My Own Fault – 1

When I and my younger brother took the school bus this morning everyone looked at us like we were freaks. His friends instantly removed his cap trying to humiliate him by tapping his bald scalp. The girls at least had the decency to laugh at me and not remove the cap I was wearing.

Entering the class I knew I was going to be the joke of the year. Everyone was laughing at me the girls taunted by running their hands in their hair. The class teacher got worried that I was sick, she asked me a couple of times before calling my mother. “It’s due to her own fault madam let it be” My mother told her.

Our hindi teacher Mrs Surekha removed the cap during her period. She slowly ran her old hands on my bald head “this is what you needed for concentration on studies” She commented. It made the others laugh their lungs out. Keeping my head down and voice mute I passed the whole day. But my best friend Nisha wasn’t the one to stay silent.

I was popular at my school for my beautiful hair. It reached my hips I loved them so much. I had people who envied me because of them but I would just flick my long lengths to make them burn. Today was a field day for those haters. “Ankita you’ve got to tell me what happened why don’t you have hair anymore? ” She almost yelled at me while we were going towards the bus.

“Not here and not now call me when we reach home I will tell you what happened” I told her. We took our ride back and reached home. I was angry at my mother so I took my lunch and went straight to my room. Minutes after closing the door my phone rang it was Nisha. “Yes” I answered the phone. “What yes? Tell me what happened? ” Nisha.

I took a deep breath “So, you know how much I hate rishab for being the little brat.”

Nisha- yes I do

Me- It’s all because of him

Nisha- Means? You have to tell me everything

Me- Everything? We’ll need a lot of time for that

Nisha- I have all the time in the world. Just tell me what happened word by word

Me-

Okay so as you know I wash and pamper my hair on alternate Sundays. Last sunday, when I went to the bathroom to shower I found foul smell coming from my conditioner and shampoo. I was lucky I didn’t use it without checking. Rishabh had poured something in the bottles. I don’t know exactly what it was but it smelled really bad.

Nisha- How do you know it was rishabh who did it?

Me-

Who else would do something like this? The brat was waiting for me outside the bathroom when I opened the door. He thought his prank was successful. I gave him a deadly stare and went back to my room. Should have told mom about it but I decided to take revenge on my own.

So, yesterday was Rishabh’s hair cut day and well I wanted to take revenge. So, I requested mom if I could take the bratt to the barber shop. She didn’t think much allowing me to take him “But remember no shenanigans.  Just a proper short boycut” She ordered.

Instead of taking him to the regular barber shop I took him to a different one. “This isn’t the regular shop? I won’t get my haircut here” The brat protested. “Oh come on his shop is closed today. Mom told me to get you a proper haircut. Plus look at this shop doesn’t it look more modern? ” I somehow convinced him to sit on the chair.

Taking the barber on a corner “mom has told me to get his head shaved because of summer. He will protest and not allow it so please take care of it. ” The barber seemed to have understood what I was trying to convey. So, he turned the chair away from the mirror towards me.

Rishabh seemed a little sceptic when the chair was turned but I started distracting him. He squirmed a bit when the barber turned on the clippers. I held his hand trying to calm him down. The first on the back of the head opened up a clear strip of skin. He didn’t have very long hair and the barber seemed quite skillful.

In matter of 5-7 minutes rishabh was bald as a cue ball. I can’t tell you how wide a smile I had on my face. But I knew I had to act surprised and innocent. I had already paid the barber in advance. So, as soon as he was done I took him straight out of the shop. A few meters from the shop when he ran his hand on his head. I could feel the sadness on his face. Trying to act innocent I calmed him down.

“The barber did it on his own come let’s go to mom and complain about him”. I was trying every bit to console him. My plan was to go to mom first with the story that the barber shaved his head in confusion. But Rishabh just ran to mom crying his eyes out. She had a furious look on her face. I acted very innocent even tired to get some fake tears.

“Mom i told the barber to give a summer cut not like this. It was too late when I realised what he was doing. “I pleaded my case. Rishabh’s constant crying was making her more furious. ” Come with me” She said in a stern angry voice holding both mine and Rishabh’s hand.

She took us straight to the old barber first. “No mom not him didi said his shop is closed. We went to that shop on the other side”. Mom gave me the roughest look I had seen in a long time. Still trying to act innocent as to none of it was my fault ” I thought his shop was closed today”. Without replying me she took us both to the barber shop. I was scared as hell because instead of talking calmly mom just started shouting at the barber.

“Wait maam wait I didn’t shave his head on my own. She told me my mother has asked so I did it. ” Oh god!! I wanted to run away from there when I saw the look on both their faces. Instead of saying anything to me she just dragged me to the chair. “Give her the same” She almost yelled looking at me. “Mom wait mom no please don’t. I can explain.” I pleaded to her.

“How can he cut my hair it’s so long please mom.” I kept begging her. “How can he? ” She yelled back at me. I almost fell on the chair when she started to look for something on his table. Mom was behind me so I couldn’t see what she was looking for. Finally, she picked up the biggest pair of scissors I had seen in life from his counter. She held my bun in one hand and placed the scissors on its base with the other.

I could feel the pull and hear the snips coming from behind my head. She used all the power in her hands to chop thru my thick bun. When it was severed from my head  she handed it to me. “There this is how he will do it” She yelled. I couldn’t control my tears when I was handed my bun. “You deserve it ” She told me signaling the barber to finish the work.

I saw the same clippers in his hand he had used on Rishabh. He kept then right in the middle of my forehead then ran them down in a straight line. I could see a white strip of skin in the middle of my head. More passes were made I saw the hair falling from my head as the strip grew. Like Rishabh it just took him 5 minutes to shave my head.

As soon as he was done I wanted to get up and run but mom held my shoulders. She ran her hand on my shorn scalp. “Use some shaving cream. Shave her 3-4 times I want her head smooth. ” She ordered him. I looked at her thru the mirror when he was rubbing the shaving cream over my head.

Using a brush the cream was spread all across. The razor he took out of his cabinet was the biggest I had seen in life. I could hear the small strands getting shaved from my skin. He was making firm passes I felt each of them. When the razor moved back I could see whiter skin on my head. The passes continued until the cream was all shaved off from the head.

Mom came forward and touched my head. “Do it one more time” I couldn’t believe her now neither could the barber. He was enjoying it tho I could feel his boner touching my elbows and waist. He poured more shaving cream on my head. Repeated the same procedure with the brush. This time he took out a small safety razor. “Why this? ” Mother asked. “It shaves more closely to the skin will give more smoothness” He replied.

The first pass thru the middle revealed a smooth white patch of skin. More passes revealed more of my skin. It took him nearly twice the time to clean the lather off my head. He then poured some water over it then cleaned it with a cloth. I thought It was time to get up but he poured another liquid on my head which burned me a bit. He rubbed it all over the head it stung for a few seconds then felt cool.

Mother seemed satisfied with his work. “As her punishment she will come to you regularly I want to see good work” She told him. “You deserve this” Was all I heard from her.

Nisha- Wow dude your mom’s a real hitler. How will you survive like this?

Me- I don’t know I guess I will have to learn

Nisha- what did she mean regularly

Me- Guess we’ll know this Sunday.

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