Short Fictions, Thrills And Wonders

Beauty

She was never the good-looking one. She was never praised for her looks or her curves.

If only these people can judge her by her insides. If only these people can see beyond the surface. If only these people can see how she looks beneath her skin.

She's determined to show them. She's determined to show them all, that she's not the ugly duckling that never turned into a swan.

She picks up the knife she had been sharpening. She traces it on the marks she made on her skin using a very convenient marker. The first cut needs to be the deepest. She presses the knife deep beneath the skin at her forehead and wriggles it about to "loosen it up".

She cuts down all the way to her chin, then her throat and continues on to her breasts. The knife draws blood, but not pain. The fine line of red that stretches from her forehead to her breasts is now continuing to her abdomen, and then her nether regions. She pulls the blade out and continues her work to the back of her head and the back of her neck.

It is finished.

Using her short stubby fingers, she peeled the skin off her. Her blood was all over the floor. She wasn't looking, but she somehow knew that she was doing the right thing. When she was done, she opened her eyes.

She looked at the mirror.

And a beautiful lady looked back at her, bloody from head to toe.

The lady in the mirror spoke:

"Did it work?"

She smiled and nodded in reply.