Remembering Brooklyn (A Spot Conlon Fanfiction)

Chapter Sixteen

 "Grampy, did they take you to jail?" I chuckle at my youngest grandchild, who already knew the answer to this. It amused me that she was acting as if she had never heard this story before, when in all actuality she had heard it at least a hundred times.

"Be quiet!" Ester tells Haleigh, who sticks her tongue out at her older cousin.

We arrive at our unknown destination with a sudden halt. The chains of the wagon clink together one last time, as the horses come to a stop. Racetrack has been eyeing me since I had been thrown into the back of this carriage with the other boys. Soon after my arrival, more boys started to join us, though I couldn't tell you who they were, my mind was distracted. Racetrack's staring, however, is starting to get on my last nerve. I want nothing more than to dive across this wagon and introduce my fist to the side of his face. I keep my calm, though, as the latch of the carriage door is released. The door swings open revealing the sheriff of Manhattan.

"Come." He instructs, stepping aside to allow us to exit the wagon. Bulls are surrounding the carriage, guarding it, preventing any of us from making a run for it. It is then when I realize who I had been stuck in that carriage with for the last hour. Racetrack, Mush, Kid Blink, Boots, Snipeshooter, and Skittery exit first, followed by Sparky and Spike. Sparks is cradling his right arm close to his small body. He looks up at me, fear masking his innocent face. I want to reach out to him, let him know everything will be alright. But I couldn't lie to the kid.

We follow the sheriff into the prison. All of the cells are packed full of kids who I assume had been at the newsie rally. I notice Eddy and a few of my other boys locked away in one cell on the far righthand side of the building. In the far back, where we are being escorted are more cells, these ones appear to be empty.

I think I see something out of the corner of my eye, a shadow of something flowing in the wind, a dress maybe? It's coming from inside one of the cells.

"Gracie?" I whisper to myself. Racetrack whips his head in my direction, scowling at me.

"What'd you say, boy?" One of the bulls grunts at me.

"N-nothing." I stutter, falling silent again.

We are soon thrown into an empty cell. The sound of metal colliding with metal echoes through the prison as the gate to our cell is slammed shut. The sheriff turns a key in the door, locking us in.

"What were you goin' on about before?" Race wonders. "And who the hell is Gracie?" He is trying to act tough as he crosses his scrawny arms across his chest.

"Forget it." I murmur, pushing the thought out of my mind, as I take a seat on an old wooden bench that occupies our cell.

"Where's my cousin, Conlon?" His voice is laced with accusation. He stands in front of me, his arms still crossed, trying to look intimidating. I notice, out of the corner of my eye, Spike start to tense. He stands next to Race, hovering over the little shrimp as he cracks his fingers. "You think your little minions scare me?" He scoffs, referring to the six foot tall Spike who threatens to jump Racetrack if he tried anything stupid.

I Shake my head at spike, letting him know I can fight my own battles. He soon relaxes, focusing his attention back on Sparks, who is still favoring that arm.

"What's the problem, Higgins?" I ask the irritated boy in front of me, not giving him much emotion. The only thing on my mind is getting the hell out of here so I could go find Grace.

"What's my problem?" He shoots back, I stand from the bench now, as Race's temper starts to unwind. He is about an inch away from my face, now. "You lost Brooklyn!" He accuses me. So there it is, he blames me for losing Graceful. I was already doing that in the back of my mind, anything he said to me was nothing compared to what I was already telling myself. I have to act cool though, he can't know about Grace and I. She would kill me if I let Race find out about us.

"Are you mad?" I ask him. "She ain't my family. She's your cousin, shouldn't ya knows where your own cousin is?"

"Don't play dumb with me Conlon," I take a step backward as Race begins to yell. "I knows you's was wid her tonight. I ain't dumb. You two have been goin' behind me back, haven't you?"

"Quiet down in there!" One of the guards warns us.

"I don't know what you are talkin' about." I insist, turning my back to the angry boy.

Sparky, Boots, Snipeshooter, Skitter, Mush, and Kid Blink all watch from the sidelines, their eyes are wide, and their mouths are slightly agape. They watch as Racetrack and me argue back and forth. Spike on the other hand looked tough, like he is ready to pounce on Race if this thing started to get physical. This is why Spike was my second in command, he was always there to back me up.

I turn back to face Race, and he starts to say something, I hold up my hand to silence him, as I hear a sweet, feminine voice come from the cell next to us.

"Spot?" I hear my name, the voice is weak, but I know who it is almost instantly. her voice rings in my ears, as if an angel has just spoken. "Is that you?" I drop to my knees near to door of my cell, craning my neck trying to get a better view of the cell next to us.

"Graceful?" I ask desperately. God, please let her be alright. Racetrack looks at me as if I am crazy.

"Graceful? That ain't no Graceful, that's Brooklyn!" He insists.

"It's me," She says, ignoring her cousin. Her voice is almost a whisper. I see my beautiful girl come into view as she moves closer to the door of her cell. The light is dim, but I can tell she doesn't look well. One of her eyes is swollen shut, I can't see if it has begun to bruise yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if it had. Blood trickles down her lips, and onto her chin.

"I'll kill 'em!" I shout, shaking the bars in front of me, losing my cool. Racetrace takes a step back. I am so angry, I swear I could break down these bars without much effort, right now. "Did they touch you anywhere else?" I ask her, dreading the answer. Those good for nothin' Delancey brothers had a reputation... I was only afraid they had made that reputation live on in the expense of my Graceful.

"I said be quiet in there!" The guard yells for the second time.

"I'm alright." She assures me, not really answering my question. "I'll be alright." I cant decided whether or not she is trying to convince me, or herself. Either way, the Delancey brothers were about to get what was coming to them, just as soon as these good for nothin' bulls let me out of here.

Alright, here's another quick update for you guys. Starting to get a bit discouraged with this story. So if you want me to keep writing, let me know. Comment, vote, do something. Otherwise I'm not sure I will keep writing this. Sorry again if this wasn't up to my normal writing skills. I haven't had a lot of time lately to focus and go back and edit my chapters lately...

sorry.