I was laying on the couch in my living room watching TV. My house was kind of small, and shabby, but it treated me well and I treated it well. There was a small living room and a kitchen. Upstairs was a small bathroom and a small bedroom. I remembered the time when I first met the Mercer Brothers. It was back when I was first starting to drink. I wasn't a very good person back then; I did everything illegal that I could...well...sometimes. The Mercer Brothers were in the same bar that I was one night and this girl had mouthed off to the wrong bitch. I swung at her and almost knocked her block off, and as our fight got worse, her boyfriend barged in and hit me. I only growled before punching him in the face. He swung back and kicked me in the face. I fell back and almost hit the ground, but someone caught me. I looked up and saw the oh-so handsome face of Bobby Mercer. I thanked him and he punched the guy in the face. Eventually, it was me and the Mercer Brothers, back-to-back in the middle of a bar fight. All of us were thrown out of the bar and they brought my bruised self back to their mother's house. While we were there, she took care of me and I became best friends with them. My crush became Bobby Mercer. When I'm around him, I try to be as cool as I can, but he still treats me like one of the guys. I shook my head as my cell phone pulled me out of my daydream. I opened my phone and said,
"Hello, the Bitch is speaking."
"Alicia!" I groaned.
"Hello Mother."
"Don't 'Hello Mother' me!" I sighed and looked at the calendar. Must be our monthly annual 'Call and Bitch' time. I sighed and listened as my mother bitched and bitched and bitched. As I lit a smoke, my house phone rang. I looked at my house phone and smiled.
"Oh, well, I gotta go. See ya, mummy!" I hung up quickly and picked up my house phone. "Bitch."
"Not now Ash, we need to talk." I blinked at my phone hoping that Jack knew that I was puzzled.
"What are you talking about, Jackie?" There was a long silence. I started getting worried about what was going on. I hoped they were all okay, especially Bobby. "Jack, what's going on?"
"We need you to come down here tomorrow."
"Huh? What do you mean, 'we'?"
"Jeremy, Angel, and I." My heart sank.
"A-and what about Bobby?" There was silence on the other line. "J-Jackie?"
"I don't know about Bobby...but we need you down here." I was quiet before hearing Jack said," Uh..." He broke down into a sob.
"Jackie! Don't cry, Jackie Jack, I'll be over in a few seconds." I hung up and grabbed my jacket. I sighed and ran down the street. I threw my cigarette into the snow as I ran three blocks in less than two minutes. I knocked on the door of the Mercer house. The door opened and I walked in past Jerry and towards Jack. I wrapped my arms around him and he cried onto my shoulder. I rubbed his back and whispered gentle soothing things into his ear. We sat there for a few minutes. After a while, he had fallen asleep on my shoulder. I laid him down on the couch and covered him with a blanket before looking at Jerry. I gave him a look and he took me into the kitchen. I sighed and followed him. I sighed and said,
"What is going on?" He was quiet before the front door opened and closed. "Jerry..."
"...Ma's dead. She...she was murdered in a hold up at a store." Silence rang throughout the kitchen as I thought about what I had just been told. I sighed and my eyes began to water. I tried to blink them away, but it didn't work. The tears started to fall, or at least they tried to fall. I sighed to myself and sat down at the kitchen table. I sighed and put my head in my hands. That woman was an angel on earth, who in their right mind would think of killing her? I then looked up with anger behind my dark blue eyes. I looked up and glared at nothing in particular. I sighed and stood up abruptly.
"When's the funeral?"
"It's tomorrow." I frowned at him and said,
"Okay, I'll come by here tomorrow and take you, Jackie." He nodded and I turned while walking out the door. I walked the three blocks to my house in the freezing cold. I thought about all that had gone on in my life and within all those memories, Evelyn was there. She was always there. Although I was not her child, she was like a mother to me. She was a great friend and loving adult. Tears came to my eyes as I got closer to my home. I sighed shakily and sat down in the snow. The tears fell freely from my eyes as I sat in the middle of the Detroit neighborhood.
Within a few minutes, I was back on my feet and walking down the street. I trudged down the street and got to my house door. I opened the door and walked into the house. I sighed and shook my head before shutting my door and locking it. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed myself a beer. I popped the top off and took a swig. I sighed once more and yawned. I shook my head and walked out of my kitchen and through my living room. I walked up the stairs and into the bathroom. I set my beer down and looked at myself in the mirror. In the mirror, I saw a young woman. She was about 5'6", pretty short actually, but what can you do? She had long black hair with blue bangs that almost completely covered her forehead. Two strips of her hair, nearest to her face, were blue as well. Her eyes were electric blue, just like her hair. Her facial expression was a pained one. Her face was originally dirty, but there were clean marks where her tears had fallen, and were currently falling. Her bottom lip was quivering as she tried not to cry. She had two piercings in each ear, both studs. One was an onyx gem and the other was a sapphire. There was a small ring on her bottom lip and concealed behind her shirt was a small belly ring. From the clothes I saw she was wearing, you could see her small butterfly tattoo on her collarbone and a rose on her right shoulder. She had eight other tattoos. They were skull and crossbones on her left ankle, a National Guard tattoo on her right ankle, Hustler across her shoulders, a small heart with an arrow through it on the underside of her wrist, and tattoos of the names of each of the Mercer Brothers. Jerry's name is on the back of her neck, Angel's name is on her right forearm, Jack's name is on her left forearm, and Bobby's name is on her lower back.
I took another swig of the beer and grinned at myself. I shook my head at how I pathetic I was. I was a strong, independent woman, and I was crying over an old dead woman. Then I almost started to blubber again. This wasn't just an old dead woman; she was like a mother to me. I couldn't take this anymore. With all my strength, I punched the mirror in front of me and it shattered at the impact. Broken mirror pieces fell to the floor and into the sink. I pulled my hand back and grabbed my beer. I took another swig and walked into my bedroom. I changed into some silk pajamas before lying down in my bed. I flicked on a lamp and sat up. I picked up my book and started to read, when my cell phone started to ring. I picked it up. "What's up, Jackie?"
"The funeral is at 8 tomorrow." I smiled at Jack's voice.
"Okay, Jackie Jack. I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"
"Alright, see you tomorrow morning, Ash."
"Night, babe." I heard him mumble good night before hanging up. I shook my head at Jack's late night call and I sighed. I rubbed my temples and I lay back down before clicked off my lamp.