"C'mon! We're going to be late," Alli said hotly, scolding me. I couldn't see her eyes past the skull she wore, but I was sure they trying to pierce into my soul at this very moment. I looked back down and picked up my skull and carefully put it upon my face. I cringed my face.
"It feels tight." I tried readjusting it, but it continued to lightly squeeze my forehead and nose uncomfortably. "This skulls' owner had a small head."
"Well you're just going to have to deal with it," Alli replied wearily. She turned and walked out the door and I quickly skipped after her.
"I haven't seen The Doctor in a long time," I said as we got into her car. I happily took the front passenger seat. "Has he changed much?"
"Not at all." Alli started the engine and we were soon on the road. There was very little traffic at this hour, when everything was dark and gloomy. Our ride progressed primarily in silence. She focused on driving, or at least pretended to, while I wondered what would happen when we arrived. I fidgeted with my skull again.
"This thing is really uncomfortable."
"Stop playing with it."
"Why do we have to wear them anyway?"
"You know why," she answered. I stared at her and she glanced at me briefly. She sighed in exasperation. "Well, you should anyway."
"I didn't listen when mom explained before. It wasn't important then."
"But it is now."
"I know. So..."
She was silent, as if thinking of what to say or if at all, and then she began. "We're not supposed to have identities. In death, everyone is the same. Everyone becomes just bones eventually. We must wear the skull of a deceased to strip us of our individuality and remind each other we are all on this earth together. We must focus on living together. Our differences do not matter because we all will end up the same."
I slouched in my seat and made a face, not at all satisfied with this answer.
"But no one even does this anymore."
"I know, times are changing. So now its just for holidays and special occasions. But the Doctor is a stickler for the old ways." She suddenly grinned, as if about to tell me a terrible secret. "Some say he's hundreds of years old even!"
"Impossible."
"Is it? Even mom and dad have known him for, like, ever."
I hesitated before asking another question.
"Who will get his skull when he dies?"
"The next doctor."
"But who will that be?"
"I don't know. It's not our job to know."
Silence again. We soon rolled into the parking lot of the large institutional complex. She parked, but then didn't get out of the car. I stopped, my hand on the door, and looked back at her.
"What's wrong?" I asked. Alli's hand moved towards the skull on her face, but stopped before touching it, as if doing so would be dangerous. Her hand fell to join the other in her lap and they laid together limply.
Her voice was quiet and meek, as if she was afraid to be heard. "Whose skulls are we wearing?" I said nothing and tightened my grip on the door handle. I looked out the window towards the building, where I could see the Doctor greeting others before the door. I know everyone's skulls vary - some old and cracked like the Doctor's, while others' looked almost recently dead. But from here everyone's look the same. Just people with skull faces. Death greeting one another with no expression and no judgement. I looked back to Alli.
"It's like you said - we're not supposed to know."
I swung open the door.
It is much more elaborate than the part of my dream I remembered haha. I almost always have very elaborate and bizarre dreams...but its remembering all the details of them that's hard. I wish I could though - some of them would make fun stories.
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