Gifted

Chapter Six

I slipped on a simple black dress and padded to the bathroom barefoot to do my hair and makeup. The butterflies bouncing around inside my stomach almost made me miss the tingles. Like usual, they started up my back climbing to my neck, then crawled down my arms. I closed my eyes and willed them away, not before my date! I fought the panic and clenched my eyelids closed forcing myself to calm down.

I peeked through my eyelids into the mirror and gasped. My hair turned black. Not just black, but short! It was cropped close to my head in a spiky pixie cut. My stomach dropped, and then rolled with nausea. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Petty I know, but I couldn't keep my eyes from watering and threatening to spill over. I chewed on the inside of my lip while I contemplated what to do next. Call and cancel? Head out for some dye? Make an appointment for extensions?

There wasn't time for any of it. I felt myself growing tense, and my hands were hurting from gripping onto the bathroom counter white knuckled. I tried taking calming breaths, but I couldn't settle anything, I felt myself growing angrier. Not fair! Why couldn't I go on one normal date? Now that I actually found someone I'm interested in, this happens! My thoughts had the opposite effect; my tension and anger were getting worse. The throbbing in my hands became more than nagging; it was starting to hurt where the counter-top dug into the palms of my hands. They were already scratched from my tumble in the woods.

I could feel the beginnings of the tingles again. Now what? I thought with exasperation. The angrier I got, the more prominent the tingles got. They were slowly reaching my neck. It actually seemed like I was controlling them in some weird way, different from when they appeared on their own. This felt like I commanded them; like my anger directed them. I forced my eyes shut to concentrate on calming down, but instead I couldn't fight the anger. It roiled up in me like something that had been quieted for too long and was desperate to claw its way out. I succumbed and let myself give in to the moment of weakness.

Something in that moment changed, at some point-though I don't know when, I knew I did have control. These tingles were different than any others I experienced before, I controlled them! I don't know what guided me, perhaps some pre-programmed intuition, but I thought about my hair. Not the short black hair I'd just seen in the mirror, but my long brown tresses. I felt the tingles grow in urgency around my skull, then my hairline. I concentrated to the point my head started to pound with tension. Eventually, the tingles began to fade, and I tentatively opened my eyes.

My long brown hair had grown back; it now fell in soft curls down my shoulders. My hands finally broke free from their death grip on the bathroom counter. I inspected the newly bleeding scratches with mild interest. My attention turned back to my hair, and I tugged on it in disbelief, half expecting it to fall off like a wig. Satisfied that the hair wasn't going anywhere I lifted shaking hands up to my temples and rubbed. It took some convincing to believe I had really seen what just happened. I wondered if I imagined the black short cut, maybe I'd fallen asleep... but a new thought struck me.

My hair was brown not blond.

It grew back to the light brown it had been when I first arrived. My hair changed so much over the years I really had no idea what my natural color was, but I preferred the soft brown and usually dyed it back to the same color. No denying something crazy just happened, but what? The whole concept seemed impossible! I stared in the mirror for a while just deciding what to do next. I had a little while before I had to meet Nolan for our date.

I started to replay all the times my hair had changed. Then, I branched out to objects moving; and the heightened senses and strength. It did seem that it was more prone to happen on a shift in my mood, sudden or overwhelming, any sort of increase or change. Then a new thought formed...I put everything I had into my concentration; a last bout of strength before I depleted myself for the day. I focused so hard on my recent blond hair that when I opened my eyes the change didn't surprise me at all.