After lunch, Winnie and Katherine roamed around the streets of New York, linking arms like excited school girls as they discussed wedding plans, before they were stopped by a familiar looking boy.
"Well, hello there, ladies," Race grinned, "can I interest two gorgeous gals like yourselves in the latest news?"
"Flattery ain't gonna work, Race, but sure, why not," Katherine said, delving into her pockets for some change while Winnie did the same.
"Interesting headline?" She asked.
"Oh, you bet! For once, I ain't making them up! Take a look!" He said, swapping a paper for a coin.
MAN MYSTERIOUSLY SURVIVES AFTER BEING HIT BY TRAIN
"Wow, that's quite a headline, you seeing this, Winnie? Winnie? What's wrong?" Katherine asked, as Winnie's face turned white.
The man in the picture.
It was Miles.
"Hey, give me a sec, I'm reading it" she mumbled, heart racing.
Yesterday afternoon, witnesses were horrified when a young male, presumably around 20 years of age, fell of the side of a train station platform, unable to climb back up in time before a train rushed through the station, unable to stop. However, after it had presumably killed the man instantly, cutting him to pieces, witnesses were shocked as the man, who is refusing to give an identity, climbed out from the tracks, without even a scratch. Confused, witnesses called for an ambulance, despite the man refusing to be taken to hospital for observation, leading to him lashing out at others before escaping the platform in attempt to run. He was found by police an hour later after searches began, as witnesses claimed he was a dander to society, and mentally unstable. He is said to have been taken to a mental hospital where he will be tested to observe how he could have survived, however, for security purposes, police refuse to give the location of the hospital.
"Look, I need to go", Winnie said, before sprinting back to the theatre, ignoring to confused yells of both Race and Katherine.
***
"JESSE!" She yelled, running into her room, forgetting to keep her voice down so her aunt wouldn't hear her.
"What?" Jesse asked, startled by her rushing in all of a sudden.
"Just...read....this" she said, out of breath from running for so long. Jesse did as he was told, his face turning paler and paler with worry as he read on.
In a burst of anger, he through the paper across the room and kicked the bed, annoyed with himself that he wasn't there to help his brother. How could people treat another human being like that? Testing on them like an animal. Who knew what horrendous experiments Miles was being subjected to at that very moment!
"They can't do this! They'll learn about us!" Jesse yelled, punching the wall.
"Stop! Aunt Medda will hear you!" Winnie hissed, grabbing his fist to stop him making any more noise.
"Oh, too late for that, she found me about an hour ago. I can't do anything right!"
"Jesse, listen to me, none of this is your fault! There was nothing you could have done for Miles, and if he's as smart as I remember, he'll find away out of this. No ones going to believe he's, what, 112 or something. And the tests won't hurt him-"
"Not physically, maybe, but emotionally, very much so!" Jesse couldn't control his emotions any more.
"Look, Jesse, I know you're angry! I know you're upset! But yelling won't help Miles! I get it, you've been through a lot-"
"No you don't get it!" He huffed, sinking onto the bed with his head in his hands.
"You have no idea what it's like, watching everyone around you growing up without you. Dying without you! You have no idea-"
"Oh believe me I do!" she yelled, "you'll never have to bury your father!"
Jesse instantly regretted lashing out at Winnie like that. What was he thinking. None of this was her fault either. Was he just trying to find someone to blame?
"I'm sorry" he mumbled, embarrassed with himself.
"I know you are" she replied calmly, "you're just worried about your brother. I understand."
The pair of them just sat in silence for a few minutes, letting the situation soak in, before Winnie remembered about Katherine's pregnancy.
"Look, I know why you were upset last night" she said softly, holding his hand.
"Katherine told you, I'm guessing" he replied, once again feeling guilty about how he treated Jack.
"Yes, and I understand why you were so upset. I would probably feel the same. You should probably talk to Jack, though."
"I know" Jesse sighed. Just one more mistake he had made that needed fixing. Great.
"I'll come with you if you want" Winnie offered, squeezing his hand gently.
"Thanks, but I need to do this on my own. I should probably get going," he said, finding his crutch and mentally preparing himself to face the other boys, "oh, and winnie, I love you."
***
"What do ya mean ya leg hurt so much ya took a day off?"
Jesse had only been in the lodging house for 10 minutes and he was already facing an interrogation. He had told them that he had gone to see Winnie, and then his leg had started playing up while he was there so he spent the day in the theatre with Medda. Questions were flying around in every direction as he was ambushed by the army of boys, each demanding answers.
"Fellas, one at a time!" He yelled, overcome with pressure.
"Why did ya go and see Winnie anyway?" Mush yelled, earning lots of whoops from the other boys, as Jesse scowled at him.
"I just needed to talk to her! Is that such a big deal?"
"What was so important that it couldn't wait til mornin'?" Jojo called.
"Ain't any of ya business!" Jesse yelled back, wanting the ground to swallow him up.
"Oh I see" Race smirked "I'm guessing you two were-"
"Race! Les is in the room!" Davey yelled, earning even more laughs from the newsies. Jesse was furious.
"Look, will you guys just leave me alone! I'm tired!"
"Why, ya had a busy day! Doing what? Or should I say, doing who?" Albert mocked, as the boys erupted in laughter again.
"FELLAS!" Everyone fell silent as Jack entered the room, angry at how childish they were being.
"Give Crutchie a break! And, to answer ya question, Albert, Winnie was with Katherine all day, so leave her out of this! Crutchie told me last night he didn't feel great, and I believe him, you should too! Now, to bed, all of ya!"
With that, everyone reluctantly left the room, whining as they did so. Jesse collapsed into a chair, emotionally exhausted. He felt guilty that Jack was treating him so kindly after how badly he had spoken to him last night.
"Wanna talk?" Jack offered calmly, dropping into the chair opposite him.
"I'm sorry," Jesse sighed "I treated ya like dirt last night".
"Hey, it's okay, I was being childish, I should know better than to complain about growing up. During the strike, we demanded to be treated as adults, and that comes with acting like 'em too. Ya reminded me of that."
"I still acted like a jerk."
"No, ya acted like someone who was tired, with a hurting leg, and had just been landed with the news that his best friend was having a kid. That ain't easy to stomach."
Jesse was so grateful to have Jack in his life, and dreaded the day when he would have to leave for good.
"Hey, apparently when Katherine and Winnie bought a pape earlier on today, Winnie ran back instantly. Do ya know why?"
Jesse contemplated constructing another web of lies, but he was just too tired. Instead, he settled on just not telling Jack the whole truth.
"Well, ya remember the headline?"
"Like I could forget it, the guy who survived a train crash?"
"Yeh, well..." here goes nothing, "that was my brother. Winnie recognised him from the picture." Jesse waited a while for jacks response.
"I thought ya said ya have no folks!" He exclaimed, completely shocked.
"Actually, I said I didn't need, folks. I haven't seen them in six years" well, that bit wasn't a lie at least.
"So how did he survive?"
"I dunno" he shrugged - okay, that bit was a lie.
"Do ya know where he is now?" Jack asked, struggling to absorb the situation.
"No," he admitted, scared that if he said anymore that he'd start crying, "but let's not talk about this now, if that's okay. I don't wanna think about it any more. Please don't tell the others, that's the main reason I stayed in all day."
"I won't tell anyone, I promise. Look, after what's happened, feel free to take tomorrow off too, I understand ya going through a lot, and if the others give ya any grief I'll sort them out for ya!"
"No, Jack, thanks, but I need to keep myself distracted. Anyway, can we talk about something else? How's wedding planning going?"
"I have no idea, Katherine and Winnie won't let me in on anything, all I have to do is show up apparently," he laughed "thank god Winnie's moving here permanently, other wise-"
"Wait what?" Winnie had forgotten to tell Jesse that after the crisis with Miles.
"Oh yeh, Katherine said today that Winnie's planning on moving here from, where was it, Treegap or something" Jack shrugged.
"That's great!" Jesse exclaimed, finally smiling again. He was so relieved that Winnie wouldn't have to go back at the end of summer.
"Yeh, apparently she'll be there for the birth. Seems fair enough, considering the entire hospital will be crammed full with all of you guys." The pair of them started laughing, Jesse gazing into to the small fire that was fighting to give the room warmth.
"Have ya told em yet?" He asked.
"Yeh, when everyone finished selling. Some of them were kind of upset when they realised I'd be leaving, but most of them were excited. They were all either trying to convince me to name the kid after them, asking to be best man, or trying to explain to Les how babies are made, Oh, ya should have seen Davey's face!"
"I can imagine" Jesse laughed, picturing Davey covering Les' ears while yelling at the other boys to shut up, "so what are you thinking of calling ya kid?"
"I'm not sure yet, but I'll know when the time comes" Jack sighed, "do you think I'll be a good dad?"
"Of course ya will be, ya basically a dad to every single newsie in this building. Ya gonna be fine" Jesse assured him, smiling at his friend.
"And you'll be an amazing uncle" Jack replied.
At hearing those words, Jesse felt part of his soul crumble - the last time he heard that was decades ago, when Miles announced that his wife was pregnant.
You'll be an amazing uncle.
Oh Miles, he thought, where are you now?