Tattooed Away

Chapter 9

Amy has quite the group of friends. Pretty much all of them were half human, half a conglomeration of animal parts. It's the natural side-effect of weekly high stakes poker explained a friendly, round faced girl with a tail and small kangaroo arms. Since there are no drugs or alcohol in the Spirit World Amy traded her addictions over to gambling and had become a renowned card shark.

With no idea of a plan or a purpose I settle next Kevin and Kiko at one of the three full poker tables. Both of the boys seem equally eager to tell me about the pioneering venture of their band Brockhampton. It does sound cool, it does sound exciting, and I do promise to listen to their music. But it is much more important for me to figure out how to get the hell out of here, which is why I smile and nod until the third hand is dealt.

"Why do you keep folding Ari?" My friend with the kangaroo arms, Kelli, asks me with a mini nudge.

How do I explain this without drawing attention to Kelli's animalistic qualities..."Well, I just don't want anymore furry parts." I say with a sweet smile.

"Ohhhh I get it! Sweetie, I like myself like this! I try on different parts all the time, it is one of the funnest parts of the Spirit World. You get to be things, do things, experience things you could have never before coming here. Before these cute arms and this fun tail I was swimming in the Hudson Bay with a strong, fierce shark tail. Man that was fun..." She trailed off wistfully and gathered the chips she had won while talking to me, then let out a small whistle and added, "Looks like I'm gonna be getting some wings tonight baby!"

"So, are you dead? Sorry if that is rude or whatever but I am not really understanding all of this..." It was getting harder and harder to pretend this shit was normal. I folded my hand for a fifth time.

She scrunched up her face and a pit quickly grew in my stomach. Then she let out a shrill giggle and shook here head, "Don't look so scared Ari baby! I won't bite, I just prefer the label 'beyond' to 'dead'. I am beyond life. I was sent beyond by a nasty bout of skin cancer, one too many naps in the sun!"

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry that is terrible." I tried to console Her but was quickly denied by a sharp shake of her head.

"There is no need to be sorry for something you can't control. Now, enough about me, tell me about your journey here." She gathered another mound of chips and the sixth hand was dealt, this girl is a fabulous poker player.

"Well, do you know Aika?" She shook her head no. "Oh, okay, she is a tattoo artist and I hired her and she basically tattooed me away."

"Interesting, what was the tattoo?"

"Chihiro from the cartoon 'Spirited Away', she is a little girl who got stuck in the Spirit World. It was a lot different than this one. I just love how brave she was in the story and I have gone through some shit over the past few years and need a reminder to be brave like her."

"So you had no idea you were coming here?" Kiko asked from the other side of me, I looked up to answer him and realized the whole table was listening.

"Um, no...did you?"

"Fuck yeah we did!" Kevin interjected. "We tried for years to get here, studying clues on internet chatrooms and in old books. It was like the best day ever when we found Tupac."

Hold on.

"What? Tupac? As in Shakur?"

Now we were starting to get attention from the other tables.

"Yeah, he is like the master gatekeeper of the Spirit World. Finding him in Malaysia was the luckiest fucking day of our lives." Him and Kiko exchanged proud faces.

"So if he got you here can he get me back?" Please say yes, please say yes.

"Yes..."

Thank the Lord!

"But...promise me you'll come to one of our concerts and post about it on Instagram." He was trying to play it cool but his anticipation was broadcasted through his pleading eyes.

"Yes, I'll post about you guys a hundred times. Please just take me to Tupac."

"Deal!"

Ameer and Matt joined us at the door and I gave a wave and shouted a "Thank you!" to Kelli and Amy.  They waved back but barely managed to glance up from their massive piles of poker chips.