Years of waiting had come to this. I was sat in a dentist style chair downstairs from an intimidatingly friendly tattoo studio in my hometown. For two years I had been waiting for this moment, now I wished that I was anywhere but there.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Five years ago Artist Graeme Studio Skin Deep Location Darlington It was my sixteenth birthday, a day I had been looking forward to since I set my mind on my first modification. When I walked into the studio I felt so young compared to the current patron of the tattoo studio upstairs. It was also a little embarrassing, as I wasn't old enough to get pierced alone so I had to bring along my mother to prove that I had my parents consent. With a couple of onlookers I made my way down the stairs towards the piercing section of the shop with my mortified mother tagging closely behind me. Behind the counter stood the main piercer, Graeme, who looked like he had a few people work on him before. To the sixteen year old I was then he was an intimidating site at first but it put my mind at rest as I would have been more put off by someone who looked as though they had never had any type of modification in their lives.
First thing was first, he checked through my birth certificate and had a word with my (reluctant) consenting parent. He made me aware of the possible dangers and after effects that some people feel after being pierced, which started to build up the feeling of raw fear inside my whole body. My head was telling me to forget the whole thing and walk out of the place. My heart skipped a beat in agreement soon after but nothing was going to deter me from this today. I had wanted this for years and now was the moment all the waiting would become worth it. For the previous few weeks I had been annoying my friends with talk of my impending piercing and for months I had been annoying my parents convincing and even begging them to let me have it done. My time was now.
Immediately after I had entered the piercing room I surveyed the surroundings to get myself at ease with the reality of what I was about to do. However, they did little to calm my nerves. Covering practically every square inch of the walls were pictures of people with a wide range of piercings ranging from a normal labret or nose ring to the extreme of genital piercings. To see this as a first timer was a little off putting to say the least.
Graeme did his best to calm my nerves by reassuring me that it really isn't as bad as it looks. He did calm me down a little but nothing was going to dispose of the rock that felt like it had settled in the bottom of my stomach. I kept my eye on what he was doing, looking for the simple needle that was going to put an end to what seemed like an age of torment. First came the marking of my eyebrow though. Two tiny blue dots that were the blueprints for my first ever body modification experience.
I heard the snap of the protective gloves that he was going to wear for the exercise and realised that this was it. Everything came down to just a couple of seconds that was just moments away. Thoughts of making an arse out of myself filled my head. I had a feeling that I was going to do something that I would never live down. What if I fainted, or screamed with pain or, even worse, cried like a little baby. Fear gripped my entire body and held my against the chair with no signs of ever releasing it's purposefully cruel grip. I couldn't move a single muscle in my body. I was totally paralysed but half of me was loving every single second of it. The adrenaline had well and truly kicked in by now and my whole body was tingling with the excitement coupled with fear and the urge to get the hell out of there.
He asked if I was ready and I had to use all of my strength to just give a simple yes. Then I felt it. The initial breach of my skin with the thin needle sent a shiver that went all the way down my spine via my stomach and then onto the very tips of all of my toes. I felt the needle go deeper into my flesh as the second wave of shivers was up and down my body. The needle popped through the other side of my brow when I suddenly realised that something was missing from the whole experience. Where was the pain? I knew that it wouldn't exactly cripple me but I was expecting something. This was quite a relief at first but then I was a little disappointed at the shear lack of pain.
He quickly inserted the ring and cleaned my brow up and then showed me to the mirror. There it was. My first piercing. An experience I will remember for my entire life. As I left the small room my mother was waiting expressionless. A look of shear disgust came across her face. At this point I knew I had done the right thing.
I gave my regards to Graeme and then made my way up the stairs and toward the exit. On the way, one of the patrons of the tattoo studio stopped my and looked into my eyes.
"The addiction starts here" he insisted. How right that man was.