Fire (From Crutchie to Wheels Sequel)

Fire

(This is a repost chapter from the last book.)

The next day they all had to get up and go to work. Brit had a horrible cough that day, so he stayed home to rest.

Crutchie was finally out of his sling. His shoulder and arm had healed almost completely, except for a random twitch now or then. He was back using his crutch.

All the newsboys walked over to the paper stand and bought their papers. As promised, Race bought his own and Specs's papes.

All the boys had bought their papes and had left to go sell them except Crutchie and Jack. Crutchie was next in line for papers.

"Where's the walking mouth and Jr.?" Morris taunted.

"Morris, don't you remember? Jr. killed himself and Crip here didn't do anything to stop him," Oscar responded.

"I j-just want m-my papes," Crutchie said as he held out his hand to put the money down. His arm twitched and he threw the money on the ground.

"What was that for, Gimp? You don't look like you want your papes today."

"I'm s-sorry." Crutchie said as he reached down to pick up the money. Oscar kicked Crutchie's butt and he fell to the ground.

Jack ran over and helped him up. "Hey that wasn't very nice, Oscar. You should try to be more ladylike."

"Why I outta!" Oscar screamed as he punched Jack in the eye.

"Like I said," Jack said looking kind of dazed, "you should try to act more ladylike."

Jack then picked up Crutchie's money and put it down on the table. "50 papes," He said walking away. Crutchie stood there awkwardly.

"Fine." Morris picked up a stack of 50 and chucked it at Jack's back. It hit Jack, knocking him over. Jack fell forward and hit his head on the pavement. He just layed there, unmoving.

"J-jack!" Crutchie screamed running over to him. He sat next to his friend and checked his head. Jack was unconcious. The Delanceys just laughed and walked away. Oscar had a cigar and lit it.

Everyone else was far gone, but Crutchie was not about to leave his friend here.

Crutchie found a small box with rope attatched to it. He grabbed it and proceeded to put Jack in the box. He grabbed the rope in his free hand and started out the gates.

Crutchie got many looks on the street. A gimp dragging a body in a box through New York. It's not like you don't see that every day. He continued walking along, dragging Jack, all the way back to the lodging house. It took almost half an hour. They didn't pass a single other newsie on the way. Something had to be up.

Crutchie was about 3 blocks away from the lodge when he smelled smoke. He turned the corner only to be horrified by what he saw.

Fire. Engulfing every inch of the lodge. And very faint screams. All of the other Newsies were surrounding it. Some of them saw Crutchie and ran over to help him.

"W-what happened?" Asked Crutchie.

"The Delanceys happened. Appearantly this is their revenge for us closing the refuge,"said Specs. "What happened to Jack?"

"D-delanceys," replied Crutchie.

"Lets get him out of that box," offered Race.

Race and Specs carried Jack, and Crutchie followed close behind. He was in utter shock. His home was on fire. There was no saving it. The firefighters hadn't shown up in time.

Elmer ran up to the boys, tears streaming down his face. "Guys!"

"Elmer, w-what's wrong?" Asked Crutchie.

"Brit was in there."