Pierced!

“Sodomize my cross, for it now marks your existence. Dismissal of lucidity, consume my body and blood.” Keagan O’Malley, first of three daughters, oldest of six children, listened to her favorite song, her head hanging off the bed she was lying on. She stretched her hands to the sky in front of her, glancing at her chipped black painted nails before making two fists. Keagan thought she heard someone knocking on her door, but she dismissed it as just the rhythm of the song… until the door burst open and a red-headed boy glared at her. Sighing, she leaned up and paused her music with a click of the mouse.
“Can’t you turn that music off? I’m trying to study!” Keagan rolled her eyes at her brother, magnified by her position on her bed.
“As if you need to study.” Her words were dark, but she almost smirked as she glared back at him with hazel eyes that were heavily lined with pure black eyeliner.
Her brother sighed heavily. “Dad wants you to turn it off too. It’s too much screaming for him.” He declared, before crossing his arms, waiting. The glare on Keagan’s face did not falter.
“Bye, Nolan.” The younger boy sighed again and shook his head at her, before shutting the door behind him. Keagan wasn’t sure, but she could swear she heard a faint “I tried,” before the door shut entirely. Brothers were annoying, especially when they’re six years younger than you, but thought they had power over you just because they had better grades and constant parental approval. Keagan clicked and the music turned back on with no change in volume as she laid down and let the blood rush to her head once more.
“But everything will change on Saturday.” She promised herself, speaking aloud solely because the loud music covered her voice seven times over. She smiled at the thought of her long awaited sixteenth birthday. Her friends had promised to take her out that night, to do whatever she wanted to do, with the condition that it would be absolutely crazy. If only she could think of something to meet those terms. She went through ideas in her head, dismissing them readily as something she didn’t want to do, or something they wouldn’t go for. “Shapeless to your perception, for I am you, pierced from within. Pierced from within.” It was those three lines that sparked her imagination slowly, as she pressed the stop button, leaving herself in silence. This Saturday, February 15th, Keagan Keira O’Malley was going to get a piercing. She wasn’t sure where on her body she would get this piercing – she really didn’t want it anywhere normal like her tongue or lip, and she already had her ears pierced. She wanted something that would stand out, something that was completely unusual. But what else was there?
The week flew by like… well, like weeks do when no one’s really paying attention. Finally, it was Friday night and she was on the phone with her best friend.
“Adrianne, I can’t get it on my lip or eyebrow or tongue or anything like that! That’s so… normal.” Keagan grimaced, even though she was aware that her friend couldn’t see her.
“But what else is there, Keags?”
“There are loads of things like… like…” Keagan struggled feebly, racing through body parts, but she couldn’t get past her tongue. There was, of course, the nipple, but that was for guys, and she wouldn’t even give Adrianne the thought.
“I’ll look it up online,” she promised, “There has to be something out there Ads, there has to be! And I’ll find it.”
“I hope so, Keags. Happy early birthday!”
Keagan smiled as they hung up and picked up her laptop from the floor, balancing it on her lap as she typed in “body piercings” in the Google search bar.
The next morning, Keagan woke to five voices screaming “Happy Birthday!” at the top of their lungs. She opened eyes that weren’t quite ready to see yet and saw three little boys and two little girls, all of their hair colors either red or brown. She tried to smile, but it looked like a grimace.
“Thanks Logan, thanks Myrna, thanks Nolan, thanks Oscar, thanks Phi Phi.” Her voice was groggy, and she closed her eyes once again. “But can I go back to sleep?” Her youngest sister, Phiala giggled.
“Daddy told us to wake you up now.” Keagan groaned.
“Phi phi… please.” She turned away from all of them, trying to get a more comfortable position to sleep.
“But daddy told us to wake you up now.” The younger girl protested, and she started pushing Keagan. As if in favor of the idea, the other four did too.
“All right! I’m getting up.” Keagan declared, thoroughly annoyed. Satisfied, her siblings went out of the room and closed her door to let her get dressed. Smirking, the birthday girl rolled over and went back to sleep.
“Keags!” She heard a familiar voice calling her name, but she was too groggy to place it. “What the hell are you doin’ in bed girl? You’re sixteen! You could’ve gone to get your permit… or something.” Keagan looked up at Adrianne.
“Could’ve? What time is it? Why are you here?”
“It’s 4 PM, doll. We gotta go! Unless you’re having second thoughts…” Adrianne smirked as Keagan got out of bed and scrambled for clothes. She quickly changed – comfortable enough with her friend to not kick her out – and the two of them headed out to meet the rest of their friends.
Outside the piercing shop, Keagan produced a list of possible places to pierce and gave it for her friends to look at.
“What do you think?” Keagan looked through the list with her friends. Glancing up, she saw all of them react in some way or another to some type of piercing.
“You should get your nose pierced!” One of them – she couldn’t tell who – declared.
“No she can’t,” Adrianne replied with a smirk, “It’s too normal.”
“What about your belly button?”
“What about your cheek?”
“What about… your nipple?” Everyone laughed at that. Several other… inappropriate places were called out until finally Adrianne saw something else.
“Why don’t you get your knuckles pierced? Not normal, not inappropriate, it’s perfect!” This was greeted with silence as Keagan thought it over. It would look cool… definitely her style.
“That’s… perfect.” She said, her voice low. Keagan had overlooked it while she was looking at the list by herself the night before, but now that she thought about it. “That’s what I want.”
And so it happened.
They agreed that only Adrianne would go with her – it would look weird if ten girls went in and only one got a piercing. As they entered the store and a girl with way too many piercings of her own asked if she could help them. Adrianne nodded and explained exactly what Keagan wanted. Keagan herself was silent, her heart pounding like a drum. She found that she could barely concentrate enough to hear the woman explaining.
“It will hurt a bit, kind of like when you get your ears pierced. But when you get your ears, there’s only one hole – with your knuckles, there’s two.” Clary found a sudden fear stab her as she tuned out again. She saw the woman’s pierced lips moving, but no sound came out. Suddenly, she felt an elbow in her ribs and she glared at Adrianne.
“What?” Adrianne sighed and whispered in her ear.
“If you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to.”
“I know. I want to.” Adrianne nodded.
“Do you want it on all three spaces or just two or one, miss?” The woman repeated.
“Umm… all three.” She said, sounding more calm than she was.
“Okay! Then we’ll get started.” The woman said cheerfully and she led Keagan up to a chair and got two bowls of clear liquid.
“Put your hands in these.” She said, and left Keagan to do so. Adrianne was in the front room where her friend told her to stay. There was no doubt Keagan would probably scream, and she didn’t want her friend to hear it.
“You’ll keep these silver pieces in for about six weeks, then you can change ‘em as you like.” Keagan nodded. “Okay, I’ll try and get this done as quick as I can.” Suddenly, the young girl questioned why she didn’t have to sign a form, or have an adult with her. She looked up at the woman in terror. “Don’t worry! I’ve done this tons of times. The equipment is sterile. Now just make a fist.” Keagan’s nod was a little less sure of herself this time.
And Keagan was right. She did scream.
Sooner than she would’ve guessed, it was all over. The pain subsided and she was being given a tissue, which she held to her tearing eyes. The woman led her back to Adrianne who demanded to see. Keagan removed the tissue from her eyes and held out her hands, still in fists. Adrianne grinned wickedly.
“This is perfect! Thanks!” She said to the woman, handing her a wad of cash.
“Great doing business with you girls. Don’t forget to keep those piercings clean!” Still a little shaky, Keagan walked back to the car with Adrianne.
“Let’s see!”
“Ooh, they’re perfect!”
“Beautiful, girl!”
“Sweet.”
“Love ‘em!”
Keagan smiled as she sat in the car with her friends surrounding her and gently touching her hands. But she felt the adrenaline she had earlier wash off and now she was just exhausted.
“Guys, let’s just get her home. She looks tired.” Everyone nodded at Adrianne and the car headed back towards Keagan’s house.
“Go get some sleep girl. Talk to you tomorrow!” Keagan nodded again drowsily and headed inside, where she all but passed out right on her bed.
She slept for what felt like forever, before she heard the door open and close.
“What are those things on your hands?” Nolan adjusted his glasses, sounding like he was more surprised than curious, and that he really didn’t want to know… or already did.
“They’re piercings. Beat it, kid.”
“When’d you get those?” Keagan sighed before she sat up, feeling a slight pain in her hands.
“Did you see them yesterday? I got them last night, idiot.” Groaning, Keagan fell back into bed, yelping in pain as one of her piercings got caught on the sheets. The door slammed shut. She fell back to sleep.
The door opened again. Keagan groaned in greeting.
“Dad wants me to wake you up now!” Keagan sat up to see Phiala standing at her doorway. The older girl yawned and slowly got out of bed.
“Fine.” She reached out for her little sister’s hand and was greeted by shrieking.
“What’s that? Ohmygosh what’s that?” Keagan looked down at her hand and sighed.
“Nothing. Just take it or I’m going back to bed.” The five year old tentatively put her hand in Keagan’s, careful not to touch the piercings. The two of them went out to the large breakfast table, where the other four kids sat eating. Her father was no where to be found. As Keagan walked into the room, they all fell silent. Phiala hurried to her place and they all stared at her. Keagan sighed.
“What are you all looking at?” She asked, keeping the annoyance out of her voice. Immediately, all five of them became engrossed in their breakfast. Keagan sighed, grabbed a bagel, and headed back to her room to work on her computer.
It wasn’t even twenty minutes before the door quietly opened. She saw her only brother with brown hair hesitate before he walked into her room.
“Hey Keags.” Logan was the only one who called her by the nickname her friends gave her. Keagan smiled just a little bit.
“Hey. What’s up?” Keagan got along with Logan. Maybe it was because they were so close in age. Maybe it was because Keagan was really the only one of the kids who understood Logan, accepted that he was gay without question. Either way, they got along. Logan sat down on her bed, and Keagan closed her laptop. The two of them sat down in silence before Logan finally spoke.
“We all look up to you, you know.” He said quietly, and Keagan looked at him, surprised.
“What?”
“All of us. Even Phi Phi. Even Myrna. You’re the oldest, Keags. We love you.” Logan took his sister’s hand, and Keagan let him.
“I love you guys too, you know that. But… where are you going with this?” Logan sighed, exasperated.
“Why did you do it?”
“What?” Logan looked down at Keagan’s hands, and the older girl followed his gaze. “Oh.” She sighed. “I don’t know. It was crazy. I wanted to.” She shrugged uncomfortably.
“Because your friends wanted you to.” He said softly, and Keagan looked over at her brother, about to correct him when she realized he was right. Why had she done it? Wasn’t it because her friends had made her choose something crazy? They couldn’t have just taken her out to dinner. But then again… she had decided the piercing. She had approved, she had gone through with it.
“They say you should never give into peer pressure,” Both of them looked to the door, where the words had come from. Nolan stood in the doorway, with Myrna’s arm around his shoulders. In front of them were Oscar and Phiala. They were welcomed in and they all sat around their oldest sister. She smiled at them all weakly. It was Phiala, the youngest, who hugged Keagan tightly. Logan closed in on her next, followed by Nolan, Oscar, and Myrna. Keagan’s grin became a little more sure of herself as she hugged them all back.
“I love you guys.” She whispered, and the six of them all let go.
“So you’re taking them out?” Oscar asked, hopefully, his red hair caught in the sunlight. Keagan looked at him, shocked.
“What? Ossy…” She used her nickname for him, the one she hadn’t used since he was a baby. She was nine. “What are you talking about?”
“We want you to take them out.” Phiala explained. “Please?” Keagan looked to each of her five siblings.
“Guys… I know that my friends kinda pushed me into it. But I elected for it. And I got it done. I… I like it.” She said, struggling for a way for her siblings to understand. Myrna shrugged.
“Right. You sleep with them, they’re a part of you. You can’t give ‘em up, even for the people who’ve known and loved you from the day they were born. What your friends made you do is more important than your siblings. We understand.” Sarcasm was Myrna’s thing. It always has been. Keagan sighed, unsure of what to do.
“You’ll get used to it.” She tried, but even that argument sounded weak. Where was the Keagan who was tough? Where was the Keagan who told her siblings to ‘Get over it’ when she dyed her hair black, something they protested much like this. Was it because she was unsure herself? She sighed and looked at them all again.
“Guys… I haven’t even had these for a day. Give them a try? Please? For me?” None of them answered, but they all started hugging her again. And for the second time in five minutes, Keagan O'Malley hugged them all back.