I have always been the prettiest girl in our little town. But now, sitting alone in the woods, I didn’t feel or look pretty at all.

My hair was greasy and pinned up, my mascara bleeding down my face, and there was a tiny blackhead knife the left corner of my chin. I put my arms to my knees and let myself cry, thinking of why I was here.

My father only had eyes for beauty, so when my hag of a mother birthed a angel, everyone one shocked. Needless to say, my father encouraged me to stay the red rose. And I did.

Every night I spent two hours doing beauty masks, lotion, and cucumber tea and water. My skin was fleshy and soft, hair smooth and golden, and even the pinky toe was scrubbed clean. That was… until early this morning.

Like always, I woke up before the sun. I was chopping up cucumbers for my mask when the unthinkable happened. We live in a unpredictable neighborhood, so there were a lot of weather swings. On this sunny morning, and earthquake appeared out of nowhere. As I had been working with a knife at the time, the sharp object slipped and left a scar on my arm.

When my father had found this out, he was furious. “ You are an embarrassment to this family, Nicole!!!” He yelled, right before he kicked me out.

With nowhere to go, I stumbled into the woods, trailing blood. Crying I walked for miles before resting for a bit. When I woke, my pink dress had caught on thorns and I reached my clean hand to free it, only hurting my good hand on the sharp branches.

I stopped crying. Lifting my head up, I wiped my mascara away and studied both my injured hands, only to grin a sly smile. I was still here.