100 Days of Writing - 17
Lorraine was digging through old photos when she came across the perfect image to post as part of the #10yearchallenge. Something of a humble relic from her past, this photograph from 2009 had all the fixings for the post: great lighting, the right side of her face, straight teeth and most importantly, a defined chin.
See, Lorraine had put on a few pounds since then, and gravity being the skin-sucking beast that it is, had contributed to a, well... looser neck area. She often contemplated liposuction and jaw enhancement, but she could barely afford to feed her cat on her meagre teacher's salary.
She practiced chin exercises, like Jim Carey had around the time that photo was taken, where he reemerged an apparent "new man" after a stint in the shadows of Hollywood. Were she a man, she would have a well-loved beard to cover up her insecurity.
Lorraine watched what she ate, and eventually came to determine her neck glands would swell at the very sight of gluten so after cutting that out of her diet, she began to see improvements, but ohh how she dreamed of having that 2009 chin. That chin had no idea what it had back then: gentle definition, a slight dimple and a marked territory on her face. Now, her neck just looked like a swollen skin sack that melted into the rest of her somehow.
The picture itself was not that exciting. It was a selfie, and her head was cocked to the side and her teeth shined but the background was black as she had taken it by herself, in her living room. Still it brought her a sense of comfort knowing that the girl in that picture was happy, if just for a second.
After the picture was snapped and downloaded, and then uploaded and then posted, she waited exactly 5 minutes before returning to see how many likes it got.
6 likes! 5 more than she had anticipated.
That night, Lorraine went to bed and fell asleep feeling validated and proud that her happiness in that photo was recognized by others, even just 6 of them.
See, Lorraine had put on a few pounds since then, and gravity being the skin-sucking beast that it is, had contributed to a, well... looser neck area. She often contemplated liposuction and jaw enhancement, but she could barely afford to feed her cat on her meagre teacher's salary.
She practiced chin exercises, like Jim Carey had around the time that photo was taken, where he reemerged an apparent "new man" after a stint in the shadows of Hollywood. Were she a man, she would have a well-loved beard to cover up her insecurity.
Lorraine watched what she ate, and eventually came to determine her neck glands would swell at the very sight of gluten so after cutting that out of her diet, she began to see improvements, but ohh how she dreamed of having that 2009 chin. That chin had no idea what it had back then: gentle definition, a slight dimple and a marked territory on her face. Now, her neck just looked like a swollen skin sack that melted into the rest of her somehow.
The picture itself was not that exciting. It was a selfie, and her head was cocked to the side and her teeth shined but the background was black as she had taken it by herself, in her living room. Still it brought her a sense of comfort knowing that the girl in that picture was happy, if just for a second.
After the picture was snapped and downloaded, and then uploaded and then posted, she waited exactly 5 minutes before returning to see how many likes it got.
6 likes! 5 more than she had anticipated.
That night, Lorraine went to bed and fell asleep feeling validated and proud that her happiness in that photo was recognized by others, even just 6 of them.
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