Kate's armour

Kate stood gracefully in front of her full length bedroom mirror.
She smiled at herself and made her petite figure stand as tall as it
could before posing sideways left and right. She no longer frowned at
the girl staring back at her. She no longer draped her clothes over the
mirror as a way of avoiding seeing herself when passing it. She no
longer saw a stranger on seeing her reflection. Instead, Kate now saw
Kate.
She was standing naked. Something Kate could never have done before.
She would have felt vulnerable and unprotected. Not any more. Kate had
made her own protection, an invisible armour. No ones words could hurt
her now. Kate was Kate and proud of it. She slipped into her silk
chemise and headed for the bathroom.
Kate was still the same quiet, polite and beautiful 19 year old she
had been 6 months ago but now she had something she never had before.
Confidence. She had never seen beauty in herself before even though she
was very attractive. She had seen herself as something different. But
know she saw what everyone else saw.
It had all started when her closest friend Emma moved away to
Australia to live. They had been friends ever since the age of three.
They had experienced everything together. Their first day at school,
their first show at dancing school, they even shared their first dates
together by going on a double date. They had been a team sharing
secrets, emotions and experiences. Kate had relied upon Emma to always
be there when she needed her. Things changed when Emma met a man over
from Australia. He became Emma's priority. They were the new team
leaving Kate feeling like piggy in the middle. The day Emma moved away
Kate felt a chapter of her life closing and struggled to open a new
one.
' I'll write every chance I get Kate, I promise, and there's always
the internet.' Emma had told Kate just before boarding her
flight.
' You'd better. I'm gonna miss you. I can't believe this is really
it.' Kate had said trying to hold back the tears.
' Miss you too babe!' was Emma's final words and that was that. Off
she went to her new life that was waiting for her. Kate stood in the
airport for fifteen minutes wondering if Emma was going to come running
back. But of course she didn't.
For the next few weeks Kate was lost. She felt incomplete. She didn't
know how to deal with everyday things without Emma. They had even
worked together, sharing gossip and crisps at lunch. Now the office
became a daunting place.
'Pull yourself together Kate!' her father said to her one night as she
sat there in front of the television refusing to go out and enjoy
herself without Emma, 'Perhaps when you get a phone call from Emma
saying how happy she is with her new life you'll consider getting on
with yours.'
Kate said nothing. It had been two weeks and she hadn't heard a thing
from Emma. She had been forgotten, just like that. Sixteen years of
friendship thrown away.
That night as she got undressed for bed it suddenly dawned on her. She
had no idea who she was or what she was all about. Although she saw
herself every day, the reflection in the mirror just seemed unfamiliar.
'I'm nothing special' she murmured to herself. As far as she was
concerned Emma had always been the pretty one. How could she be 'just
Kate' . She had always been part of 'Kate and Emma'.
At work she couldn't concentrate. A tall, slim blonde woman now sat in
Emma's old chair. She was completely full of herself which made Kate
feel smaller than ever.
'Kate, either you get on with your work with more enthusiasm or I'm
going to have to reconsider your employment here. You've been acting
weird lately and it's affecting your work.' Her supervisor had said one
day in front of everyone in the office. And that was that. Kate now
became known as the 'weird one'. The big baby who cried because her
little friend had left. Everyday when she walked into the office she
could hear them all smaning and whispering behind her back. Who
could she talk to about it? She no longer had a best friend to confide
in. It was hurting her inside knowing that people were talking about
her behind her back. She didn't know who to trust now that she no
longer had Emma. Was she really worthless on her own? Surely there was
a way out from this mess.
As the weeks went by the situation only got worse. Apart from going to
work Kate never went out. She had lost her way in life. Feeling totally
fed up one night, angry with herself for putting up with the constant
jibes at work, she decided things had to change. She had to get her
life back. She studied her reflection in the mirror. 'You've really let
yourself go girl' she said to herself. She decided to do something
which seemed ridiculous. Pretend. Kate imagined she was wearing a
protective layer, sort of like a suit of armour from long ago. "If I'm
wearing this armour," she thought to herself, "then no one can get to
me inside." This thought seemed silly and pointless at first but
strangely the more she imagined it, the more she really believed in it.
Her pride, her personality and her sense of self worth were safely
locked up inside. No one could take them from her now. As she looked at
her reflection she realised it was time to discover what she was really
about. Most of the things she liked, music, clothes and style had all
been influenced in one way or another by Emma. It was time to discover
her own identity. Time to meet the real 'Kate'.
The very next day she made a major decision and decided to quit her
job. Emma had got her the job there anyway because she had already been
working there. It was a scary but exciting decision to make. There were
so many things she could do with her life is she really wanted to. Now
was her perfect opportunity. She had only taken the office job because
Emma was there. She had never really enjoyed the job. In fact, she
hated it!
On her way home from the office that day, after handing in her notice,
something happened which made her realise once and for all that she was
special and could make it on her own. It was pure coincidence that a
guy from a local modelling agency was about town looking for a new face
to be part of his agency. He had seen Kate from a distance and headed
towards her to talk to her.
'Excuse me,' he said politely, 'but I can't help noticing how
beautiful you are.'
Kate looked behind her assuming he must have been talking to someone
else. It was a long time since anyone had called her beautiful.
'Sorry, let me introduce myself.' the smartly dressed man said. 'I'm
Adam.. I work for a local modelling agency. Your look would be perfect
for our new catalogue assignment. Look, if I leave you this card with
our agency's number then you can have a think about whether or not you
fancy a go at modelling. If you do then just ring the agency and say
Adam thought you'd be perfect for the job.'
When he left Kate stood there in disbelief at what had just happened.
Then a huge grin took over her face and she headed home. The first
thing she did at home was throw the agency's card in the bin. Why? She
had never fancied modelling. No, college was the answer for her. She
was going to take a completely different route in life. But the fact
that she had been offered the chance to model had made her day. Now she
realised she could probably be whatever she wanted to be. She was
beautiful, free and willing to find out just what life really had to
offer her. So that's how Kate changed the direction her life was going
in. Who would have thought an invisible armour could be the start of it
all.?
So that night, as Kate stood in the bathroom, preparing for bed in her
silk chemise, she shouted out for all her family to hear, ' byebye past
??hello future!'