folklore

- 7 -

Harley sat on her- now permanent- bunk, reading a book when Elmer sat down in front of her, purposely bouncing the bed to get her attention. No matter how isolated she felt from the newsies, she knew that she could always count on Elmer to make her feel like she belonged. It was no doubt that the two had grown close- and the same goes for Finch as well. They had become a trio, much like Lilly, Spot and Hot Shot.

She looked up at him with a smile. "hi Elmer." She greeted sweetly.

Finch leaned against the side of the bunk closest to the wall and smirked at her. Because Finch was Elmer's best friend, it was a no brainer that he and Harley had gotten closer as well.

"we wanna show ya somethin'." Finch motioned to the window with his head, in which Harley walked up to it. There, she found Cosmo's old astrology book opened to a page that showed her arranged star sign in a black background.

"look out tha window." Elmer instructed, in which Harley poked her head out the window and looked up into the night sky.

"what am I supposed to be looking for?" She wondered, tilting her head in various directions.

"maybe we is insane." Finch mumbled and Elmer dragged his best friend with him as he approached Harley.

"it's theah, I swear!" He motioned ahead of him. "jus' look closah, Harley. I promise."

Finch took a quick look at the page and poked his head out the window, next to Harley's. Once he found it again, he grabbed her head with two hands and manually turned it slightly to her left. "the stars is arranged the same way like in the book, ain't it?"

Harley took a quick glance at the book and looked back out the window to where Finch had shown her to look. She smiled widely and stared at it for longer.

It was a gift from her brother, she knew it was. A message perhaps; to tell her that he was still there with her. Her thoughts strayed to the fact that Cosmo would have loved to see what she currently saw.

The sky was clear, the moon shone bright and Cosmo used it as a canvas to say hello.

Or maybe to say goodbye for the last time.

Tears formed in her eyes and she blinked, letting them roll down her cheeks. She retracted her head back into the building and looked at Elmer and Finch with a tear stained face.

Elmer put a hand on her shoulder. "Harley?"

She used one arm to wrap each of them into a group hug and shakily sobbed. "thank you."

✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧

Lilly stared out the window the next evening, praying for night to never come. The window was open and she watched as people hustled down the streets. Nobody sold newspapers near the Refuge and she couldn't blame them for it. No matter how tough the newsies seemed, they all shared a fear of the Refuge.

Her thoughts wandered their way back to Felix, imagining varieties of scenarios of his reaction to the news. He dedicated his life to protecting any newsie from ending up in the Refuge and Lilly felt as if she failed him too. She winced as she remembered how horror-filled his eyes were when she found him stressing over the Refuge's reopening.