TheBanyanTree: Random

[Monique Colver]

Her face was crumpled in on itself, as if the foundation of a house had been removed, if her face was a house. I remembered her as she was, with a normal if average face, when she was younger and life hadn't yet beaten her up with enthusiasm and cruelty. She'd been something then, not pretty, but not minding, because she could still get what she wanted. She could still be in the world and get the attention she had once craved, but now, with her face crumpled and her eyes no longer bright but dark shadowy holes, she looked lost, as if unsure where it had gone, and so suddenly.

I never expected to see her like that, a ruin, time and fortune having had their way. I thought she'd outsmart them, I really did. She tried to smile back at me but it was half-hearted, and I saw none of her in it.

I couldn't look anymore, so I turned away from the mirror.

Monique
Sent from my iPad