He Who Walks Among Roses

"Good Morning Doc." Evalin sat next to Doc, the owner of the McGinty's Bar. He opened his eyes to a glass of orange juice.
"Well Thank you FUCK! for the ASS! of PISS!"
"Your very welcome. Make sure you take your meds with that."
"Oh fuck. Sorry FUCK!" He said.
Evalin smiled as she left the room. It was fairly early, she was going to go close the books from the previous night. Doc had hired her has a bartender because as an old man, he was well, getting old. Some doctors have him taking expensive medication with expensive visits because that how things just go when your old. He didn't exactly get the best business saying every swear known to man to every customer that walked in the door. He needed customers because he needed the money, and Evalin, well she needed a place to be. Doc had grown to be like a father to her, he didn't look at her like other men. The ones who stared at her chest and grabbed her as they pleased. He loved her like a daughter, and she knew that, she knew that the night he teared up when she said she wasn't going to up an quit.

Doc had found Evalin one night in the corner of his bar. She had ordered numerous shots of vodka and been high as a fucking kite. When it was four AM and she hadn't left her told her that she could sleep in the back room. There was a futon next to a pool table and she gladly fell to its surface and slept for nearly seventeen hours. And even though when she woke up and she was in a different and warm safe place, she still had three scratches on the side of her head.

Evalin counted the cash in the register when Doc walked in.
"I knew you'd be FUCKING good PISS here."
"How'd you know that?" Evalin asked.
"Because when I saw y-you, you could't have gotten SHIT much w-w-worse.."

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[Evalin's Flashback]

The music from La Bohem played as she sticked the rip in her jeans. Her mascara stained her eyes and blurred her vision. Tears, they didn't help. "STOP." Evalin said to herself. She knew she was strong. Stronger than this. So she looked herself in the mirror. Removed the makeup residue and smoothed back her hair. The small cut on her forehead had bled more than she thought, she ran a washcloth under the warm water streaming from the tap, then she ran it through the crusted blood in her hair till it was mostly gone. With puffy eyes she sat back down on the bed she shared with the only man in her life.
His name was Dalin. His friends, they called him Cash. He always knew where to get it, and where to get the most of it.
"HEY BITCH." Oh, no. Not this soon. He should be out... Dalin kicked in his bedroom door. "What makes you think that you can hit me with my own gun and not get punished for it?"

The gun. If it had been loaded, she would've shot him.

He slammed his fist down on the cd player. It smashed. He was enraged and there would be no stopping him this time. Dalin moved his fist so quickly that Evalin hadn't even seen it coming and he hit her square in the face and she went doen like a ton of bricks. She picked herself up only to be met with his fist again. This time grabbing ahold of her hair and pulling her onto the bed.
"Your just a pathetic little twat. You hear me? You're stupid." he spat at her.
"NO, pleasseee no. I won't do it again. I just reacted wrong. You know I love you right?" Evalin would lie through her teeth to keep him from touching her. His nails dug into the skin on the side of her face, drawing blood. He kissed and bit her neck, he lifted the brown cotton t-shirt over her head. Evalin fought the gesture, his eyes in her skin, made her nauseated, his hands on her skin, even worse, she was about to throw up when he ripped the pants she was wearing, then his phone rang.

Thank God.

"FUCK. YEAH? What the hell do you want and this better be fuckin' good or I'll beat that little daughter of yours." Evalin knew who he was talking to. It was Ralph. He has a twelve year old daughter, the sweetest little girl you'd ever meet. Her name was Sarah.
"Fine, I see. Tell those bitch Italians that they'll get their package. And I'll hand deliver it to them." Dalin got off her half naked body and shut his phone.
"You're only lucky little cunt." He spat on her chest and left her on the bed. This time she cried. She wasn't that strong.

The next morning she looked at herself in the mirror. Three scratches, about and inch and a half each marked her right temple. Great, not the body art she admired. She took a bath and washed her hair, and her skin. Her knees were riddled with scars from falling to the floor, and burn marks from Dalin's "Fun" with cast iron. And there was even this tiny bump on her third lower rib where it had been broken and never set, so it healed with a severe point to it that was very visible. She cleaned her wounds with a little alcohol, and some tiny stich bandages. She threw on her pair of jeans that weren't ripped and walked to the kitchen. Dalin would bout out all day with the Yakavettas because whenever they finished a deal they always treated him with pastries and shrimp cocktail. She reached on the high shelf for the bottle of vodka. Her wrist didn't comply, from being broken so many times it created a mind of its own and it decides what it wants to do, grab the glass bottle was not one of them. It his the tile floor and of course, shattered. She fell to her knees and was about to lap the vodka up like a dog in the summer then she noticed the door panel; slightly ajar. The door wasn't closed. Which means, the lock on the outside wasn't locked. She... for the first time in months could walk out the front door as she pleased. and thats exactly what she did.

[END]
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"Thanks Doc, kind words of endearment."
"That m-man, FUCK no, that PUSSY F-F-F-FUCK better not ever com-me here. Or he'll have SHIT PISS t-t-o p-p-p-ay."
Though he was right, repeatedly beaten, raped, and exploited by the same man for four years doesn't leave you with a lot of miles left to go down. Evalin prayed every morning to thank God for sheltering her here with Doc, for leaving that door unlocked and saving her life, taking her somewhere safe. He gave her a job here and she was thankful, she never planned to leave, it was far from the main streets, and it was an all-Irish bar, not likely that she'd run into Dalin or his gang. He ran with those Italians up-town. Not down town. And since Evalin started tending the bar sales when way up, drunken Irish men tipped well and weren't so uncomfortable because Doc didn't speak as much. Doc knew her story, she came clean the next morning when she woke up. She told him about the daily beatings, the hundreds of scars her body had encountered, and lastly she told him about the rape. Every night, screaming into a pillow with tears and pain, and no one ever came.
"Doc, You need to get your scrip refilled. Can you go do that today?"
"Y-yes. I c-c-c-can"
"Okay good, I will get ready to open for happy hour, but Herman puked last night in the womens bathroom. Again. So I'm going to get on that." A few minutes later Doc walked out the door.
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*Riiiiiiiiiinggggg, Riiiiiinnnnnngggg*
Evaling answered the phone.
"McGinty's"
"Hello, Ms. Mullaine?"
"Speaking."
"This is Tara from Boston County Hospital, can you come down, there has been an incident with your father."
"My fath- oh. Doc. Yes, of course, what happened, I'm leaving right now."
"Well Ms. Mullaine it seems to be his heart. He's stable and asking for you, but we're trying to figure out why he had a heart attack. He could need surgery and we'll need your approval."
"Absolutely, anything necessary to keep him alive." Elaine left the phone off the receiver and headed to the hospital.
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When Elaine saw Doc hooked up to machines, her eyes immediately filled with tears.
"Hi Doc."
"Oh darlin' you did-did-n't need to co-m-me here."
"Yes I did, you're my father!" Evalin winked.
"-Miss, we need to get your father into surgery now. He'll be in for about six hours. We're going to have to do a bypass, maybe a double, but we're going to check his vena cava for any extra buildup when we get inside.
"O.K.O Daddy-o, we gotta get you healthy again."
"Evalin... Unn-der the Pistol case in the b-b-ar. Theres a phone number, call my dear friends, ask for Connnor, or Murph-ph-ph-y. Tell them I've got something for them and that they need to come see me when Bloom says its its- ok-okay."
"Well. Alright, I will tell them."
"Don't worry they'll protect yo-" at that moment Docs monitors began to beep,
"Miss we have to go now!" Evalin stepped out of the way as they wheel Doc down the hall and into an elevator. With tears in her eyes she walked back to the bar. Once she got there she picked up the glossy wooden case that held a six-shooter pistol. Underneath there was no paper, confused Evalin looked around, then saw there was a note,

"Doc- Don' forget te' call us once n' a while. FUCK ASS! - Love Connor, and Murph. 555-0216 PS, Rome sens' his love too."

Evalin Dialed. Three rings until she heard a thick Mexican accent.
"Hola, Quien es'?"
"Hello, um. I'm looking for a Connor, or a Murphy?"
"oh- uhmm- I mean- ahh Ay No, Senorita tu gots the wrong numero..."
"Why are you speaking in broken spanish-" *click* He hung up.

She dialed again. No answer. Ah, Doc's Cell. She Dialed.
-one ring until she heard an Irish accent.
"Doc! Oh' Ello there. We've been thinkin' of droppin' by, we're in need of 'arrd liquor."
"Really? And why do two Irish boys hang out with a mexican who can't speak spanish?"
".... Who is this. If you think you can hold our friend ransom your seriously mistaken."
"I'm not."
"Oh! Then what arr' ya doin' then? Robbin' him?"
"No I work for him."
"Wait who?"
"Doc."
"Our Doc? Nooo...." Evalin felt a lump in her throat, she couldn't speak.
"Doc, he asked me to phone a Connor or a Murphy... He's ill. He's in the hospital and he asked for you."
"Oh, 'ay. Sorry Little Lady, I'm Connor. Murphy's my brother, and that stupid spaniard would spoke to earlier is Romeo. We're a few states away, but we'll be there non the less. Expect us tomorrow morning."
*Click* She hung up the phone. For the first time since Evalin had left she felt weak again. She cried and cried. She went to her room and laid in her robe. After a shower she sat by the phone waiting to hear the news of Doc. She cried the whole time. Every minute lonelier. Still no call. It ad been nearly eight hours now.

Evalin got on her scarred knees and prayed to God. The words were thick in her throat but she got them out it took her hours and then she finally fell asleep with her head against her fists, still kneeling.