Black and grey realism tattoo across a man's back and shoulder showing a hockey mask, a bladed glove, a doll face, chains and a knife, with quotes in the design.

Horror film characters across back and shoulder

Realism · Back · Black and grey · Photo

A large black and grey tattoo covers the upper back and shoulder. It shows a hockey-style mask, a bladed glove with long curved blades, a doll's face on the upper arm, hanging chains and a knife at the top, with short quotes lettered in the artwork. The shading is smooth and detailed, with heavy blacks, soft greys and drips of ink running along the lower edge.

Realism Back Shoulder Chain Knife Lettering Quote Ink drip

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Tuesday, 11.40pm. The last tape of the night still hasn't come back to Gaskell's on Hyde Road, and Mrs Ibbotson's name is on the late-fee card for the third time this month. Every time the wind lifts the shutter, Dad's old key ring swings against the till and rattles like it wants to be let out too.

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The returns bin is where I find it: a plain cardboard sleeve with a hockey-style mask drawn on the front in biro, and under it, in somebody's careful capitals, MYERS IS BACK. The label says Carrow Lane, Part Four. I don't remember stocking it. I don't remember anyone asking for it either. I slide it into the slot behind the counter, and the rewinder starts its tired whine, though nothing's in the machine.

At quarter to twelve Joanne from number fourteen is hammering on the glass with a torch, cheeks blotched, saying the film stopped on the same frame three nights running. The man with the glove and the long curved blades is always about to speak, she says, and the doll in the corner of the picture is always looking at whoever's watching. She wants a refund. I tell her we don't do refunds after dark. She tells me the doll's eyes are wet now.

I pull the sleeve out to check the disc. The label has changed. It reads Due back in hell, in my own handwriting. I log it as returned, tick the box, and only then notice the shutter is down, the bell is silent, and the key ring on the counter has stopped swinging.