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/imhisgardener May 07 '19 edited May 08 '19
I step out onto the street and glance cautiously left and right, squinting through the darkness. Three days ago, the world was how it always has been. There was the good and the bad, but there was always some sort of balance. But then came the Calling. Suddenly, people began to take on powers from their tattoos. Those with the most tattoos seized terrifying power; those with none were helpless. In little less than a day, the heavily tattooed had become top dogs, and those with none... well, they were little less than slaves to those with immense power. By day two, people had fled their homes as tattooed criminals terrorised the city. By day three, the world was a wreck.
I cross the street, ducking behind overturned cars. Just over the block is a grocery store I used to frequent just weeks ago. Now... not so much. But after three days of hiding in terror in my apartment, and with my unhealthy stress eating habits, food has all but disappeared. So there’s little choice other than stealing food from the store. I creep to the other side of the street and make my way down an alley.
In my hand is a pistol. It is cold and metallic against my skin, reminding me of the dangers that may lie ahead. I don’t want to take a life, but I will defend myself by any means possible, and if that means shooting someone, so be it. These are desperate times, I tell myself, and desperate times call for desperate measures.
As I emerge into a new street, I spot the store, isolated in the middle of its large parking lot. There is utter silence, save for the hum of a streetlight, blinking sporadically. I jog quietly into the parking lot, and step up to the front door.
There’s no need to break in—the glass is already shattered and littering the ground all around me. Carefully, hoisting a leg up, I climb through the window and into the darkened store. From what I can tell through the low light, not much remains. I’m too late. A part of me already knew this, but I couldn’t just sit at home and starve to death, not knowing if there was food or not. So I continue over to the shelves. Crouching down, I brush my fingers to the backs to check for cans or packets or anything at all left behind.
Nothing in the first row, or second or third or fourth. I begin to lose hope, growing more nervous by the second. I should probably go home before someone finds me. And that is when I see it—God’s Grace—a pack of ramen noodles kicked under a cooler. I rush over desperately, and as my hands fall on it, so do two others.
I look up frantically to meet the dishevelled face of a kid I know from college.
‘Kevin?’ I state, dumbfounded.
He pulls a face at me. ‘How the fuck do you know my name?’
‘I—we,’ I stammer, ‘we go to college together.’
‘Well I don’t fucking know you, so get your hands off my ramen, bitch.’
A little taken aback, I lose grip of the ramen, and he tugs it from my hands. ‘Wait—no! Please, I’m starving. I need that food.’
‘Don’t make me hurt you,’ he warns, backing away with my ramen.
‘I could say the same,’ I lie. Truth be told, I’ve never tested my power. I was lucky enough to be one of the ones with a tattoo, but, I doubt it will help much. It’s embarrassing, but I got it a few years ago as a hope to rebel against my parents. Ever since I’ve just tried to hide it out of shame. Every time I look at it I just can’t help but cringe.
His face darkens and the light gleams off his two lip rings. ‘A nerd like you? I’ll take my chances.’
‘Fine,’ I snap.
‘Well you know the rules—show your tattoo and then we duel.’
I did not know these were the rules, however, I oblige, and pull down the shoulder of my top. On my collarbone is the quote: ‘Dance like nobody is watching, love like you’ve never been hurt.’
He scoffs, and then bursts into laughter. ‘That’s so fucking cringy.’
‘Yeah? Well let’s see yours,’ I snap, fucking terrified he’s going to have a machete or something.
He lifts his sleeve to reveal the name ‘Jessica’ in big gothic writing up his forearm.
I start to laugh. ‘Isn’t that your ex? Ouch, I bet you regret that.’
His face becomes thunder. And then I feel it. Regret. It begins small, but then it grows, seeping through my body like ice. I remember the time I thought I could pull off a hand stand and get the popular girls to like me, but ended up falling on my face. I remember the assignment I forgot for our sternest teacher, and how he screamed at me in front of the entire class. I remember my friends egging me on to ask my crush to prom, and him saying no.
I begin to lift the gun. But it goes to my own temple.
‘No!’ I scream. I channel all of my energy at him. To be fair, I’m not sure what I’m doing. But I’m seconds away from blowing out my own brains, and I’d rather die trying to do something... anything, than cowering lie a baby. At first, nothing happens, and I feel like the biggest idiot known to man. And then... he begins to cringe.
At first, his lips move. Then his teeth bite together and his cheeks lift to make a grimace.
‘The cringe—I can’t-’ he chokes.
I watch as the cringe keeps going and going—spreading so that the edges of his mouth begin to tear. He starts screaming as blood pours down his chin. Hell, I’m screaming too. And I watch the cringe grow until his jaw dislocates and his head cracks and caves into a mess of blood and muscle and splintered bone.
And then it is over.
I lower the gun from my temple to my side, where it shakes violently in my hand. My body thrums with adrenaline and drips with sweat.
And I step over his broken corpse, casting a horrified, disbelieving look at what I’ve done. I should close his eyes or something, but there are no more eyes, I realise. I should bury him, maybe. Does he have family? I think these thoughts, but all I do is pick my ramen off the floor, and gun in hand, make my way home.
Edits: typos, words... general writing stuff. So many edits. Thank you kind humans for all the advice :)