Well, Halloween is almost at hand and I’ve come up with a final flash piece to contribute to Charles’ Halloween Horror Flash Fiction-a-thon. This one’s been hiding in my files almost as long as The Empress.
If I don’t get around to writing another post this week, have a Happy Halloween. Listen to some spooky music, light a bonfire, dress up as the creature you’ve always wanted to be. Oh yeah, and go get some candy for me (Baby Ruth’s are the preferred donation).
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The Love of the Job
Like a mechanical mosquito the needle hammered into his flesh, drawing out slick smears of crimson, depositing various shades of gray in return.
Remember Nikky, this spot is mine.
Those had been the last words spoken to him by his grandfather, Sid “the Ink” Shepherd, as the dying old man patted the final bit of virgin skin on Nick’s motley arm. Now only the walls’ collection of flash stood as silent witness to the fulfillment of that promise, the memorialization of Nick’s mentor, despite the torturous regret it fostered.
The job was going horribly wrong.
Nick’s sweat-slicked right hand clung to the battered, duct taped armrest as his defiant left arm steadily worked his grandfather’s prized shader across his flesh. He could no more stop its progress than will the frenzied staccato of his heart to slow. The needle buzzed into his skin with hot, jabbing intensity. The newly injected ink swarmed through the dermis, breaking lines here, joining others there, willfully reshaping his chosen design to suit its own undisclosed end. Nick could do nothing but watch.
After hours of slow agony, the maniacal tension in Nick’s arm dispelled and the shader clattered to the floor. His stomach knotted with trepidation, Nick grabbed a handful of rough paper towels and wiped away the sanguine and ebony swirls. From its place in the center of his forearm, the grayscale visage of his grandfather stared sternly up at the collection of lewd cartoons pinned to the ceiling. Like a slow moving wave, the skin on Nick’s arm gathered and broke, folding over his grandfather’s eyes as dark, hooded lids. The tattoo gave a slow blink and then rolled its gaze down, sweeping back and forth, studying its new incarnation. Sweat ticked down Nick’s face as the eyes–those eyes wrought by his own hand–turned upwards to bore into him. With a careful stretch of its mouth, the tattoo gave Nick an admonitory scowl.
“Your shading is shit, boy.”
Hell and Wheels 
February 9th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Kate — Thanks. Maybe if it happens again next Halloween you’ll honor us with some flash of your own.
February 7th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Great stuff! Somehow I missed all this when it came out.
November 4th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Vesper — Thanks. I appreciate it.
October 30th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Excellent story (fit for a grand finale…)! Great ending line! 🙂
October 30th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Miladysa — Is that, “Oh, my, you should really consider another occupation?”Charles — Thank you. Nothing like knowing the feel of the needle to be able to describe it.Steve — I feel so sorry for you, cut off from the best candy on earth. Want me to mail you some?You know, I was thinking of you when I posted this, thinking I was about to be busted on some technical tattooing aspect.Lana — As a lifelong smartass, I can’t help ending some stories with a bit of sarcastic humor.Sqt — No tattoos? You’re in a rare minority these days, I’m afraid. You rebel punk kid. Laughingwolf — Whee! Thanks.Spy — You should try. I don’t prefer to write them, but they are a great way to practice control of verbiage (and I need all the practice I can get).Sidney — Why, thank you, sir.Will — Thank you. And thanks so much for stopping by. Love the avatar pic, by the way.
October 30th, 2008 at 3:18 am
Awesome short. You really brought us into the scene.I love the ending.
October 29th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
That’s great! I like that a lot!
October 29th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Love it! I love short stories. I haven’t experimented with any flash fiction. I need to!
October 29th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
damn! heard/felt/lived that! superb!
October 29th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Gah! I have no tattoos currently. But if I ever do, that story will prevent me from ever getting anyone’s face inked on my skin.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Ha! I love it! Great ending. 🙂
October 29th, 2008 at 6:49 am
1) Sudden, overpowering, visceral lust for a Baby Ruth bar, unavailable in my chosen land…2) Yikes! Great ending!!3) If Grandad wanted better shading, he should have picked a spot on Nick’s thigh or calf, where he could use his off-hand to stretch the skin. I imagine the old bastard wanted the forearm so he could see and be seen…Seriously, loved that one!!
October 29th, 2008 at 2:57 am
oooh, nice. Very visceral. I could feel this one and I like that in a story.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Oh My!