Phoenix

Haircut

Some time later, once the sun had fully set, the door flung open and Miki burst in. She surveyed the room, took in the shattered glass and flowers, eyes narrowing. "Let me be clear," she began, waving a pair of scissors in her hand as she spoke. "Hurt my friends and I'll make sure you hurt for the rest of your life."

Instead of being affronted, Ash was relieved. Finally, someone was finally speaking a language she could understand.

Miki directed the sharp point of the scissors to an adjoining door on one side of the room. "Bathroom. Now. Best make you as unrecognisable as possible. Just in case the Establishment find us. Which they won't but one can never be too careful."

Next thing Ash knew, she was being trolleyed across the room and into the adjoining bathroom. She didn't dare put up a fight. The incident with Eli had scared the fight out of her and she'd seen how Miki had redirected the lighting before it had hit the boat. Something told her she was no match for the red-haired woman with a very sharp pair of scissors.

She sat on the edge of a beautiful porcelain bathtub while Miki began tugging and tearing her hair with her fingers. Ash forced herself not to flinch as, more than once, the strands ripped clean from their follicles. Her hair was longer than she realised. Unmatted, it hung to the small of her back.

Miki began hacking into it, her scissors making crunching sounds as it sawed through the black strands. With each crunch, Ash's head felt lighter, made a strange swishing sound as she turned it left and right, rather than clinging to her scalp like a helmet.

"Gross," Miki said, gathering the loose hair off the ground. "It's like a rogue creature..." Her voice trailed off as she caught Ash's reflection in the mirror. Her eyes widened and she looked away, avoiding repeat eye contact. She stood and made her way towards the door. "Freshen up. Your new robes are in your dresser. I'll send someone up with some food once you're done." Without a glance back, she was gone, slipping out the door and closing it in one continuous motion.

Ash frowned and checked herself in the vanity mirror. Her hair was a glossy black waterfall, and cleared her face like a parted curtain. Without the distraction of matted strands, her amber eyes stood out like rusted coins. Beautiful wasn't exactly the word. Striking was more to point. But still, the difference wasn't stark enough to equate Miki's reaction.

Frowning, she touched the brass knobs of the bathtub, swivelled and pulled them until a stream of water flowed out. Two for heat, two for pressure, she'd never seen so many knobs. At the orphanage, they'd had one knob for everything and a timer to count down their allocation of water. While she waited for the bath to fill up, she remembered how, a week ago she would've killed for a long, uninterrupted soak in hot water. And now, she couldn't shake her skepticism. It all seemed too good to be true. Perhaps the water would turn out to be acid, disintegrate her flesh and bones so it was like she was never there.

Still, she lowered herself into the bath and groaned. It was better than she'd ever imagined. A full body massage all at once, a hug to every inch of her body. Soon, she forgot everything but the hot water on her skin and the fragrant, slightly spicy smell of the soap as she rubbed it over her skin. Time slowed down, seemed to stretch out, then melt away.

She stayed in the tub for so long, the water began to go tepid. Only then did she coax her sluggish muscles to stand. Finding a new silver robe in the dresser, unsurprisingly, in the same style as Miki, Eli and Oroton's, she wrapped it around her body and wobbled her way back to the bedroom, feeling like her bones had turned to over-soaked mash.

A tray of food had been placed on her bedside table—crisp strips of meat, eggs, an undiluted glass of milk. She stared at it dumbly, doubt returning to her mind. What had she done to deserve all this?

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