There was once a man with a paper bag on his head.
He wore it to hide his face from everyone.
He thought he was very ugly, so he thought people would hate to see him as he was.
No one knew who he was.

He had worn this paper bag ever since he could remember, ever since he was a child.
He knew all the kids at school hated him, so he hid.
He hid under the bag, with only two eye holes granting him vision into the real world.

Hiding was what he did best.

In the end, people became fascinated with this man who wore the paper bag.
They crowded his home, becoming obsessed with what was underneath.
But the man knew better.
He knew the people would hate what they saw.

So he kept hiding.

He kept hiding from everyone.

"No one will ever find my true face!" He thought to himself. "They will think that I am hideous!" So he kept it on, despite the public's curiosity.

The man became famous for his paper bag head.

And the man began to flourish in his newfound fame.

"This bag has brought me people who like me," He said to himself one day. "I will not ever take it off!"

He knew taking the bag off now was out of the question.

But one day...

A young girl managed to find the truth.
When the man was out, getting his mail, the girl walked up to him and asked,

"Why wear one?"

The man turned to her in wonder.

"You wouldn't understand." He snapped in reply.

"Isn't it hard to breathe in there?"

This question stopped the man cold.
It was logical, and he hadn't even thought of it himself.

Sure it had an obvious answer, but it also startled him to think that no one could have even asked him such a question.

"Please let me take it off," She said with a smile. The man violently shook his head no, but the girl persisted.

Unfortunately, as usual, there was a crowd of people around him, and they had been silent ever since the girl spoke up.

"I am going to, despite what the crowd may think!" She cried. She reached up, and violently tore the bag off his head.

The crowd gasped, and the man began to whimper in fear.

He was beautiful!

He wasn't hideous like he had believed, but instead, he was a handsome creature.

But the crowd did not like this one bit.

"Fake!"

"Tramp!"

"Boring!"

"What a let down!"

And the crowd disbanded, grumbling in complete disappointment.

And the man broke into tears.

He turned to the girl, but she was gone.

She had disappeared as the people had left. What's more, there was nothing left of her.

He collapsed onto the street, and began to sob loudly, because now, he was truly hated.

He reached for the bag, and clutched it to his chest.

But he was a rational man.

That bag would have done him no good.

Because people knew.

They knew.