Black and grey dotwork tattoo of a draped ghost with two dot eyes on the forearm, shown against a pale skin background.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Dotwork ghost on a forearm

Dotwork · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A simple ghost shape in a sheet-like robe with two dot eyes fills the frame, outlined in solid black. The sheet folds and the lower hem are shaded with fine stippled dots that build tone, leaving the highlights as bare skin. The image is a close, straight-on photo of the forearm with a dark brick wall and a grey top in the background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The sheet came off the line at Brentford lock two nights back and went up the cut in the wind as if it had somewhere to be. Dad swore at it, then stopped swearing, because it turned at the bridge and came back. We watched it settle on the cabin roof with its hem trailing in the water and its two dark holes looking straight down at us. Mum crossed herself, which she has not done since Grandad's funeral.

I went up with the boathook to fetch it. It was damp and cold and smelt of coal smoke, and under the folds I found the pencil marks Dad made years ago, measuring the boys against the cabin door. I'd forgotten it was the sheet from the spare bunk, the one you slept under the winter you had the fever. I held it a long time before I remembered to breathe.

We didn't burn it. Dad has pegged it over the stern rail where the bottles are kept, and each morning the sun comes through the weave and throws its shape down the slipway like a tall grey person waiting for the lock to open. Mum says it keeps the gulls off the coal. I think it keeps her company.

Come up at Easter if you can. The boys want to see the ghost, and I told them you'd know how to make it dance.

Love, Nell

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