What surprised me was when he took off the mask. I'd never seen him without it on before. I never knew what to expect from someone with such a complicated personality as him. It was why the mask was fitting. But I can tell you, it certainly wasn't the scars that marked his face, matched with a lopsided and almost pained looking smile. I didn't know how to react, and stared in shock and morbid fascination.
        His hair was mid-back length, and was a dark, but un-shiny black from lack of care, and his dull blue  eyes held sadness as he said, "Now you know..."
        I nodded a little, at a loss for words. A part of me wanted to ask what the scars were from, but thought it might be inappropriate.
        He seemed to notice and answered my unspoken question. "Experiments. Pray to the heavens above they don't start Experiments on you any time soon. Just know they will happen eventually. It's inevitable for us.
        I simply nodded again, then finally found my voice. "What makes you Special?"
        "Me? I can see things others can't. Into the past, future... Even minds. Takes a lot of energy though. I try to keep from doing it as much as I can. I only do it long enough for the Experiments. And you?"
        "So far all I can say is I have the competency to learn and memorize things very quickly, as well as have very high cognitive abilities. They want me to work in the Labs." I replied.
        He seemed to mull this over for a moment, then said, "Don't let them trick you. They'll be too tempted to study you if you're already in the Lab. Stay away from anything they ask you to try if you can."
        The timer outside went off, signalling that their visiting time was over. Keys jingled on the other side of the heavy steel door, no doubt the guards.
        He sighed, his long black bangs swayed slightly. "Looks like time's up. Good luck, kiddo. You'll need it..." He raised a shackled hand toward me and I shook it, the chains on his wrist s making a familiar metallic sound at the movement.
        The door opened then and I stood from my chair, turning for the entrance. I felt bad for him, and guilty for being free. I felt bad for all of them here. Unless they truly let me work in the lab like they said, this would be my fate as well, to never be free.
        Then I looked over my shoulder at the man, who had once again donned his mask, and I remembered the scars, and the sadness and loneliness in his eyes. I shuddered. If I worked in the Lab, I'd be doing things like that to these poor, unfortunate people, whose only crimes were being born what had been dubbed as 'Special'. I preferred Eccentrics.
        Compared to the horror and pain I'd have to put them through, being locked up in a cage like a dangerous animal wasn't so bad. After all, these Special people were nothing to them. Test rats.
        As if he'd read my mind, the masked man called out, "And for God's sake, stay away from the rat maze!"
        And as the thick door closed him off from the rest of this cruel world again and placed him back into his dark, solitary confinement for his crimes of being a human phenomenon, I thought to myself, Yes... Perhaps he had...