Unhappy

28. Irene

Irene stood up, and walked over to Kanai. He was sitting by a duffel bag, and seemed to be nervous. Maybes she could go over and cheer him up.

"Hey! Are you okay?" She asked. He sighed, and stood up.
"I'm really sorry about this... but I don't think I'm ready to date anyone yet. If that's okay." Kanai replied. Irene froze up, a shadow came over her face, as her mind began to spin. Was she... not good enough?
"Y- yeah! That's fine!" She said, a fake smile plastered on her face. He walked away from him, a grin of relief on his face. She didn't have a crush on this guy or anything... but he wanted to break up with her?

So her parents were right to sign the order. She wasn't good enough. Her smile... her personality... her body... herself. Was none of this... what she spent weeks perfecting... not enough to make her a valuable member of society? Was she... a disappointment.

She started slowly walking back over to the cave. When she made it there, she sat down, and stared at the floor for a couple of minutes. Part of her wondered why she was still alive.

"Hey..." Milo said, tears running down his face. Irene immediately stood up, and grabbed his arm.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Quickly, he pulled it away, and stared at the floor.
"I'm fine. But that's not the point. We have to go disguise ourselves." He replied, beginning to walk away. She grabbed his arm again in a moment of desperation.
"I can tell that what you did makes you feel bad. Sure, you shot him, but I want you to know, that as long as you don't feel good about it, you can be forgiven." Irene said, smiling. He was silent, and stood stiff. After a moment, he started walking away, gently pulling his arm away.
"Thank you..." he replied, and wandered off.

Irene walked over to the duffel bag. She really didn't want to wear this tithe dress anymore. It gave her horrible vibes. Especially since she never wanted to be unwound, unlike a typical tithe.

"Hey Irene! You ready for a little makeover?" Kingsley said, laughing a bit. She couldn't help but laugh. Then, he pulled out a thing of scissors. She started to panic, as she held her long hair close to her.
"Do... do we have to cut it?" She asked. Her heart began beating faster. She loved her long hair. It was one of the only things that she actually enjoyed about herself.
"If we want to stay unknown, we're gonna have to get rid of your old look." He replied. She nodded, sitting down on the grass. He pulled up her hair. She heard the scissors open. She felt a single tear fall down her cheek. Suddenly, she heard something fall onto the ground. She closed her eyes, and let the pain of losing her hair. Another tear fell off of her other cheek. "Alright, I'm all done."

She pulled the mirror, ready to see her old hair completely gone. The hair she had taken so good care of, and actually liked. She opened her eyes, and put her hand over her eyes, as more tears fell down to the grass. A braid was wrapped around the top of her head, and her long wavy hair was still sitting there, untouched.

She dropped the mirror, and stood up. She turned around to Kingsley, who was smiling at her. Tears falling down her face, she pulled him into a tight embrace. In the corner of her eyes, she saw the scissors had been dropped onto the  ground. A smile started to appear on her face, as she held him a tight hug.

"You're really good at doing hair! Where'd you learn to do it?" Irene asked, pulling away from the hug. Kingsley's face went from happy to complete shock. He looked down at his hand, and back to her.
"I don't know." He replied, looking back at his palm. He stared for a couple of seconds, before shrugging. "Let's continue." He pulled out a thing of makeup, and looked into Irene's eyes. "Do you want to do it yourself?" She stood still for a moment.
"No. I'm not good at makeup." She laughed a bit. Everyone expected her to know how to do makeup. But she never wore it, so she had no idea how. The only times she ever had makeup on, was when she had a professional do it for a performance. Kingsley seemed a bit confused, but shrugged, as if he didn't really care.

She sat down, and closed her eyes. She could feel the strokes on her face, as the blush was applied to her cheeks. Then onto her eyelids, her lips, and a bit on her nose. After a couple of minutes, she opened her eyes, looking into a mirror. She smiled. She found herself to be even prettier than before.

"Thank you Kingsley. I don't know how you do all this stuff, but you're really good." Irene said, giving him a genuine smile. He replied with his own, and then looked up at the sky.
"It's no problem." He responded. After a moment, he stood up and helped to a standing position. They stared at each other for a second, before Kingsley looked away. "You should probably find something in the duffel bag to wear. Not to make anything sound bad, but that tithe outfit is really throwing me off." Irene laughed in response. He looked back at her, and smiled, before walking off.

Irene started looking through the bag, grabbing out a short sleeved button and some jeans. Then she grabbed some long socks and cowgirl boots. She walked away, hiding behind a tree and changed, before walking out again. She raced over to Kingsley, with a smile on her face.

"What do you think?" She asked. Kingsley stared in awe, and then gave her a smile.
"Y- yeah! You look really good!" He said. She giggled, and skipped away.

She stood at the edge of the cave entrance, thinking to herself. She was very grateful that Kingsley didn't chop off her hair. It was the only thing she really enjoyed about herself. Which made her think about how he knew.

Did he see her crying? She started to panic. He saw her crying. Now he knew how vulnerable of a person she was really was. That she wasn't perfect. She wasn't-

"Hey Irene! How do I look?" Kingsley asked. She stared at him for a moment, and smiled. He was wearing a long sleeved, light blue sweater and baggy pants, with white sneakers. Some of of his hair was cut off from the back, but it was still really fluffy.
"You look nice." She replied, a big bright smile on her face. He returned with his own grin, before walking away.

Irene closed her eyes, finally being calm for once in her life. Maybe... she could survive.