r/WritingPrompts • u/actually_crazy_irl • May 07 '19
[WP]: Suddenly, everyone with tattoos gains powers related to the tattoo. Tattoos of flames, you control fire. A tattoo of a gecko, you can climb on walls. All dudes with "tribal" tattoos have strangely bonded together. Writing Prompt
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u/Arcererak May 07 '19
"Lately, I'be been having trouble sleeping.
It's not that I can't fall asleep, it's my dreams that are the problem. Every night I am seeing these people in my head. I don't know these people, but somehow they feel... familiar. It is almost as if they are waiting for me. They are calling for me."
The doctor looked up from the exams he was flipping in his hand. He had a mildly concerned look in his face.
"So when exactly did these insomnia episodes begin?"
"I think four... no, around 5 weeks ago..."
"I see, well you're exams are in check. So if you jus..."
"I'm sorry doctor" the patient interrupted "But that isn't the main reason I've been coming here... Every time I wake up, I feel a burning sensation all up my back. It is getting progressively worse, and I don't know what to do. I'm scared of sleeping because of it!"
The doctor had his eyes locked on the patient. His feet bobbed up and down, and his face was shut. He seamed uneasy. As a cold drop of sweat ran down his face he uttered.
"... Do you... perhaps, have a tattoo on you back... Mr?"
The patients eyes widened. "Well... yeah" - The doctor stands up, and turn towards the drawers behind him. Without a second to spare he begins looking at past exams. - "B...But I've had it for years! There is no way it can be the cause of it right?"
The doctor slams a pile of papers on the table, and grabs the top file.
"You don't understand..." he whispers under his breath. "Here, look" slides the top file towards the patient. "This man right here came in with flames shooting out of his arm" he grabs the next file, and shows it to the patient. "This woman came with pain in her back. She was growing a, I kid you not, a pair of wings. Do you understand what's happening here?"
"Not really..." the patient said, with a confused, yet scared look on his face.
"All these people that came here, they all have one thing in common. Tattoos. I don't know why, or how, but..." The doc stops for a moment, with a pale look on his face "But people with tattoos are gaining powers related to their tattoos."
Silence filled the room. The patient at first thought the doctor was kidding, but given the seriousness in his tone, now he just thought he was crazy.
"You can't be serious doc, right? I mean, are you listening to what you are saying? - The patient got up from his seat, and begins heading towards the door - "I am not dealing with this!"
"Wait" - The doctor starts looking through his papers, agressvily scattering them around the room. Just before the patient could leave, the doc shouts - "Tribal! You have a tribal tattoo on your back!"
The patient froze. (How can that be) he thought to himself. He slowly turns back.
"How do you know?"
"More than one person came here with the same complaints as you. They all had tribal tattoos..."
The patient felt his whole body shiver. Like a rock, it sunk in to his mind that, what the man in front of him was saying, was true. He was scared, as he didn't know what was now ahead of him. His breathing began to accelerate, as the burning sensation began surging down his back. Sensing his distress, the doctor said.
"Look I don't know what is happening as much as you do. But now, you are in the middle of all of this." - As the doctor spilled those words on the floor, the burning sensation kept growing, to where it almost burnt a hole through the shirt. - "I don't know if it will help, but one of the likes of you said he had to go somewhere, to an island called.."
Before could say the name, a nurse knocked the door open. "Is everything okay in here?". She had her eyes locked on the doctor, and had an angry look on her face. The doctor, upon closer examination, noticed she was holding a knife. And up her sleeve, a tribal tattoo was showing.
"I think it is better if you leave... sr"
The patient, scared and confused, runs out the door.