The Memory is the First to Go

“Close your eyes.  Keep them closed.”

“Good boy.”

“In a minute, I’m going to hand you two magic markers.  One red, one black.  You’re going to take them, and make a mark on each part of your body.”

“The parts of your body with black are yours to do… whatever with.”

“But the parts of your body with red are mine to do whatever I want with.  To hurt, mangle, squeeze, torment, break…”

“You get the idea.”

She pushed smooth plastic cylinders into his hands, waiting until he wrapped fists around them to let go.

“Don’t worry, it’s only until the marker wears off.”

“Took about three weeks for the line I made on my leg to fade completely away, but I didn’t take a belt to my leg until it was raw.  You can divide things up however you like.  Be kind of a bitch to have me working on just one spot for that long though, wouldn’t it?  I think so anyway, but it’s up to you really.”

He focused on her words, carefully moved his fingers down and popped the caps off.  Tried to decide which part of his body to mark first.

“Oh…”

He froze, his left hand moving to his chest, acrid petroleum scent moving around him.

“You can open your eyes.”

He slowly opened them, looked down to see the red marker in his left hand.  Looked up at her.

“But can you remember which color is yours, and which one is mine?”

Copyright Jerry Jones.  Unauthorized use is prohibited.

4 thoughts on “The Memory is the First to Go”

  1. I’d be flattered, but please remember the copyright notice and a link back to the blog, just in case (I’m not terribly knowledgeable about copyright law, and if I decided to try to publish I’d prefer to err on the side of caution).

  2. By the time I got to the end of the story, I had also forgotten which colour was for which and had to go back and re-read. It *so* works!

    Plus body writing of any kind is one of my absolute favourite things.

    Ferns

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