Fic: Masks

[but_can_i_be_trusted]

Author: irishvampire13
Title: 'Masks'
Rating: G
Word Count: 217
Claim: River Song; 15 Prompts--Poetry Randomizer
Prompt: #9--Put off that mask
Notes/Warnings: Pretty heavy Eleven/River and implied Doctor/Rose angst

Summary: Sometimes, she thinks a ghost is sharing their bed.

In the dark, I'd like to read his mind
But I'm frightened of the things I might find
Oh, there must be something he's thinking of
To tear him away

~*~ Til Tuesday
'Voices Carry'

Sometimes, she thinks a ghost is sharing their bed. Oh, not a literal one; she never believed in those.

But a ghost lies between them, nevertheless. A pink-and-yellow memory.

She doesn't want to indulge the dark little voice in the back of her mind. But there are times when it makes itself heard.

When they kiss, does he think of her lips? Does he wish for her to be the one he caresses late at night? Is he sorry that things have turned out this way, married to someone else?

Never does she admit these insecurities. So they never go away. Instead, they gnaw away at her from within, forcing her to fight to keep her usual cheerily flirtatious façade from slipping.

She spends every day of her life wearing masks. Has to; there's no other choice. It's a survival mechanism. In order to lead her life, she has to put up fronts, to wear disguises. That way, no one ever knows exactly what she's feeling, what she's up to.

But this mask fits a little too snugly. It's beginning to hurt.