The Ghost Barber by EvertonCable

---

Based on a short film I watched a few years ago

Mike never liked having short hair. During his childhood, his father forced him to go to the local barbershop to have his hair buzzed at # 1 every two weeks. His school mates had slightly longer hair and Mike was the one "bald" in the class. Sometimes Mike would try to escape from the haircut by pretending to be sick, but when his father found out, he would cut his son’s hair even shorter or shave the boy’s head himself.

During adolescence, Mike could keep his hair a little longer, and the trips to the barbershop were becoming monthly. Slowly, Mike was stopping to go of the barber and began to visit salons, just for a little trim. As he grew older, Mike kept his hair growing longer. During college, Mike's hair was halfway down his back, tied in a ponytail. This attracted the attention of the girls and aroused envy in the other boys, who had shorter hair. Mike was becoming more vain and self-centered. He even argued with others if anyone touched his hair.

Today he is 34 years old and works in a reputable company. Despite being successful at work, his relationship with other coworkers was not one of the best. He thought he was better than the others, and he even humiliated his colleagues with his long ponytail. When Mike passed by a coworker with short hair or a shaved head, he liked to run his fingers through the strings to make them jealous as he did when he was in high school. He would not let anyone touch his ponytail. Anyone except his stylist. This was his revenge for those years with short hair.

That day, Mike came home after a long day at work, and all he wanted was to relax admiring his long hair in front of the mirror. He opened the door and went into the house, but when he would turn on the lights, he felt a strong hand gripping his arms and another hand covering his nose and mouth with a damp cloth. In a few seconds, Mike fell asleep on the floor.

When he woke up, Mike realized that he was tied to a chair and that his arms and legs were also attached. He noticed that there were cameras around the chair where he was. One in front of him, one on each side and (apparently) one behind him. He tried to pull himself out of his chair, but he was unsuccessful.

"Well, well, well. It looks like you've finally woken up", said a voice from the kitchen. Mike looked in the direction of the voice. There was a tall and muscular man with a mask covering his face, so that Mike could only see his "hair". The man's head was completely shaved.

"Who are you?" Mike asked.

"Call me Ghost Barber," the man replied, disguising his voice a little. "It's a nickname my friends gave me."

"What do you want with me?"

Walking to the chair where Mike was trapped, the Ghost Barber began to speak. "I don’t want anything with you. I'm just here to teach you a lesson. I know you have a bad relationship with your coworkers. I know you think you are superior to other people because of the beautiful hair you have. I know you're obsessed with that ponytail (he said this by tugging on Mike's hair). I know you consider this hair to be your greatest treasure. "

The man went to the living room sofa and came back with a small backpack.

"Today you will have your punishment for your arrogance and your vanity, Mike", he said.

"How did you get into my house?" Mike asked.

Ghost Barber put his left hand in his pocket and took out a small keyring.

"I think you missed it last week, right?" said the Ghost Barber.

"My keys?"

A week ago, after returning from work, Mike realized he had lost his keys. Luckily, he had a spare key hidden near the front door. He tried to find the lost keys the next day, but he didn’t succeed.

"You stole my keys?"

"I did much more than that," Ghost Barber began. "I studied your routine. And I prepared everything for this moment. "

"What moment?"

The Ghost Barber opened the backpack revealing a barber kit that was placed under a small table. Mike looked at him in horror. He couldn’t believe what was about to happen.

"They call me Ghost, but I'm a real barber. Now let's get started. "

The Ghost Barber caped Mike and began to comb his hair. With scissors, he began to cut the long ponytail. Tears began to stream from Mike's eyes.

"No. Please, stop. Stop it. Do not cut my hair. Please. Noooo".

The screams were soon ignored as the scissors closed, detaching the ponytail from Mike's head.

"Do not cry, Mike. You do not want to look like a baby in front of the cameras, do you? Now be quiet. "

Even if Mike wanted to say something, he couldn’t do it. Ghost Barber continued to work with the scissors, reducing the length of Mike's hair. Snip, Snip, Snip of the scissors was the only sound could hear. At any moment the scissors were placed on the table and Ghost Barber got his clippers. The buzz of the clippers filled the room. Mike was awakened from his trance. Seeing the clippers in the barber's hand he squirmed again and screamed for the barber stopped his cut. Again, their requests were ignored and the clippers did their job. The strands of black hair were falling like snow toward the ground.

"You must be wondering how short I'm cutting your hair. Well, the only thing I can say is that there is no guard on these clippers "said the barber.

Mike didn’t understand what he meant. As a child, he had never paid attention to the guards the barber wore on the clippers while cutting his hair. When he started attending salons and letting his hair grow, he always used scissors to trim the ends of his hair. All Mike could do was to wait for the barber to leave him with some remaining hair to comb. But as more and more hair fell from his head, he realized that he would not have any remaining hair. The clippers were silenced and placed back on the table.

"Now we are going to a very delicate stage. It would be best if you didn’t move any muscle, or I could end up cutting your head unintentionally, "said the barber.

Mike felt the barber's hands spread something in his head. A small amount of white foam fell on the cover. Within seconds, her head was covered with shaving cream. A razor was taken from the bag and the barber did a quick and effective job. Mike's head, once full of hair, was now completely slick.

The Ghost Barber put his tools back the backpack and stayed ahead and Mike saying:

"Now you look like a real man. When you get to the office tomorrow everyone will comment your change. I hope your way too changes. Before I go I want to say one thing. Do not let your hair grow back till the point that you are controlled by it again. Or you can get another Ghost Barber’s visit". The Ghost Barber moved behind Mike, took something out of his pocket and put his hands on Mike's face, which again fell asleep.

When Mike woke up a few minutes later, everything was back in their places. He ran his hands through his hair hoping it was still in his head and everything had been a dream. But it was not a dream. His hair was gone. He ran to the bathroom to see how it was. Seeing the bald reflection, Mike began to cry. On returning to the living room he saw a black bag near the sofa. Inside her bag was her hair. Mike cried again. But after a few minutes, Mike began to wonder why he was so sad, after all it was hair and would grow again.

He realized that his hair was starting to be of no importance to him. "Is it some barber's trick?" He thought. He recalled Ghost Barber's advice "Don’t let your hair control you again." Was he being controlled by his hair all these years? "This needs to change," was his thinking.

The next day, at work, everyone commented on Mike's move. Not only the change of the cut, but also his change in the way of acting. He was not treating others with superiority as before. In fact, he apologized to everyone for what he had done. Everyone agreed that this was a new Mike, better than the old one.

A week later Mike came home and saw an envelope on his door. Inside the envelope there was a DVD and a note saying "I think you'll like to see Old Mike's last moments. From your friend Ghost Barber. PS: use the ANGLE button to get a better experience. "

To Mike's surprise that was the video of the moment he was having his hair cut. Everything was recorded from the time he woke up in his chair until the time he fell asleep again. By pressing the ANGLE button the angle of the video changed to the angle of one of the other cameras. Mike kept the DVD as a souvenir. He would never forget the day he met his "friend" Ghost Barber.

---