Hatred Spurned by Love: Chapter 1 – Salvation and Damnation’s Damage (Text Only)

Chapter 1 – Salvation and Damnation’s Damage

The sight of shelter in the rain is a small comfort for me, but one that I gladly take. As I lean the statue of the Sufferer beside me and sit down under the roof of an abandoned dinner, I sleep with my ears open so I can react to any possible threats.

“Your brother is close, Adler,” the Sufferer says, immediately causing me to wake and stand up. “You must rest for now to be prepared for him.”

“Why? I’m ready! I’ve been traveling for what feels like forever in pursuit of him because you told me to do so.”

“You are ready, in terms of power, but not in mind. Rest for a moment. He isn’t going anywhere and will be coming to you.”

“Fine. I can’t wait to get this over with.” Mikheil will probably be damned just like our parents and my childhood friends were. Most people I come across are damned rather than saved since they refuse to accept the truth and love who is the Sufferer. I feel the sins of all including my own weigh on my body like a ton of heavy cinderblocks, all their faults, sinful thoughts, and blasphemous words cut me open from the inside like glass flowing through my veils. I can’t help but feel the sting of sins being committed across all time even as I try to relax. I know this is only a fraction of what the Sufferer bears and that it’s supposed to be the greatest blessing above all, but right now, it feels more like a curse than anything.

Practicing the methods taught to me by the Suffering, I breathe as calmly as possible and pray for help. Mother Mary, Father Joseph, be a mother and father to me now. Guardian angel, be at my side to protect and strengthen me. I don’t know who these people are or what their relation to the Sufferer is but asking them for help does help lighten the load a bit. As I begin to feel a break in my suffering, the feeling comes back twice as bad as I sense my brother and the Light’s arrival.

He arrives not only with the Light close behind him but also with fifty or so soldiers. “Adler! It’s been about a month since I last saw you and you look about my age or even older despite being eleven years younger than me. I’m not saying that I hate it or even dislike it, brother. I think you look better with your dark, brooding, and older appearance.”

“Shut up and don’t call me your brother!”

“Why shouldn’t I? Is it because we’re enemies now? You know you’re the reason why you look so much older. As the Light loses influence over the world, so do his blessings such as everlasting life, which is why someone who is a young one-hundred and sixteen-year-old looks like he’s a young adult in his one-hundred and twenties. Many other people in their one-hundreds have been accelerating in age as you have with the oldest having already turned to dust. Soon, the only people left on the Earth will be those children who are less than a hundred years old, another consequence of you siding with the Sufferer.”

“I don’t need you lecturing me about the consequences of my actions when I’ve seen them for myself! Besides, there’s no point in talking. We both know that there’s no convincing either of us in changing our minds in what we believe and fight for.”

I pray and transform into my Necessary form. “I see the utter blackness of your souls. Repent with what little virtue is left in you or prepare to face damnation!”

“I like the new transformed appearance, but if it’s a fight you want, then you’ll get it. Give me your best shot! Men, fire at will.”

“You heard the king. Take him down!” Mikheil’s soldiers start firing their guns at me which have little to no effect on me. In response, I allow the black mist to flow me that quickly overtakes the soldiers. Each person is being talked to by the Sufferer and attempting to be brought to the truth in their unique way. Most refuse the truth and are damned like usual while few surprisingly repent.

Those who are damned are torn apart by the black mist and turn into ash while those who are left have black scars on their face, limbs, or body.

For some reason, my brother and the Light are untouched by my powers, just like last time. “That was impressive, Adler. It’s a shame that those powers of yours don’t work on me.”

“You will face justice and the Light’s influence will be removed from the world one day!”

“Ha! Justice. We used to live in an unending peace before you and your friends brought death, suffering, and conflict back to the world. I think it’s you who deserves to be punished the most and you will face it. I have control over the entire world while you have twelve groups or so of people who believe in the same thing as you do. You might as well have twelve people for the good those numbers do against me. Speaking of which.”

More soldiers come driving in. They shoot the people who repented and point their guns at me.

“You can damn as many people as you want. They’ll end up in a better place anyway. Plus, I know that eventually you’ll die, so it’s a win-win for everyone except you, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Tch!” I slowly back away and pray more for a solution to get out of here and one soon comes. An orange and grey mist envelops us and takes hold of the soldiers who start screaming and shooting each other.

Two people appear out of the darkness in forms that look like mine. One of them says, “This way, Adler!”

With no better option, I grab the statue of the Sufferer and follow the two people who have saved me while the chaos covers our escape. I follow them through underground tunnels and don’t stop running until I find myself in a dark room. The lights suddenly come on and I find myself in a room with four people. “Who are you all?”

“Relax, Adler. We’re fellow worshippers of the Sufferer like you are. We knew you were coming here because the king amassed all those soldiers to face you. My name is Liron, the leader of this group. Well, former leader since you’re here and the one blessed with suffering.”

“My name is Crane. I was there with Liron to help save you by putting the fear of the Sufferer in those godless soldiers.”

“My-I’m Iris. It’s a pleasure to meet someone as famous as you.”

“And I’m Nadine.”

I set the statue of the Sufferer standing upward and look at each member of the group. “Show me your Necessary forms, tell me what they represent, and what they do.”

“Uh, sure.” Each member of the group transforms into their Necessary form.

Liron transforms into a figure with a veiled head, that doesn’t have a jaw, there’s a hole in her heart, and other damage in her lower half. “I am blessed with Necessary Loss. I can turn the tide of a conflict whether it’d be a physical battle or one fought with words.”

Nadine transforms into a dark green hollow figure with lanky limbs and a hollow face. “I am blessed with Necessary Emptiness. I can not only make people feel hungry or thirsty to the point of passing out but can also deprive them of the strength to do anything.”

Iris’ entire face becomes a mouth along with her hands, shoulders, belly, and feet in her transformation. “My blessing is of Necessary Hunger. I push people to do things to satisfy a desire within themselves.”

Out of everyone, Crane’s transformation may be the most unsettling. He has eyes all over his body and fingers growing out of his shoulder, arms, and extra fingers on his hand. “As for me, my blessing is Necessary Fear. I make people afraid of the things they should be and paralyze or make them act out of terror.”

“Interesting. I think your abilities will come in handy in the battles ahead. Are you all ready to go now?”

They all transform back to their normal selves. Liron says, “Go now? We just ran from an intense battle.”

“So what? I’m the leader and the king is close by. We should strike now so the world can be freed from his and the Light’s influence sooner rather than later.”

“Liron is right.” As soon as the Sufferer speaks, everyone but me kneels on the ground. “You must rest now, get to know your new friends, how they operate here in the world’s capital, and then act.”

“Tch, fine. Only because you said so. Also, do you operate in the capital? I didn’t think it was possible to do so in a place where the Light’s influence is the greatest.”

“We do. Thanks to the blessings of the Sufferer, we’ve had great success here. We’ve been able to reestablish much of His influence here. It’s why it’s not constantly sunny here.”

“My dedication to Our Lady has also helped who is the greatest intercessor to the Sufferer. See this?” Liron shows me the bead bracelet on her left arm. “These are prayer beads that I use to help me pray a long-forgotten prayer that’s been a pain in the head of the Light.”

“Our Lady? Do you mean Mother Mary?”

“Yes, that’s another name for her. I’m glad you’ve heard about her.”

“I was told to ask for her intercession by the Sufferer. How do you know about her?”

“The group I used to be a part of guarded the supposed last statue of Mary until we were attacked. I lost every member of the group and the last statue of Mary was…tortured.”

“What do you mean by that? Explain.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just hard to talk about. You can see the damage done to her when you see my transformation because of my bond with her. They broke her as if they were torturing a real person. They tore out her eyes, broke her jaw, smashed her chest in, and broke pieces in her lower section so they use it as a sex toy. What they did was beyond depraved, to say the least.”

I can feel the rage of the Sufferer boil within me as if what Liron said was something that was done to my mother. “Then we should make them pay as soon as possible for this disgrace.”

“They already did. The statue suddenly exploded when I tried to retrieve it. It killed everyone who touched it with its shard and I’m pretty sure it was an act of the Sufferer since Mary told me to not worry and continue because she’ll always be with me.”

“Let’s not dwell on the past and think about the present instead,” Iris says with her hands out as she approaches me. “I want to know more about you and if you really feel the pain the Sufferer does. Part of my blessing includes feeling the sensations of others. Now, if you don’t mind me touching you for a second.”

“Don’t do it, Iris. You’re supposed to be breaking your addiction to roller coasters of emotion.”

“Chill out, Liron. All I want to know is one second of the pain the Sufferer feels. It’ll help me feel closer to Him and help me appreciate how He suffers for us anyway-” Iris touches me with a single hand and drops face first into the floor.

Liron and Nadine call out to her and Iris shakily lifts her head. “I…I’m fine, guys. Whew! That was more than I’d thought it’d be. You sure do deal with a lot daily, Adler.” Iris takes five minutes to get back on her feet with the help of Liron, and even with her help, Iris has to lie down on the nearby couch because of what she felt in me.

While Liron sits with Iris, Crane approaches me and smiles at me with a wide grin. “Don’t worry about the recovering junkie, Adler. We’re all a good team and I’m sure we’re going to accomplish a lot together.”

“You don’t look much better than she does. What’s your story, Crane?”

“I was captured and operated on because I refused to comply with the Light’s laws. Honestly, all the torture was worth it so I could encounter Nadine. On the first day we met, she was just being brought there for being so unsatisfied with life and a public downer, so they say. It was then that I was blessed with the abilities I have now so I could free us both from that horrible facility and ask her to be my girlfriend and future wife.”

“Crane, you were crazy to ask me out the first day we met.”

“I may be blind in one eye, but I’m not blind enough to not see the one who the Sufferer made my heart for. What about you, Adler? Did you fall in love at first sight?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Ah, see! I’m not that crazy. So, who and where is she?”

“She’s…she’s dead. She died along with my friends so we could accomplish our objective.”

“Crane, look what you did! This is why Iris and I are the ones who help with morale. The man already has enough pain to deal with and doesn’t need to speak about what pains his heart.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m over it. I’m more upset at how we planned our attack. We should’ve planned better or charged in altogether.”

“I saw the aftermath of what happened on the internet. I’m sorry for your loss and I’m sure you all did the best you could. If anything, at least you’re alive.”

“Maybe it would’ve been better if I died. At least then, they’d stop looking down at me in shame at the fool I am now and have always been.”

“Stop…saying that…It’s not helping you feel better and won’t help you be the person they knew you to be. The person the Sufferer knows you to be.”

“Iris is right. Relax and let’s plan our next strategy while praying for the Sufferer’s aid so we don’t lose anyone next time.”

“I’ll get on the radio, hear what’s happening locally, and help you guys in a second.”

“I’ll…uh. Let me know what you want me to do, Liron.”

While sitting down on a couch with Crane and listening to him about his group’s recent activities, I look around the room and take it in. It’s small, dimly lit, with a few couches, beds, TVs, and computers in it. It reminds me a lot of the last hideout I was in with my friends. Maybe this time, things won’t end as badly.

My latest collection is done and out today on Amazon!

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Evil appears good to us when it agrees with us and offers us lives of comfort and peace. In these stories, demons are angels of light such as a story where the Lights of the World hide their sins by giving people peaceful lives and a young soldier of the Church must reintroduce suffering for others to a Church that refuses to. Every scenario forces the characters to go against their desire for comfort and what they think is right to do what is truly right.
This book collects; Unremembered and Unimportant, Pain or Damnation, God of my Choosing, and All Mask, No Face along with a few Behind the Story trivia details for each short story.

My latest short story is done and out today!

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The theatre is a place everyone visits, but most forget. It's a place where everyone's view of reality is made manifest on their own stage and they have to accept the truth of their life and let go of what they believe to improve their lives or at least their outlook on it. The Stage Master, a mysterious being and overseer of the theatre and reality, recruits Dario to work at this theatre to help others and himself.

All Mask, No Face: Chapter 4 – On the Opposite Side of Charity

Chapter 4 – On the Opposite Side of Charity

Even after having three days off from being at the theatre, there’s a part of Dario that blames himself for the deaths of Renzo and Delia. He doesn’t blame Carlo despite him playing an indirect role in their beliefs and he appreciates the constant affection and help that Adelina has been giving him. His parents also lend him support by giving him fewer responsibilities until he feels better and giving him advice about his concerns. Dario doesn’t mention the theatre to his parents, but they still understand what’s bothering him despite talking around it, since they know the struggles of helping people who don’t want to be helped.

A woman from a larger charity walks into the building with her parents. The parents approach Dario’s parents while their daughter walks up to Dario. This woman has light blue eyes, dark pink hair, light skin, and wears a red dress with short sleeves.

“Hello, my name is Dario. Do you need any help?” Dario asks.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Elda, and no, I don’t need any help. In fact, it is my parents and our organization that will be helping you. Our parents are discussing a deal that will merge our charities.”

“I’ve seen you online and on TV before and know about your organization. It’s one of the biggest in the country, but I also know you and your parents live in luxury.” Adelina sees Dario talking to Elda, so she runs over to him and holds his arm as if making it known that Dario is hers. “What is it, Adelina? Everything is fine.”

Adelina grunts and stares down Elda like a fierce mother does when protecting her child.

“Everything is fine. You and your parents will receive a generous deal though some of your fellow employees may be fired and replaced,” Elda says.

“What? You can’t just fire them.”

“We can when the deal goes through. You’ll want our more experienced employees anyway even though you’ll have fewer people working with you. It’s all for the good cause of helping the poor and needy, right?”

“You don’t do that by corporatizing and cutting people out of the job they want to work. It’s not right to hurt others so other people can be helped.”

“Workers come and go. It’s the nature of business.”

“This is a charity. Not a business.”

“That’s right. You should listen to him and leave,” Adelina growls.

Suddenly, Dario and Elda find themselves in the theatre and on Elda’s stage. Her mask closely resembles her face and her body is mostly together except for her center, which is sorely empty and in pieces. After Dario explains what this place is and what its purpose is, Elda wonders why she’s here.

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” she says with a grin as if pretending to be innocent. “I help run one of the biggest charities in the country, as you said. Thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people are helped by me.”

Many examples of Elda’s charity show on the walls, ceiling, and floors, however, they are soon overshadowed by scenes of her cruelty by firing people, cutting their pay, cutting hours, giving overwhelming responsibilities to a person without a pay raise, and more.

“People are also hurt by you,” Dario says while pointing at the scenes around them.

“So, what if a few people are hurt so many more can be helped?”

“Because you’re supposed to help people! You’re part of a charity! If you actually did care about helping more than showing how ‘charitable’ you are, then maybe I’d respect you, but I don’t. You’re a hypocrite, a devil with the appearance of an angel.”

The scenes all stop and the room turns dark.

“How dare you!” Elda says while approaching Dario. “You don’t know anything about me, what I have to sacrifice for others! The many should be helped if only a few suffer because of it!”

Edla’s words are echoed by scenes of her on the walls showing her pushing away people she once called friends because they didn’t agree with her way of doing things. Inside Elda’s hollow body, Dario sees the mischievous swimming around.

“Haha! There’s so much room in here that I could fit two of me in here,” the technician says.

“I know what I’m doing is wrong, but it’s what I have to do to help the world,” Elda says with the technician’s voice mixed in with hers and lights start shining from her eyes. “Those people who I fired and pushed away will understand. No, they should be thankful because someone was helped because of the sacrifice that I made for them. They should all be thankful to me for doing what needs to be done!”

Hundreds of people start pouring into the room like the waters of a flood and Dario struggles to stay above them. Some shower Elda with praise while a few of the voices criticize her for her choices. She argues with them as she struggles to stay afloat and is being dragged down by her critics. In the chaos, Dario finds a scene of Elda crying and apologizing on a small mirror. He takes this small mirror, swims against the crowd, and shows it to Elda while shielding her against her critics.

“There’s no such thing as doing evil to do good. You know that. It’s okay to admit you’re wrong, but what’s not is refusing to. That only makes things worse,” Dario says.

Elda starts to cry as she says, “But if I stop now, I won’t be able to help as many people. They’ll be left to suffer by themselves with no one to help them.”

“There are plenty of people in the world to help them such as myself, my parents, and the charity we run. We can help the people that you can’t get to, so you don’t need to overextend yourselves, fire those who want to work for you, and overwork those who are as dedicated as you are to helping the needy. We can do this together. How about we have a partnership rather than a merger?”

The flood of people disappears into thin air, leaving the two alone in a quiet room.

“Okay…let’s do that.”

Dario and Elda are back in reality again. As they smile at one another, Adelina notices the shift in mood towards one another and looks at Elda with even more hostility.

“Did you two just go to the theatre? What did you two do?” Adelina asks.

“Nothing. Dario just helped me understand something I already knew and didn’t want to acknowledge,” Edla says. “I’ll convince my parents to partner up with your charity so we can help each other. Can we meet up sometime so we can talk more?”

“Talk?” Adelina says suspiciously.

“About business and the nature of helping people. I won’t take your boyfriend away from you though…I do want time with him.”

“Yeah, we can talk again next time.”

“I look forward to it,” Elda says with a wink.

Elda walks to her parents to convince them to agree to a partnership rather than a merger to which her parents reluctantly agree since Dario’s parents are stubborn in their decision to stay independent. Dario’s parents, Elda, and her parents then walk to an office to finalize their agreement. Meanwhile, Adelina grabs Dario’s face and closely examines it.

“What?” Dario asks.

“She didn’t kiss you, did she?” Adelina asks.

“No, why? You keep acting like you’re my girlfriend when you’re not.”

“Well…I want to be…is that okay with you?”

Dario hardly thinks for a second before saying, “Yes, it’s okay with me.”

“Good,” Adelina says before kissing Dario on the lips. “I would’ve cried until you said yes.”

Dario and Adelina hug each other and then go back to their daily duties helping people.

“Ah, yes. I knew this setup I created would pay off and they would make the right decisions,” I say to myself. “Dario is truly a good servant for my theatre and will be a guiding light to the truth and helpful hand for many, just as all who serve others rather than themselves should.”

 

The End

All Mask, No Face: Chapter 3 – Parroting for Comfort

Chapter 3 – Parroting for Comfort

With their new hire and potential daughter-in-law, Dario’s parents make it a point to have them working together so they can grow closer. Just as Adelina gives Dario a good morning hug, he is transported to the theatre he’s almost forgotten about.

“I was wondering if I ever was going to come back here,” Dario says to me.

“This isn’t a nine-to-five. You’ll be back here when you’re needed and since Adelina needed so much time with you, you needed to stay with her,” I say.

“Can you tell me if she’s the one who’s meant to be my girlfriend and wife-to-be?”

“What does your heart say?” Dario searches for the answer within himself as I fly him to the stage he’s meant to be on today. “You’ll be helping two people today, both of which have the same problem of being too worldly. They feed off each other’s ignorance as an excuse to keep acting as they do.”

“Wait, what?”

“The man’s name is Renzo and the woman’s name is Delia. You can handle them, Dario.”

Before Dario can say another word, he is thrust into the room where the two people are. Their stage consists of a place full of every popular item, movie, game, show, and sayings of the times all of which fade away and keep being replaced by new things. Renzo has a fiery orange and black mask that has red eyes with a silly expression on its face that covers half his face. He has blue eyes, short black hair, and most of his body is missing. As for Delia, she has green eyes, black hair, and most of her body is missing as well. Her mask that covers half of her face is upside down and is trying to hold back her tears while smiling with both mouths.

The two are going from place to place on their stage like children in a candy shop with a sugar rush, trying out every new trend until it goes sour, and then being invested in another. Every face attached to an advertisement and person they see is a variation of the mischievous lighting technician who keeps shifting his face with the trends, and at one point, has two faces at once to talk to Renzo and Delia at the same time.

“Stop all this noise and flashing lights! It’s giving me a headache,” Dario says to the technician.

“Haha! Why should I? These are the sights and sounds of the world! Better keep up or you’ll be left behind,” the technician says.

Seeing that he has no luck with the technician, Dario walks up the wall to Renzo.

“Renzo! Don’t you think this is all too much?” Dario asks.

“How can it be? This is amazing!” Renzo says before getting into an orange sports car and driving off.

The floor of Renzo’s stage becomes like that of a treadmill as Dario runs on it to keep up with him.

“You’ll get tired of following the times and eventually fall behind!” Dario says.

“Nah, not me. My followers and coworkers keep me up to date with everything that’s going on in the world,” Renzo says and then moves on to running on a literal treadmill in a gym with various political news outlets reporting on the goings on and telling people what they should think.

“It’s not right to change your beliefs every year or so because of today’s politics. Shouldn’t you believe in something more solid and unchanging?”

“That’s for people who are too stringent and dogmatic. Nothing is true and right can become wrong given the circumstances. That’s what I believe.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

Again, Renzo’s stage changes and Dario finds himself on the ceiling skydiving from it. Several TVs are falling along with him each of which shows static screens of Renzo making apology videos only to go back and do what he apologized for, ganging up on people for their beliefs, and hitting close friends and family of his over disagreements while he was drunk.

“You’ll come crashing down eventually. No celebrity stays a star for long,” Dario says.

“If I’m going to crash, it’s going to be in a blaze of glory baby! Woah!” Renzo says as he plummets towards the ground.

Both Renzo and Dario crash to the floor, however, neither is hurt, especially Renzo who immediately gets up and races toward the halls of a loud sports stadium. Tired from having to deal with him, Dario shifts his attention toward Delia who is drinking at the bar in a casino with illusions of her friends, all of which have the distorted face of the mischievous lighting technician.

Dario catches his breath and then says, “Delia-”

“Who are you? Another admirer?” she asks in a pompous tone.

“A what? No, I’m not.”

“Then you’re not worth my time.”

Dozens of people start crowding around Delia as everything starts becoming nothing more than migraine-inducing lights and noise. Dario stumbles back onto a large slot machine that starts running and forces him to run on it until he falls forward and is flung into a river of alcohol that leads to a whirlpool that he is sucked into. He then falls into a dark void filled with scenes of Delia’s streams such as her gambling, shopping, and trauma dump streams. By the time he reaches the bottom, his ears are ringing and he doesn’t hear much until he sees Delia crying by herself in the dark.

“No, please pay attention to me. I need to see your compliments, be the center of your attention, and hear about my struggles. Don’t leave me alone,” Delia says while tapping at her phone and computer.

Dario walks to her with a hand reached out and says, “Delia, you don’t need everyone’s love and attention. Please stop working, partying, and streaming so much. Give it a break and enjoy the quiet.”

As Dario reaches Delia, spotlights from above come on, and the constant chatter resumes.

“She needs all the light and attention she deserves! She’s a hard worker after all!” the mischievous lighting technician says.

“Don’t listen to this kid, Delia,” Renzo says as he pushes Dario aside and hugs Delia. Now that they’re together, Dario sees that the colorful strings that comprise both of their bodies are colors that the other has.

“You’re right, Renzo. Let’s go have fun while we’re still young and rich,” Delia says.

“Wait! You can’t keep being so irresponsible with your lives! It’s not going to end well,” Dario says before Renzo throws a pamphlet at his face.

Looking at it, Dario sees that it’s one of Carlo’s old pamphlets that has tips on living a consistently happy life. He stops himself from cursing since he’s told Carlo to stop printing these or to at least change the advice on them.

“Give that a read if you want to stop being such a killjoy,” Renzo says.

“Stop and listen to me for a second!”

Scenes of Renzo’s and Delia’s many love interests pass by Dario, many of which end in fights both verbal and physical, but they usually keep ending up together even after cheating and breaking up with one another time and time again. Dario rips apart the pamphlet and is about to run after the two until he finds himself back in normal reality and Adelina’s arms again.

Noticing the sudden jolt to his movement and the tired look on his face, Adelina says, “Did you just go to the theatre?”

“Yeah…” Dario says as he gently holds her and looks away.

“Is everything okay? You look defeated.”

“Well, I wasn’t able to change the minds of the two people I was talking to. I don’t even know why I was kicked back into reality.”

“Don’t worry about it. The Stage Master had some purpose in you being there and will probably do the rest of the job himself or with another person.”

“Yeah…I guess so…” Adelina squeezes Dario with a big hug. “Ow! What?”

“Stop feeling so bad! That’s my job! You’re supposed to be the most positive between the two of us, so you better stop feeling bad or else I’ll start feeling worse.”

“Okay, okay. Thank you, Adelina.”

“Shut up and start smiling again.”

A day of work passes until Dario hears news of a car crash the next morning. Having a bad feeling that he should look at it, Dario looks into what happened and is shocked to read that Renzo and Delia were the ones who were killed in the crash after a night of drinking and partying. He sits dumbfounded and blankly staring at the news until he finds himself back in the theatre. His eyes look up at me and there’s an expression on his face that I have the answer to.

“Renzo and Delia didn’t want to hear the truth. They didn’t want to change, and because of that, they sealed their fate. You didn’t do anything wrong and there was nothing more you could’ve done,” I say to him before snapping him back to reality.

Now, Dario feels slightly better, and yet, still longs for a better answer, but he knows better. The truth can sometimes be hard to accept, shallow, unbelievable, and make you feel empty. Adelina comes across him staring at the news and asks him about it.

After telling her about it, she hugs him and says, “Don’t be upset. Remember what you said to me a few days ago? Well, you are my joy, and now, it’s my time to be yours, so let me help you move on.”

She then kisses him and holds him tighter as he cries.

All Mask, No Face: Chapter 2 – Uncaring Emptiness

Chapter 2 – Uncaring Emptiness

A hard day’s work passes for Dario until he enters the theatre, which he almost forgets to look forward to. He enters it just as he sits down on a chair to catch his breath and finds himself sitting on the floor.

“Ow! You could’ve made that transition easier so I wouldn’t slam my butt down on the floor,” Dario says to me.

“I need you in a particular mood for the next person you’ll see. Her name is Adelina and she needs some cheering up from her miserable and tired state,” I say before taking Dario to her stage. “Please be patient with her.”

“I will,” Dario says.

When he enters Adelina’s room, he finds that her stage is colored in various shades of grey with not much around her. She sits in the middle of the room looking down and humming herself a song. Her appearance is a disjointed one, not one part of it is normal because it is nothing but a series of grey lines with spikes on her shoulders and a shriveling grey thing in the center that must be her heart. The mask on her face covers most of it except for the side of it and her black hair. As for the design of her mask, it’s plain just as she is with four bits of hair on it and a strangely content look on its face.

Going up to her, Dario says, “You must be Adelina. How are you doing?”

“Fine, and you?” she says.

“A bit tired from all the work I did today, but good.” A deafening silence in the room fills the room as Dario is unsure of how to continue and is put off guard by how strange this all is, even by the theatre’s standards. “What troubles you?”

“Nothing does. I’m perfectly fine as I am.”

“You wouldn’t be here if that was the case.”

“I know. I’ve been here many times before and heard from many people like you.”

“People are brought here more than once if they need more help.”

“Or if that Stage Master wants you to be here. It’s not like we have a choice.”

“Well, it’s a good thing that we are brought here. I got a lot of help from him and am enjoying helping others like you.”

“If you say so. Maybe the reason why so many are brought here time and time again is because the help doesn’t truly work. I mean, in the real world, no one remembers the theatre, and most that do just remember it as a dream. If it were more important, it’d be remembered and more people would be actively searching it out.”

Dario thinks about Adelina’s words and back on his conversation with Carlo and how Carlo still thinks that the theatre was a dream. To Carlo, they’re only collaborating because he believes that dreams tell you a lot about reality and what you should be doing.

“I make a lot of the same mistakes,” Dario admits. “Back at the charity I work at, I sometimes put stock in the wrong area, bring the wrong stuff to a person, or tell someone to deal with a difficult patient that I don’t want to bother with. Even now, I have to remember that not everyone is perfect and we can be made better through trial and error.”

“I get it,” Adelina coldly says.

“Can you tell me why you keep coming back here?”

“I don’t know why. There’s nothing wrong with me. All I do is keep to myself and not bother anyone.”

“There has to be more to it than that.”

“There isn’t. I don’t care to be in anyone’s business nor do I care about myself.”

“That’s it then. Your uncaringness towards yourself and others.”

“What’s so wrong about it? I don’t bother anyone.”

Images of Adelina flicker on the walls around them, showing her being distant towards others and secluding herself.

“Seclusion isn’t good for you.”

“Why isn’t it? No one is hurt by it.”

“You are and the people who you could help by being around them.”

“No, that’s not true and I told you I’m fine.”

“You’re lying to yourself.”

Now, videos of Adelina show her longingly and jealously looking at gatherings of people.

“I wish I could be like them,” she says in the videos. “This is fine. Why can’t I make any friends? Who cares? I don’t care. They aren’t good people anyway. I’m not that interesting of a person. I couldn’t be friends with them. Life is stressful enough alone. Keeping up with family on holidays and special events is all I need. There are more important things to do.”

“I care, Adelina,” Dario says to break up the constant noise.

“I’ve heard that many times before and nothing has come of it.”

“Today, that changes. Can I see your real face? Your mask hides too much of it.”

“Sure, if you can.”

Dario slightly moves aside Adelina’s mask to reveal that there’s only the outline of a face on hers with no features to it, which shocks him a bit.

“There’s nothing to me. Nothing special or worth getting invested in,” Adelina says.

“That’s not true. You just need to find yourself.”

“It is true!” the mischievous lighting technician says as he pops out of Adelina’s head. “There’s hardly anything in here!”

Dario swipes away at the technician as the man pops in and out of Adelina like a game of whack-a-mole while saying, “Don’t listen to him! Everyone feels like a blank slate, at first.”

“I’m not a blank slate. I know my purpose in life, and that’s just to work, eat, and sleep alone until the day I die. That’s all I’m worth and I’ll ever be.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is. There’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise. I’ve already heard how things could always get better and there’s joy to be found in the mundane, but neither answer has brought me peace. It’s never brought me out of the loneliness I find myself in.”

“I’ll be your friend,” Dario says with a hand on Adelina’s shoulder.

She looks to the side and thinks to herself as if the concept of a friend is foreign to her.

“How can you be? After we leave here, we’ll be far apart.”

“Where do you live?”

Adelina tells Dario the city she lives in, a city that so happens to be the same one he is in as well. They exchange addresses and realize they only live two blocks away from one another.

“I’ll take the time to visit you. We’ll talk and I’ll help you become the person you’re meant to be,” Dario confidently says.

Adelina smiles for the first time in what feels like years to her before frowning again.

“When do you want to see each other? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? I’ve tried making arrangements to be with others, but they always ghost me in the end. Prove to me that you want to help me by seeing me sooner rather than later.”

“Okay. How about tonight? My parents should be making dinner now and it’ll be ready by the time I meet you at your house.”

“Ah…um…”

“This is proof that I want to help you, isn’t it?”

“It is. Um…okay. I’ll see you soon then.”

Dario blinks and sees that he’s back home. He immediately gets up and tells his parents that a friend in need is coming over for dinner and he’s going to walk her over.

“Who’s coming over?” his mom asks.

“A girl named Adelina. We just met,” Dario says.

“Oh, if that’s the case, well get dinner ready as soon as possible. We have to make a good first impression,” Dario’s dad says.

Dario rolls his eyes at the implication that his dad thinks he may fall in love with Adelina and walks out the door. When he gets to Adelina’s apartment, he rings the doorbell and doesn’t have to wait long for her to answer her. The sight of her is a bit surprising to Dario, and not, at the same time. She has a disheveled appearance that suggests she was rushing to do her best to hide her many imperfections such as her messy hair and sunken eyes. It’s also apparent that she’s about Dario’s age and hasn’t showered for days since she smells like perfume and the stink of work. Adelina is also blocking the door and shifting around to hide the mess that is her home.

“Um, hi, Dario. I’m glad you actually came,” she awkwardly says.

“The pleasure is mine. Are you ready to go?” Dario asks.

“Ye-yeah. Let’s.”

Adelina walks with Dario back to his house where they enjoy a nice together with Dario’s parents. For the next week, Dario makes time to see Adelina to help her find herself and enjoyment in life. To his surprise, he doesn’t enter the theatre during any of the days, but the most surprising thing he finds is that Adelina enjoys helping people at the charity with him, especially caring for the sick and homeless. At one moment, she catches him smiling at him.

“What?” she shyly asks.

“Nothing. I’m just happy to see you smiling and happy,” he says, making her smile even more and blush.

By the end of the last day on Saturday when Dario is walking Adelina home, he says, “It looks like I’ve finally managed to get you to change for the better.”

“Yeah, but this doesn’t mean that we’ll stop seeing each other, right?” Adelina asks.

“No, of course not. You’re welcome to work with my family and me at the charity full-time if you want.”

“That’s good. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Adelina hugs and then kisses Dario on the cheek. “Thank you for everything. See you tomorrow.”

Adelina then walks into her apartment while leaving Dario stunned and blushing. His shocked and blushed expression is stuck on his face even as he arrives back home and tries to hide it. Seeing him all red makes his parents ask what happened, and when he tells them, they’re excited that he has a new girlfriend. Even though he denies it, Dario wonders if Adelina kissed him just because he’s been such a big help to her or if she actually does love him and he also begins wondering why he feels like he wants her to love him.

All Mask, No Face: Chapter 1 – Blinded by the Light

Chapter 1 – Blinded by the Light

Since yesterday, Dario has been wary about every door he goes through. He expects that each door could be the one taking him to the theatre, and yet none of them do. He tries to relax and keep his focus on his work at the charity so he doesn’t mess up. However, after he walks through a doorless doorway, he finds himself in the theatre and is immediately caught off guard.

I appear in front of him in a firework and say, “Good afternoon, Dario! How are you doing?”

“Fine that I’m finally here. I was in suspense all day wondering what door would bring me here,” Dario says.

“You don’t need to go through a door to get here. I can bring you here if you were on a plane, in the ocean, in a fight, or simply lying on your bed.”

“Really? Since we’re on the topic, what happens outside the theatre when I’m in here?”

“Absolutely nothing. This place is outside of time, and as such, you can spend years here, and not a second would pass in the normal reality.”

“That’s…impossibly amazing.”

“Anything is possible for me. I am the Stage Master and all of reality is my stage. As for you, you will be helping a man named Carlo on his stage. He has the issue of being too positive. It’s clouded his conscience as he only cares about being happy and directing others to do the same.”

“I see. Will you be with me while I try to convince him to change?”

“I’ll be with you in spirit and helping you to say what you need to. Other than that, it’s all you.”

“Okay. I think I got this.”

“I know you do. Now, let me show you to Carlo’s stage.”

Dario is lifted into the air by the invisible force of my power and flies through the many halls of the theatre until we reach Carlo’s stage. He laughs and mentions how fun that was and then enters the room. In it, blinding lights that mostly consist of shades of yellow and gold immediately come on.

“Could you turn down the brightness?” Dario asks.

“Haha, can’t do that. Carlo wants them to be as bright as possible. Who doesn’t want their life to be bright all the time anyway?” the mischievous lighting technician says.

With his eyes squinted and hands giving him some shade, Dario makes his way through the blinding light until he sees Carlo who is sitting on a beach looking out at the horizon. His real body is barely there as he only has his half torso that wears golden chains and a light blue shirt and lacks arms and legs while every other part of his body is comprised of various shades of blue strings. Half of his face shows his brown eyes and blonde air and the other has his mask that has banana-like pieces of hair coming out of his head, crescent eyes, eyebrows, and nose, and a smile showing his golden teeth that stretch his face so much that it threatens to tear his face.

“Carlo?” Dario asks.

“Hello there! Are you here to bask in this wonderful day with me? What’s your name boy?” Carlo asks.

“Kind of. My name is Dario and I’m here to help you change your life.”

“Ah, a coworker in the same profession. Thank you for offering, but I’m fine as I am. I see joy and happiness in my everyday life even if things go wrong during them.”

“That’s the problem right there. You’re viewing it a bit too positively.”

One of the lights breaks, causing a dark spot in Carlo’s bright day.

“What do you mean, Dario? There’s no such thing as being too positive.”

“There can be when it blinds you to everything else in your life.”

“Explain more and look at this.” The beach scene changes to show Carlo’s many talks to the positivity groups he manages. “These are the many groups I manage where I spread messages of positivity and happy living. What’s so wrong about this?”

“You’re focusing on being happy and treating it as the goal of your life when you shouldn’t.”

Another light breaks and the scene changes, this time showing Carlo breaking off family connections, quitting jobs, and begging his followers for money.

“Of course, I had to do these things. They kept me from being happy. Again, what’s wrong with this?”

“Can’t you see the answer? You broke your family’s heart and are leaning on your followers so you don’t have to work a job to support yourself. You’re making others miserable so you can be happy.”

“Those people deserved it because they kept me from doing what I wanted just like you are now. You don’t help people by making them feel miserable.”

“What’s making you feel miserable is your conscience, your guilt. That feeling of misery will help you confess that what you’re doing is wrong and live a better life.”

“But…but if I stop what I’m doing, then the people who follow me will think I’m a phony, stop paying me to give lessons, and go back to being sad.”

“Then you should help each other after confessing. Don’t be afraid of the consequences of your actions. It’s better to be true than to lie to yourself every day. I’m sure your followers will understand.”

“No…I don’t think they will.”

Two more lights break and the scene changes this time to show Carlo helping a woman who can’t find anything in life that makes her happy.

“Please, no,” Carlo says while looking away from the scene.

“I don’t know what to do,” the woman said. “Nothing makes me happy. I’ve tried gambling, sports, traveling, focusing on work, hanging out with family and friends, none of it makes me happy.”

With a grim look on his face, Carlo said, “I don’t know what to tell you. If I couldn’t find anything happy to live for, then I’d stop living.”

“I didn’t mean to say it that way!”

“But it’s what you felt,” Dario says. “It’s what you believe, that if you’re not happy every day of your life, then you shouldn’t keep living.”

More lights break until the room is in complete darkness except for one light that shows a news report about the same woman Carlo was talking to killing herself.

“I’m sorry…” Carlo says as he starts to cry. Every light in the room turns on again and points itself at Carlo. “I have to keep being happy and making them feel that way so no one ends up like her.”

“No, someone will end up like her if you do. She killed herself because she couldn’t be happy, so you need to tell people that there’s more to life than happiness.”

“What? If we don’t live to make ourselves and others happy, then what’s there to live for?”

“We can live to improve the lives of others and ourselves through hard work and determination. I work at a charity where I do nothing but run around helping the sick, hungry, and needy. It’s backbreaking and intense work. Not everyone I help becomes happy, but they are thankful and are able to continue living.”

“But life is full of so much pain and misery. Sometimes I just want it to end so I never feel the harshness of it again.”

“Life can make you feel that way. Even though I’m not happy every day and sometimes miserable for one reason or another, I find peace knowing that I did the right thing for the day, that someone was helped by my actions, and hope to do more and better the next day.”

“Yeah…yeah, you’re right, kid. Do you think I can do the same as you?”

Dario walks over to Carlo and hugs him.

“I think you can.” The darkness lights up and reveals all the people that Carlo made happy.  “Remember that you made dozens of people happy. You’re an inspiration to them. You just need to orient them in the right direction, and if they leave you or you mess up, then pick yourself up and try better next time. That’s all you have to do.”

“Right. You’re right! Thank you so much, Dario. Maybe we can collaborate on a project together to help others. What do you say?”

“I’d like that.”

Carlo and Dario shake hands. In the blink of an eye, Dario finds himself back at the charity. After work, he looks up Carlo online and messages him to follow up on what Carlo offered. Even though Carlo hardly remembers Dario, he accepts and they arrange to meet each other one day to plan their collaboration, a day that Dario happily looks forward to.