Civilized

Ch. 2

I spent four days sat in the wagon. I had officially lost feeling in my backside and the wagon had now become much more awful smelling now. They fed us at least, though I was pretty sure they were just leftovers of the soldiers who watched us from the outside of the wagon. My hair had become a matted mess even though I hadn't moved at all. Probably from the humidity and wind that was natural for the forest. But I had no way of knowing since I couldn't focus straight at all. My tears streaked my dust covered face as I held my knees to my chest in an effort to comfort myself.
On the fifth morning, they arrived upon a base filled with men just like them. Non seemed to stop and look, just going about their business.
"Get out!" One soldier yelled in English. I was one of the few that could understand English in our village. The Chief and other elders could since the U. S. Army had taken base near us in the past. That was how Mother met dad. He was one of the soldiers but had to move out when the army did. So I never did get to meet him, but learned about him from mom. Even learning the language from her.
I noticed the men were stopping a few of the girls and taking them towards a tent not too far away. One girl I recognized, named Rain, was one of the prettier of us and caught the attention of one soldier. He took her out of the line and shoved her towards one female soldier. I was surprised when I saw a female in their uniform and nearly thought my eyes were tricking me. But she was there, and taking Rain to the tent where I heard a few shouts.
I was so focused on them, I didn't see the man come to drag me out of line.
"Wait, what are you doing?" My voice croaked. I hadn't spoken in so long.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked. He didn't answer and I was too weak to fight back. My heels made trails in the wet dirt towards the tent. I struggled but couldn't get out of his grasp. Finally, he opened the tent flap where the smell of chemicals hit my face. My face contorted as I was shoved in. I didn't fall, but did look down to see piles of hair along the ground. I looked up at row upon row of the village girls sitting fearfully in chairs. More female soldiers took behind them, some with scissors, others with knives. Although they held these, I knew they weren't hurting us, but cutting our hair.
This horrified me because the tradition of the village was to never cut our hair. Not until we were married and had children. Which none of us had.
"No, no," I breathed when a soldier approached me. She had a pair of scissors that she tried to hide behind her back. She spoke in that strange language, probably trying to comfort me, but it wasn't working. She took me by the arm as I tried to get out of the tent and dragged me to a half rotted wooden chair. I shook my head indicating I didn't want to sit. But she took nothing I gave her and forced me to sit. I winced in pain at the force of which she set me down. I gripped the arm chairs and looked around frantically.
I looked at the tent flap and saw another girl being forced in. After her, a soldier came in. But he wasn't like those outside with their strict, or saddened, or emotionless faces. He had the kind of face I couldn't describe for it seemed like a mix of every other, but something else too. I just couldn't put my finger on it. He had a lean build and had brown hair in between being dark but not black, although it was light, it wasn't yellow like I'd seen from tourists passing through the forest.
He made eye contact with me, and I stared back almost mesmerized. We stayed like that for a few seconds until I heard a snip from behind. I turned my head to see the soldier had cut off a huge chunk of my hair. My eyes widened and tears pooled. My lip quivered as I snatched my hair out of her hands.
"How could you?" I said in English, "How could you do this to us?" I weeped. I felt defeated already and slumped back in my chair. I made no attempts at stopping her from chopping off the rest of my hair. Finally, she took me off the chair and then I gloomily sloped after the other girls who seemed just as horror stricken as I. Our hair had gone from long, shining, jet black hair, to layered strands that reminded me of what a raven would like if it were human.
We walked to a station where they painted our hair with what I assumed was dye. When I came up, I saw different buckets with different colors. They forced me to look down as they took strands of my hair and painted it roughly. Next, they made us sit outside in the baking hot morning sun where I was sure to receive a burn. Then they allowed us to dunk our heads into a tub of water already filled with discoloration either from the dye or dirt we carried.
"Why?" I asked one soldier who handed me food. He didn't look me in the eyes and I was forced on.
"Hey, pick her," I heard someone say in English. I looked to my right and saw the one soldier from earlier talking with two other soldiers. He spoke in English, but the others responded in the strange language. When they saw me look at them, they didn't look away, and instead, the two soldiers by his sides began treading towards me. I stayed still, afraid to move.