He sprang over the curb, dodged a parking meter, and looked back.
She had stopped. Her head was turned his way.
Allan swung his eyes to the sidewalk and hurried for the corner. He didn’t want to see her again, but in his mind she was crossing the street, pursuing him. He had to look again.
Checking over his shoulder, he saw her still standing motionless, still watching him.
At the corner, he rushed to the left. A few strides, and the wall of a Wells Fargo bank sheltered him from the stranger’s view. He slowed and caught his breath.
Safe.
‘Christ,’ he muttered.
He’d walked the night streets countless times, seen his share of weird derelicts, watched hundreds of horror films, read scores of fright books.
But he’d never been spooked like this.
Spooked? Scared nearly widess.
By a piece of silver cloth no bigger than a hanky.
As he walked along, he began to feel ashamed of himself. What a coward, running like that. The woman had looked perfectly normal except for the mask. And the mask itself had been nothing hideous. A simple square of fabric. Possibly silk. Nothing to inspire panic.
She’s
Nothing wrong with running away from a lunatic.
But what if she’s sane? What if she only wears the mask because her face is disfigured? She walks at night when there’s almost nobody around to see her, and wears her mask just in case. In case someone like me comes along. So her face won’t gross me out.
And I ran away as if she were a monster.
What an awful life she must live. And I came along and made it worse.
Good going.
Allan considered turning around, going back and searching for her. But he didn’t have the nerve.
He couldn’t get the woman out of his mind. He thought about her constantly: that night as he lay in bed; Sunday as he corrected papers, labored on his vampire novel, read and watched television; all week long. At school, every slender, blonde student in his classes reminded him of her. So did two of the teachers, Shelly and Maureen, even though Maureen was a redhead. They all forced him to remember the woman in the mask, and his shame.
The more he thought of her, the more certain he grew that she wasn’t crazy. She was a sensitive young woman cursed with a hideous face. She led a solitary, lonely life, willing to venture from her home only in the dead of night, and then with her face concealed.
He could imagine the anguish she must’ve felt when he fled from her.
If only he had held his ground. Smiled as she approached. Said, ‘Good evening.’ It was too late for that, however. The most he would ever be able to do was apologize for adding to her misery.
To do that, he would need to find her again.
But he’d spotted her some time after 1 a.m. That’s when he would need to go looking. If he tried it on a school night, he’d be wasted the next day. He had to wait for the weekend.
At last, Friday arrived. Allan awoke feeling nervous and excited. Tonight, he would go out searching for her.
What would he say if he found her? How would she react? She might hate him for running away.
Or she might indeed, after all, turn out to be utterly mad.
‘Is something bothering you?’ Shelly asked him during lunch. ‘Me? No.’
‘Are you sure? You’ve been acting strange all week.’
‘I have?’
Shelly glanced at Maureen. ‘You’ve noticed it, haven’t you?’ Maureen, who rarely spoke, studied her sandwich and shook her head. ‘He seems fine to me.’
‘It might help to talk about it,’ Shelly told him. ‘You aren’t sick, are you?’
‘I feel fine.’
‘If it’s too personal…’
‘Leave him alone,’ Maureen said. ‘He doesn’t want to talk about it.’
‘You
Maureen shrugged. Her eyes met Allan’s. ‘You don’t have to say anything. It’s none of our business.’
‘Of course it’s our business. We’re his buddies. Right, Allan?’
He smiled. ‘My buds. Right. I do appreciate your concern, really. Thanks. But it’s nothing. I’m just a little bit nervous about this gal I’ll be seeing tonight.’
‘Ah-ha!’ Shelly’s eyes gleamed. ‘A gal! Go for it, Romeo!’
‘That’s wonderful,’ Maureen said.
‘Anybody we know?’ Shelly asked.
‘Whoa!’ Shelly held up her hand. ‘Hold on. One second. She was at that midnight creepshow thing you go to on Saturday nights? And you don’t know her? So where do you think you’ll find her tonight?’ Allan felt heat wash over his face. This is what comes of lying, he thought. He shook his head and forced himself to laugh. ‘Geez, I don’t know. Guess I
‘Boy, you must have it bad. You don’t even know what day it is.’ She nudged Maureen with her elbow. ‘Looks like we’ve got a case of love at first sight.’
‘I don’t even know her,’ Allan protested.
‘She must be quite a fox.’
‘Quit teasing him,’ Maureen said. ‘Let him eat his lunch.’
Shelly laughed. ‘So what’s she got that we ain’t got?’
No face, Allan thought.
But he only shrugged. Then Jake Hanson came to their table and the conversation turned to obnoxious students, as it often did. When the bell rang and Allan got up from the table, Shelly said, ‘Hey, good luck with the fox. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’
Allan headed for his fifth-period class, wishing he’d kept his mouth shut.
Finally, the school day ended. On the way home, he stopped off at Blockbuster Video and picked up six tapes. Horror movies. Two of which he hadn’t already seen. They would help pass the time.
He ran one during supper, but his mind was on the masked woman. He hardly noticed the movie. Then he tried to work on his vampire novel, but gave up after an hour. As he sat in his recliner to watch the next movie, he thought, What’s the use? I might as well stare at the wall.
And then he had a very welcome thought.
It came in the form of Shelly’s voice saying, ‘So where do you think you’ll find her tonight?’
Shelly was right.
Why get all worked up when I probably won’t find her tonight, anyway? We ran into each other on
Yes!
I’ll stay home tonight, enjoy my movies, go to bed at a reasonable hour…
The feeling of relief was immense.
Then Saturday arrived. The hours crept by. He told himself that he didn’t
