Breathe in. Breathe out.
Erix tried his best to breathe steadily through his mask while a million other thoughts flashed through his mind. Am I walking too much like myself? Is the mask enough to hide my face? What if Ov’oks suddenly developed X-ray vision? Could someone have an X-ray scanner?!
His heart beat so loudly that he was sure it would leap out of his chest altogether and give him away. His feet carried him on autopilot, traversing the outskirts of the ballroom to make a beeline for…somewhere. Maybe the balcony so he could get a breath of fresh air before—
Beneath the Mask
I’m back with another rewrite of a flash fiction story I wrote for Writeober three years ago. I wanted to reimagine and expand on the character of Erix, and before I knew it, the story became less about the ball and more about the characters. I had so much fun with this story that I think I’ll probably return to it and explore the world some more!
For now, you can read “Behind the Mask” on Vocal for free without an account—all you have to do is click the link! I post my longer stories on Vocal because I get paid a small amount for every view. So thank you for your support!
Happy reading!
—E.J.
If you enjoyed this post, I hope you’ll consider buying one of my books, donating to the blog, reading my stories on Vocal, and/or taking a look at my RedBubble shop so I can continue to produce 100% free content!
Photo by Tamara Gak on Unsplash
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The Story Canvas 
Wow! That’s so cool. I never heard of vocal before.
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Yeah, it’s cool! I wouldn’t say it’s revolutionary or anything; you earn a very, very tiny amount and they very much favour their premium subscribers. I also have an issue with their competitions, as it seems like they randomly pick a story out of a hat rather than sincerely choosing the best story submitted. Aaaand you can’t post anything less than 400 words. All of that to say it has a lot of issues, which is why I don’t post absolutely everything on there. But sometimes people will find your stuff on there; I have one devoted reader now who comments on everything I post and it’s encouraging. 😊 And if you happen to get on the “top story” page (which usually happens if you write something relevant; I did it on accident 😂) you get an extra payment!
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