"If there was anything in the world you could have, what would it be? Let me know so I can get it for you." Said the dad one day as he looked out into the window where the stars lay.
"There isn't anything I want, just for these days to last forever." replied the little girl.
"If that's what you want then I'll make it so." The dad smiled and she smiled back. His face showed a genuine truth. Yet nothing lasts forever.
"How was work?" She asked her father one time as he came through the door one chilly evening.
"It's going great. Never better, I might even get a promotion." He said, but something was wrong. As he said those words he put on a smile, a smile that she had never seen before. It was as if he had put a mask on. Well this frightened her so she took a step back away from him. "What's wrong?"
"Papa is hiding something." The little girl inquired. The father just shook his head and denied it. That's when she saw something forming around his face. Particles began to collect and take shape, slowly covering his lower jaw. "Papa something is on you're…" He ignored her and moved on to the living room. This was when things started to get cold. Those family time dinners she loved just simply faded out. It wasn't until she found her mother cooking dinner one morning that she found her answer.
"Mama, is there something wrong with papa?"
"Whatever could you mean by that?" When her mother turned around to face her, the little girl gasped. Bruises from left to right covered her face, with some cuts here and there. Some of the cuts were still bleeding. "There's nothing wrong with papa." The mother saw the horror on her child's face and that was it. She tried her best to put on a strong act, but in the end she fell on her knees and wept.
"Mama!" the little girl quickly ran over to her. As she got close the mother reached out for her and held her tight in her arms, crying all the way saying I love you over and over. "Mama..." The little girl returned the hug and embraced her back. After all the tears were put aside the mother told of a plan to leave in secret, but the little girl refused. She told her that papa needed saving too. That he was under some kind of spell. So that night they confronted him and told him he could lean on their shoulders. The burden was theirs to share. The father laughed it off and got angry.
"Nothings wrong!" As he shouted the particles formed even faster and soon it was recognizable as a mask. It grinned at the little girl with an evil smile and even though it didn't have eyes she could tell it was staring at her.
"Why won't you tell us? Don't tell me these scars were for nothing." The mother touched her bruise on her left cheek.
"I was drunk at the time! I didn't know what I was doing!" The father shouted back. The mask opened its eyes revealing bloodshot eyes. It laughed with delight.
"You've been coming home drunk for the past few days! It's pretty obvious to tell there's a problem!"
"Just shut the hell up!" The father raised his hand to smack her. At this the little girl knew that this move was not of her father's, but the mask's control. Her papa would never do anything so vile as to hit a woman. So with all her might she grabbed onto her father's leg and tried to stop him. It worked as he found himself staring at his daughter who was trying to hold him back. "Get off me..."
"You promised!" The little girl shouted taking her father by surprise. "You promised me remember, that those happy times would last forever. I want them back!"
"That promise was nothing more than a lie."
"No! My father would never lie to me." She let go of his leg and moved to her mother's side. "If that was a lie then you're not my father." The mask frowned.
"Don't say that sweetie. I'm your father and always will be. It doesn't matter if I lie or not." The father examined what he had just said.
"Look at the words you're spilling out, saying its okay to lie to your own daughter. That's it we're leaving!" The mother took her child by the hand and off they went. They passed the father who was too stunned to stop them and made it to the door. As the door opened the little girl looked back and smiled. She tugged on the mother's dress and the mother turned around. The little girl saw piece by piece the particles fall off his face and soon enough his old genuine face came back.
"Wait!" the father turned around in order to stop them, but what he found was something of a mystery. He found the two most important women in his life just smiling at him, as if they've been waiting all this time. Waiting for his return home.
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