Black and grey Traditional style tattoo of a hooded grim reaper holding a scythe, shaded in grey, on the side of a person's ribs.

Grim reaper with scythe on ribs

Traditional · Ribs · Black and grey · Photo

A hooded grim reaper with a skeletal face and hands holds a long scythe, with a ribbon or cloth flowing across the lower half of the design. The linework is bold and the robes are shaded with heavy blacks and soft greys to create depth. The figure sits vertically along the ribs, with the scythe blade curving up past the top of the design.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Marguerite, third night on nights and I have stopped blaming the corridor lights for keeping me awake days. Something came up the stairs of Ward 7 at twenty past three, and I am writing it down before it turns into the sort of story the lads tell in the canteen. It was tall, taller than the door frame, and its black hood was so deep that the face inside was only a brightness, a white grin like a bone set on a shelf. It carried a scythe over one shoulder with the blade curving back past its head, and a long grey ribbon trailed from one bare-boned hand the way bunting trails behind a float.

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Mrs Okonedo in bay three had been awake since midnight, complaining about the cold. I expected it to go straight to her. Instead it stopped at the nurses' station, turned the clipboard round with one finger, and read the notes slowly, the way Dr Patel reads when she is tired and does not want to miss a word. Then it sighed, and I have never heard a sigh like that from anything with a voice. I asked if it wanted a cup of tea, which I still cannot explain. It tilted the hood, and I swear it nodded. So I made two cups in the chipped mugs, and we sat in the dim light by the drug trolley while the monitors blipped down the corridor.

When I looked up again it had gone, and only the ribbon remained, looped over the back of the chair like a pale sash. Mrs Okonedo was sitting up at half six, asking for toast and complaining that the porridge was lumpy. Nobody on the day shift believes me, and Sister Hughes says I need more sleep. I have folded the ribbon into my locker, and I am keeping my mug, which I think is the wisest thing I have done all week. Love, Priya

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