by Asha D.
A soft breeze brushed ripples across the silky top of the calm lake. It jostled Grover’s wispy brown hair over his crown and left goose pimples where it caressed his arms coolly. Yet, Grover could not feel the wind kissing his face for his mask had become a part of his skin and blocked all elements of the world from ever guessing at his looks.
It has been two years since Grover’s first encounter with the mirror. Ever since, he had insisted on wearing a mask around- from his waking minute everyday, till his head lay on the pillow in the dark again. It was strange how dedicatedly Grover wore it. It was questionable even, if his own sister and parents could recall the features of his face. Indeed, that was Grover’s very intention; he wished to never have anybody know what he actually was. “Better a mystery, than a mockery,” he thought.
He sat upon a rock next to the gently lapping water of the lake. It was his favorite spot in the woods, a good thirty minutes hike away from his house. Grover had long abandoned any concern for his mother’s rules or idiosyncrasies. He now went wherever he willed, mingled with whomever he wanted, and did not do either whenever it struck his whimsy. The naïve, lighthearted child that he had once been, quickly transformed into a brooding, nostalgic character. The daily battle he fought with the rest of the world after donning his armor mask rarely left him feeling human at the end of the day. He often wondered if there would ever be a single day, when he could get by without overhearing passing comments, skirting suspicious looks, or feeling constantly under the spotlight in a globe- sized theatre. He wondered if he would always remain an alien.
Suddenly snapping out of his reverie, Grover heard a faint crunching of twigs and dried leaves in the distant. Someone was there! Looking around, Grover spied a girl in a summer dress with long wavy hair stomping away past the other side of the lake. Her back was facing him, and he could see her auburn hair swaying down almost all the way to meet the tallest green reeds that she was sifting through. Seemingly lost in her own world, the girl’s distant humming floated over to Grover. He stayed stone still, praying she would pass by without knowing of his existence. As fate would have it, Grover did not belong in luck’s books. The girl turned.
Raised into standing, Grover’s mouth dropped open in surprise behind his mask. The girl as well froze in her tracks. In the middle of the woods, on either side of the glassy lake, stood two figures. Both masked.
Kate and Grover had become inseparable. They were almost like twins, intuitive in knowing each other’s minds despite the absence of visible facial expressions. They went to different schools, but classes were eternally more enjoyable knowing that they would see each other soon enough after the last bell. They knew almost everything about each other, it would seem. Almost.
Sitting side by side in the moist grass back at what has now become their favorite spot amongst the evergreens, Grover turned to Kate. “If I let you see me, would you let me see you,” he asked quietly, unusually timid. Kate’s mask faced him, and then turned away, obstructed by a glinting curtain of red hair. “Sorry! I’m sorry,” Grover whispered blatantly, “I was only asking, I won’t ever again if you don’t want to!” he said, placing a hand on her arm.
Kate peered out at him from under her guise. “Only if you promise to keep it off then, whenever we meet and are alone,” she replied softly. Taken aback but willing, he complied.
Together, they reached out towards each other’s masks, and gently lifted the second skins off. Kate didn’t flinch a muscle as her gaze rested tenderly on Grover’s face. On the other hand, Grover balked openly at her appearance. His breath caught in his throat and he thought he might run!
Standing before him, was the Aphrodite of his age, the most dizzyingly beautiful girl he had ever looked upon. He stood agape, willing consciousness back into his lightheaded mind. Her emerald green eyes shone out like opals from a face chiseled from marble. Her lips were the color of dawn blushing pink across a clear sky. If one were to hold her flawless face, surely it would melt like the butter it represented. It took a while before Grover’s look of pure shock was slowly replaced with that of a furrowed confusion. Rapidly feeling as though he had fallen prey into an immensely cruel trap, Grover made to turn and leave, but Kate was too quick and grabbed his wrist before he could escape. “I wear a mask for the exact same reasons as you… There aren’t many people I can be entirely myself with, like I can with you! The world hounds me more without the mask on than with it!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide and glittering. Transfixed at her etherealness, Grover wrestled with the million emotions inside of him, as she slowly buoyed onto her tiptoes and sealed her lips to his.