I thought things had finally settled. I’d found my rhythm, my balance—even if I wasn’t the most committed goth in Delta Nocturna, I felt like I belonged. So when the sorority hosted a party in our apartment to celebrate new members, I didn’t think twice. I wore the red dress, now a favorite of mine, laughed a little too loud, drank a little too much. What I didn’t realize was that it marked exactly three months since I joined. That wasn’t just a milestone. It was a threshold.
Someone handed me a drink. The next thing I remember, I was in one of our leather chairs, half asleep but still conscious. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. But I could hear them. The buzzing of clippers. The clink of metal.
Most of them had side gigs—or full-blown businesses—as tattoo and piercing artists. And now, I was the canvas. They started with plucking my eyebrows. Needles followed. My earlobes, already pierced, now stretched with cold steel rings. Then they went lower. My nipples. Somewhere along the way, they started tattooing. Symbols. Words. Lines I didn’t understand. When I finally woke up, hours later, my skin wasn’t smooth anymore and my life had forever changed.

My skin burned in places I couldn’t see. I stumbled to the mirror, hands trembling. My reflection made my stomach drop. New piercings tugged at my ears, my nipples. Tattoos. Everywhere. Black ink crawled over my collarbones, wrapped around my arms, bloomed on my hands.
“Are these…” My voice cracked. “Permanent?”
Elise, leaning against the doorway, tilted her head. “Did you think Delta Nocturna was just a sorority? It’s a permanent commitment, girl!”. These marks would outlast jobs, relationships, my entire future. I imagined my mother’s face when she saw them. I was ruined.
“You should be happy” she said with a smirk. “You look amazing.”
I shook my head slowly, trying not to cry. “My skin is marked for life. What am I supposed to tell my family? My friends?” My two flatmates stepped forward without hesitation. They wrapped their arms around me tightly. “You don’t need to tell them anything,” one whispered.“We’re your family now,” said the other.

I didn’t know what else to do, so I hugged them back. I wept silently into their shoulders—part shock, part grief, part the sheer need for someone to hold me.
To celebrate my “transition,” they took me to a hairdresser across town. I stared at my reflection. My skin was inked. My piercings clicked softly when I moved. I didn’t even know who I looked like anymore. So the idea of changing my hair didn’t scare me. Not after everything else.
While the stylist worked, I found myself mumbling, “This was all a mistake. I’m not like you two.” They didn’t flinch. “Sweetie,” Elise said gently, “most of us weren’t ‘into this’ before we joined. We kinda grew into it.” “Yeah,” the other chimed in. “I used to find goth girls super intimidating. Now I am one. And honestly? I love the community. I don’t like other people that much anymore though.” They exchanged a look, then added, “You’ll see. People will make all kinds of assumptions about you now. That’s the price of looking different.”
When it was done, I blinked at my new reflection. My hair was still blonde—but no longer natural. It was lighter, icy, synthetic. I wasn’t a natural blonde anymore.
Even if I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

“Why the hair? What’s your plan?” – I asked.
They just smiled. “Trust the process.” As the final rinse drained down the salon sink, I sat upright, blinking at the mirror. My hands trembled slightly as I touched the unfamiliar texture of the extensions—half of them dyed deep, glossy black, the other half bleached a pale platinum. No trace of my original hair color remained.
The girl looking back at me had black lipstick, heavy lashes, piercings glinting from her lips and nose, tattoos curling up her arms and across her chest. My outfit screamed sex, defiance, power. I looked like most girls at Delta Obscura. Her eyes… my eyes… were the only thing left unchanged.
“I look like someone whose entire personality revolves around goth aesthetics,” I muttered, unable to tear my gaze away. “Nobody is ever going to take me seriously now.”
I felt no connection to the person I looked like. But if what they had just told me was true, that they were perfectly normal girls before joining the sorority, that meant that I could also change inside to match that persona. And that scared me more than anything.

Going to lectures had become a nightmare. People stared. Whispered. Some laughed. And worse were the ones who pretended not to notice, their eyes sliding over me like I wasn’t even human.
I tried sitting with my usual friends, but they wouldn’t shut up. Comments about my look. Jokes that weren’t jokes. Half an hour in, I couldn’t take it anymore. So I stood up, gathered my things, and crossed the hall. To the row where the Delta Nocturna girls always sat.
They saw me coming. Made space. Smiled. No questions. No judgment. Just… belonging. From that point on I skipped more lectures. I stopped replying to old friends. I began relying entirely on my sisters’ notes for exams.
One evening, Elise looked at me thoughtfully. Her kohl-rimmed eyes were soft. “You know,” she said, gently brushing a strand of my black-and-blonde hair behind my ear, “Sadie feels like a name someone else used to wear.

“You should pick something new,” she continued, her voice a low murmur. “Something that fits the woman you’ve become.” Her lips curved into a smile. I stayed silent, my heart hammering against my ribs. “How about… Synn?” I tasted it in my head. It didn’t sound like me.
I began hitting the clubs, always a part of a moving constellation of Delta Nocturna sisters. We were a spectacle of leather, lace, and pale skin, easy to spot and impossible to ignore. Only the other goth guys had the courage to approach our circle. For the first time, I didn’t just fit in; I belonged. I was a integral part of the beautiful comunity. And the attention was undeniable—a flicker of interest in a stranger’s eyes, a compliment on my boots, a smile shared over the thrum of a bassline. Then I met him. A nice guy, with a gentle manner that belied his sharp style and a smile that reached his eyes. We talked, and then we danced. And just like that, I was hooked. The message hit like a lightning strike:
My parents would be visiting that weekend. I froze. My stomach twisted. I would be happy to see them but how could I hide all of this?

I wasn’t ready. Not for that talk. Not for those looks. Not for the shock of who I’d become. I dropped everything and ran to the salon, nearly out of breath as I slammed the door open.
“I need my blonde hair back,” I begged the stylist. “Please. I need to look… normal for my family.” He blinked at me, confused. Then slowly shook his head.
“Going back to blonde right now would fry your hair. Best I can do is take it all to black—at least you’ll look like a natural brunette.”
I nodded, defeated. Anything to erase the split-dye, the rebellion, the message my hair sent. He dyed it. Cut it blunt and sleek. The girl in the mirror didn’t look like Sadie, but she didn’t scream Synn anymore either. She looked like someone trying to disappear. After that, I scoured my room for anything remotely conservative—no fishnets, no vinyl, no chains. I found a long, loose black dress. High collar, long sleeves, chosen to cover all my tattoos, including those on my hands.
“Hi… Mom. Dad.”

END OF PART 2
The complete story “Delta Obscura” was posted on my Patreon in 2025.
If you like my stories, you can find plenty more on my Patreon page!



































































