The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Shame
by Elizabeth H. Smith

I haven’t seen her face in so long I can’t remember what she looks like. The mask is all my memory knows. Somewhere behind that fog lies the truth, something raw and unfiltered, visceral and cruel. But I dare not look.

She must forever hide, wearing the mask like a death shroud for her former self. She must remain in the dark, alone, unable to be witnessed. I can’t recall why, what makes her so dangerous… That was buried with the past. But I know there’s something evil behind that plastic face. Some horrific thing that should have been burned to ash long ago.

So she keeps it where it belongs, hidden from the world, covered from sight. She protects the outside from her inside, the wickedness waiting to be released. No one should suffer the agony of viewing the monster within, no one deserves the indignity of her shame. She knows she must endure it in the confines of solitude, never to be known, never to be heard, and never to be seen.

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Fiction © Copyright Elizabeth H. Smith
Image courtesy of Pixabay

More About Elizabeth H. Smith:
Elizabeth H. Smith is a storyteller who writes while trying to keep her cat, Luna off the keyboard. The musical group, Rasputina is her muse. She was born in the state of New York and would never feel at home anywhere else.