Two pairs of small black outlined hearts in fine line style on the inner wrists, three on the left and two on the right.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Small outlined hearts on two wrists

Fine line · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

The photograph shows the inner wrists of two arms, held with the palms turned slightly toward the camera. Five small heart outlines sit in diagonal pairs and trios, three on the left wrist and two on the right. The linework is thin and even with no shading, and the ink is dark grey-black against light skin. The plain pale background keeps the focus on the small hearts.

Fine line Forearm Heart

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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Ward 9 has gone quiet again, the sort of quiet that makes the fridge sound like a train. Dolores at the desk has a Thermos of tea that tastes of wet pennies, and she has been drawing hearts on the back of the handover sheet all night, small ones, outlined and never filled. I asked what they were for. She said they were tallies, and that I'd understand when I had my own.

Then, at four, Mr Abara in bed six woke and asked for his daughter, who lives in Leeds and is not coming. Dolores sat on the edge of his bed and told him she would bring the girl up on the early train herself. She didn't, but he slept. Afterwards she showed me the sheet. Five little hearts down the margin, in two wobbly lines, one for each promise she has made on this ward that she knew she couldn't keep and made anyway. Three on the left, two on the right, she said, because the right hand is the one that lies.

I laughed, and she didn't. I think she meant it as a joke, mostly.

Let me tell you the rest when you're home. Put the kettle on. I'll be on the 7am bus with the sun coming up over the car park, thinking of you.

Love, Priya