Beauty Hurts

by Rowan Hanlon

  Kael hadn’t been invited back to Celeste’s country house after that. Nor had anyone else. But then again, Celeste was the kind of person who would prefer to throw parties at hotels and restaurants and keep her private living quarters just that, private. Kael didn’t blame her for this. Besides, Kael figured it had been Celeste’s husband who had probably insisted on throwing a barbeque for the staff. He probably told her it would foster better communication and a sense of family, which the magazine obviously lacked. But it hadn’t. After the party, everyone on staff pretty much acted the same way they had before, keeping either to themselves or in their small cliques. And Celeste sure as hell was no friendlier. And Kael had overheard her complaining to Liza about that “damned barbeque” once, saying that all it had led to was a red wine stain on her white carpet and a fridge full of tiny hamburgers no one ate. “Who makes hamburgers for skinny women?” she had said. “Most of these bitches avoid food at all costs.”

  Therefore, it was apparent that Celeste hadn’t expected to see Kael on her doorstep. And Kael hadn’t expected Celeste to be so pleased to see her. In a matter of seconds, she was invited in and as soon as Celeste slammed the door behind her, Kael suddenly realized that she’d made a mistake in coming—a huge mistake. What did it matter if she and Celeste parted ways in a mostly un-amicable way? It didn’t and she only realized that too, too late.

  But she was there now and she just wanted to say her piece and leave as quickly as possible. So, she squared her shoulders and said with as much aplomb as she could muster, “Listen, I won’t stay a minute. I just came here to apologize and to tell you that I’m going to quit working at the magazine. I feel bad about what happened and thought it was the right thing to do.”

  “Oh, you did?” Celeste asked, eying her, then shaking a finger in her general direction. “Yes, that was a mess, wasn’t it? You know, I remember that fight and then I remember how I started after you, down the corridor. But why I was doing that, I don’t know. I just draw a blank. What had I wanted to do? To prove?”

  As Kael listened to her, her eyes widened and she drew in her breath. Celeste’s words sent a few shivers of fright up and down her spine. The woman had started after her? What the hell? And she didn’t know why she was doing that? Once Celeste voiced these words, Kael knew then and there that coming out here had been a huge mistake. But that, in and of itself, was a gross understatement. Coming out here was epically stupid.

  Celeste continued, “But then you got on the elevator and… Well, I came back to my senses. But that was some fight, wasn’t it, Kael?”

  “Yeah,” Kael said slowly, exhaling, finding it really hard to look Celeste in the eye. She squared her shoulders again and decided she should just get what she needed to say out and then get out of there as quickly as possible. “It really was. And that’s why I’m here. I’m just so sorry it got out of hand. I didn’t mean the things I said. I just want you to know that.”

  “Okay,” Celeste said, nodding. “Sure.”

  “Well, that’s all, really. I can see you’re busy.” Kael nodded to herself, thinking that should do it. But then she leaned back and studied Celeste’s appearance. The woman looked beautiful, like she was on her way to somewhere fancy. She couldn’t help but say, “You look really good. Did you do something with your hair?”

  “Would you like me to do something with yours?” she asked quickly and smiled a very tight smile.

  What the hell did that mean? Kael shook her head in confusion. “Uh, no,” she said, realizing again that something was off here—way off. “Well, I just wanted to apologize and now I’ll be going.” She gave her a small smile and turned to the door. She had to leave and quickly. Everything in Kael’s psyche told her to get the hell out of there and she immediately began to chastise herself for being so pig-headed in the first place. Can’t let well enough alone, can I? No, she couldn’t. And, as usual, she regretted her actions. Sometimes it was just better to leave things as they are. One day, she told herself, she would learn. Even so, she took another look at Celeste. She looked normal but there was a strange glint in her eye. It was so unnerving but what was more unnerving was the way Celeste was acting. She was acting so odd, so weird, so off. Kael suspected something had happened to her. In fact, she looked like she’d just had some sort of psychotic break. Kael shuddered thinking about it and started to feel a sense of panic, a sense of urgency to leave. And she knew she had to get out of there and get out of there quickly. She knew as soon as she was back in the car and headed back to the city, she would feel safe. But getting to the car was going to prove difficult. But she had to try, didn’t she? And so, she turned and made her first attempt at escape. Her eyes were on the door handle and her back to Celeste. Her heart was in her throat and her hand was outstretched, reaching for the door.

  But before she could actually grab the door handle and make her escape, Kael noticed, from the corner of her eye that Celeste had picked up a smaller version of The Thinker by Rodin from the foyer table and raised it above her head. Before Kael could protest, the statue came down hard on her head and knocked her out cold. She hit the floor with a soft thump.

  Happy Wife, Happy Life

  Kael awoke in front of Celeste’s dressing table. Her eyes were heavy and she winced in pain from the blow. She looked around slowly, trying to figure out where she was and, more importantly, what she was doing there. Her eyes blinked heavily as she took in the elaborate bathroom and the fixtures and they almost popped out of her head once she saw all the accumulated beauty products on the dressing table. There had to be hundreds of them. Hundreds!

  “What the fuck…” Kael groaned. “Oh, my head…” She felt a stab of pain shoot through her brain so swiftly she almost passed out. Once it passed, she tried to touch it but then realized she couldn’t. Her hands were tied to the arms of the chair. As she stared down at her hands, she moved her wrists but the ropes were tight; so tight, in fact, they were red from the pressure. As she turned them in attempt to free herself, they started to bleed. Then her head started to throb and she had an urge to touch the large bump on the back of it, but, of course, she couldn’t do that. She was so distraught and out of sorts, she couldn’t even find the energy to start questioning why she was in the position she was in. The disorientation was mind boggling and she sat still, waiting and hoping it would pass soon. She did manage to moan again, “Oh, my head.”

  “You awake?” Celeste said.

  Kael looked around the room for her, then finally saw her but then she had trouble focusing on her. She was standing off to the side, obviously waiting for her to gain consciousness. Finally, after much eye blinking, she managed to make out Celeste’s face and the strange look on it. All of a sudden, her mind cleared, the disorientation abated and she felt a strong urgency to flee. Get out! Get out! Get out! She couldn’t, of course, even though the need to run was so strong in her she ached with it. If she could have run, she would have. But she couldn’t. Patience was never strong in Kael, but she knew she had to find it. She knew she had to stay calm. She knew if she didn’t, something bad would come of it.

  And she needed to stay calm mainly because she had to see what the crazy lady wanted. And she was crazy. Just looking at her now told Kael all she ever needed to know about Celeste. The eyes were distant. Her mannerisms were off; she was standing with a shoulder propped up next to the wall, her arms crossed. Kael had never seen her stand like that and the look on her face was just a little too nonchalant, like she knew what she was doing but didn’t give a shit that she was doing it.

  As Kael stared at her, she realized the woman had gone mad. Kael could see it, she could tell it. It’s not that she’d been around a lot of crazy people in her life, it’s just her instincts told her this was what had happened and her instincts had usually proved valid.

  She knew it! She knew it! She had known the bitch was crazy! If she hadn’t been tied to the chair, she would have congratulated herself. All along she had said this, ha
d thought it almost on a daily basis since she’d started working with her. And she’d been right! She had known all along what this bitch was capable of. And no one would listen to her! Except Nick. Oh good. Good, good, good! Because she had called him before she came out here, he knew where she was. He’d be worried. He would come for her. He was a good, smart man. But… Wait… He was still at work, wasn’t he? What time was it? She looked around for a clock but didn’t see one, then tried to find the time on her watch but she couldn’t move her hands to see the face. Then it dawned on her that Nick wouldn’t suspect anything unless she didn’t come home soon after him. That was hours away, unless she’d been out for hours but she had a feeling she hadn’t.

  With that, she knew she had to stall for time. Whatever it took, she had to get this crazy bitch’s mind on something else besides harming her. Of course, she knew what this was about. Why else would she be tied to the fucking chair? Kael realized that she had to think of some way to delay Celeste. What could she do to delay her? There had to be something. Then she realized that Celeste was a type-A personality. Celeste was nothing if not meticulous. She had to have everything just so, down to the last detail. She had to play into that. She had to play into that side of her and the only way to get her to tap into that obsessive side of herself—and therefore allow Kael to stall for time—was to get her talking. And to not piss her off, which Kael had a propensity for. She had to be cool. She had to stay calm. She could not lose her shit. But she had to test her first to see if what she thought was true was true. And she couldn’t let Celeste know how scared she was. If she was too nice, Celeste might erupt sooner. No, she needed to try and keep her calm and she needed to distract her. She knew it was inevitable that Celeste would lash out; she just had to find a way to stall her from really going off.

  Kael turned to Celeste and said, “Uh, Celeste, what the hell are you doing?”

  “You don’t remember?”

  “All I know is that I came here to apologize to you,” she replied. “Now I know why everyone told me not to.”

  “Everyone? So, you have been talking about me behind my back. Silly girl.”

  “No, not really,” Kael said, measuring her words. “Uh, Celeste, this isn’t funny. I mean, this is pretty heavy. Untie me now.”

  “And why would I do that?” she asked and stared into space.

  Kael studied her, thinking she did, in fact, look truly insane. An involuntary shudder when up and down her spine. But she had to get her mind off the fear of what might come and onto a way to survive this. She asked her, “What do you want from me?”

  She turned to her and stared at her in the same manner as she had stared into space a moment before. Without blinking and without any emotion on her face, she said, “I want you to listen to me. I want someone to understand. Do you know they say that’s what all humans want? To just be understood?”

  “I understand, Celeste,” Kael said evenly. “I’m on your side. I agree with everything you say. You’re just going about it the wrong way.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Well, for starters,” Kael replied. “You kidnapped me.”

  “Oh. This? This isn’t kidnapping. This is torture.” She sighed and added, “Well, it’s going to be.”

  Another shudder went down Kael’s spine again. Focus, focus, focus! Don’t get wrapped up in fear! There had to be a way out of this and she would find it, as soon as she could get a clue as to what Celeste had in mind. But that was anyone’s guess. She’d said “torture,” but that was… Well, that was crazy. Surely, she was just saying this. Surely it wasn’t going to come to that. Right? As Kael stared at her, she began to fully understand the extent of Celeste’s mental breakdown. She was really going to torture her. This realization made her breathing intensify and caused her heart to palpitate as she began to break down and panic. So, instead of turning to reason, she instead turned to begging and everything she’d told herself about being calm flew out the window, “Just let me go and I swear to God I won’t tell anyone. Ever. I promise. Please just let me go!”

  “But we haven’t had our spa day yet.” Celeste smiled and walked over and stood in front of her, bending down to smooth the hair out of Kael’s face. “I hate your fucking hair. I have always hated your fucking hair!”

  Celeste grabbed the back of Kael’s head and ripped out some of her hair like she was ripping a bandage off. One clean swoop and Kael had a bald spot. It was so painful, so agonizing, a scream ripped out of Kael’s throat. She started shaking with pain and she felt a trickle of blood go down the back of her head and drip onto her shirt. “Owwwwwww!” she screamed. Her body shook with the pain and her legs danced with it. It was excruciating.

  Celeste didn’t even blink. “The first day I saw you, I hated it,” Celeste said, ignoring her screams. “It looked so… Ugh! I can’t even explain it. I mean, why did you think that looked good?”

  “Please stop,” Kael begged her and felt the pain, the awful physical pain of having someone quite literally rip the hair off of your head. “Celeste, you have to stop yourself now. Get a grip.”

  “Who told you that this looked good?” she replied, still ignoring her. “We gotta fix this.” Celeste turned and opened a drawer and started rummaging around. As she did so, she spoke, “You know, people say that a woman’s hair is her crowning glory. But this isn’t really the case for you, Kael, because your hair looks so horrible. Ah, there they are!”

  She pulled out a pair of scissors and turned to Kael, whose eyes widened. She would not, could not allow Celeste to do this to her. She screamed, “Don’t you fucking dare, you bitch!”

  “Why not?” Celeste said. “You need a change. A new hairstyle is the best way for a girl to feel revitalized. And that hair style is not cutting it, Kael. It’s like a bastardization of punk rock meets sixties bouffant, like when you put it up and let the strings hang down. Awful!”

  That really offended Kael. How dare she say that about her hair? Everyone loved her hair! Everyone! When she’d gotten it cut like this, she’d told her stylist that she wanted a platinum cross between Debbie Harry and Joan Jett. Once she was done, the stylist had loved it so much, she’s taken a picture and put it up on the wall, next to all kinds of celebrities. She got requests for it all the time, too! Her hair was not a bastardization of anything! It was edgy and hip and very, very chic. See, that was Celeste’s problem; she was stuck in the past and refused to move forward. She couldn’t see past her own way of doing things. Well, whatever. She could grow her hair back out but Celeste would never, not in a million years, be a cool as she was. She’d tell her that, too, if she wasn’t brandishing a pair of scissors in her face. She shook her head slowly. “Please don’t, Celeste,” she begged. “Please, don’t.”

  “Oh, come on,” Celeste said, almost whining. “It’s all just going to fall out one day anyway, what with all that over-processing you’re doing.”

  “Don’t!” Kael screamed, not that it did her any good. “Please, just don’t!”

  Celeste grabbed onto a chunk of her hair and pulled her head back, hissing into her ear, “I am cutting your hair and if you don’t want me to cut anything else, you will be still.”

  Overcome with a torrent of emotions, Kael burst into crying. And Celeste started cutting. She cut and cut until Kael was almost completely bald. When she was done, she stepped back and surveyed her work.

  “I definitely think the gamine look is back in for spring! Look at you!” She turned her around to face the mirror.

  Once Kael saw herself, she cried harder at how awful she looked. Her whole body was shaking with the sobs. She couldn’t get over it. She’d never looked worse. This made her feel even more awful and she chastised herself for being so stupid as to think she could ever make things right with Celeste with an apology. Stupid! Everyone had told her not to come out here and everyone had been right. She just couldn’t listen, could she? No. And now she looked absolutely pathetic, like a mental pa
tient on some old black and white movie that the doctors were tormenting with ice baths and eclectic shocks, then would throw back into a padded room like yesterday’s garbage.

  Celeste seemed to be really annoyed at her reaction and rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she did so. “For God’s sake, just shut up.”

  At this, Kael cried even harder.

  “Oh, give it a few months and it will grow back in.” She pulled back and studied Kael. “Oh, don’t cry. Mine falls out all the time. Look!” She pulled a big chunk of hair out of her head and showed it to Kael, then smiled. “My husband says it’s because of all the fertility drugs I’ve been taking but I think it’s from stress.”

  To say that Kael was shocked would be an understatement. But at that moment, she could do nothing but cry. This woman was off her rocker! She’d known crazy old ladies back home who shuffled around in their worn-out shoes and old calico dresses muttering to themselves as they pushed grocery buggies up and down the road. Well, she knew one. The old lady would yell and shake her fist at cars as they passed her, claiming everyone was going to hell. She was indeed crazy. But she didn’t hold a candle to Celeste. In fact, she seemed almost tranquil in comparison.

  But it was obvious that Celeste was on the edge. Maybe she wasn’t over it just yet and maybe Kael could talk her off of it. She had to believe that and she had to try or who knew what would end up happening? She took a breath and turned to her and began to beg, “Celeste, please just tell me what you want. I’ll do anything if you just stop. What is it? What do you want?”