𝚂𝙴𝙸𝚉𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙳𝙰𝚈 - 𝙽𝚎𝚠𝚜𝚒𝚎𝚜

𝚁𝚊𝚒𝚗 (𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎)

Co-Written by Mariana_M1217

Word Count: 

The next day, Crutchie woke up before the circulation bell, got dressed, tried and failed to comb through his hair with his fingers, and woke up the snoring grizzly bear sleeping next to him. I mean Jack.

The two of them headed to the circulation gate early to talk and stuff before the Delanceys showed up. Crutchie told Jack what had happened yesterday with his papers, and Jack suggested that he could beat up the Delanceys for him."I'll need your crutch, of course," he reasoned, pointing to the crutch leaning against the gates next to where Crutchie was sitting. "I need some sorta weapon to beat da heck outta those jerkfaces."

Crutchie laughed, imagining Jack whaling on the Delanceys with his crutch. It sure would be a dream come true, but he knew Jack couldn't do it. If a fight broke out, especially one where two 'higher-ranking officials' got hurt, the police would be called, and Jack would be thrown back into the Refuge. Crutchie shuddered at the thought of his best friend in that... place.

"Yeah, yeah, sure Jack." Crutchie smiled jokingly. "Can you tie my shoelaces, please? I don't wanna struggle today."

"What'd I tell you, Crutchie? Ya gotta learn ta tie your own shoes."

"Why should I when I've got you to do it for me?"

Jack sighed, but smiled and tied Crutchie's shoes anyways.

The rest of the newsies started to arrive, and the headline was put up. "Russel Family killed in carriage crash with crazed horse"Most of the newsies cheered; it was a really good headline and sure to sell papers, but Crutchie's heart sank. Russell was Sadie's last name. He hadn't seen her for a few days. Something wasn't right.

Crutchie quickly got out of the line for newspapers and limped off down the street, going twice as fast as his normal pace, using his crutch like a spring to propel him down the street. He hurried to the location the crash was sighted and immediately saw the scorched and scraped cobblestone. The wreckage had been removed, but it was still evident that something bad had happened there. He looked quickly around and saw that a boarded-up shop window appeared to be a little off. He knocked on the door, no answer. He tried to knock on the window, but his fist went right through the brown paper and didn't connect to where there should be glass just on the other side.

Crutchie pulled back the brown paper and quickly stepped over the wooden barrier at the bottom, hopping in place to regain his balance as he brought his crutch over. He looked around the dim shop and saw what looked like a silky green rock in the corner, all sharp corners and hard zippers. He poked it. It was a stiff green dress that looked like the original wearer had despised it greatly, leaving it in a heap on the floor.

Further inside, Crutchie saw Sadie's trademark dark green canvas bag, and let out a startled noise. He'd hoped she was here, but never really believed that she was. "Sadie!" Crutchie called out.

"Go away. I'm sleeping." A drowsy voice called from a lump in the corner. It was covered in a thick blue-grey packing blanket.

"It's Crutchie! I was lookin' for ya."

"Come back later when I can actually process what you're saying."

Crutchie prodded the lump with his bad foot, "Come on, Sadie. I know what happened. You can't stay here, those social worker peoples will find ya."

"I don't have anywhere to stay. My parents are gone." She said the last word in a whisper, her voice breaking slightly.

"Look, you can come with me to the lodging house. If you don't like it, you can come back here."