Newsies One-Shots

Chapter 102 - Jack and Race (Pt. 1)

Jack Really Needs a Hug and Some Help (Pt. 1)
Ship - Jack and Race (brotherly)
Era - Modern
Triggers - Kidnapping, crying, abuse, and injuries.

"I'm gonna sit down for a minute," Jack told his foster mother, Joan, who was pushing his foster brother, Peter, on a swing.

"Alright, Jack. Just stay where I can see you."

"Okay." Jack smiled and walked away from the playground to where the benches on the outskirts were. He wrapped his legs under him once he sat down on the bench, trying to get his breathing under control.

"Are you having fun?" Jack looked up at the man who sat beside him.

"Who are you?"

"I'm a friend of your mother's. She asked me to bring you home."

Jack blinked and glanced over at where Joan was distracted with helping Peter down from a climbing frame that was too high for comfort.

"But Miss Joan's just there."

The man seemed to think for a moment before he explained, "Miss Joan asked me to bring you home to finish your homework. Since you're seven she said you need longer for homework."

"Oh. I'll go ask her 'cause I'm eight, not seven."

"You don't need to. She told me this before you turned eight, come on. That homework won't do itself."

Jack considered for a moment. "I should ask her. I don't wanna get in trouble."

"Kid." The man grabbed onto Jack's wrist tightly. "Get moving."

Jack looked over to where Joan was dealing with a cut on Peter's scraped knee. He stood up, with the intent to go over to her but was stopped when the man grabbed him around the waist and lifted him up.

"Mama," he screamed. "Help."

The man tightly put a hand over Jack's mouth, carrying him away from Joan's sight and out of earshot.

"If you know what's good for you, shut up and stop fighting."

Jack didn't stop fighting. Even when he was shoved into a car and driven far away from his home, he banged on the windows. Even when five years had passed and Jack wasn't allowed leave the apartment after many failed attempts at running away.

When he turned seventeen and had been forced to move to New York after spending years hiding in motels around the west, Snyder decided that nobody would remember him and he could go to school, it was the greatest day in his life. Regardless of the strict rules that he couldn't talk to anyone or join any groups, all of which were enforced by Snyder, he was just happy to see the outside world.

~~~

"Francis, right?"

Jack looked at the man, presumably the teacher, who was crouched down in front of the desk he'd taken at the back of the class before he nodded.

"I'm Mr. Denton but you can just call me Denton, did you do any novels in your old school?"

"I was homeschooled," Jack said. Snyder had told him to tell anyone who asked that lie. "We didn't really do English."