pretty face | Teen Ink

pretty face

April 2, 2012
By Amsterdamsel DIAMOND, Henderson , Nevada
Amsterdamsel DIAMOND, Henderson , Nevada
54 articles 2 photos 69 comments

In the mirror, I could stare forever at my pretty face.
Now I can see when the bruises fade away, I know when they turn yellow they are ugliest, as if I have a disease. I know when my fingers creak like rusty door hinges, and brittle skin flutters like torn shreds of newspaper. I feel it when a penny can split a toenail in half, and once luscious blond hair that shone like sunflower petals, crumbles like dead autumn leaves.
Years took my pretty face and wiped it clean. Mopped the stains off the mirror; blemishes of rogue and blue stardust eye shadow; wiped away the spider-webbed smears of mascara that had run down the bleached- white desk. A long time ago, there used to be lipstick in the tubes, but now there’s only tarnished copper. You can throw away all those rings in the bluebird jar, the ones with rusted jewels that could have once made queens purr. And you can blow out every candle that used to glimmer, and hush me to sleep when my eyes couldn’t close, replaying who wore top hats and tail coats and beautiful dresses. All those pill bottles are empty now, full of dust, they litter the wooden floor, which used to creak and weep and shadow the roaring spectators outside, who always wanted an encore. And if you pull back the velvet, moth-bitten curtain, you’ll find the portrait a wise old master painted of my pretty face.
In the corner of the room, there was a hole in the wall where a little brown mouse once lived. My ruby tap shoes once sat there, and I can still hear the clickety-clack upon the stage and I begin to live again, until the train rumbles by outside my window, breathing black smoke against my blurred vision, against mottled eyes and dry mouth. My Polaroid sleeps in a drawer now along with old show tickets, and I haven’t heard its click and wind in so long, because no one wants my picture now.
Every light bulb popped on my vanity, and burst into flecks of fire. Cracks in the mirror splintered my pretty face. And the teeth began to fall out and I began to droop like sagging ivy vines that grew and smothered the theater. I can’t read the diaries, every detailed image or memory is lost to me. And the music, that’s gone too.
Time has been cruel to me. My voice throttles like a revved engine, when it used to ring like a mockingbird. My joints pop like firecrackers, once limber enough to dance like grace dawned upon Earth’s nimble children.
She is pretty now. I created her; I made her oceanic waves, the color of chocolate. I breathed blue ice into her eyes, rounded her cheeks and dotted her beauty mark. I gave her quick feet and sure hands. It’s as if she were a thief.
She wouldn’t know of the theater. I can talk about it, but no one will ever know. No one can feel cobbled road underneath their feet, or watch flaxen horses gallop through Paris rain through my eyes. Never smell the ladies perfume or feel my heart beat like a caged lioness paws against the bars before show time. It was too long ago; the spotlights and glitter and booming voices and stares. I want to lie across the gleaming piano again and when I look down, I want to see my pretty face in the black reflection.
But that was a very long time ago.



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This article has 6 comments.


on May. 11 2012 at 8:10 pm
Amsterdamsel DIAMOND, Henderson , Nevada
54 articles 2 photos 69 comments
thanks everyone for the comments! I really appreciate them! 

on Apr. 29 2012 at 4:06 pm
novemberswirl BRONZE, Scotland, Other
3 articles 0 photos 4 comments
hits the heart deep! loved it!

on Apr. 28 2012 at 6:41 pm
i_am_so_very_large_and_towering SILVER, Mililani, Hawaii
5 articles 1 photo 114 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"

just beautiful:)

on Apr. 27 2012 at 11:10 pm
InfinityandBeyond01 BRONZE, N/a, California
4 articles 0 photos 67 comments

Favorite Quote:
Stay Strong! <3

Amazing!!!

NeVassa GOLD said...
on Apr. 27 2012 at 10:14 am
NeVassa GOLD, Ft. Belvoir, Virginia
18 articles 0 photos 50 comments

Favorite Quote:
Oh god I was a stupid twelve year old

This was deep. I love the words you used and keep writing! :) 

on Apr. 27 2012 at 10:13 am
AngelOnTheATeam PLATINUM, Mountain Home, Arkansas
23 articles 0 photos 23 comments

Favorite Quote:
"No One Ever Gets To Know What Could Have Been."

Wow. This was extremely detailed and well written. But what really got me is the fact that you can interpret this in a hundred and one different way. This was amazing! Thankyou for sharing!