chapter 4

That night, Zeek kept to his room, fuming about his punishment but also dreading what maligned things his sister would come up with. As he lay in bed he imagined petty things like not being allowed to wear socks, or that he had to sit on the floor. He didn’t expect much in the way of imagination from Liz. At best he expected her to be a pain in the ass for a bit before she got bored and then he would just have to deal with not having tv for a bit. It would still chafe him to have to do what she said and he couldn’t just go along with things or she would think something was up and push him to do more, or so he figured. “So put up a basic fight, let the princess think she won and then I can get this BS over with. Hmm… maybe if I get Cal to hook me up with a job with him my Dad will get off my back.” He said to himself thinking about how the little coward… the tall coward ran away the second his Dad raised his voice. Ignoring the fact he would have bailed even faster if the situation had been reversed.

Early the following morning, having slept well, Zeek heard the doorknob turning to his bedroom before it opened without so much as a single knock. Standing in his doorway was his older sister, wearing that baseball cap again to hide what he had done to her hair. “Knocking something you don’t know how to do?” He asked with some snark as he sat up, showing his naked chest, only wearing boxers and some basketball shorts to bed.

“Good morning to you as well little brother.” Eliza said with a cheerful smile on her face as she walked into his room, ignoring his question for now as she plucked a book from his bookshelf. It was one of those books that someone hollowed out some pages to make a secret hideaway, a secret that she had been aware of for years. “I’m just going to grab some cash to, well…” Liz Cocked her head slightly to the side as she considered the bounds of what her Dad said she could do. “To do anything I want with it really.”

Narrowing his eyes with a sour expression on his face Zeek kicked himself for not even considering that part of the deal last night before he went to bed. If he had, he would have hidden half of his stash somewhere else. “How much are you taking?”

“Dear not so sweet brother.” She said in a syrupy sweet voice. “All of it.”

Reacting to what she said, Zeek practically leaped out of bed. “The fuck you will!”

“Relax, relax.” Liz patted her head, running her fingers through his bedhead and learning just how greasy his hair actually was. “Anything I don’t need I will give back, I’m not a thief.”

Watching his sister leave his room with his money made Ezekiel feel like he had been cut off at the knees. The loss of his savings was an actual consequence he wasn’t ready for even though his father had specifically said he would be paying for Liz to get her hair fixed, but thousands of dollars there that he had saved and now a big part of him just wished he had opened a savings account at his bank. It wouldn’t have protected the money any better, Liz would just make him transfer the funds, but seeing all that cash in her hand, his money just made it so much worse.

Going to his window he watched as his sister drove away. It made him consider following suit, avoiding more of this punishment for as long as possible, but his father’s car was still in the driveway. It made his escape more difficult, but not nearly impossible. Still his old man had seemed really pissed and he wasn’t dumb enough to push him too far… most of the time he was smart enough for that at least.

Later that day afternoon Zeek came down the stairs when he heard his sister pull up wanting what was left of his money back. The entire time she was gone he was looking up the cost of different types of services salons provided and doing the math for how much lighter his stack of cash would be. Liz had returned, sporting a Skrillex cut with one side of her head shaved, making her look daring and edgy with such an alternative hairstyle for a girly girl like her, Liz’s outfit of a cropped white tee that showed off just a hit of her tone stomach, skin tight blue jeans adding to the more edgy rocker type look, in her hands she had a few bags and the moment she saw her brother she locked eyes with him.

“You. My bedroom. Now”, she ordered her sibling.

Unlike Zeek’s dark, smelly, messy hovel, Liz’s room was clean, bright and airy, smelling of sweet perfume from a constantly-on plug-in. The other big contrast between the two was of course how quite femininely-styled with plenty of soft furnishings and a makeup-filled vanity complete with a large oval Hollywood mirror.

Zeek tried to break the ice and lessen the blow of his sister’s harshness by complimenting, “Your hair looks nice. I actually think it looks way better this way.”

“You don’t get to like my hair.” Liz scolded. “On second thought, yes you do, any appreciation for hair is gonna help you. Would you say my hair is pretty?”

“Umm, yesss.” Zeek drew out the word nervously.

Liz nodded, touched the side of her shaven head, not having close to enough time to get used to the new style. “Would you say you like pretty hair?”

“Ahh, again, yes.” Zeek wasn’t above a little flattery or even over the top flattery if it benefited him.

He watched as she reached into one of the bags that seemed to have loose things in it, the other had a large fox. From the bag with loose items she brandished a can of shaving gel and a pack of pink women’s four-blade disposable razors in front of Zeek, the young man taking them, a perplexed expression upon his face as they were thrust into his chest, forcing him to grab them before they fell to the floor.

“What do you expect me to do with these?” Zeek questioned.

“I am sooo glad you asked!” Eliza said while looking at her sibling with a manic expression. “I need, really at this point, the world needs you to understand what a girl has to do to look after her hair, and that includes the hair all over our bodies. So you’re going to get rid of yours”.

“What, all of it?! You’re kidding me! That’s so dumb! I’m not doing it!”

“Yes, you are. Everything below your eyebrows is going to be gone by the time you get out of that bathroom. I don’t care if you knick yourself, I don’t care if all the razors in that bag go dull. It doesn’t even matter if all the hot water runs out. You dear brother were told to do as I say. We can play a game like Simon says, only its me. So… Eliza says go shave off all your body hair below your eyebrows. K?”

“You really expect me to…” Zeek started to retort before his sister flicked him on the nose. “Hey!”

“I have changed my mind. You can keep a little hair down there if you know what I mean. It has to be trimmed of course like a polite young woman would, so I expect you to have a nice landing strip down there. Well…” She scrunched up her nose. “Or you can shave it all, I’m not cruel about cutting hair. But if you don’t wanna do it, the street is waiting for you.” Her voice took on a sing-song tone as she called out. “Oh Daaaddyyy!”

“Fine, fine! I’ll shave my stupid body hair, Christ!”

Like she hadn’t just called out to their parent and she was happy as could be Liz beamed a smile at her brother, her hands held together behind her back as she leaned forward. “Glad you also think your ugly body hair is stupid. Now off you go, make sure not to rush; don’t want to cut yourself!”

Feeling like he very much underestimated his sister, Zeek shuffled his feet down the hallway to the upstairs shared bathroom to do probably the most embarrassing thing in his entire life. The only upside was he was no longer in highschool having to go to gym class where others would take notice.

Taking off his shirt he tossed it to the ground before filling the bathroom sink with hot water. The blonde nineteen year old looked at his face in the mirror before sighing and splashed some down his left arm before lathering it up with gel. He grabbed the pack of razors, struggling with the package with his now wet hands before ripping it open with his teeth. With a brand new cheap pink razor in hand he slid it across his flowery smelling foaming gel cover skin, taking the foam and his hair with it. After about 15 minutes, one arm was completely hair-free, armpit included, though he carefully used an electric hair razor to get most of that area done. Now he just had the rest of his body left to go.

The lack of hair on his arm, especially his armpit made Zeek feel off, getting hair was part of growing up to be a man. He had a pale fair complexion and with his blonde hair it took a long time for it to be really visible and now it was all going away. “Stupid Liz.” he complained before starting on his other arm. “She better not insist on me keeping this up.” He added, happy for once that he didn’t have to shave often, only about once a week and even then he didn’t have anything close to a beard and expected it would be similar for his body.

Still, he saw his body hair as a symbol of his masculinity; proof that despite his failures as man when it came to dating and being an alpha chad, a man he was still was. Seeing his hair wash down the sink drain; it was like his masculine pride was disappearing along with it. As his mind moved back to this topic his mood darkened as he removed his pants and underwear, dreading what came next.

An hour later and many razors having been tossed in the waste bin, Zeek stood in front of the sink, looking down at his exposed manhood, it bare to the world. He tried giving himself a landing strip, but his unfamiliarity with shaving his pelvis led to him messing it up, so he shaved every last one of his pubes away out of frustration. He had heard once that male stripers shaved down there to look bigger, Zeek was pretty sure that was a lie. He didn’t look bigger, he just felt more exposed than he ever had before. First the most embarrassed and now exposed, he hoped today didn’t bring much more.

Body free of his body hair Ezekiel shivered, his bare feet on the cold tile floor only made the chill across his body feel worse. Turning on the shower he hopped in to warm up and rid himself he watched as the last bits of his hair that had clung to his body sink down the drain. “I took some of her hair and she is taking some of mine. It's fair, it's tuff, but fair.” Zeek acknowledged, trying to feel like he wasn’t unjustly persecuted. When he was free of the left over sticky feeling from the shaving gel he turned off the shower shocked when feeling the cold air from the room hit him as he slid the shower curtain to the side. It wasn’t like he hadn’t felt this before, but it seemed to hit him harder now. He was shocked by how alien his bare skin felt, how sensitive without his hair to protect him. After quickly towel- drying himself, he put his boxers back on before opening the door to leave the bathroom, only to find Liz to be standing directly outside the door, waiting for him.

“Took your time little brother.” Liz slide two fingers over Zeek's forearm. “I have to ask though, where do you think you’re going? You’ve just shaved; you can’t leave your skin unguarded like this. You need to lather up, little bro.” she said, condescension leaking from her voice.

She threw a bottle towards him, which Zeek narrowly caught. Examining the label, he saw it said Strawberries and Cream Lotion, the contents inside being a light pink.

“What, right in front of you?” Zeek argued.

“Of course, how else am I supposed to make sure you’ve gotten everywhere”.

“Weirdo” Zeek insulted, as he popped the cap and squirted a load into his hand. Could you at least turn around I don’t want to flash you.”

“Ew.” Liz rescinded before turning around, but still blocked his exit.

“Getting his sensitive nether regions and rear out of the way first as he pulled down his boxers after turning to have his ass face Liz, he then wiped it across his stomach, chest and arms. The scent hitting his nose was surprisingly good. Very nice. Delightful, even. But it being a girl’s lotion, part of his brain thought of some of the girls in school but quickly squashed that. He didn’t want to get excited because of some stupid girly location and definitely not in the situation he found himself in.

‘I hate this stuff.’ Zeek thought to himself despite enjoying the smell. ‘Give me Axe body spray any day." he thought, even as his nostrils greedily sniffed at the delicious scent.

Once he was finished, Zeek pulled back up his underwear and exasperatedly declared, “Done” only for his sister to turn around. “

You missed a spot, down there.”

Zeek bent down slightly as he took a closer look down at his slender hairless legs. “Where?” he asked unaware of the electric razor approaching his scalp before it was too late.

With the unmistakable sound of an electric hum and hair being sheared, a strip of Zeek’s golden hair departed from his head right in front of his eyes. As quick as a lash, he stood back up and took a few steps back from his sister. One hand held out to keep her at bay and the other up to his scalp. He saw Liz smirking at him while he felt a shaven bald patch on his head. Swallowing hard he turned to the mirror, horror plane on his face as he saw what she had done to him “Do you… Liz you completely ruined my hair!” Zeek declared seeing a large bald ugly bald patch ruining his mop.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!!”, he screamed at his sister, unable to take his eyes off the himself in the mirror.

Bending down Eliza picked up the lock of hair that fell from her brother's head, holding it up between them. “It’s only hair, it’s no big deal, right? Besides, it needs to be gone for the next step.” She flicked the air to the floor disgusted from touching it.

“What next step?!” Zeek’s green eyes were practically bulging out of his skull as he kept looking in the mirror, touching his new bald spot.

“You’ll see.” Eliza stepped into the bathroom, turning the electric razor back on as she closed the door with her foot. “Now stop being a little bitch and let me shave the rest off. It’ll grow back, anyway.”

With his hair looking the way it did, the only possible salvation was to get rid of it all and start from scratch. It took all of Zeek’s mental fortitude to not let a single tear drop from his eye, as the hair on his head fell away. The stress from this punishment, the vulnerability of seeing his body without any body and now this was just a lot for him to deal with. After ten minutes, Liz took her time to make sure her brother's head was even he sported a basic army grunt buzzcut.

“This will do.” Liz ran her finger over her siblings scalp. “Now you are ready for the next step.”

“Another step?!” Zeek’s voice broke as he spoke making him sound more like he was croaking like a frog.

“OH yes, yes.” Liz’s smile hadn’t slipped from her face. “That was just getting you ready for the next step. Follow me back to my room so I can introduce you to something I’m sure you will love.:

With a heavy heart Zeek did just as his sister said, hearing her yell the moment she came into the hallway, having rushing out to see what was happening.

“Dad!!”

What Zeek saw was his father leaning on the door frame to his sisters room facing them, his normal bald scalp no where to be seen. Instead he was wearing a long blond haired wig with dark roots.

“What? You don’t like it?” Edward asked, flipping the blonde hair of the wig over his shoulder. Before looking past his daughter to his son. “Going bald at your age isn’t a great sign, son.”

“Get that off!” Liz stomped forward gently taking the wig off her fathers head, him standing still for her to do so.

“Couldn’t help it, saw it on the little wig stand and I wanted to remember what it felt like to have real hair again. Though I don’t think the surfer dude hair worked for me.”

“What?” Zeek asked as it dawned on him what the next step was, his father antics distracting him from the horror show that happened in the bathroom.

WIth a huff Eliza ground her foot into the floor. “Daddy I told you this was for Zeek so he could learn to take care of and appreciate long hair. It isn’t a toy and is super expensive because it is real human hair. Gah… Come on Zeek go sit at my vanity.”

“A wig!?” Zeek declared before his father walked up and put his hand on his son’s shoulder.

Wanting to give his boy some encouragement Edward gave a light squeeze to his shoulder. “Ezek… Zeek, you will be fine, be a good sport. Maybe put some more clothes on though.”

His father’s words made Zeek remember his bare hairless skin and darted back into the bathroom to put his clothes on before his shame was noticed all while his sister raised her voice for him to do as she said and go to her room.

“Back to my room”, Liz ordered, Zeek gulping and dreading what he now believed he knew what she had planned for him. Putting back on his black jeans and white tank top he did as she said, sitting at the white vanity.

By the time Zeek had sat down upon the cushioned bench in front of Liz’s vanity the wig had been placed back on its stand, Liz herself standing there running a brush through it. The wig itself was a beautiful, long, straight golden blonde hair, in a shade not unlike Liz and Zeek’s own, albeit its roots being a mid-brown colour, indicative of a bleach job.

“Go ahead, touch it” Liz did not suggest, but ordered her young brother as she shook slightly with nervous excited energy.

Reaching out and touching the long hair on the stand Zeek was a bit surprised. “It feels like real hair” he stated as he curled his fingers through the fine locks.

“That’s because it is. Real human hair, like I said in the hallway. Cost me a bomb too. But I didn’t have to pay for it, did I?”

“Wait.” Zeek let the hair drop. “I paid for it?”

Liz looked over at her father who now was back standing in her doorway to watch before she turned back to him. “You did, I got it on sale too, it is normally just over two thousand, but I got it for a steal at fifteen hundred.”

“WHAT! Wa… how much?”

Liz heard the loud exclamation from her father behind her while her brother looked like he was struck dumb. Turning to look at him she gave the man a sweet smile. “This isn’t a Halloween wig Daddy, it is the real thing, like they would use in movies. We want little Zeek to appreciate it so it needs to be worth appreciating.”

“…So I take it, you want me to wear it?”

“Bingo!” Liz made a finger gun at her brother, not sure if he was just being contrary to make her spell things out or if he was just being fully oblivious. I’m going to glue it to your head to make sure it doesn’t come off.”

Zeek briefly considered bolting for the door, taking the wig with him to throw in the trash, but with his father right there and with what she had already put him through he thought better of it. Giving his consent with a grunt and a nod.

Liz took the pump bottle of Ultimate-Bond Professional Wig Adhesive from the vanity and lined Zeek’s scalp with glue, using up nearly the entire bottle as she spread it all over with the purple latex gloves on her hands. Zeek watching her in the mirror from the vanity seat, a scowl on his face. Once the glue had become tacky enough, Liz removed the wig from its stand and placed it over her little brother’s scalp, tightening the straps and adjusting how it sat, holding it in place while the glue set.

After about five minutes, it was done; Zeek now had a blonde mane that rivalled his sister’s. He ran his fingers through it, tugging slightly, finding that although it moved with his scalp, there was no way the wig was coming off without some kind of removal product. It was effectively his own hair now. ‘Christ, I look like a fucking freak!’ he thought, revulsed by his new appearance. “Okay, I’ve got girl hair, you happy now?”

Crossing her arms at the wrist, the vengeful young woman made an X. “Nope! Not nearly happy yet”, Liz nonchalantly replied, slinking back to her bed to take a good look at her wigged-up little brother from a distance.

Were it not that she put the wig on herself, she would have found Zeek unrecognisable, or close to it. In fact, with his slender frame, at first glance she might have even thought she was an underdeveloped woman, looking at him from the back. ‘He looks like the sister I never had!’

Standing there watching what was happening Edward took note of the silence that hung heavy in the room.Ezekiel, now with long hair that hung to his shoulder blades and Eliza looking like the cat that ate the canary he interjected, clearing his throat. “Oh good, you’ve gotten the wig on him. Gotta say, it does look pretty; worth every penny.” Edward chuckled.

“Ha-ha”, Zeek sarcastically replied. “Well what the hell am I supposed to do with this thing?”

“I think taking care of it is the idea behind it. Good on you for taking it on the chin, I honestly thought you put up a fight. Ezekiel, I’m happy to be wrong to see you acting so mature.” He shifted his gaze over to his daughter who looked like she did on Christmas morning ready to tear into her presents. “Eliza honey, try not to enjoy your brothers suffering too much, or at least do a better job of hiding it.”

Turning to look back at her father with a smile still firmly locked on her face she used a hand to cover her mouth for a moment, unable to school her expression before turning back to look at her brother through her mirror. “Not a thing, that is your hair, Look after it. Shampoo it, condition it, put product in it, dry it, brush it, style it. From now on you’ll be taking care of it like it’s your own hair… no scratch that. You are shit at taking care of your hair and we are going to change it so you will take care of it like it is a beloved pet. And I expect you to style it a different way each and every day.”

Turning on the bench seat so he could look directly at his sister and father and more importantly stop seeing himself in the mirror he complained. “But I don’t know how to do any of that shit!”.

“Well lucky I’m here to teach you.” Liz offered like she was being gracious.

Zeek turned his head and gave his father a look of pleading desperation.

“Don’t look at me son. You’re under your sister’s care now.”

Standing up Liz practically prowled closer to her sibling. “That’s right. By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to know exactly what you took from me, what a girl has to go through every day to keep her hair pristine.” She sat down beside him on the small bench that wasn’t really meant to hold two as she finished her sentence, sliding the hair on one side of his head behind his ear.

Zeek gulped, his eyes still firmly ahead on his father. ‘Fuuuuck… I fucking fucked up!’ He thought one hand going up to touch the ends of the hair.

“Now if you’re done whining, let’s get started with the basics; how to brush properly.” She said as she wrapped her arm around Zeek’s shoulder. “It will be like teaching a little sister.”

Edward took a step back out of the doorway, half turning. “I’ll leave you ladies to it”, he jokingly said as he closed the bedroom door on his children, leaving Zeek to his fate.