I remember him in that moment after I rose from the floor, my body still tingling from the fall. I remember him looking so small, lying there unconscious.

Helpless.

I remember the feeling of the most intense curiosity. I do not know why, but...just this once, I gave in to it; I followed my impulse.

I remember the cold of the metal mask against my palm, its slightly pitted surface. It resisted giving up his secret for a moment before I could remove it.

I wondered, when I had the leisure to wonder, what his mask had witnessed. What good, what evil...? What pain, and what horror?

I remember the feeling of anticipation. Anticipation...or was it fear, another forbidden emotion? Perhaps it was both...

What did I expect in that moment? Perhaps I expected a terribly scarred and marked face; marred and disfigured by the man's darkness.

But no. He...he was only a man. A younger man, his face grim and pale...but still, only a man.

I replaced the mask.

What I saw there frightened me, and it frightens me still. For if such darkness could lurk behind the eyes of such a normal-looking man, then...

There could be such monsters everywhere.