Escalation
Sofia was in a haze as she walked out of the hair salon sporting her new wig. She couldn't keep her mind off of the encounter she had just had with the sales person, Cindy. How could she have never had a thought in her life over another girl and then fall headlong over a bald girl in mall. Not only to have fallen for her but made passionate love to her as well. Everything was all amuck as she strolled towards the other end of the mall and her car.
One thing she enjoyed was the lack of stares. No longer was she the beautiful bald girl, but sporting her long blonde wig, she was the hot blonde girl. She could feel the hair caressing her back as she walked. Guys ogled her, but she was used to that. Thanks to Cindy she was back. Cindy was even nice enough to show her how to effectively draw on her eyebrows so they didn't look fake. Now that Sofia had her number she was certain that they would be great friends.
The drive back to her apartment was uneventful, thank god, and as she pulled into the lot she was relieved to have made it with nothing untoward happening. Her life had been so upside down the last two days and she was happy to finally have a stroke of relative normalcy. As she strolled through the lobby she ran into Mr. Gabon, the superintendent of the complex.
"Hello Sofia, you look wonderful today!" He said, casually, although they both remembered what had occurred two nights ago. Sofia averted her eyes to the ground, ashamed of what had happened.
"Hi, Mr. Gabon." She squeaked. "Mr. Gabon, about the other night I..." She was interrupted by a hand held up by his right shoulder.
"Ms. Fazio, please, think nothing more about it." He smiled and hit the elevator button for her. "I would never say a word, not a word, to anyone." He looked down at the floor contemplating his next words. "What happened between us, was just between us, and no one else." He sighed. "I will never forget it, although I know that you would rather." Now Sofia felt badly, that he would think that way about her.
"I will never forget it either, Mr. Gabon." She smiled at him as she entered the elevator and pushed four. He nodded and turned away before the elevator door had closed. She knew that what had happened wasn't so terrible. She had given the man a thrill, something to take away with him. Quickly, she put the experience out of her head as she unlocked the door to her apartment and locked herself in.
In the bag from the shop was the Styrofoam head that she would keep her wig on and as she set it on her vanity, she reached up and slipped off her crowning glory. It felt so strange to feel the elastic of the wig slip off her bald head. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, and there was that bald girl again, the wig having left marks on her skin as jeans would do on her waist. She left the eyebrows for now, but knew that she would have to learn how to apply those as well as Cindy had. Sofia looked back at her vanity, the glorious blonde locks cascading off the blank white head, and smiled as she ran a hand over her denuded scalp.
"I think I can live with this situation." She smiled as she sat down and popped on the TV for a quick glance at the news. She returned a few texts that had been sent by her friends over the last day, wondering why she hadn't answered back. She just said that
she was under the weather, which wasn't a lie. There was a message from Mr. Graves, praising her for her work on the depositions, and hoping she felt better. "Well, praise from the man himself, holy shit!" thought Sofia. She wondered whether he felt badly about pushing her so hard that day. "I doubt it." She thought, he never thinks of anyone other than himself. He did wish her well though, and that was not like him. She answered a message from Ms. Campbell, wondering if she would be well enough to be in the following day, to which she answered yes. She could pull this off, the wig, the
eyebrows. She was now however developing a slight back eye, from the knock she got on the bridge of her nose, although the swelling had subsided.
"Makeup, can cure a world of ills." She thought as she pondered what she might make for her dinner. She opened her refrigerator and pulled out some leftovers from a few nights before, and threw them into the microwave. As the food warmed she noticed a voice message on her phone that she had missed earlier. She didn't recognize the number but pushed the speaker button and listened.
"You look almost back to normal.." She cut off the message knowing that it was the same voice from yesterday. All of a sudden she had lost her appetite. This wasn't over. Whoever this was wished her harm, and was doing something to her to force her hand into destroying herself. She deleted the message and moved on, forcing the food down her throat, knowing that she needed to eat. She grabbed a beer and sat back on her sofa, drumming her fingers on her head as she downed it quickly.
"I have to find a way to avoid this!" She almost shouted, nearly choking on her beer, a small bit of it dribbling off her chin. Part of her was scared for her life, and part of her wanted to kill whoever this was that was fucking with her this way. "This has to be some kind of hypnosis or something." She thought, as she paced her apartment, trying to outwit this bastard. "He's managed to know everything I'm doing, but I couldn't find a camera anywhere." She pondered. "He's managed to infiltrate the secure network at the firm with that fucking little flashing red dot!" She had to find a way to avoid being subjected to this thing, but how. She couldn't not go to work, and her computer was exclusively hers. The phone was easy, she just wouldn't pick up for anyone she didn't recognize.
It was getting late as she showered and slipped on her pajamas. The bathroom was still littered with her hair, even though she had cleaned it. She tried not to think about it. "Well, showers are sure easier." She thought as she toweled her head dry and padded into the bed. As she drifted to sleep, she was almost afraid to close her eyes. She was afraid of that dream, outside, naked, cold and in the mud. Soon she was out, and her mind was filled with images of Cindy, playing games with her. Playing keep away with her wig, kissing and petting. It was a good dream. She felt that dream fade into the next as she was once again outside on the ground, naked. Part of her wanted to wake up and she struggled against the images before her. "I have to wake up." She thought, over and over. "I have to wake up...I have to wake up!" Suddenly Sofia's eyes were wide open and she was looking straight up at the ceiling.
"Hey, she's awake." A male voice in her bedroom? Sofia panicked and went to sit up only to be held down by hands from both sides of her bed. She reached up and felt wires attached to her head. She struggled with the hands, ripping away from the wires as she did. There was a sudden pain in her arm and everything went black.
"Too bright." She tried to open her eyes. The light was blinding as she struggled to make out anything. She was lying on a cold surface and she could tell she was naked. There was something holding her wrists and ankles down to the surface and she was splayed out spread eagle. As Sofia's eyes became more accustomed to the light she could see she was in some sort of exam room. There was a bright exam light over her, angled at her face. She turned to avoid its invading beam. She could she her wrist was bound to the corner of the exam table by a cloth cuff of some sort. She struggled against her bonds to no avail.
