Free Mechanical by Pauline C. Harris Page B

of the nurse somehow. I didn’t know what he did. And
part of me didn’t want to know—at all. He said he'd found her a job
somewhere else, but all talk about my leaving school had been
silenced by the teachers. Glen was powerful in the world outside of
the Institution and I was only now beginning to realize that. I
wasn’t sure if that knowledge comforted me or scared me.
    “Do you wear makeup?” Jessica asked at lunch
period while we were in the bathroom and she was adjusting her lip
gloss. “Doesn’t look like you do. You’re so lucky, you don’t need
it,” she said, giving me a sidelong glance.
    I had never thought much about makeup.
Actually, I had never thought about it at all. Jessica was helping
me realize that there were many things I never thought
about.
    “I want to give you a makeover!” she
exclaimed, her face lighting up with excitement.
    “Um ... okay,” I replied, smiling back as
Jessica pulled a bag out of her purse. “I keep extra stuff with me
in case. You’d look super cute with blue liner to match your eyes,”
she commented, searching through the bag. “And light blue eye
shadow.” She rambled on about various other products, deciding
which she would use and which she would skip.
    I watched as she pulled out one product after
another. “You won’t need foundation, your skin is perfect.” She
started applying the eye shadow. The eye liner came next and I
tried to keep still as she put it on. It felt so strange and it
tickled as it slid across the small area of skin dangerously close
to my eye.
    “Stay still,” Jessica scolded, grabbing my
chin to steady me. “Now, mascara.” She pulled out a long black
tube. I couldn’t help but cringe at the sight of the spiky-looking
tendrils protruding from the stem. She put some on my lashes while
I clenched my hands and tried not to think about the mascara
slipping and poking my eye out.
    Once Jessica was satisfied, she stepped back
for a better look. “I think that’s good. You don’t need lip gloss
or anything ‘cause your lips are nicely colored already.”
    The mascara seemed a little heavy and I
blinked a few times, trying to get used to the weight. “Now, look
at yourself,” Jessica instructed and turned me towards the
mirror.
    I looked at my reflection and, surprisingly,
I actually liked what I saw. I was expecting the makeup to just
bother me, but I actually looked different. Jessica was right; the
blue liner did show off the color of my eyes and I actually noticed
them more. I had never thought anything about my appearance and I
wasn’t even sure if I was aware before that I had such blue
eyes.
    “You look so cute,” Jessica said from beside
me. “I always try blue liner but brown or black always looks better
on me. I wish I had your eyes.”
    I looked over at Jessica’s eyes. The black
did look good on her, but something else came to my mind.
    Jessica had a soul. She was human so did that
mean you could see it through her eyes? I stared at her eyes
through the mirror, pretending to study her makeup and making
random comments here and there.
    Her eyes were different than mine. They were
darker, not as dark as Yvonne’s, but a steady brown. They had more
depth than mine. Did depth mean she had a soul? Could others
possibly tell by looking at me that I didn’t have a soul? I looked
away from Jessica and stared at myself in the mirror. I still saw
nothing in my eyes. Just blue. A depthless blue.
    * * * *
    The rest of the day moved slowly along. I
barely had anything to say when I got in the car and the driver
asked me to report what I’d observed. “I ... don’t know ...” I
started.
    The driver gave me a sharp look. “Don’t let
anything interfere with your mission, do you hear me?” he bellowed,
and I started listing off the things I could remember.
    Once back at the Institution, I went to find
Glen. I had something I'd wanted to ask him for awhile now and I
had finally built up the nerve. It took some time, but I