Storm In The Snow - Chapter One
Evie stepped out of the shower and reached for her scratched, battered watch. Pulling on her dusty clothes, she tied her hair in a messy bun, dried the excess water from her face, gathered the remainder of her possessions that she'd brought in with her, and wandered out of the shower towards the hall. She sat in an empty seat away from the others, a group of older men and a girl who was having a mild psychotic episode. The volunteers began passing down plates of cottage pie and peas, and Evie ate in silence.
"How's it going, Evie?" Rachel, one of the volunteers, had come to join her at the table.
"S'alright. Bit cold this week," Evie shrugged. "Food's good though."
"Have you been eating okay during the day?"
"Yep. Got bought a coffee this morning and used the cup to collect. Got a few quid for lunch tomorrow."
"That's good to hear. Is there anything you want to talk about tonight?" Evie laughed and raised her eyebrows. "I'll leave you to it then. Just let me know if you need anything. We'll be closing a bit early tonight, about half past ten. Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah, that's fine." Rachel patted her on the shoulder and went to talk to some other clients.
Evie had been coming to the homeless shelter every night for two weeks now. It was alright there; they made her feel welcome without pressuring her to talk. She got a shower and food every night, and her clothes washed once a week. Evie knew that no matter how much she starved and struggled during the day, between 6pm and 11pm every evening, she would be warm, fed, and safe.
After dinner, Evie sat in one of the armchairs and read a book. She rarely had the ability to read on the streets; she always had to be on guard and ready to defend herself, verbally or physically. She curled up and read 'The Girl With All The Gifts', until she saw the volunteers starting to pack things away.
"See you tomorrow, Evie?" Rachel called, as Evie gathered her few items.
"Yep, haven't exactly got anywhere else to be!" Evie called back, as she left the building and set out into the dark. It was a Monday in late September, and the evenings were getting colder. Evie had a duvet and a couple of other items of clothing, along with some cereal bars, in the doorway of an abandoned shop. The streets of Greenock were quiet tonight, so Evie felt slightly safer. She headed towards her doorway, removed a spider from her duvet, and wrapped the duvet around her. Pyjamas were a luxury she could not afford, and as such, she slept in the leggings and hoodie she'd worn for the past three days. Washing day at the shelter was Friday, and she only had one other pair of leggings and a clean T-shirt to wear under the hoodie. She'd left her foster home in a rush, and hadn't had time to collect anything she might have needed.
Evie must have been asleep for no more than an hour when she was awoken to the sound of a group of drunk men shouting. She snuggled further into her duvet, hoping not to be seen.
"Oi! Trampy!"
Evie kept quiet.
"Oi, you! Come out, come and say hello!" The voices were getting closer now, and her duvet was pulled from around her.
"Oh, do one!" Evie mumbled.
"Bloody waste of space, the lot of them," another group member slurred. "Should teach her a lesson."
"Yeah, alright." the ringleader continued. He pulled Evie to a standing position by her arm. She stumbled, and grounded herself. Evie saw a fist come flying towards her. She defended it, and kicked the man in the groin. Just over two weeks on the streets had taught her that to be able to defend herself was key.
"Ohhhhh! Looks like we've got ourselves a tough nut! Come on lads!" The men advanced, the ringleader taking another punch. This one was defended less successfully, and knocked Evie to the ground. Evie attempted to stand up, but was kicked back by another man. At this point, it was a free for all. Evie was kicked, spat on, and punched multiple times by the men, who's attack subsided once Evie was clearly wounded.
"Disgusting…" mumbled one of the men, as they walked away.
Evie tried to sit up, but felt a sharp pain inside her chest. She pressed down and suspected a broken rib. Blood was trickling down her face. Evie felt a mixture of relief and fear. The men had left her alone, but she was panicking about her injuries. She attempted to staunch the blood flow with her hoodie, which was now becoming crimson-stained from the volume of blood pouring from the cut above her right eye. Going to A&E was not something Evie was prepared to do, because it would mean going back to her old life, her feared life.
Evie was attempting to dry the blood with the bottom corner of her duvet when a woman walked past. The woman initially continued walking away, then turned on her heel, and headed towards her.
"Fuck…" Evie mumbled under her breath.
"Hi, are you okay?" the woman asked.
"I'm fine." Evie replied with an exasperated tone.
"You're not. Here, take this," she said, taking off her cardigan. "It needs to be washed anyway. I'm going to call you an ambulance."
"No, please don't. Please." Evie panicked.
"I have to, I'm sorry. You need to be seen to, you could get an infection. My name's Kelly, okay, and I'll stay with you until the ambulance comes. How did this happen?"
"Some lads walking past, but I'm fine, really." Evie winced as she struggled to sit up.
"Yeah, and I'm the Queen of England…" mumbled Kelly. "Stay still, don't move until we know what's happened." On an ordinary day, Evie would have been grateful for the kindness of a stranger. Since her time on the streets, however, Evie had done her best to stay away from people as much as possible, aside from the volunteers at the shelter, who didn't like to ask too many questions.
"It's a quiet night," said Kelly, as she hung up the phone. "They should only be about ten minutes. I'll wait with you."
"Thanks," replied Evie. "But just so you know, I don't talk about why I'm here, so don't try and make me."
"Okay, okay, calm down. I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Kelly defended.
The pair sat in silence until the ambulance pulled up on the side of the road. Two paramedics came towards her with their kit.
"Hi, who's the patient?" the male paramedic said briskly.
"Me, but I'm okay, I think it's a lot of fuss about nothing." Evie sighed.
"Well, we want to have a look at you anyway. Can you tell us what happened?"
"Group of men came and started on me. Cut my eye and kicked me about a bit, one of my ribs is a bit sore, it's fine though."
"It is most definitely not fine. What's your name?"
"Evie."
"We're going to need a bit more information than that, if that's okay. Can you tell me your full name, while my colleague checks your injuries?" Evie thought for a while, deciding whether to be truthful. The female paramedic looked at her cut and felt for her bruised ribs.
"Evangeline Isabelle Green."
"Age?"
"Nineteen."
"And have you been homeless for long?"
"Most of the past six months."
"Are you on any medication or narcotic substances?"
"I wish…" Evie laughed. "No, nothing."
"Right. Jess, what do you think about the ribs?"
"Definitely at least one broken, and that cut is quite deep. I think we should take her in and get an X-Ray and a couple of stitches."
"Do we have to?" Evie sighed. "I'm really okay, I don't need all this fuss."
"Evie, you really need seeing to. So we're going to pop you in the back of the ambulance and get you up to the hospital to be looked at." Evie knew she was fighting a losing battle. She stood up, partially doubled over in pain, and headed towards the ambulance. The paramedics thanked Kelly for staying with her, strapped Evie into the back of the ambulance, and headed towards Inverclyde Royal Hospital.
They arrived at the hospital within fifteen minutes, and Evie was put straight in a bed, which surprised her.
"Quiet tonight," said the female paramedic, picking up on Evie's surprise. "Don't normally get this kind of service, mind!" A nurse came straight over to Evie's bed, and the paramedics left.
"Right, Evie, is it? Let's have a look at these injuries." The nurse began cleaning and stitching the cut above Evie's eye.
"Okay, now that's all cleaned up, I want to run you down to X-Ray to have a look at your ribs, if that's okay?" Evie nodded, understanding she didn't have much choice. She was wheeled to the X-Ray department and the results confirmed her earlier suspicions - a broken rib. Evie was taken back to the acute ward and waited to be discharged by a nurse.
"Evie? I've just got some questions for you," a nurse called, bustling over. "We've looked up your name on our files, but we can't find anyone matching your records.
"Oh…" Evie replied, worried.
"Is Evie your real name?"
"Yes…" stuttered Evie. The nurse raised an eyebrow. Evie knew there was no way she could get out of this one. "But it's not my full name. Evelyn Charlotte Thistle."
"Thank you. We'll go and look you up now and hopefully discharge you within the hour."
Evie lay on the hospital bed, anxious. If they knew her age, then they'd know…
"Evie?"
"Mmm?"
"Your records show you were born in 2004. That makes you fifteen. Where are your parents?" her nurse said.
Evie rolled her eyes. "Dad committed suicide when I was four, Mum left me with the authorities."
"But you told us you were homeless?"
"Ran away from my foster parents."
"What made you do that?"
"Dunno, just didn't really like them." Evie fiddled with the drawstring of her bloodied hoodie.
"Right, well for now, we'll have to call them to come and pick you up. We should be able to find your foster parents' numbers on our system."
Evie sighed, and fought a stray tear threatening to spill out from her sore eye. She thought she'd escaped.
An hour went by and she heard the familiar Scottish brawl of her foster mum. "Evie? What are you doing here?"
"I'm fine, Becky." Evie backed away from her foster mum slightly.
"I'll deal with you later." Becky whispered into Evie's ear. "Wait until Will finds out about this."
"Right," hurried the nurse. "Evie's all fit to go home, she'll need to take it easy for the next couple of weeks and have her cut cleaned every day. The stitches are dissolvable so she won't need to come back in unless there's any complications. I'm a bit concerned that Evie was sleeping rough, though?"
"Oh, she was just being silly. A little tiff gone too far. We'll sort it out, won't we, Evie?" Becky replied, giving Evie a sly, stern look. Evie nodded, and the two left the hospital.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're playing at, Evie?" shouted Becky, once they'd reached the car. "Do you know how much we get paid to keep you? Hell, I don't do it for any other reason. Streets are where you belong, stupid girl. Nobody else would have you. If it were my choice I'd have you straight back out there, but no, you had to go and get yourself beat up, didn't you?" This line of verbal attack continued throughout the ten minute drive home, most of which Evie managed to zone out.
It was just after 4am by the time they arrived home. Will, her foster dad, was waiting, peering behind the curtains.
"Stupid bloody kid," Will mumbled, opening the door. "I thought we'd got rid of her?" he questioned, directing his speech towards Becky.
"Yeah, well so did I." uttered Evie.
"Don't give us that cheek, you piece of shit. Sleeping out on the streets like that, it's disgusting." Will spat. Evie turned to walk upstairs to her bedroom, and Will kicked her in the back of the knee so she fell. The pain in her ribs flared up, and she tried not to cry out.
"Get yourself up to bed, tramp. Oh, and don't think you got away with bunking off too. You're starting at a new school in the morning, Waterloo Road. I want you up and dressed by 7 so you can hoover the house." Evie didn't reply, but headed upstairs. She opened the door to her room, a small, dark space with a tiny window. She'd only spent two nights here, and hadn't yet unpacked her things from her bin bags. A school uniform was hanging on the door, potentially the nicest thing Becky and Will had done for her since she moved, despite the uniform clearly being secondhand and unwashed.
Evie took the blanket off her bed, for there was no duvet. She pulled it onto the floor along with a pillow, not bothering to get changed, and closed her eyes. She had no intention of spending another night here, but that was tomorrow's problem. For now, she slept.