Zara woke up the next morning and stretched out hearing her bones crack and pop into place as if she had been asleep for the last thousand years. She raised her arms above her and they landed with a soft thud on the pillow next to her. She felt something brittle under her soft skin. Something coarse and dry. Like the dried out brillopad she used to clean her oven. She got up quickly and scooped the green hair into her hand. Tears feel from the tip of her nose into the hand where the dead hair lie. She clenched it. Thinking of the reminder of the day. She was dead to everyone she knew and loved. At least for now. She could fix this, but first she needed to fix her hair.

She got up and put on baggy sweatpants and a hoodie. Then she slid a beanie on as tight as it would go so that she didn't have to show anyone her hair. Or no one would recognize her from the news Last night. Maybe just maybe they would shoot a better narrative today. She pulled a hoodie on and her cat sat on her bed looking at her. She turned to him and jumped a bit at his confused look. "What? You expect me to go out looking like this? I've got to do something." She said and gave him a stroke on the back of his head. "I love you. I'll be back in a shake."

Zara walked down the street to the local hair store. She seen a discarded newspaper with her face on it. The headline read 'ZARA SMITH, THE GIRL WITH NO SMILE.' She scoffed. She said it like she had a medical disease! She smiled, she smiled just fine! She just didn't like it when she was forced to smile. Or be docile, or obedient. Women who made history weren't obedient! She shoved the newspaper in the garbage and decided it was best not to read whatever was left in the article. It didn't need to be read.

When she walked into the store and looked at the array of hair care products and things. She seen the little Asian woman who ran the store and held up a polite hand. She received a nod in return and then Zara went back to looking around. She grabbed just what she needed and handed it all to the woman behind the register. She handed her the money she had and then walked back in shoving her hands in her pocket with the bag looped around the arm.

She walked back upstairs to her apartment and she took another shower, slid into more comfortable clothes. Washed and dried her hair and sat back on the couch. She turned on her television and Vikki Vale stood in front of her bank. The bank she used to work for. Her perfectly shiny blonde hair and her super likeable reporter outfit.

"I'm standing here where it all began where Zara Smith was a lead Bank Teller, was allegedly involved with the now deceased Joker. Joker was killed just moments before police arrived. Police claim that Ms. Smith was aggressive and dangerous but met her demise too with a vat of acid. Nobody has been found, but the acid was known that it could dissolve skin, so if there was a body it would be hard to find. Zara was described as quiet, standoffish, and a bit odd. She is described as someone who rarely smiled and didn't seem to be someone who was too noticeable in the forefront." She seen the same photo of her flat face where she was trying to show off her super cute lipstick.

Instead it made her look mean and standoffish. Her lipstick still looked cute though, so that was always good. She flipped the channel and there was her same photo staring her in the face. The same lines being spewed. "She never smiled, perhaps if she did, she wouldn't have met such a terrible fate with being involved with Joker."

Hours passed and it went on like that on every news channel she found. Her name, a menacing picture, and the phrase in some way or another "A smile would have saved her life." Her life. Saved. By a smile? Not the police officer who laughed at her. Lied about her? They couldn't have saved her. What did a smile have to do with her being terrified?!

When the last loc was secure in her hair. She went to the mirror. She looked at herself. The bright green was the perfect color to go with her mahogany colored skin. A long stare at herself in new form. Long green locs that made her eyes shine a little brighter. She never really wore crazy hair colors. But with everything that had happened she decided it fit. Staring at herself running her fingers through the hair made her laugh. Smiling widely. "Look at me." She laughed a little louder. "I'm smiling world! I'm really smiling." Then she looked at her teeth. They were dull and rounded. They no longer had the enamel that would protect them.

She walked to her closet and seen her loud purple suit her mother got her as a gift once. It was something she had to have for an event she planned before going into banking for a more serious job. She grabbed it and a yellow blouse. No use in dressing normal. She chuckled. She loved her new style. Her newfound freedom.

She looked at Q who sat at the end of the table being cast in the slowly rising night. "Well now what do you say?" She asked him "How does Mommy look?" She asked, and there was a soft meow. She sighed and looked "Can you just give me a compliment." She giggled. "Well now how about we something real shiny for a new smile." She laughed loudly and the air crackled with thunder.