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101 Word Short Stories

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Bad Tattoo

August 1, 2025 9 Comments

By Gracie Lyle

“What’s that supposed to be?” Diana pointed to the tattoo on my left bicep.

It was supposed to be a crossbow, but my cousin Bobby did it drunk. Then some of the lines spread. Others faded. I burned part of it off flipping burgers at McDonald’s. Now I make all my girls tell me what they see. They say things like: angel, Africa, Donkey Kong. No matter what they say, I always tell them that they’re right. That they’re the only ones who ever have been.

“What does it look like to you?” I asked.

“It looks like a bad tattoo.”

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mary says

    August 1, 2025 at 6:46 am

    Wonderful story

    Reply
  2. Ephra Behn says

    August 1, 2025 at 8:49 am

    Diana’s worth keeping, dude. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Jeff Theo says

    August 1, 2025 at 12:35 pm

    Love it. It grabbed me immediately.

    Reply
  4. Tom says

    August 1, 2025 at 8:51 pm

    Love Diane’s honesty, telling it as she sees it.

    Reply
  5. Laura Amey says

    August 2, 2025 at 7:58 am

    Love this one!

    Reply
  6. Jim Pownall says

    August 3, 2025 at 8:00 am

    Perfect!

    Reply
  7. Sharon Murphy says

    August 6, 2025 at 12:41 pm

    Love her bold honesty

    Reply
  8. K F Lerner says

    August 7, 2025 at 10:47 am

    Ha! Awesome.

    Reply
  9. Kelly Louisa Balliu says

    August 20, 2025 at 4:36 am

    Clever, as I only remembered the title once I’d read that last line. The paragraph says a lot about the narrator, hence the honesty of Diana would probably be like a strike to the face 🙂

    Reply

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