My Ray of Sunshine

Chapter 14

Albert was standing in the left wing of the stage, leaning against a support beam with tears flowing out of his eyes. Callie clasped my hand, squeezing it as we took our bow. Someone screamed as a click sounded and one of lights offstage dropped. Albert disappeared. Both Callie and I hurried to exit stage left. I couldn't find the ginger, but the dust hadn't cleared yet. "Albert!" I yelled, dust mixing with the tear stains on my cheeks.

Paramedics rushed around, gathering any possible victims while the bulls entered to investigate. "Over here!" One of the paramedics hollered, gesturing to where the light fell. I ran over, only to be pushed back by a couple bulls. "Get the stretcher!"

Two guys left and returned with a stretcher in hand. "Antonio, slide the boy out while we lift."

The first paramedic as well as another lifted the light off the ground as far as it would go. I couldn't see through the burly man, Antonio, lifting whoever the boy was. I was secretly praying that Albert had moved. Praying that the boy they were talking about was someone who had walked under the light at the last second. But Albert was the only person I saw there.

"He's got multiple broken bones and is barely clinging to life. If he makes it through this, he's going to have a permanent limp and possibly breathing problems, " Antonio said.

"Wait!" I called, beginning the short walk over to the men with Albert.

"Miss, you can't be over here. Bob! Please escort these two ladies to another room," Antonio hissed, gesturing to a bald man in a police uniform.

"No!" I screamed, kicking and hitting the policeman as he dragged Callie and I away. "Take me back," I stared Bob dead in the eyes, willing him to let me go back.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but I can't do that."

"You can't just leave him there!" I screamed, making an effort to get out.

"Antonio, James, and Jacob have it covered," Bob informed me, shoving me backwards.

"I can't let him die! Not after what I did!" Bob's expression hardened, blue eyes looking even more cold and icey.

"What did you do?" He growled in a warning tone.

"I told him I didn't want anything to do with him because I'd seen him with someone else," I answered, eyes beginning to sweat.

"Did you drop the light on him?"

"No! I wouldn't try to kill him!" I sobbed, vision blurred as I attempted to sit down.

"Okay."

"Bob, we have a problem," Antonio poked his head in the door.

"What?" The bald man left the room, returning a short while later. "The light wasn't meant to fall on the boy. Turns out, a witness backstage recalls someone cutting the rope for the light, but ended up cutting the wrong one. Girls, the strobe light was supposed to fall on you."

"Who would want to do that?" Callie asked, eyes wide.

"We don't know. The only description of the perpetrator that we have is they were wearing a black cloak and fedora."

"Oh," I sighed.

"I'm sorry girls," the officer tipped his hat and exited the room.

"Are you okay?" I asked Callie, noticing her heavy breathing.

"Who would want to hurt us?" She asked, looking up at me in a pleading way.

"I don't know." I answered, looking toward the door. "It's late. We should get to bed."

"Good idea," Callie stood, tossing her black hair over her shoulder. "And hey..."

"Yeah?" I looked to her small frame in the doorway, wishing I was at least a little pretty.

"I'm sorry about your 'friend'," she used air quotes with a smile; and left with a wink. I smiled to myself as I sauntered down the hallway toward my room. I flipped the light on and found Miss Medda holding the picture of her and a girl while sitting on my bed.

"You would've loved her," Medda murmured.

"Who?" I asked, sitting beside her.

"My daughter," she pointed to the girl in the picture beside her.

"Oh. I didn't know you had a daughter...." I thought for a moment before continuing, "what was she like?"

"Well...."

Flashback (MEDDA'S POV FOR FLASHBACK)

"Mom!" Carina called to me.

"Yes, dear?" I asked, looking toward my four-year-old.

"Watch!" She giggled, running ahead and doing a little cartwheel.

"Beautiful, baby," I smiled. She didn't know it yet. And she wouldn't get the chance to. The doctors diagnosed her with stage four pancreatic cancer last week. They had explained that she only had a few months left, a year at most. "Carina, sweetie."

"Yes, Mommy?" She asked, running back to my side.

"How would you like to see the horses race?" I asked, guiding us to the racetrack. With any luck, the Newsies would be there.

"Yeah!" She squealed excitedly, taking off down the street.

"Carina!" Anthony said, blue eyes shining as he picked the girl up and swung her around.

"An-toe-ney!" She giggled, settling her head on his shoulder. I smiled, Anthony's eyes turning to me. He was the only of the Newsies who knew about the cancer.

"It's getting worse," I muttered. "Her weight is plummeting and she hasn't eaten anything all day."

"It's okay, Miss Medda." He assured me. "Your girl is tough."

(A/N: shout-out to Alex Trebek for your incredible fight. We appreciate your show (I used to hate it, I ended up loving it years ago). May you rest in peace. Also, a shout-out to all of you battling cancer or with family battling cancer. Best wishes to all of you!)

"She died a month later, which was about a year ago tomorrow. Race was closest to her and was really devastated when she passed."

"I'm so sorry," I said.

"She was the sweetest," Medda sighed. "I forgot I had this picture. Thank you, Raya."

I don't actually know if Medda had kids. I don't think she did, but I decided  Carina would add some depth into Medda's personal life. Also, I'm kind of sorry about Albert, but also not really. Don't worry, the story gets better. Auf Wiedersehen!