{"sf1_id":821609,"sf2_id":"V1YxbJOn","title":"Masked Puppet","author":"AkiTheRedWolf","words":293,"posted_at":"2015-02-20T15:42:00.000Z","tags":["Conceit","Mask","Poem","Poetry","emptiness","puppet"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/821609-masked-puppet","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/V1YxbJOn","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/18/bb/18bb0679-3a26-4d00-b793-b6a5d5194fc3","description":"#3 of Creepy Short Stories!","content":"The stage curtains slowly open,\n\nShining the spotlight on these charcoal eyes.\n\nTight ropes pull him down into a paralysis state,\n\nKeeping the actor in the sweet confines of the contented bed.\n\n\"The show must go on!\"\n\nA barely audible sentence flowing through the actor's mind.\n\nA phrase frequently used by hollow shells\n\nLike an accepted password,\n\nthe ropes begin to unravel.\n\nThe actor fumbles and falls upon the rigid,\n\ngelid stage floor.\n\nThe audience unimpressed.\n\nThe front row glares,\n\nThe back row secretly slithers out the exit door.\n\nWith numbness, he is deprived of feeling.\n\nWithout a mouth, he is deprived of screaming.\n\nThe actor sluggishly drifts off stage among the wind,\n\nLeisurely blowing from the side-stage air vents.\n\nThe haphazard prop closet holds an astounding gift\n\nAn array of faces stitched with the finest silk.\n\nSuch beauty shines upon the actor's non-existent eyes,\n\nthey look so practical, so naturalistic.\n\nYet, they feel so fabricated.\n\nSuch a tease.\n\nPlacing the face upon the empty head,\n\nStrings pierce through the actor's withered skin.\n\nReflections show the strings,\n\ncontorting the novel mouth into a perfect smile.\n\nIt looks so practical, so naturalistic.\n\nYet, it feels so fabricated.\n\nWalking upon the stage once more.\n\nThe strings pull the actor's vertebrae straight and erect,\n\nContorting the face into a look of confidence.\n\nWords and emotions flood out of the novel mouth.\n\nIt sounds so practical, so naturalistic.\n\nYet, it feels so fabricated.\n\nSo vague,\n\nRepressed.\n\nThe audience is impressed.\n\nSuch glorious sounds of shadows clapping and whistling.\n\nSome even throw bouquets of thornless roses upon the frigid stage.\n\nIdolizing a mere puppet upon the stage.\n\nThe actor contorts a sly smile,\n\nSuch desperation to feel.\n\nHe looks so practical, so naturalistic.\n\nYet, it feels so fabricated.\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Creepy Short Stories!","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/723746-why-can-t-the-lone-wolf-howl.json"}}