Escaping Fox River | Prison Break [On Hold]

Chapter 10

I mentally slapped myself for leaving the officer conscious because now, he would alert all of his buddies to the direction I was headed. I got off the highway and saw a sign pointing towards a nearby salon. If Lincoln knew I was going to a salon, where people could spot me, he would chew me out. But I didn't want to ruin my hair just to change the way I looked. If I was going to change my appearance, I was going to do it professionally.

Parking the stolen motorbike, I walked into the salon and groaned when I saw that it was bustling with business. People were speaking loudly and laughing with friends and coworkers, the smell of dye, bleach, and hair filling the air. I kept my head down and headed to the back, where I had spotted an empty chair. The stylist had a rainbow colored mohawk and I walked over to her.

"Hey, I was wondering if you could help me out." I started, keeping my face away from the mirrors. She had her back turned and she was cleaning the different brushes that she had set out.

"I have a client. Find somebody else." she said without looking up. I sighed and pressed my hand against my forehead. I couldn't have any delays because the police were eventually going to catch up to me.

"Look, I really need this done now. Like immediately." I pressed, leaning my hands against the counter. The lady raised her head and her mouth opened to say something to me, but she froze when her eyes met mine.

"Y-you're her. The lady off the news. You're-"

"Shh!" I hissed, looking around to make sure no one else heard her. She backed up a bit, a frightened look on her face. "I need you to stay quiet." I said, holding my hands up as if that was going to stop her from blabbing to everyone in the shop that I was in here. She glanced over my shoulder and then back at me.

"Please don't kill me." she whispered, grabbing at the front of her shirt. I scoffed and shook my head.

"I'm not gonna kill you. I just need a quick dye and a cut. Can you do that for me?" I asked. I read her name tag and it read 'Amber'. "Amber, can you do that for me?" I asked again when she hesitated.

"Uh, um y-yeah, I can do that. W-what do you want done?" she asked, her voice still low.

"Blonde. You'll need to use the white blonde to make it come out right since my hair is so dark. I want it cut and feathered to my shoulders and also cut and feather my bang." I told her, ruffling my hair in the mirror. I needed a totally different look if I was going to be on the run like this.

"Okay, I'll get that done right away." Amber said nervously. I put my hand on my hip and cocked my head, staring into her dark brown, frightened eyes. She was acting as if I were holding a gun to her head.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Amber." I dug in my pocket and took out the money, counting out a grand. "Here. That should be more than enough for my hair and your silence." Amber took the money and started counting. I think her eyes started to go wide when she got to the second hundred dollar bill.

"But this is more than enough. You don't need to-" I held up my hand, shutting her up.

"Consider it your tip. Now, ready to get started?" Amber nodded vigorously and I sat in the chair she was standing behind of and waited. I heard her take a deep breath and I breathed a sigh of relief when her fingers touched my scalp. She was actually going to do this, no questions asked. To be completely honest, I was very nervous. She could recant what she said and just blurt out to the world that I was here. If she did that, I would probably end up killing her. I just hoped it didn't come to that.

"I'm not made of porcelain. You can be as rough as you need to be." I said and I felt the pressure of her hands increase hesitantly. While she did my hair, I closed my eyes and thought of everything that had happened so far and what I needed to do in order to survive and get to Tooele, Utah. That's where Michael and Lincoln were probably headed. I really wanted to find them, but going on a wild goose chase would do more harm than good.

Thirty minutes later, after the wash and the deep conditioning and the cut, she started to dye my hair. She bleached it first, which burned my nose and when she washed that out, I had to reach to get a napkin to try and blow all of the fumes from my nose, even though I knew that wouldn't work. I just hated the sensation.

"Are you ready to see the final results?" Amber asked me, excitement in her voice. I looked up at her and she smiled hesitantly. "Sorry, this is the first time anyone has come to be for this much of a transition in one day. So, I'm kinda pumped." I gave her a side smile and nodded.

"I know how you feel. And yes, I'm ready." She spun the chair around to face the mirror and my jaw dropped when I saw myself.  I looked good! I had never really thought of what I would look like as a blonde, and I had to say that it really went well with me. It seemed almost natural. The flowy, feathered look of my bang covered my forehead and the rest of my hair laid out the same way, in a layered, shoulder length look. "Damn girl, you made me look good." I commented, running my fingers through my new hairstyle.

My head felt lighter, since I had almost eight inches of my hair cut off. Now, the law enforcement officers would have a hard time identifying me since I now had bangs, a short look, and blonde hair. My eyebrows couldn't be seen, but my piercing blue eyes gave it away. I wasn't worried about that because now I was a blue eyed blonde with short hair instead of a raven haired, blue eyed woman with hair down to her back.

Amber smiled and clasped her hands together. "I'm glad you like it. Since you paid already, you don't have to stop by the front. I'll take care of everything from here." She started cleaning up, but then she turned back to look at me. "Be careful." I smiled when she quickly turned away from me, as if she didn't want to admit to herself that she just told an escaped murderer to be careful. I was about to get out of the chair, when the door burst open.

"Chicago P.D.! As you all may know, eight convicts from Fox River escaped last night. We have reason to believe she came to this area. We'll search the premises quickly and be on our way." An officer yelled and my heart started pounding. If they made me, I was done for. I watched them as they split up and went to the four sections of the salon. I felt Amber's presence behind me and she grabbed my shoulders and forced me to sit down. I didn't even realize I was standing.

"Let me pretend to be doing your hair." I heard her whisper and I nodded, putting my head down a little so that she could put her fingers in my hair. She started massaging it and I heard the footsteps of an officer making his way over to us.

"Excuse me, ladies. Have you seen this woman anywhere near here?" I looked up slowly, heart pounding so hard, I thought it was going to rip through my chest. The officer was holding my mugshot, which was pretty cute by the way. He looked me square in the eyes and I held my breath.

"No sir, I haven't." I lied, mentally crossing my fingers. His gaze went to Amber's and I closed my eyes fro a second, relishing over the fact that he didn't recognize me.

"I haven't either, but if I do see anything, I'll alert the police immediately." Amber said. He nodded and smiled at the both of us, backing up.

"Thank you, ladies." He turned and walked back to the leading officer and I stood up quickly.

"Thank you so much." I whispered to her and she smiled.

"I feel like this only happens in movies." I laughed at her response and proceeded to leave. Just when I was about to go through the door, I heard someone shout from behind me.

"Hey! Stop!" I froze and slowly turned around. An officer jogged over to me and held out a card.

"I believe this is yours." he said, panting a bit. I looked at the card and saw that it had the info that I had scribbled down about the double K ranches in Utah. I grabbed it from him, smiling nervously.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks." He nodded and I turned and quickly walked out the door, not wanting to stay there any longer. When I got to the bike, I fired it up and took off to find a gas station or convenience store because I was going to need a backpack to hold the money I was going to steal later. It wasn't going to be three thousand like last time. No, I needed a lot more. I was going to take out a hundred thousand.