I kept running my fingers through my hair. It got longer; passed my shoulders. Without me knowing, Aidan was staring at me the entire time.
"My mom owns a hair salon. She can cut your hair for you," He took the empty bowl, heading to the kitchen.
The mother came in with a smile, "I'm Helen. I heard Aidan said about cutting your hair."
"Yes," I stroked my hair. "Can I?"
"Of course, but we have to drive there."
She snatched the keys from the hook on the wall, and the other keys jiggled. Her daughter dashed towards us while panting.
"Can I go to the salon with you, mom? I'm bored."
"Sure, honey. You can get to know our guest more."
She led us to her Nissan and we got in. The car smelled different; it didn't have any rotten smell like in Zayne's or Christian's. I took the backseat because it had more space. I studied the people around the neighborhood. The aura was different, it was better than the recent one I stayed in. But, I shouldn't get too comfortable because no one could be trusted around here.
In half an hour, we arrived at her hair salon. We got out and she opened the door, nudged it wider, and let me in first. Once the lights were on, I could see how clean and pristine that place was. I expected it to stain in blood considering what I knew about Sy Cove. She set up something while I waited in the waiting area. She opened her salon just for me.
"I'm Mackenzie. You are?" the girl took a seat next to me.
"Hope."
At that time, Helen called me to sit down on the salon chair. I dragged my feet and plopped myself down. She covered my body with a nylon cloth as I glared at my reflection.
"So, Hope," she knew my name. She must have heard my conversation with Mackenzie. "What kind of hairstyle do you prefer?" She stroked my hair, gentler than Suzanne used to do.
"I'm not sure but I prefer it to be short. Maybe a pixie haircut. I like them, especially with the undercut."
"I think you'll look good in it," She started working on my hair.
Mackenzie sat next to me, "You know, I'm surprised that you asked for fruits not meat. Because I know Christian's diet was always meat."
"I hate meat they have in Sy Cove. I don't eat human meat."
Both of them exchanged glances.
"So, you don't like them killing humans for meat?" Helen asked.
"No. Never. You guys don't eat meat?"
"No, we don't," Mackenzie licked her lips. "We're vegetarians. We don't have much things to eat because of well, you know. We don't kill human too."
"What?" I raised my voice. "You guys don't do anything most people do here? Like selling humans, buying them, killing, eating, torturing, and more stuff like that?"
"No, we don't. We got stuck here with I was pregnant with Mackenzie. Aidan was 3 at that time. Our family decided to go here because our relatives needed our help. As soon as we got here, something felt wrong. We couldn't reach our relatives. When we stayed at a motel for a few days, I found out my relatives were killed. The longer we stayed here, the more secrets we knew.
"But we were forced to shut our mouths about this. My husband wanted to go back to Illinois but it was impossible. We just have to adapt to our new, disturbing life in this terrible town. The neighborhood I live in isn't like the other neighborhood. People there don't do anything like that. That's why I'm shocked when Mackenzie brought you back. Because of your tattoo, we know you're a part of them too and your face looks a lot like Christian's. So, we know you're his missing daughter from years ago. He helped us a lot when our first week in here. Suzanne, your mother helped me with the baby. They could be good people too if they didn't choose to be like that."
Christian and Suzanne helped them? But why did they become monsters like that? Was this another trick of theirs so they could kill me?