Whenever getting ready Maya found that the most important aspect was one’s face. Not the physical beauty of it, but the way she held her face when speaking to people. This along with cautious actions and a specific tone of voice were all to be decided the morning of an event so to be seen as a dominant figure within any crowd.     

      These varying faces and tones were described by Maya as her alter egos. Each one of the alter egos that she had created were given names that fit their distinct personalities. In past days, Maya had preferred to play the role of Vicky, a powerful female with a short fuse who often kept to herself. Vicky had become her favorite as she began to enjoy putting others in their place. This served as a warning to outsiders not to push her limits. Although, she also felt at peace when playing Laura, a common teenager who was powerful as well, but did so by socializing with everyone in sight. The issue with Laura however was that the challenge of being unrealistically nice and sweet twenty-four-seven had become a burden to Maya.     

      To find a balance between Laura and Vicky was the ultimate struggle. If she were too nice she would be seen as weird or annoying. Being too mean however would portray her as odd or aggravating to be around. She could not find a typical balance between the two.  

      Before leaving for school each morning, Maya would check her reflection to ensure that she looked fully collected. Day by day the melanin in her skin had appeared to fade, so she began to apply a foundation slightly darker than her skin tone.                     Foundation also managed to hide the red bags surfacing directly underneath her eyes. Her eyelids were heavy with the mascara she applied to seem more awake, and her brown curly hair was pulled back neatly, giving her a somewhat composed look.                                                                                               To balance multiple personas was similar to being tied to strings, controlled by an inner puppeteer. “If I can keep it up until 3:15, I’ll be fine”, she repeats to herself every minute, hoping she will soon believe it. Upon arriving home Maya sat at the back edge of her mattress, leaning between the two walls which connected in the corner. Grabbing a makeup wipe she scrubbed her sensitive skin until all of the concealer had come off onto the wipes and her cheeks were red from the intensive rubbing. Wiping beneath her eyes, the red bags reappeared, and using a wet washcloth she pressed gently on the roots of her eyelashes that had been hurting all day from the constant application of mascara. Loosening her ponytail, Maya exhaled and gently massaged her tender scalp.

     She stared into her grey walls until finally the puppeteer had loosened its grip, and the strings fell one by one around her. For moments, she stared at her phone until her vision blurred and she could not make out the words on the screen. Tears streamed down her cheecks, however she did not wheeze nor pout. She had grown accustomed to this feeling, yet refused to let the outside world see her in a submissive form. The next day she would go back to school as she always did, hoping that one day Vicky or Laura would finally feel like the real Maya.