I pull my apron off my body and grab my book bag before following Zack out of the café the next night. Zack locks up after we exit and then turns to me.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to give you a ride? I have my sister’s car,” Zack tells me.

I smile at him. Zack really was such a nice guy. Today at lunch I sat with him and his friends and even gave him a hard time after calculus when I caught him staring – sorry, looking – at me. His friend, Valary, walked me from our history class to my next class talking about a paper we have due Monday. I was lucky to have met a guy like Zack and his friends, it made this transition a little easier.

“I’m fine,” I answer him. He had already done so much for me by helping me get this job and letting me hang out with him and his friends. I didn’t want to accept another offer of his to help
me. “Thanks, though. I’ll see you Monday.”

“Wait, Monday?” Zack called as I turned to walk away.

I turned back to him with a look of confusion on my face. “Yeah…?”

“Are you not coming to the late Halloween party at the club my band is playing at?” Zack asked me.

Fuck, I forgot to cancel on him. I had decided last night after Gena showed up at the café that I wasn’t going to pursue anything but a friendship with Zack. He asked me to the club as a date, and though I really wanted to go – to see his band he seemed so proud of – I didn’t want to deal with Gena’s shitty attitude.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, I don’t think I’m going to make it. I meant to tell you,” I give him a small smile.

Zack looks disappointed. “Oh, come on? Why not? I know my band probably sucks but…we’re not that bad, I swear. We only have like three songs to play, you’ll still have a good time.”

I chuckle slightly. “It’s not that. I just uh…I don’t really want to get in between you and your girlfriend...I don’t really know what to call her.”

“This is about Gena?” He asks me, I don’t answer him. “She and I are done, honestly. She’s just having a hard time letting go.”

“I get it,” I tell him and I did. I understood their relationship, I’ve been on both sides of it.

Zack doesn’t say anything for a second. “Okay, so come as a friend. Look, when I said it was a date I didn’t mean a date-date, you know? It’s just fun. Gena can be a bitch, but her bark is worse than her bite.”

It was tempting. “Sorry,” I tell him as I start to back away, still facing him. “I have a lot of homework and studying I should do. Have fun, though. You can tell me all about it Monday.” I turn before Zack can reply and begin to jog home.

The next day comes around and I wake up early to a pounding at the door. I lay in bed for a few seconds, hoping it would go away but it never does. A quick glance at the clock tells me it’s only a few minutes after six in the morning. The pounding on the door stops, but I still make my way into the hallway, curious as to what it was. Eli is standing in the doorway dressed in his pajamas helping my intoxicated mother through the door.

I sigh and roll my eyes. “Did she forget her keys, again?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he grunts, allowing her to fall into a slump on the couch. She begins to mumble something incoherent, but Eli ignores her as he shuts the door. Mom is passed out before Eli can turn and make his way back to his bedroom without another word.

I shake my head at her before turning and returning to my own bedroom, locking the door behind me. I climb back in bed and try to go back to sleep, but eventually give up. Around eight I pull out my books and start my homework, the quiet in the house was peaceful and perfect for studying.

I don’t finish my homework and studying until close to one in the afternoon. My stomach growls and I decide to make a quick bite to eat before getting ready for the day. I can hear the shower running when I enter the hallway, so I know Eli is awake. Mom is still passed out in a crumpled mess on the couch when I walk into the living room and I wonder if I should try to wake her. I decide against it. Every time she comes home like this, she’s dead to the world until about five in the afternoon; there was no use.

The dishes need to be done before any cooking, so I start filling up the sink with hot, soapy water. My mind goes on auto-pilot as I begin to clean, and I don’t realize I'm done until Eli breaks my thought concentration.

“What are you doing?”

I shake my head, realizing I’ve been standing in the middle of the kitchen, lost in thought for God knows how long. “Nothing.”

He makes a sandwich and sits down at the table while I make a bowl of cereal. We eat in silence. It’s not until I’m rinsing out my bowl that he decides to pester me. As my back is towards him, he walks up behind me and grips my hips.

I slap Eli’s hands away from me. “Stop fucking touching me.” Eli grabs my hips again and jerks them into his. I could feel his hot breath on the back of my neck. I turn around and face him, he eyes me with a smirk that made me want to vomit. “Seriously, Eli, I am your sister. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

I push him away from me, and surprisingly, he doesn’t advance towards me again. “I have a thing for blondes,” he winks.

I give him a look or repulsion before walking out of the kitchen as quickly as I could. I wanted to run to my room, but I didn’t want him to know how bad he affected me. As soon as I was in my room, I shut and locked the door behind me. With mom not getting home until early this morning, and now passed out for only God knows how long, I didn’t want to be here. It’s not like she ever prevented Eli from doing what he wanted, but I felt safer somehow when she was around, awake and sober. A false sense of security, but at least it made me feel better.

After a few minutes, I heard footsteps down the hall, and then Eli’s bedroom door closing. I breathed a sigh of relief and slipped on a pair of old converses before quietly leaving my room. Mom was still passed out in the living room when I entered. I eyed her for a minute before spotting her purse halfway under her unconscious body. I nibbled on my lip. Was I really going to do this?

Yes. I was.

I make my way over to her as quietly as I could. I wasn’t worried about waking her, I was worried about catching Eli’s attention. Slowly, I pull her purse out from under her and open it, and then fish out her wallet. Once I have my hand around the faux leather wallet, the anxiety leaves me. I pull two twenty dollar bills from her wallet before stuffing it back into her purse.

It was perfect, she was so drunk when she came home she probably wouldn’t remember the night. She’d think she spent the money on drinks or lost it. I stuff the money into my jeans pocket before walking out of the house.

The discount store is a few blocks from the house. The store associate smiles at me when I enter and I make my way towards the back under a sign that says Health and Beauty. The shelves are packed with different shades of dyes with smiling models on the boxes. Eli liked blondes, which meant I could no longer keep my golden locks.

I wasn’t naïve enough to think dying my hair would keep him away from me. I knew that Eli had a problem that resided deep down inside him that wouldn’t be fixed with something as simple as a five-dollar box of hair dye. But I had to do something and who knows, maybe this would help…for a little while anyway.

My eyes scanned the different boxes before I grabbed two boxes of black hair dye and started toward the counter. I’ve never had dark hair before. I’ve had blue, and pink and purple, light brown and even red, but never anything as dark as black. Before I can reach the check-out, a clearance rack catches my eye.

Discounted Halloween items were thrown onto the shelves in an unorganized mess. I picked up the closest costume to my hand which turned out to be a costume for an 80’s Rocker Chick. Even with the discounted price, it was more than I’d like to spend. I sighed and put it down and picked up a few other pieces of discounted costumes. The temptation to go to the club tonight and see Zack and his band was strong. I didn’t want to deal with Gena, but I didn’t want to stay home with Eli and mom either. It didn’t matter, even if I did go, I had nothing to wear.

I wanted to go, though. Bad. I didn’t know why I suddenly felt different, but I knew if I didn’t go I would regret it. My hand brushes against a pair of Minnie Mouse ears. I nibble my lip as I examine it and wonder if there’s anything in my closet I can use to put together a costume. I doubt I have a Minnie Mouse costume hiding in the back of my closet, but I grab it anyway and head to the counter to pay.

A couple of hours later, I’m standing in front of my mirror, naked and wet. I grab a towel and wrap it around my chest as I continue to stare at my reflection. The black hair dye makes me look a lot paler than I really am. I feel like I look sick and I hate it, I hate the change but I know it’s for the best. Even if it just keeps Eli away for one day, it’s worth it. I grab my hair dryer and plug it into the outlet and begin to blow dry my hair, hoping maybe I will like it better once it’s dry.

Once my hair is dry, I pull on some clothes and exit the bathroom. Eli wasn’t home when I got back from the store, but I close and lock my bedroom door anyway. I begin stripping my closet of its clothes immediately. I had no idea what I was going to find to go with these Minnie Mouse ears, but I couldn’t show up without a costume.

The only thing I owned that was polka dotted was a pair of black, white and red pumps. I pulled those out and tossed them on the bed with the ears. Okay, at least we have some sort of colour scheme going on.

I think I searched my closet for hours before I found an outfit I thought was okay. I decided to do a little twist to the usually Minnie Mouse costume and used some inspiration from the 80’s Rocker Chick costume I saw at the discount store. Eventually, I pull on a red crop top, black fishnet stockings, a pair of black high waisted shorts with lace up sides and slip on the polka dot pumps.

I push the headband with the mouse ears on my head and approach the mirror. The black hair added to the costume, and I felt like I looked okay…but something was missing. I grab my make-up bag and sit down and start on my face. I added silver to my dark eyeshadow in order not to look like a raccoon, and winged my liner. I painted my lips red and put on two coats of mascara before I took in my face as a whole…and then I drew a little mouse nose on the tip of mine with eyeliner.

Something was still missing, though. I began to tear at my stockings, and then layered another pair and tore at them some more. I tousled my hair so it was messy, and grabbed my leather jacket out of the closet and pulled in on. I stopped at my dresser and grabbed a three-piece choker set, and after a few times eventually clasped it around my neck.

I stepped in front of the mirror for what was hopefully the last time and looked at my reflection. I nodded at myself in approval. My costume was pretty cute for a last-minute throw together. I grab my identification card and remaining stolen twenty-five dollars and stuff it into my back pocket before walking out of my room.

“Where the hell are you going?” Eli asks me. I didn’t realize he was home.

I shrug. “Halloween party.”

“Halloween is over. What the fuck did you do to your hair?” Eli scoffed.

I can’t hide my smile as I walk past my still-passed-out mother and grab my house key from the hook by the door. “Got to go, running late,” I lied as I walked out of the house.

Notes

Decided to cut this chapter in half for some reason which is why it's so short and boring. Thank you guys for reading!

Thank you to AvengedLover, DaphneG, MeRi, imagine fiction and Synful for commenting!

Title credit: Lady Gaga "Hair" (Altered line)

What do you guys think of the announcement Avenged is making Monday? A lot of people are thinking it's them announcing they're going on tour with Metallica this summer...and I think I'm the only Avenged fan hoping they don't tour with Metallica, haha. I'm just not a fan of Metallica, plus if I'm going to an Avenged show I'd much rather them be headlining. it really doesn't make sense for them to tour with Metallica when they're in the middle of their Stage World Tour anyway, right? Now I'm rambling...Thanks for reading! You guys are awesome!