Legend by the hair and guided her toward the chair, which she was sitting in before. She pushed Legend into the chair. “You know, Legend, I have been trying to put this puzzle together, on how you were able to have this beauty overnight. I mean, the whole world loves you, but only because of this!” She pointed at Legend’s face, her index finger shaking with nerves and pressure.

  “No, they love me because of me,” Legend said.

  Dina slapped her across the face. Her slap forced Legend to turn her head toward the mirror, and caused Dina to see her real image. Legend looked up, and saw Dina through the reflection of the mirror, and saw Dina’s shocked eyes staring at hers. “My God, what are you?” Dina then slowly backed away from Legend’s reflection. “You are still ugly.”

  Legend got up from the chair and faced Dina. “Listen to me–”

  “You’re a witch or something. This whole time, you have been lying to everyone!”

  Legend ran up to her, and this time slapped her across the face. “No, I haven’t. They love me because of me, not this,” Legend shouted. Dina pushed her back in the chair.

  Dina slowly walked up to her, and Legend’s worst nightmare ultimately showed itself. “Everyone loves you because of this fake image you possess. You’re an ugly, lying, cheating, acne face,” Dina shouted, Legend’s tears beginning to shield her blue eyes. “Appalling looking, hideous, slut, tramp, beyond ugly–” Legend’s fears were showing as her shield broke and her tears of fear came flowing out. “Repulsive, grotesque, little bitch, that’s what you are, and I’m going to tell everyone about this little witch act that you pulled on them. And I’m going to tell Stephen! Stephen only cares for you because of this witch mask you wear.”

  Legend got up for her chair. “No, he loves me for me!”

  “No he doesn’t, and I’m going tell him about the real Legend!”

  Legend’s mask finally revealed itself to someone else, her physical mask. Dina’s mental mask broke away, and Mark’s did the same. But now Legend’s mask was revealed to Dina, and with it came sadness and fear. Legend’s secret was discovered, and her mask couldn’t be kept a secret any longer. She stared at Dina, and all she could do was cry more.

  “No, please, Dina, don’t tell him. Listen, I don’t care if you tell everyone else, but let me tell him on my own. Please, give me that much!”

  Legend’s wish was over, at least her secret about the wish she made.

  “This whole time, you were ugly, and I had to pretend to be your friend, because I thought you were beautiful. All those compliments I gave you were all forced from my mind, because I knew, or else I thought, you were prettier than me,” Dina shouted, but smiled.

  “Listen, please, let me tell Stephen on my own!”

  “Alright, Legend, but you have to break it to everyone tonight. I don’t care how you do it, but you have to tell everyone tonight, or else I will.” Dina was drunk a bit, but still held a firm grip on Legend’s fright. “Your ugly ass has to tell everyone within twenty-four hours, or, as God’s my witness, I will make sure to tell Stephen, as well as the world, that Legend Conaway is nothing but a fake. You’re a bitch, and you deserve to have nothing but heartbreak after you admit the truth about this, this, this mask you’re wearing!” A knock came at the door. Dina opened it and said, “Why hello, Stephen.”

  “What are you doing back here, Dina?” asked Stephen. He walked up to Legend and gave her a kiss.

  “Oh, me and Legend were just talking about a little secret that–”

  “A little secret that I will tell you personally,” Legend said.

  “Well, you can tell me later, because your category is up in five minutes,” Stephen said, guiding Legend out of the dressing room. “Also, for you, Dina, why don’t you sober up and get out there in the audience where you belong?”

  Dina’s pathetic face gave out a smile to him, and in her grasp was a champagne bottle that she was wishing was smashed against Legend’s head. Legend and Stephen proceed to walk down the hallway and she stopped in the middle of it, and turned to Stephen. “Listen, I have to talk to you now,” she said. Dina crept up to them and smirked to Legend.

  “Well, I’ll see you two in the audience,” Dina said. “Maybe.” She continued to walk down the hallway.

  Legend looked up at Stephen, and formed more tears in her eyes. “Listen, Stephen, I have to tell you something now.”

  Stephen began to fidget.

  “Legend, it can wait. There are people waiting out there for this category. People are waiting by their television sets for this category. Now, it wouldn’t look right if they called your name as the winner, and you’re not there yet.” Stephen then gently pulled Legend down the hallway.

  “Stephen, how do you know I’m going to win first off?” Legend attempted to stand still, while Stephen was still gently pulling her.

  “Legend, what do you mean?”

  She realized that this was the last moment that
she and Stephen would be together, with the same feeling for each other, love for love, trust for trust. Once she tells him about her mask, either he would deny his feelings for her, and run away from her ugliness, or accept her, and realize he still loves her. “Alright, I’m going to ask you something, and you have to be truthful. Then I’ll go with you in the audience,” said Legend. Stephen stopped pulling her and stared at her long, red gown and her beautiful face.

  “Alright, shoot.” He then glanced at his watch, and saw it read 9:28 p.m.

  In his eyes, she asked, “Name three things that you most like about me?”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Name three things you most like about me?”

  They continued to walk down the hallway and, as they walked, Stephen thought about it. “Alright,” he said. They appeared at the curtain, which led to a stairwell that headed down to the audience’s seats. They walked down the stairs, and he turned to her in a vivid motion. He looked her in the eye. “Legend, I like your lips, and the way they make me feel when I touch them. . . . I like your face, and the way your beauty makes me feel.” He then paused, tears shielding Legend’s eyes more. The pain of knowing he only cares for her outer beauty allowed her tears of sadness to form, and her worst nightmare to continue. She watched his lips before she closed her eyes and hoped that his last answer would be something that related to her character, and not her physical appearance. “But most of all, I like your eyes, and the way they make me quiver when I stare at them.”