Every time someone tries to braid their hair, they keep weaving mysterious patterns

I could not get this braid right. I had never been good at braids, but I really wanted to be able to do a French braid. It was just like one level up from the basic braid and there were many other braids I wanted to try. If I could get the French braid right, then I could have hope of getting other ones rights.

But this braid would not work. How did I keep making this giant knot? Each time I tried, I didn't get a braid right. I was always able to undo it though, which was good. Each attempt made me think that maybe I wouldn't get this knot undone. So far, each time I had gotten it undone.

While I entangled my latest braid attempt, I made a decision. I would try a braid one more time and then I would send pictures to my friend Leigh. She was the one who usually braided my hair and hopefully she would be able to tell me what I was doing wrong.

I made one more braid, trying to do what Leigh told me and I ended up with another mess. I snapped a picture in the mirror and sent it to Leigh.

LEIGH
HALP
WHAT DO?

Leigh responded quickly, because she hated her job:

Oh, my friend
What have you done?

I TRY TO BRAID

Try being the operative word

HALP

Send me a vid of what you're doing
I can't figure out what you've done

Who even knows what I was doing? I then braided my hair again, taking a video and narrating what I was doing. I then sent it to Leigh when I, once again, did not have a French braid.

Leigh responded pretty quickly:
Okay
So you know you're not doing what you say you are
Right?

I was confused, so I replied:
What do you mean? Am I doing the motions wrong?

Leigh typed back:
No
I mean you are just not doing it at all
Your hands are just doing something else

Now Leigh hadn't messed with me before, so I decided to watch the video myself. She was right, I wasn't doing what I thought I was. At least that explained how I was ending up with knots. I wrote back:
Welp not sure how I'm doing all that

Leigh's reply came quickly:
Hang on
Your knot looks a bit familiar
Gimme a minute

And so I sat, untangling my latest mess and waiting for Leigh to figure out what the Hell I was doing. After what felt like far too long, I got a text.

So don't freak out

Oh boy was that a bad way to start texts with me

But I think you're somehow weaving Ogham
That's the ancient Irish line writing thing

Leigh had to be messing with me. So I replied:
Yeah
Sure

Her response was immediate:
I'M SERIOUS
LOOK AT THIS

She sent me a picture of a stone with Ogham carved into it. The lines matched up with how I had braided my hair. But it just had to be a coincidence.

I replied:
Uh huh
Good job at finding the pic
But seriously help me braid my hair and stop messing around

Leigh texted:
My friend
You just braided: "help me" into your hair
Are you okay?

I...I thought I was okay. I mean, sure, I did need help with the braiding...but wasn't I okay? But if I was actually braiding ancient words into my hair...maybe I wasn't. I was now starting to panic.

Can you come over Leigh?

On my way

Leigh would fix the problem. Surely it was just a weird coincidence. There was nothing wrong with me. Nothing could be, right? I finally started to feel an ache in my fingers, but that had to just be from all of the braiding. It didn't mean anything.

I looked down at my hands and stretched them. They someone looked faraway. But no, I was just freaking out, nothing was wrong. The vision started to go a bit blurry, but I had been looking too closely at my hair, my fingers, my screen, it had to just be the strain.

I looked up and the world started to go black. Just before I passed out, I said, "Help me."

(Prompt by me)

Photo by Stilfehler.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ladder_Braid_Ponytail.JPG