What Lies Beneath the Mask Read online

  “Can you not cover it in snow or something?” I finally stopped laughing and looked at him pensively.

  “Actually you could be on to something there.” He smiled wanly. “Thank you Henry, I’ve been looking for some way of making it less unsightly.”

  “So Belle…” Oh no, where was this going? “Do you have plans tomorrow night?” I gave Jack a quick glance. Since New Year we hadn’t bothered hiding our relationship, and most people didn’t seem to care anyway.

  “No. Why?”

  “Well it’s Valentine’s day and I was wondering…” Jack made a weird noise.

  “She doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day.”

  “Jack.” I glared at him, “I’m sorry for him Henry, apparently, he’s being possessive today.” Jack at least had the good grace to look ashamed of himself.

  “Oh, so it’s true about the two of you?” He sounded disappointed and I felt a little bit guilty about the fact I was feeling kind of relieved that I had an easy out.

  “It is yes. I thought everyone knew?”

  “Well there’s rumours, but I’ve never actually seen the two of you kiss.” I was shocked. Had Merry not shared the photo she took on New Year’s Eve?

  “I’m sorry Henry, but despite his behaviour just now, I’ll be spending tomorrow night with Jack.” Henry shrugged it off, probably trying to act like he didn’t care.

  “Okay, well just thought I’d ask. See you in an hour.” He waved awkwardly before leaving.

  “Don’t do that again.” I was fuming as I turned to Jack and pressed a finger into his chest; “I am not a possession; I do not need you to turn people down for me.” I spun on my heels and walked off to find Hayley.

  Chapter 44

  4 Years ago

  “Freddie!” I shouted across the street. I hadn’t seen my brother since Christmas, mostly because Toby seemed to hate being around my family so we never actually got to see them. He looked over at my shout and smiled. At 17, he was taller than I was but still slightly gangly in the arm and leg department. He shared the same brown hair as my Mum, and the same green eyes as both of us. He crossed the road to me.

  “Annabelle! How are you? It feels like ages since Christmas!” He was a typical teenager most of the time, but a part of me thought he noticed more than anyone else did when it came to the truth about mine and Toby’s relationship, meaning he always tried to look out for me.

  “I’m good. You? Mum and Dad?” I hated feeling so desperate for news of my family, but this was all I had.

  “Yes we’re all good. What are you doing tomorrow night?”

  “Nothing. Why?” I asked, excited at the prospect that I might be able to spend time with my family.

  “We’re having a family dinner; I know Mum and Dad would love it if you joined us.”

  “Could I invite Toby?” Freddie looked uneasy at the mention of Toby but he nodded none the less.

  “Belle what do you think you’re doing?” Toby jumped out of his car where he’d been waiting to pick me up from college. While I had learned to drive when I was 17, Toby claimed that we had no need for two cars and insisted on picking me up every day. He’d just started working at the local radio station, so it actually fit in well with his schedule. On my part, it just wasn’t worth the argument even if a car of my own would mean more independence.

  “Freddie just invited us to dinner tomorrow night.” I looked away from Toby and towards my brother.

  “You’re busy tomorrow.” Toby glared at Freddie.

  “I didn’t know we had anything on.” I said meekly. I didn’t want to make Toby angry but I also wanted to see my family.

  “We do.” He grabbed my wrist and squeezed hard enough to make my eyes water. “Come on.” He dragged me towards his car by my wrist, causing my eyes to smart more. I looked over my shoulder at Freddie who had a pained look on his face. By the time Toby roughly pushed me into the passenger side of the car the tears were streaming down my face. He got in the other side before locking the doors and turning to me. Putting his hand on my leg he pinched hard and I let out a sob. “What do you think you were doing Belle?” I knew from experience that he didn’t actually want an answer, but for some reason that didn’t stop me.

  “I was talking to my brother.”

  “I’ve told you not to talk to other men before.” He pinched harder and I tried my hardest not to respond to the pain.

  “He’s my brother. He’s allowed to talk to me.” I protested, despite knowing what would come. The pain in my leg sharpened.

  “He is not allowed to talk to what is mine.” Toby growled and forcefully turned my face so that I had to look at him. “Understand Belle? You are mine. You are not to talk to people if I say you can’t. Nod your agreement.” Despite myself I nodded and even though tears were streaming down my face he looked satisfied, almost as if he’d won something.

  Chapter 45

  I woke up trying my best to scream; my throat was tight and hoarse but no actual sound was coming up. I normally only dreamt about Toby when I was particularly stressed, and normally it wasn’t as vivid or real as that. Normally they were less like memories. It took me a few moments to calm myself and take a drink of water from the glass on my bedside table. My hands were shaking and I nearly spilt it down myself, but I persevered and began to feel more like myself.

  “She doesn’t want to see you Jack.” Hayley’s voice came from outside my bedroom door and I realised that Jack knocking must have been what woke me up.

  “Please Hayley. I just want to make sure she’s okay. She was avoiding me yesterday and I know I upset her.” Apparently, Jack had noticed me avoiding him after the conversation we had with Henry. Good, least he knew I was mad.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea Jack. Especially if you’re going to turn into a possessive prick again.” I smiled despite myself; Hayley could be a force to be reckoned with.

  “Hayley, I will beg you.” I could hear in his voice that he would as well. “I don’t know what came over me, but she has every right to be mad, but I just want to make it up to her.”

  “No.” I sighed. I knew them both far too well; Hayley wouldn’t let Jack see me without my say so and Jack wouldn’t leave until he’d said what he came to say, even if that meant sitting in the hall outside our door for hours. Either way I’d have to face Jack eventually, and logically I knew that he’d only been jealous, he hadn’t actually done anything threatening. I pushed myself up from bed and went to open my door.

  “Let him talk to me.” I said to Hayley.

  “Are you sure?” I nodded and even though she looked concerned she motioned for Jack to go into my room. “Just to be clear Jack; you hurt her again and I will ruin your life.”

  “I’d deserve that.” He said to her seriously and I could already feel my anger starting to fizzle away. I closed my bedroom door behind him and we went to sit facing each other on the bed. When he started to speak, I held my hand up to stop him, finding that I wanted to go first.

  “I’m sorry.” He looked startled.

  “For what?”

  “I over reacted Jack. I know you’re not Toby when I stop and think about it, but sometimes it takes a while for that thought to occur.”

  “But Hayley’s right. I was a possessive prick.” I shrugged.

  “True. But what makes you think that I don’t feel like that every time you’re on stage with Merry?” I asked surprisingly calm. “Because I do. The only difference is I don’t voice what I’m thinking.”

  “I still shouldn’t have acted like that.” He sounded sad, and I couldn’t help but imagine him berating himself all night about how he’d behaved.

  “No maybe not, but the worst consequence was Henry’s wounded pride, which let’s face it would have happened anyway.” He looked up suddenly.

  “I haven’t lost you?” He sounded so hopeful and it tugged on my heart strings.

  “No, you idiot! I love you, one little disagreement isn’t going to change that.” He
smiled weakly. I moved towards him, wanting to close the distance between us. “Listen, I’m not happy about what you said, but that’s partly my issue.”

  “Which I knew about.”

  “True. But we’re still getting into our groove, particularly in public.”

  “I’ll try not to do it again.” I laughed and took his hands in mine.

  “Let’s just forget it okay?” He nodded and looked relieved. “Besides, we had to have our first fight at some point.” He smiled at that.

  “I have something for you.” He said suddenly.

  “Oh really?” I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively and he laughed.

  “Not that.”

  “Oh.” He laughed again at the disappointed look on my face.

  “You’ll like it.” He assured me before handing me a package. I looked at him quizzically.

  “I thought I told you I didn’t do Valentine’s day?”

  “You did. This is part of your birthday present. But I couldn’t sleep last night with all the thinking and finished it. I can’t say I’m very patient and I wanted you to have it.”

  “You’re not patient?” It seemed to be a strange thing for him to say considering how patient he was with me when we first started dating.

  “Not when it comes to wanting to make you happy.” Well now I was really intrigued and started ripping the brown paper from the package. My hands touched wood and I stopped, realising that he’d said he’d made this. Slowly, I pulled out a wooden box and stared. It was rectangular in shape and not very deep which made me wonder what it was for. The whole thing was varnished so it was smooth to my touch. The lid was a golden colour, quite pale compared to the rest of it, but I couldn’t say what wood it was. The top was inlaid with a pattern of flowers made from several pieces of different coloured wood. The who effect was stunning.

  “Is this marquetry?” I asked softly, running my finger over the top of the box. He nodded.

  “That’s my first finished piece.” I looked at him in awe. He’d already made it plain that he thought there was something long term between us, and I couldn’t say that I disagreed, but giving me his first piece of artwork was something more. Counting myself as an artist too, I could understand the importance of this gift, which made it even more special to me.

  “Thank you.” He leaned over and slid the lid towards him revealing the inside of the box. “It’s for your pencils. In all the time I’ve known you, I’ve never once seen you with a pencil case, and those things seem to get everywhere.”

  “This is an amazing gift. Thank you, Jack, it means a lot to me.” I leapt off the bed and pulled out my personal sketch book. This wasn’t the one that I did concept art in, nor the one I used when I wanted to design something either; this was the sketch book I used when I just wanted to sketch. I flipped through it until I found what I wanted and handed the loose sheet to Jack. I’d always meant to show him this but the timing had never seemed right.

  “Did you do this?” I nodded. “I’ve never seen any of your work that isn’t designing something. This is beautiful.” I looked over his shoulder and studied my drawing with a critical eye. I sketched it after our first kiss and it showed us dancing. I hate drawing myself so my back was to the page while Jack’s face was in profile. At the time, I thought the look on his face was a figment of my imagination, but now I realised that it probably hadn’t been. I’d given us formal ball wear which faded away into the page. “Are you sure you want to waste your talent on being a concept artist, you should be selling pictures.”

  “Yes I’m sure. I’m a mess with anything other than pencil” He tried to hand my picture back but I shook my head. “I have a piece of your art; I want you to have a piece of mine.”

  “Thank you.” He placed it gently on my desk chair and moved my new pencil box to the same place before turning back to me. He kissed me softly and I didn’t hesitate to kiss him back. Yesterday was behind us and now we could move forward again.

  Chapter 46

  I couldn’t shake the sense of unease that was building inside me, and I suspected that my constant worrying was driving both Hayley and Jack up the wall. The worst bit was that I couldn’t even justify why I felt so bad, nothing had gone wrong in the past two weeks and everything had fallen into place. Even Toby had been quiet, and yet there was something niggling at the back of my mind.

  “Set change!” I called. While most of the cast members were at work, or wherever else they went during the day, I’d taken advantage and used the time to take pictures of the sets. Not only could the photos go into the portfolio I was giving Jack’s sister, Jill, at the weekend when I went around for Sunday dinner, but they’d also help the stage hands set everything up right every time. It was highly likely that I wouldn’t always be available to them on opening night and I was determined to make sure everything went perfectly. The stage hands got the next set into place, which included the ugly faux stone gargoyle Tony had sent. Though Henry’s idea of adding snow to the hideous thing had helped a little, I still cringed whenever I saw it. Other than the gargoyle this set was simple, and it had to be considering the elaborate set it was replacing on stage. I’d managed to gain the stage hands another couple of minutes set changing time by having Jack and Merry moving around the theatre itself instead of staying on the stage, but I was still worried that this one wasn’t going to be done in time. I snapped the picture.

  “CHANGE!” This time it was even simpler, it had to be considering how much movement there was in the Masquerade scene; the stage just wasn’t big enough for anything more elaborate, however I had rigged up some chandeliers to hang over the stage to give it a sense of grandeur. Of course, they were nothing on the chandelier that was currently hanging over the orchestra pit, the one that wouldn’t actually move until opening night; I was far too worried about it breaking and with our small budget I was right to be; especially as there was no way we could afford a replacement. As it was I was already using effects and not the chandelier itself for the crash in what was the biggest adjustment I had to make for my staging.

  “Miss Phillips?” One of the camera men that I vaguely recognised called to me from where he was standing slightly to the side.

  “Yes?”

  “When are the cast coming in today?” He must have been worried that he wasn’t getting any good footage. I can’t say it would be riveting TV watching me make the stage hands change sets constantly.

  “They’ll start arriving in the next 10 to 15 minutes.” After which there’d be several takeaway deliveries and a lot of noise; with so little time before opening night rehearsals were happening in every spare moment. Most people wouldn’t leave until gone 10 either. “Is tonight the night?”

  “Yes, are you ready?” I laughed.

  “Nope probably not, but we’ll put on a good show regardless.”

  “Do you know which scene you’ll be performing?” Tonight, there was a special live show of The Show Must Go On, during which, half of the troupes would perform one of their scenes. Next week the other half would do the same.

  “I don’t. John told me that he wanted to pick the scene and he hasn’t told anyone yet so that we don’t worry about it too much.” Which was fine for those people who weren’t in the majority of the scenes, but not for the lead cast members, or for the crew who would need the right set, costumes and effects in place regardless.

  “When will you know?” I shrugged.

  “When John turns up. He’s running errands today.” I did my best to ignore the camera crew as I moved through the rest of the sets with the stage hands, attempting to block any speculation on which scene John would choose. If I was in his place I’d choose one of those that showcased the talent we had on the show but didn’t reveal our best bits, but that was just me. Cast members started to arrive and I set them about warming up; there was going to be the added challenge of singing with a live orchestra for the first time. The orchestra had been practicing like we had, and like us they were made up of voluntee
r musicians, and while I was looking forward to bringing together the insane amount of talent that was in the room, I was also dreading everything that could go wrong.

  “I’m here panic not!” Hayley was breathless and red faced, as if she’d run to get here. Come to think of it, she probably had.

  “It’s not you we’re waiting for.” I mumbled under my breath, frustrated that John hadn’t turned up yet. “René, can we go from the beginning?” I asked the conductor.

  “Oui, Mademoiselle.” His flamboyant nature, coupled with his over the top accent, had me thinking he was anything but French. However, he was a highly talented conductor and he easily brought our cast and his music together. It wasn’t until 20 minutes later that John sauntered in, looking as though we weren’t all on tenterhooks waiting for his decision.

  “Belle. It’s 2 hours until airtime.” David wasn’t behind a camera this time, instead he seemed to be coordinating the other members of his team, who were setting up the sound and camera system around the theatre.

  “Thanks David.” My smile slipped from my face as John approached, “everyone wants to know what scene we’re doing.” I told him, not bothering with a greeting. I rarely had a go at anyone but I was struggling to hold back now. 2 hours was nothing when we had to fit in the scene dressing, costumes and rehearsal.

  “Masquerade.” I pulled a face. I’d definitely have saved that scene as a surprise on opening night, but as I had no part in the decision making there wasn’t a lot I could do about it. So instead of saying what I was thinking, I nodded once and began the job of getting everyone into position. Our first run through went without a hitch and I felt a sigh of relief that we were going to be okay despite the bad choice of scene.

  “Belle, can I have your help getting everyone into costume?” Hayley asked looking frazzled. Masquerade was probably one of the most costume intense scenes for her, particularly with the amount of ball gowns and formal suits it involved.