BZ
In the warn afternoon sun, Katherine was walking back from school. As she walked on the roadside pavement, her thoughts wandered to how things went at school today, causing her to grimace.
Katherine was a girl with above average looks, at 169cm, with brown eyes and brown hair reaching her back, she was quite popular at school and naturally hung out with the popular kids. However, this led to her always bulling other kids together with the popular kids. As much as Katherine did not like to bully others, she was afraid of being left out by the popular kids.
Lately, she and the others in her group had been making fun of a girl who was bald due to alopecia called June, with her being forced to take the lead.
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Soon, Katherine reached her house and as she closed the front door, she saw that in the living room other than her mother, Holly, there was also another woman.
“Well, I will take care of it, thank you for talking to me about this, Mrs. Cassandra”, she heard her mother say.
“No, I should thank you, sorry for the trouble”, Mrs. Cassandra replied.
With that they bed farewell and as Mrs. Cassandra left, she gave Katherine a customary nod before leaving. After she left, Katherine greeted her mother, “Hi, mom”.
“Katherine, take a seat, I have some things I want to talk to you about”, replied her mother.
Despite being confused, Katherine took her sit. Once she was seated, she heard her mother say, “The woman who just left was the mother of a girl named June”. Katherine jolted upright, feeling nervous, does she know, she wondered.
Seeing her daughter’s reaction, Katherine’s mother narrowed her eyes and continued, “Did you make fun of June for being bald due to her alopecia ?”.
“That’s…”, Katherine tried to explain but her mother cut her off.
“Don’t lie to be Katherine”, her mother warned.
Katherine did not meet her mother’s eye and replied meekly, “yes…”.
After not receiving a reply from her mother for a while, she looked up at her mother and as she saw the look of disappointment on her face, she immediately regretted it.
Katherine tried to explain, “But mom, I didn’t do it purposefully, my friends coerced me to…”. But was once again cut off by her mother.
“No matter what excuse you give Katherine, it doesn’t change the fact that you made fun of June”, her mother said. She sighed and continued, “And I had repeatedly warned you about associating with those friends of yours”.
Not knowing what to say, Katherine just kept quiet. Soon, she heard her mother say, “Go to your room and wait for me to call you”.
Katherine nervously nodded and quickly went up to her room.
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The day went from afternoon to evening and Katherine finally heard her mother call her down from her room. As she entered the living room, she heard her mother say, “Get ready, we are going out”.
Katherine instantly became puzzled. Just this afternoon her mother was reprimanding her and now she asked Katherine to go out with her. Despite being confused, well as long as I am not in trouble, Katherine thought.
Soon, Katherine got ready and got into the car with her mother.
The car ride was agonizingly quit, and Katherine was fidgeting the whole time, but luckily, they soon arrived at their destination.
As Katherine got out of the car, she was puzzled to realize that they were in front of a hair salon. “Why did we come to the hair salon ?”, she asked her mother.
Katherine’s mother replied, “keep quite and just follow me”.
Katherine obediently nodded her head and followed her mother into the salon. As they entered, they were greeted by a woman with black hair and black eyes, “Welcome, oh, Holly, it’s been a while, how have you been ?”.
“Good, how about you, Melany ?”, her mother replied.
“As usual and this must be your daughter Katherine”, Ms. Melany asked, looking at Katherine.
Katherine meekly replied, “Hi”.
As the two older women continued to make small talk, Katherine just fidgeted and observed the salon environment. Finally, after about 5 minutes, she heard Ms Melany say, “Well then, lets get started, Katherine dear, why don’t you take a seat in the salon chair”. This puzzled Katherine even more, but when she saw her mothers stern face, she obediently got into her salon chair.
Soon, Katherine felt the cape being draped over her and as she shot a confused look at her mother, she finally said, “I understand that you are very confused Katherine, let me tell you what is going to happen, Melany here is going to shave you bald and before you start making a fuss, know that the punishment will just get worse, the more disobedient you are”.
Katherine was shocked to say the least. She did not think her mother would decide to shave her bald as her punishment for making fun of June. Oh no, I can’t lose my beautiful locks, everyone will laugh at me, and I will be made fun of at school, she thought, terrified. Katherine, with tears in her eyes, tried to plead, “Please mom, I won’t do something like this again…”.
Her mother cut her off, “You can begin, Melany”.
Immediately, Katherine heard a buzzing sound, she turned around and saw Melany with a cordless clipper in her hands. Melany said sympathetically, “Relax dear, this will be over soon”. As Katherine saw the clippers closing in on her forehead, she squeezed her eye shut.
Not a moment later, Katherine felt a vibrating sensation on the top of her head, which was followed by a breezy feeing on top of her head. Katherine did not dare to open her eyes and kept them close throughout the time her head was buzzed. Melany first buzzed the top of Katherine’s head, followed by the sides, and finally pushed down her head and buzzed the back. The hair on Katherine’s head had formed a small pile on the floor.
“Okay, we are done with the clippers”, Melany said.
Katherine tentatively opened her eyes and looked at the mirror. As she saw her head not with her brown locks but buzzed close to the skin, she immediately burst into tears. My beautiful brown locks, all gone, she mourned. Once she had cried her eyes out, Melany started spreading the lather she had previously mixed up on Katherine’s head. Oh no, they are going to shave me to the skin, Katherine thought, horrified. However, she dared not make a fuss for fear of further punishment.
Soon, Melany had finished sharpening her straight razor and started shaving Katherine’s head, from front to back, stopping occasionally to wipe the straight razor on a towel. Once Melany was done, she re-lathered Katherine’s head and did a second shave, to ensure Katherin’s head was perfectly smooth. Finally, after wiping Katherine’s head with a towel to remove any excess lather, she said, “Okay, I am done”.
Katherine looked at her reflection in the mirror and immediately burst into another round of tears. I look so ugly, how will I show my face to anyone, I will be humiliated, Katherine thought. When she was done crying, her mother approached her and felt her smooth head. Once satisfied, she said, ”Know that this punishment was meant as a lesson for you Katherine dear, not a humiliation. Hopefully, you will stop any and all bad behaviour after this. Also, stop associating with those so-called friends of yours and become friends with a good girl like June”.
Katherine was too tired after all the crying and having accepted her fate, just obediently nodded. Soon, they bed farewell to Melany, and exited the salon
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On their way home, Katherine began reflecting on her behaviour as of late. I am already so terrified just thinking of the humiliation I would experience when everyone sees me bald, but June has still remained strong after years of humiliation. To think I actually made fun of someone like that, I really should feel ashamed of myself, Katherine thought. As she thought of June, other than shame and regret, Katherine also felt another emotion she could not pinpoint. Shaking her head to clear any distracting thoughts, she looked at her mother and said, ”Mom, I want to apologize to you for how I have been behaving lately. After reflecting on myself, I feel ashamed of what I did and I was wondering if it was possible for us to go to June’s house tomorrow, so I can apologize to her”.
As she heard what her daughter said, Holly stared at her daughter for a while. Although she had hoped that Katherine had learned her lesson, she did not think she would change so soon. A smile started to form on her face, one filled with pride. She told her daughter, “Katherine dear, despite what happened, I want you to know that I am very proud of you at this moment. Don’t worry, I will bring you to June’s house tomorrow”.
Katherine expression brightened at this and despite being nervous about what tomorrow held for her, she felt brave since she was not alone.
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