Shadow Man

[Dream]

Table of Contents

Vignettes

* The Masks We Wear (December 2010)

[Dr Archeville]

My name is Matthew Rose. Some people know me as the dark hero Shadow Man. Most don't. I'm a new guy around these parts. Still, I wear a mask. A spandex face cover with mirror goggle eyes. Still, I have to wear other 'masks'. Let's start with the easiest one to explain.

Mask Number One: Shadow Man

Shadow man is the mask I wear to protect my identity from others. If I did not wear this mask I could get in trouble. Villains would know who I was and come gunning for me in my day job and off times. Hell, there's some crazies out there that would even look up my family! As much as me and Nikki (my wife) go back and forth, I'd never wish any of those psychos on her. And my kids. God help me if they touch my kids. Shadow Man affords me freedoms from my 'normal' life. Who else gets to be a defender of justice like I do?

Mask Number Two: Father

Speaking of my kids, that's another mask I put on. I'm their father first and foremost. My boy is thirteen, his name is Joshua. My girl is sixteen, her name is Faith. The mask I put on for them is a jovial one. They can't see their father distressed! So I put on a happy face when I'm around them. Never mind that their mother is a backstabbing harpy. I love my kids and would do anything for them. Nikki says I'm spoiling them, but hey, you're only young once, right? Thus I put on a jovial mask.

Mask Number Three: Ex-Husband

Nikki, as I've said before (and will continue to say), is a no good trifling hussie. I wear an apathetic mask around her. I will not suffer her foolishness. If I show the least bit of emotion around her, she'll latch on to it and make it where she right and I'm wrong. This is why I see the kids separate from her. I don't want her to use her games against me through them. She's a noble demon in that regards. She doesn't use the kids against me. I would thank her for that, but I'm sure she'd use my thanks as something I've done wrong. Thus I wear an apathetic mask.

Mask Number Four: Work

I am a private investigator. The mask I wear for that part of my life is a sneaky one. For about fifteen or sixteen years, I've been serving justice in a less than superheroic way. Don't get me wrong, it's good work. Heck, some have even called me their hero for that. But what I do is hired snooping. I originally was going to be a cop. Things changed when my parents died. I got spooked. I still wanted to serve justice, but not so dangerously. Boy did I get a wake up call a while back. Turns out snooping the wrong people gets you shot just as fast as being a nonsnooping justice Still, I wouldn't have it any other way. Me and my sneaky mask get things paid for.

Mask Number Five: Just... Matthew

Is Matthew Rose a mask I wear? Who am I really? Outside of work, family and Shadow Man, there's me. What do I do besides that? Go to the gym? Hang out with friends? Go clubbing to make more friends? Do I have a mask for each of those or is it a collective Matthew mask? I could say yes, but then I'd be weighed down with masks. I could try to take them all off, but where do I stop? Just who am I in the dark? I guess I could go one one of those existential trips to find myself, but why? I'm perfectly happy where I am at the moment. Buried in my masks.