I was perusing my eye shelf for a nice set of light green irises when there was a knock at my front door. Huffing with annoyance at the interruption, I grabbed the eyes closest to me, a dark blue pair.
I hurried to the mirror and popped out my dark brown sleeping eyes, quickly and painlessly replacing them with the blue ones. My luscious lashes, acquired from my most recent quarry, fluttered a few times as my eyes settled in.
When I could finally see, I scowled, albeit carefully, I couldn’t afford wrinkles over this. These eyes absolutely did not go with the beautiful auburn hair I had chosen for the day.
I was seriously considering going back for the green eyes, but another knock sounded, louder and more insistent than before.
As I made my way to the door, I picked at the dried blood stuck in the edges of my nails. Sometimes my prey put up a good fight. That’s how I knew if my choice was good. The prettiest ones always fought the hardest to keep their beauty.
In the end it never mattered. I was a Beauty Hunter after all.
At the door, I peered through my peephole. A few dozen men were standing outside. They looked upset, so clearly they had come to me so I could cheer them up with my beauty.
I swung open the door and smiled warmly, well aware of the perfect whiteness of my recently acquired teeth. “Welcome to La Beaute Chez Meredith.”
Not a single one of them smiled back at me. Maybe they didn’t understand French.
“Welcome to Meredith’s House of Beauty,” I said with another dazzling smile.
“Give me my daughter!” one of the men yelled.
“And my wife!” someone else shouted.
Uh oh. Somehow I had overlooked their weapons.
I stumbled away from the door and the enraged mob that stood there. Sadly, high heels don’t like to be stumbled in. I fell to the floor, breaking one of my nails on impact. The fall was all it took. The mob of men stormed through my door, and suddenly I was no longer a hunter. I was the hunted.
Thanks for reading! It’s a busy week over here for me, (spring break and my birthday!) so this is coming to you from the archives. I wrote this back in July 2020, and it’s the only dip into the horror genre I’ve ever attempted. Is it actually horror? What did you think?
I hope everyone has an amazing rest of the week! See you next Thursday!
Ooh. I would love to see this story told from the POV of one of her victims. That would really give it the tension/fear that horror creates for the reader. This reminded me of the movie Return to Oz, where Ozma had a hallway of cabinets filled with beautiful heads of different women. 😬😬😬😬
Have an awesome break and birthday! Hope it's warm where you are or where you are going! 🌞
I really enjoyed the story, Claire! And happy birthday!