The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne Novels & Stories

Now that she said her piece and drew the line, she turned to leave. "Wait, please-" his arm hurriedly grabbed her wrist, twitching like he was scared of hurting her. His grab caused the sleeve of her dress to roll up a little, he stared at her wrist, a surprised glint lingering in his eyes as she jerked away from his touch. "That mark..." He said, suddenly uncuffing his shirt and rolling off the sleeve, he outstretched his right arm next to hers, "it's the same as mine." Maria has had that birthmark since forever and she was convinced she was born with it, it looked like a faint tattoo of a fiery sun and has faded even more as she grew older. Why then did he have the same one on his wrist at

"This is crazy. I don't even know you." "Your name is Ava." He said it softly, reverently. "Ava Marie Chen. You were born on June twenty-first, eighteen years ago. You have a birthmark on your right hip shaped like a crescent moon. When you were seven, you broke your arm falling out of a tree, and you cried more because you couldn't climb anymore than because it hurt." Tears were streaming down my face now, and I didn't even know why. "Stop. Please stop."

he replied, motioning to the chair across from him. I sat down, the seat feeling suddenly too small for my body. “Thank you so much for this opportunity, sir. I promise I won’t let you down.” He offered his hand. I took it without hesitation. And then… I saw it. A crescent-shaped birthmark. Just under the knuckle. And the world… paused. Something thundered in my memory, something bitter and cracked and wrapped in adolescent cruelty. ~~~~~ “Yo, y’all check out Nerd of the Year. Got a tattoo to feel better about yourself?”

she had whispered at the very end, her fingers wrapped around my small wrist, her thumb pressed over the mark I had been born with. The mark that looked like a flame. I looked at it now, turning my wrist over in the pale afternoon light that filtered through the cottage window. It had always been there small and strange and slightly warm to the touch, as though something lived just beneath the skin. The village healer had called it a birthmark. The children had called it ugly. My mother had called it a gift. I had never known what to call it. I pressed my thumb over it the way she used to do and sat there in the silence of my cottage and breathed.

Before the attack, they were just an average family and had to live through each day as usual as possible, and now, she has lost not only one but both parents to death while she had no idea of her brother’s whereabouts. However, as the cold breeze brushing over her shoulders suddenly increased, Mara was reminded of her shoulders, and she grunted out in pain. The men had peered at her shoulder area and found her birthmark. The same birthmark that had been on her since childbirth and had been thought of as just any ordinary born mark, but once they saw it, they had termed a meaning into it which shocked her. Suddenly, the white flakes that had appeared briefly during the day before the attack

Already a part of me was trying to picture myself living happily, surrounded by the comfort of his home, and that was bad for me. "It's still there as bold as ever." He replied, finally, and I furrowed my brows. What was he talking about? "What is?" "Your birthmark. The prominent one on your wrist. It stood out a lot, and caught my eye each time. It was only after spotting the birthmark that I was able to find the face of the little Athena in yours." He explained. "Your birthmark is hereditary." He added, and slowly, I began to believe him.

"Yes, I needed to be sure before making any claims. That's why I asked the Senator to let me have time with you." Still skeptical, Amelie pressed further, "What will having time with me prove?" Nathan, with a sense of anticipation, replied, "There's this flower-like birthmark that I shared with Yvette, and I was wondering if you would let me check if you have that." Amelie's eyes widened at the mention of the birthmark, a detail that could potentially validate Nathan's extraordinary claim. She contemplated the possibility that this revelation could redefine her understanding of family and identity.

“ Babe, where did you draw this tattoo? “ I asked and she smiled. “ My mom said I was born with it, “ She said, trying to take a peep at her tattoo. The mark looked like a flower. “ I love it. It looks really sexy on you, “ I said to her, earning her blush. “ I love the birthmark on your chest too. I’ve never seen a black mole-like birthmark look so good on anyone, nor have I seen it that big, “ She said and I snickered. That birthmark had been on my chest since I was born. To me, it was a sign of my curse. At first, when I began to see the image of Mark in my dreams, I thought it was a warning. But seeing the mark on Maeve’s lower back now made me realize that maybe, the moon was trying to