A/N: Hola! This was requested by ReadsbooksYay.
Putting a trigger warning here: Blood, Self-Harm, Depression, Race crying.
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Newsboys Lodge: 3rd person POV
All the boys had already left to sell their papes.
Except Race.
He told Jack this morning that he felt sick, and couldn't go. Deep down, Race knew it was worse than that.
Mindlessly walking around, Race could start to feel his pulse speed up. His movements soon weren't his own, as if he simply wasn't in control anymore.
Race didn't realize what happened, until he saw the blood.
Looking down, he saw 3 gashes across his wrist, all covered with the red liquid. He froze. His senses quickly came back to him, and he started cleaning up the blood. It was almost as if he was cleaning up a crime scene. Which he was.
Hours turned to days, which turned to weeks. Race kept cutting, to the point where it became routine, and dropping it would just make things worse.
The normally bubbly, energetic, and goofy Racetrack had gone. In his place, a mindless, almost ghostlike boy was replaced with him.
Slowly his family started to see him change. The first to notice were Jojo and Albert. The pair knew that Race wasn't the same. He had been one of the newsies with a more troubled background, but he was never one to dwell on the past.
Finally, Crutchie took a stand.
He gathered all of Race's closest friends. Albert, Jojo, Finch, Jack, Davey, and Elmer.
"You guys, Race isn't okay, and we need to figure out why." Crutchies voice rang out through the empty Deli.
"Crutchie, Race has been through some pretty rough shit. I suggest that we don't poke him about it too much." Jack suggested. Seeing his little brother in pain was hard. But there were a million things to consider before choosing the right one.
"Alright, we're going on a field trip." Jojo announced.
"What? Where?" Davey questioned. It was unlike Jojo to be so random, but with Race not being in the right state of mind, someone had to fill in for him.
"Brooklyn, where else?" Albert replied, as if it were evident.
"Yeah! We can get Spot!" Finch caught on to Jojo and Albert's idea.
"Sorry, but what would Spot do to help Race?" Elmer questioned.
Albert sighed, "Race and Spot have been together for a couple months now. Spot would come over to hang out when you guys were off somewhere else. But recently, Race has just been locking himself up in the closet, and won't talk to us. He might talk to Spot."
Jack sighed, standing up on his chair, he yelled out "Alright! We're going to Brooklyn. Crutchie, you're in charge until I get back. Finch, Elmer, you two are on Race duty. Everyone else, let's go!"
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"Whaddaya want Kelly?" The big voice from the tiny man rang out in the alleyway.
"I want my brudda to go back to normal."
Whatever tough-guy facade Spot had on, disappeared almost instantly. "What's wrong with Race?"
"We don't know, but we're hoping you could help us find out?" Jojo butted in.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Spot bolted down the alleyway, towards the Brooklyn Bridge.
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