Daughter of the Refuge

Chapter Three

^^^Because these are a couple of the underrated Newsies in the musical I thought I'd remind you all of how they need more loving ahah^^^ Ooh and for anyone who doesn't know, Andy Richardson (Kid Blink in the pro-filming) played Crutchie!! He needs more credit lol. 

Trigger Warning: panic attack 

July, 1899

Jojo shot up in his bed in a cold sweat, squeezing his eyes shut to the dark memories filling his mind. He began to count to ten, breathing as slowly and deeply as he could manage. His hands were shaking and he pressed them into his lap, trying to focus on everything around him. Find something to pull him out of the hole he felt himself being dragged into. 

When he finally calmed down enough to open his eyes, he glanced around the room to make sure his roommates were still asleep. He nearly sighed in relief before realizing that Race was missing. 

He gently rose from his bed, and made his way to the door. Opening it, he headed into the hallway where he was plowed over by the very person he had been looking for. 

"Jojo?" Race said. 

"Can ya get off me Racer? Ya weigh a lot more than you look," the boy grunted. 

"Yeah sorry." Race jumped up before offering his hand to Jojo. "What're ya doing out here?"

"Couldn't sleep, noticed you were missing."

"Albert's snoring woke me up, so I went ta get water. You?"

"Same," Jojo lied. "Well about Albert. I needed a breath of fresh air." Race nodded. 

"Well uh, don't let me keep you." And with that he continued down the hall to their room, closing the door behind him. 

This hadn't been the first nightly interaction the two boys had had. More times than not, Jojo would wake up and find the boy gone, or he would be returning to find the boy awake on his bed, fiddling with his cigar. 

Jojo never asked questions because Race never asked questions. It was almost like an unspoken agreement between the two of them. 

The boy began pacing the porch outside the Lodging House, his head in his hands. 

"Go Jojo!" A voice screamed in his head. "Get out while you still can!"

"No Willy, I don't want to go." He heard his own voice echo in the back of his mind.

"Go Jojo!" The voice screamed once again. 

"Jojo!" The boy let out a terrorized sob as the final cry penetrated his mind. 

"Lillie," Jojo whispered, scrubbing furiously at the tears that rolled down his cheeks, as if that would the marks they left.

"Wait for me Jojo!" The boy sank to his knees, the memories too strong and the emotions to painful. He gasped at the pain pressing against his chest, as he gasped for air. He was drowning, no physically but that is not the only type of drowning. 

"I'm sorry," he choked. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"They're all gone. Every last one of them."

"What do we do with the boy? He was the one who started the fire, after all."

"We don't have any proof."

"I suppose, but he is still a likely suspect."

"The boy is six years old, do you really believe that he would have purposely started the fire?"