The Undiscovered Witch

Chapter Four: Tattoo

The rest of January passed by in a flash as classes started back up and Arya was ready to start doing what she loved again. She had been doing computer science classes as well as some other college courses so she would at least have a degree to fall back on if something were to happen. Computer science was fun for her and it was something she was good at as well. She was getting ready to drive to the school when it slowly started, a tingling sensation going down her back. It was not intense enough to stop her from doing anything, but it was strong enough to divert her attention at that moment. 

Arya moved in front of the mirror in her bathroom before lifting her shirt and turning her head to look at her back. Everything seemed fine until she looked at the base of her spine, that was when she began to panic. There was what appeared to be a small plant of some sort etched onto her back just above the band of her pajama pants. It looked like a tattoo and that was what worried her the most, she didn't have any tattoos so she had no idea how it got there or why she felt it appear. She stared at it for so long she could have sworn she saw it start blooming. Arya was about to touch it before she heard her mother yelling to make sure that she was awake. She took in a deep, shaky breath and put her shirt back down before returning to her room. She quickly put on some makeup and got dressed. 

Arya knew that she had to go to work after class so she put on some makeup that she could add other products to before she went in and threw her work clothing into a bag. She left the house wearing a pair of black leggings and a pink sherpa pullover. She silently thanked herself for wearing her black sneakers when she walked outside and saw all of the dew on the grass, at least her sneakers wouldn't get soaked.

Her drive to her school was silent as her thoughts kept going back to the small blob of color that had appeared on her back. She thought that maybe she was seeing things that morning or maybe someone drew it on her back while she was sleeping as a prank, but nothing seemed to make sense. It was most definitely there and she was a pretty light sleeper so there was no way that someone could have drawn it on. There was no one in the house that had any reason to draw it on her. She knew she had to have been imagining things because that was the only thing that made any semblance of sense. Arya was still pondering it as she walked to class. 

As Arya made her way to her classroom she saw a note on the door, 'Sorry for the short notice, but class is canceled for the day!' She mentally cursed at her instructor for not sending out an email or a text. She decided since it was her last day of class for the week and her only class of the day that she would go get breakfast before heading to work. 

Arya worked at a popular makeup store as a cashier and a makeup artist, mostly just doing cashier work. The store was in a shopping center a couple of miles away from the school, so she would probably get breakfast from one of the restaurants inside the shopping center. Her class was normally an hour long and she normally ate breakfast before she left for class, but her small tattoo on her back took up her breakfast time. She bought a donut and a coffee from a cafe before sitting down at a table outside. 

It only took her a few minutes to finish her breakfast and she was off to hang out in the back room at work until her shift started. She got a few questioning looks from coworkers, but most of them just shrugged it off. She normally showed up a bit early if she could, but this was a little too early. When someone finally said something about it she explained what happened and what a waste it would have been to go back home only to have to turn right back around to come to work. They understood and let her scroll through her phone until her shift started.

Arya's shift was 12 pm-8 pm and was surprisingly uneventful. She had no appointments or walk-ins that day and just worked the register or stocked shelves. A boring day at work was a nice contrast to the weird morning she had. By the time she left to go home, she had convinced herself that everything that had happened that morning was just a hallucination or a dream. It couldn't have been real. When she got home she looked in the mirror once more she realized her nightmare was real. The small plant-like object on her back had gotten bigger and it looked like a flower was ready to bloom.