THE MASK THAT BLEED FOR HER

Title: The Mask That Bleeds for Her

Chapter 1: Before the World Took Her

People will tell you Steve became something dangerous.

They’ll say he changed.

That one day he just… snapped.

That’s the version people like.

It’s simple. Easy to understand.

Also wrong.

Because I knew him before that.

Before the silence. Before the anger. Before the mask people talk about like it’s some myth.

Back when he was still just a boy—

and she was still there.

Her name was Iris.

And if I’m being honest… Steve was already a little lost the day he met her.

Not in a dramatic way.

Just… the kind where someone doesn’t really know where they belong yet.

They met in school.

Nothing special.

No music. No slow-motion moment.

Steve tripped.

Yeah. That’s it.

First day, new class, too many people. He missed a step near the door and went straight down, books sliding everywhere.

Some kids laughed.

Steve laughed too—louder than everyone else—like it didn’t bother him.

It did. Obviously.

Then someone crouched down beside him.

“You’re blocking the way,” she said.

Not rude.

Just… normal.

He looked up.

Iris.

She picked up his notebook and handed it to him.

“Here.”

No pity. No awkward smile.

Just simple kindness.

And for some reason… that stayed with him.

After that, things just… happened.

Same bench. Same way home.

Same arguments about homework Steve never did.

“You’re going to fail again,” Iris said once, looking over his paper.

“I believe in consistency,” Steve replied.

“You believe in excuses.”

“Same thing.”

She laughed.

And yeah… he noticed that.

He noticed a lot of things he probably shouldn’t have.

The way she tapped her pen when she was thinking.

The way she zoned out near the window during boring classes.

The way she said his name when she was serious—

“Steve.”

No one said it like that.

There was a third one too.

Tom.

Quiet guy. The kind who doesn’t talk unless he has something to say.

If Steve was chaos and Iris was calm, Tom was just… steady.

“You’re going to get yourself in trouble one day,” Tom told him once.

“Not today,” Steve said.

Tom didn’t smile.

He just looked at Iris.

Then back at Steve.

“…Yeah.”

Steve didn’t really get what that meant.

He didn’t try to.

Time passed.

Not in a big, dramatic way.

Just normal days stacking on top of each other.

And somewhere in between all that—

Steve fell for her.

Quietly.

No confession. No big realization.

It just… happened.

And he never said anything.

Not when she waited for him after school.

Not when she saved him from getting scolded by teachers.

Not even when she fell asleep in class once, her head almost dropping onto his shoulder—

and he just sat there, not moving, like even breathing wrong might ruin it.

It sounds stupid.

Maybe it is.

But for him… that was enough.

Or at least, he kept telling himself it was.

One evening, they stayed back after school.

Sky was orange, fading into dark.

Iris stood near the gate, looking at the road like she was thinking about something.

“You ever feel like things are going to change?” she asked.

Steve shrugged. “Things are always changing.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Then what do you mean?”

She didn’t answer immediately.

Just looked at him.

A little different than usual.

“Steve, if one day—”

A car passed by. Loud. Too fast.

It cut her off.

“What?” he asked.

She hesitated.

Then smiled like it didn’t matter.

“Nothing.”

He didn’t push.

He really didn’t.

And yeah… that was probably a mistake.

Tom was there that day too.

Not close.

Just watching.

Hands in his pockets.

He noticed the car.

The way it slowed a little.

The way it didn’t belong.

The way Iris looked at it—

just for a second.

That kind of thing doesn’t mean much.

Until later.

The next day—

Iris didn’t come to school.

At first, it felt normal.

People miss school.

No big deal.

By lunch, people started whispering.

By the end of the day, teachers stopped answering questions.

And somehow…

it went from “she’s absent” to “don’t ask.”

Like a switch flipped.

Steve didn’t like that.

Not at all.

He went to her house that evening.

Locked.

No lights.

No sound.

Nothing.

He knocked anyway.

Waited.

Knocked again.

Still nothing.

He stood there longer than he should have.

Like something might change if he just stayed.

It didn’t.

Days passed.

No calls. No news. No explanation.

And the worst part?

People started moving on.

Like she was just… another student who left.

That didn’t sit right with him.

Not even close.

Because this wasn’t normal.

It couldn’t be.

Tom found him again near her house.

“You should go home,” he said.

Steve shook his head. “Not without her.”

Tom looked at the door for a long second.

Then at Steve.

“…Some people don’t get found.”

That hit wrong.

“Then I’ll find her,” Steve said.

Simple.

No drama.

Just… certain.

Tom didn’t argue.

But something in his expression changed.

“You don’t know what this is,” he said quietly.

Steve didn’t respond.

Because he didn’t care what it was.

Only that it happened.

That’s the part people don’t understand.

Steve didn’t break in one moment.

It wasn’t sudden.

It was slow.

Like something inside him was being pulled apart piece by piece.

The guy who used to laugh too much stopped laughing.

The one who didn’t take anything seriously started taking this too seriously.

And eventually—

everything else just… stopped mattering.

Except one thing.

Iris.

Or more specifically—

what happened to her.

You can call him a monster later.

A lot of people do.

But before all that—

he was just a guy who didn’t say what he felt…

and lost the chance to ever say it.

And maybe that doesn’t sound like a big deal.

But it was.

Because tell me honestly—

if someone you cared about disappeared without a trace…

and the world just moved on like it was nothing…

how long would it take before you stopped acting like yourself too?