The Gray Mask

 Gray Mask by: Sayda A.

The full moon glistened in the dark night, lighting up the street outside my office. I couldn't get the thought out of my head, where had I seen this mask before and why did it appear in Mr. Grover's attic.

About an hour ago I was sitting in my office and thought that no cases would come in at this time so I was reading a book. I love to read books. Then surprisingly the phone rang. I picked up and said "Hello, this is detective Hazel, is there anything I can assist you with?" I asked.

"Hello this is Mr. Grover, I keep hearing unusual noises, creaking and footsteps from the attic at night the police say that it might just be rats but I'm sure it's not."

Mr. Grover moved into this town about a week ago. I can see why the police wouldn't look into this case, it could just be rats, or there could be lots of other logical explanations for it. "Well have you checked the attic, do you suspect anything that could be causing creaking?"

"I have checked the attic, I'm not sure what is causing the sound and every time I close the attic window, but later it's open as if someone keeps opening it and.."

"And what?"

"And a gray mask, I found it today when I was checking the attic I was going to check the attic as usual because I heard creaking again"

"hmm," I thought. Gray mask sounded familiar. Of course lots of different masks exist, and different colors but I knew something important about gray masks. But I just couldn't remember what. I needed to investigate this. "Ok Mr. Grover I have another night shift tomorrow it's not likely that anymore cases will come in so I will come to investigate if that is ok with you"

"Yes, of course thanks"

"No problem, have a safe night"

I wanted to return to the book I was reading, but instead I decided to research gray masks. There were mostly pictures of gray masks and prices, nothing really interesting, until I found an article from a few months ago.

The article was about a man named Robert Gray. He went missing for a couple of months until some admitted that they murdered him. This murderer was later sent to a mental hospital. The police kept the murderer's identity a secret.

The body was hidden in a small abandoned house and the doors were chained and locked shut. When the police got in they only found a lot of blood and a gray mask. They searched for the body but it was never found. Later the mask went missing as well.

Well now I remember where I heard of the gray mask. In July I went on a vacation and visited New Jersey. The mysterious disappearance of Robert Gray was on the news. Everyone was talking about it.

However I didn't understand how all this was related. The death or disappearance of this man, the gray mask and Mr. Grover's attic. There has to be a connection with all this.

I needed someone to assist me. I knew exactly who to call, I called my friend Olivia. We work together and often help each other with cases. I called her and told her everything.

"hmm I think Robert gray might be a vampire, there have been so many rumors about vampires, Robert gray even wrote a book called 'The Gray Mask' it's about almost exactly what happened to him and his story has vampires, he uses the gray mask to cover his identity as a vampire.. it all just makes perfect sense."

Sometimes Olivia can have a wild imagination. The book that I had written was probably just a strange coincidence. "Olivia I think you've been reading too many books, I'm just the vampire rumors are just rumors they're not real."

"I've been doing research that's why I'm still up at night, I wrote everything I found in a doc I even sent it to you." "With my research and information I'm quite sure that vampires exist and Robert Gray was a vampire. I think it all fits together and makes perfect sense."

I looked through the Doc that she emailed me. I was honestly really impressed with all the information she gathered. After I finished looking through it all I was speechless. Before I could say anything I heard a loud scream from my phone. 

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"OLIVA! What happened!?"

There was no response... "Olivia, are you there? Olivia? Please stop playing around and respond.." But there was still no response. What? I was so confused, what happened.

I was really worried so I rushed to her house. She wasn't there, I looked everywhere but she was nowhere to be found. I called 911 and told them what happened.

The police arrived and searched everywhere however they still couldn't find her anywhere. I tried to tell the police about the vampires and Olivia's research but they didn't believe it. They said I can go home and rest. They think I'm so tired and making up things.  I am going to find Olivia no matter what the police say.

First I needed to look through everything Olivia sent me before. So I went home. I can’t believe that all this started with me sitting in my office at night expecting that nothing much would happen tonight. I’m going to figure out why she disappeared. Robert Gray disappeared because he was a vampire who wanted revenge. Olivia discovered a lot of information about vampires. Maybe that's why the vampires attacked her; it must be because she discovered too much information about them.

According to Olivia’s research vampires do attack if they find someone a threat. Vampires are often people who start to fade away until they become a vampire and they go insane when they haunt others they give the same effect. Some even understand when a person is a vampire and try to kill them but end up turning into a vampire instead. 

Suddenly I remembered something. Olivia lives on the same street as Mr. Grover. It could have been the same vampire that was in Mr. Grover's attic. Mr. Grover has Robert Gray’s mask; he could be in danger since he has the mask. The mask or something in his attic could give me a clue where Olivia is. 

I grabbed my bag which had my laptop, a first aid kit and other items I might need for emergencies. Then I ran to Mr. Grover’s house. The moon was still shining bright however it was a lot colder and windier than before. 

Once I arrived at Mr. Grover's house I rang the doorbell. The house had two floors and an attic. There was a path that led to the door. There were bright red roses and a tall apple tree in the front yard. 

The door creaked open however there was no one there. “Mr. Grover? Are you there” I called as I stepped inside but there was no answer.  This seemed like a scene in a horror movie where I am the main character.

The living room was unlit and pitch black. I felt the cold walls and looked for the light switch. Once I found it I turned on the lights. The room was neat and organized, there were two black sofas and a wooden coffee table. There are numerous bookshelves filled with books. The house was a nice and cozy house.  

I can't get distracted. I came here to find something that could help me. I walked up the stairs cautiously, this was a cozy house but the door opened on it’s own and Mr. Grover didn’t answer. Something definitely didn’t feel right but I had a feeling that there was someone in this house, I have to be careful with every step I take. 

One I got to the second floor I found the attic door and opened it. I still couldn’t heard Mr. Grover. Once I entered the attic I could hear someone breathing loudly. The attic was filled with boxes someone could be hiding in here easily. “Who’s there? I can hear you, come out!”

Someone was laughing hysterically from behind some boxes in a corner. I approached carefully and knocked down the boxes. I found Mr. Grover! 

He was just sitting there holding.. a gray mask and he looked like he was going insane. I covered my mouth and held back the urge to scream. I couldn’t run away now I had to find Olivia. I wanted to run away because Mr. Grover was a vampire and he had fangs. 

This whole time he could have been a vampire but if he was then why would he tell a detective about noises in his attic or a gray mask. He sounded worried before when he talked on the phone. Maybe the gray mask and vampires in his attic made him go insane to the point where he became a vampire. 

I didn’t need to worry about him because he seemed so interested in the gray mask he didn’t seem to notice me or care that I was there. I looked through some more boxes. I found a diary that looked quite old. I looked through it. All the pages were blank but one page had some messy handwriting. It read: 

I can finally get revenge. I will destroy someone innocent in the same place they tried to kill me. She knows too much so I must destroy her the same place they tried to destroy me, In the little cabin on South East River street.

This sounded like something Robert Gray could have written; he did write quite a few poems. I need to get to this place called South East River street. 

I got in my car and entered the name of this street on my GPS. I drove there as fast as I could, getting a speeding ticket was the least of my worries right now. It took about half an hour to get to South East River street. There was a small river nearby and this street didn’t have many houses, just one small old house. I guessed that this house is the “small cabin” from Robert Gray’s poem.

I got out of my car and ran up to the door. There were chains one the ground and the door was slightly open. I pushed the door open and walked inside with the flashlight on my phone turned on. 

I found Olivia in one of the rooms and her hands were tied. I untied the rope and woke her up. She was so happy to see me. But she was really tired and looked like she might faint. She told me that a vampire who was most likely Robert Gray captured her and left her here because Oliva knew too much about vampires. Olivia cries because she thought no one would find her. I hugged her and helped her get out of the house. 

I drove a few miles away as fast as I could when I was far enough from the house I drove to the nearest hospital. Olivia couldn’t move one of her arms and it might be broken. 

I found her however her arm was broken and figuring out all this about vampires. The next thing I knew I was laying in a hospital bed and there was a nurse in the room “Where’s Olivia!”

“Oh your friend if outside I’ll tell her to come in”

Olivia walked in through the door. She looked less tired and her arm was fine. “What happened?” I was so confused.

“You were on your night shift and you were really tired. When you fainted I brought you here. I was there with you so I brought you to the hospital.”

I was so confused didn’t I just bring her to the hospital after I found her in that house the vampire left her in. “Is your arm ok? That vampire tied your hands and your arm was broken.” 

“My arm is fine and I don’t even know what you're talking about, you're probably just really tired or had a dream.”

So this whole time this crazy night never existed. There were no vampires, nothing happened. I just got so tired I fainted. This night has been crazy but I can’t believe all of it was just my imagination. It did seem crazy, why would vampires be real. 

A few minutes later, me and Olivia both went home. When I went to bed and fell asleep almost immediately. The moon was fading and the first light of dawn was starting to show up outside. Soon it will be morning and this crazy night will be over.