The Story of the Delancey Brothers

Chapter 8

This was originally gonna be in Chapter 7, but I split it up because the prev chapters were pretty short and I didn't want to mess with the aesthetic lol

-Oscar POV 1890-

After their father's episode, Oscar and Morris went to bed early. They fell asleep curled up in each other's arms.

But Oscar's sleep was interrupted by his brother's screaming. It was very loud, since Morris was sleeping very close to Oscar, but Oscar would've woken up even if Morris was just sleep-talking.

Morris was screaming and thrashing around in his sleep, and Oscar was worried. So he started shaking his brother in hopes of waking him up.

No luck. If anything, it made Morris louder. He needed to wake Morris up before their father heard and came in though.

Oscar became panicked, and shook Morris harder. He awoke this time with a gasp, and then a whimper.

"Hey," Oscar whispered. "You'se okay?"

Morris shook his head vigorously.

"Ya have a nightmare?"

A slow nod.

"Ya wanna talk about it?"

More headshakes.

"Okay, would ya like me ta tell ya a story to distract ya?"

Morris shrugged, but didn't give any sign that he didn't want to hear a story.

Oscar wracked his brain for a story to tell, and came upon a story from his school days

He had heard rumors about it, but he didn't know if they were true or not. But none of that really mattered, because Morris wouldn't know the difference.

"Ya wanna hear a story 'bout a street filled with gangs?" he asked his brother, putting his arm around him.

"If ya want," Morris said hesitantly, but snuggled into Oscar.

"Okay. Somewhere in th' city, there's a street called Delancey Street, and it has the biggest, most baddest gangs in all of New York. They say ya can't go there at night, otherwise the gangs'll getcha. Especially this one called The Short Tails. They'se real dangerous. They say the coppers don't even wanna walk on Delancey Street by the'selves. They gotta take a partner with 'em. Scary, huh?"

"Uh-huh."

Any other kid probably would've been scared out of their mind upon hearing the things Oscar said after that, but not Morris. Morris would listen to scary stories all day if he could.

"Oscar?" Morris asked after Oscar had stopped talking for a few minutes.

"Yeah?"

"Do ya think Mary would still be alive if we would've been on Delancey Street? Do ya think the gangs would've protected her from th' newsies?"

"I'da know."

"'Cause I think they woulda gotten ridda all the newsies if they even looked at Mary wrong. She just got that face, ya know?" Morris said, the last part a bit muffled by a big yawn.

"Maybe. I think that ya need ta git some sleep now though," Oscar said.

Morris nodded, and laid down without a word. Oscar half tucked him in, and then laid down himself, putting an arm around his brother.

An hour goes by, and Oscar still can't fall asleep, because of a thought that had been going around in his head ever since Morris had said it.

Would Delancey Street be safe for them? He knew full well of all the gangs that called the street their home, but what were they gonna do about two kids wandering around, beating up the occasional newsie? Beat THEM up? The newsies were annoying, so they'd most likely be doing them a favor.

All of a sudden, a sleep wave came over Oscar, and he couldn't think straight anymore. He snuggled in closer to his brother, and fell asleep to Morris' gentle, steady breathing.