Keeping Up Appearances - by Deborah

Prompts for this one were: Lipstick, monitor, looking through a window

Her hand was steady as she applied the lipstick, concentrating intently on the task through a veil of tears. As she capped the tube, she inhaled an unsteady breath. Rummaging through the little bag of makeup produced some fine loose powder which she painstakingly applied with a soft sable brush. Next came the perfume. She opened the little bottle of White Shoulders and dabbed some on the inside of the wrist, the bend at the elbow. She could only apply it to the right arm as the left was covered in tubes and surgical tape from multiple IVs. The nail polish was also applied only to the right hand. Picking up a comb from the bedside table, she began gently arranging sparse gray hair. The chemotherapy had taken a toll on the once thick, curly locks. There wasn’t much left, but she’d do what she could.

The room was alien without the hum and beeping of the monitors. She could hear the gentle tapping of rain on the window and rose from the side of the bed to look outside. The drops rolling slowly down the glass pane mirrored the tears on her cheeks. A robin hopped along the lawn, looking for a meal in the wet grass. She turned back to the bed.

She placed a final kiss on her mother’s powdered cheek and walked slowly from the room, wondering how she was going to face life without her best friend.