The Masks

It was a cold winter’s night when the royal masquerade ball was being thrown. You could hear the music and the laughter floating through the air. There were quartets made up of two violins, a violist, and a celloist at every corner of the ball room. To commoners, it was chaos, to the royals, it was harmonious. Everyone was having the time of their lives, everyone except the princess. She was the bell of the ball, an artwork that you could not take your eyes away from. She captured everyone’s attention that night.

She was around seventeen years old, the proper age to get married, and her parents decided to throw this ball to find potential suiters for their daughter. She had talked to and danced with twenty different bachelors, each of them more horrid than the last. The first was a stuck-up prince who wanted her to obey him, even though they were not married yet. The next was a man who could not be tied down for anyone, not even the prettiest girl in the entire kingdom, he would always want more.

As the night drew out, the princess decided to go outside to get away from all the commotion and the boys. Standing outside, on her balcony, she could feel the cool breeze going across her face as she took her mask off and laid it beside her. Her hair tussled around, and she could smell the soft scent of rain closing in on the castle. She sighed and swayed as she tossed through the options of men she could choose from. None of them were even slightly appealing to her, but she knew she had to choose. The more she thought about it, the more her head started pounding.

She decided to leave it alone for the time being, she still had a few hours before she must announce who she chose, so she wanted to make the most out of the time that she still had to be alone.

She listened to the clamoring of the guests and the different songs that each quartet was playing. Her mind wandered off to thoughts of not having to get married and to ruling her kingdom on her own. She knew those things could never happen for her. At this day and age, women were barely allowed to walk in public without having a man accompany her. She dreamed of a time where women could do all the things men could do, but she knew that day would never come.

The sound of thunder broke her thoughts and shattered them to pieces. She sighed and looked out to the hallway, she saw lots of people pass by her room, but no one bothered to stop by and ask her how she was doing or if she was okay. To them, she was just another pretty face waiting to be married off to a guy to make sure she stays in line.

She looked out over the balcony once again. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and they threatened to roll down her cheeks. All she wants in this world is to be treated like a person.

“Are you alright?”

The princess was startled and had to wipe the tears away quickly. She turned around and looked into the room to see where the dark and mysterious voice came from. In the shadows, a tall, strong, and handsome looking man immerged. She could not help but stare as he took his mask off and showed his chiseled face, her mouth gawked open, and it made the stranger chuckle to himself.

She shook her head, “sorry,” she said.

“It’s all right, but are you okay? It looked like you were crying, and I do not think that someone as pretty as you should be out here crying all alone.”

She blushed slightly and said, “yes, I am okay, I just needed some alone time to think about things.” She smiled awkwardly and tried to show that she was fine now.

“What type of things?” He asked.

She told him everything that was on her mind, she did not know why, but for some reason he was extremely easy to talk to. Maybe it was because he actually listened to what she had to say, or maybe it was because he had this aura about him that made her feel safe, whatever made her feel this way she did not really care, she just knew she loved the feeling.

He listened to her rant for about an hour and a half. He was so different from all the other guys she had met that night.

“I want to show you something, do you trust me?” He asked as he held out his hand.

Even though she still does not know his name, she took his hand and said, “yes, with everything that I know to be true.”

They left her room and went down the hallway, she showed him a secret staircase that led them outside the castle so they could bypass all the guests and her parents.

When they got outside it started to rain, they both looked up at the sky and then at each other and laughed. The princess took her heels off and took the strangers hand and ran with him across the open field and into the woods. She felt free, for the first time in her life, she was doing something that she wanted to do. They ran for what felt like hours but was only a few minutes. They stopped at an old bridge that the royal guard used to cross. It has been left abandoned to rot where it sits because runaways and murderers roam the woods now. Although, this did not seem to bother the young princess tonight. She felt wild and reckless and that nothing could hurt her.

“This is what I wanted to show you,” he said.

She was not particularly impressed, but she was grateful that he got her out of the castle and away from all those people. She walked onto the bridge, and he followed two steps behind her. The rain was still pouring, and she looked up into the sky and held out her arms.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Feeling the rain on my skin, I have not done this in years,” she replied.

He laughed and turned her around to face him, cupping her face, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. She had never been kissed like this before, she melted right into his arms and kissed him back. She felt like time had stopped and that they were the only ones left in the world. When they stopped kissing the princess looked at the stranger in the eyes and smiled.

“What?” He asked.

“I have never been kissed like that before,” she replied, blushing a little.

He smiled back at her, “that will be the last time anyone will ever kiss you like that,” he said as his face morphed to anger.

The princess was really confused and suddenly felt scared. She tried to run away, but he was too fast and too strong. She thrashed in his arms and started screaming, but they were too far away for anyone to hear her.

“Why are you doing this?” She asked as he drug her back to the bridge.

“Because I have to,” he replied.

He pushed her against the railing of the bridge and looked into her eyes. She saw a flash of remorse go across his face. He shook his head and pushed her over. Her neck instantly broke as she hit the water. The stranger stood there for a few minutes looking over and thinking about what he had done.

“Don’t worry,” said an older man coming from behind a tree, “no one will ever be able to find her body, and no one will ever know that it was you.”

Both men walked away from the bridge and back into the woods to where they met up with the others.

“Long live the princess,” they all shouted and sneered. The laughs were loud, they celebrated their victory.

Back at the castle, the princess’s parents were frantically trying to find their daughter. No one saw her leave. They sent guards into the village and looked all across the kingdom to find their daughter. The guards came back empty-handed. Her parents were devastated. They did not want to even go into their room because they knew it would hurt them too much.

Years went by and there was still no sign of their daughter anywhere. Her mother finally decided it was time to go into the princess’s room. As soon as she opened the door all the memories of her daughter growing up came flooding back. She touched her old dolls, laid on her bed, and looked in her closet. Her daughter’s smell was still present, even after all these years. The emotions overwhelmed the mother and it led her to tears.

After a few minutes, she turned her head to look at the balcony. All that was left was the two masks of the young lovers.

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