Introduction (Beauty is Ugly)

“Did you see Aurora today?”

“No man. Why? Did she have a skirt on again?”

Jim and Peter were talking about their favorite subject: sexy girls. Aurora, however, was beyond the typical girls they would discuss. At only sixteen, Aurora was something of what the boys called a goddess.

“Dude, she had on THE skirt on. Not just A skirt,” said Jim.

“She’s got such a fine ass. Did you get a look when she was going upstairs?”

“Yeah man I did! It was fucking sick!”

“You ever gonna hit that?” Peter asked.

“No man. You don’t just fuck Aurora, dude. You can’t. It’s impossible. I’ve never even spoken to the chick really outside of Chemistry. But I can tell that she just isn’t that kind of girl. She’s got too much class. She’s perfect.”

“What the fuck, bro? Gettin’ all emotional and shit.”

“Dude, do you really think you could get Aurora to fuck you?”

Peter’s head dropped. “No,” he said shamefully.


Staring into the mirror, she criticized the right side of her neck. There was this mole. She would stare at it until she was fully disgusted. Aurora was fixated with it. In between classes she would go to the bathroom just to look in the mirror and pick at her mole.

“It never fails,” a girl remarked upon entering the bathroom. She and her friend snickered as they walked into stalls side by side.

Aurora’s chest sank, and she resumed the fight against the mirror. The girls finished up in the stalls and came up behind her.

“We need the sink you vain bitch!” They shoved her into the wall, and left the restroom without washing their hands.

Broken, Aurora gathered her books and folders and headed to her next class. She stared at her feet as she walked down the hall. The boys all turned their heads as she passed. Jim, ecstatic for Chemistry with Aurora, waited for her outside the classroom door.

“Hey!” He said as she approached.

Aurora barely glanced up, gave a timid smile, and made her way into her seat. Jim followed behind her, and sat down beside her.

“Look, I know we’ve never really talked before, but my buddy Peter and I thought it would be really cool if you came to my party tonight. You down?”

Aurora nodded and took out her homework.

“Cool. Just bring yourself and friends if you like. Beer and food and shit is already gonna be there. I’m stoked you’re coming.” Jim smiled big at her, his braces gleaming.


Aurora was clearing out everything she was going to need for her homework to do over the weekend from her locker. She silently and singly waited for the bus to arrive. She sat in near the back alone up against the window. About five or six other students got off on her stop; they all walked in pairs usually on their way to hang out together. Aurora was slow paced behind them all going home alone to wait for her parents to get off of work, and home from the bar.

She left her school materials in her bedroom and went immediately to the bathroom from there. She picked at the mole on her neck. Frustrated that she could not remove it with her own hands tears fell from her eyes.

“Ahhhhh!” Aurora screamed and shoved everything off of the bathroom counter and onto the floor next to the toilet. Her chest was heaving with adrenaline. Her cheeks, no longer red from the snowy weather outside, were now red with fury.

Aurora picked up items from the ground and smashed them into walls, flinging them across the room. A soap dish hit the mirror. Toothbrushes landed in the bathtub. A metal tissue box made a hole in one of the walls. Towels were spread across the floor. Even the shower curtain was torn from its rings.

She slammed the door to the bathroom, concealing her massacre from the hallway’s view. Aurora plopped into her dad’s recliner, turned on the TV, and drank one of his beers. Then she drank another and another. She took a few shots, had a glass of wine. By six she was nearly unconscious on the kitchen floor.