Little Inklings 2024

The alarm blared, ending Ava’s peaceful sleep. Knowing how long she needed to prepare for her day, Ava set her alarm to 5:00 am--she had precisely three hours. Ava stared at herself in the mirror, shaking her head, disappointed at her reflection. She must fix this. So, she got to work. During the first hour, Ava meticulously applied her face tape to shape her face, as she had seen in numerous videos. Ava remembered the first time she applied the face tape; it took her more than two hours to get her face in just the right shape. So, Ava was pleased that she could do it now in about an hour. After perfecting the face tape, Ava started applying her makeup in the second hour. First, she covered every spot that was less than perfect on her face. She was meticulous. Spots had to be covered without looking like they were covered. Everything had to look “natural.” Next, Ava moved on to highlighting and contouring her face. It took her several tries before she was satisfied with the outcome. Even then, it wasn’t perfect, but barely acceptable. Ava was now into her third and final hour. She began to get nervous. Will she get ready in time? Should she have woken up earlier? Ava put those thoughts aside and kept working on her face. She put on her blush, eye shadow, mascara, and lipstick. She shaped her brows to accentuate her new face shape. Ava looked into the mirror and inspected her work. She reviewed every inch of her face and carefully fixed her perceived imperfections. She was satisfied with the outcome: now, she could face the world. Ava opened the door of her bedroom. For the first time, her strained eyes, which had been looking at and analyzing her face, struggled to look past the hallway to the living room. It took Ava a minute to slowly acclimate to looking beyond a few inches. She went to the kitchen, grabbed her list, and was ready to go to the grocery store. Walking around the store, she picked up everything on her list. Several people stared at her. Ava heard whispers: “Wow, who’s that? Is she famous? I think I saw her in a movie. She’s so beautiful. She looks so natural?” Ava ignored them. She minded her business, got what she needed, and returned home. Back at home, Ava began removing the face tape and layers of makeup. She looked at her face for a second, and she immediately turned away. She couldn’t bear to see her reflection in the mirror. A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN By Maya Bhandari ’28 24