Tattoo by Michelle Rene

Author:Michelle Rene [Rene, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781944354374
Publisher: Annorlunda Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five: Dakota

These days I’m considered a criminal. Back before the Big Day, tattoo artists were...well, artists. It was a profession that was out in the open and paid for their artistry. The jobs could be as simple as a bumblebee on someone’s ankle or as complex as a memorial scene that covered their entire body. I supposed if someone wanted something like that today, I could technically deliver what they wanted. No one would, though. No one does anymore because every bit of skin that is marred is a piece of their life taken away.

Let’s just say Judgment Day wasn’t as advertised when it happened. It was before my time, but I read the old texts that predicted seas as blood and the dead walking the Earth. None of that stuff happened. The event was far subtler than anyone expected. We all were tattooed now, from the day we were born until the day we died; our story was written in the beautiful hand of our Maker all over our bodies.

Every major event of our life was etched in perfect script all across us. Even as our skin aged and sagged, the words read just as true as the first day they were scrawled. It seemed like a little thing at first to have your life written across you, but soon the message hits home. Judgment Day was really the end of anonymity. No longer could criminals hide their crimes. If a body washed ashore, the murderer’s identity was plainly etched on their skin. When a girl cried rape, not only was the story etched on her skin forever but on her rapist’s as well. A policeman’s job transformed from collecting evidence to learning to read the nearly extinct art of cursive handwriting.

These days, nothing could be forgotten. Sure, if you went to grab a coffee, nothing about such a mundane thing would appear on your skin. However, if you wanted to forget how embarrassing your one-night stand was or lie to a boyfriend about it, you couldn’t. Everything was known, and everything was in the open. Not to mention that your memories no longer faded or glossed over with the silky nostalgia of time. Every person remembered everything etched on their skin with unwavering clarity. That was a wonderful thing if you were reminiscing about your honeymoon in Belize, but what if all you wanted to do was forget that awful person who broke your heart? Sorry, time didn’t heal those wounds anymore, and that’s where I came in. That’s where the Maker and I disagreed.

I spent my young life learning to copy the Maker’s handwriting, and I was good. I was damn good. People came to me in tears, begging for relief. They couldn’t bear to remember this or that anymore, and I helped them. I expertly removed the strip of skin with the unwanted memory, fixed in a new strip of clean skin, and rewrote that part of their life. When I was finished, the skin looked untouched and they didn’t remember whatever it was that I had cut away.

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