Some call me a hermit. Others say I’m odd. They don’t want to know me and that’s how I like it.

I look at myself in the mirror. My grey bob hairstyle, almost invisible in comparison to the long dark locks it once was. My eyes like pools of coffee with no need for makeup around them.

Before I embraced this simple life, I lit up the big screens and adorned the pages of glamour magazines. I unwittingly paid for every friend I had. I was owned.

I’m not their dark-eyed beauty anymore and that’s how I like it.

Written for Charli Mills #99WordStory Challenge. April 17, 2023, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story of something/someone dark-eyed. What could be a dark-eyed situation? Or is it a dark-eyed beauty? A dark-eyed junco? Maybe it’s a futuristic piece of technology. Go where the prompt leads!

Thank you for reading.

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