Ms. Natasha’s Barber Shop

I had recently moved to a big city for a sales opportunity at an insurance company, however, the office announced that they were laying off most of the sales team only 3 months after arrival. I was forced to sell my condo and move into a cheap studio apartment in little Russia as soon as my severance had run out. Finding another job was proving almost impossible in the current economy. I had a major fight with my parents about leaving to go to the big city rather than go to college and they told me to not bother coming back when it didn’t work out. After waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep, I had decided to go ahead and go down to the small fitness center in her building where she had spent the night on the stair stepper.

 

After a long, steamy shower, I was actually feeling a little better as I looked at myself in the mirror. I was thin and toned with BB breasts and a petite face, and my thick brunette waves fell halfway down my back even when they were still curly. They actually reached my waist whenever I bothered to blow dry them straight. My hair always made me feel safe and pretty, even at my worst. It had always been there for me. Looking now though, I knew that my hair wasn’t in the best shape. I hadn’t been able to afford my condo, much less any expensive shampoo, conditioner or hair masks. I had only used the all-in-one bottles which kept my hair clean, but they just weren’t the same. On top of that, it had been well over a year since I had set foot in a salon and I could see split ends forming which were only going to get worse. I was terrified to try cutting them myself, but sooner or later, I would have to either do it or find a cheap haircut unless I could find a job.

 

I dressed myself in jeans, black shoes, a blue shirt and hooded jacket before leaving the apartment. I couldn’t bear to sit in the apartment all day again trying to apply to jobs online, so I decided to take a long walk as the sun rose. The brisk air felt like a bucket of cold water on my skin as I left the building. The shops and cafes were barely opening as I walked past. I was desperate to see any kind of help wanted or anything really, but no such luck. I forced myself to not buy any food as I walked so I was feeling weak. As I walked, I noticed a spinning pole up ahead. It was a spiral of red and white with a large light on top. It looked similar to the barber shop pole from main street back home. I chuckled as I remembered having to watch my older brother get his haircuts there when he was driving me home from school and the old guys in the shop would always ask me if I wanted a haircut. I’d always say no because I love my long hair, but they would promise not to cut much. I would still refuse because my mom took me to the beauty parlor on a different street. I never liked getting haircuts there, but it was all I ever knew. I was thinking about my hair in the mirror that morning as I got closer to the spinning pole. I knew that my hair really needed a trim. “I can’t believe that I’m even thinking about this,” I thought as I walked up next to the pole. I stepped out a little and saw the entire storefront which was a one way mirror showing the street their reflections but not allowing you to see the inside. There were plain red letters that just said, “Ms. Natasha’s Barber Shop.” on the front window. I turned and looked up and down the empty sidewalk as I looked at myself in the mirror one last time. While holding up a bit of hair and looking at the ends again, I knew that I needed a trim. “Just walk in, ask how much a trim would cost and walk out if it’s too much,” I thought to myself as I took a huge breath and pushed the door open. The door let out one chime as the door opened

 

It took a moment to take in the inside of the shop which was almost silent inside with no music playing. The floors were a  white and red tile and there was a cabinet that was white with red drawer fronts and cabinet doors. The top of the counter was lined with various pieces of equipment and above that was a large mirror topped with bright lights. There were two large chairs inside that had black leather pads on the back-rest, seat and one above a foot rest. One of the chairs was empty and a lady was sitting in the other chair. She was wearing a bright red apron that was shining in the lights, a white collared blouse with a thin red tie, she had pantyhose covering her legs and a dark red skirt underneath the apron with black leather short heeled shoes. the most striking thing about her was her blonde hair that was cut into a short pixie haircut. She was looking at me with a piercing look that felt as if she was looking right into me. I immediately felt a knot forming in my stomach as I let go of the door and heard it close loudly.

 

“Are you lost, miss?” she asked me with a thick Russian accent. I started mumbling a little when she spoke again, “Speak up Please!”

I cleared my throat before trying again, “How much for a trim please?”

Her lips curled into a smirking smile which sent goosebumps down my spine as she looked me up and down. “$15,” she said.

“Ok,” I blurted out with relief that this wouldn’t be anywhere near as expensive as the salons that I had tried before.

“Are you sure that you want your haircut here?” she asked in an amused tone. I still felt extremely nervous as I looked at her and nodded, “It’s just a trim! quit panicking!” I thought, trying to reassure myself.

Her smile widened as she stood up from the chair. “Very well then, let’s cut your hair!” she walked behind the chair without breaking eye contact with me, “Hurry up and hang up your coat and then sit down Miss!” she said in an annoyed tone when i was still standing still.

 

I felt my legs spring into action as I walked over to the coat rack. I unzipped it and hung it on the hook and turned back to face the chair. “I’m Amanda.” I said as I approached.

 

“I am Ms. Natasha,” she said as she patted the top of the chair, “Sit now!”

 

I turned around and felt myself lowering into the leather chair. “Very good,” said Ms. Natasha as she quickly pulled my hair out from between my back and the chair cushion, “Sit up straight.” I felt myself pull back into the back rest and my muscles tensed while she moved my hair so that it was accessible to her, and my back straightened as she told me to sit up. The pit in my stomach was growing as I wondered if I was making a mistake.

 

As I sat looking out the front window towards the street, I heard some rummaging from behind me as she retrieved an item from one of the cabinet drawers. I tried to turn and look at what she was doing, but as soon as I did,  her strong hands grabbed my head and firmly moved it so that I was looking ahead again. “Sit still,” she said as she picked up a lock of my wavy hair on my right side and looked at it. The lock of shiny hair was dropped with a sigh as she began gathering up all my hair with both hands and pulled together at the back of my head.

 

“So much hair,” she said as she began twisting my hair on itself, “I will fix this right up.” My head pulled back a little bit as it got tighter, but she twisted my hair again onto the top of my head and secured it tightly in place with a large tooth clip. I felt myself gasp a little bit as she let go of my hair and turned back opening a cabinet door. I was too scared to move or do anything other than listen to her pulling an item out of the cabinet.

 

I heard fabric rustling and then a loud shaking as she reached around me and threw a large red and white striped cape over me and pulled it up around my neck, but did not fasten it yet. I looked down at the shiny red and white material that appeared to be some kind of satin as she turned back to the counter and I could hear something tear like paper, “chin up,” she commanded from behind me. I raised my chin some as I saw her hands reach over my face with a strip of what looked like tissue paper. It was wrapped firmly around my neck before she pulled the cape up tight around my neck.

 

“Snap!” I shivered as the first snap was closed. I thought that would be it, but then two more loud snaps clicked through the shop as she fastened more buttons on the cape. Swallowing nervously, I could feel my mouth was dry as my neck pulled against the tight cape. I heard heels clicking on the floor as Ms. Natasha walked in front of me and straightened the cape over my legs and looked over me again. The cape was very big and I could feel it hanging all the way down to my ankles in front and well over my arms on the armrests. I hadn’t realized that she was so much taller than me until this moment as I stared at her smiling face. I felt so small and helpless sitting in the barber chair with a cape wrapped around me.  “Very good,” she said with a satisfied smirk on her face as she walked behind me again, “Now you’re ready for a haircut!”

 

I was expecting her to turn me around to face the mirror, but instead she removed the clip from the top of my head, releasing my long brunette waves. I felt relief as they spread back around my neck and face. Ms. Natasha put her hand on the back of the chair and I felt myself jolt upwards a little and heard a strange pumping sound as she began to pump it with her foot. Again and again I jolted and felt a lump in my throat that seemed to get bigger each time the chair moved. At last the chair stopped and I felt like i could breathe again. “There we are,” declared Ms. Natasha as she turned back to the counter.

 

I heard an item being pulled from the drawer and then the drawer was closed. Ms. Natasha raised a wide tooth comb on my left and picked up a lock of hair about halfway from my head. She quickly pulled the comb through my hair starting at the bottom and going up with each stroke.  I could feel my heart pulsing as she kept running the comb through my hair with stroke after stroke. Soon enough, the whole left side of my hair was combed and she was working the back. My head would jerk back when she hit a knot, but this only happened a few times, but I still felt relieved as she finished on my right side.

 

She turned back to the counter again and I could hear something metallic being picked up. “Snip snip,” the sound of her scissors rang in the silence of the shop as she confirmed that she had retrieved them from the counter. I expected her to start combing my hair and ask how much I wanted her to cut from my hair as she approached my right side. I turned to look at her and say that I just wanted a tiny trim, but Ms. Natasha firmly put her left hand on top of my head and slowly turned it back towards the front as she raised the large pair of barber scissors towards my hair near my chin.

 

“Snip! Snip! Snip!” went the shears as I felt them slice through my curls. I loudly gasped, immediately tensed up entirely and looked down with my eyes as I couldn’t move my head with her hand firmly holding it in place. I could only watch as long waves of beautiful brown hair fell down and started rolling across the red and white striped cape. I immediately felt tears forming in my eyes as my precious locks moved across the cape, but I did not get much time to mourn.

 

“Snip! Snip! Snip Snip!” the razor sharp scissors were right under my ear as they kept cutting through the thick curls hanging from my head. my eyes saw more hair falling on the cape and I could feel other locks rolling off my shoulder to the right side. My head was released as she moved her left hand down.

 

“Snip! Snip!” went the shears as they continued their onslaught moving towards the back of my head. After the cut, Ms. Natasha’s left hand appeared above my head holding a lock of brunette waves and dropped them onto the cape right in front of my face. I couldn’t stop the tears now as I watched more of my beautiful hair falling down in front of me. “What………..What are you?” I tried to ask as she turned her attention back to my locks.

 

I heard her chuckle and started to feel the scissors on the right side of my neck, “Snip! Snip! Snip!” went the cold metal as i felt them snipping across the back. She threw more curls to the cape in front of me as I gasped again and a tear trickled down my cheek. “Snip! Snip! Snip! Snip!” and then another handful of curls were tossed to the cape. I could really feel my head getting lighter now as Ms. Natasha snipped through my beautiful long hair without mercy.

 

The last of my long hair was hanging on the left side over my shoulder, but the rate at which Ms. Natasha was snipping through my locks indicated that wasn’t going to last much longer. “Snip! Snip! Snip!” went the scissors right under my left ear. I closed my eyes and cringed as I heard the final, “Snip! Snip! Snip! Snip! Snip!” and felt the last of my long locks fall down onto the cape. “There,” said Ms. Natasha in a satisfied tone as she stepped in front of me still holding up the shears, “That’s much better!” she reached down and ruffled my now short waves with her left hand. I loudly gasped and cringed as her fingers ran right through my short hair. She reached down in front of me and began shaking my long locks down to the floor. I sniffled as I watched my hair fall away from my view

 

“What did you do!?” I managed to ask desperately as she moved behind the chair again, “My hair…………………” Ms. Natasha laughed quietly as she began combing the hair on the back of my head again with a regular comb. Then I felt her begin combing through my hair on the left side again. I tried to turn my head back towards the mirror, but immediately felt her hands turning me back towards the street. I could only feel her to comb moving easily through my hair and breathe a sigh of relief that there was nobody else in the shop. “If you wanted a trim, you would have gone to a salon,” she said as she combed through the hair on my right side.

 

I felt her firmly use her left hand on top of my head to tilt my head down towards my chest. “Head down,” she commanded with authority as my chin brushed against the smooth material of the cape. “but you did not go to the salon,” she said as she started combing the hair in the back upwards with her left hand, “Instead, you walked into my Barbershop, and when you’re in the barber shop, you get a proper haircut!”

 

“Snip! Snip! Snip!” went the scissors again. She quickly used the comb to flick the big clump of curls over my head and onto the cape before combing up another lock right above the first one. “Snip! Snip! Snip!” and another clump of hair was tossed down to the cape in front of me. I had no idea how much hair was being shorn from my head, but there couldn’t be much left after how much had been cut off already. Lock after lock of brunette waves fell onto the cape as the scissors continued with their quick snipping!

 

Ms. Natasha was relentless as she kept picking up locks of hair with the comb and snipping them down with the scissors. It felt like no time had passed at all since she started cutting again, but I could already feel the cold air hitting my head and neck in the back. She then moved towards the left side of my head and lifted the hair on the bottom by my neck and snipped it off.

 

I noticed another woman walking across the shop windows and slowing down at the door as my head was tilted down towards my right shoulder and my ear was folded. Ms. Natasha used the comb to pull up the hair there. “Snip Snip Snip Snip!” went the shears as I heard the door open and the chime ring. My hair didn’t even touch the top of my ear anymore as I felt another big lock of hair fall. A woman  who looked very similar to Ms. Natasha except slightly younger and with her hair cropped into an even shorter brown pixie was walking into the shop. The comb climbed up slightly on my head before the next lock of hair was snipped off. The woman looked at me and then down to the pile of hair that was on the cape and the mound of hair already on the floor as she chuckled to herself.

 

“Hello there,” she said to me with a similar accent and sly smile to Ms. Natasha as she walked over to one of the other barber chairs and set down her purse, “looks like you’re having fun Nat!”

 

“I certainly am,” said Ms. Natasha as she kept combing up my hair to the left and snipping it off quickly, “She came in here with quite the mop on her head, but she’ll have a nice, short haircut soon enough.”

 

I wanted to scream at that though, but knew it wouldn’t be much longer until my hair was cropped short at the rate Ms. Natasha was cutting it. The other lady stepped back in front of me holding a shiny black apron. “No fair,” she said to Ms. Natasha, “I never get a girl with long hair in my chair! I am Ingrid.” she said to me as she slipped the loop over her head and tied the apron behind her. She then spoke to Ms. Natasha in a language that I could not understand, but assumed was Russian as she stepped up to me and began stroking the curls on top of my head. They both laughed together before Ingrid stepped back and Ms. Natasha continued snipping away at the hair on my left side.

 

When Ms. Natasha finished cutting the left side, I could feel the cold air against my scalp the same as the back. She went back through lifting up seemingly random bits of hair and snipping them again. “How much of my hair could be left?” I thought miserably as she walked behind me and snipped a bit more in the back. I couldn’t believe how easily the comb was passing through my hair again and again as the shears snipped off more little bits of my hair.

 

After a few minutes of cutting, Ms. Natasha finally stopped and walked over to my right side. I knew what was coming, but felt a helpless dread as she firmly tilted my head over to the left and began attacking my curls with her scissors again. I felt such anguish as yet more hair fell down on the cape which was so littered with brown waves that I couldn’t believe all that had come from my head. Once again my ear was bent and held down as the comb prepared the hair around my ear for cutting.

 

“Snip! Snip! Snip!” and lift the next lock, “Snip! Snip! Snip! Snip!” I gasped again as I could no longer feel any hair on either of my ears or my neck now. No time was wasted as she lifted another curl and snipped it off. The fast pace of the scissors made short work of my once beautiful waves. The fast rhythm of combing and snipping did not last much longer before my right side felt just as bare as the left and back.

 

I felt relief in my ragged breathing hoping that the nightmare was finally over as Ms. Natasha turned back to the counter and I could hear her put down those horrible scissors that had stolen away my beautiful locks. However, my relief turned back to horror as I heard the chime of the shop door ring again.

 

I saw a different woman walking into the barbershop. She was tall, wearing sunglasses and wearing an expensive looking black leather trench coat and boots. Her hair was blonde and in a bob haircut. She smiled over at Ms. Natasha as she removed her sunglasses  and coat by the rack, “Good morning Natasha,” she called out in a similar accent. “Good morning Diana,” replied Ms. Natasha. The Lady was wearing a black silk blouse and black trousers under her trench coat along with a shiny diamond necklace and bracelets.

 

The lady’s heels clacked on the floor as she walked over to the chair where I was still sitting, and I wanted to die of embarrassment as she gazed down at me with a sly smile. I could not imagine how pathetic I must have looked sitting in the barber chair with a tear stained face and wavy brown hair covering the cape “My my,” she said as she looked down at me, “That’s quite a haircut young lady.” I could only sniffle and look down at the cape again feeling completely defeated and desperate to escape. However, I felt a finger with a manicured nail under my chin which pulled my face up to looking into Diana’s blue eyes.

 

“What is your name dear,” she asked down to me. “A……..Amanda,” I barely managed to squeak back. I noticed that Diana was probably in her 40s, but her makeup was done perfectly. “Very nice to meet you young lady. How old are you?” I said that I was 19. Diana turned and sat down in Ingrid’s chair. Ingrid immediately threw a black and white striped cape over her and fastened it around her neck with a tissue the same as I was wearing. Ingrid immediately began sectioning Diana’s hair and it turned out that the lower areas of Diana’s head were significantly shorter than the top. The lower sections were probably an inch long and were much darker in color than the blonde hair on top. Ingrid quickly pulled out her clippers and turned them on with a loud whirring sound and turned the chair so that Diana was looking right at me as she began to quickly clipper off the short hair leaving the blonde untouched.

 

I felt a brush moving around the back of my head and over my ears as Ms. Natasha was brushing off the little bits of cut hair that had accumulated before she reached in front of me and brushed my severed curls to the ground again. I cringed watching my hair disappear leaving only the red and white cape in my view.

 

“Much better than when you came in,” said Ms. Natasha as she started squirting the hair on top of my head with water and ruffling it with her fingers, “but we are not done yet.” I shivered as the cold water wetted the hair on top of my head as I realized what that meant. The hair on top was the last remains of my beautiful hair, and Ms. Natasha meant to cut it off as well. the bottle was placed back on the counter, and I could hear her picking up the scissors again. “Please no,” I thought desperately to myself as the comb began moving through the hair on top of my head towards the front. I could see long waves of wet brown hair falling down over my eyes and nose as the comb continued pushing them forward.

 

Ms. Natasha combed up a section of my hair in the front and her gripped it tight against my scalp “Snip! Snip! Snip!” went the shears and I saw long bits of wet hair falling down in front of me. Immediately, I felt another section of hair being pulled tight and snipped off. I could clearly see in front of me as the hair in front was now lying on the cape. I noticed that Diana was watching intently with a big smile as she watched Ms. Natasha cutting my hair off. I couldn’t imagine her smiling at someone miserably sitting as her hair was being cut off.

 

This process of combing and snipping was repeated all the way back over my head down the middle as long strands fell down the cape. I could actually hear each clump of wet hair landing on the cape as the shears hacked it off bit by bit. I didn’t even have tears left at this point. After the top middle was done, Ms. Natasha wasted no time in combing up the front right section in front and snipping it off too.

 

“Where do you work?” Diana called out to me as Ingrid continued to clipper away the undercut of her hair down to skin. I didn’t even think that I could speak properly at this point so I just shook my head back and forth. “Which school do you attend?” Diana asked and could only shake my head again. “That’s too bad,” said Diana as more hair was snipped from my head, “You will come and work for me then. I need a new house girl, and I think you will fit in nicely. You will keep my home tidy and study hard with the best private educators. The pay is very good.” I sat in a stunned silence since this did not seem like an offer, but rather an order. Ms. Natasha stopped cutting as I turned my head and looked at Diana again and barely managed a nod. “Good,” she said back, “it is settled then.”

 

My head was pulled back forwards and relentless snipping continued across the left section on top. Soon enough, that section was cut off too and Ms. Natasha began pulling up sections of my hair on top longwise this time and snipping off small bits of hair that did not line up. This process was quick and before I knew it, she was cutting around the edges of the top of my head lifting bits of hair with her comb again and snipping them off.

 

I heard the clippers turn off next to me and saw that there was only the faintest stubble going around Diana’s undercut. Ingrid brushed her off quickly and turned back to her station and began filling her hand with white foam. This was spread over Diana’s undercut before a steaming towel was wrapped around her head.

 

The snipping finally stopped and Ms. Natasha turned to put down the scissors. My head was brushed off again sending the last of my once glorious hair to the tile floor where it now sat on the tile floor as trash waiting to be thrown away. I turned my head slightly and saw Ms. Diana looking at me with a satisfied grin. “Very good Nat,” she said. “You like it,” asked Ms. Natasha. “Very much,” replied Diana, “Just taper her down a bit.” “Yes Ma’am,” said Ms. Natasha.

 

“Taper her down?!” I thought to myself, “What does that even mean?! Isn’t my hair already short enough?!” I glanced over at Diana while something was picked up from the counter behind me. Ingrid removed the towel from Diana’s head and applied more white foam and placed a towel on her shoulder before picking up a straight razor and beginning to scrape off the lather and stubble. I heard a loud click from behind me before I got my answer.

 

“Pop!” went the clippers as they sprang to life followed by the loud whirring sound. Ms. Natasha grabbed the top of my head and roughly bent it forward as she placed the oscillating blades on my neck and ran them partway up my head and flicked a small clump of brown hair over my head. The process was repeated all along the bottom of my head in the back before she tilted my head back to the right and began working the clipper around my ear on the left side and then the right again. More tufts of brown hair fell as the clippers made each pass over my head. The clippers were turned off with another loud pop, and I thought that would be it, but there was another click, and something was placed back on the counter before the clippers popped to life again and Ms. Natasha began flicking them along the edge of my hairline. Fortunately, I couldn’t actually see any hair falling now, but I didn’t imagine there was any hair left.

 

Finally, the clippers were turned off and placed back on the counter. I could feel myself breathing heavily with hopes that this nightmare was actually over. Ms. Natasha leaned over to the same device that Ingrid had gotten a steaming towel and pulled one out. She took it in her hands and began rubbing it over my head roughly as if she was drying my hair. The feeling of the hot towel going over my cropped hair was horrifying with how short it felt. she left the hot towel over my head as she finally unbuttoned the cape and removed the tissue. She didn’t remove the cape, but just let it sit around my shoulders. The hot towel was pulled down and used to wipe down my whole neck.

 

A new, dry towel was placed on my shoulder before I heard the whirring sound of the lather machine behind me. Ms. Natasha used a brush to lather my neck, around the tops of my ears and my upper cheeks with the hot lather before turning to the counter and retrieving a straight razor. “Sit very still Miss,” she commanded as she tilted my head down and scraped a path through the lather on my neck leaving bare skin behind. The razor felt so sharp as she scraped it over my neck. When the path was finished, she brought the razor over to the towel and wiped off the lather before starting the next path. When my neck was done, my head was tilted over to the right and she worked her way up over my left ear and finishing on my cheek. Lastly, she went over to my right side and worked back from my cheek scraping all the lather away with her razor and wiping the lather on the towel.

 

Once the lather was gone, the towel was folded over and used to rub off any lather that might be left from my ears, cheeks and neck. I hoped she would finally take the cape away, but instead she pulled it back tight and snapped one button before opening another of the cabinet drawers. I heard her hands rubbing together before she started ruffling my hair again. I could feel her hands pulling through my hair as she clearly had gotten some kind of product and was applying it to my hair. She walked in front of me and began pushing her fingers over my head towards the back until she was satisfied.

 

“There,” said Ms. Natasha with a very satisfied smirk, “Now that is a proper haircut!” I just sat and waited to be shown myself since I had no idea what I actually looked like at this point. “What do you think Diana?” called out Ms. Natasha. Diana was standing up from the other barber chair with her bob hanging down again. She approached my chair and put her hand under my chin pulling me up to look at her. She smiled down at me as she turned my head back and forth and moved her other hand above my ear. Her fingers rubbing over the buzzed hair there sent a new wave of goosebumps all over my body. “Excellent work,” said Diana, “She looks most presentable now.”

 

The barber chair was turned towards the mirror and I finally saw myself for the first time. I felt my jaw drop and let out a loud gasp. The hair on top of my head couldn’t have been much more than an inch long and was being held up and back by the product. It quickly got shorter on the back and sides of my head until it was nothing but the tiniest stubble at the bottom. I didn’t recognize this girl with cropped hair that was looking back at me, but it couldn’t have been me. I was always the pretty girl with long brown curls. I kept turning my head back and forth in disbelief and even blinked a few times desperately hoping to wake up from this nightmare.

 

Ms. Natasha held up a large mirror behind me and positioned it so that I could actually see my neck, and the hair in back was just as brutally short as the sides as it tapered down to almost nothing. She smirked and chuckled again at my expression before setting down the mirror and unsnapping the cape. She peeled it off of me and shook it out one last time sending the last bits of my brown hair to the floor that weren’t there already. The chair was turned back towards the street and I heard her step on the hydraulic again dropping me back to the floor.

 

“Alright miss,” said Ms. Natasha proudly, “You’re all done!” My hands and legs were shaking as I stood up from the chair. I felt one last tear forming in my eyes as I looked down at the massive pile of brown curls around the chair. I took a step forward and almost thought that I would faint. Ingrid walked up next to me and ran her hands up over my neck again. “Such a pretty girl with short hair!” she teased before grabbing a broom and dust pan from the corner and began sweeping up the pile of hair. I couldn’t help but stare as my locks were swept into the dustpan for a few moments before turning my head and to look at Diana who was retrieving her coat from the rack next to mine.

 

“Very lovely dear,” she said with a smile, “Now we need to get moving. There is much to be done” I started to walk towards her, but she called out to me, “Did you already pay Natasha?” I cringed at the thought of actually giving Ms. Natasha money for what she had done to my hair. I turned around and pulled my last $20 bill from my jeans pocket and felt one last bit of pain as I handed it to her.

 

“Thank you Miss,” Ms. Natasha said as she took the money and put it in the register behind her. I still stood stunned as she turned back to me, “Something to say Miss?” I shook my head no and turned to walk over to the coat rack. “No need to be bashful dearie,” said Diana looking back at me, “Thank her properly.” I thought I would start crying again as I turned around and looked at Ms. Natasha again. “Thank you Ms. Natasha,” I squeaked out. “My pleasure miss,” she said with a very smug smile, “It was a pleasure to cut it for you. You are always welcome in my shop.”

 

I quickly retrieved up my coat and put it on. I started to pull the hood up to hide my head, but Diana stopped me. “No need to cover your nice new haircut, dear,” she said as she pulled my hood back down before glancing back over at Ms. Natasha, “How often does this need to be cut?” Ms. Natasha walked up to me and answered back, “Every other month will be fine, but to keep her looking sharp, I would cut it once a month. Here is her product.” Ms. Natasha had handed Diana a fresh little can of hair product that had a skull on the top. “That lines up with my undercut shaves nicely, so we will see you again soon!” Diana replied cheerfully. I felt my heart stop for a moment as I heard those words and thought about how I would be expected to get my haircut here again. Ingrid laughed again at my expression as she carried the dustpan over to the garbage can and poured my curls into it.

 

“Get the door dear,” said Diana as she put on her coat. “Ye……yes ma’am” i said as I pulled it open. Diana led me back onto the street where a fancy looking black car was sitting. A man wearing a sharp suit got out of the driver’s door and opened the rear car door open for us. He smiled and nodded as Diana sat down in the back seat and gestured for me to get in. The man smiled in a friendly way and tipped his hat to me as I slowly got into the car with Diana and waited to pull away to my new life.