Chapter 2 Strange

DARREN'S POV

The tattoo moved.

I noticed it, while standing in front of the mirror with the bright light and my shirt still in my hand.

The fresh ink she had laid into my forearm was shifting.

A slow ripple, the fiery lines curling and uncurling like something alive underneath the surface.

I stood there and watched it for a long time.

Ink did not do this. I had seen a lot of things in my life, I have gotten many tattoos but none of them ever had this kind of effect.

I pressed two fingers against it. It was warm. Not the warmth of fresh tattoos or healing skin.

Something that felt foreign. Like something that had taken up residence in my skin.

I dropped my arm.

I didn't know what made the tattoo move, but I know that a human tattoo artist in the surface has done something to me that I don't have an explanation for.

I don't like things that I don't have explanations for.

I picked up my phone and called my most trusted lieutenant. He answered on the second ring.

“There is a woman, a tattoo artist. I want to know everything about her.” I looked at the tattoo in the mirror one last time. The lines were still moving slowly.

Something about it pulled at me in a way I hadn't expected. Curiosity, and I didn’t like that either.

“And, If you notice anything strange, don’t hesitate to capture her.”

I ended the call.

I looked at my forearm for a long moment, then I pulled on my shirt and covered it.

---

ARIELLA'S POV

Throughout the drive home I kept my eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel and did not look down once.

By the time I pulled up outside my apartment the glow was gone, my skin completely unmarked, Just my hands, ordinary under the streetlight. I sat in the car and stared at them for a long moment anyway.

Was I stress hallucinating? Was my mind playing tricks on me? Or was it the reflection of the streetlights?

All these questions kept swirling in my head as I walked into my apartment.

It was pitch black when I got in. I didn't bother turning on the lights, I just walked into my room, switched on the light there, and dropped my things.

I stripped off my clothes and headed to the bathroom. While under the shower, I scrubbed my hands so badly, hoping I might have a glimpse of the glow or make it come back.

But the water ran clear, no unusual glow or pattern.

I eventually gave up and reached to turn off the shower. The inside of my wrist grazed the shower knob and it burned.

I quickly withdrew my hand, it was a sharp pulsating feeling, like a heartbeat that wasn't mine, in a place where a pulse isn't supposed to be felt. I pressed my fingers against it. It beat twice then stopped.

I did it again but I didn't feel anything else. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom.

I walked to the mirror to blow dry my hair and I noticed the mirror had fogged. Not from the shower. I kept the bathroom door closed the whole time, but the bedroom was cold. I picked up a napkin and raised my hand and started wiping the fog away.

Then I stopped. My eye caught something in the fog. A light, faint and gold, the exact same gold that had been seeping through my skin in the car.

I looked at it a second longer, my eyes narrowed as I reached to wipe it away.

Then it was gone, and my mirror, just a mirror again, my face looking at my reflection, pale and wide eyed.

I stood there and stared at my reflection for a long moment.

Then I heard it—a sound, low and resonant, coming from the inside of my head or my chest. I genuinely could not tell which.

But I was sure I heard it and it was coming from me.

It lasted three seconds, then the apartment went completely silent.

My breathing came out, ragged and shallow as I tried to process what was going on, my hand on my chest.

I picked up my phone and called Isla with shaking hands.

She picked on the first ring.

“Hey Isla, could you please come over?” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

“Yeah, sure girl. What's going on?” Isla replied in a worried tone.

“I'll explain when you get here.”

“Okay Ari, I'll be there in five.” Isla replied and hung up.

I heaved a sigh of relief. At least I wasn't going to spend the night alone. I didn't know how to explain these things to her on the phone that wouldn't make me sound insane.

I just pulled on a big t-shirt and waited for her.

I was still in my room, my back curled up against my bed, my knees pulled up to my chest. I hadn't moved for a long while. The apartment was still dark except for my room light bleeding through the doorway.

I heard the jiggling of keys at the main door and the sound of the door creaking open. I was instantly alert. I quickly stood up and went to the door of my room, pressing my back against it. My heart nearly leapt into my throat.

Then I heard Isla call out my name. I finally managed to relax, stepping away from the door.

Isla had let herself in. She had a spare key to my house since the time I had the flu. I heard her keys hit the ceramic bowl by the door and I heard her kick off her boots.

“Ari?” She called out again, her voice carrying a hint of worry and confusion. “Why is everywhere so dark?”

“Over here,” I responded as I unlocked the door for her to come in.

She appeared in the doorway, tall and lovely, with those familiar blue eyes, and her blonde hair escaping from the bun she packed it in. She looked rumpled, like she’d just come here straight from bed. Her eyes found me and her expression tightened.

“Oh my, you look terrible girl.”

“Thanks.” I said as I walked over to my bed and sat down.

“I mean you look like someone just broke your heart.” She came and sat beside me. “What's going on Ari?”

“I don't even know what to say Isla.” I said as my hands moved to cup my face.

“Just say something, start anywhere.”

I told her everything. The three months of strange occurences. The man that walked into my shop and the strange way he kept looking at me. The glow on my hands that disappeared before I could convince myself it was real. The pulse on my wrist. The gold light in the mirror. The sound that came from within me.

When I finished, she blinked hard and scoffed.

“What kind of movie are you watching Ari?” She started giggling.

“It has made you fantasize a lot….I mean, does this even happen in the real world?”

She was still giggling but then I didn't laugh back. The smile stayed on her face a moment longer, then slowly faded as she looked at me properly.

“You're not joking are you?”

I didn't respond. I just exhaled and rested my hands on my cheeks.

She came closer to me and took my hands. “Listen Ari, you might be overthinking or hallucinating due to stress, don't get worked up about this.”

I looked at Isla, I didn't know if she was comforting me or making it worse. I just raised my hand to rub my temples, still trying to process things.

“Ari, don't feel b…….” then she raised her hand to touch my wrist.

“Ari,” she said quietly. “What's on your wrist?”

I looked down at my left wrist, but there was nothing there. Just my skin, pale in the room light, the faint blue veins running underneath. I turned it over to look at my palms, still nothing.

I chuckled, “Isla stop it, you're playing games with me……. I can't see anything here, my wrist is clear.”

“No Ari, I swear I'm not joking this time, there's a mark.” Her expression turned serious.

She took my wrist gently, turning it towards the light, while tracing it with her fingers. “It's golden, like a thread woven under your skin. It's glowing a little.”

I stared at my wrist again. Nothing, just normal skin. Isla is making me doubt my sanity.

“I can't see anything Isla, I'm damn serious this time.”

“It's right here.” She traced a line just below the heel of my palm to my wrist. I felt her touch, cool and light, nothing else.

Whatever Isla was seeing, I couldn't see it. Deep down, I half expected her to burst out laughing and tell me she was just pranking my paranoid brain.

She released my wrist and sat back on the bed. Her face had gone pale. I'd known Isla for five years, I had never seen her this scared before.

“The man you said came to your shop,” she said. “Describe him again.”

I did. But before I finished explaining, Isla stood up fast, her lips pressing into a thin line.

She started pacing back and forth, her hand pushing through her hair that already came loose.

“Don't show that mark to anyone else.”

“What do you mean Isla? I can't even see it.”

“I'm serious Ari, don't let anyone else see it.” She said, looking at me seriously.

“Okay, but why? What do you think it is?” I turned my arms over, still trying to see the mark.

Isla's jaw tightened. She knew something. I could see it the way her shoulder was tensed, the way her fingers curled around the hem of her shorts. But she didn't say whatever it was.

“I’ll ask around,” she said, sitting beside me. In the meantime, don't go looking for him. Don't try to find out who he is. If he comes back, call me immediately.” She warned.

“Isla, you're scaring me.”

“Good.” She met my eyes,and there was something fierce in her face now. “You should be scared. Something is happening to you and until we know what that is, you need to be careful.”

She stayed with me throughout the night.

When it was eight, I woke up to Isla staring at my wrist.

She noticed I was already awake, and tore her gaze away from my wrist.

“Hey, you're awake.”

“Yeah I am, I have to get ready for today's work.” I said and pretended not to notice that she was staring at my wrist.

“Okay girl. Just be careful.” She stood up, arranged her hair and wore her coat over her night wear and headed for the door.

At the door, she paused with one hand on the frame. “The mark is beautiful Ari, whatever it means, It's not ugly.”

Then she left.

I locked the door and stood in my apartment, alone with a mark I couldn't see and a feeling I couldn't explain.

My list is indeed getting longer.