The Door With the Shoe Under It

Haircut Day posters flapped on the Moon Shining Orphanage hallway wall. Anna’s long blonde pigtails brushed her waist as she skipped, her moon pendant tapping her purple dress.

Sabrina giggled. “New bangs!”

Mandy held up her phone. “I found a braid video!”

Juliana sniffed the air. “Hair spray. And… clippers.”

From the boys’ hall came a muffled thump.

Hana flicked her shiny headband. “Tornado heads. Gross.”

Ollie squeezed Anna’s sleeve. “Blaze, Michael, and Jack locked the dorm. He put a shoe under the door.”

Anna stared at the door. Something shuffled behind it, and a curtain of dark hair slid under the crack

Wet Socks, Loud Buzz

Anna grabbed the shoe under the door and yanked.

The door sprang a crack. A curtain of dark hair spilled out, and Blaze’s voice came from inside. “Close it!”

Sabrina lifted her phone. “Say ‘tornado’!”

Ollie hid behind Anna. “Don’t make him mad.”

Hana sniffed. “He is scared of a comb.”

Water suddenly slid across the hall floor. Anna’s pigtail tip dipped in it. “Ew!”

Mrs. Kline, the short-haired barber, pushed her buzzing cart up. “Laundry room, kids! Pipe leak.”

From the closed door, Michael yelled, “Not going!”

The clippers buzzed again, closer.