I need to get out of here. Whatever I thought is going on here won't and can't be true, no matter how much I want it to be.
Right now, i'm in some alleyway right off the street, I don't know which. The 'o'da boys' as Jack calls them hate me.
They called me a charity case, a dirty little money grubber. Dey think dat Jack pities me and that's the only reason he's trying to help me. I... I don't know if I should believe them or not. I just don't know. I-I even got some of dem thinking da I was.. doing stuff wit Jack so dat he... I shuddered.
Never.
I shook my head to clear their foul words out of my mind. No no no, I wasn't like that. Never would I ever do something as filthy as that, not again.
I felt my eyes begin to water and I bit my lip, squeezing my eyes shut and refusing to let my tears fall. I wasn't going to cry over some, some... words... I never let them bother me before and I ain't gonna start now. They didn't know me, yet they judged. Everybody did, and that's just the way it was gonna be forever. I mentally chastised myself for thinking any different.
"Crutchie? Chrutcie! Where are ya! I know you're here somewhere, come on Crutch! I don't know hat happened, please come out and just talk to me!"
I brought my legs up against my against my chest and wrapped my arms around myself, my forehead touching my knees as tears slowly fell down my cheeks.
You're so weak Crutchie...
My mind mocked me.
So weak, you care about their words so much even though you know it's all a lie. Pathetic, that's what you are.
I shook my head no, I wasn't. I wouldn't... couldn't be. I couldn't be weak, I needed to survive. I didn't need to feel, I just needed to survive.
"Crutchie! Where are you!"
Jack was still calling me, I could hear his footsteps echoing up and down the streets. But he wouldn't find me, I would make sure of that. I listened, my hands rubbing at my eyes as I fought to regain control of the tears cascading down my face. My silent sobs were reduced to sniffling and my gasping breaths gave way to hiccups, my body and mind suddenly too tired to care about anything at the moment. I didn't want to care, I was done. It was just to hard.
I let go of my knees and let my head loll back against the brick wall behind me, the hot summer breeze whistling through the ally and rustling my hair. My eyes widened and my hand flew to my head, my dirty fingers only meeting my equally dirty hair and I groaned. My hat was gone.
Brilliant.
Another gust of wind blew through the ally, wiping my tears away and surrounding me with it warmth. I smiled, it almost felt like a hug. I could really use one of those right now.
My eyes fluttered shut and I slowly let sleep overtake me, my mind hazing over with the need to sleep. I guess stress really made a person's mind want sleep. Ha, I guess I would need to sleep for years then.
---Jack's POV (Point of View)
Where is he? Where is he?
"Crutchie! Where are ya?"
I didn't know what happened, I took him to meet the boys and then he was gone. I left him for a second to buy my papes and then he vanished. I don't know what happened but I feel like somehow it was my fault. he trusted me and still, somehow, I had let him down. And I feel terrible. I asked my boys if they had said anything to him and they wouldn't say, so I left them. I would deal with them later.
"Crutchie! Come on Crutch, please, where are you?"
I stopped running, my seemingly fruitless attempts to find Crutchie only tiring me out. I took in a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. I needed to think, and running around like an idiot was not thinking, nor would it help me find Crutchie. Where could he be? Where would he go? I decided to backtrack and look into all the o'da ally's. Maybe he was hiding. I still didn't know what happened but I intended to find out.
I was gonna get some answers.
I stormed back to the newsstand to find all of my Newsies still there. That was odd, by this time we usually would have hit the streets and spread out already.
"Well boys, any of ya got anything ta say?"
I narrowed my eyes, my arms coming to my front and resting over my chest. I was a good two inches or so taller den any o'da Newsie and I used this to my advantage now, staring them all down to get the severity of my question across.
Spec's was the only one who looked at me, barely, his face red and his worn shoes continually scuffing against the uneven cobblestones beneath him. His hands were worrying at his paper bag and his bottom lip was caught between his teeth. All the others were pretty much in the same state, their hats off their heads while their hands nervously ran through their dirty hair. They all were shifting their weight from foot to foot, refusing to make eye contact wit me.
Now, i'm no detective but I would say that they were guilty of something. They all cautiously flicked their gaze to me, looking at each other before they all slowly nodded to answer my question. If it wasn't such an important conversation I would've laughed out loud. Dey all looked like some troublesome cat who got caught stealing the cream off da table.
"Well?" I said, raising a brow and waiting for one of them to fess up.
They all audibly swallowed, their gazes shifting from me, to the floor, to each other, and then me again.
A small voice let out a cough as an 'excuse me!' was heard as Smalls elbowed and pushed her way to the front, her forehead shiny with sweat and her hands resting on her knees as she tied to catch her breath once she had pushed her way to the front.
"J-Jack! Let me through you idiots!"
Smalls huffed and flung some of her bangs that had snuck out from beneath her hat out from in front of her face with a flick of her head.
"I saw it all Jack, dey were given' Crutchie a hard time 'bout be'in wit you. Dey thought dat-mmph."
Smalls was cut off by a hand coming over her mouth, which was promptly bit and Romeo let out a small cry.
"Smalls! Ya little ally cat ya bit me! Stop! I'll take it from 'ere!"
Romeo clenched his hand-which now had a nice set of teeth marks in it-and looked up at me, his tongue flicking nervously over his lip before he spoke.
"we're sorry Jack, we was given', us, Crutchie? A hard time, we jus didn't want you ta be back stabbed by no one. You know dat we is family. WE're sorry."
A chorus of 'yeah' and 'we're sorry' was heard and the other Newsies bowed their heads once again.
I looked them all over and deemed their apology worthy, giving the a small nod to show that I believed them.
"All right boys, to prove ta me, and ta Crutchie dat you mean it each an every one of ya has gotta say you is sorry. To his face, got me?"
They all nodded.
"Now, we are gonna split up an find him, Elmer, you take da-"
Smalls, who had been listening to our conversation spoke up now.
"Hey! I wasn't finished earlier! If, of course, someone hadn't come and rudely interrupted me."
She shot a venomous glare in Romeo's direction and he shrugged, muttering a genuine 'sorry Smalls' before popping his neck and spitting onto the cobblestones.
"Well, while you was running around like a chicken wit its head cut off and dem idiot's was sitting here waiting for da executioner, dat's you by da way. I followed Crutchie at a distance and now I know where he is. Yup, jus say it now, i'm brilliant."
My face broke out into a grin and my arms wrapped themselves around Smalls' protesting figure.
"You are brilliant Smalls. You heard her boys, let's go get Crutchie."
Comments (0)
See all