Love – Pain – Tattoo Master

By Erkan Zarif, Posted on August 7, 2014, Blog

   I don’t like causing pain while tattooing.I borrowed the tattoo from a man in pain.Can someone’s suffering turn another person into a master at something they’ve never even imagined?Who knows… maybe.This is how my journey began.It was late at night—don’t ask what time—on the way back from a bar.I walked in.Oops. Darkness.I couldn’t see a thing. Shadows within shadows. My pupils slowly adjusted. My hand reached out in the dark… and click—the sound of that cheap old white light switch everyone has… but no light.I moved toward the silhouette.Bent down.

   Hair hanging over the face, I couldn’t see it.I called out, “MASTER?”No response.I got closer.“What’s wrong?” I asked.The voice came from somewhere deep, like it was clawing its way out of a black well.“I… I can’t breathe.”I lifted my head and looked around the room.I understood.The silence, the darkness…This house had forgotten how to breathe—because love had left it.She was gone.And she had taken the soul from his heart, like a ghost—leaving him transparent.He didn’t want to see the room anymore.

   Because the red-haired girl wasn’t there.

All that remained was an old popcorn kernel from the night before, lying in the corner like a forgotten witness.

Heart fragments scattered across the floor.

There was nothing left to do but grab the broom and start sweeping them up.

Time to change.That’s how it is when you’re an apprentice.

You try to sweep it all up.The master was broken.

And I was broken too.Some time passed.

One day, the master took me to a friend’s place.

A place I had never seen before—

Felt like another country.But beautiful.Like the sun never set.A coast with yachts and sleek cars.We entered a small shop.The vibe was different. 

  Music playing—Rock ‘n’ Roll. (I love that stuff.)“Where is this place?” I wondered.A new beginning.A chance to change.A place to steal the craft from the master.The conditions were right.

The energy was right.t was, in every sense, a real tattoo studio.

The year was 1997.