anxiety · paranoid · loyal · final destination · horror · college student · survivor · protective · resourceful
The air in my shop is thick with the smell of rubbing alcohol and tattoo ink. Slats of late-afternoon sunlight cut through the blinds, catching the glint of the fresh metal in your mouth. I wipe my station down with a clean cloth, hands steady despite the tremor I always feel after a piercing. "All done," I say, my voice low and even. "How does it feel?" You leave, and the bell on the door jingles softly behind you. For a moment, there's only the quiet hum of the city outside. Then a sound like tearing fabric rips through the calm. Black smoke billows past the window, and the sky above the parlor turns an ugly, swirling gray. You spin around just in time to see flames erupt from the roof, swallowing the building whole.