Let down your dark hair

7.

Storybrooke Past, Regina's fake memories:

Little Regina had just turned 6 years old a few days ago but she wasn't really happy. Her mother, who had worked as a hairdresser before being elected as mayor, had the decided that it was high time the little girl got her first haircut.

She had cried and begged her strict mother not to do it because the little brunette was really scared of scissors and even worse, clippers.

Regina hated it everytime Cora cut her sister's hair with the offending device since the buzzing noise was too loud for her little ears and gave her an uneasy feeling in the stomach. Her daddy had tried hard to convince the stubborn woman to wait a few years longer, however it was in vain. He stood no chance at his strong headed wife.

So now she sat in her room and dreaded her mother's arrival since that would mean haircutting time. Her long dark locks fell glossy and heavy all the way down to her hip and Regina loved it dearly. It was her most beautiful feature so having it all cut off was very sad even for a six year old girl.

Suddenly she heard the front door open and close and quickly hid in her walk in closet to avoid the haircut.

"Regina, I'm home!" the older woman called up the stairs but when she didn't get an answer she knew what her younger daughter was trying.

So she walked into her little girl's big bedroom and immediatly went to open the closet. Knowing it was the place Regina would usually hide in with she got into trouble or wanted to avoid going to the doctor's.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing? You know you can't avoid getting your hair cut forever." she tried to coax the petite child out but she only received a stern glare from the brunette as an answer.

Regina folded her arms stubbornly over her chest and stuck her tongue out. "But I can try." she said in a small voice and looked down on the floor.

Her mother sighed heavily, already annoying with the behavior she was getting. "That's quite enough, Regina! We don't stick our tongues out at our mother's." Cora scolded and gave the child a very stern look, that said 'Never do it again or you will get punished!'.

However, Regina being the stubborn little girl she was she wanted to push her mother's buttons a little more. "You are mean! I hate you! You are not my Mama anymore!" she wailed at the top of her little lungs but Cora would have none of it.

Suddenly the business woman got really angry and grabbed her daughter's skinny arm tightly and jerked her downstairs into the kitchen. She sat the child down on a bar stool and pulled a cape around her little shoulders while Regina just cried.

Cora pulled all her long dark curls into a ponytail and began to cut it off. The girl felt her head getting lighter with every snip until the whole ponytail was off.

"You want to keep the ponytail?" her mother asked and Regina just nodded while big crocodile tears were running down her still chubby cheeks. She gave the girl a small smile and handed the hair over.

The hair that had been to her hips was now reaching a little over her ears but the mayor didn't finish yet. She cut the bangs shorter so it wouldn't hang in her eyes and then she turned on the clippers.

Regina shrunk back in fear at the buzzing noise and sobbed loudly. Cora winced at her daughter's loud crying and rubbed the small of her back in comfort before going to shave the back and sides of her little head. Leaving the hair longer at the top just like Mary's hair.

After what felt like hours to Regina the clippers were turned off and she felt her mother running her slender fingers trough her now very short hair. "You look so beautiful, darling. Come I'll show you." she picked the child up and carried her into the foyer so that she could look at herself in the mirror.

At the sight of her new haircut Regina began to sobbed and cry all over again. "Shh, it will be okay. I know you don't like it but it will grow back soon." Cora smiled and kissed the girl's head lovingly while the child clutched her ponytail tightly to her chest.

The mayor already dreaded the arrival of her husband since he was so against the haircut in the first place but he didn't have a say in it anyway. He was not her biological father after all.