The teenage form sitting at her kitchen table was not the same as it had been a week earlier. It wasn't just the change in hair or bust, and it wasn't directly the effect of any wish, really. Her eyes were sunken and gray. Her skin had become pallid. She appeared thin. Not skinny, not as though she had lost weight, but thin, as though somehow there was simply less substance to her.
She'd lost. Karyn had lost her best friend, Jon. And in losing Jon, it was as though she lost an integral part of herself as well. What would her life be now? How could she even go to school when the entire building reminded her of Jon? When every turn of a corner may reveal her former friend to her, dolled up and acting like her worst enemy?
Karyn exhaled slowly, and then cursed her body for forcing her to inhale again.
A hand on her shoulder.
"Karyn, honey?" It was her mom, Bethany. "I don't know what's going on, but it's not healthy for you to sit around moping like this."
Karyn turned to face her mother, involuntary tears making themselves known on her face. A face that quickly found itself buried in Bethany's shoulder, as mother embraced daughter.
They held each other for uncountable seconds before Bethany whispered, "I know high school can be hard. Whatever is bothering you, you don't have to talk about it. But I do want you to wash your face and meet me in the car. You can't stay inside all day."
Karyn nodded numbly. Her mom was still here, unaffected, unchanged, and she'd have to cling to that for now. She broke the embrace and walked a gaunt walk towards the bathroom.
