echo // hemmings [completed]

twenty-two | sigh

—October 4th—

The bells jingled as he opened up the door and he smiled as he stepped into the familiar shop. The old 80's posters were still up, the gaudy wigs were still on display in the window, and his favorite hairstylist was still sitting behind the cash register.

"Hey Kris," Michael said cheerfully. The middle-aged, asian man sitting in a revolving chair spun away from the cash register to face Michael.

"Mikey, how have you been man?" Kris said as he got up. He went over to shake Michael's hand  and Michael happily did so. "It's been a while since you've come. What's up?"

Michael let out a short chuckle. "Too many things have been happening honestly," he replied. Kris laughed, not knowing the depth of Michael's words.

"Yeah, it must be tough. Tell me if there is anything I can do for you okay?" Kris said as he gave Michael's shoulder a squeeze.

It made Michael quite happy not to hear another "sorry" from one of his friends. For once someone told him it was tough, and it made his struggles feel validated. 

"So what do you want today?" Kris asked. "A trim?"

Michael touched the tips of his hair. They were growing out a little more than he'd like. "Yeah, maybe a dye job too. You cool with that?"

Kris let out a hearty laugh. "Michael, you're one of the few people that even comes here anymore after that damn salon opened up across the street. I'd be 'cool' with anything you want."

They shared a mutual grin and Kris started preparing his equipment. When he was done, Michael sat down and Kris laid the cape over him. He immediately went to work with his scissors and soon  Michael could hear the quick snipping of Kris' progress.

"How's your daughter?" Michael asked. Talking about Kris' daughter with him was one of the warmer moments of Michael's life. He wanted to hear what it was like to deal with a teenager and how she drives him insane. He wanted to hear how much he loved her, but most of all he wanted to here about all the love and attention that a parent gives to their child. It was something Michael  missed out on with his parents.

"Oh, Hanna? Man, she's growing up. She just turned 17 last month," Kris said warmly.

"That's nice. Tell her I wish her a happy late birthday," Michael told him.

"I will... It's just strange to see her change so much. She's started to wear contacts and she's taller than her mum. She's not the girl who would sing and play the piano anymore," Kris said with a sad sigh. 

Michael recognized that sigh as he had breathed the same sigh many times before. The "I-can't-keep-up" sigh. He had let out that sigh every time he saw Rowan. And he practically lived that sigh every time he talked to his friends and Luke. There was too much change for him to keep up with and it was driving him absolutely insane.

"What if she becomes like the other girls at her school?" Kris asked with worry. His worry made Michael feel at ease. It was nice to see he wasn't the only one freaking out. "What if she turns into one of those girls who cake their face with make-up and send nudes to strangers? I don't think my heart can deal with that." Michael could only laugh and nod as he remembered the awful kind of girls he dealt with in high school.

"She wants to go to New York for college too. When she told me, I almost had a heart attack. That's an ocean or two away from here!" Kris exclaimed.

"Kris, people go abroad all the time to study. Stop flipping out," Michael advised.

"Michael," Kris said a little offended by his disagreement. "Do you think your parents would let you hop on a plane to America and maybe leave them forever?"

Michael's eyes seemed to darken when he found the answer to that question. "Yeah, it'd probably be no big deal honestly."

Kris went silent when he heard his client respond. He finished trimming and prepared the dye equipment without a word.

"What color?" Kris asked using an apologetic tone.

"Surprise me," Michael replied monotonously. Kris swallowed hard and decided to just focus on his job. He didn't want to step on a landmine with his favorite customer. Michael simply leaned back as Kris worked, his thoughts overflowing about his family.

Their family's company, C&L, needed his father's full attention. He would leave for work and then Michael wouldn't see him for periods of days. Too often, his father would stay at his office overnight to finish his paperwork. And too often, he would never tell them where he was. At first his absences would break his and his mother's hearts. But now? They were immune to the pain he caused. They had felt so much loneliness and disappointment that they had created a wall from the pain.

But even though his mother was hurting just like him. His mother too, paid Michael very little attention. She was too busy out socializing and making connections to raise her own son. If she wasn't busy, she was sad, and when she wasn't sad, she was busy. It was a never ending cycle with her. But fortunately enough for her, she was always more busy rather than sad.

So after Michael summed his situation up, he could conclude that his parents would not mind at all having their son go to another country and maybe never coming back. Because frankly, they probably wouldn't notice if he was gone for a year or two. They would probably only know when the staff told them.

"Okay Michael, you're all ready to go," Kris said with pride as he looked at his work. Michael's hair was shorter, but still long enough that he could twirl a lock around his finger. It was just the way he liked it. And what was very noticeable, was the change in color. Kris had trouble finding the right shade, but in the end he found a tone that would suit Michael just fine.

"Lavender?" Michael said curiously as he eyed his reflection. "It's nice, but why?"

"Do you know what the lavender flower symbolizes  Mike?" Kris asked.

"No. What is it?"

"Let's just say it's something you need a lot of right now," Kris said wisely. Michael rolled his eyes and left after paying. But when he got home, the first thing he did was look up the significance of lavender.

"Caution, calmness, devotion, and serenity?" Michael scoffed as he read the words aloud. He didn't take Kris' words seriously, it was no use to him now. He didn't have time for caution, calmness, devotion, or serenity anymore. No matter how much he wanted it.

-

a/n: sorry it took so long to update

this chapter was a little rushed but once again i want to give a huge thank you to all of you

your support is what makes the work worth it :)

xx