Chapter 6 – The tattoo
Charlie held me until I could get myself under control. I rubbed my eyes and pulled back.
"Are you okay now, bells?"
I nodded sniffling
"Yeah, sorry I ruined your shirt"
"You'll wash it"
He shrugged it off making me chuckle. Nodding to myself I let him help me up. He helped me up holding my bags with a hand while he kept the other one tight around me. He guided me around the body making sure my attention wasn't on it.
"What's his name?"
I asked softly
"He had an ID on him, his name is Damien Franklin. He was a PI from Chicago"
I shuddered
"Want me to drive you home Bells?"
He asked softly. I shook my head again
"No, walking will clear my head"
"Call me the moment you get home"
He instructed sternly and kissed my brow when I nodded. I began walking home slowly taking my bags from him. I had no right to kill that man. I really need to learn how to control myself.
From now on, I stick to the bags.
Arriving home I kicked off my shoes, grabbed the bottle of coke from the fridge and poured a tall glass adding ice and some cherry syrup. Taking my glass upstairs with me along with all the shopping bags I plopped on my bed. I called Charlie to tell him I arrived home safe and while drinking my all time favorite drink I took out mom's present.
I had promised her a scrapbook full of memories, hadn't I?
I put photos together, wrote comments using all my childhood, colorful pens. I fell asleep with the silver pen between my fingers.
I woke up tucked inside my bed, the scrapbook was on my desk, the pens put in their place in an empty cracked Tweety mug, even my glass was on the desk.
I sat up, stretched, yawned, and rubbed my eyes. Heading to the bathroom I brushed my teeth, showered and got dressed in a pair of brown jeans and a light blue tank top with a pair of cowboy boots and applied a little makeup. On the fridge was a note from Charlie saying he had to work. With a mug of coffee I returned to my room.
First things first
Turn on the cute, silver, flip cell phone and plug it to a socket. With a metallic blue marker I scribbled a 'B' in the back.
Turn on the laptop and customize it. While I'm at it, set up the home internet as well.
Last but not least figure out my diet. In the basement was a large fridge that Charlie uses to store some of his bigger game when he goes hunting. Smiling to myself I plugged it in and grabbing my keys, phone and purse I went to find me some blood.
Realizing it would seem strange if blood went missing from our local hospital in forks I decided to drive out to Port Angeles. Driving slowly with my ancient truck I pulled out my phone and sent a massive text with my number to mom, Lexi, Freida, Jake and a few friends from school.
Arriving to Port Angeles I asked a uniformed cop where the nearest hospital was. The deputy gave me directions and soon I was pulling to the vast parking lot of a rather large hospital. Heading inside I asked the nurse where I should go to donate blood and then it was easy to take what I needed, hide it in my bag and compel the nurse to forget I was ever there.
Exiting the hospital, I decided to walk around for a bit.
That's how I ended up in a tattoo parlor browsing a large dossier with samples.
"Bella?"
I looked up to see Jim from the band
"hi Jim, are you working here?"
"Yeah, my sis owns the place. Are you thinking of getting a tattoo?"
"I was... does it hurt?"
I chuckled nervously
"nah. I felt nothing when I had mine"
he lift the sleeve of his navy blue t-shirt to show me a black and white yin yang. I smiled
"That's pretty"
"Thank you"
A female voice joined us. It belonged to a female version of Jim. Black hair cut a la garcon and the same pair of striking gray eyes. She smiled politely
"Jill"
"Jim and Jill?"
They shrugged
"our parents thought they were funny"
Jim said with a smile
"what are you looking for?"
"Wildflowers"
She smiled and gave me another sample book. Browsing I found a beautiful blue poppy.
"This one"
I showed it to her. She smiled and motioned me to the back room.
"Jim, keep an eye on the store"
Without waiting for a reply she walked away and I followed her setting my purse on a counter.
"Where do you want it?"
"Where can I get it without my father seeing it and grounding me till I'm 30?"
she laughed
"I did my first one on my hip but the back of your shoulder is good too"
She popped her jeans open and showed me a small ring of fire on her right hip.
"I see what you mean. I think I'll go for the shoulder"
"Now the color. Why blue?"
"Its my favorite color and its more original than red"
I joked. She took the tattoo design from me, put it in a machine that gave it blank, printed on a gelatin like thing. I straddled backwards on a chair and shrugged off my shirt. Jill cleaned the area with antiseptic and pressed the gelatin for a few minutes until the blank flower was copied on my skin.
Then she took a few colored pens and began drawing on the gelatin for a few minutes and showed me the result. The poppy now had a black outer line, a white center, and the petals began in a cute lilac color, slowly grating to a deep blue ending in an indigo color that reached the outline.
"It's beautiful"
I breathed. Jill smiled and placed the drawing on my shoulder, pulled a pair of surgical gloves on, opened a drawer and produced the tattoo gun and began fiddling with colored rocks, breaking the down and adding a clear liquid to create the exact shades she wanted.
Then she turned on me
"It might hurt a little"
She began drawing on my skin starting with the outline. The gun felt like a million needles sticking to my skin at once but it didn't hurt. It felt like scratching instead. Every few minutes she'd stop and wipe the excess ink. That went on for almost two hours as she took her time to create the delicate flower.
"Did you fall asleep?"
She asked me as she snapped the dirty needles and then the gloves off.
"No, just relaxing"
"Do you want to see your new tattoo?"
"Yes, please"
Jill tilted the chair to an upright position and helped me up without creasing my tattoo. I stood infront of the mirror. Even though some of its colors were a tad dark it didn't stand out too much on my skin.
"apply this cream twice a day, every day, for two weeks. Don't put pressure on it and cover it with plastic. Like this"
She pulled a piece of thin plastic membrane and covered the tattoo with it, pressing the cream covered tattoo softly. Then I pulled my shirt on making sure the fabric didn't touch it tightly.
I paid and left the parlor. Driving through the late afternoon traffic I pulled my phone out and called home. When no one answered I pushed the code for the answering machine. Charlie's voice alerted me he'd be having dinner at the blacks down by the Rez. Do I want to tag along?
Let's see... Spend my evening at a reservation with a bunch of overgrown werewolves, according to Jake's legends, mortal enemies of vampires. Should be fun!
