A weird thing happened today. The postie delivered this large package… but I wasn’t expecting anything. No sender or any other identifying information on the box. What on earth could this be? And who was it from?
Inside the box was just this… black fabric bag? No note, still no clue as to what this is or who its mysterious sender might be. Something sinister started clawing at the back of my mind…
I couldn’t take the suspense any longer. I undid the velcro holding the bag shut, reached inside, and pulled out…
…a gas mask!? I definitely did not order this. This must has been a mistaken delivery. But… the address on the box was correct…?
The sinister feeling at the back of my mind flared up. I should put this away and try to send it back. To where though? Maybe I should hold on to it for now. Until its real owner showed up?
Against my better judgment, I picked up the mask to take a better look at it. I’d never seen one like this before, but for some strange reason… it felt… familiar, somehow? No, not familiar. I was sure I’d never seen it before. But its curves, its shape - it triggered something, deep in the back of my head. A yearning. A whispering.
I… held the mask towards me. I could see the inside of its lenses, of its breathing valve. This is… stupid, right? Wearing a mask I didn’t order from who knows where?
“It’s just a mask. Try wearing it.”
The whispering. That’s… not my thought. I don’t know if this is clean or tainted with something. I don’t know what’s in the filter. I should put it down and pack it away and never think about it again.
“You’re intrigued, aren’t you? Don’t you want to know what it feels like?”
I… what is that? Who is that? Why do I feel this urge to just… wear the mask?
I can hear my own breathing through the mask. A nervous inhale. A noisy exhale. It feels warm and safe and secure inside the mask. How silly I was to worry about this! This mask was made for me, after all. As a new calm washed over me, all my worries melting away, one final thought entered my head. The whisper. My saviour. My Owner.
“Welcome to the Hive, ⊘-9154.”
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