I found her in the back alley behind my store.
She was bruised and battered and just this side of unconscious.
I rushed over to her, barely making out in the darkness the bruises that puffed her face. She was covered in debris from my refuse container. Someone had taken the time to spew garbage from my bin all over her. A message? Or just a final insult to punctuate her beating?
I didn't care. What I saw was an injured girl before me and I would do my best to make certain she got proper treatment.
"Can you hear me?" I asked loudly, tapping her face lightly. She moaned a little and moved her head slightly. "Can you tell me your name?"
No response.
"Ok. Can you tell me where you hurt?" I was loath to move her, wary of possible broken bones or internal bleeding. Again I got no response.
"Ok. You hold tight. I am just going to run inside and call an ambulance."
"No," she gasped and suddenly grasped my wrist with a surprisingly strong grip. "No policia. No federales." Her whole body shook violently.
No police? What was this? Although her Spanish clued me in slightly.
"Listen. You are hurt badly. You need a hospital. Doctor. El Doctor. Nosotros voy el hospital."
My Spanish is quite horrible, but she understood my intent. She strained herself making certain I understood she wanted no part of anything official.
"No. No!" she exclaimed, trying to pull herself up using my arm and spitting blood. "No," she said and collapsed back down, breathing heavily and raggedly.
Damn, I thought, and began running my hands over her body to try and determine if anything was broken or bleeding badly. I wished there were more light so that I could see. Blasted street punks were always knocking out the lights in the alley so that they could do their drugs, engage in prostitution and do whatever else it is young miscreants get up to.
I couldn't feel anything out of place on her body, so I decided to risk carrying her inside.
"You can't stay out here," I told her. "I am going to take you inside, see if we can't get you fixed up."
She didn't answer. I think she was now fully unconscious. My suspicions were confirmed when I tried to lift her. Her body sagged badly and I had a hard time getting her into my arms. Nothing is heaver than the dead weight of an unconscious human body. Her arms and legs were limp and loose and her body sagged at the waist every time I tried to get her up. Finally I settled for grabbing her from the front and lifting her from under her arms. I struggled to my feet and her body collapsed against mine. I was disastrously aware of a very healthy pairs of breasts pressing firmly into my chest and I felt disgustingly shameful that such a thought would pass through my brain at a time like this. I shuffled her over to my back door, leaned her against it and fingered to door handle. We tumbled inside and I winced as her battered body hit the ground. I tucked her feet inside and kicked the door shut, locking it.
In the light of the storeroom I got a much better look at her. Under the bruises and blood that matted her face she appeared to be a very attractive, and young, Hispanic girl. I would say between 18 to 20 years of age. Both eyes were blackened, her cheeks bruised and swollen. He nose was bleeding and her lips were cut. Her neck had blue and black marks around it where it appeared someone had tried to choke her.
I looked at the rest of her body.
Her clothing, scant as is was, was disheveled, but not torn. She wore a short black fishnet top that exposed her belly. Under it was a translucent black chamois. She wore extremely tight and short cut-off denim jeans. From her intact clothing I surmised that, whatever the intent of her attacker, it was not rape.
The bruises continued down her body, dotting her arms and thighs. If she had been hit on her stomach or chest, those wounds would not show yet. Maybe in another few hours. I pressed lightly on her chest, patting her rib cage. No bones seemed to move, so perhaps she did not have any broken ribs. I put firm pressure with my hands on her abdomen and, even though she was unconscious, she gave out a moan.
Shit. I pressed again but could not detect any obvious swelling, firmness or pocket of pressure that might indicate internal bleeding. I sat back and looked at her, weighing my options.
She very adamantly did not want to go to the hospital. However, if there was internal bleeding, I would have no choice. A dying or dead girl in my store would be very bad news indeed.
I took a second appraising look at her...the bruises, how she was dressed...and reflected upon the condition in which I had found her, buried under garbage and all. Someone wanted her taught a lesson, but not necessarily dead. The beating was too professional. Designed to hurt badly, but not disable or incapacitate. The careful damaging of her face was telling. Both eyes blackened evenly. And both cheeks. Lips busted but chin apparently not broken. Nose bleeding, but also apparently not broken. Someone wanted to preserve her looks. Someone was making money off of her.
Well, not anymore. Not if I could help it.
I considered options. Like as not, whoever did this would be back for her. It didn't do to leave a potentially illegal immigrant lying around for the cops to find. Too much to risk that perhaps she would be the one to crack and spill stuff to the feds who could not be bought. No. They would be back for their property. Best, I thought, to get her out of here, let them think she had come to and wandered off.
I ran an electronics store. One of a chain of eight throughout the city. I paid my graft to the neighborhood, took care of the cops and street punks alike, and was basically left alone because I got people the neatest gear at rock bottom prices. I was cool in the neighborhood and beyond reproach in the street sense. Perhaps I could risk nursing her back to health.