Let's All Just Blindfold The Poor, We Must Remind Them What's In Store

A New Start

Kathrine looked all over town for David.
Of course, before she left she made sure all of the other boys were ok. She tucked some of the younger ones in and gave long goodbye hugs to Albert and Race and Romeo.
And she gave them the same 'speech' that she now had to give to Davey. But he was still nowhere to be found. The only place she hadn't checked, and the most reasonable place he would be, was his house.
She got the address from the Race who got it from Jack, but it still felt a little privacy-breaching to just show up at his home with no warning.
But, she had no choice. She'd never seen anyone with so much hurt on their face, and she was hurting too. She longed to help her friend, and to find some sort of comfort of her own.
And of course, her brain repeated the news she had to break to him like a police siren. She didn't know if this would hurt him more, or if he was past the point of even giving her a reaction.
Regardless, she needed to do this. And the other boys took it pretty well, considering it could be easy for her to spy if need-be. And she reassured them one million times that she would fight for them until the end.
Eventually, she found herself knocking at the Jacobs' door. A tall girl opened the it - she was very clearly David's sister.
"Hello ma'am. Is David home?"
The girl seemed scared, like she didn't know how to answer. "He might be on the roof."
Kathrine nodded as the girl led her through the kitchen, to a window that led out to a fire escape.
She thanked the girl as she managed to crawl out of the window. It was only when her soft hands grasped the freezing bars of the ladder that led to the roof, that she noticed just how cold it was outside.
She slowly managed to make her way to the top, step by step on freezing metal against freezing wind. She hoped David wasn't up here, it had been almost an hour since he left and he might be a block of ice by now.
But, to her relief and dismay, he was. He was sitting on a chair that had been set out there for when Sarah does the laundry. Above and in front of him were clotheslines covered with sheets and shirts and socks. There was a small garden in the corner, with beautiful red tomatoes and clean smelling mint growing under the neat soil.
"David!" she exclaimed with relief, causing him to jump at her voice.
"Kathrine, what are you doing here?" He asked shakily, wiping his face.
Kathrin walked over to him and took his freezing hands in hers. "I'd like to ask you the same thing, you have a fire and a family downstairs, it's freezing out here."
His silence was enough, and she sat down in the wooden chair adjacent to him. "Listen David, I know you're upset. I am too. But we have something good here, we can't quit because of a... bump in the road."
He scoffed. Jack's betrayal was not just a 'bump in the road'.
She shifted a bit, she didn't want to upset him, but they really did have to get a move on. "David. The revolution is coming tomorrow, we need to have something for them-"
"I know. I want you to come to Brooklyn with me."
"What?"
"To get Spot. He said that he would join us after we got Crutchie back, and if we get him, we can get Queens."
Kathrine perked up at the news. "That's great! If we can recruit all of them, that's at least 80 kids, plus the whole revolution!"
David nodded, a small smile coming back to his face. He tightened his grip lightly on Katherine's hand. "We're really doing something here, aren't we?"
She nodded happily, and then her face shifted for a moment. "But first David, there's something I want to tell you."
He looked her in the eyes, waiting for the news.
She gulped. "President Pulitzer he... he's my father. He's the one behind all of this."
David's grip began to loosen on her hand again, and she spoke quickly. "But I don't agree with him at all. I will fight with you boys until the end of the line and, and maybe after the refuge I can talk to my father head to head, and he'll do something about this once we show him the efforts we made!" she spoke quickly, ensuring that she didn't misspeak once. "I don't want anything to change, I just... I didn't want to hide this from you."
It took a minute, but David noded in response. "Thank you Kath. And I- I... I used my talent earlier, didn't I?"
Kathrine paused. She almost forgot about it, and she'd thought that David would've wanted her to.
"Yes, but I don't want you to feel ashamed of it. This is what this is movement is all about isn't it?"
And before they knew it, they had embraced each other. David was hugging her so tightly, he almost couldn't let go. There was not one time in his entire life that he had been told to not be ashamed for something he'd done, for someone he was.
And he cried. For the first time in years, he felt tears on his cheeks. And Katherine rubbed his back and told him that they would be alright. And they would, she just knew it.
-
Jack had never felt more hollow and scared. He saw the world move under his feet, he felt Morris and Oscar's tight grip on his arm, but everything went by in a blur.
He didn't remember going to the lodge, he didn't remember anything up until he saw David's pain-filled expression. Then everything went into high definition for a split second. Just long enough to see the damage that he had done.
But, just as quick as the realization hit him, everything fuzzed again once the Delancey's dragged him through the halls of his home.
And he was lost. He couldn't get David's face out of his head. He couldn't get the image of floating objects and betrayed faces and heart break away from his mind.
And he was in that building again. With the tall gold-filled hallways and the extravagant paintings. And he didn't even remember what this place was. His brain was a broken record. He could only replay the events that had just taken place in his home, and nothing else. He barely even knew who he was.
And he stayed like this. His brain felt like it had been covered in mold, his feet felt like bricks and his eyes were almost as heavy as the burden he would have to forever carry from hurting his family.
They entered the publisher's office. They Delacey's talked to Snyder who talked to Pulitzer. The familiar chill of the handcuffs rested on his wrists. He was taken out of the room and through the hall and down the stairs and into a cellar.
All of this felt like it took 100 years yet 30 seconds.
And now he was blinking himself into consciousness, he felt a cold floor underneath him, and then the feeling faded. He tried desperately to hold onto his senses.
He desperately tried to remain conscious, to notice every little thing in his surroundings, but his head was reeling and his ears were ringing louder than any siren. He put his head on the cold ground.
The delancey's had left already. The air was chilled and quiet. There was no movement near him. He was still cuffed. There were tears streaming down his face.
And slowly, he regained his ability to breathe, so see and smell and feel. And finally, his ability to think.
His mind felt clear. As if a tornado had come in to destroy everything, then go on it's merry way.
He took a deep deep breath. Sure, he could physically think about anything he wanted again, but his anxiety kept asking the question, what did you do to them?
And what did he do to them? To his family? To his brothers, to Katherine and david? What could he have possibly said to make them look that hurt? And now, he felt all of that hurt in his chest. He felt waves of grief and regret crash into him, and pour out of his mouth in a chilling, depressing cry for help.
"A bit dramatic, are we?"
He shot up, spinning around the dark room to see what was going on. He wasn't alone. He had no idea if that was a good thing, or a very very very bad thing.
"Where are you?"
"Well hello to you too sir."
Jack gulped. The voice was feminine, and it came from the back of the cell.
"Hello. Who are you."
The voice laughed. But it wasn't patronizing or evil, just a simple; 'this'll be interesting' kind of laugh. "My name is Haley."
Jack nodded and sat down. "Why a' you here?"
"I could ask you the same question, and are you gonna bother to tell me your name?"
He slowed, taking his time to continue with his deep breaths. "Jack Kelly."
He heard the clack of shoes move towards him, and he saw a figure of a woman sit down in front of him. "So you're the one that's becoming famous around here, what with your revolution and all."
"You heard about that?"
"Of course."
There was silence for a moment. Neither of them quite knew what to say, until Jack spoke up. "You didn't answer my question."
"Which one?" she laughed.
"Well I dunno, who are you? Why are you down there?"
The figure shifted in front of him, and as his eyes adjusted to the light he started to recognize her more and more.
"Well, I'm sure you know the Delancey's, right?"
Jack paused. Ths was the actress from Medda's. The one who was talking to Oscar.
"Yeah what of it?"
She shifted a bit and continued. "Well, they informed Snyder about your plan to break into the refuge. And Pulitzer knew that you might come for him next, so he tried to recruit as many people as he could. Including the Delanceys, who brought me along with some other kids around town. Luckily, Snyder was ready for your attack, and he brought you straight here so Pulitzer could use you."
"Luckily?" Jack exclaimed. He couldn't breathe. That's why it was so easy; the perfectly placed hole in the fence, and the lack of guards. That's why Snyder let Race walk away, it wasn't because he didn't recognize him, it was because he needed to lure Jack in. They were trapped under his thumb the entire time.
She paused, "well it's better than being destroyed by Pulitzer, it's better than taking your entire group in here just to be killed."
Jack scoffed, "I could take the Pulitzer in a fight."
Haley laughed, "no you could not. You forget that you're cuffed right now."
"So? I could do it with my hands tied behind my back, he's like sixty!'' Jack exclaimed, finally easing into his sitting position. "And anyways, it'd be more fair if I wasn't able to use my talent.
"How so? He could still use his."
Jack blinked, and then let out an awkward laugh. "Yeah, funny."
The girl looked at Jack as if he was the dumbest man to ever grace this earth. "I'm not joking. Even if you could use your powers, he would just make you believe that you don't have any."
Jack felt like he was choking on air, he was learning so many world-changing things today. "So... so you're telling me that Pulitzer has a talent."
The girl scoffed. "Everyone does."
Jack shook his head. She must be messing with him. "How do you know? No- he- he can't."
"Jack, can you tell me that you remembered how you got here? Both times? And are you telling me that Pulitzer just... I dunno used magic to figure out your friends' names and your insecurities? You're telling me that you remember every word that Pulitzer forced you to say to your friends?"
Jack couldn't breathe, it all made sense now. Every question that haunted him and every event that didn't add up. It all does now. Well, except for the things that he did. The things that he said.
"But then... if you were helping him, why a' youse down here?"
"Because I called him out for being terrified of losing to a bunch of kids and he didn't like that too much."
Jack let out a surprised laugh. Pulitzer was scared of them. They really were doing something here.
"Ok, one.. One more question." he said, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer, but he needed to. "Were you pulling my leg when you said that everyone has a talent?"
"No. You can read all about them in the library down stairs."
"The- there's a what?"
She sighed. "Library. It's a place with books."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah I know, it's just' that there's enough books in his office alone - why'd he need a whole library?"
"Because that's where he keeps all the research on talents. Every book or report or study ever done around them, he keeps them there. They've been there for at least a century at this point, and he hides them from the public so that they don't question him. All that this society knows is that it's normal person versus person with talents, when - more accurately - it's person with mundane talents versus person with powerful talents."
"So, you'se saying that if this information were to get out, that the truth would finally be revealed? That something in the world could actually be fixed?"
"It would be a better start than quietly breaking into one of the President's organizations i suppose."
Jack couldn't believe it. He finally had the drive and the material he needed to do this, to possibly even finish it. All he needed was to regroup with his family, and to find a way out.
But today was gone, it was well past dark and Jack felt like he hadn't slept in months. If he waited for the morning, he could think of an actually smart way to get out of here, and he could take his time to locate the library so they could really put this plan together.
His body felt like it had been hit by a train. He was aching and his head was pounding at a million miles a minute. And when he laid down on the hard concrete floor, it didn't take him very long to drift off to an uncomfortable sleep.