The Man in the Mask

​As a child Dolores went to the carny with her parents every summer. She wasn't really interested in the games or the crazy rides but she did like the haunted houses. There was something about all of the strange characters and all of the grim things that happened inside them that interested her. It was as if she was being transported into a world of supernatural horrors and excitement. This was the type of world that she wanted to live in but knew she couldn't, so the next best thing was to live it through a fantasy at the carny. 

​When she was young her family went one time a year to the summer carny but as she got into her teens she went every day to the carny by herself. She would go in all of the haunted houses alone because she had no friends. She was a quiet and strange girl who did fit in with any of societies norms. But Dolores was okay with this because this was who she was and she was fine with that. She didn't have a boyfriend but through the ages of 13 to 18 she fell in love with someone at the carny. She had never talked to him but she would watch him every night when the carny came to town. He was the man in the Devil's Mansion Haunted House. This was a ride was where two people rode in a cart along a track that went inside and out of a haunted house. Frightening things would pop out at you and people would scream and some would cry from the emotional disturbance.

Every night when the sun set a man came out of nowhere dressed up in a black robe and wore a mask that was of a hideous old man's face which was full of warts, a crooked nose and a bald top part of the head with long scraggly grey hair on the sides. He would hide in the Devil's Mansion and jump out and horrify people. The masked man would also hide in empty carts and leap out at people when they were exiting the ride. He would also hold on to the back of someone's cart and come up behind them and whisper in their ear. 

The masked man was extremely entertaining and he would draw huge crowds of observers who would laugh at the people he was scaring. It was great entertainment that was free for the observers. Delores was one of these people.

Delores fell in love with the masked man in the Devil's Mansion. She said to herself that when she turned 18 she was going to get the confidence to talk to the man and wanted to ask him on a date. 

But for reasons she would only know Delores had never ridden on the ride to see up close the man she was obsessed about. Then one day she decided to ride the Devil's Mansion and hoped to get close to him but much to her disappointment he never scared her.

At the age of 18 Delores was a very attractive girl and she knew that he was much older than her, but didn't care. So on the last day of the carny she walked up to the ride and hollered, "Hey, I'm Dolores. I watch you all the time. Did you want to go for a candied apple after your shift?"

He stood on the ride platform and said, "Sure Dolores. I'm off at 11."

Dolores beamed with excitement and waited anxiously for 11 PM to come. It finally came and he appeared still in mask and costume as they walked and talked. They purchased their candied apples and sat down on a bench when she said, "So why don't you take your mask off?"

He looked at her and said, "What mask?"