Anthony's POV
"Okay, Ise gonna ask this again. WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?"
I glare ferociously into the eyes of the boy I had trusted for years, shaking him violently. According to him, he saw Mellie just 8 hours ago. According to Spot she wasn't in her bunk this morning. And according to the little voice inside me that always submits worst case scenarios, she is kidnapped, probably bleeding, and 2 blinks from death.
We have searched all of Brooklyn and Low Manhattan, and currently me, Crutchie and Specs are headed to Midtown. My current questioning is a bit of a detour.
Specs pulls me off of Crutchie, a whimper interrupting his weeping as he slumps to the ground. "Look man, killing Crutchie is not going to help this situation."
As much as I hate to admit it, killing Crutchie, as much as I would like to do so, would be a powerless move. And if we did get Mellie back, she would never speak to me again.
Crutchie lives. Barely.
After haggling with Midtown's head newsie for the greater part of 10 minutes he agrees to send out a couple of his boys to search the borough. We thank him and head straight to the Bronx.
This pattern continues until there are no boroughs left. We don't dare to go to the police, (a bunch of kids like us shouldn't be on the street) so I go back to trace the fastest route to the Brooklyn lounging house for the faintest clue of Millie's disappearance.
I lost her once, I can't lose her again.
That night, at an hour far past our usual time for hitting the hey, we share stories of Melody. Crutchie and Jack tell tales of the strong young woman they met in the Refuge, the boys tell differing versions of all the times she outwitted the Delancys. The stories I tell are of a little girl I used to know. One with two golden braids that swung behind her as she toddled behind my mother. The ones who's big grey eyes could get me to do whatever she wished. The one I never should never have left behind.
And I cry after each and every god damn one, because my little sister is lost.
And she might just never be found.
YOU ARE READING
Cross My Heart
FanficThis is a sequel to Promise. I highly suggest you read that book first. After finally grasping her freedom from the Refuge, Melody Higgins has been trying for a normal life, or at least as normal as being Manhattan's only resident female newsie can...
