Ghost In The Machine

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It was the year 2025, Jenna had been walking through the very busy crowded and congested shopping district. She was a very sought after computer engineer, she programmed many of the robotics around this area. Her hair was over grown and very VERY much all over the place, she never had time to make a appointment with a actual salon, that required her to interact with other people, which she never had time for. So the next best option was one of the AutoMex Automatic Hair Booths. It was quick and cheap, but the robotics in the machine always took more than what she wished to have chopped off, or when she would order a blunt cut and she got a A-line many times before she had even forgotten to pay her bills, so she had enough. Her hair was touching her collar and was getting harder and harder to even tie back. She had a meeting in a hour and she had to get cleaned up. She went to the back right corner of the mall area.

Every booth had a occupied sign above them, except for the very last one, she practically ran across the room to the booth, she climbed inside. Being told by the robotic voice to leave all of her items in the little locker provided to every customer, her purse and phone were dropped into the slot, the only items she needed were her credit card and her body. She sat upon the chair, it felt like one of those old fashioned barber chairs. She had never been in one before, only seeing them several times when she had to make trips across country. This machine had to be one of the first to be put out for business she thought, which worried her. She always had a fear the machine would not listen to her commands and she would just end up with something crazy.

Finally a blue screen was flashed to her, her credit card was scanned and she was taken to a style selection menu, the first thing asked was if she had any product in her hair. ( Mouse,Gel. ETC. ) She had never in her life used any items like that, she chose the ” none ” option, and the next group of menus was flashed to her. There was a pre-built menu with pages and pages of styles. She went to her typical selection. C646 ( Blunt Cut Bob ) It was just enough for her to tie back and just short enough to not get in her eyes while she worked. She went through one more screen which was confirming her payment. She clicked accept and her card was slid back to her, she was given a moment to put it in her pocket, before the robotic voice spoke to her. ” Please, sit all the way back in the chair, arms and legs against the rests, please sit up as straight as possible. ” This had to be the scariest part, she did as told and it felt like within a whole moment the typical several blue neon restraints slid from the several sides of the chair. This was to make sure the client was as still as they could be, to make the cut as perfect as possible. The hand restraints were webbed, to hold down every finger and her wrist all in one easy movement. She looked down seeing two restraints cover her legs right where they bent. The final strap was pressed around her waist, she always tested the strength of the binds with one single pull. There was no way she could escape if something ever happened she was completely screwed.

She felt the chair start to rise while several red lazers scanned her body, she closed her eyes to avoid the annoying flash. The chair stopped when it reached a perfect height, out of nowhere two robotic tentacles formed a cape from particles around her, just to make sure any loose strands never touched her clothing. She took a deep breath and finally her personal hated part of the whole situation started, two tentacles dropped from the ceiling. Both brandishing two bristled brushes. She hated this because they were not careful like a human would be, they dragged along her hair and she sighed this time it seemed to be more comforting. She somehow relaxed and closed her eyes for a single second before they finally were pulled back. She was ready for the scissors to quickly snip away. But this time,that didn’t happen. A helmet of some sorts dropped over her head, almost immediately she tried pulling at her restraints. This was not normal. “HELP! ” She screamed, not understanding what was happening, obviously nobody could hear her. It was one of the busiest days of the weekend. She continued screaming, the more she tried to resist the tighter the restraints got around her, she was going to be forced to receive whatever style the machine wished to give her.

 

A few more moments went by, before she could feel a soft nuzzling at the back of her neck, all she could see was her feet. Nothing else she could see through the tight helmet. The nuzzling started to move up, burying its self in the middle of her nape, she knew right then what it was. She screamed louder only for nothing to be heard, she tried to look for a emergency stop button, but was resigned to her fate, when she came to the conclusion even if she could find one, there was no way to press it due to to the restraints. She would have to receive whatever humiliating haircut the machine chose. Slowly the clippers where attached to the helmet ran through the middle of her hair with no worry at all, it went back and forth in a rhythm, it cleared her whole left side of her head, only leaving a fine stubble behind, before running all the way back on the gyrating mechanics in the helmet, before it sat against the nape of the only covered part of her head, she could feel the cold air bouncing off her head, before finally the clippers ran up the right side of her head, they quickly shaved away the hair that was left, when the clippers stopped moving and had obviously disappeared. She figured she was done, she tried to pull herself up. Trying to get up from the chair, but she couldn’t go anywhere. A warm feeling foam, was the best way she could describe it was slathered against her head, it completely covered all of her head. She screamed ” What now! ” before a cut throat razor was scrapped against her head, it went slowly in soothing motions, up and down. Completely taking away any form of hair she had left, she was humiliated and wanting to cry. It ran itself back and forth multiple times. Finally when it was done, she felt a small brush rub over her head, it had to be wax. She had no fight left, when the brush was done waxing her head, a vacuum sucked up any and all of the fallen hair and the helmet was pulled away. She felt the two robotic hands pull the cape go and the restraints disappeared. She didn’t bother pulling her phone out as she snatched her purse from the locker, she hoped she could run from the shopping district as fast as possible. She slowly stepped from the machine, as the door closed behind her, she read a small crinkled paper she didn’t bother reading before. it read. ” Out of order. ” She wanted to scream, but no she heard a small child laugh at her and point screaming at the humiliated woman.

” Mommy look at what she did to her hair! She looks so stupid. ” Jenna started crying right there and ran off to hide in her messy and cluttered home.

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