Newsies one-shots!

Dead mom

Hey mom, dead mom
I need a little help here
Im probably talking to myself here
But dead mom I gotta ask

The day was 10th November 1889 and a young Jack Kelly, then known as Frankie or Francis Sullivan, was staring at his dead mother's body. Well, it wasn't exactly her body he was looking at, more the strange wooden box they had put her in. No-one had told him why they had done this, daddy had said it was a small stomach bug (though why she had a bug in her stomach was still a mystery to him), mommy was fine, right?

Are you really in the ground?
Because I feel you all around me
Are you here, dead mom?
Dead mom

The service was very boring, just a bunch of people talking and some songs that he didn't know the words to. Still, Jack couldn't see why this was happening. Everyone was talking like she had gone away forever, but she wasn't. Maybe she was just on holiday? Or gone to live in the cowboy town like she always said she would? He couldn't remember what the town was called, only that it had something to do with Santa. Then that doesn't explain why everyone was wearimg black and crying, and why Jack was still here. He loved cowboys, and desperately wanted to go to the cowboy town with her! She wouldn't leave him, she'd take him with her and tell him about what horse was what and how the people farmed for food. Why wouldn't anyone explain what was going on?! Still, no-one spared even a glance at the heart-broken 7-year old, deserted even by his father (who was speaking to one of his work 'friends').

Dead mom
I'm tired of trying to iron out my creases
I'm a bunch of broken pieces
It was you who made me whole

Skip to a few months later, and Jack wasn't the sunshine, happy kid he had been previously. His heart had been broken, his mind was padded by pity from adults and self doubt. Finally, someone had told him what had happened, unfortunately it hadn't been his 'dad'. A teacher at his school asked him if he was ok after what had happened, and she had gotten over the shock that he didn't know what had happened to his mother, kindly explained. Jack didn't go in the next day, or the day after that. His whole world had been destroyed in a few words.

Every day dad's staring at me
Like all, "Hurry up, get happy
Move along
Forget about your mom"

To say Francis Senior wasn't taking the sudden lose of his fiancée and the sudden responsibility of taking care of Jack very well was a understatement. As the know 8 year old went into grieving, he went into parties and most of the time, women's beds. While Jack was looking over past memories, Mr Sullivan was looking at how much it would cost to buy a golden statue of his foot. Hidden behind smiles and fake confidence, Mr Sullivan was slowly breaking up inside, piece by piece.

'Cause daddy's in denial
Daddy doesn't wanna feel
He wants me to smile
And clap like a performing seal
Ignored it for a while
But daddy's lost his mind for real
You won't believe the mess that we've become

Years went by, and Frankie (Now going as Jack), realised many things about his father. Being 9 ½, he knew lots about the world. He knew that the world was a bad place, he knew that his mother was gone forever and was never coming back. He knew that it took 24 hours at room temperature for milk to curdle. He also knew that his dad was pretending she had never left, like he never had a finacée in the first place. Which seemed silly to him, mommy had been there and she had proposed to him, so what's the point in pretending she hadn't been here at all?!

You're my home
My destination
And I'm your clone
Your strange creation
You held my hand
And life came easy
Now jokes don't land
And no one sees me

As much as Jack would deny it in the next couple of years, he did miss his mother. Every day. She was his world, his guide through the cruel, dark life. She was a small, light, everflickering and shining it's comforting rays around him. Without her, he was a mess, half of a being. Like a tree without it's leaves, natural but still hauntingly depressing.

Nothing seems to fit
Mama is this it?
Are you receiving?
I want something to believe in or I'm done
Take me where my soul can run or I'll be in my bedroom
Wake me when I'm twenty one

Many adults would say Jack was more mature at 12 then his 47 year old father. Then again, many adults would say that Donald trump always told the truth and he knew that was a lie, whether they knew that it was or not. He was, apparently, wise beyond his years. Jack called BS every time someone said that. Because he wasn't, he didn't feel mature, he still felt childish. Why wouldn't he? His whole childhood had been taking away from him, and for months he hadn't even known why. His years of play, making friends and dancing and joy and discovering the good things about the world around him without facing the tough, harsh reality of what life is really like. The years of dinosaurs, silly made up stories and pretending. The years of innocence, taking away in a second.

Daddy's moving forward
Daddy didn't lose a mom
Mama won't you send a sign?
I'm running out of hope and time
A plague of mice, a lightning strike
Or drop a nuclear bomb
No more playing daddy's game
I'll go insane if things don't change
Whatever it takes to make him say your name
Dead mom