The masks we wear.
*The following is a figment of my imagination. Resemblance to any incidents, persons, or events are purely coincidental.
As the wind continues to create a birds nest out of his hair, a young man appears to be admiring the tree above him. His eyes follow the leaves as they rustle and his ears take in the whistling of the wind. Almost everyone on campus knows who he is.
Then again, it would be hard to miss him. He’s always helping someone or the other, be it with homework or personal problems or games. “He’s an angel,” they say. “If only all of humanity were like him.”
And to no one’s surprise, he’d say, “All of humanity is like me!” with a smile bright enough to blind the sun.
If that weren’t enough, you could spot him at the orphanage every Saturday at nine.
However, what you see is not always the truth.
Under his lopsided grins that appear to be flashed recklessly at anyone without any ulterior motive is a sinister smirk, satisfied at having deceived another.
“They were just too easy,” he’d think.
And under every genuine compliment that contributed to his “angel” persona lie calculative eyes that monitor your every expression, waiting for that tell-tale blush and embarrassed smile to notify him that he had succeeded.
“With those attention-hungry eyes, they were just asking for it,” he’d remark.
You see, it all started at a young age for him. He had always been smart, and athletic, and musically inclined. All in all, he seemed to well, have it all. However, he had the nastiest personality a person could have.
He relished in the fearful faces of his fellow middle-schoolers and would always crack a smile at another’s expense. As a result, his classmates started avoiding him, terrified of the “monster” he was. And he didn’t have much of a problem with it.
Sure he felt lonely(just a tad bit) and he did miss having people near him, he assured himself that he was doing just fine.
That’s where he would say the problem started. He didn’t feel just fine. He was sad and he wanted his friends back. He wanted them to love him for who he was, creepy grins and all.
Even so, he realized that sometimes, we can’t always have everything we want. We must make sacrifices to gain rewards. It’s just how the world works.
And so he started. He started practicing his “friendly smiles” in the mirror, he learned how to compliment people and he started researching psychology (definitely not for manipulation).
Then boom. He made a 360-degree change from the creepy boy in the corner of the class to everyone’s beloved angel.
He had these things he’d always do. He’d always walk with confidence, always. He’d always radiate happiness, always. He’d always be the personification of joy and kindness, always.
Always on the surface, always.
After all, these are the masks we wear.