Chapter 3 The Pull

The next two days passed without any weird activity. On Mondays, the shop was closed. I spent the day cleaning my apartment, and always checking my wrist on every reflective surface I passed, but I still couldn't see the mark. Just faint blue veins and the ordinary lines of my palm.

I was grateful to go back to my work on Tuesday, I had convinced myself that the weekend was some kind of stress episode or an overactive imagination. I opened my shop and let the familiar rythm of work drown out the doubt.

The first few hours were normal. My morning slots were filled with regulars who actually had appointments. Tessa and her floral touch up, and two more clients getting a new piece. By three I the afternoon, I'd done four tattoos and my wrist

was aching, and I just sat down to relax while sketching a custom piece for my next client.

Then the bell chimed, and I looked up to see Kail. He walked in, standing in the doorway, shoulders slightly hunched. He had been a regular for two years.

“Hey Kail,” I said, setting down my pencil. “You don't have an appointment today….. Or do you?”

“No, I don't.” He stepped inside, letting the door shut properly. “I was hoping you could fit me in. Just something small. A star, maybe. Beside my thumb.”

“We're pretty booked today, you know.”

“I can wait.”

I studied him for a while. Something was off, with the way his eyes kept darting around the shop like he was looking for something. But either way, he was a good client, and I had a cancellation at five.

“Fine, you can take a seat. It might take a while, maybe an hour.”

He bobbed his head and settled down on one of the leather chairs, pulling out his phone, but he didn't look at it. He just held it in his hand and stared at the wall.

I turned back to my sketch, but I couldn't concentrate. Every few seconds, my gaze moved to him. He kept shifting in his seat. The way he kept shifting in his seat. The way his hand occasionally reached to press against his chest.

“Kail.” I said slowly, looking up from my sketch. “Are you good?”

“Uhm, yeah,” Then he paused. “I don't know.”

I furrowed my brows. He was staring at me now with an unreadable expression.

“I've been feeling strange since Saturday.” Then he looked down, fiddling with his phone. “Restless, like I was supposed to be somewhere. This morning, it just got extremely bad, so I just….got in my car and ended up here.”

I blinked. “Here? Specially?”

“Yeah.” He scoffed. “I don't even want a tattoo today. I just said that because I needed a reason to stay. That's insane right?”

My stomach tightened. “What do you mean by a reason to stay?”

He pressed his hand to his chest. “The moment I walked through that door, the pull eased.”

“I don't understand,” I said, but my voice came out small. “Why would you feel pulled here?”

“I was hoping I could also find out why.”

We both stared at each other. But before I could say anything else, the door chimed again.

A woman walked in. She was tall, curvy and had long curly brown hair. Her eyes were silver and shimmered under the light. I recognized her. I had tattooed a floral vine on her lower back six months ago.

“Oh, hey.” I said to her, standing.

“I need a consultation.” Her voice was smooth, almost melodic.

“I'm sorry, but we're pretty booked today. You can check the website for………”

“I'll wait.” She walked past me and sat in the chair next to Kail. They didn't acknowledge each other but Kail's posture went rigid.

“Your name?” I asked her.

“It's Laura.”

“Okay Laura, I have a client coming in thirty minutes, you might be waiting a long time.”

“Yeah, I don't mind.” she said, watching me.

I turned back to my drawing table, my heart beating a little bit too fast. Two clients in fifteen minutes, unannounced, both acting like they had been summoned.

I continued my sketch with shaking hands.

“That phoenix,” Laura said from behind me. “It's really beautiful.”

I turned around. She had stood up and moved closer without a sound. “Thanks, It's for a client.”

“I'd love to have something like this someday.”

An alarm went off in my head. “Then why are you here today?”

“I don't know.” Her composure faltered for a moment. “I've been trying to figure that out since Saturday. I woke up and felt something pulling me here. But today, it got stronger, I couldn't resist anymore.”

Kail stood up sharply. “You too?”

Laura turned to look at him. “What do you mean?”

“Something has been pulling me here too since Saturday morning.” He looked at her. “I thought I was losing my mind.”

“Maybe we both are.”

Then they looked at me.

I stepped back, my hip bumping the table. “I don't know what you're talking about. A pull? This doesn't make sense at all.”

“Well, it's happening.” Kail said and shrugged.

“To the both of us.” Laura added. “Pointing at the same place, at you.” She said while pointing at me.

The door chimed a third time.

The man who stumbled through was young, early twenties, dark curls plastered to his forehead. His chest heaved, breathing like he'd run miles. His hands were shaking. He braced himself against the doorframe and as he lifted his head, his eyes locked onto mine.

“It stopped,” he gasped.

Kail stepped forward. “What stopped?”

“The pull.” The young man pressed his hand on his chest. “I've been feeling it since Saturday morning. It got unbearable this afternoon,and I started running towards the direction the pull was taking me.” He straightened himself slowly. “The moment I walked through that door and looked at her, it eased.”

Then he looked at me. They all looked at me.

“Why on earth are you guys staring at me?” My voice came out a little bit too high. “I don't understand what's happening. I don't know anything about any pull or……”

“Then why are we all here?” the curly-haired man demanded. “Why did we all feel the same thing? Why does it stop when we get close to you?”

“I don't know!”

Kail came close to me. “Okay, so what…..”

And the front window exploded.

Glass sprayed across the shop in glittering waves. I threw my hands up instinctively to shield my face, and felt the shards slice across my forearm.

The door burst open and figures poured through. Human shaped, but wrong. Some had eyes burning like hot coal, some had hands shaped like claws.

They came straight for me.