I am the Skeleton in the Closet

My Mother's Best Friends

Whilst I did have a few friends in elementary school, I'm afraid I cannot write too much about them. Often times I would only be allowed to hang out with certain people. Each handpicked by my adoptive mother. They were typically the exact opposite of the friends that I actually had in school like Emma, but mom didn't like any of those friends. She really seemed to enjoy sending me to peoples houses on the weekends and any week day she could, needed the alone time I guess. When I was little it was mainly to our neighbors houses who had daughters my age. A lot of them liked playing with dolls or dress up. I didn't much like either of those. When I was old enough, she would take me to any makeup tutorial for growing girls event my church would host in an effort to get me into the friend groups she prefered and to teach me how to cover my birthmark.

"Where should we start?" She would look at me excitedly holding the right answer in her hands as we sat on the hard stools they had positioned around some mirrors in the gym area of the repurposed school.

"Idono." I shrugged squishing the brushes in the container by the mirror.

"Okaaayy, were starting with concealer. We're gonna put a lot of it right here..." She trailed off squeezing out a big glob on a sponge and poking my cheek. "Tilt your head." She said widening her eyes and whacking my hand from the brushes.

"Why do I even need any of this stuff. It just makes me look dumb." I stayed staring down at the brushes.

"Elise." She looked down at me. Her eyes seemed to go either direction around me. "Tilt your head please." She said more sternly looming over me like a bird of prey.

"Ok." I sighed pushing my hair back from the right side and tilting my chin forward to her. She snatched my head and started dabbing viciously along my jawline and into my neck.

"Oooo that's gonna be a toughey." Walked past one of the other moms.

"Oh I know." Mom yelled out. "I mean, I know it's just a birthmark, but I can't help but try to help her out with it." She continued loudly as if I weren't there.

"What's on her face?" Questioned one of the children from another one of the stations across the gym loudly.

I just stared at my shoes as mom spent the next ten minutes speaking with her new friend in length about everything she's done to 'help me' with this mark. "I just don't know why she hasn't picked up make up yet? She just doesn't have the interest. I'm just doing the best I can with her at this point." She sighed looking disappointedly down at my disinterested face.

By the end of the session she had gathered a small crowd of moms together about this. When she was finally done stenciling everything in she exclaimed. "Oh look how gorgeous you look!" With an obviously forced smile. Her new friends all chimed in seemingly in utter amazement about me with her.

Not like the make up even covered it well enough, look, you can still see it. Maybe I should rethink the laser surgery. Save me some time in the morning when I get older. Maybe it'll just go away as I grow up. I wouldn't want to be too much of a burden, if she thought it'd go away with surgery it would be gone by now. Guess I'm just stuck like this. I mourned through their praise looking myself over in the mirror. Well, some people have to be ugly right? Otherwise no one would be pretty. I figured sinking back into my chair. "Thanks." I mumbled through my thoughts until they all dispersed. Reason number one for why they gave me up. Ugly.

The Scout leader's daughter went to the same church as us for a while. Her mom took her to the same functions mine did so naturally she was one of the first choices mom made for a friend. We were obviously in the same troop and went to the same activities so it would have made sense for us to be good pals. Except that we weren't already, most people would have taken that as a sign. Mom did not. Soon enough she got me an invite to her birthday party.