Meet Me Where the Oak Tree Grows novel Chapter 20

He spotted me, his eyes lighting up, and grabbed my arm, "Hey there, young lady, wanna sell that hair of yours?"

My mom always said long hair sucked up all the nutrients, so ever since I was little, I rocked the 'mom special'—a choppy short cut that made me look like a tomboy. But deep down, I preferred long hair. So after she passed, I let it grow wild.

In four years, I didn’t grow much taller, but my hair? It cascaded all the way down to my waist.

His sudden grab caught me off guard. Aunt Marie jumped in front of me without a second thought. Waving him off, she said, "Nope, her hair's not for sale."

And with that, she tugged me away.

The man hurriedly blocked our path, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m offering good money! How about two hundred? Three hundred! Three hundred’s gotta be enough, right?"

Aunt Marie didn’t even blink, "No price is high enough. Leave the girl alone."

"That's a sweet deal! You won’t find that offer anywhere else!"

Before we knew it, a crowd gathered, hungry for some drama.

"Isn’t that the crazy widow from the alley? Since when did she have a daughter?"

"Her husband died young, guess she couldn’t handle the loneliness, eh? Haha."

"Heard he ditched her ages ago. Probably had girlfriends on the side."

"That girl looks familiar, isn’t she old Aiden’s kid? I think her mom..."

"Now you mention it, she is."

"The two saddest souls in town have found each other."

"Three hundred's a good deal. Don't be greedy!"

I’d never cursed anyone before, so I didn’t even know how. The words just borrowed from what my dad used to yell at me.

But their words were nastier than mine.

Thinking of Aunt Marie facing them alone before only fueled my fire.

People are like that: the weak fear the strong, the strong fear the reckless, and the reckless fear the ones with nothing to lose.

I charged around, grabbing and tearing at whoever I could reach, screaming and cursing back word for word.

In the chaos, a lock of my hair got pulled out, and my face got scratched, burning fiercely.

Aunt Marie tried to shield me. She had her coat torn and her arm pinched several times.

They called me a little lunatic. So I showed them just how crazy I could be.