Memoirs Of a survivor

40. Inked

When we made it into the tattoo shop, the air was heavy with the smell of sweet incense, and I could hear the sounds of classic rock music floating through the shop, in the background the sound of a tattoo gun called out. I looked over to the man stood behind the desk, as I made my way over to the man at the desk, he was a tall skinny guy, with tattoos peeking out of the wherever his clothing stopped, and piercings through his nose and ears, he had dark hair, but only on the top of his head, it was longer on top I recognized him from the pictures on the internet, but didn't give anything away yet. As I got to the counter, he looked at me smiling saying
"hey there little lady, what can I do for you?" his eyes switched between me and Logan, who insisted on coming with me, no matter what I said
"hi, I'm here to get a tattoo" he smiled at me, and nodded, I'm going to be busy for the next few hours, but I'm sure Immy can help you" he turned and shouted for Immy
"actually, I think I'm your appointment, I booked earlier, my name was scar" his eyes widened in surprise, as he looked me over properly, at that moment what I assume was Immy came down the stairs, smiling at me
"what's up man" Mikey turned to him, still looking shocked
"err, my appointments arrived" Immy's face brightened up,
"no way where, is he, prepare to lose the bet!" he grinned excitedly then when his eyes fell on Logan, he jumped in the air, triumphantly
"I told you, what did I say, long hair, leather jacket" he grinned and heled his hand out, but Mikey shook his head,
"we were both wrong," nodding to me, I stood and waved an awkward hi, smiling slightly as Immy's face dropped in astonishment
"oh, err, go right on through, ill mind the counter" he mumbled, obviously disappointed from his loss, and surprised by my appearance.

I followed Mikey through to a seating area, with Logan hot in my tail, as he sat looking around the store; me and Mikey got all the pleasantries out of the way. While I took in the room building I was sat in. there was plush red everywhere. The walls weren't painted; they were covered in red velvet, which was gathered at regular intervals. There was what looked to be a waiting area, which had a dark red chesterfield sofa that was big enough to easily seat 4 people, along with another single one that was placed next to it. Everything else was black, this included the ceiling, the coffee table that the chairs surrounded, the counter that the till was on, and the frames hung on the walls which held pictures of the staff with the exception of one which was bigger than the rest and gold, in it was a picture of Immy, stood with his arms crossed, and looking intimidating.

"so, I need to see what I will be working with in order to get some ideas out for you, do you have anything you want me to add to them?" smiling I reached around and pulled my research out of my bag , spreading them out onto the table
"so I, erm" I took a deep breath to calm the nerves that threatened to choke me and tried again "I have scars, err everywhere," Mikey looked up from the images and notes before him to listen to what I was saying, and I could feel Logan's gaze on my face. I looked down at my hands that I was playing with in my lap but carried on talking "there are 15 in total, some worse than others, but I can't look at myself in the mirror anymore," Logan reached over to put a comforting hand on my thigh but I shuffled out of hi reach, "so I want," I paused thinking over my words "no, I need them covered, I can't live like this anymore" I gestured to myself. I looked away from the two men gazing intently at me, only to find Immy looking at me too. Mikey started talking, softly to me,
"do you mind showing me what I'm working with" he smiled tentatively at me. I nod, and stand up, shrugging the shirt off, and removing the crop top I was wearing so that he could see. I felt a soft touch run over one of them, and let out a strangled cry
"please, don't touch them, not like that, I don't need pity; just cover them up" I whispered bowing my head, as I dragged in ragged breaths
"okay, I'm going to draw round them, so I can take a rough guideline, and then I'm going to do a rough sketch, stencil it on you, and then add the rest of the detail in pen, then start inking, is that okay" I released a breath
"yeah, that's good" I closed my eyes as I heard some paper being ruffled, then I felt pressure as the pen began drawing over one of the scars. As he finished the ones on my back, I turned around, and he did the ones over my hips, and stomach, there were some up my arms from defending myself, and ones on my stomach. Across my ribs I had two, and I had one large one, that is usually covered by my sports bra that ran over my shoulder and down my back, there were scars on my legs as well which he also traced. When he was done I took a steadying breath put my clothes back on , and sat back down, pretending that Logan wasn't there to witness this, hoping he would let me deal with this by myself. I watched as Mikey gathered my pictures, and made his way over to his drawing table which was surrounded by lights and pens. As I sat there I felt the couch I was sat on dip, as Logan moved closer to me, hugging me gently in his arms I tensed, and pushed him off, uncomfortable with the contact, but softened the blow with a gentle smile on my face
"thanks... for coming" I said. He replied with his signature grin. Mikey came in, and caught Logan's almost love sick expression
"You two make an adorably cute couple" Mikey smiled down at us. I was so busy stopping the obnoxious shade of red that seemed to be spreading up my face to that I almost didn't correct him,
"oh no, were not together" I gestured to us embarrassed. Mikey just grinned and wondered away.

When I saw the beauty that was on the page, all words went out of my head, it was perfect. The image on the page was the side profile of a lion, but it was made out of patterns, and the mane, looked as though it was blowing in the wind with individual strands of hair drawn in, they were in so much detail, that it could have been made up of the feathers of a bird's tail. I was in love from the moment I saw it. "In your notes, you wrote, represents strength" the sudden sound of Mikey speaking shocked me out of mu retrieve, and reminded me I had to say something
"I love it!" I almost squealed I was so happy with the picture I couldn't move.

I heard Mikey release a breath "even though I've done this a thousand times, I still get nervous "he was saying to Logan who was now stood behind me looking at the picture smiling. They both turned to me and Mikey began speaking again
"come here and let me stencil it onto you" I walked towards him
"I have designed this one to go over the scars on your hips, see, the lines cover them" he traced a finger over my hip. I smiled and nodded, at him, and he walked over to the table, beckoning me over, he placed the paper down, and switched on some lights, "okay you're going to have to push your pants down so that I can get the stencil flat" I hesitated a little, and unbuttoned my shorts, sliding them down far enough so that it could lie flat. He heled up a bottle so I could see it "I'm going to put this on you, so that I can transfer the image, okay, it's going to be cold" he went on chattering away as he went to work with what he was doing photographing the different stages of the work he was doing, but I wasn't listening any more, I was only watching his hands work, creating the image. He finished most of the lion, when Logan came back with food for us all, other customers had been coming in and out, as Mikey was working, coming to look at the work that he was doing. It was dark before Mikey finished the lion, and was moving onto the background. I looked up at Logan
"you can go home if you want to, you must be incredibly bored" I smiled at him, but he came and sat next to me laying a kiss on my temple, and taking one of my hands in his rubbing his thumb over my knuckles
"I want to be here, besides, I have to see it when it's finished!" he exclaimed. I shrugged not thinking any more of it and letting him keep hold of my hands. But he went one step further and placed his lips gently where his thumbs had been brushing. And again, another blush spread up my cheeks. I cringed back from the kisses, but didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I didn't say anything.