UPDATE: Opening this up to everyone! Enjoy!
Thanks for being here. Let’s get straight to this extract!
This is from much later in the book. Darien is preparing himself for an evening with Jimmy’s phys ed coach, a lecherous douche called Timmerman. Why? Well, you’ll have to read the book and find out. Suffice to say, he’s got an ulterior motive.
From Her Substitute, by Ghostly Writer – Chapter Five
Sitting down in front of Ellen’s illuminated bathroom mirror, he smiled at his boyish reflection and picked up the first item he needed; a black wig cap, which he pulled down hard over his head, enjoying the snug feel. Carefully he tucked every strand of rogue hair up and underneath the material, ensuring no trace of Darien was going to snag anywhere.
The mask of Ellen’s face was lying on the counter, discarded like a used towel. He picked it up carefully, examining it as always for rips, tears, defects. Satisfied, he placed it down gently and caught his own gaze once more. “Are you ready for me to become you again, Ellen?” he asked.
He stared at the mask as he spoke in her voice. “I’m not only ready, I’m eager,” she said. “I’ve been enjoying your performance this week.”
“Thank you,” he replied. He picked up his adhesive material and began to coat his face with it, fanning away excess fumes. He concentrated on areas where he knew the mask would move most – around his mouth and cheeks, across his forehead and around his eyes. He had to be perfect, precise. There would be no second takes, no extra performance. With the adhesive in place he picked up the mask, deftly flipping it inside out and spreading the latex wide to engulf his face.
Leaning forward, he pressed down on the neck portion first, letting the adhesive on his skin grip the rubber. His fingers spread wide, flattening the mask over his Adam’s apple, concealing it. He took his time, making sure he made a solid connection. This was the base for the rest of the disguise. He glanced at himself in the mirror as his fingers crept upwards, smoothing the mask over the bottom of his chin, edging over the bone. Already he was starting to see the difference. The lack of Adam’s apple, the fine lines in Ellen’s neck. His hands moved outwards, fingertips running along the lines of his jaw as he pressed down hard, then moved upwards, adhering the bottom of the cheeks. With the mask fully in place below his mouth, he turned his attention to Ellen’s luscious lips.
Delicately shaped, lightly padded, Ellen’s latex lips were a frequent fantasy for Darien. He loved seeing them, loved wearing them and most of all, he loved using them. He opened his mouth slightly to accept them, pushing them over his own lips, feeling them adhere and embrace him. He knew without his specially fashioned dentures Ellen’s mouth would not be perfectly recreated, but now his lips were hers. Anything he said would go through her. It was a wonderful sensation.
He ducked his nose inside the latex next, while also ensuring the higher parts of his new cheekbones were adhering correctly. He paused for a second so he could apply a little more adhesive. The mask fell forward, exposing half of his face as a middle-aged woman and half as a teenage boy. After a small adjustment, his hands went to work again, rolling and smoothing upwards as the latex formed the edges of Ellen’s eyes, clinging around his eye sockets, covering his own eyebrows. The mask itself had a pair of false, elegant eyebrows within it. Ellen hadn’t yet decided to shave them completely, but instead relied on makeup to enhance them, just as Darien would.
With the eyes and brows completed, he could see the beginning of Ellen. She was looking at him from the mirror, staring intently as Darien pressed down the forehead of the mask, smoothing it down carefully. Within seconds he was finished. He turned his head left and right, pressing down on the odd unintended wrinkle, smoothing the mask, ensuring the fit was tight and flexible. He smiled, and Ellen smiled. He frowned, and Ellen frowned. He laughed, licked his lips, blew a kiss, winked and opened his mouth in shock. Ellen did it all, willingly. Very little of Darien remained. Instead he saw a mature, older woman with a sexy attitude before him.
There were faults, of course. The most obvious, without any clothing to hide it, was the long seam across his breastbone, where the edge of the mask ended. With a blouse, shirt or high-necked dress, it wouldn’t be a problem, and would actually make removing the mask a little easier. Not tonight. Ted Timmerman could see no trace of anything unusual. Darien picked up his liquid latex bottle, unscrewed it and began to paint it carefully over the mask’s edge. After several coats, the difference between mask and skin was barely perceptible – but he wasn’t finished yet. He switched to makeup, ensuring that the latex was carefully blended with the color of his own skin, not too far from Ellen’s own.
Now he was getting somewhere. Ellen Spiller looked at him from the mirror. She was free of makeup, her eyes were the wrong color, and there was something about the set of her jaw that was off. Not to mention her hair was under a wig cap. Nonetheless, she was here. Her presence was in the room. He smiled at her, and she returned the favor.
The sight of her smile sent a jolt through him that made him shudder, involuntarily. Despite his release in the bath earlier, he felt himself growing beneath his female undergarments. He tried to concentrate on other things, beginning his mantra of facts about Ellen’s life.
A cigarette would probably help to calm his nerves. Ellen retrieved one from a nearby pack, which Darien had to reluctantly admit, he’d missed. He lit one of the menthols and slowly dragged on it, savoring the smoke. He blew out gently, enveloping the mirror for a moment. Ellen’s face appeared through the smoke, a vision.
“It’s time I came out of the shadows,” she whispered to herself. “Time for makeup.”
Darien loved putting on Ellen’s makeup almost as much as he loved putting on her mask. It was a socially acceptable mask, in a way. A layer of artifice that women were free to apply whenever they wished. For some it was the only way they could function; it was the mask they wore to be free. For Ellen, Darien knew makeup was a necessary evil. Some days she wouldn’t want to wear any at all, but most days she would apply it carefully. Her immaculate makeup, so painstaking, was one of the main reasons Darien was attracted to her – and had wanted to become her. Now, getting to apply her personal makeup supply to a recreation of her face, he could barely believe his luck.
Again he told himself, tonight was special. Tonight he needed Ellen to look especially alluring, especially seductive. “I think we can do something about that,” she said with a little laugh. He started with eye shadow, choosing a smoky grey that would highlight and draw attention to her eyes. The lighter shade went on first across Darien’s eyelids, and then a darker shade in the crease. Complimented with black eyeliner, his eyes soon looked, well, eye-catching.
A mascara wand was used next, lengthening and thickening Darien’s own lashes to an excellent approximation of Ellen’s. With them complete, he blinked at her face a few times. She smiled in return. Her sexy, come-hither look was working already.
Foundation was next, which Darien carefully smoothed over his false face in an even, beige layer. As well as covering the telltale signs of his mask, it was an excellent excuse to touch and feel the mask itself, and Darien reveled in it, moaning quietly, narrowing Ellen’s eyes as he watched her pleasure herself in the mirror. After a few moments enjoying himself, he switched to blusher, applying a light rose color to his cheeks and setting it with powder. The mask looked more natural than ever, now. Clearly Ellen was a woman who enjoyed wearing makeup, but there was little to no trace of the latex face he wore in the mirror.
His next task was always enjoyable. Lipstick. He’d planned this earlier in the week, having seen the shade in Ellen’s collection. It was a deep, bold red which complimented his sultry eyes and already-painted toes. The liner went on first, outlining his lips. Then he watched Ellen smile as she slowly raised the lipstick’s tip, applying it firmly against her lips and beginning to coat.
Darien pulse was raising rapidly as he watched, feeling Ellen’s lips press against the stick, smelling its sweet scent. He let her tease him, let her take her time and show him how much she enjoyed this. He almost wished he’d invited Jimmy to watch him transform; it might have been his last opportunity. But there’d be other chances, he thought. Other nights.
Shuddering in excitement, he blotted Ellen’s lips and placed the lipstick to the side. His nails were painted next, the same shade as his toes. He added several layers of polish to ensure it was even, then smoked another cigarette as he waited for them to dry. He watched Ellen in the mirror all the while, trying out facial expressions, whispering lines. All trace of Darien had just about vanished now. If Jimmy walked in the room right then, he wasn’t sure how he would answer.
Her hair was still missing, however. With the nails completely dry, he pulled Ellen’s ‘going out’ wig from its stand, flipped it out and placed it carefully on his head, ensuring the lace front was woven into his own hairline. With some bobby pins, a quick brush and some hairspray, his new hair was complete. He tossed it from side to side, laughing. Ellen had rarely looked this good, he thought.
Two more facial alterations remained. The first was his eyes; with great care he replaced his colored contact lenses, changing the color from brown to sparkling green. Finally he picked up the set of dentures he was so proud of and gently fitted them inside his mouth.
He smiled once more, and – there she was. Ellen was complete. Darien was her exact double. Her straight but not perfectly white teeth flashed back at him. They were the teeth of a real person, not an imitation. They were the finishing touch.
“Well, hi there Darien,” she said to him. “Thank you so much for helping me with my makeup tonight. I really wanted to look my best, and I think you’ve helped that happen.”
He said nothing in reply, so neither did she. He sat silently, watching her smoke, appreciating what he saw. It could have been a video, surreptitiously filmed with a hidden camera. Every move, every gesture, every aspect of what he could see was a perfect imitation of Ellen. And it was all coming naturally to him now. He barely even though about what he was doing; with the mask in place, the undergarments that shaped his body and a cigarette in his hand… he became Ellen.
“I could take your place, you know,” he said, glancing at the ceiling.
“You already did,” Ellen replied. “Do you want more?”
“Of course I do,” he said. He lowered his gaze, looking her in the eyes. When she spoke, it was with Darien’s voice. “I want everything. I want your life, Ellen. I want your car. Your house. Your wardrobe. Your jewelry… and your nephew. I want it all… and I could take it, too.”
She nodded, but said nothing.
“If you just stayed in the Caribbean… no-one would ever know,” Darien said. “I could go on living your life. Jimmy doesn’t seem to mind. Nor does Gina, or Tony. I could go on teaching English, and Darien would just drop out of school. It would be perfect.” She dragged deeply on another cigarette, regarding him coolly. “Would you like that, Ellen? A one-way ticket out of your life. A chance to start again with Carl. He’s rich, he could make it happen. And I’m game.”
She smiled then, her eyes lowering. “Sorry,” she said quietly. “You know that’s not possible. You have one more night as me, Darien. I hope you… take full advantage of it.”
“You know I will,” he whispered back.
It was time to get dressed, and complete the illusion.