“The Ink in Her Veins”
The small town of Estelle was known for its oddities. It wasn’t the kind of place where things stood still, yet it was the kind of place where time never seemed to pass. Most peculiar of all was the town’s tattoo artist, Lucia, who ran a quiet parlor tucked between a bakery and a bar. But it wasn’t her art that drew attention. It was her ink.
They said Lucia’s ink was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. Clients left her studio not just with intricate designs on their skin, but with strange new energy. Dreams grew more vivid, memories became sharper. Some swore they could see flashes of distant futures when they looked too closely at their reflection.
Marta, a young woman grieving her mother’s recent death, came to Lucia on a whim. She didn’t believe in superstition or town legends. She just wanted something simple: a small vine tattoo wrapping around her wrist, in honor of the roses her mother used to grow.
Lucia barely said a word as she worked. The hum of the tattoo needle filled the room, accompanied by the faint smell of roses that seemed to come from nowhere. As the ink sank into Marta’s skin, she began to feel lightheaded. “Almost done,” Lucia whispered, her voice cold and distant.
When Marta left, her wrist throbbed, the freshly inked vine pulsing with each heartbeat. That night, she had the first of many vivid dreams.
In her dream, Marta stood in her mother’s garden. The roses were in full bloom, blood-red and bursting with life. She reached out to touch one, but it withered beneath her fingers, crumbling to ash. In the distance, her mother’s voice echoed, calling her name over and over again.
The next morning, Marta woke to find the roses from her mother’s garden growing around her wrist. The inked vine had sprouted, its delicate thorns pricking her skin, as if the tattoo had come to life. Her heart raced — this couldn’t be real. She tried to rub the vine away, but it only dug deeper, wrapping tighter, leaving faint scratches where it touched.
By the next week, Marta’s entire arm was covered in vines. Every day, they crept higher, sometimes while she was asleep, sometimes in broad daylight. She became obsessed, watching them grow in the mirror, feeling them pulse with life.
Then the voices started.
At first, it was a whisper, like wind through trees. But soon, it became her mother’s voice, clear as day, calling her name just like in the dream. “Marta… Marta…”
She tried to drown it out, turning on the radio, blasting music at all hours. But no matter how loud, her mother’s voice would slip through the noise, coaxing her. The vines, too, spread faster — reaching her chest, her neck.
Lucia had to know something. She rushed back to the tattoo parlor, her heart pounding, desperate for answers. The door creaked as she entered, the smell of roses overwhelming. Lucia was sitting in the back, calmly mixing a new batch of ink.
Before Marta could speak, Lucia looked up, her eyes dark and unreadable. “The ink… it connects you. You wanted to hold onto her, didn’t you?” Lucia’s lips curled into a small, knowing smile. “Now you’ll never be apart.”
Marta’s throat tightened. She clawed at the vines, but they only tightened, slithering under her skin, wrapping around her heart. The last thing she heard before everything went black was her mother’s voice, clear as ever, whispering:
“Come home, Marta.”
The next morning, Marta’s body was found, cold and lifeless, in the center of the rose garden she had inherited from her mother. The vines had fully covered her, thorns embedded deep in her skin, but strangest of all were the roses. They were blooming — lush, vibrant, and dripping with blood.
Lucia never returned to her parlor after that day. But rumor had it, in the days that followed, new roses began to appear in her garden. Some said they whispered Marta’s name when the wind blew just right.
🌟 Enjoyed the Journey? Discover More! 🌟
If you loved diving into this story, there’s a whole world of tales and insights waiting for you! Follow us on Medium for fresh stories, thought-provoking articles, and inspiration to spark your curiosity and imagination. Let’s explore new perspectives together—see you there!
