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Description
Walking through a shopping centre, I look around at all the smiling faces, they flicker. For an instant I see inside the facade, I see inside at the same face they all wear; the blank, lifeless, loveless, awful display. Vision returns to normal, the masks are back in place. I walk further, entering a store, browsing with the masses. Finding what I came for I make my way to the counter, walking amongst the blind, the flicker comes again. I greet the man behind the counter and shiver as his lips twitch in a smile that never touches his dead eyes. He sees me off with an empty cookie-cutter platitude.

There's a lump in my throat,
Fear in my gut.
Where have all the people gone?

All I see are flickering, shimmering lies.
Cold, lifeless automatons.
There's nothing in their eyes...

I walk further, the flickers coming more frequently, seeing the truth that lies beneath. My eyes ache from the strain of watching the protective cloud being torn from the world.

Head's aching from the pressure,
Sweat breaking out in rivers down my face,
How can this be the way it really is?

The stress is crushing me,
Perception changing with the seconds.
I can't help it, I don't want to see!

I escape into the restrooms, eyes burning, mind racing. Locked in a cubicle, I wait for the panic to subside. I hear people come and go, wait for them all to leave so I can extricate myself from this. At last it's silent. I stand, unlock the door and stumble to the sinks. Washing my face with the cool water from the tap soothes my burning skin. Wiping the water from my eyes I stand and stare at myself in the mirror as the world flickers again and I stand revealed.

My face cracks and falls away,
Revealing the corpse within,
My eyes are drained of colour, lifeless.
I'm just like them...

The pain comes crashing back,
Vision blurred by tears of disbelief,
Mind shuddering from the realisation, sanity slips through the cracks.

Description
Walking through a shopping centre, I look around at all the smiling faces, they flicker. For an instant I see inside the facade, I see inside at the same face they all wear; the blank, lifeless, loveless, awful display. Vision returns to normal, the masks are back in place. I walk further, entering a store, browsing with the masses. Finding what I came for I make my way to the counter, walking amongst the blind, the flicker comes again. I greet the man behind the counter and shiver as his lips twitch in a smile that never touches his dead eyes. He sees me off with an empty cookie-cutter platitude.

There's a lump in my throat,
Fear in my gut.
Where have all the people gone?

All I see are flickering, shimmering lies.
Cold, lifeless automatons.
There's nothing in their eyes...

I walk further, the flickers coming more frequently, seeing the truth that lies beneath. My eyes ache from the strain of watching the protective cloud being torn from the world.

Head's aching from the pressure,
Sweat breaking out in rivers down my face,
How can this be the way it really is?

The stress is crushing me,
Perception changing with the seconds.
I can't help it, I don't want to see!

I escape into the restrooms, eyes burning, mind racing. Locked in a cubicle, I wait for the panic to subside. I hear people come and go, wait for them all to leave so I can extricate myself from this. At last it's silent. I stand, unlock the door and stumble to the sinks. Washing my face with the cool water from the tap soothes my burning skin. Wiping the water from my eyes I stand and stare at myself in the mirror as the world flickers again and I stand revealed.

My face cracks and falls away,
Revealing the corpse within,
My eyes are drained of colour, lifeless.
I'm just like them...

The pain comes crashing back,
Vision blurred by tears of disbelief,
Mind shuddering from the realisation, sanity slips through the cracks.