The mask she wore

✒The Mask She Wore✒(3RD POV)

In a quiet little town, where the streets seemed to hum a soft melody under the golden sunlight, there was a girl named Liliana. Liliana was an artist, not the kind who painted on canvases but the kind who painted herself. She crafted smiles that hid the bruises of her soul, wore expressions that blended perfectly with the people around her, and spoke in tones that made her feel safe from judgment.

But beneath all of that, Liliana was alone.

Her best friend, Mae, had once been her anchor. Mae’s laughter felt like sunlight piercing through the darkest clouds, her presence an unspoken comfort in the chaos of Liliana’s life. They spent hours talking, laughing, and imagining a world where everything was beautiful. Mae saw the version of Liliana that Liliana wanted the world to see—a nonchalant, artistic girl who seemed to drift through life with ease.

But that wasn’t who Liliana was.

Liliana had always been afraid to tell Mae the truth. The truth that at night, when the world was quiet, she cried rivers of tears into her pillow. That she would sit in the corner of her dimly lit room, trying to hold herself together while her thoughts unraveled into chaos. That she was so tired of pretending to be someone she wasn’t.

“I can’t let her know,” Liliana whispered to herself one night. “What if she leaves?”

The next day, Liliana and Mae sat in their usual spot by the park bench, where the breeze carried the scent of flowers and freshly cut grass. Liliana watched Mae laugh at something on her phone, her voice ringing like a bell. Mae’s world seemed so bright, so effortless. Liliana wanted to reach out, to tell her everything—but her voice caught in her throat.

Weeks passed, then months. Mae started spending more time with other friends, her laughter echoing in places Liliana no longer shared. Liliana watched from the sidelines, feeling herself slowly disappear from Mae’s world.

Mae didn’t notice the cracks in Liliana’s mask, the way her eyes dimmed when Mae canceled plans or didn’t respond to her messages. She didn’t notice the quiet sobs Liliana swallowed down when she saw Mae laughing with someone else.

One day, when Mae walked past her in the school hallway, a simple “hi” was all she said. It was polite, distant, and it broke something inside Liliana.

Liliana wanted to scream, to tell Mae how much it hurt to be forgotten. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. Instead, she smiled. A small, tired smile that Mae didn’t even see because she was already gone.

That night, Liliana sat in her room, staring at the mirror. She couldn’t recognize herself anymore. She had spent so much time becoming who everyone else wanted her to be that she didn’t know who she truly was.

“I’m like a robot,” she whispered to her reflection, “programmed to fit in, to please everyone, to be someone I’m not. And now… now I’m nothing.”

The tears came, slow at first, then uncontrollable. She hugged her knees to her chest, wishing someone, anyone, could see through the mask she wore.

But as much as she wanted to be seen, she was terrified of being known.

Mae never realized the weight of Liliana’s silence. And Liliana, afraid of breaking, chose to remain invisible.

In the end, it wasn’t Mae who forgot Liliana. It was Lilliana who forgot herself.