The Devil In Disguise

CHAPTER 14: Natural Beauty

Today was one of those days again. That dream fucked me up and now I'm filled with undeserved anxiety, haunted by the same beautiful fucking face with the same marred mind.

Deep breath in, deep breath out. Today won't be a bad day, I reassured myself.

Swinging my legs out of bed with more enthusiasm than I felt, I took a shower and got ready for school. Dad had gone to work and Mum had gone to the corner shop to get milk.

Smoothing down my skirt, I looked closely at myself. So different than how I used to be. My dark circles dominated my dainty face and I needed extra concealer to cover it up. My dark eyes looked even darker today, haunted by the remnants of last night's dream.

My sunset curls looked limp and lifeless though they were so bright, like the soul had been sucked out of them. Just like my body in my dream, I thought.

I knew what he'd say if he saw my hair now.

"I liked your hair better before. It was sleek and black and beautiful. Now it's ruined by a mix of a million chemicals, looking so artistically bright that it's ugly."

Something along the lines of that. He liked natural things; if you ruined what nature gave you, then he'd play the role of nature and ruin the fact that you breathed. He'd done it before; when he took me captive the second time, an eighteen year old and her three friends had found where we lived, and they were blessed — or in this case, cursed — with adventurous (and arguably foolish) personalities so they wanted to see who lived in this pretty place in the woods.

Unfortunately for them, they were the girls who found consolation and confidence in makeup. They thought of makeup as an art.

But he didn't.

He found it disgusting, despicable. He would forgive a little bit of makeup just for occasions but other than that, you had to be completely natural.

So he let them in, capturing them with his foolproof charm and charisma, and killed them in cold blood — after scrubbing their faces clean of makeup. With a blade.

I hadn't seen it, thank fuck. That was the only time that I was glad I was locked up. But I'd heard the screams. And afterwards, he'd dragged their bodies down to the cellar where he kept me, and he sat them shoulder-to-shoulder leaning against the wall. They bled from their several wounds but their cut up faces were the worst part. I wasn't a very queasy person but that was too much; I had to turn away and vomit.

He'd taken his camera out and took polaroids, his usual routine after injuring or killing someone. They were his personal achievements, his sadistic trophies. I knew from experience.

Ring, ring!

I jumped out of memory lane as the doorbell rang, brought back to real life; I was still staring at myself in the mirror.

Running downstairs, I went to get the door for Mum — but when I opened it, it wasn't Mum who met my eyes.

"Simon?" I questioned in surprise. His mouth split into a wide, drop-dead gorgeous grin and he strolled forward, into my house without an invitation.

"Yes, you can come in, thanks for asking," I muttered under my breath, closing the door. Simon snickered, turning to me.

"I wouldn't be here unless there was a legitimate reason," he began, a gleam in his eye. I stilled.

"What is it...?" I groaned in wary hesitance; this couldn't be good.

"Basically, it's the end of September right? So next month is October and you know what's at the end of October..." Simon rapidly said, as if I would cut him off any second — which was more than likely.

"Halloween," I answered, unsure. Where was he going with this?

"Exactly! So, um, there will be a party, obviously..." Simon trailed off hesitantly, and I sensed he was beating around the bush.

"And you're telling me... why?" I asked, with a small smile, egging him on to tell me what he's on about.

Simon sighed. "It's Xander's party. And you know, he talks about you a lot. So if you didn't come, he'd be pretty upset. Don't tell him I said that," he laughed.

Comprehension dawning on me, I said, "Ohhhh, and you're afraid I won't come because of —"

"Because of what happened at Corina's party," Simon completed, looking relieved I understood. I ignored that little butterfly that had appeared in my stomach when Simon said that Xander talked about me, and nodded slowly.

"Don't worry," I told him. "I'll be there."

Simon's face transformed into a colossal smile and he yelled, "YES!" and embraced me, crushing me with his muscly arms. I laughed while struggling to breathe.

"Remember to dress up scary!" Simon winked after letting go, and I regained my breath. Nodding, I opened the door and he exited with a new spring in his step. I loved how Xander and Simon cared for each other so much. You didn't find many friends like that.

I was one of the lucky ones, in that field.

A/N
What do you think of this new information? What do you think will happen at Xander's party? Comment!!

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— deainlustris