The ringing in my ears grew louder as the dark shadows emanating from Heather stretched forth.

"Uh, Heather. What's going on here," I asked. Quickly, I rose to my feet and backed away.

"Come on DD," she said in the same low growl. "Hand over the mask and you can have me." Her voice and eyes reverted to normal and the shadows around her retreated but still swirled menacingly around her feet. "Isn't that what you've always wanted?" She smiled but it no longer held any warmth.

"What do you mean? What mask?" I was sure I hadn't yet told her about Quincy's strange gift, so how did she know?

"Stop playing dumb DD," she smiled again. "The mask Quincy sent you silly, the one on your face right now."

"What are you tal-"

My voice faltered as I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the pool. Sure enough, on half my face was the black mask. I touched it but didn't feel anything other than my warm skin.

"Ho-wh-why is this on my face."

"Oh? You didn't know you were wearing it? That's good. Perhaps you have still not fully bonded to the spirit of the mask. That'll make this process a whole lot easier." Heather said with her cold smile plastered across her face. "All you have to do is take off the mask and hand it to me."

"Heather, what the actual hell is happening? Is this a prank? It has to be right?" I forced a laugh. "I get it. Bleach had the hollow masks, so you and Quincy set up this elaborate prank to show me how much of a die-hard fan you are. That's it isn't it? Well, you got me. Q, you can come out now. Consider me officially pranked."

The ringing in my head started to grow uncomfortably loud as if to tell me I was wrong.

"You can think whatever you want," Heather dismissed. "I just want that mask." She lunged at me, the shadows surrounding her surged forward.

Ok, confession time! Part of the reason I choose to be a dungeon master in my DnD campaigns is because I have the worst luck with my rolls. Each time I plan to do something cool, the RNG gods or whoever it is that is in charge of probabilities always deny me. They must have had pity on me this time because my evasion roll couldn't have been more perfect.

I tumbled to the side, completely avoiding Heather and with a loud thud she slammed face first into the stone wall on the side of the house. It looked as painful as it sounded; cracks formed at the point of impact traveling upward along the wall. Heather didn't seem to mind getting a face full of wall though; she just rose to her feet and dusted herself off.

"Argh," she growled at me, her voice returning to the low distant rumbling sound for a moment. Her eyes flashed black before returning to normal. "Stop running DD," she urged sweetly, the shadows around her advancing slowly as she walked towards me. "Just give me the mask and then you and I can start dating. We could even, you know, have se-"

"Stop!" I yelled. This was way too much. The greatest moment in my life had so quickly turned to the worst. My long-time crush turned out to be...hell, I didn't even know what she was. If this was a bad dream, I wanted it to end. I just wanted everything to stop.

To my surprise, my command worked. The ringing in my head quieted down and even Heather stopped in her tracks. Although, it appeared she did so involuntarily because she looked at me confused. For a second I thought I saw a look of fear flash in her eyes.

"Heather, is that really you?" I asked, trying my hardest to control my panic.

Heather recovered quickly. "Of course DD," she said, still smiling. "It's me. The girl you've loved since middle school. Your best friend."

"No, no, that's not right. You can't be."

"Why not?" Heather laughed. "I'm everything you wanted right? I'm sweet, caring, and obsessed with video games, anime, and comics like you are? And the best part is I'm completely in love with you so you can do no wrong. DD, I created your dream girl."

I can do no wrong? My dream girl? What the hell is she talking about? That's not what I wanted.

"If you were to ask me I'm an improvement on the old Heather Olivia Turner," she continued. "Admit it DD, you like this version of me better."

"So, you're not the real Heather then?"

"Why don't you come give me a kiss and find out for yourself," she said as she lunged again.

It seemed that I was beginning to lose favor with the RNG gods. I repeated my earlier evasion attempt but unfortunately, I did not roll a d20. I avoided Heather just fine, but in so doing I fell into the pool.

Wasting no time, I swam as fast as I could to the other end. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Heather rushing to meet me, gliding on her bed of shadows. Whatever that thing was, it definitely wasn't my best friend. I guess that it had decided to stop pretending to be, because now its eyes were black again.

Ok, so I was soaking wet, wearing a strange mask, and I had a ringing in my head that was about to make me voluntarily deafen myself. All while a weird shadow monster thing, in the form of my best friend, charged at me. With my back against a metaphorical wall – well, it was more like a wooden fence, but you get the point - I did the most sensible thing I could think to do; I climbed over the fence and ran away as quickly as I could.

Now you might be thinking, what about your ride Deshawn? See what had happened was someone had convinced me to leave my keys in the Turner's key bowl near the entryway. That shadow thing really planned everything out.

I sprinted as fast as my bare feet could carry me all while the ringing kept getting progressively louder. The mass of shadows, led by Heather, grew to be truly massive - almost as big as the mansions that lined the streets.

While I was running for my life, I guess I must have broken a few of the Greenhill noise ordinances because many of the Turner's neighbors came out to see who dared disrupt their peaceful night. Oh, my bad, next time I'll try to flee from certain death more quietly, I wanted to scream, but I didn't get the chance to. As soon as those nosy neighbors popped out, they were immediately possessed by shadows dispatched from Heather's swirling throng. Soon I had an army of rich suburbanites, all of whom had dark black eyes, joining Heather in her chase.

And here is where you entered the story, with me fleeing from my crush and psycho shadow possessed suburbanites. Glad you made it. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, I was bravely running away.

Heather's horde demanded in the same low growl she had, that I stop running and hand them the mask. And look, handing over the mask seemed like a perfectly reasonable request. I would have gladly done so if I could pull the stupid thing off me. Unfortunately for them and myself, I still couldn't feel the mask on my face.

The part of their demand I had a problem with was the whole 'stop running' piece. They wanted me to stop running when I was in this twilight zone zombie movie scenario? Ha! I was so thoroughly scared that even if I wanted to, I wasn't sure I could force my feet to stop. My poor legs worked overtime as I raced through the well-manicured Greenhill lawns like an Olympic sprinter. If only Coach could see me now, he'd be so proud - I bet he'll never make me take another fitness test ever again.

Also, this really bothers me, so I have to address it. Why do the bad guys always tell the people they're chasing to stop running? Like bro, that's never going to work. If you want me to stop then how about you stop chasing me.

I made it to the Greenhill lake before I began to lose steam. My legs felt like lead and my lungs burned like I had just taken a couple puffs from my inhaler fresh from the oven – ok, that's a crappy analogy. To make things worse, the stupid ringing in my head still blared at full blast. Despite all of this, I didn't slow down. Honestly, I was kind of impressed with myself.

The lake itself looked serene; an odd juxtaposition to the chaotic scene taking place along its banks. The clear, still water perfectly reflected the image of the full moon in the cloudless sky. I just had time to think, wow, what a pretty image. If this is the last thing I see before I die, it's not so bad, when suddenly a flash of blue, streaked past my face.

A howl erupted from one of the shadow possessed suburbanites behind me; they dropped to the ground. More blasts zipped by me and more howls followed.

"What the?" I gasped, half in shock and half trying to refill my lungs.

I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was real or a hallucination brought on by my panic, my exhaustion, or the incessant ringing in my head. Standing on the lake, like literally on the water's surface was a girl in a wooden blue mask. She wore a dark blue hoodie with black jeans - totally stealing my look by the way. Her long black hair was tied back in a ponytail and on her face was a blue mask in the shape of a dragon. Her's was a full mask which completely covered her face, not a half mask like mine. In her arms the girl held a bow which she aimed in my direction, it crackled with electricity. She released the string, and two bolts of lightning flew from the bow and struck two more shadow possessed suburbanites. They both fell with deafening howls. As I raced by, she met my gaze; her blue eyes looked incredibly familiar.

Ahem [BC1] - DD quote number 253 – "keep yo eyes on the prize; don't be caught slipping." In other words, if you're running faster than you ever have or ever will in your life, it's almost always a good idea to watch where you're going." Believe me, I know it is easy to get distracted by a girl standing on water and shooting lightning bolts from a bow, but at least make sure that there are no exposed tree roots in your path. My foot caught on a root and I fell.

"Fuck," the girl in the mask cursed. Instantly, she disappeared and reappeared behind me. The air around her smelled strangely familiar; metallic. She drew her bow and fired bolts of lightning into the air. More of the mob fell and the rest scattered as tendrils of electricity rained down on them.

"It just had to be you," the girl said, in an exasperated tone. I rose to my feet. I couldn't help but stare at her, trying to place her familiar eyes.

"Well?" she said as she looked at me expectantly.

"Well, what?"

"Idiot Go! Runaway," she yelled, and I finally recognized who this girl was.

"Lisa?"

Lisa shot more bolts of lightning into the group which seemed to be reforming, rallying around Heather.

"Idiot. Run. Away. Now," she said enunciating each word. I gotta admit, her tone pissed me off. It was the same one, a person would use when talking to a baby or a pet - you know, creatures with no grasp on human language. I was about to give her a piece of my mind when a pair of headlights burst through the bushes and skidded to a stop right in front of me. It was a beat up black Toyota Camry - my ride!

The passenger side door flew open and the person in the driver seat, a boy wearing a green wooden mask carved in the shape of a bull said in a thick brazilian accent, "Get in."

That one was easy to place.

"Matias," I asked, stunned. "Why are you here too? Why do you have my car? Could someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" I winced and doubled over as the pain in my head spiked again. Damn that stupid ringing.

"No time to explain. Just get in," Matias said as he put the gear shaft in reverse.

"Little Idiot, listen to the Big Idiot and get in the damn car," Lisa ordered as she put away her bow and pulled out two wicked-looking daggers from her belt. "Big Idiot," she said looking at Matias, "take care of the Little Idiot. And if you can manage it, please try not to get him killed."

Then like lightning, like a literal bolt of lightning, she charged at the advancing horde of shadows.