Facing The Mask

Chapter 1: An Unforeseen Encounter

"Okay, ZC, you're dreaming," I told myself reassuringly. I tried to believe it, but it wasn't easy.

A gray, low-lying fog swirled around my high-top sneakers. Beyond, a dark wood of tall, gray trees extended into the night sky, indistinct in the pale starlight. I've had some pretty wacky dreams, believe me, but they never had seemed so real before.

The damp fog tickled my ankles, and I shivered.

"Okay, yeah… This is weird," I evaluated. I hoped no one could overhear me talking to myself, but really, at this point, I didn't care. The world around me seemed so fake, like an illusion, and I needed the reassurance of my own voice to keep my anxiety level from rising.

My dad had watched tons of survival shows, like Bear Grylls and Dual Survival. In the free time during past summers, when he wasn't working or sleeping, he had even tried to teach me some necessary survival skills, like making fire using only a dowel and a hewed piece of wood, in case I ever somehow managed to sneak past my overprotective mom, who wouldn't let me walk three paces in my backyard without telling her first, and get myself lost. Since I wasn't much of an outdoorsman anyway, usually spending—err, wasting—my time indoors on some tacky electronic, I hadn't taken his advice too seriously, and now, lost in this creepy forest, having no idea how I had gotten here, I was beginning to regret not paying more attention to my father's eccentric survival stories.

I stuffed my hands into my pockets and pulled out the contents, hoping I had something useful. A wrinkled five dollar bill, a pink DS stylus, and a dog bone—wow, everything I needed for a night alone in the woods. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

I glanced around, hoping this time I'd recognize where I was. I mean, how far could I have sleepwalked anyway? I looked at the quiet trees standing tall and stiff in the distance, at the starry sky arching above, at the foggy ground beneath my feet, matted with leaves and pine needles, and I knew with startling certainty that I had never been here before.

At this point, I will admit I was pretty spooked. I wanted to believe that at any moment, a bunch of cameras would toggle out from behind the trees and a giddy spokesperson would announce, "You've been punked!" But a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that this place was no joke, no matter how much I wanted believe otherwise.

"Uh… Is anyone here?" I asked half-heartedly. No response. No movement. It was as if the forest were holding its breath, but then I heard something. In the distance, a faint clopping sound shook the stillness, like a hammer rhythmically beating iron. My hand instinctively clenched around the DS stylus in my pocket, but I had no idea how I could protect myself with a two-inch piece of plastic.

I listened as the sound grew louder and clearer until I could determine from which direction it came. I turned, and my heart leaped into my throat. Indistinct in the gloomy fog, a silhouette the size of a refrigerator door loomed closer, gradually coming into view. My nerves tensed, and all I could think was, "Oh, gosh. It's gonna kill me!"

But it didn't kill me. In fact, it didn't seem to notice me.

The shadow advanced, causing the mist to froth and withdraw. Finally, I realized what the creature was. It was a horse, with brown fur and a sheer mane the color of vanilla. Offhandedly, I thought to myself that this horse looked bizarrely similar to Epona, a loyal steed represented in some of my video games. I wouldn't understand how right I was until later.

The horse lazily cantered through the undergrowth, its hooves clopping loudly, explaining the sound I had heard earlier.

Although I wasn't as afraid as I had been, confusion pricked numbly at the back of my mind. Where had this horse come from? I mean, it wasn't like wild horses just randomly strolled through the forests of New England every day. At least, I had lived here for sixteen years, and I had never seen one before. I thought perhaps it had escaped from a nearby farm or something, but if I was anywhere near my own home, I knew there wasn't a horse farm for at least a ten mile radius.

I couldn't have sleepwalked that far, could I?—I questioned myself, but at that moment, with every other creepy thing that had happened, I shouldn't have been surprised if I had walked all the way to Texas.

I stared at the horse as if mentally willing it to answer all of my questions. I was relieved when it didn't respond. If it had begun talking, it would have proven that I was crazy, and while I could, I still wanted to pretend I wasn't as loony as I felt.

In the clearing, the horse came to a stop and shook its mane. Although it was facing me and stood only ten feet away, it didn't seem to realize I was there. It lowered its head and sniffed the ground warily, and I noticed that something was stuck to its saddle. It was small and green, and at first, I thought it was a blanket. But weren't blankets supposed to go under the saddle?

At that moment, from somewhere behind me, a shrill noise vibrated through the air, making me flinch. It sounded like chimes in a windstorm, a dozen bells ringing at once. Before I knew what was happening, two orbs whistled past my ear and the horse reared backward. With a loud yell and a thud, the green thing on the horse's back landed in the grass.

My heart pounded against my lungs. I stared down at the green-clad figure who lay motionless amid the leaves and pine needles. Too late I understood where I was and what was happening.

That's when I saw him. Between two massive trees, a purple mask appeared, a bodiless veneer with sharp horns and huge yellow eyes that glowed eerily in the darkness like florescent light bulbs. It seemed to be hovering five feet above the ground, but then the rest of his body materialized out of the fog.

Other than the wicked-looking mask that hid his face, he looked like a scarecrow, with shabby gloves, an orange tunic, and green, tattered shorts. His big orange shoes curled up at the toes like the ones Santa's elves would wear, but I knew this guy was not the jolly type. He glowered through his mask, and I slunk behind a tree to avoid being seen.

The two orbs that had zipped by me earlier flew down and hovered on either side of the masked scarecrow's head. One was yellow; the other was dark purple. Their bodies were small and round, about three inches wide. Wings the size and shape of Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies fluttered behind them. Although these small creatures definitely did not match the stereotypical description of fairies, I knew that's what they both were.

The guy with the mask shook his head like a dog and laughed. His voice sounded young and mischievous. He pushed his mask back on his head like a visor and peered out from beneath it. His beady orange eyes shone in the darkness, and I shivered.

"Hee, hee. You two fairies did great!" he called back over his shoulder. "I wonder if he has anything good on him..."

Although I was trying my best to stay calm, a thousand thoughts tumbled through my head like clothes in a dryer set on maximum speed. I had thought that once I recognized where I was, everything would start making sense, or, at least, I'd be able to find my way home a lot easier. But I was so wrong. Now, even though I knew exactly where I was and exactly what would happen, I didn't feel secure. In fact, I was petrified.

The world around me seemed to spin as reality struck: I was inside a video game—I was inside Majora's Mask!