Click the pic for the original challenge. Written for Ermilia’s Picture It & Write.
Smiles had twisted her dimples into view countless times. Tears had washed her cheeks as many. Meaningless gestures of emotion, Ruby thought. Hours she had practiced them in the mirror. Hours over years, wrenching expression from the bowels of apathy, regurgitating it for her reflection in mock display. For how long now? Since she was a child anyway. And for what? Every minute she spent alone dared her to deny it.
Cosmetics masked her face as rehearsal masked her soul. Yet, it was as if somehow they could all still see her. Whatever terrible imperfection lurked inside her, making her hideous, it didn’t show on her face. It didn’t alter the pageantry she portrayed. The mirror made that plain. No harmonic belied the lilt of her voice. Her perfumes were divine. Yet, they saw it, or maybe they sensed it.
But Kyle, at last was different. Kyle loved her. Every smile, every twinkle in her eye, each nuance of each mood must be perfect for him. Ruby watched helplessly as a veil of fear fell over her. I am perfect, she fought. But the words were distant, as if they were whispered, from another dimension, a world where doubt didn’t prey and the loneliness didn’t torment.
If Kyle was like the others, it didn’t matter anymore. He was hers now at least for tonight. She smiled and her reflection smiled with her.
“He’s here because he saw something in me no one else saw,” she whispered.
Her perfectly rehearsed reflection believed the words. She set the mirror down and with it the crazy world of shadows it emanated in her mind. One last deep breath, and she turned and entered the bedroom.
Kyle lay peacefully on the bed waiting. Ruby smiled at him and walked to sit by his side. “I love you,” she whispered, running her fingers gently through his hair. Kyle stared up at her in silence. A thin smile rested on his lips and she leaned to kiss him.
“Kyle…?” she sat up. “I… I can’t tell you how much it means that you believed in me.”
His expression didn’t change. A photograph of a perfect moment, she thought.
“You probably won’t need this anymore,” she said with sweet apology on her voice. “May I?”
Still his expression didn’t change.
She slowly drew the knife out of his stomach and admired the tiny hot spring of crimson following obediently as the blade led the way from his punctured heart.
“You would have stopped believing in me, you know,” she said, wiping the knife on his shirt. “I couldn’t let that happen.” She paused for a moment and then giggled. “You do believe that don’t you?”
Kyle stared back at her with his photograph gaze. Of course he believed her. Her guise was perfect! Ruby took the knife back into the other room. She laid it carefully in front of her. She picked up the mirror, and with it the crazy world of shadows it emanated in her mind. The knife glistened, the only remaining light in Ruby’s darkness.
“You believe I love you, don’t you?” she asked. “Promise me you’ll never see me the way the others do.”
© 2012 Anne Schilde
Anne Schilde 
Woooooooow!
Nice stuff here, flower!
It gave a shiver when I found out what was going… Well done!
And this phrase: “Cosmetics masked her face as rehearsal masked her soul. ” is just masterpiece!
❤
I just ♥ u for calling me Flower!
Hah. Nice choice of the name Ruby. I liked how your story was so dark as well. While yours included the mirror I like that it didn’t focus on it either. Well done, Annie. Thanks for contributing this week to Picture it & write!
– Ermisenda
I totally asked Brittney to give me the two names and married myself to them. 🙂 If there was a way to convey this without the mirror even being mentioned, I would have. I’m sure there’s something there with balloons… haha, maybe with a dart too.
Here I was reading what I thought was a lovely love story and then you went and got a knife involved. I should have known better. Keep up the good work.
I was just trying to keep you on your toes, Joe.
You do! You do!
“went & got a knife involved” – well said!
Great story, Anne 🙂 (Flower!)
Thanks, Noeleen! 🙂
terrific writing. I really like your writng style.
Thank you, Deana.
Compelling and wonderful descriptive, “Meaningless gestures of emotion…Hours she had practiced them in the mirror… from the bowels of apathy… regurgitating … for her reflection,” and … then
and Kyle’s “thin smile …” I had threads of psycho lightly playing alongside this piece except that Kyle was Antony Perkins and his mother was Ruby. Thank you for it. Randy
I’ve actually never seen Psycho and I kind of had to Google Anthony Perkins. I’m glad you enjoyed it, Randy.
Whoa! That is fantastic!
Thanks, Rumpy!
Wowie. So unexpected, but clever subtle details.
Glad you liked it, Thu!
I totally didn’t see the knife coming, Ruby gave me the creeps! 🙂 Great read.
Thanks, Kat! I think this is my first murder. I’ve dreamed some others, but they just sit in my notes. Most of my recent twists have been more light-hearted, but this picture was really dark and I’ve been kind of depressed lately.
“Promise me you’ll never see me the way the others do.”
Doesn’t seem to be much chance of that happening…! 🙂
Great story, well told; surprising twist, which for you seems as natural as water off a duck’s back… Well done to you, Anne…. 🙂
Hehe! Thanks, Carolyn. If I say too much, the men with the white coats will come for me. The thing about twists is they aren’t really. They’re parallel worlds.
You get up in the middle of the night, tired, but you drank water before bedtime even though you were told not to. You don’t like getting in trouble for peeing the bed, so you get up and find your way to the bathroom quietly in the dark so as not to alert anyone that you were drinking water before bedtime. You sit down to pee, half asleep, and suddenly you wake up to warm wetness and you realize you’re spending the night at your friend’s house. You’ve only found your way to where the toilet should have been if you were at home, and instead you are peeing on their kitchen chair.
Wouldn’t it be amusing if you were peeing on a duck?
“Wouldn’t it be amusing if you were peeing on a duck?”
Possibly better than the friend’s kitchen chair….!
Quack, quack… 😉
Hmmm…. methinks there’s something more here than meets the duck.
Ducks don’t like being peed on! I have written about this extensively!
Eek! I don’t think I expected more people to read this! I didn’t mean this to be funny, it was very traumatic when it happened, but these replies are hilarious!
What a psycho. Ruby I mean! What a great story, Anne. I wasn’t expecting the knife bit. Thought it would be all lovey dovey and romantic. But then you always do this sort of thing. Thanks Anne!
Thanks for reading, Yaz! I’ve posted a couple of romantic pieces, but I tend to dream angry break-ups and cheating and stuff. The Barkless Prairie Dog is kind of cute.
Wow. I missed this when you first wrote it… I’d been worried about you. Turns out you’re alive and well and slaying with your words. Chilling in the best of ways!!!!
Yeah, I’ve been kinda busy. I’ve been keeping up with the office games though. I almost commented on the ADHD-spiked drinks, but what’s a girl to say really?
Oh my God, this is unbelievably dark. I love it to the point where I’m shaking a little bit from exhilaration… I am so insanely jealous right now about how amazing you are as a writer!
This from the girl who’s reminded me of Poe more than once? I love it if I’m able to create emotion, so thank you very much for the exhilaration, Anna!
This post is great, Anne. Loved reading it.
Thanks, Kushal!
Brilliant! What a twist, it was all so dark yet so … beautiful! I would never have thought it’d end like this.
Thanks, Devina! Haha, it always sounds funny to hear “twist” when there’s a knife involved. Next PI&W up tonight. Hope to see you there…
Haha, I never noticed that before you mentioned it. Oh yes, this week’s one is as interesting as the last! I’ll be back!
wow. I’d been told you were great, they failed to mention how profound, beautifully dark and, certainly in this case, very relevant and masterfully written. Perfect, thank you for sharing.
I got a recommendation? That’s so cool! I write lots of different stuff, so only dark sometimes. It’s that time of year. Thanks always for reading! ♥
yes, i guess it is that time of the year…we love the same ruby(s), is all-a fella that goes by a different four letter colorful acronym, making it a very relevant poetic piece. Nice to meet you, Anne, most call me ‘red.