Mask of Spring

It was on the bus to school that Garth Thomas became the Mask of Spring. The girl who gave it to him had winter on her breath; it would be the last thing he would remember of her. He didn’t even know what he was given; just a kiss of her lips and it was passed to him. A fine thing it was, woven of holly, with crocuses and daffodil bulbs just waiting for spring to make them bloom. At first Garth did not understand the gift and tried to remove spring’s mantle, but found that to do so would remove half his face. Then he grew afraid, causing violent hail to rain upon the city of Hereford where he lived. Only then, in the middle of the storm, did he realise why no one came to his aid: they could not see the mask upon his face. As he slumped into his seat, his friend Penny - whom he trusted above all of his friends - asked him what was wrong. Garth said nothing, knowing that his friend would surely think him mad. If he was mad though, why had hail sprung from a clear blue sky?

Weeks passed and slowly Garth became accustomed to spring’s mantle, only cursing its presence when he had to wash his face or replace a torn pillowcase. Moreover, he began to understand the reason for the strange weather patterns and rampant floral growth that occurred around him. For when he was picked on at school, the ground would almost freeze solid. When his brother ripped Garth’s favourite shirt, the sun almost stripped the neighbours of half their skin. And when Lorna Davis wore that dress, cases of hay fever would rise dramatically. She was the reason for many of Garth’s sleepless nights, when flowers outside bloomed prematurely, releasing their sweet, sticky scents deep into the night.

By the time of their first date the first natural signs of spring had begun to appear; buds formed on the trees and crocuses began to push their way up through the ground. Garth phoned Penny with the details later; he and Lorna had gone to the cinema to see Attack of the Vegetarian Zombies but had been too busy kissing to remember much about the film. Later, they had sneaked into a pub and quietly got drunk together in a corner. He had escorted her home afterwards and she had left a hickey the size of a golf ball on his neck. Penny had been quite quiet when Garth phoned her with the details, and after he hung up, she went to bed and cried herself to sleep.

It was towards the end of their sixth date when Garth realised that he was getting in over his head. Things had been going too fast too soon. And now at a camping trip organised by their friends, Garth and Lorna were sat opposite each other; clothed only by their sleeping bags. The wind was almost ripping the cloth from over their heads but inside they were both completely silent. Garth was staring at Lorna, whose eyes were fixed on the floor between them. The sex between them had been quick and awkward, and Garth was sure he had started a storm by accident, which had only gotten more violent as time went on. To make matters worse, even though she had insisted she was fine, Garth had thought that she looked in pain. He had tried talking to her about it afterwards but the words had come out wrong and she had just clammed up. Eventually she got dressed and left, leaving Garth all alone with the wet and the cold of his tent.

A long burning hole of a summer passed, dragging its way slowly into autumn. Lorna had stopped speaking to Garth after that night, and it had been unbearable for him.  He had left countless messages on her voicemail, all of which had gone unanswered; he had even written her a letter. It felt like he had been kicked in the stomach, worse still, summer was showing no signs of ending. Record amounts of sunshine were being reported all across the Northern Hemisphere, while the Southern part was practically being frozen solid. Scientists were putting the weather down to freak climate change, while newspapers were screaming about global warming, but Garth knew it was His fault really.  For all He tried though, He couldn’t get Lorna out of His head. He was sure there had to be some way that He could get her to talk to Him, forgive Him, do anything but ignore Him. Throughout the whole period, Penny was the only vent that He had for His emotions. He would talk to her almost daily about what He should do, how He should act around Lorna, and what He could do to get back into her good books. The final straw was when Lorna got a new boyfriend, something that was a continual knife in Garth’s stomach. He didn’t notice Penny’s mood get worse and worse over time. Finally, while Garth was complaining about Lorna’s new boyfriend, she snapped. Picking up her bag, she told Garth exactly where He could shove His feelings about Lorna sodding Davis. Maybe He hadn’t noticed, Penny told him, but she didn’t want to hear about it anymore. In fact, she informed Him, if He loved being unhappy that much He should just shove a sander up His ass and have done with it. After that torrent of anger and emotion, Penny stormed out of the playground and didn’t speak to Garth for the rest of the day.

Garth spent the rest of the day deep in thought; in fact He was so distracted that he didn’t even notice that Lorna and her new boyfriend were ahead of Him on the walk home. When he got to His house He carried on walking, eventually reaching Penny’s drive. She was sat on her wall kicking her feet, so He sat down next to her and started scraping His trainers along the wall. He was feeling odd, the mask felt looser on His face, and there was a slight chill to the air thath hadn’t been there that morning. Garth gently tapped his foot against Penny’s, and after several minutes of silence, He apologised to her. After she had accepted His apology He asked her what was on her mind, to which she shrugged, then He asked her if she liked Him. Another shrug, but this time, she looked up at Him, and as she did so, He lent in and kissed her. The Mask of Spring bloomed for a few seconds and the petals of a hundred different flowers showered from Garth’s face. Then it fell from his face and Penny Rose became the Mask of Autumn.

Summer ended and autumn began in earnest, the leaves turned red and fell from the trees. Eventually winter came, frosted with snow and laced with ice, and even though people would complain about the cold, Garth and Penny would wish it could last forever.