Head Hunters

Victoria sat in the salon chair. The plastic black cape draped over her shoulders, close around her neck, almost choking her, (if she thinks about it too much she'll start panicking). Her wavy, messy, chocolatey brown hair sprawled out around her, her bangs hanging in her plain, but pretty face. She sat there staring into the mirror, getting lost in her own world.

"Ma'am... did you know how you want your hair cut today?" Chloe, a cute, petite blonde with just a touch of too much makeup and the most gorgeous, bright green eyes, asked interrupting Victoria’s thoughts.

"Oh", Victoria said startled, coming out of the thoughts that consumed her, "yeah, um, I actually want it all cut off, like up to here." She put her hand to just above her ear.

Chloe's eyes widened and mouth slightly dropped "A...Are you sure you want that much off?

"Victoria smiled slightly, looked at Chloe in the mirror and replied "Yes. I am sure." trying not to let her voice get shaky.

Chloe took a deep breath, and said "Ok, then let's go wash all that hair." as a bright and excited grin started spreading across her face.

Chloe dove her hands into Victoria's soft, thick, long hair and attempted small talk with her, asking about her day and bullshitting about the weather, which was overcast, cold and depressing.

Victoria hated small talk, she'd rather just sit in silence than indulge talking about the weather, or her day. But today she kind of welcomed Chloe's attempt at small talk, it kept her mind from wandering off. Plus, getting her hair washed felt amazing. "It's all ok" she thought to herself, closing her eyes letting herself relax feeling Chloe's hands massage her head as she's washing her hair.

"So, what's the reason for getting rid of it all?" Chloe asked “yo… you’re hair, I mean.”

Victorias eyes flew open and she felt the tension rush through her body again; the question she's been dreading, and avoiding, mostly because she can’t answer it herself. "... I got married yesterday, and woke up and decided I wanted to cut all my hair off today." Victoria said with a nervous laugh.

Chloe froze for a moment, not quite the answer she expected, "Oh, well congratulations on the wedding." She said, finishing rinsing out Victoria's hair. She turned off the water and wrapped Victoria's hair in a towel. "Ok, let's head back over to my chair." She said as she helped Victoria get out of the chair with a smile.

They walked over and again, Victoria was sitting in the chair, staring at herself in the mirror. Black cape draped over her shoulders, her now wet, barely brushed, dark brown hair sprawled around her. Chloe standing behind her sectioning out her hair. "It's all ok" Victoria reminded herself again.

Sssnnniiipppp

Victoria watched the first strand of about 10 inches of her hair fall to the ground. Her stomach tightened, her heartbeat fastened, her body became stiff with anxiety, she felt like she was going to be sick. "What am I doing?!? Is this a mistake?" her mind screamed. "It's all ok" she reminded herself, taking a deep breath, staring into the mirror. "There's no going back now".

After what seemed like an eternity, Chloe was finally done. Victoria's back was to the mirror now and she was staring at Chloe inches from her face. She was doing the final touch ups and blowing all the hair off her shoulders.

"Are you ready to see the final result?" Chloe asked looking at Victoria with a satisfied, excited smile plastered across her face.

Victoria summoned all she could to smile and seem excited "Yeah" she said and smiled up at Chloe. She removed the black cape and swung Victoria around in the chair to face the mirror.

"Wow" was all Victoria could squeeze out. She hardly recognized herself. Not necessarily in a bad way...just...different. She definitely was not used to short hair.

"Do you like it?!" Chloe squealed with excitement.

Chloe's high pitched squeal broke Victoria out of her trance, thinking to herself "What did I do!?", smiled at Chloe and said "Yes, you did great! Thank you so much!"

She wasn't sure if her legs were going to hold her weight at the moment, but she couldn't sit there forever. She slowly got up and put her purse across her shoulder like always, and started walking toward the register. It seemed like she was in a fog.

Chloe was talking away as she was ringing Victoria up, but she couldn't focus on anything Chloe was saying, she was kind of in her own world. She pulled her debit card out of her wallet to hand to Chloe to pay. When all of a sudden the picture glass windows of the front of the salon came crashing in. The three customers waiting their turn screamed in terror, and jumped up to get out of the way as glass splattered in like rushing water. Victoria crouched down with her hands over her head to protect herself. Her heart now racing and adrenaline pumping through her veins, making her shake. She looks around for a place to take cover- she has no idea what's going on. She sees Chloe behind the cashier’s counter and Victoria scrambles around to her.

"What is going on?!" Victoria asked Chloe who has wrapped herself in the fetal position wide eyed, trembling and crying. "I...I don’t know" Chloe quietly sobs “it all happened so fast, the, the, the windows just exploded...."

"Shhh. Shh. It's all ok" Victoria said, trying to calm Chloe down, as well as herself, looking around for the others who were in the salon. She sees a couple of the other hairdressers huddled in the back room, peering out the door, tears and makeup streaming down their face and obviously terrified. They point to something outside. Victoria slowly and carefully peers around the cashier's counter to see what they're looking at.

Victoria can't quite make out what's going on. It's gray and raining, everyone is screaming and running in pure terror and chaos. Then she sees it. Her heart skips a beat, her stomach drops, she's too frightened to even scream. She whips herself back behind the counter out of sight.

She grabs Chloe by the arms and says "Look, I know you're scared, but we can't stay right here. We need to get to that room with everyone else,ok?" Pointing to where she saw the other two girls.

Chloe doesn't say anything, but nods to acknowledge she understands.

"Ok, ok." Victoria peers around the corner to make sure the coast is clear "Come, on. Let's go." Victoria grabs Chloe’s hand and they run to the back room.

Chloe immediately runs to the two other hairstylists who are huddling together and quietly sobbing. There are the 3 customers who were in the waiting area; A heavier set man with dark brown hair just below the top of his ears (a bit longer than Victoria's now) wearing black sweatpants and a shirt with some crazy looking cartoon character and a spaceship that made no sense to her. Another guy with bright blonde hair in a navy blue business suit, and a middle aged lady, with permed dark brown hair wearing jeans and a plain dark purple t-shirt.

"What's happening?!?" The wide eyed middle aged lady asked.

It seemed like they all turned to Victoria for the answer. "Why am I the one y'all look to? Does it look like I know what the fuck is going on?" Victoria thought to herself. As she surveyed the faces around her, she came to acknowledge the same thing it seems as though everyone else already came to silently agree upon... she was going to be the one to figure this out.

She took a deep breath. "It's all ok" she said, more to herself than to them, and forced a smile on her face. As everyone huddled in the back of Head Hunters salon break room, Victoria peered out the tiny window in the break room door. It was complete chaos. People were still running about and screaming in horror. She looked back at the other 6 people who she knew were looking to her to find out what was going on. "It's all ok" she told herself again.

She surveyed the layout of the salon, planning where she can take cover. There wasn't much. Three stations along the left and right side, the cashier's counter in front of her, and a couple lazy-susan shelves that once held products for sale that were blown over in the explosion, and the hair washing stations behind her to the left. Not much to hide behind. Victoria slipped out the door, crouched down and as quickly as she could made her way to the cashiers counter. "It's all ok" she told herself again, taking a deep breath trying to slow her heart rate and calm her nerves. "It's all ok".

She peered around the corner, there were still a few stragglers running away, but she could now clearly see what caused the eruption of chaos. In the middle of what used to be Wetland Street was a giant, metal gray, flat, circular... thing; a UFO. "What in the hell is that?" Victoria said out loud to herself. Not taking her eyes off of it.

Now there's no one in sight, everyone has already hidden in whatever shelter they could find. All of a sudden the giant object starts stirring, almost like a car starting up. Victoria doesn't move. The middle starts spinning, it reminds Victoria of her spinning wedding ring she’s constantly playing with. Victoria just watches in awe, unable to move. The whirring sound gets faster and louder. Lights begin to flash, and another mechanical whir sound begins. It's so loud and bright that Victoria has to cover her ears and she can barely stand to look directly at the bright, flashing strobe like lights, making the UFO look like a disco ball. Suddenly the spinning, flashing lights and deafening sounds stop. Victoria, terrified, looks over her shoulder towards the break room to see all 6 crying, terrified faces trying to peer out the tiny window in the door all at once. If this were under different circumstances, it would be pretty comical.

A ding, like an elevator makes when the doors open, brought Victoria's attention back to the UFO. Standing in what looks exactly like an elevator is something that's not quite human. It was a murky, dark greenish color, about 5 foot, long, thin lanky legs and arms that almost touched the ground. Eyes as black as the night, only 2 small holes where the nose should be, and looks as though there's no mouth. Victoria has never seen anything like it, she's terrified, but can't look away. As this thing-alien-just stands in the doorway of his UFO elevator, a ramp starts ejecting out leading to the ground.

Out of the corner of her eye Victoria sees a man run out of the ice cream parlor next door, it saw him too. The alien opens what could only be his mouth, which a terrible, high pitched, ear shattering shriek escapes causing Victoria to cover her ears in pain and watch as the man collapses to the ground with his hands over his ears. The shrieking stops, but the man doesn't get up.

Victoria puts a hand over her mouth to muffle the scream she can’t help but let out and pushes herself into the furthest corner under the cash register. She looks at the 6 terrified faces staring at her through the small window in the break room door. "It's all ok" Victoria tells herself again, trying her hardest to believe it.

Victoria summons all the courage she has left and peers back around the corner. She has to get back into that room.

The green, non human like thing is now descending the ramp. Victoria's stomach jumps into her throat, and she runs towards the door where the 6 others are waiting for her. Chloe opens the door just enough for Victoria to slide in. She quickly and quietly closes the door and sits with her back against it breathing heavy and trying to calm herself. "It's all ok" she says between breaths to no one in particular. Chloe and the other two hair stylists were sitting on the floor against the back wall holding each other with mascara streaking down their faces. The man in the business suit was sitting at the table clenching his hands together and the middle aged lady was sitting across from him, staring at nothing. The guy in the sweat pants and weird cartoon shirt is pacing back and forth. "Ok, guys. We need to try to find a way out of here. Chloe, is there a back door to this place?"

Chloe looks up at Victoria, tears in her eyes and streaks of makeup down her face. "Yeah, there is. It's past all the sinks. It won't be easy without being seen, though. And what if there's more out back?"

"Ok. Ok. It's all ok. Well figure this out and get out of here ok." Victoria said with as much confidence as she could.

Just then the door to the break room was ripped off the hinges and the murky green alien was holding the door in his suction cup like hand. It propped the door gently against the wall. Everyone was too scared to move, they all just stood there and stared at this strange being in front of them.

The alien seemed to be looking and taking in each person individually, starting with Victoria, moving on toward the three hairstylists, glancing over the businessman and the middle aged lady. It stopped on the heavier set man, reached out with his other arm and a hand transformed out of what looked like slime at the end of its arm, putting it gently around the man, almost as a comforting gesture.

No one moved, just watched what was going on. It seemed as if the alien was communicating to the man telepathically. Its eyes seemed to soften a little, it slowly blinked and nodded to the man.

The man looked at everyone and simply said "It's my time to go."

The alien and the man slowly walked out of the break room, through the mess of the glass and products covering the floor, and out the door. Victoria, Chloe and the others followed them out and watched as they ascended and disappear into the UFO.

It started up and made the same loud whirring sounds as before. But as it started lifting up and taking off, it was like a movie in rewind; The glass was put back in place to become whole again, the shelves and products were up right and back on the shelf. The man laying on the ground got up, unharmed (just a little shocked and confused) and people started coming out of wherever they took safety. It was almost as if nothing happened at all. Almost.