Chapter 11: Haircut

The sunshine peered through Ms. Clare’s curtains. The light hit her eyes, and the faint warmth made her open them. Only to close them right back up after looking directly at the sun. She stretched while still lying down, then sat up and slid against the headrest. She checked her phone to see that it was eight in the morning. Her mind almost went into a panic, thinking she was late for work, but she remembered it was Sunday. Clare sighed with relief, getting out of bed and brushing her teeth.

She crept out quietly toward the kitchen. As she made her way, Ms. Clare took a glance at Ferral sleeping. She stopped, tilting her head, examining the position he was in. His body was completely sprawled, the blanket a complete mess. The pillow on the ground. Ms. Clare couldn’t help but giggle. She covered her mouth, trying to keep it quiet. The more she looked at it, the more it seemed to resemble how a dog would sleep. Ms. Clare thought about how often Ferral displayed dog-like mannerisms. When he was happy, his tail would stand up and wag, and his ears would move forward. Or if he was sad or upset, his tail would get put in between his legs, and his ears would move back, and he’d lower his head. When he’s alert, he’ll often lower himself a bit to the ground, the fur on his arms will raise, and his ears will also be pushed back.

After finishing with breakfast, Ms. Clare heard a loud yawn coming from behind her. She laughed, not surprised he’d wake up to the smell of food. She placed the plates on the table as he came over, stretching. “Good morning, Ferral.” Ms. Clare greeted. He scratched his head, “Good morning, Ms. Clare.” He caught the scent of the food, and that immediately perked up his attention. “What did you make for breakfast?”

He looked down at the plates before sitting down. Ms. Clare replied, “I made some omelets with hashbrowns and bacon on the side. Ferral took his fork and cut a piece of everything. “It smells really good,” He put all the pieces together and ate it. “And it tastes amazing!” He dug more into it. “Good to know you’re not a picky eater.” Ms. Clare remarked, picking up her fork to eat.

They enjoyed their breakfast, Ferral asking what they would do today. Ms. Clare took a sip of tea, “I’ve got some more errands to run, and think it’s best if you would stay here.” Ferral’s brow furrowed, “I don’t know, Ms. Clare. I can’t leave you alone after yesterday.” He chugged down a large glass of orange juice. “I don't want anything bad happening to you.”

Ms. Clare admitted he had a good point, but at the same time, if he joined, then they could potentially be attacked. Not to mention, if she left him here, who’s to say they wouldn’t just break into the apartment? Ferral had quite the target on his back. There was a bad scenario regardless of what they did. In the end, she decided to let him join. At least with this, if a conflict were to arise, they would be in open areas to lessen damage. Ms. Clare’s gaze moved to his hair. It was long and messy, going down to the middle of his back, with a large bang covering his left eye.

“How about I give you a haircut first?” She suggested. Ferral stared blankly at her. “A…what?”

More hair fell onto the bathroom floor, forming a ring around Ferral. “So why do I need my haircut again?” He asked Ms. Clare, who was too focused to answer right away. “What do you mean by why? It’s because you’ve got too much of it.” She replied, snipping off some from his left side. “Poor thing’s almost grown down to your tail.” She took a step back, examining her work before continuing.

“Think of it like this, whenever you get into another fight, they won’t be able to pull your hair.” Ferral squinted his eyes in confusion, “I never knew they would do that, that’s a good point, I guess. You seem to know a lot about cutting hair. How did you learn how to do it?” He asked.

“Well, my older sister taught me when we were younger. And she learned by finding a book on haircutting at the library. “Really? That’s cool.” Ms. Clare lightly smiled. “Yeah, our parents didn’t really care to teach my siblings and me much. I have an older sister and a younger brother, and we kinda looked to each other for advice and how to learn things.”

This is the first time Ms. Clare’s ever told Ferral about her family. He remarked, “It sounds like your parents didn’t like you or your siblings. Why?” Ms. Clare let out an exasperated sigh, “It’s not that they didn't love us. How do I put this? They were just always too busy to really spend time with us, and when they were around, it was usually to tell us what WE were going to do with our lives.”

Ferral glanced at her, “Is that why you're a lawyer?” She nodded, “Yeah. My parents weren’t very fond of me wanting to be a fairy princess.” Ms. Clare let out a small chuckle.

She spent another hour getting Ferral’s hair down to neck length. Even fixing the massive bang he had covering his left eye. During that hour, Ferral tried asking Ms. Clare about all the questions he had last night. She wasn’t able to answer most, and even the ones she did, the answers were basically the same. The one question she was hesitant to answer was whether he should rescue the other experiments.

“That’s a tall task, Ferral.” Her voice was serious, “You can’t do that on your own.” “But why? I’ll get stronger! Just wait, I’ll become strong enough to help them all.” Ms. Clare sighed, “You don’t even know if some want to be helped.” “I’ll ask each one.”

Once she was finished, Ms. Clare let Ferral see himself in the mirror. His eyes lit up, “Wow! I love it!” He ran his hands through his hair, pulling on the shortened back. “It’s so short, and looks so nice! Thank you, Ms. Clare!” She smiled, “I’m glad you like it, you’re the first person whose hair I’ve cut in a long time. So I wasn’t sure I did a good job.” After that, Ferral took a quick shower, and the two headed out. Ferral once again has to hide his animal features.

*At the Facility, Dr. Atlas and Dr. Aero sped through a long hall. Dr. Aero asked, “Now that we know just how quickly 9320 adapts, what do we do now?” “Now, we’ll release an experiment from the Lion’s Den.” Dr. Atlas responded. Dr. Aero looked baffled, “What?! They’re the best we’ve got. Isn't it a little early to enlist their help?”

Dr. Atlas waved it off, "Nonsense, he can handle it.” They stopped in front of a large window. “And if he can’t, we get 9320 back. It’s a win either way.” Behind the window was a large enclosure. In it, several lionesses and a single lion experiment rested. “Which one do we send?” Dr. Aero asked. Dr. Atlas stroked his chin, then pointed at the only lioness who was up. Training with a battered punching bag. “Her. Experiment 1859 will be perfect.”