The Runs Girl

THE RUNS GIRL NEVER FEELS BEAUTIFUL

She may not love what she does and does not really see the need but she does it anyway.

Because it seemed cool at first: she could wear trending clothes, have classy friends, get noticed on social media, famous at school too, dine with politicians, get stares from people. Just somehow, she started to matter.

She wears long hair now, this runs girl, never tucks it behind her ear. That hair is her power – long and wavy as it is. She wears long and distinct lashes, and artificial finger nails of multiple colours. She chooses to wear clothes that make her big behind conspicuous. The stares!

Her profile pictures are raunchy. Nobody ever notices her face in those pictures; the focus is where she needs it to be – that butt, those boobs, that figure. She has followers everywhere on social media especially on Instagram.

She plays truant, but because of the money, a colleague is always willing to help her cover up. But this trust is silly; the colleague could cheat . She travels all the time – Abuja, Lagos, Dubai, Singapore, perfect locations for her business.

She avoids her old friends; she is on a higher level now. Besides, she knows that when they look deep in her eyes, they would see that its not a new job or a contract like she claims. They would see behind the glamour, a perished soul.

Such a tease! She is flirtatious  a superficial can win favours from any masculine Homo sapien, be it who.  When she walks into  room, eyes linger on but those eyes are not always those of admirers. She knows some of them condemn her, and some others lust, but she needs the attention anyway.

What God has joined together, she has always tried to put asunder. Wives pray for her- to turn a new leaf, to disappear or even to die. Husbands lose their voices. They see. They fall. They enter.

She never looks deep in the mirror, she only does her make-up and goes her way. But on a certain day,  she would peer longer into the mirror and realize that she is no longer beautiful. For people see the flamboyance and the perfect make up; she sees decay. She often longs for that part of her she has shredded to bits.

Her mother knows this truth but chooses to deceive herself: her daughter works hard; her daughter is good. But if this mother looks carefully at this daughter, the weakness in this daughter’s steps, the guilt behind this daughter’s face and uncertainty in behavior, this mother would grasp it all and die internally.

No Suitors for this daughter. Those who come along leave too soon. Everybody knows the reason but nobody speaks to her face. 

She goes to church very often now, hoping to regain a value that is long lost. She looks in her wardrobe at the shoes, the clothes, the jewelries, then her eyes move to the stocked fridge, the racks of make-up, her apartment that seemed a paradise, and everything slowly fades away. 

She breaks her posh wall mirror for when she peers into it, she no longer feels beautiful. Henceforth, she would use a small mirror. 

Her friend walks in, hair neatly braided, face radiating with no make-up on, neat clothes that would never trend even in a decade – surely not a classy friend. 

This friend has come to seek little favors, either beg for a few clothes or borrow a shoe, but all the while this friend talks, the runs girl looks upon her in awe and wishes to steal her life.

The glamour is superficial, the look is overrated; the runs girl will always fade away.

Submitted by Pinkchelli

Pinkchelli