burning red

- 12 -

A blood curdling scream could be heard all throughout Brooklyn and perhaps even further out. Lilly simply stood, staring at the limp body that lay before her feet, blood pooling out of his side.

Hot Shot's been shot.

Skipps was by his side, nursing the wound the best he could, but it seemed that there was no avail. He remorsefully looked up at Lilly, but she only shook her head in response.

She fell to her knees and put a hand over his bloodied side, clutching onto every speck of hope she had in her that there was still a heart beat, even the slowest one. Perhaps she could still save him, take him to the nearest hospital and maybe he could be saved. Tears dampened his shirt along with the dark crimson that burned through her eyes into her mind, making sure she'd never forget the horrifying image.

Fortunately, luck had been on her side for she found a faint heartbeat, lightly throbbing against her red hand. She gasped. "he's alive. Spot, he's alive!"

Spot pushed past the newsies that circled them and knelt beside her. "what do we do?" He asked in a monotoned voice. He hadn't even reacted when Lilly whacked him in the head, making his head fall forward, his eyes now looking down at Hot Shot's bloodied torso.

"are you deranged!" She yelled, her voice raspy. "take him to a fucking hospital!"

"an' where'r we goin' to get tha money?" Felix challenged, crossing his arms.

"Jack'll help, I know he will, jus'..." Lilly let out a shaky sigh. She looked up at Spot, big, brown eyes gleaming with desperation.

Spot looked back down at Hot Shot's bleeding torso as he tightly pushed onto the wound, his hand now covered in blood. He then closed his eyes tightly before instructing, "Felix, take his bottom half, I got his top one an' Skipps, hold up tha middle."

Lilly didn't even look up as they scrambled to pick up Hot Shot. She stayed numb, staring dully ahead at the crimson stained pavement that grew bigger the more she stared at it. She hardly even moved when the rest of the Brooklyn newsies followed Spot, Felix and Skipps to the hospital. She would find her way back home.

And as the world quieted down around her, the moon climbing higher in the sky, she mumbled, "I's so sorry." for she could have stopped this from happening.

✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧

It was a quiet morning in the Manhattan lodging house, so silent that they could even hear a pin drop. A rare occurrence in the building, really. But after the news of Hot Shot the night before, no newsie found it appropriate to skip around.

Even Justine was silent as she smoothed out the wrinkles of her pink dress with puffed sleeves that looked absolutely perfect on her. With a solemn look on her face, she tied a white ribbon into her hair. Though she didn't know him, she still felt the heavy sadness and fear that reciprocated through all the newsies.

She especially felt for Lilly and Spot as he was their best friend.

Even the streets seemed quieter than they usually were, matching the newsies' energy. The clouds moved slowly and people matched their pace. The trolleys took longer to come and it seemed that the newsies were waiting forever for the circulation bell to ring.