Today was going to be great! Capelli knew in his bones that after twenty years of school and another decade of working his way through everything from dust pan to head stylist that today everything would be worth it! Today would be the opening of his pride and joy, the light of his life and the beginning of a new tomorrow! He painstakingly polished every surface what felt like a dozen times, made sure that every pair of scissors was sharpened, and walked to the front of the small salon with his heart feeling fit to burst as he unlocked the door and hurried back to tidy up, waiting for his very first customer.
He heard the door close and looked up with joy. A thin woman with dark black hair strode in and started to tap her foot as she stood at the front counter. Walking over he smiled down to her, noticing how luxurious her hair looked. A lifetime's worth of excitement behind his voice, he spoke up, “So, what are you interested in today?”. His chest practically burst from excitement, as he stared at her hair and wondered what delightful style he’d get a chance to use. The odd sound of plastic on plastic brought his gaze down to an odd looking pistol. Before he had a chance to react she answered him, “Why, you of course!”, and pulled the trigger. He felt his body get heavy as his vision blacked out.
He opened his eyes in a panic, unable to see anything and feeling his surroundings bumping around violently. He tried to move but wherever he was it was intensely cramped. A second later the situation got even stranger as whatever room he was in lit up like someone had flicked god’s lightswitch. He was blinded by the sudden pain of it, as what looked to be giant fingers grabbed him and pulled him out of what he realised was a giant purse. He shivered in a sudden rush of wind on what he realised was his naked body, and when he opened his eyes he nearly passed out from the sight of a woman the size of a small mountain.
“Well look who’s finally awake! Mr. Capelli I must say that I am a big fan of your work. I don’t know if you remember me, but a few months back you gave me a fabulous hairstyle and when I heard that you were going into business as a solo act I had to have you all to myself!”. As she spoke he felt the heat of her breath on his body. His eyes dropped to the ground beneath him, and he realised it was her massive hand that stretched out in every direction. His lips trembled as he tried to reply, unable to concentrate enough for even basic syllables. Seeing his confusion she laughed and spoke up again in a voice that rocked him to his soul. “Oh what happened? Well it’s a long story, but I shrank you! I meant it when I said that I wanted you all to myself, and now at an inch tall I can have your expertise on my hair twenty-four seven!”
His body sagged as he tried to take it in. Shrunk? On call 24/7 for someone's hair? He tried to take a step forward on her hand and tripped on the uneven surface, falling face first into the soft skin. Her laughter sent a chill down his spine as he looked up and spoke at last, “But what If I don’t want to? If you want your hair done I would love to do it! Hell even at this size I can appreciate a challenge even if I don’t see what I could do to style it, but what if I want to go back to my salon? You can’t just… just kidnap me like this!”
He felt his blood turn to ice as her face twisted into a smirk, one side of her lips cruelly rising in response to his plea. “Well, kidnapping is a harsh word. I’d say it’s closer to...stealing? But I suppose I’m lucky no one is left at that salon to report me. And give yourself some credit. I can think of a way that you’d improve my hair... Well at least a teansy tiny bit!” Faster than he could scream out her other hand jolted down at him, plucking his small body from her hand and rushing to her head. He tried to push against her fingers, but even as he saw his knuckles turn white her vice grip on him remained. Sputtering as his vision filled with a million strands of her hair he shouted up in panic as he felt her grip loosen before he realised that her other hand was nearby. For a split second he was in freefall and feared for his life until he felt a sharp pain in his armpits as he realised that he had fallen into a knot in her hair. His hands rubbed the knot of hair at his chest as he tried to suppress a shock at how rough it actually was. Was this what hair felt like at this size when you were totally surrounded by it? An instant later he felt the pressure return as the mountain of a woman started to walk, his body thrown about by her movements.
Looking around he realised that she was admiring herself in a mirror larger than most skyscrapers.He followed her eyes in the mirror, feeling his mouth go dry as he spotted himself in the jungle of her hair. He knew instantly that he wouldn’t have been able to see himself if he wasn’t looking for anything out of the ordinary as his small form was hidden by the waves of hair. He felt his swinging jail cell shake as she laughed again before speaking. “So Cappelli, do you love it or do you love it? Be brutally honest.” He grimaced as he looked even more into the mirror, squinting to even identify some minor details of his whole body trapped in the colossal woman’s hair. “I uh, well to be honest I can’t really see myself that well, and I can’t see that I’m improving your hair that much at all…”
Like turning a switch, her face lit up with a thousand watt smile. “That's wonderful! ‘Lowkey’ is in this season, and the less I have to explain a new accessory the better! I knew you were the right choice!”She did a short twirl and he cried out, feeling her hair pinch him as his small weight was thrown around inconsequentially. He kicked his feet as he tried to force his eyes closed to the insane drop below, and he focused on the pain in his chest to try and ignore the horrific situation. As her hair settled down he was violently knocked against the back of her head. He coughed in pain, feeling the coils of her hair wrap around him even tighter, preventing him from breathing well. In the small stuttering breaths that he was allowed he called out to her pleadingly, “Puh-please! At least loosen this knot. I can’t breathe!”. His vision was totally covered by the ebony strands of her hair all around him, but her voice came in loud enough to shake his bones. “Well if you can speak, then you can breathe. So unless you really want me to fix that I’d spend more time looking cute than trying to use your mouth for anything but taking in air, but we do always have choices, so please do let me know which you’d prefer.”
His arms froze as they were, trying to claw at the tight knot of hair around his chest. His breaths getting even shallower as he tried to hold still in the light swaying of her hair. His sides ached as she chuckled, satisfied by his answer. Far off below he heard the thunder of her feet as she started to walk again. He pushed up against the knot against his chest and he fought to get every breath as his body swayed side to side with her gait. At first the movements were hardly noticeable, but as one minute turned to fifteen and on and on, the gentle sways wore on him more and more. After what could have been a day or only a few hours to his small slice of hell his nerves finally broke. He called out as he tried to force his tiny fingers into the knot of hair at his chest to untie it, at least hoping that the quick death of the fall would be better than the slow death of his mind going insane. His knuckles turned white as he tried to push the wires of her hair to untie or, at the very least, loosen the knot. He felt his blood heating up as he pushed himself as hard as he could, groaning loudly in the effort to escape the coarse prison.
He froze when he heard her speak his name. In the blink of an eye what little light around him vanished, replaced by a tight embrace of giant fingers that suffocated him even more. He felt her hair rush by him as he was pulled away, wincing at the friction burn as his body was rubbed by a length of her hair more than five times his own length. Trying to twist and turn in the narrow space to prevent his tender skin from rubbing what he was understanding to be her hand he was blinded by a bright light and raised his hands to cover his eyes. Her booming voice came in as he felt her hot breath blowing over him, still too blinded to understand what was going on. “ A little ‘short of breath?’Well don’t worry then, I’ll make sure you get just enough air. An accessory should be seen but not heard, you understand.”
With that two colossal fingers plucked him up and brought him back to her hair, with the now familiar knot tied at his chest, but with a few strands of her enormous hair doubled across his throat. As he felt his body fall he thought his neck would snap, but the ropes binding him were only tight enough to prevent him from breathing properly. As he tried to take in air he felt woozy, and the day went by with agonizing slowness as he could never get enough air to concentrate on anything but the next laboured breath. After a torturously long time, he felt the world shift as she must have laid down. He managed to get the smallest bit of space around his neck free to breath and could finally think as blood rushed into his head.
He stopped pushing against the hundreds of ropes that held him down, his breath getting shallower and slower as everything happening hit him at once. This morning he had been a man on the rise, up and coming with prospects. But now, he licked his lips as he felt his prison move up and down with her colossal breaths. The knot around his chest had finally stopped hurting for a short while as she was laying down, but the strands by his neck burned with every breath he stole. As he looked into the obsidian jungle of hair around him he felt something in him die. His entire life, his entire being was just... gone. Every friend he’d ever had, every lover. Every victory and defeat. Nothing. He sat still, moving up with Her breaths as tears poured down his face. He could call out. He could scream and pull and maybe even wake Her up. But it would be meaningless, just like everything else he could ever do again. Forever tied into a homegrown noose.