Loving Evelyn (Part 1)

1 - The Adventures of Evelyn and Daisy May

"Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures."
~•~

Her mother was passed out on the couch again.

Bottles of empty liquor littered the floor beneath her and the makeshift coffee table made out of plastic crates. Among the many bottles and trash, smoke billowed in the air from a lit cigarette Beatrice left in a glass ashtray.

It was early on a Friday morning and instead of being at her new job as a gas station store clerk, she was hungover with no signs of getting up anytime soon.

Evelyn watched from the open archway leading into the kitchen as the smoke carried to the far walls of their little two bedroom apartment. The once pristine white walls had long since turned yellow from the nicotine and Evelyn wrinkled her little nose. She hated that smell. It always seemed to cling to her clothes and the kids at school wouldn't play with her because of it.

Looking at the two handed clock on the wall, Evelyn squinted at the numbers as the big hand ticked passed the five and the smallest hand stilled on the eight. She counted the fingers on her hands - like the first grader did in the video she'd watched at the library, and came to the conclusion that she was well over an hour late.

It looked like Evelyn wouldn't be going to school again today. She didn't know whether to be dissapointed or not.

While going to school meant she didn't have to be stuck at home with her mother or alone, she didn't like going because the other kids made fun of her.

With a soft sigh, Evelyn shuffled quietly into the living room and to the still lit cigarette on the crates. Being sure to grab the part with her mother's lipstick on it, she smothered the orange end in the ashtray, as she'd watched Beatrice do countless times. The last thing they needed was for the place to burn down. Even though the apartment wasn't much, Evelyn didn't want to be homeless and living in a storage closet at her mother's workplace or car again.

A shiver wracked her small body at the unpleasant memories.

Making sure it went out, Evelyn looked around the room. Her mother was on the only couch; a worn leather love seat of an awful beige color Beatrice grabbed from the side of the apartment complexes dumpsters. Along the far wall stood an old wooden TV stand with a small box TV. Other than the coffee table made of crates, the place was barren.

Finding nothing to occupy her curious mind, Evelyn took one last look at her mother before heading quietly back to her room. As she passed the front door, her eyes caught sight of the unlocked deadbolt that was always out of reach. Feeling excitement bubbling in her tummy, she continued to her room to grab the Adventure Bag.

Her room was just as empty as the living room, with a single twin size mattress on the floor in the corner and a few of those plastic crates zip tied together to hold her clothes. There were no toys, colorful decorations, or any of the normal things a five year old girl would have anywhere to be seen, save for the stuffed bunny on her bed. She'd found Daisy May at the library as part of their children's display and instantly fell in love with its carmel colored fur, shiny black eyes, long ears, cotton tail and the light blue bow tied around her neck. The kind librarian on duty must have seen the adoration in Evelyn's eyes for she gave it to her with a smile. It was the only nice thing she owned.

She pulled the crates away from the wall where the Adventure Bag was hidden. If Beatrice ever found it, she'd take it away. The pastel blue bag had been in the school's lost and found bin for weeks before Evelyn worked up the courage to take it when no one was looking. She only took it when she was sure no one was missing it.