Rouge: A Novel

Mira continues to experience the mental fog and blanks. Her reflection begins to take on a life of its own, wandering away from her. Her boss from the Montreal dress shop, Persephone, calls her. Although she is still in LA, she tells her boss that she will be back at work in the next few minutes. She goes to Belle of the Ball and begins to assist a customer. She ignores Persephone’s repeated calls and tells Sylvia she works here, in LA. The customer asks for her opinion. She struggles, intending to tell her the lies she wants to hear, while the mirror version of her wants to tell the customer the truth. She becomes lost in thought and isn’t sure what she says.

Mira’s reflection syncs back up with itself, but doesn’t see herself in the Belle of the Ball dressing room—she sees herself outside La Maison de Méduse.

Mira goes to the house on the cliff, but the gate is locked. Her reflection goes in without her. She hears her mother’s voice at the bottom of the cliff and rushes down to the water. She goes into the water and starts to drown, and a man in a hat pulls her out. She wakes in a pink hotel room with the man, whom she realizes is Hud Hudson. He asks if she’s been “a bit scrambled lately” and suggests that it is worth it for her new glow (190). He asks about her treatment, saying that he is envious because she received it as one of the anointed Perfect Candidates.

Mira goes to the house on the cliff and learns she has been selected for another treatment. She sees that her jellyfish has grown, and the woman performing the treatment says they were able to complete a significant extraction with the previous treatment and asks if Mira is happy with the result. The others at the house compliment her on her beauty journey, and the woman in red tells Mira that she cleared Noelle’s debts. During the treatment, Mira again feels herself float up to the ceiling near the jellyfish tank, and a childhood memory begins to play.

In the memory, Mira is 10 years old and sitting in front of her mother’s mirror, waiting for Seth to arrive. She remembers asking Noelle if they could rent some Tom Cruise films but being told no. She rented them with her Grand-Maman instead. She was jealous during scenes in which Tom Cruise kissed or had sex with other women.

Mira speaks to Seth in the mirror while Grand-Maman is babysitting, even though Noelle has forbidden Mira from entering her room. She continues to call him Tom Cruise, which bothers him. They dance, and he talks about how Noelle is evil, “a vile bitch queen” (210). He remarks that Noelle is stealing Mira’s beauty and tells her there’s something she can do to stop her, after which he will take Mira to California with him. He kisses her forehead, and it leaves a mark like a bruise.

Noelle brings home a new man, and Mira is distraught, thinking it is Tom Cruise. Noelle introduces him as Bryce, an LA film producer. They have dinner together, and Mira remains unsure if he is Tom or not. She sneaks into Noelle’s room and moves the mirror to her room. In the middle of the night, Seth appears. He tells her he decided to get to Mira through her mother’s new boyfriend and that they must get rid of Noelle so he can take her away to California. She tells him she loves her mother but eventually promises to help. She sees red jellyfish floating through his body and around the room.