It was fifty years after the great war. Olivia could still remember learning about it in school, how the many bombs fell from the sky, covering the entire world in nuclear waste. It destroyed almost half of the world’s population, and created genetic abnormalities - the greatest of which was the great surplus. Fertile women mostly gave birth to other women, and within fifty years, the amount of women in the world greatly surpassed men. The new government, a dystopian rule, decreed a new law - the only way a woman could prove her love to a man in this new world was to die for him. On the couple’s first anniversary, a woman began the sacrificial process to demonstrate her love to her partner. Many women either sought to never find a partner, or loved their partner so much that they didn’t think their partners would ever go through with the mask. Like many, Olivia imagined a life where she would run away with Matthew, never to return to such a sadistic government.
As the year slowly dwindled down, Olivia felt less and less secure about their relationship. By the last month, it seemed like Matthew would not be changing his mind about using the mask on her. Night after night, she thought about it. She wondered how she could escape from this situation, or how she could somehow convince Matthew that the rest of his life would be better with her around.
Two days before their anniversary, Olivia’s best friend had finally suffocated from the mask. She had been with her almost every day, accompanying her and watching her have less access to oxygen on the daily. She couldn’t believe anyone could be so cruel, to be able to watch the one they love slowly perish from something so horrid. And yet, her best friend Maddy’s boyfriend Peter seemed to enjoy it. He loved that Maddy was so faithful to him that she was willing to die for him, and it seemed like some sort of bragging between men these days, to see how many women were willing to die for them before they died themselves of old age.
She looked at herself in the mirror of their master bathroom, tears streaming down her face and smudging her mascara. She had desperately tried to look gorgeous for him the past couple of months, hoping that her looks plus the personality that he fell in love with would somehow make him want to stop the process. So far, nothing had been successful.
She was a petite woman with striking features. Her dark, wavy hair cascaded down her shoulders, framing a heart-shaped face with expressive brown eyes. Her style was effortlessly chic, often seen in trendy yet comfortable outfits that highlighted her slender frame. She was a very outgoing person, though the last couple of months had made her more and more reserved, as her mind became more and more panicked about the torture she would soon endure.
She quickly cleaned her face and reapplied her makeup. She made sure she looked perfect, and excited the bathroom, wanting to try yet another time to convince Matthew to run away with her.
“Hey, Matthew?” She said, putting on a brave face.
He looked up from his screen and smiled at her, “looking as perfect as always.” He closed his laptop and stood up, pulling her into a tight embrace. “What’s up?”
“I… I just wanted to talk about Maddy,” she said, looking up at him.
“Again?” He asked. She had repeatedly brought up the subject for the last two days, and it was clear he was trying to be supportive, but getting upset.
“Well, you know I want to attend her funeral. Everyone’s expecting me to be there, and I already have a speech written,” she explained. She tried to resist the tears welling up in her eyes again.
“We’ve talked about this already,” he said, already pulling away from her.
She gulped. This was not going well. “I don’t see why you can’t postpone the mask fitting for a few days, just so I can attend properly.”
“You will still be able to attend, Olivia. You know this. Most women take months for the mask to fully take effect. I'll just read your speech for you since you won’t be able to speak. Besides, I’ve already planned the party. All of our friends are going to be there. That was what I was doing right now, checking off the RSVP list,” he sat down and opened his laptop, showing her the information.
“I need to grieve properly first. Why can’t you understand that?” She didn’t care anymore. She was going to try her hardest to get out of this, no matter what. If she had to cry in front of him, so be it.
“You’ve already grieved for months, now. Everyone knows the mask always results in death, Olivia. You were there during Maddy’s mask ceremony, and you should’ve already started grieving when that happened. It doesn’t make sense for you to be bringing that up now.”
She pushed her body into him and situated herself on his lap. She looked up at him and fluttered her lashes, trying her hardest to use her body language to the best of her advantage, “c’mon… don’t you care about me, Matthew? Don’t you care about what this is going to do to me?”
He frowned. “I think I should be asking you the same thing, babe. Most of my pals had girls that didn’t complain about the mask every damned day. They knew it was part of their destiny since they were born. I’m starting to feel like you never really loved me, after all. It’s getting very frustrating. Sometimes I wish the ceremony was sooner just so you would stop complaining about it.”
She recoiled, shocked. This just didn't feel like the man she fell in love with anymore. He was already 25 years old when they had first met, most guys had three women perish for them by that age... it was why she had foolishly thought he was different. It seemed like there was nothing she could do. Not today, when he was already demonstrating his clear frustrations.
She sighed and stood up, stepping away from him.
She knew she was going to have another sleepless night.
—---
The next two nights were the worst she’d ever experienced. She tossed and turned next to Matthew, feeling like her lungs were already constricted without even donning the mask. Her mind raced with the thoughts of all the women she’d seen, those that began whittling down day by day until the day of their deaths. She didn’t understand how all of the men were able to stand by and watch it. They treated it almost like a sport, to see how long each woman was able to last. They showed off, almost wanting to bring their women out more when they had the mask on, just to demonstrate how much they were loved. It was sick. And Olivia felt like she had no way out.
The party was planned for the evening, and she had stayed up all night, wondering what would happen to her if she just opened the door and never looked back. She knew they would be able to catch her. They always did. And the punishment was always far more severe.
Last night Matthew had watched her pick out a casual outfit. She wanted to be comfortable when the mask was put on her, and frankly, she didn’t give a shit what their guests saw in her appearance. He frowned when he saw it. He was very excited about what he had planned, far too excited in her opinion, and suggested she wore something far more elegant. He pulled out a set of her highest black heels, and told her she should try to match her outfit to it. She had reluctantly agreed, still feeling love for him. She didn’t know why. He clearly wanted to see her suffer, and yet her heart still wanted to see the good in him. She felt as silly as all the other women in her life.
She ended up wearing a short form-fitting red dress and black pantyhose to match the black heels. She could already hear the guests arriving, and she hated each and every one of them. How could they celebrate something so toxic and crazy? To celebrate the death of a human life? She couldn’t imagine any of them really cared about her to see someone do this to her.
Tears flowed down her face once more, and she stared down at her hands, letting herself let go one final time before she would have to face the crowd. She wiped them, let in a few steady breaths, and opened their bedroom door. “There she is!” Matthew announced immediately. He pulled her close and smiled widely at the guests in attendance, like it was the best day of his life. She wondered if the roles were reversed, if he would ever do the same for her.
She could spot all the women around the room who wore masks immediately. They were easy to spot, after all. The leaders of the new world had designed it, and perfected it year after year. It was so intricate a trained technician known as the ‘mask fitter’ had to be hired to install it, which is part of the reason why these special parties were created. The mask was made out of steel. It started from the nose and went down to the shoulders and always pushed the chin up so that the women wearing it were always looking up at the ceiling. Inside the front piece was a large gag that covered their mouth so she would no longer be able to speak. She’d never seen the insides clearly in real life, but had seen it in depictions at school and in advertisements on her computer.
The gag itself served many purposes. There were two pipes attached. One was pushed into the esophagus to help the woman consume fluids and special blended foods and the other was pushed into the windpipe. As part of the party, an air filter with wings on the side is pushed into the breathing tube by the partner. Inside the tube the wings expand and locked it in place so that it would never be able to be pulled out. The filter itself was meant to clog up with dust over time, making breathing more and more difficult for the woman. The woman was meant to get less oxygen each and every day until she was no longer able to take it. The more she consumed, such as during a flight or fight response or exercising, the faster this process would take. The longest was a year and a half, the shortest only a few weeks.
In order to prevent anyone from being able to take the mask off, little needles would be embedded into the skin from the mask, and the gag itself would seal with silicone around the face. The glue was skin friendly, but so strong that only a special gel was able to remove it. No one had ever been able to acquire the gel, and rumour has it that only the engineer that created it had the dissolver.
All of these thoughts raced through her head as she faked the biggest smile of her life to the guests in attendance, trying to show that she was doing this out of love, and was happy about what was about to happen.
She could see women in various states of the mask. It was hard to tell without really listening, but the breathing usually gave it away. Some tried to breathe less near the end of their time to conserve all the life they had left, though it was impossible to be constantly aware of your own breathing. She had hoped her best friend would take much longer, but she was one of the weaker of the bunch, and had left Olivia way too soon.
Matthew was still parading her around the room when she heard it, the arrival of their final guest. She didn’t think Matthew’s smile could get even wider when he turned around and spotted the mask fitter. He had hired a good friend of his, just to make the occasion even more special. “It’s finally happening, Olivia!” She couldn’t believe he didn’t have a single sense of compassion about how she was feeling at the moment. It was almost as if he was just using her to get to this point, and had never even loved her in the first place.
He pulled the mask fitter to her, and she tried to fake another smile, but failed terribly. “Everyone, gather around! The mask is about to be fitted.” She wished she could see the expression on the other masked figures, just to see whether or not they felt for her. She could spy a few sour expressions on other women’s faces, but all in all, the men were ecstatic. None could see how morbid this really was.
She stood in the center of the room with Matthew and a table next to them. Matthew had decorated the stage itself so that it would be the center of everyone’s attention. Her feet were already killing her with her high heels, and now she would have to endure so much more.
The mask fitter set his briefcase on the table, and revealed the mask that would belong to her until it killed her. It was eerie to see it so up close, to see all the detailed mechanisms that were designed to slowly kill her. “I gave him the measurements last week, so he wouldn’t have to do a fitting at the party,” Matthew explained. She was shocked, she had believed she would still have a couple of minutes of relief.
“I… are you sure you want to do this, Matthew?” She asked. Her words came out as a stuttered whisper. It already felt difficult for her to get her words out.
“I’m sure, Olivia,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her. She knew he was telling her that everyone was watching, and that the more she pushed, the more she was embarrassing him. She didn’t really care, though - she had to try to fight for her life. This was her last chance.
“Please…” she said, tears welling up in her eyes again. “Please don’t do this to me.”
“Olivia. Stop. Or I’m going to put the mask on you and leave you.” She’d never seen his face look so cold before. She couldn’t believe the person she loved the most in the world could want to do this to her.
“Okay…” she said, though the word was barely audible. “Can we… can we have a last kiss?” She said, realizing that these may be her last words.
He nodded, and she leaned upwards to give him a peck on the cheeks. She didn’t think she could muster anything more than that.
The mask fitter stepped forwards, looking like this was just another day on the job. He picked up the piece that was clearly made for the front of her face, and set it in front of her. Matthew seemed back to his cheery mood, and her whole body shook as the mask came closer and closer to her face. No, no, no, no. Her head and body screamed. She wanted to run, to get away. But it was far, far too late. Everyone was here. She was completely and utterly surrounded. He began spreading glue onto the mask right in front of her, making sure it would never move from her visage. He lifted it up, positioned the tubbing, and she gagged as soon as it hit her mouth. The glue spread to every corner of where it touched - though that wasn’t the worst part. Thousands of tiny needles extended and pierced her skin ever slightly. She screamed. She had never felt such pain. Her heart hammered like crazy, and yet every guest watched, like it was normal to see such agony. She was already starting to feel faint. She wanted to collapse onto the ground. Her hands reached upwards, she wanted to pull it off to save herself from the pain, but she had to stop herself and let the mask fitter continue.
“The pain from the needles will go away soon enough, you’ll get used to it,” he explained. She couldn’t believe she would have her lips spread open for the rest of her life. She would never be able to close her mouth or speak again. What kind of life was this? This was it. As soon as the glue was set, no one would be able to remove it. Even if Matthew changed his mind about the whole thing.
She watched from the gaps of the mask as the mask fitter picked up the back piece, spread glue on it, and aligned it behind her. He pushed it firmly in place, and she screamed once more as the parts that could touch her skin inserted the needles inside of her. Tears flowed down, though no one would be able to see it. She felt as if she was hyperventilating at this point. Her anxiety was absolutely off the roof, and no one cared. It was worse than her nightmares, so much worse than she could ever imagine.
She didn’t want to keep watching what the mask fitter was doing, but she knew what was coming next. He lifted up his tool and fired it up, then began soldering the front and back pieces together, sealing the fate of her once and for all. She could feel the heat from her right side, up the top of her head, and to her left. It would be completely and utterly impossible to remove it from her now.
“It’s your turn,” she heard him say, and could feel her boyfriend’s body behind her.
“Are you all ready?” He cried out, making a spectacle out of her suffering. The crowd around her cheered, and she knew what he was doing. He made it so much worse by moving in front of her and making sure she saw as he unpacked it from the air tight bag. “Are you ready, Olivia?” He didn’t let her respond, though she knew he could tell she was in distress. He aligned the filter into the hole designed for it, and began pushing it inside. She breathed deeply, knowing it was the last time she would ever be able to breathe properly again.
She knew precisely the moment he had put it in place. It was like having a really bad cold, with her nostrils completely blocked. When she breathed with her mouth, barely anything entered. It made her panic meter set off even higher. She found it hard to breathe not just because of the filter, but because her body was freaking out. She did the opposite of what she should be doing - instead of preserving her oxygen like all the other women around her, she began breathing heavily, heavier than she’d ever done before - like she had just finished a heavy workout.
The crowd around her cheered, making her feel more and more alone and constricted. Men around her stepped forwards and pat Matthew on the back, congratulating him on such a momentous occasion, and he grinned at them, not knowing his girlfriend was losing her consciousness behind him.
No, no, no. This was so bad. She would never be able to taste food again, never be able to look down normally, never be able to speak or breathe normally. She would never be herself. She had given herself to a man who clearly cared more about traditions and appearances than he ever loved her. She clutched her throat, trying to dig the mask off of her, but there was nothing she could do. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed knee first onto the ground. There was not enough oxygen getting to her head.
The more she breathed in, the more the dust clogged the filter, and she faded more and more. Before she knew it, her vision clouded, and she lost control of her body. Olivia fainted for the first time of many, and around her, the guests continued to cheer.