Black and grey shaded tattoo of a small pale figure in a dark fading patch on the outer thigh, with a light blue top and purple bed behind.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Black and grey figure tattoo on a thigh

Dotwork · Thigh · Black and grey · Photo

A person sits on a purple bed in a light blue top and polka dot skirt, with one leg bent toward the camera. A solid black shaded area on the outer thigh contains a small rounded figure with pale grey highlights. The shading softens into fine speckled dots toward the lower edge, and the photo is framed to show the leg and tattoo.

Dotwork Thigh Figure Shadow Shading

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The lamp at Skerrow has gone out twice this week, and Father will not let me climb the tower after dark. He says the stair is slick with salt and that is true, but it is not why he locks the door. Last Tuesday I saw the figure on the landing, small and round-shouldered, pale where the lamplight should have caught it and wasn't. It stood with its back to the glass, the edges of it going to fine grain like sea spray hanging in the air, the way a person stands when they are waiting for a boat that has already sunk.

I told Father. He went up with the oil can and the good torch and came down grey around the mouth. He said it was only the shadow of the lens housing thrown by the moon, and I said the moon was behind cloud, and he said nothing at all, which is his way of agreeing with me.

Mrs Achterberg from the village says the keepers always left a light burning for the drowned, and that the figure is simply the last one to take it. I do not believe her, but I have started leaving the kettle on the stove after nine, because it seems rude to let anyone stand in the dark for long.

Tomorrow the relief boat comes. If Father agrees, you might come out on it, and then you can see the stair for yourself. Bring your good boots. The rail is loose at the third turn, and I would not want you to find it the hard way.

Yours in haste, Margaret