COVID-19: Wear a Mask
Elizabeth wasn't what you would call a “people person”, in fact she did her best to steer clear from the human race. She worked from home, she ordered in and had no social life outside of friends on the internet and it was all because of her negative self image. She hated the way she looked, especially her smile. Ever since the global pandemic she had found a new lease on life and it was common to see her out and about, ever since it was mandatory to…
WEAR A MASK
It was getting late on a Friday night, the mid summer’s night heat had the entire city bustling even though lock down was still enforced. Young Elizabeth was walking on sunshine. Many people saw the lock down and mask mandates as oppressive, the first step of a fascistic regime and a detriment to their personal liberty, but for Elizabeth, the mask meant freedom. Freedom from the negative view she had of herself. Freedom from the sideways looks she felt she would get from strangers if they ever saw her horrible smile. The mask meant she could go out and explore the big city without the crushing weight of personal negativity weighing her down, and tonight was no different.
She went for a stroll in the park and chatted with strangers walking their dogs, she even petted a few. She people watched at the fountain in Washington square and admired a cute elderly couple walking hand in hand. Although their faces were covered in masks you could read a sparkle in their eyes that they were both smiling underneath. The same was true for Elizabeth, one glance at the glowing in her eyes and the dimple in her cheeks and you could tell underneath the mask was a big smile. It had been so long since she had smiled.
She wandered the street aimlessly soaking in the sights of the city and finally, when the sun had set she stopped at her favorite Italian spot and ordered her usual; Stromboli. The large Italian man behind the counter recognized her order and said he was glad to finally, “put a name to a face”. Elizabeth was on a high. She was out and about, interacting with people, getting that warm energy from those around her with not a care in the word for how she looked.
The night air was warm and she thought it best to walk home then, besides, the Italian place was only four blocks from her apartment, the fresh air will do some good, she thought as she floated down the city streets on a high, making her way home. But she was interrupted just two blocks from her house by people wearing masks for a whole other reason.
“BURN IT DOWN!”
“BURN IT DOWN!”
“BURN IT DOWN!”
The raucous group of young people shouted as they marched through the streets. Some on the outskirts of the mass group smashed windows of shops with looters following shortly behind them carrying boxes of stolen goods from the wrecked shops. Another group had flipped over a small sedan on the opposite side of the street and had lit it on fire. It looked like a war zone and Elizabeth’s happy demeanor was flipped in an instant, she just wanted to get home.
At first she tried to casually cross the street but the roaring mob gnashing their teeth behind their black cloth masks frightened her.
“EAT THE RICH!” One yelled in her face as they marched by with a two by four in hand.
“FUCK THE POLICE!” A group chanted in unison as they hurled rocks up the street at the small police force that had amassed at the opposite end of the street. Not wanting confrontation, Elizabeth looked for a way around the crowd and the police alike, she just wanted to get home.
She dashed across the street when there was a break in the mass of humanity marching and she ran into a darkened alleyway that seemed to cut across to the back of her building. A left past a dumpster with a foul smell and then a right through a gap in a fence between two tall old brick buildings and she found herself at a fence too high to climb with barbed wire at the top.
“Shit, a dead end,” she mumbled under her breath. She could see her street through the chain link fencing and the building two down from hers, she was so close, but so far away. She turned to head back towards the direction of the protest but was met by two shadowy figures in the alleyway that were not there before.
“Hey pretty lady,” the one man said, licking his lips, his face barely visible in the moonlight that slunk between buildings, “what’s in the bag honey?”
“Strom-stromboli…” she muttered, but the second man just yanked the bag from her hand.
“GIVE IT!” he snarled as he opened the bag. Realizing it was just an Italian sandwich he muttered, “Aww, it’s just a fucking sandwich” and he threw the bag on the ground. The men stepped closer and Elizabeth stepped backwards towards the large chain link fence.
“Please, I don’t carry any cash, I’ll give you my phone, anything you want, please don't hurt me” Elizabeth pleaded with the men as they inched closer and closer. She could still hear the yelling and drumming from the protest a few blocks over, no one would hear her scream if she did, and the cops were preoccupied. She was terrified.
“I think I know what I want” The first man said, so close to Elizabeth that she could feel his hot, alcohol soaked breath on her cheek. His hand gripped a hold of her wrist as she began to struggle. He pulled her close and licked the side of her face, the stench overpowering her. His friend giggle with nervous excitement out of her eye line. Elizabeth pushed and yanked her arm away from the man but he held tight, “calm down baby, it won’t take long,” he cooed.
Elizabeth, in a full panic now, drew her knee up and slammed it into his groin but he dodged most of the hit and smacked her across the face, she fell to the ground.
“Stupid bitch!” he growled, palming his groin as he hunched over her, his friend’s giggling was getting loud and louder, “you gonna get….”
He was interrupted as Elizabeth rose from the ground, in the struggle her mask had been ripped from her face exposing a bifurcated lower jaw that opened sideways as if hinged in the middle exposing hundreds of small sharp teeth. Her tongue, long and snake like dangled through the opening lower mandible and waggled as it hung down almost to the ground, thick drool dripping from the tip of the tongue.
The man stood terrified, his friend was no longer giggling as a predator had finally found its prey.
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