Just Hold On Kid

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Prologue

Jack Kelly stood in the center of the brawl, surveying the scene. It was bad. His newsies were getting crushed. He made the decision. "Clear out! Fall back!" he shouted over the din. He saw Davey and Romeo push their attackers away and disappear into the maze of alleyways. Race and Specs quickly followed suit. The others were right behind them.

"Jack!" shouted Crutchie.

"Crutchie!" Jack searched the thinning mob for his friend. Morris Delancey had the crip backed against a wall, taunting and punching him. "Crutchie!!"

"Stop him!" Snyder barked.

Oscar Delancey ran and tackled Jack to the ground, rubbing his head in the dirt. Jack struggled to get up, but the heavier boy on top of him wouldn't move. Jack watched helplessly as Morris kicked the boy's crutch away from him, and knocked him to the ground. Morris beat the crip relentlessly with the crutch, laughing cruelly.

"Ya bastard!" Jack yelled. "Don't touch him!!"

Morris sneered, and repeatedly kicked the boy on the ground before him.

Crutchie yelped, and Jack fumed, thrashing wildly under Oscar, trying to get free to help his friend.

Snyder's men surrounded the boy, and dragged him away, out of sight.

"Jack!!" Crutchie cried.

"Hold on Crutchie! I'll be there!" Jack shouted.

"Jack!"

Jack gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the sound of his friend's fear. He struggled until he could no longer hear Crutchie's cries.

Oscar began to get up and Jack leapt off the ground, giving him a swift kick in the shin.

"Hey!" Morris spat. "Knock it off, Jacky, if ya know what's good for ya!"

"I guess I don't," Jack growled, backing up.

The brothers cornered him and knocked him off his feet, kicking him.

"I feel like I've done this before," Morris smirked.

Oscar laughed loudly.

Jack scrambled to his feet and dashed away from the pair, into the nearest alley, and escaped into the city.

He reached the lodge within a few minutes, and climbed up onto the roof. He sank onto the floor, head in hands, sobbing loudly. His minded raced wildly, pictures of Crutchie on the ground, under his own crutch, flashed through his mind.

"I'm gonna get him out," he reassured himself. "He'll be alright for a while, he'll be fine, right?" He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the memory. "I'll get him out."

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Jack panted quietly as he climbed the fire escape of the Refuge building in the dark of the night. He peered into each window he passed, searching for Crutchie. His already angry mood worsened with each window. Three or four kids to a bed, filthy clothes, no toys for the little kids. But no Crutchie. Higher and higher he went, hoping beyond hope that he would find Crutchie in each next window. He reached the top floor and pressed his face to the grimy, cracked glass of the window. The room was illuminated by a single oil lamp, and he spotted someone in the far corner.

"Crutchie?" he called quietly.

"Jack?" a voice croaked.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Yeah, Crutchie, it's me. Come over here, ya crazy crip," he smiled.

"I can't," he replied.

"What?"

"Jack... Jack, I can't move."

"Hang on. I'm coming in." Jack slammed his shoulder through the cracking glass and tumbled into the room. He froze, and waited until he was sure no one had heard.

"Crutchie," he crossed the small room in two strides and knelt down next to his friend. "Crutchie, what happened?"

The boy's eyes were both blacked, and his face was almost covered in dried blood from a gash on his forehead. His collarbone and arms were bruised, and Jack could only imagine what bruises were hidden beneath his clothes.

"Oh, ya know," the boy's voice shook, "the usual." He forced a smile, for Jack's sake.

"Crutchie..." He placed his hands on the boy's cheeks. "I /will/ get you outta here, I promise. As soon as I can."

"I know it, Jack."

"I'm so, so sorry, Crutchie. This's all my fault."

"Nah, you didn't do nothin', Jack."

They were silent for a moment, then Crutchie spoke again.

"I was so scared, Jack, I didn't know what t' do and, and I... I--"

"Shh, hey, hey it's alright. There's no way I'm'a let you down here, pal. We's gonna win this, or die tryin'.

"Youse better win, Jack." Crutchie moved his hand to Jack shoulder, wincing. "Youse better."

"We are, Crutchie, we are. For all those kids livin' a nightmare in this dump. We's gonna win."

Jack's heart broke looking into his friend's eyes. Dark and swollen and sad, but they still gleamed with life, with hope.

A trash barrel fell over and crashed loudly in the alley below the fire escape.

"Ey, I gotta go. I'll see you soon, alright?"

"Course ya will. 'Fore ya go, grab that for me, will ya?" He motioned to the opposite wall.

Jack turned and saw his crutch, propped neatly against the wall. "Now, that's just cruel," he said, bursting into nervous laughter.

"Yeah, well," Crutchie grinned.

Jack retrieved it and set on the floor by his friend.

"Thanks, Jack, really."

"A' course," he said. "I'll be back soon, alright? I promise."

"Don't worry 'bout it none, Jack. Just win, okay?"

"I'll make sure we's win if you promise me somethin'," he ventured.

"Anything," the crip replied.

"Take care a' these kids for me, please?" Jack pleaded.

"A' course, Jack, why'd ya even havta ask? I got it." The boy grinned goofily.

"Thank ya, Crutch."

"Sure. Now get outta here and get some sleep, youse got papes to hawk tomorra."

"See you soon, Crutchie."

"See ya soon, Jack. Tell the boys I miss 'em."

Crutchie watched his friend climb out the window and out of sight down the fire escape. He leaned his head back against the wall and sighed quietly at the shattered window.

"Moron..." he muttered, chuckling to himself.

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Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! More to come soon :)