Woodside//Newsies

Chapter 3

Something was stifling my breath. I squirmed, still partly asleep. Why couldn't I breathe? I moved slightly. Whatever was blocking my breath had pressed harder. Wake up. WAKE UP!

My eyes flew open and I shot upwards, nearly hitting my head on the bunk above me. All around me boys were waking up. I jumped out of bed and punched the boy who had had his hands over my mouth, trying to cut off my air. He fell to the floor.

"Get up!" I shouted. "Everybody. Wake up!" Boys from Queens were sitting up and running around, trying to get a grasp of the situation.

Judging from what I could hear, there were boys downstairs going after Manhattan as well. The guy I had punched had fallen to the floor. Quickly, I stomped on his face, probably breaking his nose, and suddenly glad I was too tired to take off even my shoes last night.

I quickly checked my hat to make sure my hair wasn't coming out. I stepped over the groaning body of the boy I had just punched and rushed over to Blue, who was being grabbed by a boy twice his size. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked it back, pulling him off of Blue. Blue kicked him in the stomach and I spun him around and punched him in the face.

"Pick on someone your own size." I hissed. I stomped on his foot, hard.

"How'd they get in?" Blue asked. "I thought you locked all the doors and windows."

I nodded. "I did. Which means...." It couldn't be Lion. Not Lion. Anyone but Lion. I quickly climbed on top of the bunk bed and scanned the room. There he was in the corner, beating up Clothespin. I jumped off of the bed, and slipped through the crowd, tripping people.

I made it over to Lion and blocked the punch he threw my way. I grabbed his collar. "You're a traitor."

"Bronx kept me safe in the refuge. What did Queens do?" He threw a punch at my jaw.

I ducked and swung an uppercut towards his mouth, he grabbed my wrist and pulled my arm, tripping me. "I sat in that refuge, starving, freezing. What did you do? You left me there."

"You're not the only one who counts. There were thirty boys in Queens who were starving as well. I chose the well being of the group before the well being of one. It was the dead of Winter. I couldn't risk anyone's lives." I wrenched my arm out of his grasp, ignoring the bolt of pain up my shoulder.

Lion punched me, nailing me in the eye. That was going to leave quite a shiner. I fell down, and used my legs, tripping him and causing him to fall. I jumped up and went to punch him again, but froze when a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the room.

I wasn't the only one who had stopped. In fact, the whole room had frozen. I turned slowly on my heel, not sure what I was going to see.

Ladders laid on the floor, blood coming out of a wound next to his heart. He coughed and blood sprayed out of his mouth. He squirmed on the floor. The boy, the one I had punched back in Manhattan, was standing over him, a sick gleam in his eye. In his hand, dripping with blood, was a knife.

I stepped slowly towards Ladders. It was silent all around me, so silent you could hear a pin drop. I leaned over Ladders, crouching down and pressing my fingers to his neck, then to his wrist.

"He's dead." I whispered. "You killed him." I glanced up at the you. "You killed him."

He smirked. "He's better off dead."

I stood up and punched him. He stumbled backwards. I punched him again. "Maybe it's your turn to die." I shouted, feeling rage course through me. I kicked him back.

"Crown. Stop." Clothespin shouted in the background. I didn't stop. I was seeing red. I punched him again, grabbing his knife and throwing it to the ground. He had just killed Ladders, my best friend, since day one. Since the day I walked into the lodging house for the first time.