From Crutchie To Wheels (And a Little Les Trouble)

Visiting Crutchie

After they got to the hospital and situated everyone, Dr. Prandin went to the rest of the newsies.

"Jack," he started, "from what I've seen, theres been at least 5 broken bones, tons of twisted and dislocated fingers, and countless stitches and bruises"

"That's the Refuge for ya."

"I'm sorry that we hadn't seen this earlier. If you want, you can go see Specs and Crutchie. I put them in the same room."

"Thanks Doctor."

Jack and Race walked up to Crutchie and Specs's room. They opened the door and walked in.

"Hey Crutchie," Jack said.

"Hey J-jack!" Crutchie resonded.

"Ya feeling better?"

"Yeah! The st-stutters g-going away!  D-Dr. Prandin s-said that my arm and sh-shoulder sh-should heal up s-soon. I can g-go home!"

"Thats great, Crutch!

Race had run over to Specs by now and was asking him so many questions.

"How's your wrist? Can you see? Do you need another pillow? How ya feeling?"

"I'll be fine once I get some of your sweet lips on mine. I missed you, Racey."

"Cut it out, Race. Specs needs some rest," said Jack.

"No it's fine, Jack. I've been locked up in the Refuge for 2 weeks. Let me spend a little time with my boyfriend."

"Yeah, Jack. He needs Racey time."

Race went back to kissing Specs passionately until Race pressed a little too hard on Specs stomach. Specs winced in pain.

"What's wrong, Baby?"

"My back. Snyder wrote something on my back with a knife earlier and you pressed too hard," Specs whispered,  holding back tears.

"That bastard! Let me look at it," Race said.

"NO!" Specs screamed. "Go ask one of the boys who was in the refuge with me. Moving hurts. A lot."

As if on cue, Timmy hobbled into the room, aided by a small crutch.

"Is Specs in here?"

"Yeah he's over here"

"Hey Timmy! Do you remeber what was written on my back?"

"With the knife?"

"Yeah."

"It said something about your little friend is dead. When Snyder threw you in the room, we thought you were dead. Snyder was about to throw you in the room with the dead bodies but when they picked you up, you started to moan and he left you."

"Oh. Well, if I didn't die, then who did?"

"Hey, Specs. There's something we need to tell you," Jack said.

"What?"

"Well you remember the night you got taken away? Well ummm. The very next day Les kinda had a fall, and he hurt himself pretty bad. He died, Specs. I'm sorry."

"Les? No! Thats not possible! He..."

"Shhh it's ok," Race said as he comforted a crying Specs.

Dr. Prandin stepped into the room.

"Jack. I need to speak to you for a minute. Come with me."

Jack stepped into the hallway with Dr. Prandin.

"Crutchie's getting much better. I think it's time for him to go home."

"Oh, that's great doc! Let me go tell him."

"Wait. There's more. Crutchie hurt his shoulder pretty badly. He's not going to be able to get around so easily anymore. I think the best thing we can do is put his bad leg in a brace, so if he needs to, he can walk a step or two instead of putting so much pressure on his shoulder. Also, he's gonna be in a sling for at least a month."

"Thats great. It'll give him a sense of independence."

"And Jack. The last thing is that he may have random twitches or spasms in his shoulder or arm. That's why he needs the brace. In case his arm twitches and he drops his crutch so he doesn't fall every time."

"Oh. Ok. I guess I'll go tell him now."

Jack walked back in the room.

Crutchie was estatic to find out about his new brace. Not so much about the sling and twitching, but he said he'd make it through.

The next day, Dr. Prandin released Crutchie and all the other refugees from the hospital. They had all been fixed up and now all they could do is wait to heal. Brooklyn agreed to take in half of the boys and watch them while they healed. The other half, including Timmy and Brit, went with the Manhattan Newsies.

Jack put the boys on bed rest along with Buttons, Specs, and Crutchie. Everyone else went back to work.

Guys the semester is finally over! No more AP Human! I'm not sure if I wanna make this a long story or start a sequel. Any suggestions?