Beneath the Mask

***Trigger Warning***

            Lady sits on the bench for an hour every day during lunchtime. She’s the picture of sophisticated elegance. Her hair is just so, not a strand out of place. The color, a deep mahogany, catches the sun’s rays just enough to shimmer. Her makeup is perfect; natural, but the casual observer can tell she spent a lot of time getting it just right. Her outfits vary, but she wears a pantsuit or a dress. It makes one wonder if she’s got a corporate job somewhere or if she just likes to look professional. People are drawn to her, no matter who they are. 

            One day, a woman wearing baggy clothes with her hair in a tangled ponytail and sporting no makeup approaches her. Though Lady’s eyes are a beautiful shade of java, they don’t hold the peace and happiness one would expect from such loveliness. They’re haunted, holding a pain so deep it causes others to feel a searing anguish. The woman reaches out to pat Lady on the shoulder, seems to have second thoughts and drops her hand to her side. Instead, she clears her throat and gives Lady a soft smile. The woman tells Lady that she’s encouraged every day to keep going forward when she sees Lady sitting there. Lady simply lifts the corner of her mouth slightly in return and gives a shallow nod. 

            That night, Lady arrives back to her empty house, the silence almost suffocating. She enters her bedroom and picks up a small plastic bottle that rattles as she lifts it. She dumps half the contents in her hand, and stares for several long moments at the little white tablets. The woman from the park returns to her thoughts. She closes her eyes, the pain from within breaking the careful mask she wears for just a moment as she remembers the woman’s words. When she opens her eyes again, she’s made her decision. She plucks one of the pills from her hand and sets it on her nightstand beside a cup of water before dumping the rest back into the bottle. She puts the bottle in the drawer of her vanity, the vast majority of the sleeping pills hidden from sight, but never forgotten.