Ev

"So, what will you do tonight, moneybags?" Teo asked, leaning over my shoulder and looking at my sketchbook. I hid the drawing I was currently working on with my hand, but he had already seen it. "Who's that?"

"Nobody. Just a kid I saw on the street," I brushed off and started flipping the pages to get him to forget about my drawing of Daniel. Hell, if anything Teo could recognise him from the news. "This is what I will do tonight," I said, landing on the page with the actual drawing that I was planning on recreating as street art.

It was just a pair of eyes with tears and pain evident in them. One of them seemed to be bruised and even had a haemorrhage. My inspiration had been obvious to me, but I was sure Teo wouldn't get why I would draw something like this. He shook his head and leaned back.

"Hermana," he said under his breath, and I had to look away. I had forgotten about that. "Please tell me many people will be able to see this one," he said, his voice much clearer and steadier now. "Many people need to see this one."

"The spot I found is just right," I assured him. "It will be seen."

A little later, as Teo finished a tattoo, I went outside the back of the shop to get some air and stretch myself out. I opened my phone and looked through the news, and somehow, I ended up reading about Daniel's parents.

They had been involved in politics about a decade before Daniel was even born, and from everything that I could find, they seemed to be pretty damn good at their jobs. They pushed for a more environmentally friendly society and were rather vocal about animal rights. They also advocated for queer rights; his father had said more than once that queer people deserved the same rights as everyone else in his campaigns.

I seriously couldn't see how they were able to ignore or overlook the abuse that Daniel was going through. Unless what he went through happened at school, with like a teacher or another student, and he had been able to hide it from his family. But he had said that he had tried to end his life before. How could they not have noticed that?

I put my phone away, slowly getting a headache from all the thinking and pulled out a cigarette from my jacket's pocket. I usually left my cigarettes at home, but after seeing Daniel smoking, I hadn't wanted to leave them with him. I didn't mind him smoking them, hell I barely used them so even if they were gone, I wouldn't care that much, but it didn't feel right to leave them there. Getting addicted wasn't something he needed right now.

Maybe he hadn't been abused; I thought as I puffed out a big cloud of smoke. Perhaps he had some kind of medical condition that had caused his mental illnesses. Or maybe he had been through some type of trauma, but not the type that I had been imagining. As I took the last drag of my cigarette and tossed it in a big water puddle, I frowned. Those bruises and cuts I had seen on him on the first night could have been self-inflicted... but those bite marks on his back couldn't have been. Someone else had done that to him. Someone that had avoided hitting his face.

I ran my hand through my hair and walked back inside.

"Ev! Haven't seen you in a while at the gym... how are you doing?" Tyler, my old trainer, asked me as he had entered the shop a little before, I did.

"Hey, Ty. I'm fine, I just haven't found the time to swing by," I told him, stretching my arms upward and cracking my knuckles. "So, what's up?"

"I got a new design that I want you to do on me," he said, leaning over the counter and tapping his rings on the surface.

"Awesome, show me!" I happily exclaimed.

Tyler Sheppard was a regular even before I started working here. He owned a parkour gym a few blocks away and had the body to show for it. His training had made me and Marcie so good at going out at night and doing graffiti, not that he knew that of course.

I looked at the drawing he placed on the counter and tried to picture it on him. It was an intricate drawing of a serpent that was roaming among stars and planets. Its scales shared their beautiful colour with the shimmering silver and gold stars.

"I love it," I told him. "I don't know about silver and gold, but I love it. Did ya girl design this one too?" I asked him, and at once, he beamed up at me.

"I think she overdid herself this time, right?" he asked back with the brightest smile I had ever seen on him.

I couldn't help but laugh. This man that could terrify most people that saw him on the street with his height and muscle mass was so in love, he could turn into mush before my eyes just like that. It was ridiculously sweet.

"She did..." I agreed, knowing that not agreeing wasn't an option. "So, let's talk about placement and book you an appointment," I went on, straightening up and changing the topic.

As my shift ended in the afternoon and I couldn't publicly paint, I went back to my place to eat something and check up on Daniel. We had supper together and then at around one a.m. I packed my stuff and went out. When I had left, Daniel didn't seem to be in any way sleepy or tired, so part of me had to wonder whether he would be up when I got back.

I went to the place I had picked the previous day and after making sure that there was no one to be seen I got to work. I had chosen a street that wasn't too remote but at the same time rarely had people walking at night. Especially at this time.

Even though I was still in the dark about Daniel's past, something that I didn't think I'd hear much about ever, just having the thoughts and ideas that I had, fuelled my anger toward the amount of neglect abuse victims got. I had witnessed abuse from a very young age; I knew what it did to the ones it touched. And to think that people like Daniel, that came from families like his ended up like that... I couldn't even imagine what people that had no one went through. My mind travelled back to Teo and his sister...

It took me a little less than one hour to finish it. I had tried to do it as quickly as I could, considering anyone could just take a turn and see what I was doing. While my face was covered, I wasn't in the mood for running. And I wasn't in the mood to not have this finished. So, I hurried, and, in the end, I was happy to see that it didn't turn out horrible. I quickly put my things away, hearing a rumble of thunder in the distance, and got on my motorcycle, ready to go back home. But just before I rode off, a sound behind me freeze me up.
***

I opened the door to my apartment, and walked inside with small steps, not knowing whether Daniel was asleep but not wanting to wake him up in case he was. When I heard the low sound of someone talking on my laptop, I knew he was.

"Hey," I called out and came to view. Daniel stopped the video and looked up.

"H-...um, didn't you go to do street art?" he asked. I nodded. "Where did you find... that?" he went on, looking at what I was cradling.

"She was all alone..." I started explaining myself and looked down at the kitten I was holding.

Both the cat and I had gotten wet by the rain, not being able to ride fast enough to avoid it. I had put her in my backpack, and the shelter from the storm seemed to have calmed her even a little.

"She was literally living in a carton. I just had to take her with me..." I added and shrugged my backpack off. Then I slowly got down and sat in front of the space heater, turning it on to warm myself and the kitten up.

Daniel didn't skip a beat and came to sit down on the floor next to me. I could tell by the way he was looking at the kitten that he was trying to figure out what kind of cat she was. I wasn't sure either, but considering she used to be a stray, I'd bet that she was a bunch of breeds mixed. Her eyes were light green, and they started to close as she took in the heat from the heater, at once beginning to purr.

"Can you get me, eh, a tuna can? From the lower cabinet?" I asked him as I quickly removed my leather jacket and left it on the floor.

Daniel nodded and got up, the kitten -that wasn't older than three months- immediately opening her eyes and looking up at him. I scratched the back of her ear, drawing her attention back to myself and then took the can from Daniel. She looked at it as I set it down on the floor between the heater and myself and jerked when I opened it. Slowly, she got up from my lap after I gave her a small piece to smell and realising how delicious it was, and she devoured it.

"She's starving..." Daniel muttered, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his chin on them.

"She was a stray," I noted.

"So, you'll keep her?"

"I can't let her back on the streets. Besides she's adorable..." I replied, running a hand over her spine.

"How do you know it's a she?" Daniel asked me.

"I checked," I muttered as I tried to unstick a piece of dirt from her tail. I scowled. "I need to wash her..." I went on. From what I could tell her fur was dark grey or maybe light grey mixed with some black. She seemed to be fluffy, but being still a kitten and wet and matted made it hard to see.

"I thought you shouldn't wash a cat..."

"Yeah, you shouldn't. But she's matted and covered in fleas, and the vet won't be open for the next five hours, so I might as well. It will be fine, I'll dry her up afterwards," I said.

Without replying to me, Daniel reached out and placed a hand in front of the cat's face, as she was done eating and just sat in front of the heater. She turned her nose that had a small piece of tuna stuck on it and sniffled his fingers and then without hesitation rubbed the top of her head against his knuckles. I couldn't overlook the small smile that moved his lips.

"Come on, let's go clean her up," I said and sat up, taking the kitten with me.

Daniel followed me as I went to the bathroom and filled the sink with some lukewarm water, not letting go of the kitten.

"Hey, can you get me a pair of gloves and some cotton wads from the first aid kit?" I asked him, and quickly he complied. I let the cat on the countertop as I put on my gloves and got some soap. By the time I looked up again, the kitten had walked up to the mirror and was looking at her reflection. "Come here, you..." I cooed and moved her to the sink. As I poured water on her, I felt Daniel looking intensely. "The soap will kill all the fleas on her. As for the rest of the parasites she probably has, they will be taken care of them tomorrow by the vet," I told him as I went over her fur with the shampoo.

"How do you know so much about cats?" he asked me.

"My foster family used to own cats..." I said and froze up as I realised what had slipped past my lips.

"Foster family...?" he asked back hesitantly. I squared my shoulders and went on bathing the kitten.

"Yeah, that was before I got adopted," I quietly said and cleaned the cat's ears with the cotton wads, not looking up at Daniel.

"What happened to your Mum?"

"If you are referring to the woman who gave birth to me..." I started as I pulled the kitten out of the sink and wrapped it up in a towel, "I was taken from her when she overdosed on meth when I was two," I went on, taking off my gloves and then taking hold of the towel with the cat. Without waiting for Daniel to respond, I went back next to the space heater.

"I don't get it," Daniel muttered as he sat down next to me and watched me dry the kitten with the towel. I looked up at him in question and waited for him to go on. "Why would someone use drugs when they have a child?"

"I used to have that exact same question," I replied, looking back down at the cat and softly smiling at her. She had curled up right between my legs as I sat cross-legged, steadily purring and slowly drifting to sleep. "I had that exact same question. But then I realised that having a child doesn't magically fix your problems. She was an addict that rented a caravan. Hell, the only reason she gave birth to me was that she didn't have the money to abort me." I saw him flinch at that and something in the way he looked at me give me the idea that he didn't believe me, but I wouldn't have said that if it weren't true.

"What about the man that got her pregnant?" Daniel asked, moving around and pressing his back against the wall opposite of where I sat. "Do you know anything about him?"

"Don't know how long he stayed with her after I was born, but I do know one thing..." I started and shut off the space heater seeing as both the kitten and I had dried up. "The fucker is currently rotting in prison for raping and murdering a nineteen-year-old girl," I finished.

"Your Dad..."

"Let's get one thing straight, he ain't my Dad, just like that woman wasn't my Mum. The only thing those two ever did for me is getting high together and conceiving me," I cut him off. "They didn't raise me; they didn't teach me anything; they didn't even fucking care about me. So, I sure as hell won't care about them, nor will I spend another fucking moment thinking about 'em," I snapped and ended the conversation there. "We should try to sleep a little. I got four hours till the vet opens and I've had a long day..." I muttered, slowly sitting up, trying not to disturb the kitten.

No such luck. At once, she looked up alerted. I scratched her ear and pulled out an old shoebox from underneath the bed. I placed a small towel in it, as I didn't have a small enough blanket and then put the kitten in the box. It didn't take her too long to figure it out. The towel seemed soft enough, so she comfortably curled up, and after yawning got ready to fall asleep again. With all the raining lately, I couldn't even imagine when the last time she had somewhere warm and dry to sleep in was.

"Good night," I called out to Daniel as we both eventually got in bed.

"Night..." he whispered back, his back to me and his voice distant.