The Price of Beauty

Chapter Three: Shock

“How’s she?” Adrian asked, the moment he made it through the door.

“Not very good,” Faith said slowly, a crease forming on her forehead, “I can’t seem to cheer her up at all. She was fine in the morning but then she went into the room and hasn’t been out since. I can’t get her to come out at all. She hadn’t had any food since then.”

“Do I try talking to her? How bad is it?” Adrian asked as he removed his coat and sat at the table.

“You’ll be surprised,” Faith said, avoiding his eyes, “It’s like God took her entire face and replaced it with some 100-year old acid attack victim’s.” She shut her eyes tightly and then mouthed, “Sorry, I shouldn’t –“

“It’s okay,” Adrian said. “The doctor warned us.”

“It’s just so much worse than what I had been prepared for,” Faith said in a low whisper, “And we probably don’t have enough to afford an entire face renovation.”

Adrian looked at Faith, her hair all over the place, her eyes red and bleary, her finger tips slightly cracked due to the cold and work and couldn’t help but feel extremely sorry for her. To have to look after a mother who didn’t recognize her, a sister recuperating from an accident along with college and a part-time job, her frail shoulders carried much more than anyone her age should ever have to. He remembered when she was 16 and crying at her father’s funeral. She had been broken once, but she had bounced back, got her life in order. Now at 18, she already had the eyes of a wizened man in his fifties and Adrian doubted he’d ever hear her careless laugh again. He had grown quite fond of Nina’s family and their quirks.

“Will you talk to her?” Faith asked, breaking his reverie.

“Yes, I will,” Adrian said in a low voice, “But…but I have some news, which she won’t take to easily.”

Faith’s eyes widened as Adrian continued haltingly, “My parents have strictly opposed to our…marriage.”

“What?!” Faith gasped, “You can’t! Adrian, you can’t. This is madness! This is the worst possible time ever to tell her this! Are you insane?”

“It happened a month ago. They couldn’t really stop me from visiting her in the hospital but ever since she’s been discharged, they’ve been breathing down my neck to set things straight,” Adrian said, “I stand to lose the inheritance of the entire construction company my father runs, unless I marry…the woman of his choice.

“His choice?”

“Fiona White, daughter of White & Roger constructions. There’s some plan of merging our company and – “

“Adrian, no!” Faith begged, “You can’t leave her now! Please! She won’t make it through without you, we both won’t!”

Adrian looked at her and Faith noticed his eyes were moist. “It’s not in my hands, Faith. I had always told her it could end up this way.”

“But…oh God, it gets more nightmarish every day,” Faith said as she fell in a heap on the chair with her face in her hands. Adrian reached out to her but she slapped his hand away.

“I can’t believe this, I can’t believe you’re pulling this sort of sick stunt on us using your parents as an excuse just because Nina got into an accident,” she said in a strained voice, “You’ve been a constant in our lives since dad died. You helped me find Bareton’s, and you looked after mom when she spiraled into Alzheimer’s, you…”

“I’ll still be there for you, Faith,” Adrian said, “And for Nina too. I could never leave the both of you alone.”

“Leave whom?” a cold voice cut across the room.

Adrian and Nina looked up to see Nina standing outside the door to her room, her face twisted with some emotion lost in its appalling form.

“Nina!” Faith’s hand flew to her mouth. Adrian let out a loud gasp, visibly shaken as the enormity of the truth hit him all at once. He couldn’t recognize the almond shaped eyes, the pointed nose and plush lips simply because no trace of that existed anymore. He couldn’t recognize whoever was standing before him.

“Adrian,” Nina said slowly as she took in his expression, “It’s me…”

“Y-yes, Nina?” he said in a shaky voice as his knees shook violently. His breath was heavy and his eyes kept oscillating between her face and the wall behind. He didn’t know where to look. Was this his fiancé? The same Nina he fell in love with? The one he had kissed in the library and proposed to on his birthday? It couldn’t be! His fists were tightly clenched at his side and some subconscious part of him wished she wouldn’t come any closer.

Nina stared at him for a long time, before she turned around and went into her room once again. The door clicked shut.

“Holy f**k,” Adrian cursed in a whisper as he took a gulp of water from the glass before him. Faith sighed and sat down again to steady herself.

“That was some entrance,” Adrian managed to say.

“You were awful,” Faith said in a cold voice, covering her face in her hands. “This is a disaster.”

“With all due respect Faith, how the hell do you expect me to marry her now?” Adrian said incredulously.

Her head snapped up as she hissed, “Shut up Adrian. I know it’s not what you expected but she’s still my sister! And if you did love her, I doubt you’d even ask that!”

“Are you telling me you aren’t in the least bit thrown off by this?” Adrian asked, his eyes wide. “Holy s**t, that was…oh my god, I didn’t know it was possible to f**k someone up this bad!”

“Adrian!” Faith glared at him. She agreed with every word he said, and yet her conscious wouldn’t let her admit it. She was disgusted by his wording and his open revulsion – the same revulsion she felt but kept hidden.

“Alright, alright,” Adrian held up his hands trying to pacify her, “I’m still here if you need me, okay? But honestly, she looks like some monst –“

There was a whoosh of the wind as Adrian felt a stinging pain on his left check. Faith was standing over him, her chest heaving. She had slapped him. The little Faith Thornton had slapped him.

“Get. Out,” she said between clenched teeth. “Get out before I set your fancy ass on fire.”

With a snigger, Adrian picked up his coat and said, “Best of luck trying to save face.”

Faith glared at the door until she heard the gate outside close and was sure he had exited their premise.

“Everything will be fine soon,” she said aloud to nobody.

***

“Please come out, Nina,” Faith begged for the umpteenth time outside the locked mahogany door. Still no answer.

Well, this is it.

Lifting the hammer with all her might, Faith brought it down on the lock. Fifty years old and rusting on the inside, it cracked open like a coconut. A surprised yell from the inside let her know that Nina was still alive, if not well.

She pushed open to door to find Nina sitting by the window, a diary in her lap.

“You have to get out, lady,” Faith said resolutely, “I don’t want to hear excuses.”

Nina said nothing but continued writing in the diary.

“NINA!” Faith yelled, “For heaven’s sake, get out! You’re destroying yourself away. Come out and we can look up the internet, search through the directory, find brochures, we’ll set you up fine in no time! You can’t live the rest of your life cooped in. somebody’s got to keep this house running and you’re the only earning member!”

“I did, Faith,” Nina said slowly, “I looked through half the internet and all the clinics I can find are too damn expensive. I have to accept it – this is what I am and will be.”

“No,” Faith said resolutely, “You won’t. Because I found one we can afford.”

***

“You’re saying this came in the mail today?” Nina asked.

“Yep,” Faith said. “No return address, nothing.”

“It could be a prank,” Nina said. The letter was simply and crisp. It had arrived that morning and requested Miss Nina Thornton to avail the services of the plastic surgery clinic located near the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles. It mentioned no name, no signature, no telephone number or email. Just an address. A small paragraph impersonally mentioned that they were currently in the process of researching a trial medication routine any person agreeing to undergo trial would be offered the process at a fraction of the actual prices.

“It could,” Faith said. “I looked it up but there are no plastic surgery clinics in that area or anywhere near it. In fact, the entire place is 60 miles from civilization and from what I could see via satellite images, it seemed like a warehouse.”

“You knucklehead! Of course it’s some stupid kid’s idea of a prank!” Nina fumed. “How can you take this seriously? The idea of someone chuckling over this!”

“I don’t know,” Faith said dubiously, “It seemed…kinda genuine to me. All clinics seem sketchy to me anyway. Maybe somebody sent it out of sympathy? Adrian perhaps?”

“Don’t take his name,” Nina snapped. Faith kept mum as she said, “So? Want to check it out?”

“Aren’t the old age home people coming to take mom away today?” Nina asked.

“Yes, and I’m leaving the day after,” Faith reminded again.

“Well, I’ll see then,” Nina said as she flashed her grotesque smile again and filed the letters away.

“But you must be careful,” Faith said as she rummaged through a notebook, “A lot of plastic surgery clinics have turned out to be hoaxes. Some inject fat oil instead of proper injections and some have plain unqualified doctors. And recently there’s been this string of women committing suicide after undergoing improper surgery that left them with unsurpassable pain or a worse result than before.”

“What could be worse in my case?” Nina asked through half closed eyes.

“Worse as in this!” Faith slammed some newspaper clippings on the table. “While you cooped yourself up without being a help to anybody, I actually did some goddamn research!”

Nina blinked twice as she processed the anger in Faith’s voice. What a horrible person I’ve been! I’m supposed to be the elder one for god’s sake! She mouthed an apology and picked up the images. In the grainy images, she could see the women had black marks on their bodies, like bruises caused by the impact of a train.

“Some surgeries require life long maintenance and regular visits to the doctors,” Faith recited from a page, “And those who cannot afford them often experience breakdown of the silicone injections or pads inside their bodies. They try to sue to doctor for negligence but it doesn’t work because the doctors warn them in the beginning itself that plastic surgery comes with the price of regular trips to the doctor. If you cannot afford an upkeep, it is best not the begin in the first place.”

“Hmm, that’s scary and off-putting,” Nina said keeping down the clipping.

“I’m pretty sure at this point we don’t have a choice,” Faith said giving Nina a hard stare.

***

Nina looked at the letter before her on the table. It had been 2 weeks since Faith had left for college and her mother had been shifted to Bareton’s. Groceries were running out, the answering machine was full of Adrian’s drained apologies and altogether, the house seemed too empty for a person to be living alone. She had done everything to keep herself busy from scrubbing every nook and cranny, sterilizing her mother’s room, filing away all of Faith’s books.

Yet, nothing could help alleviate what she felt – a dull ache. She ran a finger through the crisp paper, it gave away nothing and yet somehow, she felt there did exist a clinic in the middle of nowhere, a place that could just magically rewind time and turn her back into what a she was – a regular girl with a pleasant face. The letter felt almost like a savior.

This is not the time for dreams, she scolded herself. Re-reading the letter again, she sighed and when the sharp ring of the telephone cut through her dreams.

Adrian, again?

But she picked it up and it turned out to be Bareton’s Old Age Home.

“Is this the residence of Miss Thornton?” a formal female voice asked.

“Yes?”

“Miss Thornton, we’re sorry to inform you but your mother, Mrs. Anne Thornton, tried to commit suicide today again. She’s recuperating right now and is under intense surveillance and we’d like your permission to move her to the suicidal section for better care. The call is being recorded for easier transactions.”

For a second, Nina’s vision went black. Again? Gulping, she managed to choke the words, “Yes, please.”

The call was cut off with the same formal impunity and Nina found her resolution growing stronger. She knew what she must do.

A three hour drive later, she stood in front of an old, dilapidated warehouse in the middle of nowhere.