Nano NovEmber: Day 3 - Fate

This is day 3 of Nano NovEmber. See day 1 on what this is all about.

Prompt: A boy in the bus has the word “fate” tattooed on his forehead.

I never catch the bus. I moved close to a railway station so I didn’t have to. Yet, as is more common than it should be, the trains were out. So it was on this particular day that I was on a bus with a boy opposite me. He had the word “fate” tattooed on his forehead.

I’ve not been someone who started conversations with strangers either. Yet I was intrigued by this bit of body art. You’d expect someone with such a word tattooed like that would be a bit of a brooder: somewhat dark, or fatalistic about life. Yet the word was written in what could be described in a bubbly sort of way: a light-hearted font in pink and yellow, with balloons and streamers decorated around the letters, going into this boy’s hairline and down towards his cheek.

“Nice work there,” I said.

The boy came out of his own thoughts and made eye contact. He pointed to his forehead. “Oh, this thing? Thanks.”

“Where did you get it?”

“Oh, it’s a bit of a funny story. I’ve been feeling down and depressed recently, and a few months ago, during one of my darkest days, I decided to get a tattoo. There was this new shop on my street I didn’t notice it until that day. I went in and this strange man greeted me. Not sure if you’ve been in a tattoo parlour before, have you?”

“No, I haven’t.” I did consider a tattoo once, but I was afraid of the needle. “What was he like?”

“Well, you’d usually expect someone who is a bit out there, maybe dress in black or would have a lot of art done to themselves. And this guy was out there, but not in a way you’d expect. He was dressed in a green blazer with a salmon shirt and a purple top hat.”

“Wow, that is strange.”

“Indeed. I asked him if he worked there. And he said, ‘Yes, this is my establishment. I specialise in tattoos that would help those in pain.’ Then he asked me what I wanted.”

“What did you say?”

“I said that I wanted the word ‘fate’ tattooed somewhere. I was feeling bad and I wanted something that would express that. So I was thinking of ‘fate’ as in inevitability, tattooed on an arm or something.”

“And what did he do?”

“He chose to interpret ‘fate’ as in community fate, where families go to enjoy themselves. And instead of an arm, he chose the forehead.”

“Interesting. Do you like it?”

“I hated it at first, but over the weeks, when I saw myself in the mirror, I would start smiling. Over time my mood would get better and now I think it was the best thing that’s happened to me. It definitely help ease the pain.”