The Beauty Shop

Angel, a seven-year-old girl, spent her first six years thinking about biblically accurate angels, which she found pleasing. However, on a Sunday morning, Pastor Dave preached that angels were God's warriors and that their depiction was an injustice. Angel, who usually took church as an opportunity to doze off in the cold metal folding chair once a week, was attentive to this sermon and was shocked by the revelation.

Angel's visions in the mirror were hallucinations, and she would often see them in her bedroom. She would scream and scream until she coughed up blood and choked on it. Ten years later, Angel still couldn't look in the mirror without seeing them, and she would find solace in making masks to tame her nightmares.

Angel is not aware that these visions are hallucinations, but she believes them to be real. She never told anyone what she really believed; she had been cursed by Jesus Christ himself. The masks make her feel safe from the angels but also provide protection against the other war that had been waged upon her, beauty.

At seventeen, Angel is seeking validation and beauty, so she signed up to compete in her town's annual pageant show. With a week left until the show, she struggles with one major problem: Lucy Colette. Lucy is known as the most desirable girl in town, with shiny hair, bright eyes, and a small, curved nose. Angel has been watching Lucy since eighth grade, sketching her face for a mask, and following her home from school just to watch how her hair catches and reflects the sunshine.

Angel didn't know much about Lucy Colette, just that the boys consistently rated her a ten, and that Angel was usually a five. And if the boys at school thought that, what would the panel at the Pageant Show think?

Angel knew she had to act fast, so she did. The story highlights the struggles and desires of Angel, who has spent more time than most nine-year-olds thinking about her figure and face than she has ever experienced.

Angel, after inviting Lucy Colette over for tea, cracks her in the back of the head with a high heel. She is left with blood all over her chin and curls, but she doesn't want to hit her again. Angel decides to clean up Lucy, rinsing the blood from her chains and returning to her.

Angel is excited about opening a new beauty shop in her basement and sets out to work on it. She carefully selects a mask, making one of Lucy's boyfriend's, and sets Lucy up in front of the mirror. As Lucy starts to scream again, Angel takes the first swipe at her hair, leaving a stubbly scalp. She then moves onto the eyebrows and eyelashes, ensuring they don't mix up. By the time she gets to the left eyelashes, Lucy's voice is raspy and her tears are sticky but fickle.

As it's almost time for the Beauty Shop to close, Angel needs to finish touches on Lucy's red nails, as she has no polish at all. Lucy takes a nap while Angel sings a soft lullaby to the beat of her work. She cuts and pulls off all of Lucy's nails until all ten are accounted for.

Lucy's skin glows like pearls, clear as virtue and pretty as magazines. Angel picks up her crafting knife and starts carving, but the screams come again as abruptly as they started. After hours of sewing blonde hair, gluing pearly skin, arranging eyebrows and lashes, donning red nails, and crying and laughing with her stolen lips, Angel stands on the pageant stage in a brand new mask, complete with bright unseeing eyes. The crowd erupts in applause, cheering with a first place trophy for the most desirable girl in town.