Friday Fictioneers – The Mask

~ neilmacdon

 

caged-liz
Photo Prompt © Liz Young

They say we are never so much ourselves as when we’re wearing a mask. But what do you do when your mask is inside? I feel him slowly filling my skull, peeking out through my eye sockets, wriggling white in the pupal case that once was me.

He started innocently as a pen name. Then he became a younger, more active, version of me. He frequented trendy bars, and sprang lithe across the fells with his Borzoi hounds. Last night, he fucked my wife, and she screamed in pleasure.

I may have to take drastic measures.

 

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

85 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – The Mask”

  7. I think he needs to write him out of the story. Things are getting a little too steamy. Some lovely images here, Neil. Not the last one, of course, she says, averting her eyes.

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  9. Hmmm. Yes. Interesting. Perhaps he should stop fighting the more spontaneous self and let him be born? It would be quite a good idea to have professional help while doing so…
    Very intriguing story, Neil.

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  10. The inner real self , the split personality – A dreamer of another life – all the internal feelings of recharging life to live again as a new you. In the end nothing changes as we are all different people at different times. To me your story was a great and raw wake up call I love fiction.

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  13. Harold Bloom once referred to the six.characters.in.search.of.an.author syndrome, where a character can escape his text and assume a real life of his own. Who knows? Perchance an author can become his alias too

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  16. Stellar opening line, followed by a twisted tale, or maybe not ~ this line in particular “wriggling white in the pupal case.” What an odd position to be in. To be two people at once, one seemingly a bit more fun than the other when the other is the original person. Whew! That’s confusing.

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  32. A wonderful take Neil! I started writing much later in life instigated by (horror of horrors) a television serial. And hence the pen name and am often taken aback by the things Dahlia does….

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  39. Love the idea of that wriggle inside the pupal case – an unsettling form of growth. I suppose the question is whether the original likes the new version and feels like a case of needing to embrace the pen name incarnation, or kill him off completely. Maybe it comes down to who makes the most money and has most readers.

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