He had kissed her hand. By God, he had kissed her hand. He could have been walking on air at that moment and he wouldn't have noticed himself slowly slipping away beyond the clouds. She had let him kiss her hand. He wasn't bad looking, he supposed.
There was that voice again. "Oh, will you leave me be!" He didn't need that nagging little voice ruining his night. He went home, to his small apartment. He greeted Ayesha, his only friend in the world and his cat, before rushing into the bedroom. The makeup was beginning to itch.
He sat as his boudoir and looked into the mirror. "Well, time to make you disappear, Erik." His process was slow, deliberate and careful. First, the outer makeup layers came off. Then the contacts. Then the prosthetics. He growled as the bit of spirit gum tore at his skin as it came off.
And there he was. The skeleton. The monster. He took one more bit of alcohol to get all the glue off, then makeup remover. He looked himself over in the mirror again. Oh, poor Erik. Poor, poor Erik. Why couldn't that makeup be permanent! He reached to the mirror and traced over his features. The deep eyes, the hollow cheeks... The Lack of a nose. No woman would ever love him looking like this.
But there was something else he needed to think about now. The plan.
"You're in my head, you already know."
I- Oh, this is a good one.
"She'll either love me as I am or as I am not, but she will love me."
Someone needs to, life is dull when it's just us.
"I agree with you, old friend." He rose to undress and get to bed. He heard Ayesha jump into bed, and as he laid down, she kneaded his chest and fell asleep on top of him.
"She'll have to, my friend. She doesn't have much of a choice."
