Runner up - Junior Section

 St Aloysius Catholic College

You’re so ugly. Have you seen those glasses? You look like ‘Where’s Wally’s’ fatter twin!

Vincent’s soft cheeks were like waterfalls as he lay there, curled up in a ball on his bed.

How can you possibly look at yourself in the mirror?

Not even the familiar scent of his home comforted him after the day he had. What’s wrong with your nose?

“Shut up!” His face was a bright crimson as he sat up and screamed at the black wall, throwing his pillow at it, and knocking his Star Wars figurines off the shelf.

And then, silence.

That is, until Wayne burst into the room. Wayne was Vincent’s older brother, voted most handsome, most popular, and most likely to settle down with an annoying botox-filled housewife and get a job at a golf course. Okay, maybe that last one wasn’t true. Vincent could understand why everyone was so obsessed with him. His chiselled jaw, his perfect brown skin…

Compared to his brother, Vincent was nothing. Just another ugly, friendless nerd for everyone to pick on.

“Hey, bro? You okay?” Wayne peaked his head through the door.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Vincent replied, trying desperately to hide the fact that he was crying just a second ago.

“You sure?” his brother was now all the way through the door. “‘Cause you don’t seem okay.. You know you can tell me stuff, right?”

“Really, I’m fine.” Vincent groaned. “Now, get out!”

“Whatever.” his older brother sighed. “Mum called, said she’s working the night shift.” Vincent nodded.

After Wayne left, Vincent fell back down onto his mattress and grabbed one of his Captain Torpedo comic books from the bedside table. Flipping through the pages, Vincent saw so many incredible images of heroes with muscles larger-than-life. Why didn’t he look like that?

Vincent stared down at the picture in his hand and sighed, “I wish I could change…”

He spent the next few hours tossing and turning beneath the sheets. Eventually, he gave up and decided to do the one thing that always calmed him down, collaging. He grabbed an old newspaper from under his bed and began cutting and glueing. After about an hour of work, he finally had the finished product in his hands, taking snippets of facial features to form a new, better-looking face.

Still, he wasn’t tired.

If making a collage wouldn’t calm him down, nothing would. He looked down at his hands and saw they were covered in glue. Sighing, he stood up from his bed and walked to the door. He went across the hall to the bathroom, then washed the glue off his hands. He looked up at the mirror to see something he definitely hadn’t expected.

Instead of looking up at the hideous face he had come to know, he saw the most handsome man staring back at him. He looked straight into his brown eyes and down to see a chiselled jaw and gigantic muscles.

Vincent was handsome.

This must be a dream, he thought to himself, pinching his arm. Vincent spun round on his heel and raced out the door, bounding down the hall to his brother’s room.

“Wayne! Wayne, Wake up!”

“Vincent?” Wayne muttered, groggily. “Whatayawant?”

“You have to see this! Just come out here!” Vincent stomped his foot onto the floor.

“Fine. Just hold on a sec.” Wayne groaned.

While Vincent stood there at his brother’s bedroom door, he looked down at his hand. There was something off about it. It seemed a little.. Flat? Could someone’s hand even be flat?

“It’s probably just the lighting,” he told himself.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the door swung open and Wayne stood before him. It took Wayne a second to realise something was different, but once he saw it, he screamed.

“I know!” Vincent chuckled. “I look amazing!”

But Wayne looked terrified, like a character from one of the old horror movies their mum liked to watch.

“What? Why don’t you look excited?” Vincent furrowed his brow. “I’m finally handsome! I’ve changed!” he smiled, crookedly.

 “Y-you have!” Wayne stuttered, treading slowly around his little brother. “H-how?” “I’m not really sure..” Vincent trailed off as he noticed Wayne stepping away from him, slowly, down the hallway.

“Where are you going?!” Vincent screamed. “I’m pretty now!” He reached out his spindly, angular hand to latch onto Wayne, but he ducked out of the way.

“Wait!” He screamed.

As he stepped towards Wayne, his foot became two-dimensional and began to unravel behind him like a ball of yarn. His whole body started to twist around and became almost circular, with his jaw bending out of proportion and his arms warping as his entire body started to become flat. Wayne ran down the stairs, keeping an eye on what used to be his brother close behind. His hollow eyes, just like the rest of his body, had stretched outwards. Just as Vincent made it to the stairs, he had become nothing more than a massive ball of thin thread. Almost as if someone had done a sketch and then scribbled all over it. The ball suddenly unravelled down the stairs into lots of tiny pieces.

“Vincent?!” Wayne screamed.

He fell onto his knees and picked up a piece of whatever it was Vincent had turned into, and burst into tears.

“Vinny?” he whimpered, looking down at his hands. He pulled it close to his chest and whispered, “I love you, Vincent. The way you were.” through his sobs.

After a moment, the tiny threads crawled around and each found their home in Wayne’s lap, before melding together to form a body.

It was Vincent. The real Vincent.

He opened his eyes to look up at his brother. “You…. love me?” he barely articulated.

“Of course I do!” Wayne chuckled, pulling his brother in closer as the orange sunrise gleamed through the windows.

“Vincent?” Wayne looked down at him again.

“Yeah?”

“You’re perfect the way you are. Remember that. You never have to change…”