Beauty Read Online Free PDF

the long hallway first. I could hear music blaring behind one of the doors, marijuana stenched smoke trailing from another. I was nearing the end, when I caught sight of the swipe of black paint over a door near the end. A matching black crucifix - pain ted r ight on the frame-stopped me cold , goose bumps suddenly covering my arms and legs.
    “Your wish has been granted…”
    Her words whispered through my th oughts, my closed fist s lifting to the closed door, a nd then settling back at my waist without knocking.
    What would I say…? Thank you…? How dare you do this to me?! Was I supposed to be angry…? Happy….? Upset…?
    “Evelyn…?”
    A soft voice made me jump, my head whipping back towards the way I’d just c ome. There she was…dressed all in black save the dark green bac k pack tossed over one shoulder. Her hair was different , the mass braided loosely behind her in a fishtail that curved down her front to just above her elbow , but it was still just as messy as ever.
    “I… You… I….”
    Shit! My words were stuck. Jumbled. My mouth snapped shut, a sigh escaping before I could stop it. How I must look, naked underneath this humongous nightdress. Bare dirty feet because I hadn’t had any shoes that fit…
    “You’re in shock…” she nodded slowly, closing the distance left between the two of us.
    I inhaled sharply as her hand lifted up past my face, a key slipping into the lock and turning. A soft click sounded and she turned the knob, pushing the door open before motioning for me to go in ahead of her .
    A quick peep ins ide, and I almost laughed. I didn ’t know what I’d expected. The room painted black maybe… Incense and odd trinkets lying about perhaps… A dorm efficient cauldron, bubbling with her latest concoction… Sure why not…? That’s what witches used right?
    Her suite lo oked just like mine. Four rooms: two on either side, a living room in the middle… Nothing strange about that. She moved past me to the door in the left corner, and I followed , into her b edroom. Once again, no surprise: a few pictures on the wall, a laptop on the desk, e ven the bed was plain. Black spread, black pillow…
    “What did you do to me?” I blurted so fast I didn’t even know I’d opened my mouth until I hea r d the sound of my own voice.
    She turned, but never stopped moving, pulling the books from her bag and putting them away, and then starting up her laptop. I stood in the middle of her floor, waiting whil e she clicked through the welcome screen and opened up a pack of crackers sitting on the desk.
    “Sit…” she gestured to her bed, taking a bit e of one before offering me the p ack.
    “No…” I whispered as I sank gently down on her bed .
    I t would be embarrassing if it creaked under my weight.
    Shit! I wasn’t fat anymore…
    The breath I’d been holding released, allowing me to face her more comfortably.
    “What did you do to me?” I repeated, my voice barely above a whisper as I met her gaze.
    “I asked if I could help… You said…only if I could make you skinny…”
    “Yes…! But…”
    “A witch will never offer her help if you don’t truly need it.”
    “So you are…” I swallowed hard, a lu mp suddenly stuck in my throat. “A witch…?”
    She chewed her second bit e of the cracker slowly as if considering what she would say next carefully , her lips finally turning up into a small smile.
    “That’s what you here are most comfortable with…so yes…think of me as a witch…”
    “You said you only offered to help because I needed it. I didn’t need your help or anyone else’s,” I spat, memories of Brice and the night before flashing through my mind now. “I had it under control.”
    “Cutting…Evelyn…?”
    She’d seen the scars… Or…
    “ You found me,” I whispered, my eyes going to the bandage that covered the whole lower half of my left arm like a cast.
    She was the first person to ever know that I was a cutter. I’d imagined