Page 54 of Torn By Fate

“Seriously.” I got to my feet, and a knot I hadn’t realized was there loosened in my chest. “Right now?”

“Right now.” She was already moving, her bare feet padding across the carpet toward her bedroom, the towel clutched against her chest. “I have a box of bleach and blonde dye in my closet. I bought it last week thinking I might go lighter, but I never got around to it. Stay there, don’t move.”

She disappeared into her room and returned less than a minute later, holding a rectangular box with a photograph of a smiling blonde woman on the front. She pointed toward the bathroom.

“Go. I’ll grab the towels.”

I walked to the bathroom on legs that felt slightly disconnected from my body. Anxiety gnawed at me, my stomach twisting almost violently. Was I really going to do this?

Maybe I was being too reckless. Maybe I should have thought this through more.

But that was the point, right?

To do something fun.

To be reckless.

To live.

I flipped the switch in the bathroom, and I stood in front of the mirror, studying my reflection. Dark hair. Dark eyes. The face I’d seen in mirrors my entire life, carefully composed. I didn’t look away.

Elyssa appeared behind me, her arms full of old towels. She draped one over my shoulders and secured it with a clip.

“Okay,” she said, tearing open the box. She pulled out a pair of plastic gloves and snapped them on, then held up the small bottle and the tube of colorant. “Sit on the edge of the tub. It’s easier.”

I obeyed, lowering myself onto the edge. Elyssa mixed something in the provided plastic bottle, shaking it with a vigor that made the liquid slosh audibly. “We’ll have to bleach your hair first to lift the dark pigment out of your brown hair. Regular blonde hair dye alone can’t lighten dark hair. And we might have to do more than one bleaching session to reach a light blonde without severe breakage.”

I stared at her blankly.

Elyssa let out a short laugh. “I’m guessing my words don’t make any sense to you?”

I shook my head, a little embarrassed.

“Don’t worry. I won’t bore you with the details. Just trust me.”

My heart thudded once in my chest. I agreed to this because I did trust her. Fully. Completely. “Okay.”

“But this will take a few hours,” she said slowly, wincing at the words. “I’m sorry, maybe I should have said that before.”

“I don’t mind. Let’s do it.”

She got in the bed and stood behind me. Her fingers gently started parting my hair into sections. “This is going to be cold. And it’s going to smell terrible. Just a heads up,” Elyssa warned. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, though I wasn’t entirely sure.

“Alright, I’ll start then.”

I eventually lost track of time. She was right; it did take hours. But Elyssa completed each step meticulously.

“I’m going to change,” Elyssa said, gesturing toward her towel. “I’ll be back in two minutes. Don’t touch anything.”

After she was gone, I stared at my reflection and tried to imagine what I would look like as a blonde, but the image wouldn’t form.

Elyssa returned in a pair of cotton shorts and an oversized UCLA t-shirt. “Okay, it’s the final rinse now.”

I lowered my head into the tub, and she supported my neck with one hand as warm water rushed over my scalp. I closed my eyes as Elyssa worked the remaining product from my hair, her fingers gently massaging me.

When she was done, she wrapped my hair in a towel.