Op. 1 No.2

I find myself sitting in a small dining room of my home, across from a woman. We are formally dressed for this occasion and I begin eating the food prepared for me. I am slightly uncomfortable in the fact that I do not see her face; She is wearing a mask with a large smile stretching from one edge to the other. The teeth in that smile were crooked and misshaped, but only seemed to be painted on poorly. She does not eat or speak during this little occasion and I come back every week to be fed at the same time. She seemed to be happy to feed me the same delicious hot meal for this special occasion, which was my favorite and I never felt that I wanted to eat anything else on this particular day of the week.

It was odd that she said and did nothing all the while I attended this special weekly ritual. I simply arrived home from work and she is sitting there, waiting for me to take a seat and begin to eat. It was very odd at first, but I have grown accustomed to it because she made no threat to me and offered such a lovely evening. Some may think this is an odd event, but I have learned to love and appreciate how special this weekly moment truly is. After I eat, I simply walk to my room and prepare for bed and when I return to the dining room, she is gone along with her fine dining ware, her red table cloth, and her dark Victorian candelabra.

Tonight felt a little off, though. I arrived home and she was sitting there with the prepared meal and lit candles, dressed formally waiting for me to sit and eat. I proceeded to sit, and as I did, the lights went out. This only left the light of a few candles lighting my small dining room and illuminating the mask of the woman who sat across from me.

I was frightened and did not dare to move a muscle in the dark. I sat motionless for nearly an hour as she sat there with her awful mask staring back at me. The candlelight was fading and I strained my eyes trying continue to look on this horrifying figure but she just sat there! I needed to run and get away from this scene. I attempted to stand, but I could not move. What was stopping me? How was she keeping me here?

And she broke the dreadful silence by saying with a shrouded and shrilling voice "I guess I will need to feed you. Why did you want to leave without eating?"

I could not say anything to reply to her awful request. I could only sit in terror as she began to stand and make her way over to me. I could only think to look down at my food as my heart raced in terror. The plate was crawling! I could not see what was on there and I did not want to know! She was standing next to me and she began to lean towards me with her mask. She was inches away from my face as she began to remove the mask. She reached back and started to lift that twisted smile away from what she wished to reveal to me. And as I was about to meet the heinous object behind the mask the lights switched on. She was gone. The dining room was clear and I fell out of my chair unconscious.