i swear i'm alive y'all- I HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH THIS CHAP! I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY!!!
"Come on Michael." Jack chided the four year old, grabbing the younger boy's hand.
"Where are we going." Michael looked up at his older brother, eyes naturally wide with curiosity.
"I don't know." The six year old kept his head up stubbornly, dragging the younger boy through the streets.
"What about mommy?" Michael questioned.
"She can rot in-" Jack paused to think. "in- in- in wherever bad people go!"
"H*ll?" Michael tilted his head to the side.
"Don't say that word!" Jack immediately covered the younger boy's mouth.
"Why ya coverin' me mouth?" Michael tried to talk, his typically loud voice muffled.
"Why are you covering my mouth." Jack corrected.
"Sorry." Michael mumbled.
"It's okay." Jack smiled softly at his brother.
"What about Papa then?" Michael pouted.
Jack's smile immediately dropped from his face, lip quivered as he grabbed the younger boy's hands.
"You remember how Dad's a real hard worker?"
"Yeah?" Michael lowered his voice, confusion shining in his eyes. "You always said to be grateful for Papa!"
Jack's eyes welled with tears, barely pushing out his next sentence.
"Well Papa doesn't need to work hard anymore. He's somewhere safe, and being taken care of."
"Where?" Michael tilted his head.
A couple tears slipped from the older boy's eyes.
"There." Jack pointed upwards. "I- In the sky."
"Don't cry." Michael whimpered, reaching up to wipe the tears dripping from Jack's face. "Please don't be sad Jacky."
"I'm- I'm okay." Jack swallowed, wiping his tears but more kept coming.
"Pretty please stop crying." Michael jumped up, hugging his older brother. "I love you! Don't cry."
"I love you too." Jack clutched onto the younger boy, a sob releasing from his lips. "You're the only good thing in this world Michael. You hear me? The only good thing."
>>>>>>•<<<<<<
"Hey." Temper's lips pursed, shaking the small brown-haired-boy. "Hey!"
"Leave 'em alone!" Fox crossed his arms.
"They're sleeping in my selling spot!" Temper complained.
"Leave me alone!" Jack screamed, suddenly kicking his legs out.
"Hey!" Temper groaned, holding his stomach.
"Jacky?" Michael wiped his eyes, yawning softly. (Is it possible that by someone mentioning yawning can trigger you to yawn?) (cause i just yawned after writing that last bit) (I have proceeded to yawn every time I read this) (still yawning every time) (still yawning)
"Hey- hey- calm down." Fox held onto Jack's shoulders softly.
"Don't hurt my brother!" Michael yelled, shoving his shoulder into Fox with as much force as a four-year-old can muster.
"Hey- hey, I'm not doing nothing." Fox smiled reassuringly.
"I'm not doing anything." Jack corrected. "You used double negatives."
"Alright smarty-pants." Temper scoffed. "This has been real nice, but you know. Can you get out of my selling spot?"
"Temper!" Fox scolded. "That's really rude you know."
"I'm sorry." Michael spoke shyly. "We'll move." He tugged softly on the torn hem of the older boy's shirt.
"We aren't moving!" Jack protested. "I won't move over for anyone."
"Fox!" Temper whined.
"Oh my gosh, you're such a child." Fox rolled his eyes. "You can just sell with me today."
"No!" Temper crossed his arms stubbornly. "He ain't gonna move, so I ain't gonna move either."
>>>>>>•<<<<<<
"What's the big deal with selling anyway?" Jack crooked his head to the side.
"What's the big deal with selling?" Temper laughed. "That's how I make money."
"Money?" Michael's eyes lit up.
"Money." Temper confirmed. "It ain't much, but it ain't nothing either."
"Your grammar is just awful." Jack commented.
"Do you have any money?" Temper raised an eyebrow.
"...no." Jack admitted.
"Then you're not in much of a position to correct me." Temper shrugged. "Extray Extray!"
"You're a real jerk." Jack huffed.
"I know." Temper smirked.
"You have a short temper." Jack noted.
"I know." Temper deadpanned.
"Your name is Temper."
"I haven't noticed." Temper rolled his eyes.
Jack sighed, his eyes wandering to his little brother.
Michael pulled the string at the end of his shirt, curiously watching as it kept going.
"Stop that." Jack put his hand over his brother's. "Or else you're not gonna have any shirt left."
"..oh." Michael smiled sheepishly, his front tooth missing, a small stub of white showing his new tooth was coming.
Temper's eyes softened at the two younger boy's, immediately feeling bad for being a jerk.
"C'mere." Temper held out a couple papes to Jack. "You can keep all the money you earn."
Jack's eyes lit up, excitedly grabbing a couple papes. (Grabbing a corpse) (very creative beta)
"How- how do I sell them?" Jack asked after a minute of just standing with the papers.
Temper let out a genuine grin. "With that cute face of yours, you just have to grin and the ladies will swoon."
"Oh- okay." Jack let out the brightest smile he could muster. Within minutes he was sold out.
"I wanna try! I wanna try!" Michael jumped up and down.
"Take some." Temper laughed, handing a good amount of his papers to the younger kids. He already had enough to pay for more newspapers tomorrow.
While waiting for customers, Jack flipped through the paper. Trying to read articles as Temper looked over his shoulder, helping him out.
"What's- Santa- Santa Fe?" Jack questioned eyes squinting.
"There are other places outside of New York, y'know." Temper joked. "Santa Fe's in New Mexico. I heard it's real nice there."
"Really!?" Michael's eyes widened.
"No," Temper smiled sheepishly. "But the ad says it."
Jack had never scene Michael smile so wide- the image would never be forgotten from his mind.
"Jack, can we go to Santa Fe?"
"C- can we?" Jack looked to Temper.
"I don't see why not." The older boy shrugged. "It'll take some time to get tickets, but I bet you can get there."
"We're gonna go to Santa Fe!" Michael cheered.
>>>>>>•<<<<<<
"You met Fox earlier." Temper explained, "Then there's Grizzly, the older boy's- Specs is a little older than you, but you guys should get along fine."
Temper had decided that the boy's should come to the lodge, now that they had money, it's better than sleeping on the streets. Jack had grabbed Temper's hand as Michael had grabbed his, forming a chain.
"Temper!" Fox grinned. "You guys managed not to kill each other! Jack, right?"
Jack nodded his head as Michael hid behind him shyly.
"What's your name?" Fox bent down. Jack gently nudged the younger boy to move in front of him.
"I'm- I'm Michael." The brown-haired-boy mumbled.
"Michael." Fox beamed. "That's a pretty cool name. My name is Fox!"
A small giggle emerged from the short boy.
"That's a funny name."
"Michael!" Jack scolded.
"It is a funny name, isn't it." Fox crooked his head to the side. "At least it's not a funny as Temper."
"Hey!" The ten-year-old whined, hitting his best friend.
"I speak truth my friend." The redhead put his hands up, sticking his tongue out.
Temper narrowed his eyes, jumping to pin down his friend, ruffling the fire-y red hair.
"That won't work!" Fox protested, swatting away Temper's arms. "I'm taller than you!"
"Not for much longer!" Temper teased. "I think you've stopped growing!"
Fox let out a loud gasp.
"Take that back!"
"Never!"
"Ladies, ladies." Grizzly stepped in, pulling the two pre-teens apart. "Save the arguing for another time, you're ruining the eyes of innocents."
"Yes Grizzly." The two boys grumbled.
"Hi, I'm Grizzly." The tall, dark-skinned teenager smiled warmly.
"I'm Jack." Jack smiled awkwardly- feeling quite small in comparison to the new face. "This is my little brother, Michael."
"Hey Mikey." Grizzly gave the small boy a wide grin. The grin was so wide, Michael couldn't help but to smile back.
"Hi." Michael beamed.
"Now that's an award winning smile!" Grizzly winked. "You should use it more often."
Jack smiled fondly down at his little brother.
"Now, I assume you guys are gonna be newsies?"
Jack nodded, still not trusting the older boy.
"Hey." Grizzly bent down, taking Jack by the hands. "You ain't got nothin' to be afraid of kid. The second you step through those doors you are safe I promise you that."
"He speaks the truth Jack." Temper smiled softly. "Nothing can harm you anymore."
"You're part of the family." Fox grinned cheekily. "And then, you won't have to be the big brother all the time. Now, you get twenty-three big brothers!"
"They're nice people Jack Jack." Michael tugged at the bottom of Jack's shirt, getting his brothers attention. "I trust them."
Jack looked at his new friends and knew his brother was right.
"I guess- I guess we'll be fine." Jack shrugged.
"Yes!" The boy's cheered, happily welcoming the new newsies to the lodge.
>>>>>>•<<<<<<
"Jack, this is Charlie." Temper gestured to a small, dark-sandy-haired-boy.
"He's around your age." Fox stated proudly, finally remembering something useful. "How old are you again Char?"
"I'm five!" Charlie held out five fingers, the widest smile Jack had ever seen was on his face.
"That's so cool!" Michael piped up. "You're only a year older than me! We're practically the same age!"
"Yeah, but a year is a lot." Charlie exclaimed. "A year is the difference between me and Jack too! And he's so much taller than me! And a year is also enough for me to be able to call him my big brother!"
"But he's my big brother!" Michael whined.
"It's possible to have two big brothers." Temper grinned. "Otherwise Fox here would be a push over!"
"One month." Fox grumbled. "One month difference. This must be what it feels like to be a younger twin."
"And I was just using it as an example!" Charlie's smile remained wide. "Are you mute Jack?" He turned to the brown-haired-boy with a curious look on his face. "Is that why you don't talk? That's how Fox used to be according to Grizzly!"
Fox flushed a red as bright as his hair, shyly tucking his head into Temper's shoulder and mumbling. "I'll never live that down."
"I'm not mute." Jack crossed his arms. "I'm just observing."
"Observing." Crutchie nodded his head up and down excitedly. "Of course! That makes sense!" He continued to talk a mile a minute. "Observing is cool, but I just can't stay quiet long enough! I don't have a newsie nick name because mine was supposed to be Words, but it never stuck."
"...okay?" Jack took a step back, to which Charlie took a step forward.
"Sorry I talk so much! Trees says I can go on and on for eternity, but he'd do the exact same thing about tree's! Grizzly actually found him climbing a really tall tree!" Charlie continued to make wild hand gestures. "I don't know why he would do that though, because he could fall! But Trees said that was the point at the time, which I still don't understand, but hey! He said he'd never do it again!"
"Am I aloud to go to bed already?" Jack looked up at the two older boys.
"But Jackie!" Michael whined. "Charlie was just getting up to the best part!"
"I think it's time for bed kids." Grizzly put his hands over Temper and Fox's shoulders. "Don't you think Foxy? Temper?"
The two ten year olds nodded.
"Sleep is good." Fox grabbed a book off the book shelf.
"How would you know?" Temper scoffed playfully. "You don't sleep."
"Yes I do!" Fox huffed.
"You're holding a book right now!" Temper pointed out. "Then you're gonna steal my candle and read for hours!"
"It's our candle!" Fox protested. "I sleep on the top bunk! Our candle!"
"Why does that matter!?" Temper threw his arms up.
"Oh we're throwing hands now?" Fox threw his arms up too.
"I think that's enough." Grizzly separated the two best friends by their shirts and held them his at arms length.
"You couldn't have done that sooner?" Jack rolled his eyes.
"Snark." Grizzly nodded approvingly. "I like that. Got too much of it with these knuckleheads," he gestured down to Fox and Temper. "but I still love it."
Jack smiled brightly.
Maybe things will be okay.
>>>>>>•<<<<<<
Things were not going be okay.
Months after they became friends, Charlie started to sneeze and feel weak but everyone brushed it off as the flu.
"Charlie!" Grizzly shook the bundled-up five-year-old roughly one morning. "Wake u-"
"Stop!" Charlie cried. "That hurts!"
"Alright kid." Grizzly rolled his eyes fondly. "You probably don't feel like selling but-"
The nineteen-year-old froze when he pulled the covers off the small boy.
His lively smile was gone as he curled into a ball. His face pale.
"Hey, hey, tell me what hurts." Grizzly dropped onto his knees next to the bottom bunk.
"Everywhere..." Charlie whimpered.
"That's not specific-"
"Everything hurts!" Charlie snapped, catching the older boy off guard. "It hurts!" He cried, bursting into tears.
"Shh, shh." Grizzly pushed hair out of the younger boy's face. "You'll feel better Charlie, but I need you to be specific so I can know what you have."
"My- my back, my neck-" Charlie gulped. "My- my right leg."
"Your right leg?" Grizzly gently begin to massage his pale leg. "Does this hurt Char?"
Charlie gulped, fighting back tears.
"I can't- I can't feel it."
"You can't feel it?" Grizzly repeated slowly.
"Don't rub it in!" Charlie finally released the tears burning his eyes.
"Hey, hey it's okay to cry." Grizzly checked Charlie's forehead to find a burning fever.
"I'm scared." Charlie whispered.
"And that's okay." Grizzly hugged the younger boy. "You're gonna be okay, Char."
Charlie nodded a long, closing his eyes and almost dozing back to sleep.
"Charlie? Can I sit you up? I'm just gonna test something."
Charlie nodded again, but let out short heavy pants as Grizzly gently lifted his torso up.
"This might hurt, okay?" Grizzly caressed his finger gently against the small boy's hand.
"...okay." Charlie nodded, closing his eyes. He couldn't stop the scream that released from his mouth when Grizzly tipped his head down to his chest. He didn't bother stopping the tears that streamed down his cheeks.
"Shh, shh, it's over." Grizzly let the brown-eyed-boy curl up in his arms. "It's over Char."
"Is Charlie okay?" Michael took a step towards the two, only for Grizzly to shout back in protest.
"No! Mikey! Get outta here!"
"Huh? Why?!" Michael tilted his head.
"Come on Mike." Temper slung his arm around the younger boy. "Let's go sell papes."
"I'll get some extra for you and Charlie, Griz." Fox gave the two a sad look. "You coming Jack?"
"I uh- I uh-" Jack looked back and forth between the two groups. "No, I- I think I'm gonna stay."
Fox nodded. "Michael can sell your load, we'll be back."
"Bye." Jack waved goodbye softly with the tips of his fingers.
With that, the red haired boy closed the door. Leaving the room in silence apart from Charlie's soft whimpering.
"Hey, let me see if I can get you some pain meds, yeah?" Grizzly softly squeezed his grip on the pale boy's hand.
Charlie nodded, his eyes still squeezed shut.
"Jack, can you watch him?" Grizzly questioned.
"Yeah... yeah." Jack took Grizzly's seat next to the younger boy.
"I'll be back!" Grizzly yelled from the front of the lodge. "Klop's here if you need anything."
Once Grizzly closed the door, Charlie broke into a fit of sobs.
"What's wrong?" Jack gently grabbed the younger boy's pale hand.
He didn't have experience caring for someone sick. Whenever Michael was ill his....father would take care of him.
Heck, he didn't even really know how to be gentle.
"I'm scared." Charlie's head faced the other side of the bed. "Everything hurts... what if it- what if it never ends."
"Of course it's gonna end." Jack tried to laugh, but his attempt of making the boy feel better fell short.
"I know but-" Charlie gulped, letting out a small hiccup. "But what if I'm dead when it ends? Like- like my Momma and Papa?"
"You are not going to die." Jack squeezed the younger boy's hand a little tighter. "I won't let you."
Silence rang through the room. Part of Jack panicked, wondering if he said something wrong.
Jack wasn't exactly great with little kids, maybe it was the fact that he was still one himself. He started to forget that adults still existed, that some kids had more than a ragtag family of friends.
"Jack?" Charlie croaked out softly.
"Yeah?" Jack's hand was still interlocked with the younger boy's.
"You and Michael talk about Santa Fe a lot, can ya tell me 'bout it too?" Charlie turned his head to look at the brown-haired boy (with much difficulty).
"Of course!"
This, was something Jack was good at.
He couldn't seem to breathe in the real world, but in his mind- everything was perfect.
Jack remembered going to a library with Temper and Michael to find facts about Santa Fe. Him and Michael even got to take a photos next to a real cowboy. The fancy ones with flashes and cameras- not the drawn ones that he was used too.
"Santa Fe sounds nice." Charlie declared after a while.
"It does, doesn't it?" Jack beamed.
"Can I come with you and Michael too?!" Charlie questioned, his eyes lighting up.
"Of course!" Jack waved his hands around. "We can be cowboys together!"
"I'm tired." Charlie yawned. "Think I can sleep?"
"I think so." Jack nodded. "I'll look after you, don't worry."
Charlie let his eyes flutter shut, mumbling a few incoherent words before sleeping. "I'ma dream 'bout being a cowboy. I wanna come back as a chicken."
Jack stroked the younger boy's hair until rested.
Most people said that others looked peaceful when they fell asleep. As if the weight of the world was suddenly lifted off their shoulders.
A heavy frown rested on Charlie's face, his eyebrows clenched in pain as he curled up in a ball under the paper-thin blanket. One that was sloppily knitted by an older kid.
Jack didn't know why, but he had the sudden urge to take away all of the younger boy's pain.
.....who was he kidding?
Of course Jack knew why. It was less than a year and Jack had grown to love the younger boy just as much as his little brother.
"I'm back!" Grizzly bursted through the door, panting heavily. His dark skin glistened with sweat as he held up a medicine bottle. "I- we don't have enough for the right treatment, but- but I got pain relievers!"
They didn't have enough.
Sometimes Jack forgot how wrong life was to the newsies. How unfair everything they went through was. Just how young everyone was. Jack was just about to turn seven yet in his head he felt older.
Grizzly was nineteen and he had heavy bags under his eyes. His forehead was wrinkled from stress lines, and occasionally his eyes would dart around wildly- as if scanning for every exit.
"How- how much is it?" Jack questioned.
"Too much." Grizzly shook his head. "It's a treatment for...for... for Polio."
"What's Polio?" Jack tilted his head to the side, as if a confused puppy. He knew the name sounded familiar to him, yet he couldn't quite remember why.
"It's life threatening." Grizzly shook his head. "It- it causes paralysis."
And then it hit him.
How could he have forgotten such a thing?
That was the stupid virus that rid his dad of being "useful".
Of his childhood.
Of everything he knew and loved.
Now what? It's going to take his best friend-
No.
His brother?
"He's gonna make it." Jack clenched his fists. "I know it."
"Jack-"
"He's gonna make it!" Jack snapped. "He's stronger than you give him credit for! He'll make it! He'll prove you wrong I know it!"
Grizzly's shoulders sagged.
As if he was suddenly carrying the world again.
Maybe he always was, he just got better at hiding it.
"I don't- I don't want you to get your hopes up." Grizzly spoke softly, softer than Jack had ever heard him.
"He's gonna make it." Jack repeated. He turned back to his friend. Dirty-blonde hair covering his face.
Jack heard Grizzly walk out of the bunk room.
He also heard the muffled sob that escaped the older boy's lips through the thin wall. He heard all the cries that followed after. The prayers and pleas for help.
"God?" He heard Grizzly whisper. "I don't know if you're there. I guess I'll never know. I stopped going to church when Mama died. I stopped believing you were there after that."
Jack heard another cry and the sniffling that followed. He heard the quiver in the older boy's voice.
"I- my- Mama wasn't a good person, I know that." Cue another sob. "She wasn't a bad person either but- but this little boy doesn't deserve to die. Charlie doesn't deserve anything he's gone through. None of us had."
There was a long pause, as if Grizzly was pausing to think.
"Jack doesn't deserve to be forced to raise his little brother. Michael, bless his soul, doesn't deserve to be out on the streets so young. Specs doesn't deserve his lack of vision. The- the point is all of the newsies are good! And they never deserved any of the sh*t you threw their way!"
Jack felt a few tears slip down his cheeks as he held onto Charlie's hand, squeezing it gently.
"But... life isn't fair, is it? I just need you to look after Charlie. Please make him get better. I don't know what I'd do with myself if I lost another." This time a broken cry left the nineteen-year-old's mouth. "I'll do anything. I'll rot in the fiery pits of h*ll if I have to."
It suddenly felt wrong for Jack to be listening, as if he had tainted secret grounds.
Jack hurriedly wiped his tears when he heard Charlie shuffle, the younger boy's eyes slowly blinking open.
"Hey- hey you're awake." Jack stroked the younger boy's face softly. "Grizzly got you some medicine."
Charlie had a look of discontent on his scrunched up face.
"I hate medicine."
"You gotta take it." Jack urged, forcing the younger boy to take it.
-
It went like this for a painful three and a half weeks before Charlie could go back to normal.
...until they found out he couldn't walk anymore.
Charlie had tried getting out of bed for the first time when his leg gave out on him.
He was never able to walk again.
-
"This is stupid!" Charlie declared when he was handed a wooden crutch.
"C'mon! It's gonna be so much fun! You'll get so many customers Crutchie!" Michael beamed.
Charlie's eyes softened.
"Crutchie... I- I like that."
-
"Jackie! Jack! Look!" Michael pointed to a group of western dressed men. "They're real cowboys!"
"Whoa-" Jack took a step back.
"I'ma go talk to 'em!" Michael beamed.
"Wait no-"
"Would'ja like a pape sir!?" Michael smiled, holding out a bundle.
"No thank-"
"You guys are real cowboy's!?" Michael burst- his eyes hopeful.
The cowboy's eyes softened.
"Yeah, you like cowboys?" He crouched down to Michael's level.
"Yeah!" Michael grinned. "Jackie c'mere!"
Jack hesitated- walking over to the two.
"Hey there." The cowboy's friend held up a fist.
Jack responded by punching it, earning a cheer from the man.
"Hey you! Can we have a picture!?" The cowboy called to a man walked by with camera equipment.
"Can't- busy- I-"
The cowboy held up a bag of coins.
"Sure!" The photographer walked over, setting up his equipment.
"Come on kid!" The cowboy gave his hat to Michael, hoisting the little boy into his shoulders.
That was the happiest Jack had ever seen him.
"YEEHAW!" Michael cheered.
"WHOOHOO!" Jack let loose, screaming to the sky.
FLASH.
The photographer handed them the four copies of the instant photo.
Jack and Michael weren't rich by any means- this was the first time they had taken a real photo. The one's with flashes and clicks instead of paints fumes and brushes.
"Hey kid," The cowboy set down Michael. "You can keep the hat."
Micheal beamed that toothless grin that could cure depression.
-
"Hey Jack." Grizzly sat the young boy down.
"What's up?" Jack jumped down onto the floor from his bunk, promptly deciding to sit there.
"Me and- me and a bunch of the other boy's are too old to sell anymore, y'know." Grizzly sighed.
"What're you- what're you trying to say?" Jack paused.
"Me and the older boys are leaving. For good."
"What-" Jack's voice broke. "But you- but you can't leave!"
"Hey kid I-"
Jack jumped up, hugging the older boy tightly. "Please don't go."
"I'm sorry kid." Grizzly whispered, stroking the dark locks. "I'm so sorry."
"No.. no no no." Jack cried.
-
It didn't take long after that for them to actually leave.
"Hey, you'll be okay." Grizzly crouched down to Jack's level. "I'm so proud of how far you've come- you know that. Right?"
"I don't want you to leave." Jack hugged the older boy tightly, not wanting to let go.
"Me neither. I'm sorry." Grizzly embraced the younger boy just as tightly.
"Grizzly!" Michael wailed, running over to the two.
"Hey kiddo." Grizzly spoke softly, picking up the little boy.
"I don't want you to leave!" Michael sobbed, his hands grabbing fistfuls of the older boy's shirt.
"Shh, shh, you're gonna be okay." Grizzly ran his fingers through the small boy's hair.
He exchanged some words with other newsies but then he was gone.
For good.
-
"Money's runnin' tight."
Jack had heard Temper and Fox whisper back and forth.
"It's not like we can steal, Temp." Fox huffed. "What good will it do if there's no one to watch after the boys.
Jack's eyes widened.
"I can steal!" Jack bursted into the room. "Lemme steal!"
Fox and Temper snapped their eyes to the brown-haired-boy.
"NO!" Both snapped at the same time.
"No way Jack-"
"Jack that's so dangerous!"
"You can get hurt-"
"Don't you guys trust me?" Jack whined.
"Don't steal Jack." Temper ordered. "You hear me?"
Jack sighed discontently.
"Fine."
Yeah, he was still gonna do it.
-
"HEY YOU- THIEF! THIEF!"
Jack's eyes widened as he ran, placing the apple in his satchel.
"Heya Jack! Look at these coins." Michael grinned, running up to the older boy.
"Hey- hey- hey we gotta go." Jack dragged his brother through the streets.
Turn.
Cop.
Turn.
Cop.
Bulls everywhere.
Nothing.
-
"Jackie are we gonna die here?"
"Nononono. We aren't. I promise."
-
Five weeks of torture- being locked in an inescapable room due to Jack's comments.
It's his fault.
In the rearview of his vision he could see Michael carving words into the wall.
He needed to get them out of there.
He needed to do something.
He didn't listen.
He never listened.
It's his fault.
-
"Come on. We're getting out of here." Jack urged the younger boy.
He knew when the guards would be coming to drop off food so if he just timed it right-
CREAK.
"RUN RUN RUN."
They're out on the street.
Snyder is running- Snyder is coming.
Bright lights are shining, he's dragging his brother. It's going to fast it's all going to fast it's-
"MICHAEL!"
Blood is coating his hands.
The horse carriage stopped in pure confusion.
He promised he'd take the kid to Santa Fe he promised.
Snyder is coming- Snyder's gonna get him.
"It's okay Jackie. I'll be okay."
His brother smiles at him sadly- the child knows it's the end.
Jack knows it's the end.
"I love you." Jack whispered.
"I love you too." Michael whispered back.
Jack pressed a kiss to the child's forehead then-
His eyes met those of a man inside the carriage.
Governor Roosevelt.
Then Jack was running.
He ran and ran.
His fist pounded on the door to the lodging house.
The sky was crying- his clothes were soaked with blood and water.
This was the end it seemed.
But it wasn't the end.
It was the beginning.
Hope you guys liked it!! So yeah, Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever you celebrate!!! See you guys later!!
This is Izzy,
Over and out!