Masks

During childhood, you fear the monsters under your bed, but as you grow - you realize that the real ones are hidden inside you. However, some people are incapable of fighting with their own demons and instead, they go after the masked ones all over the world. They are unaware that the real threat is buried deep inside them.

“It’s quiet in here, almost too quiet...”

Police officer Elana Bells murmured under her breath while turning sharp right and stepping into a shady dark alley. Hoodie pushed high over her head, hiding a good half of her face and the other half, she hid it with a black mask. Her midnight blue eyes were the only thing that could be seen to the world. But it was what she wanted. It was never too safe to reveal her face everywhere, not with her profession at least.

In the early hours after the clock had stricken midnight, the only source of light in the dark alley was the one coming from the moon. It was illuminating only a meter around Elana so she wouldn’t stumble on the pavement from the loss of visibility. With that kind of atmosphere, the place radiated with a darker glum. It was so quiet that even a dropped needle could be heard.

However, even with those characteristics the place still held a unique power. If you weren’t scared of the dark and the silence then that alley was the right spot for you. The place made the bad feel like the worst. Or in Elana’s case, it made her feel tougher than she was.

“Tonight is the night...”

She whispered behind her gritting teeth and reached for her weapon in the gun holder wrapped around her waist. Her action was a result of the shadow that passed quickly near the end on the alley. For a person’s eye that shadow was almost invisible, but for Elana’s trained ones was like a delayed scene from a movie.

Even if it was only for a mere second, she caught it at the right moment. Her sharp mind recalculated the gathered information - a male, around six feet tall with a lean muscular body and dark hair. As for his face, it reminded a secret to her.

“Not for long...”

With a slight mockery hidden behind her words, she spoke more to herself than to her male companion. Not that he would have heard her from their distance. Plus, she had the ability to be quiet and move like a cat which only brought her more pros in her job. Elana was like a ghost, a silent predator that always caught her prays when they least expected her.

Tonight too, it was supposed to be an easy task. She would catch her criminal red-handed and by the time he would be able to speak his protests, he would already be where he belonged, behind bars. The problem was that she was too sure of herself. She started celebrating victory too early and for a second had let her guard down. And that second had cost her everything.

Wasted smirk and one moment were enough. For one second she had her target in the view and the other she had become one herself.

She felt the bullet coming from behind her even before the firing sound echoed in the silence of the place. The hit came only a moment after it. The bullet broke her skin on her back and finished somewhere behind her shoulder blades.

Elana felt how the hot crimson liquid was slipping from her wound and was soaking her clothes around it. However, even before her mind could calculate the amount of pain that the bullet had caused her, she let it walk in another direction in her thoughts. Instead of being cautious about her wellbeing, she cursed because she had left on a mission without her bulletproof jacket. But who would have thought that the night would bring her a change of plans?

Even when her legs gave up on her and her knees sank in the cold pavement of the alley, her mind was still fighting with her inner self. She blamed herself how could she be so irresponsible, how did she manage to let her guard down like that...

Her body was losing the battle with the gravity and plopped on the floor like immobilized, but the battle in her head was still going. She fought with refusing to close her eyes to her surroundings and her will to continue to live was overthrowing the monster in her mind. She didn’t care about her pain, but what kept her going was the anger she felt towards herself.

“I will not die.”

“Not this way.”

“Not today...”