No Fear |A Newsies Fanfiction|

14- SAVE ME《July 31, 1899》

Monday- July 31, 1899

It felt like I'd been here for years, yet it'd probably only been hours. My only company was a couple of rats and those bastards, the Delanceys. My hands and feet were chained so I was hanging about a little bit in the air, my face a few feet away from a wall. The cuffs around my wrists and ankles dug into my skin with every move I made. And it's kinda hard to not move when you're getting beaten every other hour.

I slowly turned as I heard the metal door open then slam shut. My vision was foggy, one eye was swollen shut and the other had blood in it, but I could still see Morris and Oscar clomping down the stairs. Oscar carried a whip as Morris was polishing his brass knuckles. I was in for it.

"Hiya, sweetheart," Oscar called down.

"Just 'cause I'm gone don't mean da strikes over," I slurred. It hurt to talk and I tasted more blood in my mouth. Morris walked to me and pulled at Jack's ripped shirt. It was dried into my skin with blood and hurt like hell when he pulled at it. I bit down on my lip at the pain, drawing even more blood.

"Without you or Sullivan, they're screwed. With no leader it'll fall apart," whispered Morris in my ear.

"I ain't the only leader, y'know." This little comment earned me a whip on my back from Oscar. Whatever was at the end of it tore into my back. I gasped at the agony, relentless in not letting them hear me scream. Hot blood dripped down my back.

"Who else is in charge?" Morris asked, sickly sweet, now standing in front of me.

"I ain't tellin'." I felt my nose break again but still refused to say anything. Another punch landed on my already busted eye. I groan to hold back screams that would've echo around the room.

"Tell us. You'll only get more hurt if you don't."

"No," I said, and spat in Morris' face.

"Tell us!" Oscar boomed in complete rage. He started to hit my back with the whip rapidly.

"I won't ever tell you bastards!" I blurted as the whip tore through my skin again.

"You're gonna spread the rest of your miserable life here. It'll be a while till you die, sweetheart." Oscar grinned. "Want a turn with the whip Morris?" he asked.

"It'd be my pleasure."

Punch after punch, whip after whip. I couldn't help but open my mouth to scream. Nothing came out, my voice had left with my will to live. Why didn't they just kill me already? It would be better than the pain they were putting me through.

I heard a timid knock on the door above the stairs. Morris groaned and walked up the stairs. He ran back down and called Oscar over.

"We gotta deal with your little lover-boy, Pulitzer. But we'll be back," Oscar promised with a grin, as the Delancy brothers walked out of the cellar I was stuck in.

Finally all alone I let myself cry. I had lost count of how many times the Delanceys had come down and beaten me. This one was the last straw. I just wanted to die. No one knew where I was. No one was going to come and save me. I was completely and utterly alone.

The adrenaline had stopped pumping. The full pain of what had happened to me hit me like a wave. My eyes closed on their own.