I walked over to the tattoo shop heels in my hands calmly taking backstreets, and footpaths so R couldn't follow me in a car. Mikey was sat drawing in a notepad. He looked up and froze when he saw me "you look like hell" he smiled
"I feel like it" I replied, and went over to look at his work,
"it's a shoulder piece for some fighting fanatic" he looked up at me
"it looks good, may I borrow your phone" it was more of a demand than a question, and Mikey looked slightly taken aback at my tone, but nodded anyway. I called R, and she answered on the 3rd ring
"Scarlett, where are you?" she questioned immediately
"nowhere, I need to push my fight to tonight" I brushed of her question, making sure that I didn't give any emotions I was feeling away. She sighed
"okay, ill book it , you fight at 11 o'clock." There was silence for a few seconds "do you want to talk about it?" she asked but kept talking when I didn't reply "I mean, your dads smacked you around a bit, it's got to have some affect," I sighed
"no, I'll be fine, no one can hurt me without my permission remember" I smiled slightly, and said my goodbyes "thank you Rita, for everything, bye" I said, repeating the mantra in my head as I put the phone down.
I looked up at Mikey and smiled "shall we?" I gestured to the station where he usually tattooed me and he obliged taking me across to the chair, and finishing the tattoo over my hands. As he did it, I sat and thought about how I was going to sort this mess out, when Mikey spoke
"Logan called, he said something had happened at your service?" he looked up, concerned. I sighed out a smile
"don't worry I'm handling it" he nodded and looked back at my hands
"said it was bad, and you knocked someone out" I could see him smiling at my hand and feel the chuckle that ran through him
"man I love a girl that can fight" I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face as my eyes tracing his, he wasn't bad looking I thought as I replied
"maybe I'll leave you my number" he laughed, nodding
"I'd like that" I smiled as I thought over how much id enjoyed spending the past 3 months in this shop with Mikey, but as I sat flirting with this man, I couldn't help but to wish it was Nate that I was flirting with. He had been on my mind ever since he kissed me.
As Mikey finished his work, he looked up to me and smiled, "you're all done," he smiled, and I sat up, inspecting my hands. Looking down my body, I said "I need one more, she is my saving grace" he nodded "okay, I'll freestyle it onto you" getting out his pen he looked me over, you've got space right here, he tapped the center of my belly and I shook my head, turning and lowering my head, "
Can you put on the back of my neck in white ink id, JF, and the date 12.09.03?" I asked. He smiled at me, and nodded before reaching up to my neck. "Jane Fletcher, she was my grandmother, and I loved her with everything I had." He looked at the wistful smile crinkling the corners of my mouth, and began drawing. At that moment, Nate walked through the door of the shop and stormed straight to Immy
"have you seen a girl, black dress, cropped red hair, apparently covered in tattoos?" he demanded as Immy pointed over to me. Spotting what he was looking for Nate immediately crossed the shop, muttering thanks to Immy, and stood right in front of me looking almost relieved
"I've been looking everywhere for you!" he exclaimed, his face softening as he stood looking at me
"I went to the gym, to your house, to the park, everywhere, R called and said she saw a video..." I shook my head stopping him, I kept my eyes trained on nothing in particular
"well you found me" I muttered, then after a moments silence I added "I'm sorry, I didn't tell you" Nate knelt in front of me, grasping my hands
"but I was supposed to protect you, I didn't protect you." I looked over his face smiling slightly,
"how could you protect me from my own father?" I shrugged. The only sounds in the room was the soft rock song playing, and the pen that was being precisely guided over my neck in elegant loops hadf stopped, frozen mid drawing. I looked down at my hands "you err asked what happened to my back" I stopped nervously, glancing up, to find Immy had pulled chairs over for he and Nate to sit on
"we all asked what happened to your back" immy said,
"Scarlett, we just want to know that you are okay, safe even" I smiled up at the kind eyes that were being cast in my direction. Mikey had moved aroound to face me. He said
"we want to know how you got all of the scars" I looked down into my lap, then looked back up at them,
"well, my back was done when I got suspended, you wanted to know why I got suspended, well one of my teachers saw the lion on my hip, I was lucky I wasn't excluded" I looked up at the ceiling "it hurt, more so than when he broke my nose," the boys remained quiet while I spoke. "He had left me in my room all day, while he got drunk then called me down and pushed me. Some of the table must have come off in my hand, or something, because he used that, you know the laminate that goes over the wood?" I looked around at their shocked and ashamed faces "came here, two weeks later, to get it covered" I shrugged no one spoke so I looked at Mikey; "you can carry on now" he nodded and picked up the pen again. Nate just sat and looked at me
"you came to the gym though, how didn't I notice" I shrugged
"I guess I'm just a good actor." The rest of the session was spent asking questions, and me replying, I told them that I was leaving tonight, and that they probably wouldn't see me again, they were happy I was leaving. Well as happy as you can be when you find out you probably won't see someone again they didn't push me to call the police.
At the end of the session I stood up, and engulfed Mikey and Immy each in a hug. "That was the last one, so I guess I owe you these" the boys looked at each other and grinned
"you already got us cupcakes, what more could we need" asked Immy
"well" I held out my hands which were closed around two small objects one in each hand "choose one" I said mischievously. Once they had chosen, I turned my hands over to reveal two key rings; one was a pig and one a sheep that when you squeeze them they pretend poo. The boys laughed boyishly, and each added them to their boring key rings. On the side of each key ring I had written
Love Scarlett xoxo
The boys smiled, and gave me another group hug "thank you Scarlett, I'll never forget you" I chuckled and replied
"I'll never forget you two, my angels"
YOU ARE READING
Memoirs Of a survivor
Action"You're an animal, you're a dog, you will always be a dog, and there's nothing you can do to change that" "You will do as you're told" "Come here and clean this up" All comments that had been shouted at Scarlett Fletcher. Her school life is bad, a...
