a phoenix in the fire » fillie

chapter 24 ↝ rosy red lips

IT'S JUST ANOTHER BANNER YEAR, THERE'S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT IT.

With a single swipe, the lipstick smoothly glossed on over her lower lip. She hurriedly finished outlining her lips with the liner, and in two strokes, finished applying her lipstick.

"You look beautiful," Finn sincerely said.

"Thank you," Millie replied bashfully. She curled her eyelashes, wincing when it pulled too hard. Her eyes watered, and she fanned at them with her hands.

"Are you okay?"

"Perfectly peachy. So what's our plan for today?" Millie asked while pulling out the wand out of the mascara tube. She raised the wand to her eyelashes with a practiced ease that only years of wearing make-up could offer.

"I'm thinking you can finally get out. I know, I promised you could get out for a long time—"

"Three and a half months."

"What?" Finn asked, bovine in the moment.

"It's been one hundred and eleven days," Millie rephrased. She jabbed the wand back into the tube. "One hundred and eleven days I went without going outside once."

"I think you killed David," Finn bluntly said, "meaning you weren't inside for a hundred days."

"One hundred and eleven days," Millie repeated. "And I didn't kill David. M did."

"How do I know that you and M aren't the same person?" Finn asked. It was continuing to make no sense. They were going in circles and finding no answer. Millie was no help as of late. When she was asked about M, she shut down. From there, she refused to talk about the subject for days after. The group had learned their lesson and indirectly asked her about M. Millie was smart enough to not give away any important details, frustrating them.

"Why the hell would I orchestrate my own death?" she snapped. "Why would I kill David? I don't even know him."

"You tell me," Finn replied defensively. He leaned on the door, watching her roll her eyes.

"It's my birthday. Let it be my birthday," she pleadingly whispered. Her voice was soft and tired, holding such a distraught tone for the girl who considered herself victim. "We'll talk about this later."

"Fine," Finn detachedly said.

"Now what were we gonna do?" Millie turned the vanity light off and started putting her make-up away.

"We were going to get food, see a movie maybe, walk around..." Finn trailed off.

"Before I Fall?"

"I was thinking more of a classic like The Breakfast Club or Tommy Boy. Heathers maybe."

"Both?" Millie hopefully asked. Finn cracked a smile. He could never stay mad at her for too long. She was the only girl who had that effect on him.

"If that's what you want, Birthday Girl."

"That'd be appreciated."

"So about Winona—" Finn started to say. Millie snapped her gaze to him, eyes hard with emotion.

"What about Winona?"

"You're not gonna tell her you're alive?"

"Why would I?"

"She's your mother. She deserves to know you're alive."

"M already took care of that," Millie spat. She tugged her fingers through her hair, heatedly sighing.

"M?" Millie pulled her phone out and showed him the message, biting her lip.