Tattooed

My breath catches as I feel the familiar slight burning on my skin. This time the pain is behind my left ear. I close my eyes and in a few seconds it subsides. I grin. I have a new tattoo.

I head to the closest mirror in my house. We have a lot because my family is always eager to see the new designs imprinted on us. Tattoos appear magically out of nowhere on our skin so we placed mirrors in every corner so we’d never be without one in our house. I turn my head and move my strawberry blonde hair to the right. The new tattoo is a design of three small black paw-prints behind my ear. I wonder what this one means. It’s meaning could range from my love of animals to me using my smarts to help my pet cat Kit Kit. Kit Kit was this adorable orange kitten who always got into trouble and I always had to get creative to help her.

I couldn't stop smiling. What better timing to get a tattoo than the day before the Branding? This tattoo could be the tattoo that changes my whole fate. It could be the one keeping me in Clement or making me move to a whole new stratum.


My mother comes down the stairs and sees me smiling. "New tattoo Cecil?" she asks. I nod happily. She comes toward me and embraces me. I let her hold me. Tomorrow might be the last day I ever see her. If I move to a different stratum I'm forbidden to visit or even communicate with my parents ever again.

If I do leave the Clement stratum I'm asking my dad how to handle it. Unlike my mother he didn't live here his whole life. He came from the Cunning stratum and then the Brander moved him to Clement on his Branding day. He hasn't seen his family since. But he seems fine, after all he has his beautiful wife, and two daughters.

But I probably don't have to worry. Considering the tattoos I have now I'll probably stay in Clement. No one knows what their tattoos mean except the Brander but everyone has a general idea. Obviously if you have a dragon tattoo or you get a tattoo after you do a daredevil stunt you have a chance of being in the Courageous stratum. My tattoos mostly appeared after I did a nice deed. None of them looked specific enough for a certain stratum, they were mostly symbols of nature.


Soon my sister Elise entered the house with dinner and saw my mother and I still hugging. She rolls her eyes. "Mom please don't get this sentimental on my Branding day." she says.

Elise is two years younger than me but she acts like she's the eldest. If there's one thing I do know is that she's not staying in Clement. She doesn't want to anyway. My bet is the Brander will put her in Cunning or Courageous. You should've see her when she got a huge wolf tattoo on her back. Elise was acting like being in Courageous was a done deal. My dad always has to remind her that you'll never really know. He jokes a lot that he thought he'd be in Courageous too.


At dinner the whole family was seated at our small wooden table. It was moments like this that made me want to never leave. A sudden wave of worry hit me. It gnawed at my stomach the whole time. A couple of hours ago I was excited about tomorrow and now I'm filled with anxiety.

After we ate our simple dinner my dad cleaned up the table and smiled endearingly at me. "You better get some sleep Cessie. You have a big day tomorrow and I still remember how nerve racking Branding Day is."

"Thanks dad. Good night." I kissed his stubbly cheek and headed to my room. I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling until the wave of fatigue overruled my restless anxiety.

That night I tossed and turned, dreaming of my Branding day. There were people leering, my mother was crying, and I was on my knees, burned by a bright light burning over me on the stage. The whole state was there staring at me. I stifled a cry. I knew the Branding would never be that bad but I was scared. I woke up with a start, my heart felt like it was pounding in my stomach. I curled into a ball into my bed and breathed slowly. I calmed myself down enough to remind myself that the Branding Day was suppose to be an exciting day. It wasn’t the end of my life, it was the beginning.