Not professional. Not for a real cop. He looked back at Gordon's phone, grinning wider, playing to the camera now. We're just helping you fit in around here. "Don't," Alice said.
"Don't you touch me. " Corbin didn't stop. He never even slowed down. The scissors opened. Alice heard the sound before she felt it. That terrible metal snip right next to her ear.
Then another and another. She felt the weight leave her head piece by piece. Felt the cold air on her neck where her hair used to be. She wanted to scream. She wanted to fight, to kick, to bite down on Miller's arm until he let go.
Every part of her body wanted to explode. She didn't move. She had learned in her 12 years of dreaming about this badge that some fights you don't win by throwing punches. Some fights you win by watching, by remembering. So instead of screaming, Alice Vincent did something else.
She looked hard at Corbin's face, the little scar above his eyebrow, the gold tooth in the back of his laugh. She looked at Miller's badge number, glinting on his chest, close enough now that she could read every digit. She looked at Gordon's phone at the little red light blinking in the corner of the screen, recording every second of this. She was building a case right there while they cut her hair off like she was livestock. There, Corbin said, finally stepping back, holding up a thick clump of her hair like a trophy.
He looked at it, then dropped it. It hit the floor without a sound, curling up next to her boots like something dead. "Much better," Corbin said. "Now you look like one of us. " Miller let go, shoving her forward a step as he released her arms. Alice turned around slowly.
She didn't touch her head. She didn't cry. She looked each of them in the eye, one at a time, and said nothing at all. Corbin laughed, uncomfortable now that she wasn't reacting the way he wanted. ""Come on, Vincent. Lighten up.
It's just hair. "" "Yeah," Miller added, already turning to leave, tossing the scissors onto the counter like he was done with a chore. ""Grows back. "" Gordon lowered his phone, still chuckling to himself, and followed the other two out the door. Their laughter echoed down the hallway, fading as they walked away, already talking about something else, already forgetting. Alice stood alone in the breakroom. Her hair lay scattered across the tile floor. The lights buzzed overhead.
Somewhere down the hall, a radio crackled with a dispatch call, ordinary and unbothered, like nothing in the world had just happened. Alice didn't move for a long moment. She stood there breathing slow, staring down at the floor. Then she bent down, picked up her phone from her belt, and opened a blank note. She started typing names, badge numbers, the time, the date.