Chapter 4
"This way" Bludworth motioned for Tanya to follow him
Tanya was relieved to see that the room where Bludworth would be carrying out his work was more brightly lit then the previous room. After Tanya's eyes became adjusted to the change in lighting the first thing she noticed was that one wall of the room was littered with various knives and swords from different ages and different countries. "I see you've noticed my collection" commented the tattooist "sorry I was only looking" Tanya responded.
"Its ok you can look, looking never hurt anyone" Bludworth smiled his sinister smile "tell me, do I make you nervous?" a metallic rattling sound was all that could be heard in the room Tanya eventually realised that the rattling sound was her lip shaking causing her twin lip rings to knock against each other. "Is it ok if I smoke?" the young Chinese girl asked "be me guest" came the answer. Tanya lit a cigarette and sucked gratefully on it "you know that thing'll kill ya don't ya?" Bludworth stated "ok we're all ready now take a seat" this was the first time Tanya had even noticed the chair in the middle of the room. It looked like it had seen better days padding was showing through in patches and it had lots of loose threads. "Its old but it will serve its purpose" the tattooist informed her. Tanya took a seat and Bludworth sat on a stool next to her. He rolled up his sleeve revealing a tattoo of a hooded skeletal figure; Tanya was transfixed on it "what's the matter? Never been so close to the Grim Reaper before?" Bludworth smiled once more.
"Leg is it?" Bludworth asked. Tanya gave no answer, she merely stared outwards. "The tattoo is it going on your leg" he asked again this time the girl answered "erm….sorry yes…the left one just above the ankle"
"As you wish" Bludworth acknowledged "I see you don't stick to traditions"
"What do you mean?" Tanya asked
"Well correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the Chinese believe there is a part of the ear that controls your luck, and so traditionally they would never have their ear pierced all the way around for the risk of damaging the lucky part of their ear, but I see you don't believe that" Tanya put her hands up to her ears touching the silver metal rings which filled every available space on them "I don't believe in luck" she informed him
"Oh I see, how about fate?" the tattooist smiled yet again. Everything about this guy made Tanya nervous. His laugh his smile his movement but most of all the way the way his voice seemed to big for his body.
"Well let's cut the chit-chat and get this thing started shall we?" as Bludworth moved himself into position taking the tattoo gun in his hand and pulling it towards Tanya's leg the various cables and tubes attached to the gun surrounded the chair. The tattooist knocked a loose thread at the top of the chair which uncurled itself and fell through the metal rings in Tanya's ear "get comfy" Bludworth boomed. As Tanya shifted her position the thread slid between the cushions of the chair, so that the thread now started at the top of the chair through Tanya's earrings and was held firmly in place by the cushions.
Bludworth started work on Tanya's leg she almost jumped out of her skin at this point not because was in pain but just because she wasn't told that he was about to begin. "Still anxious are we? Nerves aren't good for such a young girl" the fact that Bludworth sounded genuinely concerned with this comment made Tanya all the more nervous.
"Can we just get this done please?"
"It'll be over before you know it"
With this the room fell into near silence for exactly a minute and a half before the calm was broken by a ringing of a phone, Tanya instinctively sat upright at such a speed it caused the thread which remained in place to rip out her earrings in a motion not unlike a zipper, Tanya felt the white hot pain on the left side of her head, she touched where it hurt and felt a sticky liquid, she looked at her hand all she saw was red. She screamed and started to run but as soon as she stood up she tripped on the tube which lay at her feet, as she landed on the hard stone floor a crack could be heard it was the noise of Tanya's jaw breaking from the impact of her landing, she tried to scream but the only sound she could manage was an inaudible sound caused by her broken jaw and the fact that her throat and mouth were filling with blood. The vibrations of her hitting the floor caused a machete on the wall to fall loose; piercing her body, blood erupted everywhere. At that point Keiko entered the room "hey how long you gonna…." She never finished the question instead she was physically sick, Keiko's vomit mixing on the floor with Tanya's blood like some macabre cocktail. Keiko turned for the door Bludworth shouted after her "don't you want to see what tattoo she picked" he laughed whilst holding up a piece of paper with a design of a heart with a knife through it. He laughed.