How Jesse Got His Karma

twenty-nine

A few days later

"What is this?" I say as I lay on top of Jesse on the playmat with my head on his chest, leaning up a little and pointing at the image of a skull and crossbones on his arm

He chuckles deeply and places that arm behind his head, "A skull and crossbones."

Rolling my eyes I say, "Ok well why do you have it?"

"Because I wanted to get it?" He says laughing and scoffs as I left myself off of his chest and taking my right leg and throwing it over his torso, straddling him on either side so that I can see his whole chest that's covered in black ink

I move my left hand and begin to trace around the artwork that's littered all over his body. Different images that eager to know the meaning of as he's finally giving me that "Tattoo Explanation Tour" that he was talking about at Emiliano's.

I see a tattoo on his left side of a woman. Her face is so realistically drawn. I start to trace her hair noticing that the woman is drawn with a straight short bob, most likely brown hair. A tight-lipped grin on her mouth. Looking into her eyes I'm even more appreciative of the tattoo artist's work because it feels like I'm making eye contact with her even though she's not real.

Jesse shifts his gaze from the ceiling as he looks down at where I'm tracing, "My mother." He says quietly

I'm brought out of my trance as I look back up at him, "I knew you were wondering who she was. It's my mother. It's how I remembered her looking before she passed." He says

Nodding my head I stare back down at the image. She was undoubtedly stunning. "She was beautiful."

He leans his head back again staring at the ceiling, "I know." He says sighing

Not knowing what to say I stay quiet. Still leaning over Jesse, I look at him, peeking from underneath my lashes but scanning over his other tattoos

He interrupts my gazing when he says, "Sometimes I wonder if my life would've turned out differently had she been around longer." He says more to himself

"I know my life would be different now actually." He continues, "She was the peacemaker at home. My father was the one that disrupted it."

"Being in and out of jail will do that to a person I guess." He sighs, "She was head over heels for him and all he did was suck the life out of her day by day."

"I remember when he had actually been caught for the first time. He got sent to jail and it was like you could see her soul leaving her body. The first few days, she wouldn't eat. How could she with her partner in jail and a 7-year-old son to take care of by herself for the next two years."

"We had money but we didn't have access to it because my dad was the only one who did. My mom was a stay at home mother so she didn't have anything coming in. We had nothing to eat besides those ramen cup noodles. And those cup noodles are a scam because there's only like less than half the cup in them." He says twisting his face in disgust and I laugh quietly