electricepiphany
Jessica had it all. She had just gotten out of high school and was attending a prestigious university for women’s basketball. If not for the full-ride scholarship, her boyfriend Tim surely would have paid for her entire tuition, coming from a rich family himself. Jessica was definitely a looker. She had a perfect tan, stood at 5’5” with large emerald green eyes and had straight luscious brown hair falling down to her thighs. Unfortunately for her, she was about to learn that not all good things lasted forever.
Walking out the door, she called back to Tim, who was watching something on TV in the living room. ”Hey, Tim! I’m going to the store. Text me if you can think of need anything we need.”
”Sure thing honey. I’m grilling steak tonight, try to get back in an hour.”
Something wasn’t right, Jessica could swear she was being followed, but whenever she turned around nobody was there. Trying to hurry, she began sprint to the store. Not seeing it, Jessica tripped on a tripwire tied between a lightpost and a fire hydrant. The last thing she saw before getting injected with something was the face of a man she didn’t recognize.
Waking up, Jessica realized she was tied to a chair. She would have tried to scream, but was gagged as well. Looking around, she saw that she was in a dark building. Listening, she faintly heard a conversation in the next room over.
”…I can’t wait. She never even looked my way, she’s too perfect for me. Good thing that’s all about to change.”
She didn’t recognize this voice. Judging by how he sounded, she guessed that it belonged to someone around her age, maybe a little older.
“Yes, she’s the best one for these tests. If our research proves successful, the world will be amazed! If not, well… you may still be all the more satisfied, brother.”
Panicking, Jessica knew this voice belonged to her biology professor, Doctor Williams. Was she being tested on? What would they do to her?
”Speaking of which, look who’s awake!” said the younger one. “Hello Jessica, my name is Samuel. Not that you know me, of course. You were always out of my league, how could I ever dream of even talking to you? We’re in the same calculus class, by the way. None of that matters now. I know we’ll be getting to know each other very well.” Samuel proceeded to remove the gag, prompting Jessica to cry out.
”Please, don’t do anything to me! I did nothing to hurt you!” Samuel quickly cut her off.
”Relax, we don’t wanna hurt you. All I want is to make a couple of changes to your look, starting with that beautiful head of hair of yours.”
Samuel began stroking Jessica’s long locks of hair, and as much as she didn’t want anyone to ruin her precious hair, she was relieved. She thought at first that these sickos would hurt or maybe even sexually abuse her, when right now they just wanted to play with her hair. If she could stall long enough, Tim would call the police when she didn’t come home or pick up the phone, find her, and get these creeps locked up.
“I hope you aren’t too attached to being a brunette” said Samuel. “They say blondes have more fun, so let’s see if that’s true!”
Feeling her chair recline, Jessica felt her long hair being dipped into a large and deep basin full of what was presumably hair dye. A monitor came down from the ceiling showing a timer counting down an hour. She loved her brown hair, and despite not knowing of any hair dyes that took an hour to use, was slightly curious to see where this went. Jessica had always wanted to try out blonde, and was secretly even a little excited to see what she would look like. After what felt like forever, the basin had been drained out and her hair was being dried. As the chair was raised, Jessica was saw herself in a mirror, and sure enough her hair was now a golden blonde color. It looked great! Her happiness was short-lived, however, when she saw Samuel holding the scissors. Jessica watched as her long hair was cut to her shoulders, almost seven years of growth gone just like that. Jessica was then given bangs, cut perfectly straight right above her eyes. Samuel sectioned the rest of Jessica’s hair up and pulled out a pair of clippers with no guard. Seeing the fear in her eyes, Samuel laughed and said “Don’t worry, I’m not shaving you bald… entirely.” With that, he plunged the clippers into Jessica’s hair and proceeded to buzz the back and sides down to stubble. He then procured a razor, and after lathering up the back and sides of Jessica’s head, shaved it all. Reaching up to feel her head. Jessica felt nothing but smooth skin. Looking in the mirror, she realized that there was not a single trace of hair below the tops of her ears. Samuel undid what was left of her hair on the top of her head and pulled it back into a short ponytail. It was a bit of an exotic style, sure, but Jessica had to admit to herself that it looked good on her.
”Almost done! Just need to add one finishing touch.” Not knowing what this meant, Jessica watched as Samuel put on a pair of disposable gloves and poured a mysterious white cream onto them. He then rubbed the cream into the sides and back of Jessica’s head, which dissipated almost as soon as it made contact with her skin. When this was done, Jessica was released from the chair, unable to stop feeling the new bare area on her head. Just touching her head almost sent her into ecstasy. Looking at the mirror again, Jessica surveyed her new haircut. She was entirely bald on the sides and back of her head, the skin there as smooth as her face. She had perfectly cut bangs that fell above her eyes, completely level. The rest of her hair on top of her head was pulled back into a cute little ponytail. What was left of her hair was golden blonde, the shade of color she always wanted to try out but was never brave enough to do so.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the celebratory shouts of Samuel.
”YES! BOTH OF MY EXPERIMENTS WORKED!”
Looking over at him, Jessica saw Samuel looking at a screen showing a jumbled mess that she couldn’t understand. Still confused as to what all of this was about, Jessica timidly asked Samuel what was going on.
”Excuse me, Samuel?” She asked.
”Oh please, call me Sam.”
”Alright then, Sam? What was all of this about? I’ll admit that I love the hairstyle you gave me, but what the hell gave you the right to kidnap me and change my hair against my will?”
”Oh Jessica, our research was a success! Using you and testing simple genetic feature of yours that wouldn’t harm you if changed, in this case your hair, we’ve determined that we can alter the genetic code of the homo sapien! You are the world’s first genetically modified human! But more importantly you’re beautiful! And I can take this so much further!”
”Woah, slow down there. All I heard was something about genetic modification. What exactly did you do to me?”
”I’ve changed you’re genetic code! The hair dye and that cream I used were far from ordinary. I created them using a newly discovered element that we are currently referring to as deoxonerium, and I’ve used it to change your genetic code. The chair you sat in monitored your genes, and recorded the changes to them. Your hair wasn’t just dyed blonde, I also genetically changed your hair follicles to naturally grow your hair out blonde. The cream I rubbed into the sides and back of your head modified the hair follicles there to stop growing hair. In other words, you’re a blonde now, and the sides and back of your head will be bald permanently!”
Jessica couldn’t believe her ears. She would never have her chocolate brown hair again? Not to mention the fact that she was now permanently bald where most of her hair used to be. This was certainly a drastic change to her look, especially if it were to be irreversible. These people had no right to do this to her without her knowledge, not to mention the fact that Tim…
Damn! How many people are wondering where I am? What have I missed? Jessica suddenly remembered the situation she was in and suddenly had some more important questions for Samuel.
”How long have I been down here? And when will you let me leave?”
Samuel smiled and said what’s he’d been waiting to say for a while now.
”Oh Jessica, dear, you’ve been here for about a week. And did you not forget that we had more to do with you? How much longer we keep you here depends on how easily you cooperate. Although at the end, who knows? You might not even want to leave!”
What else will they do to me? Jessica thought. They already permanently changed my hairstyle, what else could they have in store for me? Jessica had only the worst thoughts. Rubbing her newly bare head, Jessica gulped.
To Be Continued…
