Inked Together

I can't sleep. All I could think about was the concept that I could hate my new tattoos. The fact that I had no idea what would be plastered on me forever was giving me more anxiety than the meaning behind them. I knew one could potentially protect me from a great deal of pain or danger, and I knew the other would lead me to great happiness. The hard part would be determining which was which. I wish my brain had an off switch. f**k this overthinking s**t, I'm exhausted. Physically and emotionally. All of my friends were so excited to turn 16 so they could either find their greatest enemy or soulmate, but I'd been dreading this day since my brother Grey woke up with a unicorn and a guinea pig 2 years ago. If you could remove or cover them, I would've felt so much better, but after they started showing up and those 5 girls disappeared, it got banned… I think the worst part is that nobody knows how or why the tattoos started appearing… Rainne wanted me to have a fade-in party, but I think they're cheesy. I've seen too many friendships destroyed over watching someone's marks come in… I heard a girl at our school got the same mark as her best friend on her left arm and the same one as the best friend's boyfriend on her right, and they were all at her party together. The cops had to be called to break that fight up, the couple broke up, and the best friend switched schools. Messy. That's what I think this is. I'm popping a melatonin and wishing to the universe that nothing shows up. Or I just die in my sleep. Whichever works. "So what did you geeeeetttttt?" I heard Grey's voice ringing from down the hall, followed by quick, heavy footsteps and then loud banging on my door. "f**k off, I bet lefty's a guinea pig because I'm coming to murder you if you don't shut up!" I tried to tug the blankets up over my head, but he was already in my room, ripping them off me. "I could've been naked, you freak!" I threw a pillow at him and tightly curled my fingers over the cuffs of my sleeves. "Hide all you want, Tater, but you'll have to look eventually. You know Mom's gonna make you show her when you come down." I groaned and sat up, still holding my sleeves in place. "Let me at least put my f*****g contacts in. Go tell her I left already or some s**t. It's-" I check my clock "6AM! f**k YOU GREY SHE'S NOT EVEN-" "Language!" My mom came into the room carrying a stack of pancakes with a single lit candle stuck in the middle. "This is a happy day, sweetie. Even if you're not ready to look yet, it's still your birthday. No need to fight with your brother. And Grey, you could give her some space for a minute, this can be a big thing. Just because you knew your partner right away, doesn't mean she's going to find her matches any time soon. Not all of us are so lucky." She was 18 when the tattoos started, so even though her and Dad chose to get matching starfish on their wrists, they weren't a part of this bullshit. "Guys. Oxygen. Please. Thank you for the pancakes Mom, but it's way too early for all this. I'll eat, take a shower, THEN pop my contacts in and we'll all study them together, okay?" Turning on the water, my sleeve crept up just enough for me to see some sort of tail poke out. Man, that looks like it might be kind of cool… f**k it, I'm just going to look. At least maybe one of them is going to be alright. I reached to grab my contacts and the other sleeve shifted to show- THE SAME TIP OF A TAIL?? No way… This can't be possible. I put them in and took a deep breath. Maybe they're similar but not the same. That can happen, right? I stood in the mirror, hoodie on the floor, searching for even the slightest difference in the two seemingly identical, yet VERY large snakes wrapped around my arms all the way up to my shoulders. Maybe it's on the back of my arm where I can't see it? The pattern is pretty intricate. There HAS to be some sort of difference, right? Nobody's ever gotten a perfect pair before. This can't be right… How am I going to show them? I can hide this somehow… Did Aries sneak in and draw on me to make them match? This has to be a prank. I'm going to wash it off. It did not come off. They're still there. f**k. They want to see these, where's the concealer? "Sooooo??? What do we have?" Grey asked, pulling at my right cuff. I ripped my arm away and slapped him with the other hand. "They're hideous. I'm not showing anyone. I'll wear sleeves for the rest of my life." "Oh sweetie, it can't be that bad…" My mom tries so hard to be supportive but sometimes it's just not the move. She tried to tell Grey that his rodent was "dignified." How the f**k? "They're just ugly, and I don't want you to see them, okay? It's a personal thing. Body autonomy and consent and all that. I'm going to school." I grabbed my bag and ran out the door. Rainne knew it was my birthday and I knew she was going to make me show her, but I just hoped I could trust her to keep it between us. I was definitely not able to cover them with what we had in the house, so I was hoping to see if she had anything in her theater kit that could fudge it a little… At least make a few lines different so I could show my mom and then proceed to just, I don't know, amputate one of my arms or something? "Okay birthday girl, what do we have here?" She greeted me at my locker. "Not here, costume closet, NOW!" I said, pulling her by her backpack strap in that direction. "I mean okay so we can look at it this way, right? Like at least you don't have to question which one is which? I mean I don't see any difference but it could be subtle. This pattern is really complex. Maybe it's like twins or something and one is the good twin and one is the evil twin." She meant well but we all know it doesn't work that way… "Rainne… What do I do?" "Obviously you panic. But you seem to have that part sorted out…" she thought for a minute. "Okay listen, we just quietly get some ink and needles from Thyme and I'll just bloop a little star right here and a moon over there on that one and we'll call it good. That'll fit, right? Nobody will have to know. I can draw." "You think they won't notice a needle missing? I know they do some shady s**t but like, don't they have a camera on their door? Maybe we can just ask them to do it. As much as I don't want to bring anyone else into this, they could get in just as much trouble for agreeing to fix it as I could for having it changed. I know how much they love me, it might work to just ask. And if I act scared enough, I think I can convince them not to tell Grey." Thyme was the sweetest person on Earth. A little bit of a rebel sometimes, but they were the perfect fit for Grey, and the most loving sibling to Rainne. We've known each other since we were all toddlers playing together at the block parties our parents host. When that unicorn popped up, my mom cried. We all did. Grey has been in love with them since he was in the third grade and part of all of us just knew they'd have a match. They've always been there for me when I needed them before, I don't think this time will be any different. "We can try… Just please understand what you're asking of them. I know they love you, and as your future in-law, they'll probably be really cool about it, but try and ask yourself if you're really okay risking this. Should we think on it through the day, or ditch?" She looked so nervous. I hated putting her through this, but I couldn't do it alone. I noticed a wave of realization wash over her face as she pulled me into a hug, and I heard her sniffle before she whispered something I couldn't understand. "I'm going to be fine, I doubt we'll get caught. Who's going to know, aside from my match?" "That's just it" she sobbed. "Your match. You… Your soulmate is also your worst enemy… You don't… You don't get a happy ending," she said, dissolving into me. I was so panicked about being found out that I hadn't thought of that yet. I guess I never really cared much about finding my soulmate… I mean as a kid I was excited about the aspect of getting tattoos, but I never really tried dating or anything. I figured I'd have that answered for me and get to experience those feelings when they came up… "Hey it's okay, alright?" She pulled back and I wiped her tears." This doesn't mean I can't choose to be happy otherwise. Maybe my life isn't about finding 'the one'. Maybe my greatest love starts out as my greatest hatred and the story changes, huh? This might not mean that. We don't really know what it means. Maybe I'm in denial, but let's not give up on me yet, okay?" I took a shaky breath, trying to maintain composure. "Let's just… let's try and make it through the day and I'll just tell people that uhh… They haven't come in because I was born at 10pm or something." My classes were dragging and I got tired of telling everyone the bullshit cover by the end of third period, but by the time lunch rolled around, nobody was asking me anything any more. They were all focused on the new girl with the bright pink hair. Bright pink hair and long sleeves. I walked into 4th period art and she was the first person there, at MY table, one foot up on the seat of her stool, the other dangling loose as she sketched something out. She took one ear bud out and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm new. Jay," and tried to shake my hand. Her fingers were cold and speckled with paint and calluses. I cleared my throat, "uhh Tate. What year are you?" "Senior. Wanna see what I got started?" She bit the end of her pencil and with solid, unbroken eye contact, she flipped the sketchbook to reveal a perfectly detailed snake with a pattern that was all too familiar...