She woke up drenched in her own tears, just like every other day. Probably, another nightmare. Showered, put on her make-up, dressed up and just before she stepped out of the house, wore a purple mask.
Out on the street, she saw her friends laughing in the corner. One, with a pink mask and one with the blue one. They were making jokes about random people passing by and the strange masks they wore.
In the centre of the pavement she saw a man with a green mask, crying loud and the one with the yellow mask, helping a beggar with food and money. She saw the old woman in a red mask smiling as she walked with groceries in her hand, and the boy with the orange mask, with a fine expression rushing towards the hospital.
Numerous people, with colourful masks, just walked past her.
And she, unaware of what was behind their masks, stayed there, watching them get on with life, while her own was falling apart.
A tear dropped behind her mask. She excusing herself, went to the secret park where people usually took off their masks. Looking towards the ground, she unmasked her beautiful face and before she could wipe her tear, a hand reached for it.
"Who are you?" she asked, not looking up yet.
He lifted her chin up, only to give her a sight of what was around.
A lot of faces, and not masked. Clear, skin faces. Some seemed happy, some did not. Some were crying, and some were laughing in the purest form. Some were playing with the children and some just watering the flowers. Some were reading and some playing sport.
It was a new world, altogether!
"Who are these people? And why haven't I seem them before?" she asked.
"These are the people you saw just a while ago. The girl sitting sad near the tree is your friend who had the pink mask on. She is upset because she had a fight with her mother. The boy sitting next to her is the friend who had the blue mask on. His parents are getting divorced and he is devastated." He said.
"What about the others? "
"Remember the green masked man? Who was crying? Well he actually is a very happy and a lucky man. He has almost everything."
"Why was he crying then?" she asked
"Wanted everyone's attention. See him reading peacefully near the fountain, he is quite at peace otherwise. The man who had a yellow mask on, the one who was "helping" a beggar, wasn't really helping him. He wanted to show the world that he was helping someone. When you saw him give the beggar 5 sandwiches, he only gave one, and hid four. As for the woman you saw in a red mask, she isn't as happy as she seemed. In fact she isn't happy at all. She has seven mouths to feed, and not enough money. The fact that she managed a few groceries may seem like a relief, but it certainly wasn't enough for seven. The boy with the orange mask, who was rushing towards the hospital, well his mother is dying of cancer. I'm surprised he could even mask a face when it is killing him from inside. He has no father, is only 20, and his mother is dying. "
"Why could I not see any of it?"
"Because all of, each one of us has a mask that we use to mask our true feelings. Some aren't as happy as they can show and some aren't that needy as they seem. The smiling, aren't necessarily joyous and the crying may not always have woes to deal with. Don't you mask yourself too?"
"I do, but -"
"But, we take it off in a garden sometime. When we can no longer hold it back. When the sad need to wipe off the tear and the happy are too tired of pretending to be sad. You'd never see children wearing a mask though. They can't fake it. They don't deceive. The happy laugh and the sad cry, as simple as that."
