This choice: A Mysterious Protagonist • Go Back... You wake up to the soft hums of an air conditioner, opening your eyes you find yourself in the covers of a lush bed in a resort hotel room. Despite the closed curtains, the sunlight illuminates the room. You sit up and rub off the sand out of your eyes before groggily walking up to the bathroom.
You turn on the faucet, cup water onto your palms, and washing your face with them. The water is warm but refreshing, it was enough to wash away the drowsiness out of your body. As you try to check your reflection in the mirror, you jump at the sight of a stranger. That's when it hit you.
"Right. A mask…" you mumble.
You check the mirror once again. A few water droplets run down your face, which you wipe away with a towel. You run a hand through your disheveled black hair. A light smile emerges almost naturally after you notice you've been frowning slightly, you find yourself filled with confidence. You find yourself a little giddy when you pat the solid muscle in your arms.
You feel proud of yourself about it after years of work. You close your eyes and shake your head, once you open your eyes, a frown quickly melts into a smile. The mask's personality felt like it could easily overwhelm you if you let it, for now it constantly clashes with yours. You decide to take a shower and not dwell on the power struggle between personalities...
*****
You walk out of the hotel room in a tropical colored muscle shirt, light blue shorts, flip flops, and a pair of shades. A thought nags at you saying that you should've worn the track suit instead. You ignore that thought since you're in a beach resort, this seemed better for the occasion, although it does feel somewhat condescending.
The air was warm and humid as you walked towards the beach, which was just a short walking distance away. The smell of seawater fills the air. It was almost midday so it's not surprising to see a crowd in the water and by the beach. You can feel the hot sand under your feet as you walk past the crowds of people in the beach.
At the corner of your eye, you notice people staring at you. The first was a group of girls that immediately started talking the second you made eye contact with one of them. You resist the urge to wave and smile at them and instead just kept walking. The second time was a woman until the shade of a palm tree, she quickly turns away when you noticed her.
It was a bizarre feeling, people are actually staring at you and not out of disdain, rather out of pure interest. It felt liberating. Your fears were baseless and it felt good.
You stand by the coast and feel the sea breeze. Without much thought, you take your shades and flip flops off, your fingers reach for the hem of your shirt until you pause. You realized what you were about to do, you bite your lip, and decided to push on and took off your shirt.
You take a step forward, set your shirt down on top of your flip flops before slowly walking into the ocean. The water was lukewarm, which made going into it a lot easier. You take a deep breath before diving into the water and swimming onward.
Once you resurfaced, you see that you're a sizable distance away from the coast, but it doesn't bother you. Instead of you casually float around in the water. You wave hi to the fishermen that were nearby, they return the gesture.
You realize that you've been leaning heavily on the mask's personality and memories. The confidence and knowledge of how to swim, both were borrowed. You set that thought aside, those weren't borrowed, you always had them. Your real personality was dragging you down all day.
You check the shore once again. You imagine that smile on your face again, a little confidence boost before swimming back to shore.
*****
You walk into the hotel room feeling exhausted but fulfilled. You made small talk with the group of girls from earlier, but they got a little too irksome when the conversation when on. You snuck away when two of the girls got into a pretty argument. That's when you ran into the woman under the palm trees from earlier.
She sat on one of the tables of a nearby eatery. You asked if you sit with her, she hesitates but obliges. The first few minutes was silence, but both of you were making eye contact, possibly hoping that one would make the first move. A part of you wanted to flirt but you bite your tongue at the idea of it. Eventually, it came down when she asks why you were vacationing here.
It eventually came to friendly discussion about marine conservation. Which was weird since you've never paid much attention to marine life… No, you remember spending a day in the library about sea creatures that live in the twilight zone.
The conversation didn't seem to end, both of you constantly had a lot to say. It came down to the point where she secretly treated you to lunch while the conversation went on. You had to say your farewells when you realized that the sun was going down, but not before exchanging phone numbers.
You smile when your phone displays Rachel's phone information. You hesitate for a moment, but decide to text her about thanking her again for lunch and everything. It doesn't long until she replies. You heart skips a beat when she asks if you wanted to meet up with her again tomorrow. You immediately reply yes.
You set your phone aside and head to the bathroom. This time, you aren't shocked to see the same unfamiliar yet familiar face in the mirror. You take a shower to rid yourself all the sea salt that you brought with you.
It was only 7 PM when you walked out of the bathroom and got a fresh change of clothes… Actually, a fresh change of shorts. You didn't mind walking around the room without a shirt since you felt strangely comfortable that way.
You lay down onto the bed. Your mind is filled with excitement for tomorrow's events. You're content with how you still relied on your own memories with others even with the mask. Maybe it could work… having a healthy combination of your own personality with the one in the mask. An improvement to an already good life.  You have the following choice:  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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