A/N: This is a Duskwood fanfiction but not a Jake and MC story. Let's say it's from an uncommon pov. I don't want to tell you who this is, but I think you will guess it quickly 🤭.
The story is pretty sad, no good ending for this one sorry.

(Sorry about the picture, Canva decided to stop working, so I had to find something else.)

||TW : dark thoughts, death, implied suicide||

~~~~~~

I put my paintbrush on the easel with shaking hands. The room was quiet and all I could hear was the ticking clock on the wall behind me and my uneven breath. 

I struggled with this painting. The whole time I had a weight on my chest, making each breath uneasy to take. As if the guilt was crushing me, as if the pain was choking me. Fortunately, my fingers were still moving, and they drew the last picture I could ever create, instinctively, as the witness, the evidence of my existence. But I still couldn't find the nerve to look at the canvas. 

So I looked up and let my eyes wander around the room. The blinding light of the sun peeked through my windows and even with the curtains closed, the shimmering light dazzled me. 

I put a hand in front of my eyes to protect them. As I was drowning in my painting, I hadn't noticed how bright the sun was for an early spring day. 

Usually, I painted my back to the bay window, this way I wasn't bothered by the light. But for a few weeks I had to face it. For my own protection. I was scared, terrified! I jumped at every shadow that appeared behind the white curtains, expecting it to be him. The Man Without a Face. Hannah was right. He came after me as well. He wanted us to pay our debts, to face our mistakes. 

The camera that Hannah lent me has never shown any evidence of his existence, but I knew he was here somewhere outside, waiting for the good moment to strike. But I wouldn't let him! 

He made my life miserable, unbearable. I was used to living with guilt, and I understood long ago that nothing I could do would ever help me redeem myself. But since the Man Without a Face appeared in my life, I lived in fear. 

I felt his presence, following like a shadow, to remind me every second of my existence was a mistake. I didn't know if he was a ghost created by the wrath of the life I took, or if he was the ripper itself dragging me to my fate. All I knew was that he wouldn't give me a chance of relief. The only way to finally have peace was to fall into his trap. 

But at that moment he was hiding. I could feel him, watching me from his secret place, but I couldn't see him. 

As I was sure the Man Without a Face didn't stand across my window, I allowed my gaze to rest on the painting. 

It was a portrait. The feature was delicate, painted with thin lines to fit the edges of the frail female face in front of me. Full lips, pale skin, a few freckles on the nose and cheekbones, it was a common face. 

What caught the eyes was the woman's hair. The light Venetian blond strands weren't tight in a high bun, nor loose on her shoulders, they were spread around her head, mocking the shape of snakes. Medusa, one of the three gorgonians. Medusa, that could turn a human into stone with one petrifying look. 

The eyes looked lifeless as much as the poor victims of Medusa. Empty, blank, hollow. And while I was staring at the empty eyes of the painting, it hit me. I painted Medusa so many times, copying every art I could find on the internet. My phone was full with pictures of this figure. But for the first time, I gave real features to the Greek gorgonians. I gave her my face: a self-portrait. 

She was the réflexion of how I perceived myself, a monster doomed by a mystic creature. 

Like Athena did for Medusa, the Man Without a Face cursed me to make me pay for my sins. My sins that happened a long time ago, my sins that crawled under my skin and never left me, as an unfriendly companion that would stick with me my whole life. 

I still remembered the day when my life changed forever. The day when the naive teenager I was became the culprit of a horrendous crime. One innocent mistake led my friends and I to unspeakable and irreversible consequences. This night was burnt in my memory for the rest of my days. 

—

It was a moonless night with a heavy atmosphere, far too hot for these early days of June. But we didn't care, we felt lucky because for once, we could fully enjoy the pine glade festival. 

I was 16, and my only concern at that time was to spend time with my best friend, Hannah. We agreed on meeting at Grimrock to see the fireworks. Most people watched them from the glade down the hill, this is why we chose this crowdless spot to enjoy the show. Hannah had brought a bottle of vodka and we were sitting in the grass, giggling and gossiping. 

It's only when we walked back home that I realized I lost my phone. As the weather was far too hot for late spring, I wasn't wearing a jacket and had put my phone in the back pocket of my jeans. It must have fallen to the ground when we were still in Grimrock. Unfortunately, we had almost reached the town center when I figured this out. 

"Oh, no, no, no! Where's my phone?" I whined while rummaging through my pockets. 

Hannah turned to me with the bottle of vodka half emptied in her hand. "Wait. I'll call you," she put the bottle on the edge of the fountain that stood in the middle of the place where we were, and took her phone to dial my number. 

As expected, no ringtone rose in the quiet of the night. Only the tone was heard from Hannah's phone.

"Shit!" I started to panic, "Mum's going to kill me if I can't have it back!" I peeked a look at my watch on my wrist, it was already past midnight, "No! She allowed me to come home at 1:00am. We'll never have the time to walk back to Grimrock and look for my phone before that time!" 

Hannah stood in silence for a few seconds, a slight frown between her brows. Suddenly her face lit up and she smiled, "I have an idea! Follow me!" she gestured to take my hand but spilled the bottle of vodka in the fountain. 

"Oh fu-..." I started, but Hannah didn't let me the time to speak and led me toward the south of the city. 

"Leave it! The municipal employees will clean this tomorrow. It's the same thing every year, they're used to it."

I reluctantly followed her and we ran into the empty streets of Duskwood, while the bottle of vodka emptied at the bottom of the fountain, drowning with it the first mistake we've made that night. 

I realized soon that Hannah was taking me to the junkyard. I knew she and Richy were friends since childhood, but I didn't understand how he could help. 

"What are we doing here?" I asked, a bit confused. 

"Richy just had his driving license, he could take us to Grimrock to get your phone back." 

"But it's past midnight! What if he's sleeping? What if we wake his parents up?" 

"No, don't worry about that," she pointed at the side window of the building where we could see the light, indicating someone was there. Hannah walked up the couple of steps in front of the building and frantically knocked on the door. 

We heard the sound of irregular footspet and then, Richy's face appeared in front of us, "Hannah? What are you doing here?". I winced, I could smell the scent of alcohol from where I was and his glassy eyes confirmed he must have drunk too much.

"We need your help. We need to get back to Grimrock, Amy lost her phone there. I thought that maybe, you could drive us there," she took a look above her shoulder toward me. 

Richy followed her gaze and noticed me, he waved his head to greet me and I slowly nodded. We rarely hung out together, only when Hannah gathered us all. Apart from this, we had never been close. 

"Sorry, but I can't," he chuckled, "As you can see I'm still a little bit drunk."

My throat tightened and I felt anxiety come back, "But my mum will kill me if I go home without my phone. She just bought it for me," my voice sounded desperate and the first tears started to form in the corner of my eyes. 

"I can drive," Hannah stated with confidence. We both looked at her with wide eyes. "I know, I don't have my driving license, but Dad taught me how to drive in the motel's parking lot. There's only 5 kms to drive, I'll manage!" 

"Bu-but are you sure it's safe?" I asked dumbfounded. 

"Do you want your phone back or not?" 

I quietly nodded while Richy shrugged, "I can give you the old AMC Gremlin we have. It's an old model, it'll go unnoticed if you scratch it."

And this how, 5 minutes later, we were leaving the junkyard, Hannah driving the old car and me sitting next to her. Part of me felt relieved we were about to get my phone back, but on the other hand, I still felt uncomfortable. 

"Hannah, is this okay? I mean, you drank a bit, are you able to drive?" 

"Of course I am," she shook her head as if she was pushing away this idea, "I've barely drunk. As I told you, it's not the first time I'm driving, it's totally safe. Look!" 

And with these words, she speeded up. The path between the garage and our destination was a sinuous road surrounded by the woods. There was no light and the visibility was bad. Instinctively, my hand reached the handle above the window and I clenched it. As I looked back through the windshield, I saw a shadow moving a few meters ahead of the car.

"Hannah, watch out!" I yelled. 

But it was too late. The shock hit us hard. Hannah braked abruptly, making the car stop in a screech. As it was an old car, there was no airbag. I only realized later how lucky we were for not being hurt. We survived this accident with only a little neck and shoulder pain. 

The headlights lit the road before us and the edge of the wood, but there was enough light to see the whole windshield was cracked and a big bump on the hood of the car. 

With shaking moves, we got out of the vehicle. I started to walk toward the shadow that laid on the floor, and the more I got closer the more I realized we hit a human being. 

"We need to call 911," I whispered. 

"No, we need to call Richy! If we call 911 now they will also think we stole the car!" Hannah's voice didn't sound like herself, it was uneven, almost hysterical. 

As Hannah called Richy, I approached the body. I instantly recognized her, Jennifer Hanson, the daughter of Michael, the bartender. 

It was the first time I saw a dead body, and surprisingly, she seemed peaceful. Her green eyes were slightly open and reflecting the red taillights of the car, making them sparkles. Her skin wasn't pale like I would have imagined and as the wind rose, her hair and clothes started to swirl, giving the illusion she was moving. Only the puddle of blood that formed under her head indicated she was no longer alive. 

Richy's voice woke me from my contemplation, "Fuck, FUCK!" he panted, "I thought you rolled over a fucking deer, not a woman!" The poor man raised his hands in the air and clenched a few strands of his hair in his fists. He looked desperate, "What are we gonna do?" 

"We need to call an ambulance," I repeated. 

"No!" Hannah cut me off, "If we do that, we're going to jail. I'll go to jail. Oh no.." she started to cry, "I was driving this fucking car! And you," she turned toward Richy, "You gave it to me. You'll be arrested too."

Richy stared at her blankly, then he slowly nodded, "Yes, you're right. Shit!" he cursed under his breath, "I can't… My Parents…" he walked to Jennifer and took her by the arms, "We need to hide her. Hannah, drive the car back to the junkyard, take the key of the shed and bring some shovels back."

Hannah hurried to the car but when she saw I wasn't moving she came back to me and grabbed me by the shoulders, "Amy! You have to help Richy. If it wasn't for your stupid phone, we wouldn't be here!" 

I slowly walked towards Richy who was already dragging Jennifer's body in the woods. I bent over to take her ankles and helped Hannah's friend to carry our victim. Her skin was still warm. It felt weird to think that less than 20 minutes earlier she was peacefully walking back home and now the signs that made her alive faded away. She became flesh and bones, an empty shell. 

We walked away from the path and stopped near a tall oak. Here, there was enough space to hide the body. Richy kneeled on the ground and started to dig with his bare hands. Confused, I imitated him. The soil was dry due to this few days of heat. I tried to plant my fingers as deep as I could to remove more earth. It hurt me, it felt like small burns sneaked under my nails. I was so disgusted by what we were doing that I had to swallow back several times the taste of bile that invaded my mouth. 

Finally, we heard Hannah's footsteps getting closer. In silence, she handed us shovels so we could continue our work faster. 

None of us talked, and after another hour in the woods, we were able to go back home. 

Once in my room I rushed to my bathroom and undressed before shoving myself under the shower. The water was cold but I didn't care. I rubbed my skin again and again to wash away the dry earth and blood that was stuck to my body. 

Then, I threw away the clothes I wore that night and when Jennifer's body was found, all evidence had already disappeared. 

My mother never knew about it. She thought I came home right after the fireworks and she never suspected I could be involved in Jennifer's death. What she knew was that I lost my phone. She didn't punish me, but I had to work all summer to buy myself a new phone instead of going on holiday to Italy with her. 

I stopped talking to Hannah after that day. And soon, people forgot how close I was to her. I thought that by closing myself to the world, no-one would ever learn what I did and I would eventually forget about this. But I was wrong. 

—

Ten years have passed and the guilt never left me. It was even worse. I didn't know if the Man Without a Face really existed, all I knew was that he was the personification of my guilt and I couldn't live with it anymore. 

Hannah wanted us to go to the police but I no longer had the strength to face it. What was the point? Nobody cared about me anyway. I left the drawing class days ago and no-one noticed. Even when I was there, no-one talked to me. I was already a ghost, my life ended that night so I had no reason to fight back. 

My mother didn't care either. She had a new husband and a young son now. We barely talked and I didn't want to burden her with my mistakes. Erasing myself from her life would be the best gift I could ever give her. 

In ten years, only one person seemed to be interested in me. Dan, a friend of Hannah. We talked a bit on a dating app but he soon realized I wasn't worth it because he stopped. And when he came back, it was too late. My visit to Iris Hanson with Hannah was the straw that breaks the camel's back. It proved to me I shouldn't be involved in anybody's life. 

Hannah seemed relieved, but I… I

looked into Iris eyes and all I could see was her daughter's eyes. They were begging me for justice, her own justice. 

I made my decision and nothing could change it. It was time to kill the evil at the root. I would disappear just like Jennifer. The only difference was that no-one would miss me. No-one would care. Only I was aware of my existence. 

So, I took one last time my paint brush to write down the canvas the letters that represented me. The letters that were the only proof that I once existed.

-Amy Bell Lewis-