As kids, me and my older brother used to take these white paper plates, draw faces on them and wear them as a mask. We were pretty creative with it. My brother liked to draw animals. One time a lion the next time a koala or something completely different like a frog or a jellyfish. I preffered drawing human faces. Depending on what mood I was in, there were various faces. Happy faces, sad faces, nervous faces, tired faces.. just all kind of. My mother was happy everytime we did it because we were taking very long and practically entertaining ourselves so she could have a time out. She was working really hard back then performing two and sometimes even three jobs at once. My father was a drunkass bastard with no job and no important life purpose. Everytime my mother had a breakdown he would just sit there with his cheap booze yelling at her to silence the brats.
One day, I think I was 5 years old, my brother and me were drawing again but for some reason I couldn't really come up with something. We were sitting on the living room floor the crayons spread around us. Our parents were in the kitchen as always arguing about something. It was when my brother didn't notice because he was occupied with what looked like a very ugly elephant, that my father raised his hand and I heard my mother shriek. I wasn't really able to understand what was going on. Maybe I was just too young then. I looked down at the white plate on my lap facing me blandly and grabbed the black crayon. The face I drew this day was nothing like the faces I used to draw. It was an inexpressive dead ahead stare, the mouth nothing but an emotionless line. My mother was shutting the kitchen door as I turned to face my brother holding up my new creation to my face and tilting my head. He threw me a confused glance and I remember getting up and heading for our room.
The next day, my father was gone and my mother told me that things would get better now. For the first time since what felt like an eternity I saw her smiling. We left the house in the afternoon to go to the park and maybe eat some ice cream but before the door was shut behind us I ran back to our room and picked up the paper plate. My mother had attached an elastic band on it and cut out the eye pieces. I pulled it over my head and we left.
"Okay then, I think I'll see you at the airport?" The bright voice interruptet my thoughts.
"Huh? Sorry what was that?" I sat up straight and tugged my headphones in place. I could hear Pewds sigh through the skype conversation and literally imagine him twisting his eyes in annoyance.
"Goddamnit Cry! Where have you been the last two minutes? Something wrong buddy?" I thought I heard a slight hint of concern in his voice but not sure about that.
"Nope, everything's alright. Airport, tomorrow, 3pm, right?"
"Actually it was 5pm but nevermind, I'll text you again before I get on plane." I sighed. Overcaring Pewds, as always. It wasn't like he couldn't afford a taxi if I would accidentially forget to pick him up from the airport. But of course that was not an option (*wink*).
"I'll be right there, don't worry about it." I couldn't resist a grin.
"Hey, that's my quote!" Now he was acting fake-offended and I couldn't help but laugh. Sometimes Pewds was just a big kid and that was something I liked about him. When talking to him I felt somewhat carefree. Felix is a tolerant person and does not judge anyone. He gets along with nearly everybody if you let him. Just the kind of person you would call reassuring.
I said goodnight to Pewds and finished the call. Trowing a glance at my alarm clock I decided to call it a day and shut down the laptop. My gaze met the opposing wall where a circular paper plate was dangling from a nail. It looked pretty battered but very much resembled the ceramic mask that was laying on my nightstand. I reached for it and took the cold ceramic in my hand, smiling softly at the blank expression.
"Hello friend. Wanna meet Pewds tomorrow?"