𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 - 𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘴 | 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲

inSCARities

biana vacker gazed at her reflection in the floor-length mirror mournfully, thinking of all the wondrous things she had been, and what she had no choice in becoming. pale but jagged white lines marred her once-beautiful face— flaws that hadn't been there before. and reminders of her weakness. in a little black dress, the rest of biana's scars were all too visible. swirling white lines ran down her arms, down the side of her body, and even lingered on her legs. they were like the cracks on a glass surface— veiny and spread everywhere.

suddenly regretting her choice of dress, biana wrapped her scarred arms around herself, and retreated into her closet. dresses were already strewn around the delicately carpeted floor, but she continued to throw dresses around, looking for the perfect one to hide everything that was wrong with her.

at last, her eyes landed on a floor-length black dress. the skirt would cover her legs perfectly. the mesh sleeves of the dress would cover her arms, too. and the rest of the dress didn't have any cutouts or anything, so the only thing biana had to focus on was fixing her face.

she pulled the dress on, ignoring the way the material scratched her scars. beauty is pain, biana told herself firmly, even though, deep down, she knew that it wasn't right.

she exited the closet and cross the room, beelining for the floor-length mirror. all her scars disappeared beneath the black cloth— except for the ones on her face. but biana looked like a grandmother in the dress. the fabric hung off her body like an i'll-fitting potato sack. there were no jewels, no sparkles, no ruffles, nothing that made it interesting. this dress wasn't like anything she would wear prior to the incident, but now biana would just gave to deal with looking old and frumpy.

because there was no way she'd put her scars on display. the dress might have been ugly, but her scars were certainly uglier.

which made her ugly too.

her mind flashed back to all the instances where she had received compliments— from family, friends, classmates, mentors, and even total strangers— about her looks. her beauty and sense of fashion had never gone unnoticed, and always garnered attention in the form of both praise and envy.

but now, all that beauty was gone.

not even one part of her body was untouched; the scars were everywhere. there wasn't even one part of her that was bare, flawless... beautiful.

a sob-like sound escaping her lips, biana turned away from the mirror sharply.

"biana?"

the sound of a door opening graced her ears. the wooden floor creaked. biana glanced up hesitantly, glossy teal eyes meeting silver-blue.

tam.

biana only hummed in response, not trusting her voice to refrain from breaking. she guessed that her boyfriend was going to offer her kind words of encouragement, tell her that she was beautiful, and wrap her in a tight, tight hug.

and she couldn't deal with any of that.

"i thought you hated that dress," tam said instead. biana glanced up at him in surprise, eyebrows knitting together. there was a small frown on his pale lips, and his eyebrows were turned down– not in anger, but in concern.

"hated, yes," she nodded slowly. "past tense, tam. in the present, though? i should get used to this dress, because i can't wear anything different."

"why?" he crossed the room and, when biana averted her eyes, he grasped her chin gently and tilted her face up, making her look hin in the eyes. "why, bia?"

she pushed his hand away, and glanced away from him. "look at me," she whispered, and her voice cracked pathetically. rolling up the mesh sleeves and pulling up the skirt of her dress, biana displayed her scars for the first time. but not in pride, no, it was all embarrassment and self-pity. "look at these scars, tam," she practically forced. "they're ugly. and they're a part of me now, so they make me ugly." point made, she let go of the fabric, letting the skirt cover her legs again, and rolled down the sleeves once more.