Alice Awakened

The Lady Keeper and Miss Finger Threads

"Well, you've already met some of us. Me and Luke play the guitar. Gabe has the lead vocal. Victor, the piano. Mr. Blackbourne plays the violin, but he also substitutes it for the drums when we need him to. Doc is the bassist and also a backing vocal. And the ones you haven't met just yet, Ko-"

Before Nathan could finish what he wanted to say, I felt a presence behind me as someone crept up and hissed, "Why the fuck won't you let me touch your hair? Ten minutes! I only need ten minute to tame it. To style it. It would look so beautiful with the right love and care. You're using awful shampoo, by the way. I don't mean to insult you. You're beautiful. Just let me fucking wash it. Maybe cut it. Give it a bit of style. Please! You're killing me here!"

What Luke and Nathan had just told me... they are so talented... almost made me blush. But, with Gabriel calling me beautiful, I couldn't stop the colour rushing to my cheeks.

Before I decided whether to turn down Gabriel's demand once more, I thought hard about what the other two had told me. Gabe was the lead vocalist? They were in a band? Of course; he probably didn't want to be seen out with a simpleton like me! I didn't want to ruin anything. Plus, he looked so desperate.

Releasing a small sigh, I stopped in my tracks and turned to face him. "Okay, geez. Just five minutes, okay?"

A look of horror flickered across his face, as he heard me cut the time from his original request in half. I saw him open his mouth, ready to complain, but I beat him to it. "Nope. Five. That's all you get."

Still, he looked so excited and his eyes shone with delight as I succumbed to his demand.

"Fuck it! Come here! No time at all," Gabriel exclaimed loudly.

The moment he touched my hair, I heard another cute, distant little voice saying, 'I'm the only one allowed to touch your hair, okay?' Oh God.

Last night, I had accepted that I might get snippets of my memories back from time to time, and I'd decided to be calm about it. At least until I could ponder it later, once I'd finally written it down before I'd gone to sleep. But, I couldn't help but get shivers all over my body, whenever I got surprises like these. So, apparently, I'd had a hairdresser even as a child. I wonder if that person from my memory is going to mind me letting someone else touch my hair.

*20 long minutes later*

I might have been guilty of enjoying the head massage too much as he washed my hair. How had we gotten back inside the room? I don't even know the answer to that. I'd just heard them arguing about him using his Voice Pheromone Alice on me. I was pretty sure he hadn't used it. No tingles. Nada. He's just got really good hands, I thought to myself.

As I looked in the mirror, I had to admit that my hair did look better. It looked shinier and had a bit of curl at the bottom.

Once we got the 'Okay, for now' signal from Gabriel, we quickly left the building and stepped outside.

It was just after 9am, and the sun was peeking in and out between the clouds that were rolling by. We decided that travelling by foot was the best way to get to the store, as it would give me a chance to explore the place a bit. It was a Friday, and they told me that they had the whole morning free.

The building we'd just left behind was actually an apartment for boys who were in their fifth year. They said that the area we were now in had the apartments and dormitories for students in higher years. I noticed that there were only a couple of stores around here, unlike where the fountain was located.

My attention had been divided between the three boys as soon as we'd hit the streets.

Gabriel was actually asking if I could sing. He said that it was about time that they had a girl vocalist in their band. I would've said, no, thanks, but he was already checking his schedule on his phone to see when we could practice. Well, I hadn't really said yes to anything yet, so I hoped he understood when I told him that I couldn't sing.