The Story of a News Girl

Locked Secrets

August 1894

There was an odd pounding in her head. Her body ached. She could barely feel anything. Feister slowly opened her eyes, and through her blurry vision, she could make out the bunkroom. Well, at least she was safe with her boys. But the bigger question was, why did everything hurt so much? Feister opened up her eyes more before slowly sitting herself up. To say the least she started to feel more pain than before. Seriously, what was the reason she felt like she got hit with a ton of bricks? The more Feister tried to remember, the more it hurt her head.

"Woah, take it easy 'Hattan," an unfamiliar voice said. Or maybe it was familiar. Feister didn't know, all she knew was that her head was pounding like a drum. "You'se took a real good beatin' when we's found ya."

"Good?" Feister groaned as she turned her head to face where the voce was coming from. Through her blurry vision did she see a head full of blonde hair. "More like so bad that it makes the headlines look good....Racer? Wait...nah yer Finch. Or possibly...no, no, yer definitely Race," she added half heartedly.

"An' you'se must've hit yer head harder than ya thought," the boy chuckled.

Feister was confused by this statement. She then rubbed her eyes to try and get a better look at who she was talking too. After a few moments, Feister saw the boy in question was wearing a red shirt. Odd. No one in Manhattan ever wore that color. Unless you count the messy red mop of hair Albert has, of course. With that being said, it didn't take very long for Feister to put two and two together. "Snaps?"

"Nice ta see ya again," Snaps replied. Before Feister could ask anything, Snaps said, "We's found ya knocked out not too far from the bridge last night. So, we's brough you'se back here. Clean up wasn't easy. By the looks of it, ya got soaked pretty good."

Feister paused for a moment as she processed everything. So, she got soaked by some bummer and ended up in Brooklyn. But that still didn't answer the question on why she was in Brooklyn to begin with! She hadn't gone with Race to Sheepshead. Maybe she was running from the bulls. That was the only logical explanation for it. "Well, thanks for helpin' me out but I's gotta get back ta 'Hattan," Feister replied as she pulled herself out of bed. She stumbled while standing up, but she regained her balance. After that, her eyes scanned the room for her boots, vest, and apparently cap.

"Are ya mad?!" Snaps yelled. "You'se just woke up! No way in hell you'se goin' anywhere!"

"Ha!" Feister laughed. "Watch me," she replied while grabbing her things and went to walk out of the bunk room...only to be stopped by Blaze, who looked down at the younger girl.

"Good ta see you'se got yer strength back. But there's no way yer leavin' in this weather. It's rainin' cats an' dogs out there. Meanin' if the boys can't sell, you'se can't get back ta 'Hattan. Sides, even if it wasn't rainin' I's still wouldn't let ya go with all those injuries. Wolf would kill me if I's let ya. Yer stayin' here until further notice," the Brooklyn leader stated in a firm voice just as the rest of the newsies entered the bunk room. All wearing their famous red shirts and soaking wet from the rain. Some of them walked past her without a second glance, while the others (mostly the younger boys) said hello with a wide smile, or asked how long she would be staying. Feister would respond with a short answer before lugging her way back to the bunk she had woken up in.

As she laid there, Feister had to wonder what her boys were up too. If she had to guess, they were all worrying their caps off while Wolf was yelling about how she's dead when she got back. But then she wondered how she ended up in Brooklyn. Sadly for Feister her memory was all fuzzy. So after awhile she stopped thinking about that and decided to walk around the Lodge a bit. It was better than just laying in bed doing nothing. So she got up and roamed the hallways. The Brooklyn Lodging House was so different compared to the Manhattan one. Instead of the bunkroom level being all open there were actually separate rooms. Of course the largest rooms were where the boys slept. But the bathroom was just a little ways up the hall. A few doors that lead to closets, and smaller bedrooms were here and there. A couple of windows that looked out into the streets of the city of Brooklyn.