My Husband Was Made of Paper

"Babe, what's wrong?" My husband's familiar voice came from the pillow beside me. But when I turned over, I saw a stiff paper face.

It lay pressed against me in the bed, its body warm like a living person's, yet the corners of its mouth curled upward in an eerie curve.

Chapter 1 For as long as I could remember, I'd been the most promising kid in the family. I had good grades and a sweet face.

Then a car accident took one of my legs for good and left me blind in both eyes, and my sight had never come back. Luckily, I still had the man who was now my husband.

He never treated me as less because of my disability, and he was endlessly gentle and patient with me. It was the one blessing in all that misfortune.

But one evening, out of the endless darkness in front of me, I suddenly sensed a glimmer of light. It stung my eyes.

I stared for a long while before I realized it was coming from the ceiling light in our house. Could I see?

Overjoyed, I pulled out the phone I always kept on me and went to call my husband.

The phone rang three times before the call connected, and Mason's warm, velvety voice was right in my ear. "What's up, Leah?

Missing me?" Before we married and after, Mason had always spoiled me and indulged me just the same. I laughed and couldn't help going all sweet and clingy on him. "I miss you.

Hurry home—I've got a surprise for you." I held back the urge to tell him the good news.

If Mason came home and saw with his own eyes that I could see again, I thought, he might be even happier. "Okay, I'll be home in a bit.

I've got a surprise for you too, baby." With that, Mason hung up in a hurry. I stared at the clock on the wall. Two more hours and Mason would be off work. Knock. Knock. Knock.

When the hour hand pointed to seven, there was a knock at the door. Elated, I wheeled myself over and opened it. A paper man stood in front of me.

It was smiling, the corners of its mouth split into a startling curve. "Babe, I'm home." "So what surprise did you get me?" Eyes wide open, I stared in disbelief at the "person" outside the door.

Could this be the "husband" I'd lived with day and night for a year? My heart raced, nearly leaping into my throat.

Goosebumps broke out all over me, and in an instant I was drenched in cold sweat. No… I couldn't let it know I could see.

A chill shot up from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head.

Fear of the danger and the instinct to protect myself kept me from screaming, and I forced myself to sound calm. "I was going to make you steak, but I'm so clumsy—I burned it by accident, so I had to throw it out." I lowered my eyes and put on a hurt look, almost in tears.

Seeing how upset I was, Mason hurried over and hugged me, his voice as gentle as ever. "Don't be sad, Leah. I brought you your favorite little cake.

Forget the steak—let's have cake." His face was nearly pressed against me, and I could almost catch the smell of paper and paste on him—stale rotting wood and incense, exactly like the cold, damp smell of a funeral home.

Strange. Why couldn't I smell any of this when I was blind? Mason pushed my wheelchair into the living room, carefully helped me onto the couch, and put the little cake in my hands.

Chapter 2 "What the heck—the bakery didn't even put in a spoon. I'll grab you one from the kitchen." Mason grumbled and walked toward the kitchen with stiff steps.

A moment later he came back, took the little cake from my hands, and fed it to me by the spoonful. It should have been such a warm moment, yet to me it felt deeply wrong.

The paper man's skin was pale and gray, the scraps of paper on it barely hanging on, giving off a cold, deathly air.

I mechanically chewed bite after bite of the cake the paper man fed me, when suddenly I heard Mason's voice. "Leah, where's that steak you burned?

It doesn't seem to be in the kitchen trash." His face drew close, his hollow eyeballs staring straight into my eyes. "I heard some stray cats crying by the door, so I put it outside for them." The face in front of me was as pale as a ghost's, the whites of its eyes filling almost the whole socket.

Every hair on my body stood on end, but I still forced myself to stay calm. "Oh, I see. My Leah is so kind." I let out a breath.

But Mason kept staring at me without blinking. "The pan and the plates in the kitchen are all clean.

Did you wash the pan?" "But then why isn't there a single water spot in the sink?" My lie couldn't hold up to the slightest scrutiny.

If I had fried a steak, I'd have dirtied the pan and the dishes. If they were clean now, that meant I'd washed them.

But I hadn't set foot in the kitchen all day, so naturally there couldn't be any water spots in the sink.

Cold sweat slid down my back drop by drop, and my forehead was beaded with it too. I couldn't come up with an excuse. "Look at you. Why so scared?

It's not like I'm going to eat you." "Are you hot? You're sweating." Mason cupped my face in his tattered hands.

His flat face loomed larger and larger before my eyes, the corners of his mouth hooking upward into a curve no human could make, torn nearly up to his eyes.

His bright red mouth split open and planted a kiss on my face. "So you didn't make anything—so what? I could never bring myself to blame you." "I'm going to take a shower.

I'll come keep you company in a bit." He patted my head, straightened up, and turned toward the bathroom. Only once his back was turned did I dare let the terror show on my face.

My breathing quickened despite myself, and I quickly lowered my head. But halfway there, I sensed Mason stop moving.

The paper man's body didn't turn, but its head swiveled a full hundred and eighty degrees at a grotesque angle, its eyes locked on me.

Then it dropped flat onto the floor and crawled toward me, its limbs twisted the wrong way. I kept my head down, and suddenly a face appeared on the floor in front of me. Mason's.

His whole body was twisted into a bizarre, inhuman posture, his pinpoint pupils staring straight at me, his grin bloodcurdling. "My Leah… can you see now?" My body began to shake uncontrollably, the muscles in my face twitching nonstop.

With my unfocused eyes open, staring at the floor in front of me, I screamed. "Ah!

Honey, you scared me!" I made it sound like a pouty complaint, the terror in it well hidden, as if he'd simply startled me by popping up out of nowhere.

Only when Mason saw that I was scared did he put his mangled, contorted body back into the shape of a normal person and crouch in front of me.

Chapter 3 "Weren't you going to take a shower? Why'd you come back? You scared me." I reached out to hug him like I always did, but deliberately missed and grabbed at empty air.

My body tipped, and I nearly toppled off the couch, but Mason was quick and caught me. It was so strange.

His arms felt soft and warm like a person's, yet all my eyes could see was a pastedpaper frame, and my nose instantly filled with the smell of rotting wood. "I just saw your eyes moving.

I thought you could see." Mason reached out and tucked the loose hair on my forehead back, a note of regret in his voice. "If you could see, your mom and dad and I would all be so happy." I looked at the human face painted on paper in front of me.

The expression on it never moved, and the whole thing looked horribly wrong. But I forced down my fear and touched his cheek. "I want to see too.

Then I'd know what the husband I love most looks like." The paper man's arms went stiff around me.

After a long while, it spoke. "Don't you already know what I look like?" I remembered. Mason and I met in college.

We were together before my accident, and we were each other's first love. Mason was the star of the finance department.

He spoke fluent French, had a sunny, dazzling smile, was tall and handsome, and lots of girls liked him. I was no exception.

But compared with all those pretty girls, I was too ordinary. I only dared to keep my feelings buried in my heart.

Then, in a gen ed class we both took, he suddenly showed up and sat down next to me.

I still remember how he flushed all the way to his ears, a little out of breath, smiling at me. "Sorry, I'm late and there aren't any seats left.

Is anyone sitting here?" I shook my head, and he sat down. Later, for the group project, he naturally ended up in my group. I thought that was as far as our connection would go.

But after finals, he invited everyone in the group out to dinner, and afterward we played truth or dare. The bottle landed on him.

Everyone egged him on: "Mase, is there someone you like?" He glanced at me without thinking and said, "No." Everyone saw right through it: "Is there or isn't there!" He came clean: "Yes.

Right in front of me." My world had been sunk in darkness for so long that I could barely remember Mason's face.

All I remembered were his handsome features, his tall, lean frame, and how his eyes, bright as stars, would light up the moment they looked at me.

And this bizarre paper man in front of me—though it had exactly the same voice as Mason, it could never be Mason. Then where had my real love gone? Had it killed him?

Lying in bed, I felt my skin crawl at the sudden thought, and "Mason," done with his shower, came back and lay down beside me. "Babe, why are you still on your phone?

It's time to sleep." He looked at me with no expression and reached to take my phone. My instinct was to pull away, but I forced it down. If I dodged, it would mean I could see.

The moment Mason's hand touched the phone, I quickly tightened my grip on it. "I'm not sleepy yet. Can I listen a little longer?" "Oh, you.

Just a little, then get some sleep, okay?" There was a hint of helplessness in Mason's voice.

He tucked the blanket around me and turned his back to go to sleep, which was as good as a yes. Chapter 4 Looking at the paper man's back, I was sure it couldn't see me.

I quickly unlocked my phone and searched through everything on it. My circle was small.

My contacts held only my parents' numbers and his, and there was no one in my texts besides classmates and family. Only—why was there a message from my own number?

Was I texting myself? My hands, beyond my control, tapped the profile picture identical to mine, and sure enough, a few lines popped up. [Be very careful of the paper man.

He is not your real husband!] [He's hidden your real husband in the house!] In