*Chalsak.*
A sharp sound echoed in the room. Vestie glared at Lynn with disdain as she fell to the floor after the forceful slap.
“I hate the sight of your hair!”
Even hitting her wasn’t enough to quell Vestie’s anger.
Vestie’s eyes landed on a pair of scissors as she looked around the room. She grabbed the scissors without hesitation and approached Lynn.
Vestie drew closer and removed Lynn’s hat. Silver hair cascaded down, previously hidden.
“Miss!”
Lynn screamed as she backed away. But soon found her hair caught by Vestie’s hand.
*Snip! Snip!*
Lynn’s silver hair began to be cut off by Vestie’s hand.
“I… I’m sorry, Miss. Please forgive me.”
Even though almost half of it was gone, she had to calm Vestie’s anger. Vestie could have cut off even more hair in her rage. Yet Lynn kneeled, clasping her hands together in supplication.
Despite her efforts, Vestie didn’t stop cutting. Vestie shortened the hair that reached down to her waist.
“This suits you better.”
Vestie amusedly grinned as she looked at Lynn’s uneven hair. Lynn kept her gaze on the floor, avoiding eye contact with Vestie. To further prevent provoking her.
She had to end this somehow.
“Oh, the floor’s a mess now.”
“I’ll clean it up, Miss.”
“Quickly clean up. Just having your hair in my room already disgusts me.”
“Understood.”
*Thud.*
Shortly after the door’s closing noise, Lynn could finally exhale a long breath as Vestie’s footsteps descended the stairs.
“Thank goodness it ended like this.”
Once again, Lynn began her busy day from dawn, preparing water for Vestie’s use.
Vestie would become intolerably irritable if there wasn’t water available when she wanted to bathe. Unfortunately, Vestie often woke up before the bathwater was ready.
When Vestie got angry, the innkeeper, Paul, pushed Lynn into a corner of the kitchen and hit her indiscriminately. If she were lucky, she’d get hit with hands or feet, but on bad days, it could be with a club-like object.
Getting hit by an adult’s hand or a club didn’t make much difference, but being hit with a club caused slightly less bruising and lasted a bit shorter.
After being repeatedly hit frequently, Lynn learned how to avoid provoking Paul’s temper. Crying and clinging to him or begging for forgiveness with clasped hands sometimes worked, but the simplest way to get hit less was to lie down like a dead mouse until Paul’s anger subsided. This way, on lucky days, she’d only get hit a few times before it was over. Today, luckily, it ended with just a slap and her hair being cut.
“Quickly clean up.”
Lynn brought a broom and began to sweep her hair into the dustpan. It was a pity, but it was okay. Hair would grow back over time. So, she comforted herself that it would be fine.
* * *
Creak.
As Lynn opened the worn door of the inn, it made a loud noise. She tensed and wondered if Paul and Vestie were disturbed by the sound. But fortunately, there was no noise coming from upstairs.
Somehow, she felt like today might be a lucky day.
She cautiously made her way into the kitchen. Since she had prepared clean water, what was left was to heat the water at the right temperature.
She lit the firewood and filled a large pot with water. Sitting hunched over in front of the fire, Lynn suddenly stood up.
“It’s too hot.”
She decided she might as well wash her face before Vestie woke up. It was still before spring had arrived. Lynn scooped water from the bucket she had fetched and washed her face clean. She checked her reflection in the broken mirror on one side of the kitchen.
Vestie liked everything to be pretty. So, if her face is dirty or messy, Vestie would slap her without hesitation. Lynn tidied up her stray silver hairs and tucked them under her hat.
Vestie, with her nasty temperament, would always find some ridiculous reason to throw a tantrum whenever she saw Lynn’s silver hair.
She’d mock Lynn for having noticeable silver hair while doing menial tasks at the inn, and on terrible days, she’d grab Lynn by her hair and cut it with scissors.
“But it’s grown quite a bit, still.”
After several months had passed, the cut-off hair grew long enough to reach her shoulders.
It was tough for Lynn to endure when the day her hair was cut. On any other day, she would have borne Vestie’s irritability and tantrums without a care, but having her hair cut hurt deeply.
Her hair was one of the few things that resembled her deceased mother, white silver strands reminiscent of fresh snow, paired with clear blue eyes like the sky.
Whenever she feared forgetting her mother’s face, Lynn would spend a long time gazing into the mirror, trying to find her mother’s blurry image in her reflection, often hearing comments about how much she resembled her mother.
However, when Vestie cut the hair that resembled her mother’s, Lynn couldn’t help but scream out. As a result, she endured days of beating from Paul to the point of suffering.
However, she never felt wrong. No matter how much she tried to rationalize Vestie’s actions, touching anything related to her mother was unbearable.
“Hurry up.”
Vestie would soon awaken. When the chickens began to crow, Vestie would rise from her bed.
She needed to hasten. Vestie, the innkeeper Paul’s little princess, would erupt in fury if there wasn’t water by her bedside when she woke.
Mixing hot and cold water in the basin to the perfect temperature Vestie preferred, Lynn grabbed a towel and basin and ascended to Vestie’s room on the second floor.
Opening the door cautiously, she saw Vestie still in bed, not yet awake.
“Thank goodness. Not too late.”
Today, she hoped, there would be no beatings at all. She hoped they could just let it go.
The bruises from a few days ago are yet to be healed. Enduring blows on top of existing bruises was difficult enough, even for Lynn. So, today, she had to ensure Vestie’s mood was disturbed.
“Miss, the water is ready.”
“…Help me up.”
Lynn quickly moved to assist Vestie near the bed. With Lynn’s support, Vestie rose from the bed, looking comfortable as if she had done it a hundred times before.
“Where’s Dad?”
“He’s still not up.”
“Wash me.”
Lynn draped a towel around Vestie’s neck and gently wiped her face. It was a familiar scene for both of them.
After cleaning up, Vestie lay back down on the bed and spoke again.
“I want to eat in my room.”
“Sure, I’ll get it ready.”
Once outside the room, Lynn began to move briskly again. In the kitchen, she roughly placed the basin down and hurriedly started preparing breakfast for Vestie and Paul, loading it onto trays.
Lynn often felt like running away, but Paul only provided her with food and shelter and never gave her a single penny. There was no guarantee that things would improve if she, a penniless orphan, ran away. So, she couldn’t afford to defy Paul and Vestie, no matter what.
The inn where she lived and worked, was located at the entrance to the slums. It mainly catered to poor travelers but did decent business.
Lynn’s cooking skills attracted travelers, who often revisited when passing through the area.
“Mungchung, there’s hair here.”
As Lynn busily mopped the floor, she heard Vestie’s sharp voice from behind. Startled, she hastily fixed her hair with her blackened hands, causing Vestie to giggle.
“You foolish girl, what if you touch it with your dirty hands? Don’t you know how filthy your face is right now?”
“Oh…”
“You’re such an idiot. Wash your face. It’ll ruin the taste of the food.”
“Yes.”
Following Vestie’s instructions, Lynn quickly got up and stood in front of the broken mirror again to check her appearance. There were stains on her hat and smudges on her cheeks from hastily wiping her hands.
After roughly cleaning herself up with water, she emerged into the dining area, where Vestie, leaning against the window, took a bite of an apple and spoke.
“Be careful with your hair. What if someone notices? Haven’t you heard that eccentric people are looking for a person with silver hair? I heard it from Eddie at the blacksmith’s. Earlier, people dressed strangely came asking if we’d seen anyone with silver hair.
“Really?”
“Yeah, you think I’m lying? Do you know Eddie? He told me. Some folks were looking for people with silver hair and wearing strange clothes. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up in trouble.”
“Miss, I didn’t…”
“Yeah, like I’m an idiot. Why would I do such a thing? Who else will work if you’re not here?”
Sighing deeply at Vestie’s response, Lynn understood how the world worked, even though she was only thirteen. Life for a woman living in the slums was predictable – either sold off somewhere or left to fend for themselves.
If lucky, they worked odd jobs in others’ homes, but unlucky ones ended up selling themselves to survive, as her late mother used to repeatedly warn.
So, she knew she had to avoid attracting attention at all costs, especially since silver hair was extremely rare in Trona.
She glanced around, wondering if anyone had noticed her, then carefully tucked her hair back under her hat once more.
Her life wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t the worst either. She had to stick around this inn no matter what.
🙌