The Makeover by Vacirca Vaughn Read Free Book Online Page A

all I’ve tried to do to make you
happy?” Fresh tears burned Phoenix’s cheeks, as she turned away, hunched over,
clutching her midsection.
    “Look, I
can’t lie anymore.  I am sick of my friends asking me why I am dating
someone who looks like you—”
    Phoenix
whimpered and buried her face in her hands.
    “I got
tired of making excuses.  I used to tell my boys you were on medications
that caused weight gain and skin problems as side effects for God’s
sake!”  Cedric snickered.  “You claim not to have the money, but I
think you just didn’t want to be bothered.”
    Phoenix
looked back up at him, her mouth agape, eyes unblinking.
     Cedric
continued, “I was going to give it one last shot at getting back into the woman
I wanted to try to fall in love with.  I know it wasn’t going to be easy,
but—”
    “ Try to
love me? You slept with me last night, Cedric,” Phoenix moaned.
    “Yeah I
slept with you.  Last night was more to keep you from getting
suspicious.  I guess…I mean, I— ”
     
     
    ***
    Cedric’s voice
faded away as Phoenix began to wail again.
    “Instead of
cheating on me, you couldn’t sit down and talk to me?  You couldn’t try to
help me?” Phoenix’s shrill yell pounded the walls around the apartment as the
voices laughed and taunted in her head.
    Satan and his
minions continued to taunt her with thoughts straight from the darkest
pits.  Why would he help you?  You’re an ugly, fat, loser!  Loo -ser!  Loser!  As in lose her!  You’re
not worth the effort, Ugly Girl!  Just get it over with.  You’ll
always be alone in this life.  Why live it?
    Satan made a
face at his former brothers.  “There is nothing either of you can do, Caliel and Uriel .  She is
mine now!”
    Uriel knowingly eyed his brother Caliel . 
They continued to stand guard, tall and silent, two bronze, regal statues in
the room.  They felt their power growing stronger, knowing that the Spirit
was using a soldier in Christ to fight for this young woman. 
    Satan, of
course, did not know this.  Too wrapped up in his own agenda, he failed to
acknowledge that Uriel and Caliel would not have been sent to fight for Phoenix if someone had not requested
it.  As much as he had always wanted to be like God, he could not be God, which meant that he could not be everywhere at once.  Satan had no
idea that someone, at that very moment, was praying.
    And prayer
always changes things.
    Still, Satan
wasn’t born yesterday.  Caliel and Uriel’s presence, alerted Satan that something was
happening.  In a huff, Satan began to throw every ounce of his power into
Phoenix’s mind.
    Phoenix cry was
snatched away in a gasp. 
    “You have to
take all the pills,” Satan shouted.
    “I have to take
all the pills,” Phoenix slurred.
    “You have to
end the pain.  You won’t have to live with rejection and loneliness
anymore,” whispered Despair, one of Satan’s minions.
    “I have to end
the pain.  I won’t have to live with rejection and loneliness anymore,”
Phoenix repeated, in a trance.
    She put the
bottle of pills to her lips and tilted her head back.
    Caliel reached out and merely placed a hand on Phoenix’s
head.
    She put the
pills back down. 
    “I have to
finish the movie of my life first…” she slurred.
     
     
    ***
    “I have been trying to help.  But you’ve got to help yourself, Fe!  I can’t
do it for you! I—”
    “But I
can do all kinds of things for you, right?  I can help you in every single
way, but you can’t help me, right?”
    “Like I
said, it isn’t my job to help you be beautiful, alright?” Cedric snapped.
    Phoenix
began crying.  “It’s not your job to help me, but it’s okay to allow
yourself to be tempted into cheating because I am overweight?  Are you
that shallow?  For real?  So what if I slim down to a size four, and
my skin clears up, but then I get into an accident that disfigures me? 
Would you do me this way again?”
    “That’s
not fair!