The blood seemed to defy gravity as it climbed its way up the towering white cloth. I was too late to save him from the evil tyrant Governer Odious. I stood up to face my band and in a wave of fury, I ripped my mask off of my face and shouted at the top of my lungs, “I will destroy him!” My voice echoed off the desert mountains and could be heard miles away. “And every Spanish thing….” I muttered. I looked at the ground then, feeling like I just confessed something. Not understanding why I did it, I raised my bloodied hand up and with a French accent that I’ve never spoken before, I asked my fellows, “Are you with me, Bandits?”

After traversing the mountain range and obtaining a map to Governer Odious’ city, we came across a caravan manned by slaves. The caravan had the stench of Odious and we would get him. We all vowed to kill him, after all. Armed with dynamite and pistols, we charged down the steep dune to the traveling caravan. We were about halfway when I had this strange urge to look to the left and ask a question. There was no one even to my left but my mouth opened up and I asked, “Alexandria, can you read?”

After that, it seemed like hours had gone by before we caught up to the caravan. I shot at the foot soldiers as my band set the slaves free, making the caravan stop. With no one pulling the wagon, the person inside was trapped. Before getting off my horse, I poised my pistol at the lock on the door and shot at it, breaking the lock off. We all dismounted our horses, faced the door, and aimed our weapons.

The door opened almost immediately and a small boy came out. Then a young woman exited.

“Boys, she’s mine.” As I said that, I could hear my companions take a step back. I then dashed toward her, picked her up, and left. We took her to our hideout; a palace in the middle of a vast lake. I looked out on the lake, contemplating what to do next.

I found a bottle of pills in my hand. Without thinking, I took a handful of them. I started to wonder if the spirit of revenge was making me do strange things. I would not ordinarily put a handful of pills in my mouth. The bottle then somehow dropped out of my hand and fell on the ground. Both she and I knelt down to pick up the bottle, but she got to it first.

“I’m sorry.” I confessed.“For what?”“I don’t want you to see me like this…”

Everything after that happened in a blur: I had decided to marry Evelyn and during the middle of the ceremony while one of my companions told me I took too many pills and I was dying, we were ambushed and taken to the desert to die from the scorching heat. I was not entirely with it by this point and I didnt question how a gun ended up in my hand or who untied me. I just stood up awkwardly and somehow the men holding us ran off. My head was swimming and I fell back down. I felt so tired. A girl was sitting beside me, about 6 years old. She wasn’t with us the whole time, but I didn’t pay attention. I just laid back and went to sleep.

Next thing I knew we were at the blue city of Governor Odious. It would be suicide for sure, but there was no other way. I would kill Odious or die trying. I lifted a flask of whiskey to my mouth and took a swig. I got up then and told my crew it was time to go. We started down the stairs and through the streets, keeping to the shadows. All was well until one of us was spotted—everything went wrong after that. One by one, we were picked off by the foot soldiers. I knew it was a lost cause, but something told me to keep going. I wasn’t sure if it was the whiskey talking or not. We ran from the soldiers and climbed a tower and soon it was just me and the child who thought I was her father.

We finally arrived at the terrace of the palace. Odious was right there. I took out my twin pistols and aimed, but I heard a woman yell so I looked; it was Evelyn. I put let my guard down and Odious ran. I chased him blindly to the pond, the little girl who called me her dad protested as she followed behind. As I passed a pillar of a gazebo, I felt something hit me and I stumbled back. Odious stared me down and held up a sword. Before I knew it, he punched me again and I fell back into the water. I panicked and for a reason I can’t explain, I could not get up. The girl begged me to get up, but all I could tell her was that I couldn’t. Odious held me underwater and I felt myself drowning.

I saw something strange as I felt myself dying. I saw a girl on a bed with a bandage wrapped around her head and a man in a wheelchair next to her. Strange, the man looked like me. They were both crying. I heard myself tell the girl that I had to die, that I was a coward. She begged him not to kill him. Was my life a mere figment of someone else’s imagination? The man then nodded and I found my strength and stood up to face Odious. The girl standing at the side of the pool begged no more fighting. I didn’t want to hurt the child anymore and I got out of the pool and picked her up.

“We’re a strange pair, aren’t we?” I asked her. She laughed.

Profile by the immensly talented sonata
Masked Bandit is a character from the movie The Fall directed by Tarsem Singh and acted by Lee Pace.
Pictures: Background Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert, Namibia, Lee Pace