In the quaint cottage town of Red Grove, Daniella 'Rose' Elliott longs to escape her miserable life and pursue a brighter future. Yet, her dreams are thwarted not only by her family's financial struggles but also by an incident she buried away in th...
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Roses are red Bruises are blue The truth is coming out And your secrets are too
The crusty old bathroom light flickered on as Dani entered the damp room. It blinked once or twice before shining bright with a constant hum as Dani shut the door. The room was fairly small; It had a toilet beside a moldy vanity facing a bathtub with beige floral curtains, which she hadn't changed in months. Her mom owned the smallest cottage on the block, after all—Dani never complained about it. As long as she had her own bedroom away from Benjamin, she was fine.
After her restless night, she looked at her reflection in the dirty mirror. Nothing changed from last night, in fact, it may have gotten worse.
She reached and turned on the shower, praying that some hot water would give her enough energy to fix everything else. Stream filled the room slightly, relaxing her aching bones, and with little effort, she tossed her trashy clothes on the ground and hopped in. The water melted her stress away as all the dirty and charred bits flowed down the drain. Dani didn't want to leave the warm cocoon, but she knew she had to get ready for school in an hour.
Her hand slowly flipped the knob of the shower off, and she sucked it up and stepped out.
She tucked a towel around her and rubbed a hand across the mirror to see her renewed reflection... It was just as bad. The whites of her brown eyes still had a hint of red from the smoke inhalation and crying herself to sleep. Her thick black curly hair was hanging down, with its natural zig-zagging curls — One side was slightly longer than the other and knotted beyond repair. She tried to get most of the knots and charred bits out with her shampoo and brush, but there were some things water couldn't fix... Maybe scissors and a bit of care could?
Dani gulped as she pulled open a vanity drawer and rummaged through her mom's makeup to find the scissors. Once the silver paper cutters were in sight, she sighed and grabbed them.
Usually, girls would cut their own bangs or hair when they are having a mental breakdown. She had seen Charlotte do it several times before. It always amazed Dani how girls could have the guts to do it and rock it. They would part their straight hair and just chop away... Dani didn't have straight hair, but she also didn't have another choice. It was this or looking like she just survived a fire.
She took a deep breath and held the scissors up in front of her face, "I can't believe I'm doing this." Dani made eye contact with her cracked reflection and grabbed a chunk off the front, "I'm sorry hair." She cried, " You took me about 3 years to grow out." Her fingers stretched out the thick curls, and she positioned the scissors, "But this is goodbye..." She closed her eyes and started chopping away.
. . .
After 30 minutes of cutting and 3 passes with her mom's flat iron, she finally dropped everything on the counter and stepped back. Dani never expected to have a straight bob, but after screaming and hacking away at her charred hair, that was the result. This was a look she never imagined on herself—but a look she had to deal with.
