Eye Wide Shut _top_ 【Free Forever】

They circled the room. On a dais, a ritual he couldn't name was unfolding — slow, deliberate, not quite a dance, not quite a prayer. The guests watched with the stillness of those who have stopped pretending to be shocked.

The ballroom was a drowned cathedral. Chandeliers hung like frozen chandeliers of ice. Every guest wore a mask — some ornate, some plain, all covering the upper face. Women in gowns that whispered of another century. Men in tailcoats or uniform jackets. No one spoke above a murmur. eye wide shut

The invitation had arrived three days ago — no return address, just a crimson wax seal he'd broken with his thumb. You are invited to see clearly. They circled the room

The Second Mask

Inside, the air was thick with incense and something older — beeswax, velvet, the ghost of perfume. A corridor led him past mirrors draped in black cloth. He caught his own reflection in a gap: still himself, but already less. The ballroom was a drowned cathedral

He felt his own face — his real face, or what he'd thought was real — begin to prickle. Not with fear. With recognition.