Designer Cuts
The rich don't need limbs anymore. They have people for that.
Designer Cuts
In the near future, the wealthy don't flaunt their riches with jewelry or cars but with surgical mutilation. When Kayleigh's father wins the lottery, she learns that joining the upper class requires more than just money—it demands flesh and bone. This is a haunting exploration of social pressure, body horror, and the true cost of belonging.
Content Warning: Self-Mutilation and Body Horror. Reader discretion is advised. (DUN-DUN)
Kayleigh's phone buzzed.
Dad Calling...
Her thumb hesitated over answer before hitting ignore. He'd been manic since buying those lottery tickets yesterday, convinced he'd win. She had bigger concerns right now.
A limousine idled outside the school, its obsidian surface drinking in the weak morning light.
Students clustered around it, whispers buzzing like the din of flies on a corpse. This, whatever it was, was an event. In rural West Virginia, even prom didn't warrant limos.
"Guess the rumors are true," Jessi said. "Shanna Walker is rich now."
The crowd parted as the chauffeur reached into the back, and a murmur of excitement slithered through the crowd. Kayleigh's stomach clenched when she saw what was inside. Shanna—or what remained of her.
Her arms and legs were gone, severed at hip and shoulder. The wounds, cut with surgical precision, were proudly displayed through the holes in her tank top and shorts. Instead of horror at what had become of one of their own, the crowd rippled with a mixture of awe and jealousy. Shanna soaked up their attention like a black hole consumed stars.
"Hey, girls," Shanna called as the chauffeur cradled her.
Kayleigh didn't hear her over the ringing in her ears. Her eyes were locked on the angry red skin stitched together, weeping bloody pus the chauffeur wiped away with a handkerchief.
"You look great!" Jessi said, filling the silence left by Kayleigh.
"Thanks! Daddy sold his company, so I had to get some work done to fit in at the private school I'm transferring to." Shanna smiled, flexing her wounds.
Kayleigh gagged seeing the muscles and joints flexing under the wounds, trying to move the absent limbs. She'd seen that the rich and celebrities had been doing this—mutilating themselves to prove how rich they were; so rich they didn't need limbs and could pay others to do everything for them.
Jessi leaned forward, admiring the stitching like a designer bag.
Kayleigh's phone vibrated. Dad again. She ignored it again.
"See you!" Jessi waved as Shanna was carried into the school like an invalid child bride.
"Can you believe that?" Kayleigh whispered.
"I know! God, I wish that was me."
"How can you say that? You want to be disabled for life?"
Jessi stared at her like she was the crazy one. "It's cool. Kim K had her stomach removed — she's just a head and ribcage now, and everyone agrees that she looks great."
Kayleigh shook her head in disbelief. Her phone vibrated again.
"God, Dad. What?"
"We won!" he yelled through the phone.
"Won what?"
"The jackpot! A billion dollars!"
Kayleigh's mind buzzed with flashes of a better life.
"I've called the lawyer, signed the check, and, you're gonna love this . . . called the doctor."
"Doctor?" Was he sick? Had he been hiding an illness from her?
"For the amputations. We're rich now. Gotta look the part."
Gnarly! I see it happening.
Enjoyed this plus the bonus cat photo!!