I don't own any of the newsies. I only own the ones I make up such as Chuckles, Bully, Shadow, Click, Hazel ad a few others. Also this story takes place after the strike.
My name is Hazel and Spot Colon is my big brother. Or should I say his real name Johnathan. l love my brother, but he can be extremely overprotective! He always has his boids following me me everywhere. And I'm never allowed to do anything dangerous because I could get hurt. Some days he won't even let me sell papes.
The reason I think Spot is so protective of me because of our childhood. It wan't the greatest. When I was 7 and Spot was 9, my mudder started cheating on my fadder with some guy she met out buying groceries for our family. My fadder started to get angry, my mom would leave at 6:00 in the morning and not come back until 12:00 at night. At first, it was only once a month when she would disappear, then it became once week, then every other day, until finally, it turned into everyday. That's when my fadder knew something was up.
He started to question my mudder a lot, he asked where she was going, what she was doing, who would be there, and she always had some lame excuse. So one day my fadder decided to follow her. Let's just say he saw something he didn't like.
The next day my mudder moved out. She packed up all her stuff and left us. She didn't even say goodbye. That's when my fadder cracked! He would go to bars and drink. Then he would return home drunk at three in the morning.
That's when everything started to go wrong.
********************************************************************************************************************************
FLASHBACK
I was laying next to Johnathan in bed when I was awoken by a loud SLAM! Johnathan and I both shot up and looked at each other.
"Did you here that?"I asked startled.
"Yeah Fadder must be home."John said rubbing his eyes.
"Should we go check on him?"I asked.
"No you don't want to be near him when he's drunk. Let's just pretend were sleeping."John said laying back down.
I listened to him and tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. BANG!
This caused me to jump. BANG! I jumped again.
BANG!
CRASH!
BANG!
SMASH!
BANG!
By now John had wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him.
"What do youse think he's doing down there?"I whispered.
"Ise don't know Hazel, Ise don't know!"John whispered back.
There were a few more bangs and then our father shouted.
"JOHNATHAN! HAZEL! GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE NOW!"
I whimpered and hugged John tighter.
"C'mon, he'll only get angrier if we'se ignore him."John said getting out of bed.
I followed behind him as we left the room.
What we saw was horrifying. All the furniture was flipped over and there was a chair through the window. Trash was all over the floor and the broken mirror left glass everywhere. There was also one giant whole in the wall which my fadder was currently punching repetitively.
I looked and Johnathan and his face was full of shock. I whimpered again causing my fadder to turn around. He gave us a crazed look that only someone with a mental illness could, and his eyes, there was nothing behind them, they were emotionless.
He started to walk towards us and John pushed me behind him.
"Move outta the way boy!"My fadder ordered.
"No!"John shouted.
"WHAT DID YOU'SE SAY TO ME?"Fadder shouted.
"Ise said no!"John said firmly.
"I'm given you'se one last chance. GET! OUT! OF! THE! WAY!"My Fadder demanded.
"No, I'm not gonna let you'se hurt her!"John declared.
My fadder grabbed John by the arm and flung him into the wall. He bang John again the wall until he was unconscious and his head was bloody.
"JOHN!!!!!!!!!!!"I screamed running over to him.
I knelt down next to his unconscious body and laid my head on his chest. Thankfully,I could still hear a heart beat. I started to cry when my fadder grabbed me by the throat a threw me against the wall, much like he did to Johnathan. Then I felt a hand make contact with my cheek and a fist with my eye. He punched me repetitively and then stood up to kick me. I heard a CRACK and knew something was broken, but my fadder didn't care. He just continued to soak me. Next, he grabbed a piece of broken glass and ran the sharp end across my forehead. I felt the blood trickle down my face and into my mouth,
Finally, he grabbed me by the throat and started to squeeze. I felt the air disappearing from my lungs and I started to get light headed. My throat was on fire and the room was spinning. This was it. This is how I'm going to die.
Almost all the air had left my lungs when suddenly, my fadder let go of my neck. Then heard a loud thump. I waited for my vision to be unclouded and looked at the ground. There I saw my fadder passed out drunk on the ground in front of me.
I put my head in my hands and tarted to cry.
Why would he do this?
***************************************************************************************************************
That was the first time my father abused Johnathan and I, but it wasn't the last. He continued to do this for a while until one night, Spot and I decided to run away.
****************************************************************************************************************
Flashback
"C'mon Hazel youse need to hurry up!"John said rushing me.
"I'm moving as fast as Ise can"I complained.
"We'll your going to have to move a lot faster if you want to find somewhere to sleep before it gets dark."John snapped.
I rolled my eyes, but started to walk faster.
As we walked I started to wonder some things.
"Hey John, are we going to get jobs?"I asked.
"I don't know."John admitted.
"How are we going to get money?"I asked.
"I don't know."John said a bit more firmly.''
"If we don't know how we are going to get money, how are we going to get food?"I asked.
"DAMMIT HAZEL! I DON'T KNOW!"John shouted.
I couldn't believe he yelled at me, after all we've been through together. Seeing the hurt in my eyes, John ran over and gave me a hug. I hugged him back.
"I'm sorry Ise yelled at ya, I'm just real nervous about what is going to happen to us now that were living on the street. I promise, I'll never hurt ya, not like Fadder did."John apologized.
"It' alright I know you would never hurt me like Fadder did. You were just upset, and don't worry we're going to be fine on the streets, we'll get it all worked out."I said accepting his apology.
We let go of each other, and started to look for a good place to rest for the night.
LATER THAT NIGHT.............
Johnathan and I had walked all day and still haven' found a place, it was starting to get dark. Currently, we were about to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. When a hand clamped over my mouth. Another person held up a club.
"Now I'm going to take my hand off your mouth, and if you scream, he'll wake you aside the head with his bat."The boy explained.
He removed his hand from my mouth and I didn't say anything.
"Good girl, now grab'er"The boy ordered.
I was then thrown over someone's shoulder and they started to walk away with. It was now or ever.
"JOHNATHAN HELP ME!"I screamed at the top of my lungs.
John turned around and saw what was happening, how he hadn't hear until now, I don't know.
He started to run towards me when two other boys came out.
Suddenly, I felt something make contact with my head. It was that boy's club. My vision started to become cloudy and the last thing I saw was John getting pinned down by two boys.
*****************************The next day************************************************
I woke up laying on a bed. I sat up and scanned my surrounding. I was in a room with a tons of bunk beds. There were boys of all ages hanging around, laughing, playing cards, and fighting each other.
One of them noticed I was awake and called the other boys over. They all surrounded me and just stared.
"Um hi?"I questioned.
"Hi."One of the boys greeted. brown-hair-blue-eyes-boy
He looked about my age.
"Where am I? What am I doing here? WHERE'S MY BROTHER?"I questioned.
"Relax, you'se in Brooklyn and your brother is fine. And what you'se doing here is up to our leader. He can either keep you here to become a newsie, or he can throw you out on the streets."A boy said.
"When we'se no if we can stay or not?"I asked worried.
"Soon, he's talking to ya bruddah right now."The boy said.
I sighed. I was so worried if they don't take us here, where are we gonna go?
The boy must have noticed something was wrong because he wrapped his arms around me. I started to cry into his chest and grip on to his shirt for dear life. He ran his fingers threw my hair and rubbed my back.
I was so scared of what was going to happen to us, I was shaking.
Then I heard a door open and somebody walking towards the boy and I.
Someone cleared their throat causing me to jump away from the boy. I looked up and saw Johnathan and some other boy looking at us. Johnathan was glaring at the boy and I.
"Well, I see you have met Chuckles."Said the boy
So that's his name.
Chuckles smiled brightly at me. This boy has the greatest smile I have ever seen.
"Uh yes I'se have."I said awkwardly.
"Well, then you'se will be happy to know your bunk is right under his."The boy said."And John, you will be on the other side of the room bunking under Bully."The boy said.
"Heya Bully, get over here."The boy shouted.
Then a boy who looked a few years older than me came towards us.
"John, this is Bully."The boy said.
"Hi, how ya doing Bully."John said sticking out his hand for Bully to shake.
"I'se fine."Bully said smacking my brother's hand away.
John was taken back by Bully's rudeness.
"Hey, nobody treats my bruddah like that."I said yelling at the kid.
"Oh yeah and watcha gonna do about it?"Bully said.
"I'll soak ya!"I threatened.
The boy smiled at me.
"I'se like this kid, she's got spunk."Bully said ruffling my hair.
I'm not four, he shouldn't be ruffling my hair like that.
I was about to say something when John shot me another glare telling me to shut up.
"You'se got that right, Bully."The leader said."Now it's time for bed. Lights out."The leader said walking out of the room and turning out the lights.
Chuckles showed me to where I was sleeping and we went to bed.
****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
That is how Spot and I escaped our nightmare of a father and became newsies at Brooklyn. My bruddah eventually earned the nickname Spot because he always found the best spot to sell papes. I think it's a stupid nickname, but it's much better than mine. My nickname is princess. Just because I'm a goil they think I'm some weak damsel in distress. That I can't take care of myself. I'll show them, one day.
After about year of living in Brooklyn the leader that let me and Spot join the newsies was killed off by a boy named Tyrant.
That's when everything went wrong. Tyrant was a bad leader, he was well, a Tyrant. He would beat up boys for no reason and was always barking orders at people. No one knew why he was so terrible, he just was. The worst part about it all was everyone was afraid of him. No one had the guts or courage to stand up to him.
Well, everyone except my bruddah Spot. For some reason, he felt compelled to take action. So he got organized. Spot got tons of boys to help him take down Tyrant. They were going to get him alone in an alley and attack him.
What ended up happening was all the boys chickened out and didn't go with Spot to attack Tyrant.
So Spot being as confident as he was went to take down Tyrant by himself. They got in a fist fight which then turned into a knife fight. When I had heard no one went to help my bruddah, I grabbed the only weapon I had trenchclub and went to go find Spot.
****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
I ran through the streets of Brooklyn hoping to find my bruddah in every alleyway I looked down,but it was no use.
I was about to give up when I heard a scream. I followed the sound of screaming and found a dark alleyway. I found my bruddah pinned down by Tyrant with a knife at his throat.
I gasped in horror. My breath was caught in my throat and I felt like I couldn't breath. This distracted Tyrant which gave Spot enough time to flip Tyrant over and pin him to the ground. Spot had almost won the fight when I saw Tyrant pull out a gun.
Without thinking, I got my club and swung at Tyrant's head and I knocked him unconscious. My breathing returned to normal as I backed away from the unconscious body.
I dropped my club in shock.
"I..I..I'se c.can't believe I'se..j..j.just did that..."I said horrified at what I did.
But Spot didn't seem to care about that.
"Hazel? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"Spot shouted.
"I heard that no one was going to back you up so I came to help you."I explained.
"You'se shouldn't be here! You'se just a goil. What if you'se would have gotten hurt?"Spot exclaimed.
"Spot, if I'se wasn't here you'se would have gotten killed."I said still a little shocked about what happened.
"I could've handled myself. I would have beat him in the end."Spot protested."I can't believe you knocked him out! Ya just so fragile!'Spot said cracking a smile.
I shot him a glare. He knows how I feel about being called fragile.
"Well, you'se should probably had back to Brooklyn now."Spot suggested.
"Why?"I questioned.
"Because, I'm about to finish the job and I don't want you to see this."Spot said.
"Finish the job? Whaddya mean by that?"I asked confused"I'se already knocked him out what more do we needs to do?'I questioned.
"Well Hazel, the only way to stop Tyrant, is to kill him."Spot said.
I clapped my hands over my mouth in shock.
"You can't just leave him like this, without killing him. Don't ya think he gets the message?"I nearly cried.
"Nope he needs to be killed. Once and for all"Spot said."Now Hazel, please leave, I know you won't be able to handle this."Spot begged.
I stubbornly shook my head refusing to leave.
Spot sighed and said"Suit yaself."
Then Spot raised his knife, and stabbed Tyrant right in the heart.
I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe Spot actually went threw with it.
But Spot wasn't done yet. He pulled the bloody knife out of the body. The knife shined in the moonlight as Spot dug the knife into Tyrant's stomach.
I fell backward in shock. My breathing started to quicken pace again. There was just so much blood.
Spot didn't stop there either he kept pulling out the knife an repetitively stabbing him over and over again.
By now there was so much blood you could barely see the body. My breathing was becoming more and more rapid. And my head was starting to hurt.
Then Spot raised the blood covered knife one last time, and stabbed the body. There was blood everywhere, on the body, on the ground, on Spot's hands, there was just so much I couldn't take it.
Spot started walking towards me with his blood covered hands. I whimpered and staggered backwards trying to get away from him. Spot as taken back by my action. He must have saw the fear in my eyes and knew I was scared of him.
"Hazel, please, I'se ain't gonna hurt ya. I'se didn't wanna to kill him either, but if I'se didn't a lot more people were gonna get hurt."Spot said taking a brief pause."And one of them could've been you. Ever since we ran away from Faddah I swore to myself I wasn't gonna let anyone hurt ya. But with Tyrant as the leadah that wasn't going to happen. I did what I had to do, to protect you, and everyone else in Brooklyn. So, please Hazel, don't be scared of me."Spot begged starting to tear up.
He opened his arms asking for a hug which I answered by throwing my arms around him. I started to cry into his shirt. Tears were streaming rapidly down my face and my breathing was shallow.
Spot gently stroked my hair as I cried.
"It's ok. It's going to be ok. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt ya. Not me, Faddah, Tyrant, the newsies, or anybody else. You're gonna be ok"Spot cooed.
After, a while of Spot consoling me while I cried, we decided to make our way back to the lodging house. Somewhere along the way I grew tired, so Spot picked me up and carried me bridal style home. By the time we arrived I was out like a light.
Spot took me to the bunk I shared with Chuckles and carefully set me down on it. He put the covers over me and kissed my forehead.
"Good night Hazel, or should I say princess."Spot said.
Then he went to his bunk and fell asleep.
****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
So that's the story of how Spot became leadah.
Unfortunately for me, somewhere a long the way the story got changed. Things were added, things were taken away, but hey, what do you expect after a story was told so many times. The unfortunate part was I got cut out of the story. That's right I was forgotten. Which stinks for me. If people knew I took down Tyrant I would be considered tough, and I certainly wouldn't be called princess.
Instead of me looking for Spot and knocking out Tyrant, Spot was a blood hungry, jealous, maniac who decided to murder Tyrant all by himself.
This is one of the reasons Spot got his reputation as a ruthless, cold hearted leadah. Another reason is when Spot had killed Tyrant he was declared leadah. But Spot hadn't forgotten about all the boys that chickened out and didn't back him up. So he worked the boys of Brooklyn hard, harder than they ever had been before. They became tougher, bigger, and much better fighters.
Eventually Brooklyn had worked so hard they became know as the roughest, toughest, borough in all of New York.
Where was I during all this you ask? Well, I was in my room being watched over by Chuckles who was there to make sure I was always safe. This meant I had no idea how to fight or defend myself. Which only made the nickname princess stick, and the idea of me being fragile made even more sense.
But what does it matter? One day, I'm gonna prove to them I'm no princess. One day, I'll show them I ain't so fragile. One day I'll prove to Spot that I'se can take care of myself and he won't have boids following me. One day, newsies everywhere will know and respect me.
But for now, I guess I'm just Princess.