EFFIE BATEMAN | BRISBANE| CONTACT
Like many people, Renee Childs [27] reportedly went through an awkward phase that has haunted her ever since.
Save for the lucky few bastards who somehow managed to be attractive straight from the birth canal, Renee grew to accept that her years of braces, pimples and bad hair were just a rite of passage. But this hasn’t stopped her from doing a clear digital sweep of any hideous tagged photos and embarrassingly tone-deaf Facebook statuses.
“Look I’m no prize hen now but fourteen year old me was something else”, admits Renee, “I’m talking a slicked-back bum part. And rainbow braces.”
“Kids these days get Invisalign of all things. Nup, not fucking fair, braces should be compulsory.”
Renee had done a good job of forgetting what she used to look like and had instead lived her life with the instilled sense of depreciative humour anyone who’s ever been bullied for their appearance has had to create. Though her acne scars have since faded and her chronic seborrheic dermatitis is largely controlled, Renee still bears some invisible wounds – all of which are heightened again whenever she visits her well-meaning nan.
“Every fucking time I go to her house I’m haunted by 12-year-old me.”
“Right there on the mantelpiece, in between a shot of my older sister getting married and my younger brother’s law graduation photo.”
“I never had a significant life event that required a photo so she chose a school portrait.”
“Tried asking her to take it down a few times but she flat out refuses.”
“Guess there are some ghosts you just can’t escape.”
