Out of complete boredome harriette severed her fingers, cutting them off one at a time with a pair of fingernail clippers. She had been going to school to become a nail technician, each day she would come home feeling like her mouth was full of Styrofoam teeth, this sensation was caused from breathing in the nail polish and nail polish remover fumes. She had done so many nails in practice that she was getting dizzy spells, like minuet acid trips, that sensation that your spinal cord has sprung a leak, the ground droops downward in front of you as you walk. Harriett had come accustomed to this feeling, it was there everyday. it wouldnt go away for atleast 2 hrs after she had left the salon. Her hair had been dyed a thousand times as well, it felt like mircrofiber toothbrush bristles. She let the hair stylist practice on her, so she could pick up on what they were doing. But it was her dream to be mediocore, it was her destiny to be nothing but a manicurist.
After work she would get in her ford focus, to make that lonely drive home. she had bought her car shortly after high school, half paid for with student loans when she was going to community college. But that was before she realised what her dream was. And since she had racked up all the debt from going to college for 3 yrs, all the while working in the mall at a trendy shoe store. She would drive home and hide in her lonely bedroom watching re-runs of old sitcoms while eating ice cream, then moving on to vodka and orange juice, then eventually large gulps from the half gallon bottle. It was lonely, she was only half way there..
Well, actually how it happened, the whole life dream thing, she had a "friend" that worked at the salon three holes in the wall down from hers. This girl, this cosmetologist, or solonist or whetever she was, a hair technician, a hair engineer, a barberette, whatever, she was making bank, thats the point. She had a brand new mazda xr7, a hot ass boyfriend, another boy toy on the side, a studio apt. all to her self, along with a wardrobe to die for. This chick had the works and all she did was play with hair all day.
Harriette, still oblivious to this girls luxurious existence, went in for a hair cut one day. Harriette hadnt had a new hairstyle in quite a while, she had been working her fingers to the bone trying to get by. So on payday she decided she needed a bit of pampering, a haircut would do. So while harri was getting her "hair did" she started talking to this girl, her name was stacy. Stacy told her life story, then about going to cosmetologist college, then how loaded she is now. As harriette looked in the mirror admiring her new hair do, she saw her future flash before her eyes, in extravagant color. Right then she knew what to do.
Well harriette couldnt afford tuition to become a hair stylist, so nails was the next best thing, plus she could move up. Harriette droped out of community college a while ago, it was a waste anyway she figured. Now 6 months later she was about to graduatte as a manicurist, so she needed a job. At the salon where stacy worked harri picked up an app. Stacy was their making out with her new, or one of her many, boyfriends. Harriette blushed with jelousy, then the day dreams flooded her tiny head.
But harriette couldnt find a job, no one was hiring, no one called, she talked to her professors, they just told her to keep trying. Nothing for weeks, then months, then finally and interview. Harriette did everything she could to get this job, everything, she blew the last little bit of cash she had to make an impression. Then the inevitable, nothing happened.
Harriette got some cash from her mom to buy some dinner, but mostly harriette wanted booze, and lots of it. She was going to binge, binge until she forgott about all of this. She drank till she passed out, woke up had a bowl of shredded wheat, then started taking shots. Harri figured she had a 3 day supply at this rate, that second night though she never went to sleep. She just kept drinking, even when the local tv channel went off the air, she just stared at the screen waiting for it to come back on. Now she was just sipping straight from the bottle, she had been all day, and now all night. But then it happened, she blacked out, for some time. Harri woke up with the sun pounding her eyes the birds rippingout her ear drums with their churps and the wind beating her head in. so she started again, this was the final bottle, it was still half full.
In this daze harri had no idea what time it was she was just gone, starying into space. Next to her bed was the little box she kept her nail supplies in. her body was numb now, she couldnt feel anything.
Finally she thought, finally im free from this. Harriette decided to do her nails, why not, she was offically a grad now. She worked on them for a while doing her best, trying to show herself how good she was. Lost in the creation of her new nails she reached over for a drink. She took several long gulps, while thinking about what she would do next to her nails. Then looking over to see where to set her bottle down safely, she noticed, the bottle looked funny. But she was too cought up in her creations. Suddenly the room started spinning, the floor started changing colors. Her fingers grew long then shrank. "what the fuck" harriette thought, grabbing the bottle, to finish it off. Before taking her last gulp of the almost empty bottle harriette held it up, a cheers to herself, and her nails. Then the true nature of her drink was revealed, harri realised her mistake. It wasnt a vodka bottle, it was nail remover. Looking down at the floor harriette now realised she hadnt been sniping at her nails, she was snipping at her knuckles.
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