Finally alone, I turned the lock to my door. Searching through drawer after drawer, I eventually located a sharp pair of scissors, and proceeded to toss off my headband. I grasped a strand of my precious jet black hair in one hand, scissors poised in the other. It was now that I had my doubts- there would be no going back. It would take years to grow my hair back out to its current length, not to mention a great deal of pride in order to deal with it now. Squinching my eyes shut, I closed the scissors, and then slowly released the oddly short length of hair that now framed my face.
After the first cut there were no more such problems. Not five minutes later I was done, an odd feeling of cool air on my neck, puffs of black hair around my feet. The me in the mirror looked back, first in my eyes. My mother's brown, round, ever innocent eyes. Then at my hair, what was left of it. She did not look angry at me for doing such a thing, she did not look sad, or happy, or even a bit disappointed. She was to the point of not caring, I could see it in her eyes but not in my own heart. I could almost imagine the reactions I would get from my family, asking what had gotten into my head, did I have no honor? I could hear my father yelling that I was a disgrace, and why couldn't I have been more like my mother? But, then, with luck, he would never have to know.
I turned away from the mirror, those eyes that I could barely stand to see again.
I tied the headband back, threw the scissors down onto my bed and pried open the window. The task at hand now was to escape without anyone knowing. I would leave Wutai with no pride. No regrets.