Beauty

Cameo

   Beauty is always covered with thorns- fall for it and prick your finger on their personality. I'm sick of it, fed up with how the ugly masquerade as the lovely. Nothing and no one are wonderful. Everything is rotten underneath.

   People judge me on my exterior appearance and I'll judge them on their interior. So what if I deviate from the standards of normal- I'm unique. I'd rather be myself than everyone else.

   When will this rain pass? The gloom hangs in the air, tangible and suffocating. With every drop that falls from the heavens, the more weight there is for me to carry.

   Maybe this is god's retribution, the curse of a being that doesn't even exist, pouring their tears upon us for our disbelief and sins. Maybe god wants to wipe us all out like the parasites we are. If only they existed, then they could.

   To wipe out all the sinners, the hypocrites. Everyone is two-faced liars. I hate them all, myself most of all. I loath myself for being this way as well.

   Armani, my little sister, is the only one I don't hate. She sees the world through virgin eyes, innocent as only children can be, pure as the angels she believes in. She means more than anything in this world, the one thing their filth hasn't touched.

   Armani is an angel. That must be why god is trying to take her back. God hates us all.

   My little sister is so strong. She's taken everything in stride. When she was told she was most likely going to die, all she said was: "Oh. So I'll meet God and the angels sooner? Sooner than momma? Sooner than Cammy?" My father must have wanted to meet his baby girl too soon, and accidentally called his daughter to him.

   She understands and accepts that she will not meet her eleventh birthday unless she gets the extremely costly help she knows we can't afford. I can't. I won't. I'd do anything to prevent her from dying. She is my sun.

Dai

   The world should just go away. I'm so tired of this meaningless existence. I no longer hope for a better life. It will always be the same no matter where I go. Everyone only sees my father, never me. They see the riches, not the person. They kiss up to the boy in hope of return affection.

   I will not grant what they want- the moneys no mine to give. The money belongs to my father, not me.

   People think about kidnapping me because I won't give them money, but my father won't pay them off. He'd be overjoyed in fact, able to escape his b*****d child. The illegitimate who cast the only shadow on his reputation. He would be a saint if not for me.

   That's what I'm telling the two black clad  figures wearing ski masks. One of them is obviously female, the other has the build of a boy and the softness of a woman. I don't think that they  believe me. It's true, though.

   I sigh. I'm already trapped here, in their lair, in what appears to be an... empty house? The air feels stale, old, as if unbreathed  for years. There are a lot of empty residences, could I be in one of them?

   How did I get here? I remember getting into the waiting car, sent by my father. What happened after that?

   Whatever. I don't care anymore. Whatever happens, happens. I can't stop it.

Cameo

   I have kidnapped the son of a rich man in hopes of a ransom. I need the money. I have to save my sister. I don't care if I have to become a monster, a beast. She's the only one who matters to me.

   Armani is the reason I'm sitting in the corner of this abandoned room, watching a scary boy, chained to a bed, staring at me with deadened eyes.

   Alys is delivering the ransom note while I watch over our victim. It's quiet, almost peaceful, here. I miss the chatter of my little sister.

   My phone buzzes, my real phone, not the ransom phone, which I hope buzzes soon. I don't want to hold this boy here longer than necessary. I don't really want to hold him against his will; and being in this room with him makes me twitchy.

   My corner lights up softly with a muted glow when I check the caller. I stand up and leave the room to answer; the boys eyes follow me as I do.

   "Hey," I say when I connect, "What's going on?"

   "I dropped the letter off."

   "Good. Were you disguised the entire time?"

   "Yes, and after I stopped at your house to pick up the provisions. Someone has something to say to you."

   My heart clenches, my knees are weak. I lean against the doorway to hold myself up.

   "One sec, I'll talk in a second," I turn away from the room and pull the black ski mask from my head, leaving only  the fake blonde wig, contacts, and doctors mask to protect my identity.

   "I'm back," I say and Alys hands the phone to a smaller person, one with smaller hands.

   "Hi Cammy," A young breathy voice says, "I miss you. When will you come home? Big sister ALys says it'll take awhile, but that you'll hopefully be home soon."

   "Yeah. I hope I get home soon. I miss you too baby. Make sure to be good for Momma, okay?"

   "Kay~ Love you Cammy."

   It hurts so much to be away from her. I can hear the sadness in her voice at me not being with her and it aches in ways that should not be possible.

   A burning tear slowly slips out of my eye and down my cheek, staining the mask around my mouth.

   "I love you too baby. See you soon." My throat burns as I choke the words out, my Armani so alone.

   Please, god, i you truly do exist, don't let her die alone before we get the ransom money. I wouldn't be able to live after that. Armani means everything to me.

Dai

   Hmph, crocodile tears aren't going to help their cause. Maybe they think that getting my sympathy will make me not want to press charges against the duo, which I will do, regardless of what they do to me. I will not fall victim to Stockholm Syndrome.

 Cameo

   The days stretch long as they pass, the phone not buzzing at all. Looks like rich boy Dai was right. His daddy doesn't much care for him. Maybe I should look for a better person to kidnap. I need the money.

   Alys doesn't spend much time here, usually  comes by with groceries or dinner, see if the situation changed at all.

   I have changed, though. I am not the same person who left Armani in the care of my mother a couple of days ago. I am no longer a 'good' person. I have kidnapped a boy and threatened him with death. In the name of love I could do anything. But this ordeal will change me. I just hope Armani will still love this broken me.

Dai

   Hours turn into days, stretched into weeks. One day the blonde haired captor brought roses to 'liven things up.' It's just as dreary now as ever. A handful of flowers don't do anything for this dismal lifestyle we are all slowly becoming accustomed to.

   I think they are giving up hope on collecting the ransom money. They've argued in hushed tones about letting me go, what to do when they release me, and various other subjects. They always go back  to the money, the fact that they need the money. 

   I've leaned about their cause, the little girl with the terminal disease. The procedure costs less than what my father makes on his tax returns (the taxes which he fudges). The fact that, with each passing day, the  prognosis grows dimmer and dimmer- even with the treatment. If I had the money, I'd give it. But I don't. And my father won't relinquish it either. everyone is at stalemate.

   It's not so bad living here. They feed me, keep me warm, give me a place to stay away from my father,  the money mongers...

 

Cameo

  This is the longest I've been away from my beloved Armani since, I don't know, before she was born. I miss her so much. I want to see her smile, filled with such happiness.

   Happy. Such a foreign concept. Dai feels that way too, stifled by his father and reputation. Sick of people and all they do. I'm just done withe them all.

   The news paints everything in a wide array of colors: politicians are all suck ups and in it for themselves; the police appear to be evil, killing innocents; and all teenagers are druggies and out for a hit. The only people living up to their expectations are the people who belong in jail: they never aid they were 'good' and they lived how they want.

Dai  

  They're talking of letting me go. Such kind captors. I can either go back to my fathers or they can drop me off at a new place with a new identity. If I choose to go back to my fathers, they ask that I say there was only one blonde, androgynous captor. I told them it wouldn't be a problem. There's no way I would go back to the way I was before.

Cameo

   My nerves are on edge. My actual phone has died, it sort of took a dive into the toilet so... yeah. My dark haired friend has not dropped by recently. That worries me. I want to run to Armani's side but I can't leave Dai here by himself or bring him along either.

   Dai no longer needs to be chained to chained to the bed, he's aloud to wander anywhere he wants, as long as he doesn't leave the building.

   This peace, this tranquility, is the calm before the storm. I just hope we'll be standing after the storm blows through.

   The phone buzzes once and my fingers latch on greedily, answering before I can think to check who's calling.

   "Hello," I say, hoping for money.

   "Cameo, it's me... Alys," My blood runs cold, "It's about Armani. I'm sorry but..." The phone falls through my fingers as the word 'died' floats up through  the earpiece.

   The world is gone from beneath my feet. Somehow the world has disappeared without me noticing. The light of my world, my life, my everything. She's gone. How could she be gone? Somehow, when I wasn't there, my little sister fell through the cracks of life.

   I'm falling, always falling, floating through space, this feeling so familiar. I haven't stopped falling since it was first confirmed that she was going to...

Dai

   I look up from  where I was laying on the floor, reading at an old comic book, at the captor that stayed with me, when I hear a loud clatter.

   The little black ransom phone lays on the floor, in several pieces, with the yellow haired kidnapped staring, shell shocked, over it.

   "Dead? She can't be. How could she be... the money... why? " The captor mumbles, tears falling down their face like a broken faucet.

   They stand, frozen, immobile, looking as if the world has ended.

   Without ever once looking at me, they run to the door. I hear their fading footsteps running out the building.

   What should I do? With no on else here? Should I stay?

Cameo

   My feet won't stop moving, not until I see my baby girl. My light. My everything. Healthy and whole. I can hardly register the squeal of tires as the large truck slams into my body.

   I can't feel the pain. All I care about is the the little angel walking closer to me, getting clearer and clearer as she takes each step closer.

   "Cammy!" The little angels face lights up with love, with joy when she gets closer.

   I try and stand, and find that I can, and run to her. My Armani. I don't care what happens to me as long as I am with my Armani.

Dai

   I sit in the quiet lonely room for hours, waiting on the captors to return.  I grow tired and my eyes slide shut. As I am about to sleep, a dark haired angel walks in.

   "Hi. My name is Alice. Do you want a new life?"

   I nod yes and her face lights up. She carries me to the car, cooing at me to go to sleep. I do sleep and await the adventure that is sure  to come.