Reflection

Glenda pressed the soft brush against my skin, lightly spreading a semi-liquidy substance across my face. The skin between her eyebrows pinched in focus, her black eyebrows following the almond tone. The span of her skin reminded me of old parchment paper, the tattoos on her arms written in feather-pen ink.

I'd been her caretaker ever since she was born, and figured that she'd grown into a very beautiful woman. She looked very... edgy, I think that's what the kids say these days. The right side of her head was shaved, and light blues and greens sprouted from the rest of her head, cut off just above her ears.

We were talking a few days ago about the normal things we did when she mentioned that I was pretty. I didn't quite know how to respond, I mean, I'd never seen myself. I told this to her and she said that she could help me by covering my face in makeup. I'd been very excited these past few days and it was finally happening.

Glenda stopped spreading the -whatever it was, foundator was the word she used, I believe- and picked up a small, circular device. She pushed it into a container filled with pink dust and patted my cheeks lightly, occasionally pushing against my skin with the device.

"Glenda, wha-?" She interrupted me with a gruff tone, before I could inquire her on what the container was.

"It's Glen, Amy. I hate it when you call me that. It's a stupid name and I don't like it." She continued her work as I jumped to her defense against her own attacks.

"Glenda is a beautiful name! I wish my mother had given me that name, it's so very pretty!" She gave me a look of exasperation and I sighed. "Fine, dear Glen..."

She pulled up my eyelid with her thumb and opened a drawer with her other hand. Gum popped loudly in her mouth before she spoke.

"Open your eyes as wide as you can. I'm gonna help you put in contacts, that way you can see your eyes." I nearly jumped in joy.

I nodded slightly, so I wouldn't interrupt her work.

Glenda pressed a cold, wet thing into my eye and I almost blinked, but I resisted. She laughed slightly, such a beautiful sound, before moving to my other eye.

Not blinking was made slightly easier this time. She twisted a pink tube and pulled off the cap, which pulled out a dark stick with prickles at the end.

"Glen, what is this thing?" I had never seen a contraption like this and I didn't really want it on my face. She gave me a look of humor.

"Mascara. It makes your eyelashes cute and dark." I whispered an 'oh' under my breath and let her go on.

I saw it flitter against my eyelashes and blinked profusely. She tsked loudly before getting a wet wipe and wiping my eyelid.

"Don't do that." She reapplied the foundator and started doing the mascara again.

She got more powder. Not pink though, a darker brown color, like wood. She got a different stick, with white things that looked like dirtied cotton swabs on the ends. She coated the cotton swabs in the color and I understood why they looked so very dirty.

Glenda pushed the cotton swab on my skin and it felt oddly rough against my eyelids. She moved it across fluidly, before blowing on my face. The smell of mint hit my eyes, making them sting softly, it was an oddly refreshing feeling.

Her eyes scanned my face, looking for mistakes, I presumed, before nodding.

"Done. you can look now, Amy." I smiled and looked into the mirror.

I gasped and tears came to my eyes. Glenda looked extremely alarmed at my reaction.

"What's wrong?" I felt, and saw, my lip tremor.

"I... I've never, seen myself before..." I breathed in sharply. "Thank you so much, Glen..!" I tried to not cry, so that the makeup wouldn't wash away.

I looked in the mirror again. Two differently-colored eyes stared back, one blue, the other brown. I'd seen my black, waved hair before, but it seemed out-of-place before, now it all fit. I was... pretty, especially for my age. I smiled and touched my face, pale, like a dolls.

I looked to Glen and smiled deeper, now noticing that I had dimples.

She was watching me, chin in hand, smiling smugly. I blushed, though I couldn't tell under the makeup.

"You do look very pretty, Amy."

Glen stood and pressed a kiss against my cheek and I blushed even deeper.

"Glenda, wha-?"

"It's Glen, Amy."