Short Story: Lust For Beauty

The walls were grey and cold, and breathing was getting more and more difficult the longer I stayed here. I needed to do my job as soon as possible to escape from this godforsaken island. This was one of the symptoms of being an elite in news business.

The elderly gentleman walking in front of me was named Broadway. Grey coat and matching pants, brown beard covering his face, and wrinkle free expressions made it really hard for me to nail down his age. He didn’t stoop, but he clearly had experience in his tone.

“So, Mrs. Bich, do tell me how this facility fascinates you.”

“Please, Mr. Broadway, Alexandra is fine. Or even Ms. Bishoff.”

“Ohh. Wasn’t Bishoff your maiden name? You’d prefer I used your ex-partner’s name?”

“It actually doesn’t matter to me, Mr. Broadway. If you need to refer me, any name would do just fine. Personally, I don’t prefer my family name because of the negative connotations people attach with it.”

The conversation seems very redundant to me. There was nobody to be seen anyone around us. So even if he decided to call me ‘Hey’ or ‘Girl’, it wouldn’t matter. I was already disappointed about me being the third journalist to step into the Operation Alcatrax’s base.

After Kazama’s article about that Anthony guy, the news industry blew up. Everyone was on the list to pay this island a visit. The only problem was FBI, who was accepting the visits one representative at a time. Everyone from journalists to mental school students wanted a piece of that pie. And the one representing Operation Alcatrax was Mr. Broadway.

Being the third in line didn’t please me, but there were only finite number of people convicted here. And I’d be the one to expose another one of the criminals hidden from the world.

“So, Mr. Broadway, out of all the names, only one caught my eye. I hope you can shed some light over that.”

“And who might that be, Ms. Bichoff?”

“This lady, Sven Igor.”

“Hmm…” said Mr. Broadway, as he was opening the door in front of him.

The room had one table two chairs on opposite sides with a wooden cabinet behind one of the chairs. 

Mr. Broadway sat on the chair in front of the cabinet and pointed me to sit opposite to him.

I sat and said,” Mr. Broadway, I hope you don’t mind speaking with me. I have to go on air with the story later in the evening.”

Mr. Broadway leaned forward and chirped, “I’ll be sure to catch that live, Ms. Bishoff.”

All this wastage of time was making me restless.

“Mr. Broadway, Sven?”

“Oh yes. After my seniors opened the doors to public, I forgot that sharing details was part of my job too. Forgive me.” He stood up and turned around to investigate the cabinet.

I set my recorder and my notepad by the time he tossed a brown file in front of me.

“Her documents.” Mr. Broadway said while taking back his seat.

I opened the dusty file which had only two documents. Her birth certificate, and her admission form.

I was trying to look for more details, but either of the documents didn’t give much away.

NAME	SVEN IGOR aka ‘WHITE LIE’
AGE	36 [at time of conviction]
SEX	FEMALE
SCALE	6/7
OPERATION	CONFINEMENT
RELEASE	NONE

“These are the extremes of her life. One is when she was born, and the other states her final resting place, that is this facility. Do you have something more for me?”

“Not in any paper, I’m afraid. But I have enough data on her to make your trip worthwhile.”

I put the tip of my fountain pen on paper, and Mr. Broadway started speaking.

“Once, in Ukraine, lived a doctor. She was very beautiful, and coincidentally, she ran a beautification shop. A very capable dermatologist, making herself the talk of the town. She was known for her high-end solutions regarding skin, specifically the face. She was the one to put ‘beauty before anything else’ kinda gal.”

Sounds pretty standard. Still can’t understand why she was put into this building.

And what does 6/7 means?

“It was said that she improved a lot of deformed faces due to natural causes or damages. Now for somebody so famous, looks matter much more than what is on the inside. That comes later, but she found the most handsome guy in Ukraine to merry. Unfortunately, that guy was impotent. And when it was time to impregnate our Mrs. Igor here, he used his friend’s semen to fulfil the task. Who, wasn’t the most attractive individual by conventional means.”

At this point, Mr. Broadway’s story had lost me into the abyss of boredom. Thank god this guy wasn’t a news reporter.

“Anyways, she gave birth to a girl, which had some deformities in her beauty from her birth father’s side…”

Mr. Broadway knew how to execute a comeback. The entry of Igor’s own child was a welcoming twist.

“…She wasn’t fair like her mother. She wasn’t even as beautiful of a baby Igor would have wanted. But the full bloom of a child comes out when she is in her adolescence. And thus, years passed by, and Igor’s child demonstrated no signs of following her mother’s beauty standards. That made Igor really sad…”

“I’m sorry to cut you off Mr. Broadway, but may I ask how you would know all her history?”

“Ms. Bishoff, she told me herself. Am I losing you in all the talk?”

“Not really. As you tell me more and more about Sven, I proceed to make an image of hers in my mind. Right now, I have a vague blueprint of hers which points towards her bubbling insanity. Am I correct?”

Mr. Broadway moved her hands and rested his face over his palm, stroking his beard while he said,” 

Yes Ms. Bishoff. You have quite the perspective.”

I felt pride in my ability to deduct. This wasn’t my first rodeo, after all.

“So, you’d agree that this is a mental cell, and she is confined here due to her mental stage.”

“That would be one reason, yes. But eventually, I’ll have to disagree, Ms. Bishoff. She’s here because of the crimes she committed while in her absent mental state.”

Well then get on with it, old man! I don’t have all day, I wanted to say.

“One day, while treating a patient, she thought of making a mask for her daughter’s deformities. This idea fancied her, and she invited the patient, a girl of eighteen, to the dinner. That night she made her husband go out with his daughter while she prepared a bed for the guest’s arrival. After a jolly dinner, Igor showed the young lady around the house, and when they reached the bedroom, Igor struck the back of her head with a pan, rendering her unconscious.”

Go On! Go On!

“When the young lady woke up, her arms and legs were tied to an operating table, while her head was locked in a single position to limit movement.”

Go On!!

“Igor reached her new patient with a scalpel and ran in all over her face, including her nape, hairline, her breasts.”  ‘Your face is bigger and rounder, but I’d have to make do.’” Said Igor as she traced the measurements of her daughter’s face on the young patient’s.”

GO ON!

“When the markings were all done, Igor touched the young girl with the scalpel and peeled her face off of her skin to obtain a beautiful mask for her daughter.”

The room fell quiet. Mr. Broadway stopped speaking and has been looking at me for the past two 

minutes.

“What do you think of all this, Ms. Bishoff?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Broadway. But this question baffles me. First, why does it even exist? I’m not here to represent my moral grounds. And second, who cares? My answer wont change Igor’s fate. Also, I don’t think it’s that big a deal to put her into secluded environment. If anything, she should be in the county, not on a deserted island under your care.”

“What would you describe as a big deal then, Ms. Bich?”

Why was he using that name?

“I guess I can see her perspective as a mother. We’re very protective of your children. Maybe this is another case of the same thing, the only exception being Igor’s methods. I mean, if I could improve my child’s life with somebody other, I’d gladly do it.”

Mr. Broadway removed his hand from under his chin and ran it over the table, smiling as he did it.

“You have perspective, I’d give you that. but I didn’t lay out all the facts. I never said there was only ONE murder. And I also didn’t say that the single method was used in her murder spree.

I was suddenly regretting by aligning my beliefs with Igor.

“You see, first murder was just an attempt. For perfection, she peeled off six other girls’ faces. And not just that. she started running meat cleavers over the parts of their skin rich with muscles. That meant the thighs, buttocks and arms were peeled off like cutting a chicken apart.”

My stomach was churning my life upside down.

“Eventually, she got addicted. She poured concentrated Hydrofluoric Acid on her daughter, making her skin come off like a candy out off the wrapper. She dressed her up into her victim’s skins like a doll. And when she got bored, she poured Hydrochloric Acid on her own body, tossing that Ukrainian Beauty out the window. She saw it as an opportunity to dress herself up, so she started inviting her old patients to her home for the sole purpose of ripping them apart. When we caught the wind of it, we captured her to limit the number of causalities. There were eighteen women Igor killed for herself, and seven for her daughter, including the daughter herself. And that, is why Sven Igor is in permanent confinement in here, and not in County, Ms. Bich.”

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t retort.

I stood up, collected my things and started walking towards the dock.

Saying no word, Mr. Broadway followed.

After reaching the dock I turned around and asked Mr. Broadway a question.

“Where was the husband in all of this?”

“That, Ms. Bishoff, is a different story.”

I turned around and stepped into my ferry that’d take me to the mainland.

“Ms. Bishoff, I hope I see the news in the concluding parts of your segment.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because what we’re doing is completely standard. I hope you don’t capitalize on it to pull in numbers. You won’t be doing anyone a favour. This isn’t breaking news, please don’t market it as such.”

The ferry started its motor as Mr. Broadway finished talking.

That night, I went on the television live and reported the beasts that nested in Operation Alcatrax as the headline of my segment.