Chapter 1
Awakening
Disclaimer: I (sadly) do not own Newsies, except for the ones that I created. Anyway, this is the edited version of the first chapter. Enjoy! (Sorry I'll try to put in Newsie slang but it might not be very good. Review please!!)
Noise. It was muffled and indescribable but there was noise. Her eyes fluttered open showing her a strange sight. She was lying on a rooftop, the December cold wrapping around her. Snow was fluttering down with a beauty and grace that could make the most talented dancer jealous. She couldn't feel them. Not the snow, the cold, or the breeze that ruffled her hair. The girl listened at the noises she heard in the distant. Carriages, talking, laughter, sirens, and breaking bottles. She slowly pushed herself up, her knees wobbling underneath her. She looked around and saw fire escapes along the side. She gingerly lowered herself down and looked into the glass on a dark window. The girl gasped at the sight. Her fingers stretched out to the window but retreated quickly.
"Who is that?" She wondered as the window girl looked back at her. She slowly looked at herself realizing that that person was her. She was dressed in a long dull red coat over a long white dress. Both were tattered and torn. A black silk ribbon streamed off her neck. Her face was cut up; long strings of cuts, the blood frozen to her skin. She idly turned her face revealing an ear with the tip chewed off. It wasn't that old and it was only the tip that was gone but it was strange seeing it gone. She shook her head and continued down. Her feet touched the ground. She gasped, doubling over as the wave of pain crashed down on her. She was unbelievably frigid, torn up, sore, and there was a weight in her pocket. With a shaking hand, she rummaged through her pocket with a shaking hand and pulled out two items. One was a picture. She could tell it was recent. It showed her clinging happily to a boy. He looked at her in a loving manner. They looked as if they hadn't a care in the world. She flipped it over.
Adelaide
Specially made for you and your man
"Adelaide? Is that my name?" Adelaide flipped the picture over several times, unsure of what to do. She studied the man that stood beside her. He looked maybe a year or two older than her. He had dark wavy hair and dark eyes. She looked at the heavier object she clutched in her other hand. It was a silver necklace, it's pendant a heart shaped locket. There were intricate swirls and carvings along the front and back. She opened it revealing smooth silver. Adelaide put the necklace and picture back in her pocket. She blindly felt her back and pulled up a hood. The night sky loomed over her, the stars winking at her. Her eyelids suddenly felt heavy. She knew that she needed a warmer place to stay then outside. Adelaide looked around thinking about the best place to go. Something caught her eye. A faint glowing blue light surrounded a door across the street. She cocked her head and cautiously approached the door, pain sizzling through her. The light had vanished. Adelaide turned the knob, but the door wouldn't open. She walked around the building and climbed up a fire escape. She carefully opened a window and slipped inside. She gasped as an arm latched itself around her neck.
"It's terrible manners to sneak into a stranger's window." A boy's voice whispered into her ear, his tone calm and even.
"Gak-I didn't want to wake anyone up." Adelaide gurgled.
"You're…a girl?" The boy asked.
With her windpipe nearly cut off, Adelaide struggled to nod. She was released immediately. She gasped and wheezed, falling to her knees.
"I'm terribly sorry." The voice wasn't as harsh but was still cold.
"It's ok… you… had a reason to do that." Adelaide panted. She looked up trying to make out the figure. The gloom had consumed the person so she could only see his outline.
"You need a place to stay?" He asked.
"Y-yes." She listened to her voice. It was like listening to someone else speak while her lips were moving. It sounded hoarse, like it hadn't been used in a while. She heard him make a sound that seemed like a mix between disappointed sigh and a scoff.
"Fine. Just rummage around and you should find a bed." The voice explained as he slopped back onto his bed.
"Thank you."
"Yeah, yeah." He rolled away from her and back into sleep. She headed in the opposite direction unsure or what to make of him.
"Oof!" Adelaide ran into a bedpost. She could hear a grunt from nearby. She waited until she could hear regular snoring again before moving. Adelaide carefully crawled into the bed and instantly fell asleep.
(Change)
"AAAH!" The Newsies rushed over to see David screaming.
"What happened?" Jack asked a stern look on his face.
"Th-there's a girl in my bed!" David stuttered pointing to the bundle.
"Way to go David!" Bumlet's slapped David's shoulder.
"Not that kind of girl! Would I been freaking out if she was that kind of girl?" David snapped.
"Oh, her. God I wished that was a dream." Spot grumbled as he looked at the bundle of blankets.
"You know her?" Jack asked.
"No. She came in through the window last night. Needed a place to stay." Spot shrugged.
"Suddenly a fluffy bunny. Nope I'll never understand him. Ha ha ha-ouch!" Spot chuckled as Mush rubbed his shoulder.
"What's going on!" The girl Newsies rushed up the stairs.
"You heard that?" Jack asked surprised.
"But you were in the connected house." David said stunned.
"Yeah, it was so nice to be woken up by your girly screeching David." Ember snapped.
"It wasn't-"
"What happened?" Lieutenant butted in.
"There's a stranger in David's bed." Race answered.
"Now, David! I never expected this from you!" Lieutenant shoved her hands on her hips.
"It's nothing of that kind of thing! I just woke up and she was there!" David shouted.
Lieutenant scowled but walked over and tore the blankets off the bed. The girl curled herself up tighter and put her arms on her head to protect herself from the cold. Lieutenant stiffened when she saw blood on the sheets.
"Get me some bandages, water basin… and an unopened bottle of alcohol." Lieutenant ordered. She gingerly turned the girl on her back. "You boys have to leave."
They yelled and whined in protest.
"This is a ladies job!" Ember hissed carrying an empty water basin downstairs, shoving the boys ahead of her.
"What's wrong with her?" Seven-year-old Star asked handing the bottle of liquor to Lieutenant.
"She was hurt badly, that's all. Why don't you go downstairs and play with Max." Star left in wonderment.
"God what did this girl do?" Ember pulled off the red over coat.
"I don't know." Lieutenant quickly began working on the wounds.
"Oh my God." Ember whispered.
"What?" Lieutenant didn't look up.
"Her-her-" Ember gulped. Lieutenant gasped when she saw the girls left ear. She hurriedly cleaned it and bandaged it up as well as she could.
"I'm so sorry I didn't come earlier!" Dawn gasped. Dawn was horrified at the scene. "What happened to her? Wait… who is that?" She asked.
"We don't know." Ember answered hastily.
The girls took off the dress only to find deeper wounds.
"This is awful." Dawn whispered.
"I know. Please God, let her wake up!" Ember pleaded looking at the sky.
"She must be very tired not to have woken up yet." Lieutenant muttered.
Downstairs the boys waited watching Star play with Max, the dog, throwing the ball for him. The room was quiet, barely a few mutterings on one another's thoughts. Time passed and they grew more and more impatient. Finally, the girls came downstairs. The boys stood up quickly.
"She's alright." Lieutenant answered.
"She just needs to sleep." Dawn added.
"I just hope she wakes up soon to tell us who she is." Ember mumbled.
"Agreed." Jack slumped back down in his chair. The other Newsies followed suit.
"We shouldn't neglect our duties though." Race smothered his cigar.
They nodded.
"It would keep the place quiet for her." Lieutenant muttered thoughtfully.
So the Newsies hesitantly left.
(Change)
Her eyes slowly fluttered open.
"Where am I?" Adelaide then remembered the night's events. She sat up, the covers sliding down into her lap. She realized that her clothes were beside her instead of on her.
"How-" She shook her head and dressed. Adelaide gazed around the room drinking in the sight. She noticed the blood on the bed and stripped it of the sheets. Adelaide folded them neatly in a stack. Slowly she walked to the door and down the stairs. It was empty. She remembered hearing voices but thought it was just a part of her dream. Adelaide thought but couldn't remember what she had dreamed.
Suddenly the door flew open, and people began to flood in. Once their eyes found her they fell silent. There they stared at each other, not knowing what to do.
"Hi!" A little blonde girl bounced up to Adelaide. She noticed how the girl's eyes sparkled a midnight blue.
"Hello." Adelaide still found her voice strange, like it should've come out differently, or even not at all.
"My name is Star!" Star beamed proudly.
"I'm... Adelaide."
"These are my brothers and sisters." Star pointed to the crowd in the doorway.
"That's one large family." Adelaide said.
"Well, they're not my real brother's and sisters. I wish they were, though."
They stayed still almost not daring to breathe.
"I won't bite." Adelaide smiled slightly. Slowly they walked in.
"They're just shocked at how beat up you are." Star shrugged.
"Star!" A girl with light brown hair and a stubborn chin scolded.
"No, it's ok. I understand. Er… well, I'm sorry about my sudden-visit. I'll go so as not to intrude on your affairs." Adelaide took a step to the door.
"What happened to you?" A boy with a straw cowboy hat asked.
"I…" Her voice trailed off, unsure of what to say.
"It's ok if you don't want to tell us." A red headed girl, said.
"Yeah, but you should remember we did bandage her up." A girl with jet-black hair and lively pale blue eyes pointed out.
"And you let me stay the night." Adelaide murmured. "I've caused enough trouble for you as it is, I don't want to be a complete bother, so I'll go." Adelaide quietly left. She stopped as she looked at the scene of bustling people. She had no where to go. It seemed as if her legs started walking on their own. She stopped again at the corner.
"You don't have a home, do you?" The man who she talked with the night before stood behind her casually leaning against a wall.
"It's an… odd story." Adelaide answered.
He sighed.
"We'll go back to the Lodging House and discuss this with the Newsies." He grabbed her by the elbow and began leading her back.
"Newsies?"
"You don't know about the Newsies?"
Adelaide shook her head.
"Have you heard about the strike?"
Again, she shook her head.
"Where were you, under a rock?"
"Now, now Spot. You know better than I do that that's no way to talk to a lady." The cowboy grinned in a mockingly way.
"Jack, she's needs a place to live." Spot practically tossed her over to Jack.
"Ok. C'mon. You're not coming Spot?"
"I was going to leave, but I can only stay a little while longer. Just to make sure I have everything." They walked inside. It was loud but comfortable. People were laughing and playing cards, little kids were chasing a dog… it was warm.
"Everyone listen up!" Jack jumped on a table. "Adelaide needs to stay here so welcome her with open arms!"
"What a way for news to spread." Adelaide muttered, raising her brows.
"What?" A boy with a mushroom haircut cocked his head.
"I-ahem- don't have a home." Adelaide shrugged.
"Why not?" The black haired girl asked. Adelaide paused.
"What? Is it 'too long' to be told to us?" The man with the patch grinned.
"Well, no. It's very short actually. It's just-uh… it's a… very strange story." Adelaide answered.
The Newsies sat down in chairs waiting for a story.
"It um… might freak you out."
The crowd scooted their chairs further towards her curiosity growing on their faces.
"Uh…"
"Don't worry. As Newsies, we enjoy strange news." Jack smiled that was as sweet as a sugar coated candy cane.
"It's just…" Adelaide bit her lip. Would the truth be too strange for them?
"Just tell us and get it over with." Spot shrugged.
Adelaide took a deep breath.
"O-okay. Last night I woke up like this in the snow. I um…" She studied the faces that watched her. "I have no memory of my life. I don't know my last name. I don't know anything about my parents or class or-anything."
Their jaws dropped.
"Wow, talk about dramatic!" The blonde boy raised his eyebrows.
"How awful!" The brown haired girl muttered.
"That must feel so weird." The red head said thoughtfully.
"How do you even know your name?" Spot folded his arms.
"Well… this was in my pocket when I woke up." Adelaide pulled out the photograph and handed it to him. He looked at it and handed it to the next person, murmuring to Jack.
"This was just in your pocket?" Spot was surprised.
"Yes." Adelaide answered.
"Who is the man?" The red head asked.
"I don't know. I don't think we're married or anything."
"How do you know?" Jack questioned.
"I just don't feel like I'm married to him."
"He's pretty." Star said bluntly. Adelaide smiled at the small girl.
"Do you even know how old you are?" A boy with glasses studied the picture.
"No."
"We'll call you 16, how does that sounds?" A boy with brown curly hair shrugged.
"That… sounds about right."
"Amazing." The group turned to stare at an Italian looking man. "Not to be rude but... I find this so... wow. I mean I'm sorry you don't remember."
"It's ok. I have no idea how to fix this though... or if there is a way." Adelaide sat down in a chair.
"By how you're sitting, I think you're a part of the higher class." Spot murmured. The group stood up and studied her and muttered their agreements.
"You can tell... by just looking at how sit?" Adelaide was in awe.
"Well, that and you talk different, more proper. Besides, being a Newsie as long as I have, you can just tell." Spot shrugged.
"What else?"
"Um..." Spot paused putting a curled index finger to his lips.
"You probably ran away from home. That's the most popular event now a days." Jack answered.
"Oh yeah, having money and food on your table is sooo terrible." Spot muttered.
"How do you know?" Adelaide puzzled.
"I just know." Spot retorted.
"Do you feel ok?" The light brown haired girl quickly changed the subject.
"Stiff but better than last night. Um... can you tell me your names, please?"
"You mean you don't want to call us all 'you'." The man with the patch chuckled. The girl with the light brown hair rolled her eyes before starting.
"I am called Lieutenant. Sometimes people will call me Ten. The red head is Dawn. You know Star. That's Ember with the black hair. That's David, his little brother Les, Jack; our leader, Bumlets, Mush, Kid Blink; but he usually goes by just Blink, Boots, Racetrack, Dutchy, Skittery, Swifty, Specs, Crutchy, and Spot. He's the Brooklyn leader, he really only visits us every now and then. The dog is Max." Lieutenant gestured to the person she called. Max cautiously came up to Adelaide and sniffed her hand. He sneezed and backed away a step. Max slowly circled her as if inspecting Adelaide. Then it sat down in front of her and put his blonde paw into her hand. It was as if he was saying "You're ok." The Newsies cheered and began passing out drinks.
"Oh you men! I cannot believe how much alcohol you drink." Lieutenant pursed her lips.
"It's our security blanket!" Jack grinned.
"I'm surprised you don't have a constant hang over!" Lieutenant snapped in a playful way.
"What's a hang over?" Star asked.
"It's when someone drinks too much wine and beer in a short amount of time. Then they have a huge headache in the morning." Ember explained.
"Oh." Everyone laughed.
"Ember!"
"What? What was I supposed to do? Lie to her?"
Adelaide sighed, enjoying the warm and happy sight. The Newsies swarmed her, all talking about their adventure of the strike. She laughed and was very relaxed around them. She liked it there, even though she couldn't get rid of the weird feeling that half of her mind had been stolen.