Page 79 of Snake

There’s a flash of metal. Light gleams from the blade.

A flurry of hot and cold prickles fills my fingers and toes, shooting up my leg in numbing waves of panic. I reach for Eliza’s wrist, trying to knock her hand away, but I’m too slow.

Still caught up in the moment.

Vulnerable.

Pathetic.

Weak.

I can’t stop Eliza. There’s a sickening snick as the scissors shear through Nim’s braid. Close. So close to her scalp that I’m expecting to see blood.

But there’s none. Just the sad flop of a dismembered braid. Eliza throws me a wicked smile over Nim’s head, and then she’s gone. Like a fucking assassin, she disappears into the crowd so quickly I could easily pretend I just imagined the whole thing.

If Nim wasn’t standing in front of me with her hands in her hair, mouth open, eyes round.

Hands in what’s left of her hair.

Which is hardly anything at all.

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