Stupid hair, dragging her down. She didn't want to tie it back even. Serena glared at herself in the mirror. Everything seemed hard going today. She'd thought that the divorce would come as a relief and it did. Just not enough for the pressure to subside. Her daughter wasn't taking it placidly. She never did.
With a burst of energy, Serena picked up her mother's old sewing scissors and started hacking away. That would give Elinor a reason to shriek. Elinor loved swishing her hair about. Serena used to have long lustrous hair like that. She cut it a bit shorter once she had Elinor and there really was no time to look anything other than awake but she'd never cut it as short as this. She stopped halfway, horrified at the whisps curling around her ears but it was too late now. Had to finish the job.
Fuck it, let's cut the fringe too she thought as she snip snipped away. She could have just gone to a hairdresser but Serena was too stubborn to do that now.
Once she'd finished, her resolve crumbled for a minute. What if she was like Samson and had lost something now? What would her mother say? The seconds ticked by agonisingly as she considered how to feel about it.
The slam of a car door brought herself out of her daze. She tutted at her reflection. She never believed in any of that anyway. She needed to stop doubting herself. She didn't look that bad. A bit like Elinor's last Barbie where she'd sheared her head in a fit of pique but it didn't look as bad as that.
She ran her fingers through it with a frown. No doubt that Edward would mock her for it and tell her she wouldn't get another man. At the thought of what was to come, she knew she was going to keep it this way for a while now. Might as well spite the bastard. She could hear Elinor's scream in her head just before the key clicked in the lock. Serena calmly swept up the hair and threw it in the bin. She wasn't sure what had taken her so long to shed that man out. She hummed as she cleaned and waited for the inevitable fuss that would ensue.
As far as a midlife crisis went, it might yet prove to be a prudent one.