The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

A Double Trap for Dwayne Macaulay

Previously: "Mugging Macaulay" 

"Let's take him back to the elementary school, we'll lock him in the basement," you say.

Lindsay and Justin look at you as though you're high. Well might they, since you are currently looking like Marianne Matthias, the pot-head mother of a pot-headed high school student.

"What good'll that do?" Lindsay shrieks.

"It'll get him out of the way! He's the problem!"

"We can't keep him locked up forever, Will," Justin says.

"Why not? You were going to keep me locked up forever!"

"No we weren't!" Lindsay yells. "Only until we got everything back to normal!"

"Well, same thing here. Look, we have to put him someplace, at least for now. If we don't, when he wakes up, we're all going to be in so much trouble!"

* * * * *

It's a twenty-minute drive back to the school, during which the brain band reappears on Dwayne's forehead. To keep him knocked out, you put the mask back on him. But after sinking into him, in comes back out again instantly. The brain band, when placed on his forehead, at least vanishes for another minute, but then it too reappears.

Brain-band, mask, brain-band, mask: You alternate between them in a desperate race to keep Dwayne Macaulay unconscious while Lindsay hauls ass back to the makeshift prison. When she finally parks at the school, Lindsay runs over to unlock the door while you and Justin scoot your victim out of the back seat. You shoot fearful glances at the houses across the street: It would be just your luck if you were observed.

Then it hits you: Lindsay and her friends could keep you safely locked up because they knew you weren't going to make any noise. If hollered and someone found you, you'd have to explain what you were doing in the basement, and if you tried to go home you'd find a doppelganger of yourself waiting for you.

But Dwayne won't have that problem. He'll holler his head off when he wakes up, until someone comes along with bolt cutters to let him out. He might even break out the windows and crawl out through them.

There's no time to dwell on it, though, as your trio heft Dwayne down the steps and lay him on the cold, concrete floor. One last slap of the brain band knocks him out long enough for you to dive back into your corner and retrieve all the magic supplies—the masks and the brain bands, the sealant and the grimoire—and hustle them at Justin.

Lindsay's jaw falls open when sees that small treasure trove. "The fuck?"

"I was bored," you say. "And the guys bought a lot of supplies. And one last thing," you call back as you clatter up the wooden stairs to the door. "You have to take this mask off me and put it on Dwayne."

"You're high!" Lindsay shouts after you.

"No I'm not!" Actually, your brain does feel like it's on fire. But whether its from excess weed, a fever, or a sudden flash of insight, you're not sure. You are really hoping it's the latter as you throw the masks and whatnot into the back seat. You pile in after it, and beckon impatiently at Justin and Lindsay.

"After I take this mask off," you tell them, "go down and put it on Dwayne. We'll turn him into Marianne Matthias, that way he won't be as dangerous when he wakes up. Maybe it'll freak him out so much he'll just run away. In fact—!" You are nearly bowled over by the brilliance of your idea. "One of us can then put on Dwayne's mask. One of us has to put it on anyway, and if she—I mean, Dwayne—shows up at his house we can have her—him—arrested!"

"What'll we do about the real Mrs. Matthias?" Justin asks. His eyes are wide and staring.

"She never comes out of the trailer if she can help it. Or— I dunno. We'll do something. We just have keep Dwayne from causing trouble. So let's get the mask off me and onto him!" You fall back onto the seat and pull at your face while muttering arcane words.

* * * * *

"Hey. Hey." The voice penetrates the blur that surrounds you and fills your head. "Hey!"

"Hey yourself," you mutter. "It's for horses."

"Will!" Your shoulder is shaken roughly.

"M'yhu?" You bolt upright—

—and bang your head on the roof of a car. "Jesus!"

You rub your head, then freeze when you look down to find that your boobs have been stolen. Your bra is flapping loosely where your bosoms were! Marjorie Orville swore she'd steal your boobs, and now she has!

"Will!"

The world turns right-side-up again as Justin glares at you from the front seat of Lindsay's sedan. You look down again, and—

"Fuck!" You struggle with Marianne Matthias's undergarments. "Get me out of these things! Where's my clothes?"

"Somewhere back there."

"Why'd you take mine off, you pervert?" You come real close to smacking Justin across the face. "I mean, why'd you take Marianne's off me?"

"To give to Dwayne. So he can put them on after he wakes up. It was Lindsay's idea," he protests.

Lindsay snarls. "You assholes are so fucking perverted!"

You fall onto your back. The world gradually starts to make sense again.

You are Will Prescott, not Marianne Matthias, though you've got her brain inside yours. You are in your own body again, though, and you should have some clothes around here too. You look around. Oh, there they are, in the floorboard.

And as you struggle back into your own things you ask what's going on.

"Beats me," Lindsay snarls. "You're the one with a plan. Please tell me you thought past what we did back there in the basement."

"Sure," you lie as you pull your t-shirt over your head. What did you do back there at the basement? "You put Marianne's mask onto Dwayne?"

"Yes, and we gave him her clothes too."

"Good. Okay, now one of us needs to turn himself into Dwayne so that he can have Marianne arrested."

"The one in the basement, you mean?" Justin asks. "What about the one back at the trailer?"

"What time is it?" You lean forward to study the dashboard clock: 10:35. "Oh, she'll be passed out, she's not going anywhere."

"Is she going to be okay if there's another Mrs. Matthias running around?"

"Who cares, let's just take care of Dwayne. I guess I can put his mask on. I got nowhere else I need to be."

"Justin can put it on," Lindsay declares. "I trust him more than I trust you."

"Then who's going play me?" Justin bleats, and turns a terrified glance back onto you. Yep, it must be Joe under a Justin-mask, and he doesn't want to confess the deception to Lindsay.

"Does anyone have to play you?" Lindsay says.

"But how long does Justin have to play Dwayne?" you point out. "He might be there for awhile. There's dealing with the police, for instance, if they show up, and maybe he'll have to be the one to go out and get Evie out of that school."

So after spouting off a lot of bad words, Lindsay agrees that while Justin plays Dwayne Macaulay, you can play Justin Orr. "If you've got enough fucking masks back there," she fumes.

You gain more time by suggesting that she drop you and Justin off at his car, after which you and he—him disguised as Dwayne—will do something about the two Marianne Matthiases.

* * * * *

"Christ, I'll be so glad when we can put a sock in her," Justin says after Lindsay has dropped you off at Salvation Donuts and driven back to the school so she can report to everyone about the day's cock-ups thus far. He gives you a sidelong glance and points to his face. "Uh, just so you know, I'm not really this guy. Okay?"

"I guessed. You're Joe, right?"

He blinks. "How'd you—?"

"Grant showed up at the basement earlier. He was playing you, and even I could tell he wasn't doing a good job." You don't mean to alarm Joe, but his cheeks turn white under Justin's blazing acne. "I'm sure it'll be okay," you assure him.

He lets out a deep breath and changes the subject. "So I guess we do that swap like Lindsay said," he sighs. His pallor deepens. "But, um—"

"You don't want to, do you?" you say. "You want me in Dwayne's mask instead.

He gives you a pinched look. "Yeah, to be honest."

"But then we'd be lying to Lindsay. And when she say her again, she'd think that you're me. Well, me pretending to be Justin."

"Dude, we're already lying to her so many ways," he moans.

That's true too.

* To continue: "A Drug Dealer's Trade" 

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 2)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)"