Eva had a problem. She was in deep shit, again. That wasn't anything new per say, but this time was the height of weirdness in her experience. Her drunken experience, since clarification was needed, desperately, in this particular situation it seemed.
The first thing that registered was the bodily sensation of walking, albeit with assistance. Least she thought it was, if the tight pressure wrapped around her upper arm was anything to go by. It almost felt like a blood pressure cuff at the doctor's office when it reached its tightest point, filled with air to bursting but it wasn't exactly painful, just grounding.
The floor was hard under foot, smooth, yet her steps seemed to echo all around her which was confusing. In the past when she was drunk, she'd displayed the usual symptoms but distorted hearing was never one of them.
The second thing Eva realized was that her eyes were closed. Or it was pitch black where ever she was, but she was fairly sure it was just the backs of her eyelids or so she hoped. Being drunk in the dark was never fun, even if someone was nice enough to escort you. Someone from the bar maybe? One of the bouncers? God she hoped so, otherwise she was about to go home with a total stranger because names and faces weren't forthcoming.
Suddenly she tripped, stumbling without falling but she grunted and tensed at the third realization: her head was hanging down and her chin just knocked painfully against her chest. The clack of her teeth slamming together reverberated through her head and she cringed. Had she broken anything? A quick run about of her tongue didn't catch on any jagged bits but that didn't rule out cracks.
There was noise though, besides the multiple footsteps that could or could not be hers. Voices in the distance, but too muffled to make out the words. Some sounded angry, others pleading, was that crying? A particularly shrill scream made her wince from head to toe and she almost stumbled again but managed to keep her feet, bring her free hand up to grab at her head.
Oh god, was there a raid or something? Had a huge brawl broken out, the cops called and pepper spray unloaded on everyone before they were being escorted out? Eva prayed that wasn't the case but all the same, she steeled herself for the instructions and head shove that would see her into the back of a squad car. Great. If she was arrested, there wasn't anyone she could call.
It seemed like an eternity but eventually her escort stopped, jerking Eva to a halt as well and twisting to face her forward. To what, she didn't know as she still hadn't looked but it was probably the patrol car. The air was crisp and clean though which was odd. There was no smell of booze from herself or anyone else nearby, no lingering fumes of exhaust or even pepper spray. It almost reminded her of what it would smell like in Switzerland or something, up in the mountains, free from pollution. Her city did not smell like Alpine mountains and her nose twitched, tickling her.
Scrubbing a hand down her face, she bumped into something apparently stuck up and sticking out of, her nose. It was almost like a cannula in a hospital but there were no tubes that wrapped around her ears. It was strange and it felt funny, making her rub at it until her hand was dislodged by a really large grip. Eva didn't fight it, it smelled too good and besides, someone might've called the EMT's. Maybe she'd be forced into an ambulance instead of a cop car? Ugh, the impeding bill for that made her head throb a little bit more but she dropped her hand all the same.
At the feel of her armpit squishing and slicking, Eva grimaced with realization number four, it was fucking hot in here. How she could have missed that? Booze always raised her temperature and it was winter time but still should she be sweating like a pig? She didn't think so. Her clothes were sticking to her back, she could feel drops of sweat running down her ribs and the insides of her thighs were chaffed a bit from rubbing against her jeans.
Did they bring her into the kitchen of the bar or was she already inside the precinct? Or hospital? It hurt way too much to think that heavy so with a resigned sigh she just let it all go and instead concentrated on standing upright without falling over. They'd know she was drunk, god only knew what she'd eventually blow on the breathalyzer test but she wasn't driving, hadn't driven to the bar just walked so the most they could charge her with would be public intoxication. Right? She hadn't made a scene, had she?
Eva was a passive drunk, more prone to be friendly and helpful and giggly than disruptive, argumentative or violent but she was prone to strong depression and crying fits at times. None of that sounded like a cause for a scene and pepper spray. Had someone put their hands on her though? She didn't think so, she didn't feel assaulted. Or sore, or whatever else she expected to feel like if that was the case. What the hell was going on?
The Jurassic like roar that followed was enough to explode her brain like an egg in the microwave and Eva cringed again, her knees threatening to buckle but the hand on her arm was still there to steady her as the echoes of the terrifying sound reverberated throughout the area. She'd expected a bullhorn maybe to get attention, or the wail of sirens. Not a fucking T-Rex. Warily disturbed by just how drunk she might be, Eva shakily lifted her head and worked hard to crack open her eyes, bracing for flashing lights.
There were none. Surprisingly, the lighting was low and dim making everything around her shadowy and a bit foggy. Disoriented further, she tried blinking to clear her eyes to look around in the now pin drop silence when an explosion of noise sounded again, startling her into jerking. Stepping back into a hard body that felt like a wall, she stilled and regained her footing as the cacophony of sound continued.
People were making the noise. Yelling, screaming, more crying, some wailing. There was growling too. That was odd. Had they brought the K-9 unit in? Leaning back against the body behind her since it felt as stable as a boulder, she relaxed herself and tried harder to look around.
To her right, other people like her seemed to be lined up along a painted strip on the ground. It was hard to tell if the floor was metal or stone but it was grey. The person within touching distance was another woman, like her, but smaller by several inches and much thinner with bottle blond hair and extensions in wild colors. She had both hands cupped to her face and was crying heavily, mascara running and her ears red.
The woman reminded her of a bar tender or something, or a CD shop worker in the mall. Tight low rider jeans, a tight white tank top with a sparkly belt and many rings on each finger of her small hands, a petite woman. Eva didn't recognize her though and wondered why she cried. She might've spoken to the woman but just then she swayed back a bit, opening the line of site and the bodies seemed to go on and on into mist. Men and women, various ages, heights, weights and dress stood on the same line she did.
The wailing and crying and screaming seemed to be coming from the women, while the yelling and barks of fight words came from the men. Just how many of them were being arrested tonight? Eva was amazed and amused, hiccupping as she consoled herself on the thought that at least she wouldn't be alone in the holding cell.
No way could she afford bail and it was Friday night, so she'd be stuck in jail until her arraignment Monday morning but that was alright with her for now. The EMT bill would be astronomical along with any following hospital bill and that took a considerable chunk out of her heady buzz. Her wallet was in her pocket but if a cop followed her into the ER would he argue if she tried to give a fake name and address? She was so screwed.
Sighing, she turned her head to the left and immediately saw a large white man in army fatigues with buzzed hair and a pissed off attitude, struggling against hands that held him from behind as he continued to shout nonsense past her to the right and down the line. Beyond him when he was jerked back, she saw even more people in various stages of upset.
None of them looked familiar from her bar but that wasn't surprising. Friday nights in Lousie's Lounge tended to attract a variety of people and she had been drinking since about eight in the evening. She didn't check her watch but judging by feel alone it had to be after midnight when the place really started to fill up as the cover charge went into effect.
God she was drunk. Leaning her head back against the person behind her, Eva took a few deep breaths and willed her knees to remain locked straight. Her head was swimming, literally, and if she closed her eyes she could almost fully experience the tides of the ocean as they crashed, withdrew and eddied along the shores of her brain. It was a fun, amusing feeling as much as it tripped her vertigo. Movement was bad for her stomach.
Directly ahead was a pale grey, misty fog bank of nothingness though if she squinted she could see vague outlines of bodies. Tall, broad shoulders, men probably but they didn't seem to be moving as much as standing rooted in place like trees, watching. Had a crowd formed to watch the bust and group arrest? Possible but most crowds hemmed and hawed, shifting weight, leaning and whispering, they moved. These didn't.
The ceiling overhead was… what was the word? Vaulted? Eva wasn't sure but it was a hell of a ways up, lost in another fog of shadows. The room at large was big, maybe that was causing the echoes. Why was everyone so upset though? Granted being arrested was never fun or peaceful but it wasn't the end of the world. Of course for Eva, it'd mean the end of her job certainly among other things but it wasn't anything to get overly worked up about to the point of violence. That'd just make it all worse, right?
"Don't you touch her! Don't you fucking touch her!"
"Where am I? Oh god, where am I!"
"Help me! Somebody please, help me, please!"
"I wanna go home, just let me go home!"
"This isn't real, none of this is real, this is a dream, this isn't real!"
"I didn't do anything, let me go! Please just let me go, please!"
"Don't hurt me, please don't hurt me I'll do whatever you want!"
"This is a huge fucking mistake, you'll pay for this, you'll pay!"
"We're gonna die, we're all gonna die oh god no we're gonna die!"
"I have to go home, my children please let me go home, I need my kids!"
"I didn't do anything! I didn't see anything, why're you doing this?"
"Get your hands off me, let go, let go you son of a bitch, fuck this!"
Everything was spoken at once from both sides, layering over top of each other and creating new waves in Eva's brain that she closed her eyes against. Many kept shouting the same things but the wording was different, the sounds of scuffling, crying and struggling was all around her. Frankly it all hurt her head so she never said a word, gazing around with bleary eyes.
The wall at her back hadn't moved and she appreciated that, still leaning against it's hardness. It felt like a body, a human body anyway and it wasn't hurting her. There was still an arm braced around her left bicep and another hand was gripping the top of her right shoulder but it wasn't painful. The weight was comforting and she sank back into it even more. It was also warm, like a tropical lagoon radiating heat in waves. Despite the chaos around her and her being drunk or maybe because of it, someone held her and kept her safe and she was thankful for it with a restive pose.
Another blasting roar rent the arguments around her, drowning them all out but this time she merely groaned and rolled her head back against the chest behind her in protest. She wasn't hung over, not yet, but her head still throbbed and churned like an ocean as almost silence fell over them, save for soft sobbing and light curses under breath.
Someone seemed to be making their way down the line after that, off to her right. Eva didn't bother to watch but she could hear. It seemed to be an interaction, as one lone male or female would be heard while all the others muffled their own sounds of pity and fear. Really, were the cops so scary? Maybe she wasn't the only one drunk off her ass. Growls, grunts, clacks and clicks and other odd guttural noises sounded in concert with the others in line, making no sense of Eva but their reactions steadily started to grate.
"Fuck you, crab face!" a male voice bellowed a few down in line. "Fuck you and everyone like you! I have rights you piece of shit!"
A low, threatening growl vibrated before more shuffling.
"Don't touch me you fucking freak! I'll fucking kill you, I'll rip your fucking head off, don't fucking touch me!"
In the end, the male was screaming at the top of his lungs and more dinosaur like sounds rumbled through the air, along with dull thuds and squeaking sneakers on the floor. There was a verbal fight and a struggle and Eva was beyond tied of it. Her whole body hurt, her feet felt fat in her own sneakers and her muscles felt like pudding. She wanted to sit down already or be in the back of a car riding to the station. The longer this went on, the worse she felt until she finally couldn't stand it.
"Will you shut the fuck up!" she screamed, high pitch. "Just shut up you dumb son of a bitch, chill out!"
As her voice faded away, only silence remained. Even the softly crying, sniffling masses seemed to go quiet and Eva breathed a sigh of relief.
"You shut up, bitch!" the male voice reported hotly. "You might wanna stay here but I sure as fuck don't, fuck you, let me go you mother fucker!"
"Let's just get through this, alright?" Eva called out tiredly. "You're only making it worse on yourself by acting like a jackass so shut up."
"Fuck you bitch, I'll fucking kill you too! Let go, lemme go!"
"Fuck you bitch?" Eva repeated to herself, feeling a heart burn ignite in her stomach and slowly rise up her esophagus. "Kill me?"
"You heard me bitch I'll fucking kill you and all these mother fuckers! Let me go you asshole, leggo!"
Sounds of a struggle reached her ears from not far off, more squeaking sneakers, growls and sounds of grappling before Eva just snapped. Drunk and tired, she stood up and twisted to wrench her arm away from the grip holding her like her sensei had taught her and stepped over the painted line to make her wobbly way down to the man. He was easy to spot, a young black man with baggy jeans off his hips and a white t-shirt with a large, oversized golden cross necklace around his neck and a shaved head.
The man was four down from her own position and the man challenging the youth was huge to say the least but she paid him little to no attention as she marched with all of her drunken confidence up between them, unhindered until she was in his face, literally.
"S'up bitch," the male sneered.
Eva leaned back before throwing a right hook with as much power and weight as she could muster, crying out in chi into the large cavernous room as her fist connected with a fleshy thud to the man's cheekbone, eye socket and the side of his nose and he crashed down onto the ground, running into the person behind him. He went down hard, dazed and bleeding.
"I said, SHUT UP!" she screamed down at him before kicking out viciously with her right foot, hitting his crotch with a loud thump that made him wheeze and grab himself, rolling into a fetal position. "Understand me now asshole?! Shut up! You're holding up the line, shut up!" After a few more hard kicks to his body she almost lost her balance, catching herself at the last minute with a faint stumbled spin around, she snorted and marched back to her own place in line with as much drunken dignity as she could muster.
Facing forward again, she leaned back against her own guarding cop and breathed rapidly, shallow through her mouth as adrenaline kept surging up and down her spine. Her right hand was numb, burning but she ignored it. She'd just punched someone. Assaulted them, in front of cops, oh god. Her heart exploded in rhythm as she tried to calm herself down, drunk or not. She'd never been violent before. Never.
Eva cowered a bit, causing her guard to grip her hips in both large hands as she reclined against him. She was going away. Public intoxication, assault and battery, who knew what else but she couldn't stand to stand here any longer while some idiot delayed things. She couldn't stand the thought of someone fighting with police even though they did it on a daily basis. Why, why had she done that? Stupid! God she needed another beer.
The silence in the room was deafening. Eva could only imagine the stares thrown in her direction so she closed her eyes and dealt with the chaos in her own head.