The Grave Digger

Chapter 23: Three Months After

She loved Race. Everyday, they would sell together, and now that the papers they didn't sell were bought back, it was much better for her. She was glad she could finally be with the guy she loved, and she no longer had to worry about whether she'd be able to buy food some days or not. But she still had things to worry about. The demons of her past were starting to catch up with her.

Three months after the strike.
That was when she learned who she was.

Three months after the strike.
That was when the bad kids started coming back to New York to haunt her.

Three months after the strike.
That's when he caught up with her.

Three months after the strike.
That's when her whole world came crumbling down.

Three months after the strike.
That's where she was right now.

She was sitting on the first floor of the lodging house after a hard day of selling papers. She was curled up under a blanket, staring at the clock. She was waiting for Race to come back. Waiting for any news from Spot. She had been told one of her Jersey boys had come to him, but she had no clue as of why. She could smell the crisp October air as Jack walked in. "Hey," was all she managed. He smiled back at her, but left to go upstairs. And she was left alone again. Staring at the clock.
It had been two hours. Where was he? But the opening of the door interrupted her thoughts. And there he was. She smiled. "Race." He smiled, and sat next to her. She kissed him, he kissed her, just as always. "Any word?" He nodded. "Ya're not gonna like it."
She just stared at him. No. No. She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it. She refused to believe the words escaping her lover's mouth. He surely wouldn't be. He surely couldn't be. No. No. Why? Why was he after her? What did she have that he wanted? Her ring? She would never give it up. Race kissed her again, but she couldn't kiss back. She was terrified. Frozen in fear. He picked her up, and sat her on his lap. She cuddled into his chest, but she was still in shock. At some point, she knew she'd have to get some sleep. She would talk about this tomorrow. She promptly stood up, and held out her hand for Race. He held onto her fingertips, and they went upstairs together.
When she woke up in the morning, her arms were around Race's neck, and his were around her waist. The sun hadn't come up yet, she could see that from where she was laying. She buried her head deeper in Race's chest, and listened to his heartbeat. She didn't know how long she had been laying like that, but it was time for them to get up.
She had gotten much skinnier from the stress. As soon as she saw herself in the mirror, she had to look away in shame. She was terrified. Her bones stuck out from her skin, like plastic being stretched out by sticks. She was pale, save for the freckles that covered her body. Her hair was falling out, but that wasn't new. She carefully washed it, and pulled it up under her cap. She knew this would happen. She knew her demons would come after her, but she never thought it would be so soon. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe time had just gone by too fast.
She couldn't bring herself to sell with Race that day. She didn't want to see Spot. She didn't want the looks of pity or worry, Race had given her enough of those. So she kissed Race goodbye, and she sold with Mush that day. They sold down by the park, not a single word being said between the two. Mush could sense something was wrong, but he knew not to ask. She sold averagely. At one time, she asked a man if he wanted to buy a newspaper, but he said he did not. But then he went up to Mush and asked if he could buy a newspaper. Mush wouldn't let him, how he treated Bones was wrong, but she didn't care. The man came up to her, and bought from her, saying some nasty words, but she was used to it.
She sold most of her papers, and she hurried to sell them back. She walked back to the lodging house with Mush in quiet, and sat on the couch with her sketchbook, and waited. She looked at the clock so much, she started to draw it. By the time she finished, Jack was sitting next to her, and she felt the crisp October air again as Race came in. She stood up so he could sit in her spot, and she sat on his lap. She looked at the two of them, and said, "I need ta hide."
They made a plan. She was going to pretend to be sick the next day, then she was going to pretend to die the following night. Jack and Race would pretend to bury her, and she would get away. They didn't know where to, but she would figure it out later. She kissed Race goodnight, and got ready to leave.
The next morning, she started fake coughing. It hurt her chest, but she had to do it. Everyone was worried, and felt bad for Race. But Race stayed with her that day. When it was just the two of them, they talked, and she told him how she hated faking this. She told him that she wanted him to hold onto her ring. They kissed. They packed up her things, and hid them out back, where Jack and Race would "bury" her. That night, she kept fake coughing, and Race stayed sitting with her. Everyone had gone to sleep, except Race. She stopped. The silence woke up Crutchy, and he was scared. Eventually, they all woke up. Some were crying, some were scared, but all missed her, and all hated what could have caused her to die.
Jack and Race carried her out back. When they were out there, and nobody could see them, she stood up. She kissed Race, and gave him her ring. She hugged Jack, then grabbed her things, and she left.
She was running. Her knee hurt, but she had to run. She knew they would find her, but she thought of a place. The only place she might be able to hide. It had been days since her "death," but she was still paranoid. So she ran. She didn't stop until she saw it. She ran up the fire escape, praying the window was open. It was. She ran, and slid inside, toppling over herself. The boy inside stared in disbelief. "Hey Davy."
He stared at her for another moment, before saying, "what?" She looked around, and quickly closed the window, and pulled the curtain closed over it. She sat down, her knee was killing her. "I was told you were dead." She looked at him, and took a deep breath. "I was. Where are ya're parents? I was wond-rin' if I could stay fo' a bit, keep outta harm's way?" He looked at her. "What did you do?" She closed her eyes, tears were starting to well up and she couldn't let them slip. "It's not wha' I did, it's what was done ta me." "Well, my mom, Sarah, and Les will be here in a few minutes, but my dad has work for a few more hours. You know, you're kind of scaring me." She shrugged. "Sorry, bu' I'll tell ya ev'rythin' in a bit, I promise."
David was right. His mom, Sarah, and Les came through the door a few minutes later. Les lit right up. "Bones!" David told his mom how she had come tumbling through the window, quite literally, and they all sat around the table so Bones could tell them what happened.
And she told them everything. She told them about before she came to New York, she told them about when she became a newsie, and she told them about becoming the King of Brooklyn, and why she had to come to Manhattan. By the time she was finished, she was nearly crying, and so were Sarah and Esther, as David's mom had told Bones to call her. Les hugged Bones, and she hugged him back, but David was sitting there, frozen. Three months ago, she had asked him if he'd had an older brother, and he forgot to ask. It may not have been relevant to the whole point of the story, but he just remembered. And he felt bad. If he'd known all of that stuff about her, he had to be honest with himself, he'd probably never have forgotten.
"Mom, I forgot to ask this before. A while ago, she had mentioned one of her friends, and she asked me if I had had an older brother. Did I?" Bones looked between David and Esther. She had forgotten, too. Not about Rebel, but about her question. Esther sighed. "Yes, you did. But he ran away when you were three. Is he alright, do you know?" she asked Bones. Bones was silent for a moment. "Abou' four years ago, he joined da navy, an' abou' two years ago, his ship blew up. He didn' make it. I'm really sorry." Her voice caught on her last words, and she almost started crying. Les hugged her even tighter, and she rubbed his back, as Race had done so many times for her.
David was still frozen. He didn't know what to say, or how to react. He had never known his brother, not really, but if her story is truthful, then it completely added up. He had known her to exaggerate things, but you could always tell, it was always obvious. And he also knew she hated people feeling bad for her, even Race, and they were a couple. So he knew she was telling the truth. He realized how strong she really was. It had taken her fourteen years until she first cracked, and to be honest, flinging herself off the Brooklyn Bridge seemed simple. If it were him, he would have done something much worse to know he could feel anything. He always underestimated her. No, he had never seen her cry, but he had seen her close to it. And, damn, he would have been broken down sobbing if he were her. He wouldn't care what people thought. And when he heard the story about how she lost her ear, he would have lost it if he was in that much pain. Next time he saw Jack, he was going to thank him for applauding her. But Bones was such a private person, only a few knew everything she'd been through. He realized that only a handful of people knew. He would have told everyone. And the worst part was that she had never learned to read, and she never knew her real family. He had to shake his head slightly, it was a lot to take in. He should have been hugging her, too. So he did. He felt so bad, he hugged her.
Bones was tired. She was glad that she might have a place to stay, but she had been running and hiding for days. "Maybe we should let her get some rest, you seem tired." Esther was very nice, like Lucy. That made Bones nearly start to cry. Earlier David had joked about if he were her, he wouldn't care who saw, he'd cry all the time. She thought it was kind of funny, but not as funny as Race, Tony as he told her to call him when it was just them. She just wanted to be with him. So David let Bones take his bed, and she slept for a bit, until she woke up with a nightmare. She shot up, to find Les sitting next to her, Sarah on her other side, and David across from her. She almost laughed. "Are you okay?" Sarah put her hand on Bones' shoulder. "Yeah, bad dream, sorry." "No, it's alright, but we wanted to know something." Bones was confused. Had she forgotten to tell them something? She nodded, telling them to proceed. "Do all the Newsies think you're dead, or do they all know?" Bones shook her head. "Only Race and Jack know. Not even Spot knows, I don't think." But David looked as if he still wanted to know something. "Do they know you're here?" She shook her head. "No, I didn't even know I was gonna be here until when I was in the woods, I thought I saw Bolts comin' afta me." Bones looked down at her legs. She had crossed them in front of her, and put her hands in her lap. "Well, if you're going to hide here, you're going to have to go to school," Sarah told her. Bones perked up. "I've always wan'ed ta go ta school," she sunk back down, "bu' I can' read." David looked at Sarah. "We can teach you. It won't be too hard." She looked at David, smiling. "You'll really teach me? I've tried ta loin, bu' the words was jus' swimmin' aroun' on da page, an' it gives me a headache." David screwed up his face in concentration. "One of my teachers mentioned this learning disability called dyslexia, you might have that." She laughed, "I'm not special enough ta have a 'loinin' disability' Dave." He rolled his eyes, "it's still a possibility."
Les was pouting. Bones turned to him. "Wha's wrong, Les?" "I wanna teach you how ta read." She chuckled. "You can help." Les smiled. "Really?" Bones chuckled again, "you bet." "Les, do you have any schoolwork you need to finish?" David asked his brother, laughing. Les pouted again. "I have some stupid math that I don't get." David laughed, "I'll help you with it."
As soon as Bones saw what he was working on, she was confused on how he didn't get it. It was easy. When she explained it, they looked at her, and David's features broke out into a smile. "You're good at math. That's great, but we still need to teach you how to read. Then you'd probably-" he stopped as the door opened, and his dad came in. "Hey, dad, so," and David explained everything.
Bones was very grateful for David and his family. They were letting her stay until she was able to resolve her situation and land on her feet. She hoped it wouldn't be too long, for, as much as she loved being a part of the family, they were doing so much for her, and she felt bad. David, Sarah, and Les were still helping her try to learn to read, and she was improving, but she was nowhere near the level she needed to be. But she was very proficient in math, easily solving David's homework without help.
The four kids were sitting at the table with a book open, Bones with her head in her hands, eyes closed shut, trying to concentrate. She soon realized, learning to read at 16, is not as easy as it seems. She took a deep breath. "Okay, so, that's a 'a,'" she said, pointing at the letter on the sheet David had created. It had the alphabet written on it, and some basic words. David nodded and told her to continue, "that's a 'b,' that's a, uh, 'c,' right?" Sarah nodded. Bones bit her lip. She got the first three letters, but the rest were just jumbles. But she realized, the jumbles would be the same. So, an 'a' looked backwards to her, with the tail on the left, rather than the right, but it was always like that. But she was learning, and she was doing well, David predicted she would be able to start school, possibly even his grade, by the end of the month. But for now, she would stay there, practicing her reading, and doing the extra math sheets David had somehow acquired for her. "That one, that's anuddah 'b,' ain't it?" She looked up at David. "No," he stated. He felt bad for her, but she was definitely getting there. She tended to mix up b's and d's, p's and q's, and t's and f's. That was understandable. They looked similar, and she saw the letters differently then a normal person. "It's da uddah one den, a, uh, a 'd.'" That's how it went until she finally could recite the alphabet without mixing any letters up. And you could tell she was proud of herself. She and Les kept reciting the alphabet all night, and Sarah thought she was going to have to throw something at them, but David told them to shut up. They did, but kept snickering about it. Later, Sarah thought that Bones had started reciting it again, but realized she was talking in her sleep. Sarah had never told anyone Bones did this, although at times what Bones had said was pretty terrifying. But she didn't worry too much, the girl had been through a lot.
Bones' reading improved greatly once she got the letters down, and David was right, by the end of November, she was ready to start school. But the problem was, the only clothes she had were the ones on her back, and she couldn't fit any of Sarah's clothes, she was ten times too small. Not only that, but Bones didn't want to wear dresses, she had been dressing like a boy for so long, and living around all boys for so long, she wasn't used to it, and she wasn't ready to change that. The only reasons anyone could tell she was a girl were her hair and her facial features, specifically her eyes and her lips. But otherwise, she could pass as a boy, and Les's clothes were only a little big for her, so it worked out fine. But they didn't know where she would be placed, and they had some other problems. Her height, for one was a big issue. She looked like a five year old, not a 16 year old, and David was worried she'd get picked on. He had to remind himself she had escaped from prison, after being the most feared prisoner. Another problem was her knee. She couldn't walk around with a cane all day, but David figured Les might be able to convince her to use a crutch. The ear wasn't really a problem, the part about the streetcar, she didn't have to change that, it would explain both her knee and her ear, so it worked. But then there was the big issue in the fact that she didn't have a name. She was Bones, and that was the only name she had ever known. Of course they could come up with a fake name for her, but if she accidentally called herself Bones, or accidentally introduced herself as Bones, she could mess all of their work up, or worse, the reason she was there in the first place, could find her, and then where would they be?
They figured out how to fix their problems. They helped her improve her accent, which really just went back to her old accent, from before she came to New York, which they were surprised to find it was very southern, they cut her hair, which Bones was pretty choked up over, and they found her a crutch, Les somehow convincing her to use it. They couldn't do too much about her features, but if they rubbed enough dirt on it, you'd have to stand pretty close to be able to tell she was a girl. She even drilled herself to remember her new name was Peter, not Bones. She still didn't know what grade she would be put in, but Les tried convincing David she should be in his grade, to which David said it might be too easy for her. Les was sad for about an hour, but he kind of forgot about it. She was really smart, the only thing holding her back was the reading, but if she kept working on it, she would be way above all of them in reading level. Considering how many setbacks she had, learning to read in two months was really good. Especially since Les, Sarah and David had all taken at least 3 months to learn when they were toddlers. And now she was almost able to read David's books.
They found out she could be administered a test by the school, and if she passed it, they would put her in David's grade, and if she didn't, she would be put in a grade that best reflected her score. When the day came for the test, she wasn't worried. She knew she had done well learning all the stuff she needed to know, and she was really proud of herself. By the time the results came in, Bones was extremely anxious. It had been much longer than they expected, and considering how it was December, they decided for her to start when school started back in January. When they got the results, they were surprised. Not only had she passed, she scored a perfect score. It had never been done before. It was a pleasant surprise for all of them. And honestly, David wouldn't put it past her to cheat. But he also knew she was a very proud person, and that would be really low for her.
"Did you cheat?" he asked her one night, the night before she started school, when everyone else was asleep. She was taken aback; how could he even think that? "No, why would I do that?" David was glad she said no, but it still just wasn't fair. How did she get a perfect score? She looked him up and down. "You're jealous. Hah! Wow, David Jacobs is jealous of a girl he met six months ago. Not only that, I learned to read in two months, quicker than you." She smirked at him. He was annoyed. "I am not jealous. It just doesn't seem right." She raised her eyebrows. "What, that I'm smarter than you? Get used to it, buddy." She said it right into his ear. He moved his head to look her in the eye, and their faces were so close, their noses were touching. He saw her expression change. He wasn't quite sure what it had been, but it reminded him of how she looked at Race, or how Sarah looked at Jack. No, he was crazy. Or was he? She said he looked just like her friend, his brother, and they had been a couple. But he wasn't prepared for what happened next.
Before Bones could stop herself, her lips were on David's. She didn't even think about it until later, but he kissed her back. Somehow, she ended up on his lap, kissing him, until they tore apart, and rested their heads together. Luckily, everyone else was asleep, and she couldn't believe she had done that. She just cheated on Race. Or did she? She hadn't seen him in three months, for all she knew, he had already moved on past her. But she had given him her ring, and she started to feel sick. She pushed herself off of David, and looked terrified, but not of him, of herself. He was frozen, just staring at her, not completely sure what had just happened. He knew she wasn't scared of him, but he couldn't help but feel bad. Surely, she hadn't meant to do that, she loved Race, anyone could see that, but would he love her back if she told him that she kissed David? She didn't have to tell, but David knew she couldn't lie to Race, and he would feel terrible if Race just left her. He wanted to comfort her, but she wasn't sure it was a great idea at the moment. But he couldn't lie to himself, her lips felt good on his. They were like a highly addictive drug, you get a taste and you want more. He couldn't help but imagine what it must feel like to wake up and kiss them everyday. He had to force himself not to get up and kiss her again. He had never felt that before, and he wondered if it was always like that, or if she just had enough experience. And this time, he couldn't stop himself, he wanted more, he wanted to taste her lips again, to feel them on his. He stood up, and he kissed her again. He picked her up, and sat her down on his lap, in the chair again. They didn't pull away for another few minutes, but when they did, David looked into her eyes. He couldn't tell what it was he saw in them, but he loved them. He could see why Race loved her so much, and he didn't care if Race hated him for the rest of his life, but he couldn't get enough. But before anything else happened, they heard a rustling coming from one of the beds, and they both quickly stood up.
It turned out the rustling had been Les flipping to his other side, but it killed the moment. And they had to get sleep anyway, Bones was starting school in the morning. She had to be rested enough.
She couldn't look David in the eyes. She hated him. She loved Race. But most of all, she abhorred herself. She was such a whore, kissing someone she'd only known for a few months, while she was with someone else, because what? Because he looked like someone she used to love? The next morning, she kept avoiding his eye contact, and she would hardly say two words to him. She just wanted to take it back, Race would never forgive her. She never meant to, it just happened. But she just got ready, and went to school.
It was interesting. She didn't know how many friends David had until she met all of them, being introduced as a friend of his that he had met when he had been a newsie. They were all confused because she was so short, and some of them didn't believe she was a boy, but it worked out fine. And every time in class the teacher would ask a question, she'd be the first to raise their hand. By the end of the day, she had made plenty of friends, but she wasn't sure they really wanted to be her friends, and she missed the Newsies. She would much rather be a newsie than have all these school friends.
That evening, David, Les, and Sarah were going to Tibby's to hang out with the other newsies because they hadn't really seen them too much since Bones' "death." She couldn't let the Newsies know she was okay, some of them could not keep gossip to themselves. She was still sort of avoiding David, but she tried to be less awkward around him. When they got there, Bones felt like she'd never left. They were still rowdy and loud, except for Race, he seemed upset. The first thing Bones noticed was the chain around his neck with her ring on it. She was glad to see he kept it. Once again, David introduced Bones as Peter, but they had decided to say he was a mute, in case they did recognize her voice. It was so hard for Bones not to talk, she wasn't used to it. She usually was used to being able to say whatever, but not saying anything was a new challenge. But she learned the hard way how to practice being quiet for school, when she was talking in class. In her defense, she had to tell David something really important, and the teacher shouldn't have sat them next to each other.
She walked over to Race after having "met" all of the newsies, and he recognized her immediately. She saw his face light up as soon as he laid eyes on her. No one had seen, luckily, as he had officially become the "glum" one, overtaking Skittery for that position. He excused himself outside, and she waited a few minutes before she did the same. They went into an alleyway so they wouldn't be seen. "Bones, I thought you was dead, I was sca-ed." She smiled, he had changed in the last three months. He was taller, about three inches, but he was also skinnier, as if he hadn't been eating. "Race, have you been eating?" He looked her up and down. "Ya're so diff-rent. Ya're accent's gone, an' ya cut ya're hair. Bu' you don' look like you've been eatin'." She looked at him. He had just completely avoided her question. "Race, answer me, have you been eating?" He bit his lip, and Bones was becoming even more angry. Tears started welling in both of their eyes. "I've tried, bu' it's hard wit-out ya, Bones. An' I don' think you've been eatin' eidah." How could she ever have messed up? Looking at his face again, she was so angry with herself. And he noticed. "Bones, wha's wrong?" He hugged her, and rubbed her back. She nearly started crying. "Ya're gonna hate me." He was terrified. Why would she ever think that? But he couldn't get any words out. "I accidentally cheated on you, Race. I didn't mean to, it was just, kinda caught up in the moment. I'm so sorry." She pulled away from him, thinking he wouldn't want to touch her. But it was quite the opposite, really. He pulled her into a tight hug. He knew she was mad enough at herself, and he couldn't bring himself to be mad at her. She had apologized, hadn't she? And she said she didn't mean it. "I'd nevah hate you, Bones. Nevah in a hundre' mil-yon years," he whispered in her ear. She looked up at him and laughed. He quoted her, from over four years ago. She was so glad he wasn't mad, and she wished she could see him more often. "Tony, promise me you'll come see me more often," she said in his ear. He smiled, and whispered to her, "will do, Peter." They both laughed, and they kissed for the first time in what had seemed like forever.