text: &#x200B; She had been a regular at Tony’s Salon for 5 years. As a woman of some means this meant maintenance cut every 6-8 months, and the occasional stop in for a color or chop-off. However, there was something markedly different during her last visit. Her scalp itched. When she asked Tony if he was using a new product, he assured her it was business as usual. Perhaps she was developing an allergy, or maybe there was pollen in the air. Whatever the cause, this itch was new. By the time she was home, the itch on her scalp became warm and unrelenting. When she examined herself, the mirror showed no redness, no bumps. She did notice, though, the itch had moved to behind her ears and to the nape of her neck. By days end the itch had migrated to her shoulders and was so unrelenting she took a sleep aide to rest. After a morning of trying desperately to keep her hands of her tingling skin, she went back to Tony’s to try and remedy the itch. Tony ushered her into his chair, and there was a sudden, hot shiver across her body. Sitting became an unbearable task as she felt her entire body quietly rattle with the itch. When Tony’s answers were no relief, she wouldn’t allow him to put any products on her as she feared it would only exacerbate the burning itch. Her entire body trembled in the chair, and Tony suggested she may just be sick and should rest. She resolved to take the rest of the day to sleep in hopes of dulling the itch and what felt like a sweltering skin fever. Once again she took sleeping medication, and in getting ready for bed, the itch had become all-encompassing to her extremities. She couldn’t bear to put on pajamas as her skin throbbed under a sickening heat. How was she not sweating? How were there no blisters, no cracks? When she ran a brush through her hair before putting it up for sleep her scalp stung as though all the heat of her brain matter was pushing outward. She sent the brush across the room, ran a cold shower. Sat down, wept, and fell asleep. By morning she managed to move her body to her bed, where she eschewed all covers and clothing. Her bones vibrated inside of her skin as the itch grew. Within her skull there was a vibration that would not cease, no matter what remedy she applied. No medicine, no salve, no amount of scratching. The only thing she knew was that this began in her scalp. She recalled the searing pain of trying to brush her hair, and when she inadvertently ran her hand through her hair at the thought, the stinging began again. In the following two days she could not sleep. Her body could not touch any surface without the creeping itch growing into a full-body sear. Her shoulders slumped under the weight of her sleeplessness. Her speech slurred and her hands seem to move slower than her manic brain’s stream of consciousness would allow her. When she tried to silence her thought and stop her shaking body, the only thing that remained was the itch. Her lack of sleep and the overwhelming desire to pull every inch of her scalp and skin off overrode her conscious behaviour-she expended the lingering energy she had calling a cab to take her back to Tony’s. When she approached him her hand was trembling- but she couldn’t tell if it was the itch, the insomnia, or the mania she took on as the former two grew. “Please take it all off. I need it gone. It’s the only way.” Tony, shocked, obliged. It took only but 4 minutes to run the clipper through her hair to take it down to the scalp. As Tony left to get the broom, she let her head slump into her hands, and she wept. The itch remained. Her sobbing became uncontrollable until she heard it- the hard slap of Tony’s soft body hitting the ground. He had slipped on her fallen hair- and as his head hit the ground let out a hard, wet, thud. Her body itched as it paralyzed in shock. She sat, staring down as his twitching body became slow and lifeless, her skin throbbing. Until, the blood began to pool under him and his fluttering last movements had stopped- so did the itch.