It was a sunny day when I was walking through the park, the breeze whispered through my flowing locks. The hot rays of sunshine gave them a golden glow. I could see my reflection in the gently murmuring stream. The wind grazed my burning skin, which had turned red from the strong beams radiating from the air. I ran my hands through my hair and threw myself on the tall green blades of grass. I could hear the wind breathe between the leaves, the bushes rustled softly from the breeze. My eyelids began to feel heavier, and began to close. A flashing light woke me, the strong increase of brightness made my eyelids squeeze together. Suddenly a strong grip was placed on my arm, and I was pulled up with intense force. Finally my eyes had adjusted to the lighting and opened slowly. Confused I began to look around, but I was not able to find the source of my awakening. The bushes rustled and I could hear footsteps running away. My adrenaline took over and I began sprinting towards the sounds. I wasn’t paying much attention and stumbled on something big on the ground, everything became pitch-black.
I jumped awake, my eyes shot open and I began to look around frantically. Bright white lights were placed above me, there were walls surrounding me. I sat up straight in the soft bed, a pillow stuck to my sweaty back. I tried to run away, but tubes were coming out of my arm, and I was connected to a beeping machine. I ripped the cords out of my body and bolted for the door. But before I could leave a group of people dressed in white coats stopped me and restrained me back to the bed I had just jumped out of. I tried to resist, but they injected a fluid inside me which made my eyelids heavy again.
The next time I woke, my eyes opened slowly, and I could see the outline of a woman. I blinked a few times, which made my vision become clearer. The woman had tears streaming from her eyes, her hands covered her face, and she wiped a tear away from her cheek. When she saw my eyes had opened, she ran to me in joy and started stroking my head. “I thought I had lost you, darling” she spoke. Confused I answered “Who are you?”. Hearing this, the woman started to cry again, “It’s me, love, your mum.” she spoke in between sobs. My eyes focused on her arm, I saw something familiar, trying to piece back memories I answered “Mum? Is that really you?”. The woman standing there resembled the woman in my memories, but she looked much more tired, defeated almost. “Oh my sweet daughter, get some rest, I will get you something to eat” she said while holding my hand. She gave me a warm kiss on my forehead, I could feel teardrops falling on my skin. Then she stood op straight, tried to recompose herself and left the room.
The big doors connecting the room to the unknown slammed open, a man wearing a long white coat entered. He removed my gown and started to feel my skin, he squeezed tight and I shot up instantly. “What are you doing to me?” I screamed in terror. He pulled his hands back and put a blanket on my bare body. “You have nothing to worry about” he said with a fake smile, I could see sadness in his eyes. Then my mother returned, she was holding a single egg and asked the man if everything was alright. The man took my mother out of the room, I could see them talking through the glass door. My mother started to cry hysterically, I could hear her heart throbbing sobs from my bed. The man tried to console her, but my mother threw the egg she just brought for me at him. I sighed in disappointment, I was really looking forward to eating that. My stomach rumbled, hoping my mother would bring me some food soon. I raised my hands to my head, running my hands through my hair always made me calm down. Instead of feeling my soft hair, I was met with the feeling of bare skin. Where was my hair? I was looking around frantically for something to see my reflection, when I saw it, a person with a receding hairline, but she had my face. The reality hit me hard and I started to scream as if I had just seen a dead body. I pulled the cords out of my arm en bolted to the window, which broke as my head hit the glass pane. In a panic I jumped out, my bear feat touched the cold ground as my toes pressed down on the earth.
After running for what felt like an eternity I threw myself on the hard sidewalk, exhausted from the intense exercise. Putting my arms over my head in shame, I started to sob uncontrollably. A hand touched my shoulder, I looked up and there stood my mother, “What are you doing here, mum?” I asked. In her eyes I could see a combination of fury and sorrow, “Do you understand how worried I have been? You can’t just run away from the hospital, you need to be there to be treated!” She spoke loudly. Ignoring her words I asked, “What happened to my hair? I don’t remember looking like a fifty year old man!”. She put her head down and sighed, “I didn’t know how to tell you, you have male pattern baldness.” I could see her eyes going to my massive forehead. “Stop looking at my forehead!” I screamed. She tried to hug me, but I pulled away angrily. “We have to get back to the hospital, you need to get treatment.” My mother spoke firmly. She grabbed my arm and started pulling me to go with her. “I don’t want to go back” I protested “Unless they can fix this disaster” I said while pointing to my forehead. My mother stopped, and turned around slowly, “Testicular cancer, you have testicular cancer.” She sighed. Suddenly I started feeling dizzy, “I have cancer? This can’t be.” I spoke softly. I started walking away from my mother, ignoring her screams. As fast as I could I started running away, until I felt a sharp pain, everything went black.
My head was throbbing, I dug my fingers into the ground and tried to push myself up. Everything around me was pitch black, I tried to navigate myself by feeling the ground with my feet. I wiggled my toes over the soft grassy surface and moved forward slowly. In the distance I could see a dim light, illuminating the figure of a woman. I tried to focus my eyes on her face. It was my mother, but something about her seemed off, she had a crooked smile on her face as if she was possessed. I heard soft words coming from her direction, which grew louder with every step I took. “Mum, are you alright? What are you doing here?” I spoke, you could hear my voice trembling. She murmured something, which I could not understand. “Can I..” She spoke with a distorted voice, “Can I have a bite of your hair?”, when out of nowhere she bolted towards me. I turned around and started running in the opposite direction. I ran next to the, now pitch black, stream, I could see the moonlight reflected in the water. I glanced behind me and saw my mother just a few feet behind me, I tried to speed up, but she tackled me and started nibbling on my precious golden locks. I screamed loudly for help while trying to kick her off, but it was too late. She had a big piece of my hair in her mouth and started rubbing my upper leg with some kind of liquid. “Now you will learn to stay home when I ask you to” she murmured. Next thing I knew I passed out from the pain.
My eyes opened. I looked to my right, there was my mother sitting next to me, holding my hand. “It will all be fine, darling, you will get well soon.” She whispered calmly. I pulled my hand away quickly and spoke “I remember mother, I remember everything”. I ripped off my hospital gown and started strangling her. “How could you do this to me, mother?” I sobbed. Her face became purple and I could see tears coming out of her eyes. Suddenly a woman in all black entered the room and screamed “Stop, you cannot kill her, I am from the secret service, I will arrest you”. I let go of the tight grip I had on my mother’s neck. The woman looked me up and down, and started looking up again until she reached the runway so enormous a plane could land on there. “I think you should put some clothes on” She said while restraining my dear mother. “I came here to arrest your mother, we have been looking for her for some time. A few years ago she consumed an entire factory full of wigs, made from human hair, so not the cheap kind.” She said to me...