The Mask

CHAPTER 1

Wood street

“Are you kidding ME! Another test!” screamed Carl as his teacher was handing the tests “Carl this is the third time i’m telling you to SHUT UP! The next time you will be SUSPENDED from school for tw-*koff* a week!” yelled Mr. Dave. “*ugh*” groaned Carl. He started writing the test. Then suddenly, Mark his best friend threw him a note. It read “looks like the rage tank struck again” Carl laughed and looked at Mark and smiled at him. Mark was Carl’s best friend, they did a lot of things together like making up cool stories. Carl looked at Mr. Dave. He was sitting in his chair reading some stupid “CLASSIC” book. When Carl knew that Mr. Dave looked away he took out his last horror novel that he and Mark (mostly Mark) wrote, The Comet.

Carl was helping Mark with some spellings and quotation marks. He started scribbling onto that piece of paper not knowing that Mr. Dave put down his book. He looked at Carl and stared at him with a suspicious look and he put his hand on his chin and waited. Carl finished what he scribbled and tried to pass it on to Mark “Hey check out what I just did to the comet”, he whispered. “Carl, What are you doing?” Mr. Dave asked. “MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!!”  Carl screamed without noticing it was Mr. Dave who was speaking “That’s it you are suspended!” Mr. Dave said. “wait no Mr. Dave I’m sorry” Screamed Carl. “I’ll make your suspension 2 weeks if you speak another word!” *** Carl headed back home. He thought of how he wanted to have pizza for dinner, and since he got suspended there probably gonna be no pizza tonight.

Carl had to cross wood street and he hated that street because it always felt like someone was watching him. All the houses look like they were abandoned for about 300 years. people call it the ghost street because people have been murdered in that street. Nobody seen anything scary happen there, but some people have said they hear the screams of people whenever they cross by. As Carl went he looked around everywhere to make sure he is going the right way because the last place/ street he would want to get lost at would be this one. The sign that said wood street looked rusty. It looked like the sign had been placed a loooong time ago. Even though every house in wood street scared him there was one that scared him the most. He always ran whenever he saw that house but this time he was just mad about his teacher and how he go suspended so he ignored the fact that the house was RIGHT NEXT TO HIM!!!

He looked at the sidewalk concrete as he was walking. The concrete was cracked and it had a lot of holes in it that Carl was dodging. He just kept walking and thinking about pizza. His mind  was stuck on the word pizza. His head started to hurt because he kept thinking the same thing over and over again. These houses were like somehow twisting on Carl’s head which made the houses look bigger. He took out his phone from his backpack so he could text Mark as he was walking. Carl didn’t want to look at the houses so that is why he took out his phone. “Hey mark, I just reached lv. 31 on fortnite!” he texted “And I also got 8 diamonds in minecraft!” he kept texting a little more. The sidewalk got a little more bumpy and rocky Then Carl stepped on something bigger than a pebble. He thought it was a big rock at first but It didn’t feel like a rock. It felt like rubber and plastic mixed together.

He lifted his leg and he saw a mask. Carl just thought a kid dropped a mask on the street accidentally, but Carl knew it was not something normal when blood started oozing out of the eye holes of the mask. Carl hand started to shake. His arm reached down to pick up the mask. He picked up the mask and took a look at it. But before he could look at it a little closer a rock hit his head from the back. “OW!” he screamed. He looked back to see who it was but there was noone there. Suddenly his hand felt lighter. He looked down at his hands and the mask was gone! There was only blood on his hand. “Hey” something gurgled. Carl looked up and he couldn’t believe what he saw.

Chapter 2

The masked man

There was a tall man who looked rotten and old, THE GUY WAS WEARING THE MASK THAT CARL WAS HOLDING. Carl was so scared, he started to shake like a jar of jell-o. The masked man came closer and carl pushed him back. Carl pushed the man far enough for Carl to start running the way he came from. He kept running but it felt like he wasn’t moving at all. Then suddenly, he tripped on a rock The masked man started speed walking towards Carl. The man pulled out a knife and Carl started to curl into a ball. He couldn’t get up for some reason so he just closed his eyes and curled up in a ball. Carl tried to reach his backpack but the backpack fell when he tripped on the rock and it was just too far.  

The masked man chuckled and threw his knife on the road. He kneeled on the floor next to Carl and whispered something Carl couldn’t understand. He placed his hand on Carl’s neck. Then he started to squeeze his neck HARD. “Le *koff* -t -m-m-m-m-e-e-e *koff* go!” Carl tried to say but the man just squeezed way too hard. Carl thought this was the end of him. He started to closed his eyes. Then suddenly he heard a car come by. No cars usually take the wood street route. The masked man looked at the car. He put on his hood on the jacket he was wearing, and just like that he disappeared. The car was now right next to him and when the person opened the window he knew exactly who it was…

CHAPTEr 3

A killers cut

…It was his mom. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE STREETS CARL!!!” screamed his mom. “Mom- wait you don’t understan- there was a creepy guy and- I got suspended from school and- I’m- I’m- I’m scared!!!” he blabbered. It was as if he was not able to speak. “YOU GOT SUSPENDED!!” Screamed his mom “I WANNA SMACK YOU RIGHT NOW YOU FOOL! GET IN THE CAR!!!” Carl grabbed his backpack and got into the car. He slowly whispered “s-s-s-s-sorry m-m-m-m-mom.” “Why are you shivering carl!” Asked his mom. “W-w-w-w-well- i-i-i-it is c-c-c-cold” Carl lied. “It’s just autumn how are you cold already- Ugh whatever” said his mom without caring one bit. As they

were heading home Carl’s hand looked like it stopped bleeding, so Carl looked at his hand to check but the carving not only had stopped bleeding but the whole carving was just like gone. “It’s okay, this is probably just a stupid dream and when I wake up everything will be over.” he said as he reached in his backpack to get his phone. He opened tried to open up minecraft but It kept loading and didn’t do anything. “God dang it!” He screamed. He went back to texting Mark. Mark seemed to have responded to the texts that carl sent. “Yo shut up I’m still in school! You are the one who got  suspended not me as well!” Carl knew there was nothing to do on his phone so he decided he should put it back on his backpack, but when reached into it put his phone back, he felt something rubbery but also sort of plastic and it had straps at the back of it.

He plucked it out of his somehow wet and sort of red backpack, and he saw what he had pulled out. IT WAS THE MASK AGAIN. The wet stuff in his bag was not water from Carl’s busted bottle, IT WAS BLOOD “Mom a random mask appeared in my backpack” Carl screamed. But it looked like It looked like something is stopping him from telling his mom about the bloody mask I almost felt like his voice was muffled. He threw the mask down and put his hands on his face. “What is happening!” he said as he looked outside his window and saw that weird masked man. This time he was holding a knife on his hand and had a sign on the other hand saying “YOU ARE NEXT CARL” His mom stopped there because there was a red signal. The man dropped the sign and rushed over to Carl. Carl’s window opened somehow, and the man started to come closer. Carl tried to close the window but it seemed like it was jammed

because he kept trying to close it but he couldn’t. The man came next to the car and reached inside through the window. “MOM HELP!!!” Carl screamed. His mom still didn’t budge. This time Carl opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out. The man placed the knife on Carl’s wrist and he said “If you try to say one more thing I will slice your hand like slicing butter” The signal quickly changed to green and the car started moving. The Man’s hand was forced out but when he did go he also slightly cut Carl’s hand. “AAAAAAHHHHHHH” Carl screamed.

Chapter 4

The MAsked doctor

“CARL!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAND!!! IT IS BLEEDING!!!” Carl’s mom Asked. “Mom take me to a hospital please my hand is burning.” replied Carl “Okay i’ll take you to a hospital but… What happened” Carl opened his mouth to explain but again nothing came out. Carl realized that something is preventing him from talking about the weird man. So Carl lied “I tried to close my bag but the zipper got stuck in my hand and I tried to get it out but it just kept bleeding.” “Okay carl let’s take a u-turn and go to the hospital” said his mom. Carl was not happy because they had to go back through wood street. Carl shoved the mask at the bottom of his seat stomped on it with his left leg. When he went to that same signal he just was at. The Masked man was not there this time and the signal was green. ***

when they reached the hospital they ran inside. “Hello, My son has a big cut on his hand can you please help us.” said Carl’s mom. “Okay ma’am, I’m quickly going to take you to room 15 where dr. Bob will meet you.” said the receptionist lady. “Thank you! Thank you SO MUCH!!!” said carl’s mom as the rushed into room 15. Carl sat down on the bed and the nurse took out a wet towel. She sat down next to Carl and rubbed the towel on his arm. After that the nurse lady said she was going to leave the room to inform Dr. Bob. As the nurse lady left, she said “Mr. Bob will be with you in about 10 minutes and he will check your arm.” “Okay Nurse” Carl said. “Carl next time be careful with your backpack!” his mom said. Carl nodded his head and said “okay mom!” Carl started to look at the posters on the wall. One had a picture of a mouse and read “No tears today” whatever that

means. Another one read “keep your body healthy and stay off drugs” which was incredibly true. And another one read “Beware of THE MASK” Carl shook his head and looked back. And it read, “how your lungs work” Carl knew that was a hallucination. Carl thought maybe he was hallucinating this whole time, but if that was true 18 people would not have really got killed and he wouldn’t have had a cut on his hand. “Mom my head hurts now for some reason.” Carl said. “Okay son, we will get the doctor to check out your headache too okay, now just wait here for a moment. Carl asked his mom if he could quickly run out and get a water bottle from the lobby vending machine. “Okay honey just come back fast and take care of your hand” his mom said as she gave him 2 bucks. Carl walked out of room 15 and headed to the lobby which was downstairs. The windows looked a little broken apart He went up to the vending machine and inserted two dollars in there.

He could hear people on the lobby chit chatting, and blabbering about their life. But then suddenly one person said, “Beware of THE MASK” and then another person said “BEWARE OF THE MASK!” Carl looked back and saw all the people staring at him and then they all started chanting “BEWARE OF THE MASK BEWARE OF THE MASK BEWARE OF THE MASK…” everyone stood up and kept on chanting. “Beware of the mask beware of the mask…” then one guy wearing a mask came up behind a old woman who was also chanting “beware of the mask” IT WAS THE SAME GUY WHO CUT CARL’S HAND. but except he was wearing the type of clothes a doctor would wear. He started speed walking toward Carl again. Carl was terrified so he just picked up the bottle and RAN out of the hospital lobby. The man was still behind him, and chasing him. The lights in the long hallway lead to the stairs started flickering.

Then Carl stopped and the man stopped too. “What the hell do you want from me!” he screamed The man didn’t respond. Carl started running again and didn’t look back. This time, the man just stood there. He didn’t chase Carl. Carl looked back and the masked man was gone. The lights started flickering more violently, and after that, Carl couldn’t stand there anymore. When he came upstairs to floor 2 his mom was standing outside room 15. “There you are! What took you so long to get just one water bottle! It’s okay come the doctor is here.” Carl walked in and saw his doctor who put on some medicine on his wrist and gave him a kind of big but also kind of small band aid “There is nothing to worry about ma’am, it’s just a little cut. He just needs to get some rest for his arm” said the doctor. “Thank you” said Carl’s mom.

Chapter 5

1997

“Carl go to your room and stay there.” said Carl’s mom. “Take rest and BTW you are GROUNDED!!!”

“UGH” Carl groaned as he walked over to his room. He laid down on the bed and stared out at the window. It’s not like he had any other things to do anyway. He knew he was going to get grounded the first second the teacher said he was suspended for 1 week. This day couldn’t get much more worse for Carl. He closed his eyes and imagined how an awesome day would feel like. He would get A+ on all of his tests, blow through his homework, and also save the day. Carl was woken up by the sound of a lawnmower. He looked outside the window again and saw his mom mowing the lawn.

“Seriously! She told me to get some rest and now she is mowing the lawn! I will never get some sleep!” he said. Carl turned his head towards his desk and looked at his backpack. He laid there on his bed and didn’t get up. He remembered the time he and Mark climbed up the biggest pile of snow in his street. They used to call it, the mountain of death. It was about 20 feet tall. Then one day they decided to climb it. They both reached to the top and didn’t know how to get down. Then Carl slipped and slid down the mountain. He thought Mark pushed him so he threw a snowball at him and after that, it was just chaos. Carl knew that was fun, he wanted to do something like that again but then he remembered about the mask! He rushed downstairs just so he could get that thing. He got his mom’s car keys and went up to the car.

He quietly opened the car, got the mask, and ran back to his room. He looked at the mask closely. He looked at the INSIDE of the mask, and the OUTSIDE of the mask. Nothing seemed to stand out to Carl’s eyes he looked back at the inside of the mask and saw something that he was sure he didn’t see before. There was some tiny text that Carl could just barely see. Carl got stunned when he saw what the mask read. It read: RIP Carl 2004- … and the last part was just blank. He saw some more text on the front of the mask. 1997 carl didn’t know why the front of the mask had the text 1997 written on it. arl looked the date 1997 up and some random article popped up It read. 2 boys were found murdered in wood street. There was no evidence of the killer except there was a note next to them that said beware of the mask.

There was no fingerprints or anything! Not even a piece of hair from the killer but who knows they may be bald. Carl didn’t know what is the meaning of that date. Carl read some more: the bodies of the dead people were found next to this big house. “That must be where the killer lives. And i’m 100% positive that, that masked guy who cut my hand WAS THE KILLER! I have evidence, the people in the hospital were saying ‘beware of the mask’ and the posters were saying that too, here in the article it says that the only evidence was a note that said beware of the mask, SO THAT MASKED MAN IS THE KILLER!!!”

Chapter 6

One or two

After figuring that out, carl was scared. He opened his window and threw that stupid mask away. Carl sighed a sigh of relief and he looked back to his bed but, when he looked, he got the chills. THE MASK WAS STILL THERE. A text in blood appeared in the mask and it read “You will never get rid of me” it read. “LEAVE ME ALONE!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!” carl screamed in pain. His arm started to hurt again. He put his hand on his head and tears came out of his eyes. His heart started to beat HARD and he was scared. The mask said something different now. “I AM THE MASK, I AM ALL, I WILL NEVER LET YOU GO, I AM NOW… BEHIND YOU!” carl looked behind him. He saw nothing, but when he looked back He was standing there! “LEAVE ME ALONE!!! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!!” Carl screamed as the guy got closer.

Carl kicked him but, all he did was hurt his leg. Carl looked back at the window and he saw the mask, on the road. Blood was spilling out of it. The blood spelled something. Something like “Carl” Carl looked back and there was nothing there! Weird. *** “Carl come downstairs, it’s dinnertime, we are having pizza!” mom said. “Yeah I’m coming mom” carl sighed. He still was laying on the floor like he was 2 hours ago. “CARL would you come downstairs NOW!!!” screamed carl’s mom. Carl ran downstairs and jumped on to the dining table chair. “Carl how do feel about getting suspended?!” His dad asked. Carl just sat there without replying. “And carl, how the heck did you get hurt?” his dad asked. Carl didn’t answer.

He just sat there like he was lifeless. “CARL!” screamed his dad. “Yea yea sorry dad sorry dad!” said carl. “HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME CARL! NOW I CAN SEE WHY THEY SUSPENDED YOU!!” screamed carl’s dad. “Dad I’m sorry.” said carl softly but a little loud. “NOW EAT UP AND GO RIGHT BACK UP TO YOUR ROOM!!!” said carl’s dad. “Okay dad” said carl even though he is not gonna be able to sleeps for nights because of everything that happened today. He hoped everything was just a bad dream. *** carl finished his food and came upstairs and jumped back on his bed. He saw that mask that was sitting on his desk. He just wanted that weird masked man to just die and let carl live a happy life.Carl might as well just fall asleep than stay awake and think about what happened. So he turned off the lights and went to bed. He immediately broke into a dream.

Right after Carl layed down he was fast asleep and he slept for about 3-4 hours. *3-4 hours later* Carl was woken up by a loud banging on his window. *BANG BANG* he looked outside his window and saw nothing. “Dude stop now. I’m not scared of you anymore!!!” said carl. Then he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Then forcefully, a hand started to hold his neck and choke him. “Lelleletttt mmmmeee gggggoooo!!!” carl said while he choked. He opened his eyes and tried to see who was. He couldn’t see him but he could see the mask and he realized. THAT IS NOT HIM. THAT IS NOT THE MASKED GUY THAT CUT HIS ARM.

Suddenly the lights started to flicker and now he was 100% sure that this guy was someone else. “Hello carl” The thing gurgled. He let go of carl’s neck and pulled him up by his t-shirt. Carl thought that whatever these masked people are, THEY ARE NOT HUMAN. The thing looked way more older than the other guy. His mask was broken, and he had a dark cloak. He flung carl out of his bed and put him on the ground. He put one leg on his neck. His mask also had words written on it. It also said 1997. He kneeled on the floor and inspected carl like a doctor. The guy ripped carl’s bandaid. “AAH HELP!” carl screamed. “Scream all you want carl, nobody is going to help you!” The man said. “WHO THE HECK ARE YOU!!!???” screamed carl. “I AM THE NIGHTER AND I AM THE MAIN MASK” he gurgled. “Main mask!? How many of you are there.“Just 2 but I have killed the most. Child, there is no living person that knows about me. 

Even if they have seen me, they haven’t lived to tell ‘tales’ about me” he said. Carl again kicked him but he didn’t budge. Carl knew kicking him wouldn’t do anything but he just wanted to try to kick him. The cloaked guy picked up carl by his neck and hit his head in the wall. “Don’t worry, your parents won’t hear a thing.” he said. Carl’s vision started to become blurry, and he fell to the ground.

Chapter 7

Where am i

Carl woke up in a room, with 2 other people in there. “Where am I” carl said. His head still hurt and it looked like he has chains on his hands and legs. The other 2 people just sat there. “Hello” said carl. “What?” asked the guy. “Where am I?” he asked. “How am I supposed to know?!” The guy said. Carl couldn’t remember anything that happened. It was like his mind was a blank. *Thud thud thud* there were loud footsteps coming towards where they were. THE MASKED GUY KICKED THE DOOR OPEN! He grabbed one of the guys and smashed his head on the door. The other guy also came and he took out a knife and he stabbed that guy. Carl looked very afraid. “Carl carl carl!” said the guy with the dark cloak. He grabbed carl by his neck and punched him in the face. The guy threw him to the other guy who dragged him outside. They were on a random field.

Carl looked ahead and he saw nothing beyond the field. He has never seen this place before. All there was, was an old barn and a road where cars still seem to went by. “HELP!!!” carl screamed. The guy in the cloak stepped on carl’s chest and said “as I told you, there is NO ESCAPE!!!” the other guy picked him up and held him back. The black cloaked one pulled out his knife and carl knew he was about to die and there was nothing he could do about it. Carl tried to move his arms but he couldn’t. The guys grip was like he was being held on by a 200 ton anvil. The guy swung his arms and stabbed carl. Carl started to bleed. His vision turned darker and darker. He closed his eyes and fell down on the ground.   

Chapter 8

The end?

Carl woke up quick on his bed. He touched his chest to see if there was any blood but he didn’t feel anything. He jumped out of bed happily. He couldn’t believe everything was just a dream. He looked at his desk to see if there was a mask. THERE WASN’T. “Carl get ready for school YOU WILL BE LATE!” his mom screamed like she did that monday morning on his dream. Even though it was all just a dream, it felt so real to carl so unbelievably real. “CARL IF YOU DON’T COME DOWNSTAIRS NOW I WON’T DRIVE YOU TO SCHOOL!!!” His mom screamed. “Mom, you don’t have to drop me off. I will walk to school myself!” carl said. Even though carl hated walking to school because of wood street, he wanted to walk to school today because he knew that, that whole freakin’ dream of the stupid mask was fake.

*** “Bye mom!” carl said. “Bye honey have a great day!” his mother said. Carl walked very happily and it was not long until he reached wood street. He looked at the sign. The old rusted sign not different at all from how it looked in his dream. But the only difference was that the last time carl saw the sign, he was scared but this time, he was brave and not afraid. For some reason his head started to hurt and then what happened next petrified carl. He felt something on the bottom of his shoe. He moved his leg and he saw just what he expected to see, THE MASK. He pinched his hand to make sure this was real and sure enough he did not wake up on a bed. He looked up and in front of him stood the masked man.

The dark cloaked man wasn’t there. But the masked man looked a little different than how he saw him before. He had longer hair and his mask was cracked and it looked a little dirty. Carl’s hand started to burn. He looked at it and something was carved on his hand. It read. “THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING”

To be continued…

Part 2 coming soon… 🙂

A little authors note:

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for reading my little book part 2 will come out soon, be sure to leave a like if you like my book and let me know that by commenting down below. I’d like to give a quick shout out to my friends (Vidyuth, Chaitanya, Kishore, and last but definitely not least… Gavin) for helping me throughout the story. you are awesome and I hope you have a great day, 🙂

About the Author

Akash Chandiramouli, lives with his mom and dad in their house, he is 11 years old and he likes to make books with his friends. This one he made by himself but his friends helped him to make it longer and better, Akash spends most of his time thinking of cool stories to write or spends his time playing games. He really likes horror stories, and by watching horror movies and reading scary books, he is the Akash we all know and love!!! (kind of).