Jake is in the pinnacle of success - he's a full-fledged doctor with enough money to retire at such a young age. The only failure he could ever admit is his social and romantic lifestyle. A doctor's schedule leaves no windows for such an endeavor. Jake had relationships in the past but they do not last long. They said Jake is more focused on his job than the people around him. He can't blame them since even he knows it's real.
Science is Jake's forte ever since he was a child. He was thought by his father to help people and spread goodwill in the world. Those are the reasons why he became a doctor and why he loved the job.
He is a success - a person at the summit. But when you're at the top, the only direction you could ever move is down. And Jake is too protective of his status to ever lay a single step down his mountains of success. And so he stayed in that pinnacle of success. Day in and day out, he was a doctor in practice and fame. People praised him and he'd be lying if he didn't say he enjoyed it.
But as months passed, the praises become stale. Even the pleasure of helping people turned into a boring routine. Jake wants things to change but he is shackled to look for it. People often compare him to Thom - his younger brother, a jobless bum whose only productive activity is playing with that band of his. Thom may not have reached the success as Jake has but he does what makes him happy. Thom is pursuing his passion. And to be honest, Jake is kind of envious of that.
That would all soon change when Jake saw the skin-textured mask on the sleeping Thom's stomach. The medical seminar was cut short so Jake came home early. The others aren't home yet, all except for Thom who hasn't landed on a job for months. Jake was about to wake him up when he saw the mask.
Jake has seen all kinds of masks during his work travels around the globe. The mask of Thom's grasp is stranger than the rest. He grabbed it and inspected its lifelike features. The texture is so smooth and feels so real - as if it was made from real skin. If he focused on it, he could feel the warmth and the faint reverberating heartbeats. Jake wore his glasses and looked close to the surface.
It can't be!
Jake could see the individual pores and the faint vessels in the dermis. This isn't an imitation. This is the real deal. He flipped the mask to see if there are signs of scars and stitches that would further prove that this mask was made from real human skin.
He found none. If this was some taxidermist's sick kind of joke, he could already preservative chemicals that prevent the mask from rotting. But no - there's no sign nor anything. The mask is free from blemishes and surgical marks.
Whatever the mask is, it greatly amazed Jake. It also piqued his curiosity. It's a mask and masks are worn. He looked back at the sleeping Thom. Jake crouched and laid the mask on Thom's face. It was stupid of Jake to expect that something would happen. It's just like a mask and once it's worn, its function is therefore fulfilled. And to note, having the mask of Thom looked quite creepy. The mask is flat which gives watchers an uncanny feeling. It'd make for a good Halloween mask.
Oh! That's probably why Thom had it. Halloween is coming and if what he heard is right, Thom's band will play in a local theater.
Jake's curiosity is quenched but matters about the mask still linger in his mind. He grabbed the mask by its seams but found resistance when he tried to pull it. It wouldn't budge. Thom's face would stretch when he pulled it but no matter how hard he tried, it just wouldn't break free.
There must be an adhesive, Jake thought. And surprisingly, that amount of force must have woken up his sleeping younger brother. But he's out like a person drunk fool. Jake pinched Thom's nape which should get him riled up instantly. That attempt failed too.
Jake went to the garage to get a chisel and break that mask free. When he came back to the living room, the mask is on the ground along with another mask. He is sure that there's only one mask when he left. He picked the other mask and Jake's eyes widened when he saw its features.
The new mask, unlike the first one, has his brother's features - his façade. It got his appearances down to the faint mole on his chin.
It's impossible, Jake thought. Something cannot come from nothing, that's one of the fundamental laws of the Universe. But there must be an explanation for this result. So the Scientist in him made him reproduce the same steps on how it came to this. Jake crouched beside Thom then laid the blank mask on his face.
In a minute, the phenomena that broke Jake's understanding of the world happened. The mask foamed and a new one formed on top. It has Thom's façade, perfect like the first one. The two masks popped out like bread on a toaster.
Now, Jake has three masks - two of Thom's façade and the original mask. He …