Revelations

Sally looked at her friend intently. Carly looked so solemn, no hint of a smile or laughter in her brown eyes.

"What mask did you wear?"

Carly reached under her bed and pulled out a wooden mask. It looked quite plain and unadorned. Just a roughly carved wooden face mask with bulging cheeks and an iron nose plate.

"Wait, you said it was green?"

"It turned green when I wore it last night. But at dawn it changed back to wood and fell off then I felt really sick and tired …"

"Wait, so he saw you with no mask?"

"No, I went into the bathroom when I began to grow weak. That entire night I had had so much energy… then the mask just slipped off when I went to the bathroom." Carly grimaced and shook her head, her bushy brown hair bouncing. "I made the poor lad go at it all night. He must have been exhausted – and terrified. He kept begging that we stop, but I wouldn't listen…" Carly's bottom lip quivered and there were tears in her eyes. If this was indeed a prank of some sort, then she was playing it to the hilt. Was it possible? Was it barely possible?

"I could ask him, but how to say it… I'll think of something. If he didn't recognise you I need not use your name yet."

Carly sniffed and nodded. "I can't face him again. I can't ever face him again."

00O00

It was just as well that Sally was familiar with Jack, so much so that it was normal for her to climb in his window. She had done it often, but this time he gave a start as she clambered in, his green eyes wide.

Sally laid a hand on his arm. "Hey, it's alright, it's just me."

"Sally! You gave me a fright."

"If you need to tell me anything, I'll listen. I know more than you think." He blinked at that. "I'd always understand you. If anything happened last night…"

"I don't want to talk about it."

So something had definitely happened. Sally's suspicions were becoming something like certainty.

"Did a crazy lady with a big green mask assault you last night," she said steadily, gazing into his green eyes. "You must tell me the truth."

"I – I … how did you know…"

"I find things out, Jack. First tell me what your feelings are. That is important."

He stared dead ahead, his eyes blank. Sally knew the medical term to be flat effect.

"I tried, but couldn't fight her off. She was impossibly strong and made me … do it with her. I feel churned up inside."

Sally put an arm round his shoulder. "Naturally."

"It's worse because I wanted to wait until marriage. And with that awful mask I don't know who she is. I could actually be a father now without knowing it."

Sally inhaled sharply. "Oh my, yes, that is something that is impossible in male on male cases – becoming a father from it. And without even knowing." Sally hesitated for an instant, but Carly had not forbade her from repeating anything and it was important that Jack knew for his peace of mind. What if he became a father from this?

"I know who she is, but this is strange. She said she wasn't herself, but it's hard to understand."

"She wasn't human. There was some devilment."

"I wonder … could the mask have been magic." Sally shook her head. "It was Carly. She confessed it."

Jack gave a start. "Carly? She would never."

"I know, I know, but I'm starting to believe her mask is magic. That it made her into an unstoppable personification of her Freudian Id and that she wasn't herself. After all this, is that part so much harder to believe?"

"Believable or not, I did want to wait until marriage. It was important." Jack's voice sounded strained.

"Well you don't have to marry her. Certainly not. I always thought it nasty, that idea that rape victims have to marry their rapist over that dogmatic no sex 'til marriage rule." Sally suddenly had a new idea. "And it doesn't count if you are unwilling. The rule should be no lovemaking until marriage. Rape is not lovemaking."

She gazed upon his freckled face. How was he going to take this? What would he want to do?