The Things Betwixt...

Off with the Mask

"Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"  Winner! 03/12/2016

There dwells a darkness within us all. Not a black thing, nor a malevolence, but rather a shadowy past, or unpleasant memory. We try quite hard to bury the past betwixt the half-hearted pleasures and practiced courtesies of day to days, but dark thus returns to us all. Every light casts a shadow, and with every pleasure, comes its horrific after-thoughts.

I’ve placed myself under lock and key many a time that I found myself making a speedy and uncontrollable descent into the madness. Wherein, I’ve drowned in the waters of regret, guilt, hate, and wrath to the point that I found myself questioning my humanity. Those of us who manage to find ourselves upon the precipice of insanity may often claw our way back to normalcy, but there are others who simply accept and embrace it. I am one such man. Though I’ve never found myself stalking a lovely young woman in the night, or breaking the bones of some helpless animal, I oft times find myself contemplating the what-ifs and should-haves of my past.

There are those who eek their way through life under the guise of some mild-mannered individual, devoted to the helpless and unfortunates. When night falls, the mask is removed, and they can be found in the nearest brothel, beating their dominance over some poor whore.

I follow my plan to the letter whence I set out to achieve some goal, but when I ask myself who am I, I know not what I hope to discover. I am human, but what kind of man am I? I’ve wished death on many, and wish for death on myself more often than one would consider sane. Therein lies my answer. I'm a lunatic – betrothed to dark and a great opposition to the masks of the good-natured.

Word Count - 300