keep the mask on | clue | event two
Nov 5, 2020 16:47:28 GMT -5
Post by eulalie blake 1a 🍒 tris on Nov 5, 2020 16:47:28 GMT -5
This, my friends, is what we call 'the winning game.'
And I play it well. Always have. I used to be a little girl with big eyes and a bigger future, with hands that reached for everything — and now I'm standing at the top of my family's grand staircase, smiling down at my peers like they even have the right to stand beneath me. Six inch heels digging deep into their backs.
Red.
But I still smile and wave, always playing the part — you have to invite everyone, even the nobodies, to control them all. So I welcome them into my home, and I laugh at their silly little costumes, reaching out a possessive hand to grip Benji's shoulder. I knew he'd arrive late, he always does, so I edited his invitation. Smudged the time a little bit.
It's called adapting. It's what we have to do sometimes. Like when he walked in wearing only a suit, like I knew he was going to, and I placed a pair of sunglasses over his eyes and kissed his cheek. "Here, babe. You can just say you're going as my bodyguard." I'm always playing pretend, but it's okay. At least for today.
My parents are out with their friends, Zeke has made hundreds of cupcakes and three big bowls of punch, there's live music and bright lights and not a single trace of uneasiness. Not here. No dead bodies, no news reports, just the beating of my heart and the way I can't help but to realize that Benji hasn't even told me how beautiful I look tonight.
"My girls and Grady are here, I'll find you later," I tell him sweetly, running my fingertips along his knuckles. He knows my house well, and he knows he is welcome to all of it. I just needed him for the entrance, for the mental picture; then he's safe to go lose himself in my father's study, or to take a nap in my room. I'm trying not to care.
I adjust my suit as I walk down the stairs, moving my fingers up to my tight curls and the flowers braided delicately into the strands. Here's a trick — when they say it's a costume party, never show up in something tacky. Fairy wings and tiaras? How cute. Look at me. Look at how much power I have. I'm wearing someone else's skin, and you think it's mine.
"Cleo, Ally, Grady," I say in a lilting tone of excitement, dropping lower with each name. "So glad you all came, knew you would." Clara is surely somewhere close, but I don't bother waiting around to welcome her. She can see herself in, and then see herself out.
"If it's not easy for you to tell, I'm going as former president Imperiosa Ironsquall," and then I chuckle, hiding my lips behind my palm and blushing. "Or maybe I'm going as the next president." I've always had big dreams. Might as well shoot for the stars.
"Either way, seems you've all traveled a less thought provoking route." It's always fun to make a competition out of nothing. I meet Cleo's gaze in particular, staring deep down into her very soul. She's my dearest, sweetest, oldest, best friend. I truly love her.
"Hmm." I tilt my head to the side, and a trigger clicks into place.
"You knew about this party before anyone else. I was hoping to see a bit more effort."