The truth About cypher ✓

High

It had been fifteen minutes since Laila told Brutus she was getting him debt-free. Since then the girl had taken a particular address from one of the lodge workers and all Brutus knew was that they were driving down Kirovskiy Rayon. The snowfall was not like a blizzard, so the driveway wasn't slippery or hard for a rather steep Laila.

Mother decided to pay them a little extra along with cash. The Valium pills hadn't gotten them high enough, but the morphine was surely working well. Laila hadn't planned to do drugs but considering the situation they were in, she might as well end up having a threesome with random strangers, maybe the awkward hot computer guy. She hadn't given that choice much of a thought.

After an additional twenty minutes, Laila decided to kill the engine on the side of a building that looked like a pub. A neon sign displayed the name, Malevich tattoo place.

Oh fuck no, Laila bought him here to get a tattoo.

"Laila...are we here for what I think we are?"

Laila could see sweat forming on his forehead even in the ice-cold weather; she actively chose to ignore it.

"...I was thinking we get an aesthetic one, but something badass yaknow? Not like a fucking pink heart or anything like that. Something badass."

"I heard you the first three times you said badass..."Brutus hissed out, not wanting to step anywhere near the shop, but he couldn't help it. It was Brutus. A boy obsessed with Tattoos and piercing. Laila remembers how obsessive he got when she finally talked about her tattoo. "Where did you get it? What kind of needle? What does it mean?" He was attacking her questions.

The lilac neon sign, the drilling sound, it all felt like a bait and Brutus took it happily. The shop was dark, with certain cubicles separating different people. An old carpet was rolled on the floor stained with who knows what.

A woman with a buzz cut wearing a rock-star jacket and ripped jeans stepped from behind a curtained cubicle. There was probably a client behind it. Her arm exposed a huge tattoo; blade and knives showing her raised skin. You could hardly see any empty skin.

"We come from mother's. She told me you're the best one in the entire Kargatsky." Laila stated, giving the tattoo artist a little peck.

"That I am." She spoke in a hoarse voice. "Say, the boy doesn't look from here. Where are you from baby?" she continued as she caressed Brutus's hairline.

"Ahem...Kazan ma'am...sir...comrade." His actions earned a giggle from Laila.

"Ah, a cousin!" The tattoo artist smiled for the first time, immediately pulling Brutus in for a hug. She explained how her parents were also from Kazan, so they were basically cousins.

"I don't think that's how cousins work-"

"Who cares? Kazan is a bitch of a city. There is a huge possibility one of my uncles smashed your aunty or something."

The tattoo artist who called herself Blade spoke as she guided them behind the rooms. It wasn't a cubicle like the rest of the clients. It was an actual room, with professional chairs, a cot, and mirrors. A station held guns and their different attachment. The smell of paint and cheap cologne was strong. At this point, Brutus had accepted his fate written by Laila which was crushed under the debt he faces.

He couldn't do shit.

"Listen, I want to do this with you. But if it's too much commitment, I'll give you one last chance to back off." Laila whispered near Brutus's ear sending shivers down his spine. Brutus thought for a second. It wasn't like he never wanted to get a tattoo for himself. He was just concerned about how his parents would react. But sitting here, high on morphine beside Laila, Brutus lost his sanity.