Page 72 of Locked
Even though it wasn't technically a lie, I still faltered slightly with it. Hopefully I had sounded hopelessly depressed, and not like I was hiding something else from her.
"Well, it was likely his time," she said simply, taking a seat on the chair in the center of the sun room. "Come… sit down. I'll braid your hair. It's a fright."
She'd glossed over it so quickly, it left me blinking. Which likely added to my case. Everything was happening so damn fast.
I sat down in front of her, wincing as she combed out the tangles. "My my…" she whispered, gathering up three strands. "So many tangles and knots."
"I'm sorry, Mother…" I whispered, trying my best to look devastated and contrite.
"It's okay, dear…" she began to braid. "It's to be expected… given thetimeyou've had lately…"
I closed my eyes against the sun and waited while she slowly and surely braided my hair into a single plait. She secured the end with a hair tie, but when I started to get ups, she pressed me back down with more strength than was apparent. Her gnarled fingers clenched around my shoulders. Her long nails pinched.
"Such a time you've had, Rapunzel. Such. A. Time."
My eyebrow twitched, but I didn't react. I simply swallowed thickly and waited for her to let me go.
"Such a time, why… it almost looks like you spent the whole night on your back."
Panic stabbed right through my heart like a burning icicle. My mouth went dry, my tongue scratchy as I inhaled, suddenly there wasn't enough air in the room.
"On yourback, for thatelfI just saw leaving the tower?"
I couldn't find my voice. I didn't know what to say even if I could.
She wrapped my braid around her arm and tugged, pulling me back off balance. My hands scrabbled for purchase on the concrete floor of the sun room.
"Are you confused, Dearheart? Do you not know of whom I speak? That elf that left the tower?Thatelf? Or have there been so many it's hard to keep track? I wasn't aware I'd given you permission to entertain overnight guests?"
I didn't say anything, I couldn't, not when she was yanking my hair so hard, I could feel some of the roots starting to snap. I grit my teeth and pressed my palms against the floor to keep from banging my head on anything.
"I have tried with you, Rapunzel, I really have. But you've resisted me at every turn. So, fine. If this is the way you want it, to be treated like a prisoner, I'll treat you like one. Starting with this hair. Prisoners can't grow hair. It's unsightly and unhygienic."
I felt the blade at the base of my skull as she cut through the braid in a swift motion.
I fell to the ground, a loud gasp emitting from my throat as I reached up to my head.
"Careful now, Dearheart, I have to check for mites. Who knows what you might have picked up from that vermin you allowed into the tower?"
There was a sizzling sound and the smell of burnt hair filled the room. I cried out, reaching up to feel my head. It was gone. My hair. All gone. Left in its place was a completely bare scalp.
She held my braid out in front of her. "Ishouldburn this too. But a witch's hair has certain medicinal purposes. So I'll keep it."
"Mother!" I cried out as she stood up and left.
"I'll give you this one for free…" she said, plucking a hair from the braid and dropping it into the fire. "But you'll have to be more creative at opening the door from now on. Maybe pricking your finger will make you think twice before letting that elf come up and prick you too!"
She left in a flourish, slamming the door behind her and leaving me there on the rug in the front room, chest heaving with the effort of not crying.
The sobs rumbled up from my chest as I curled up into a ball. I felt my head, in utter disbelief that what had just happened, hadhappened.
I couldn't go on like this. I couldn't.
I had to get out.
Had to.
I summoned my tablet, thankful that she hadn't thought to take that with her.
