So, I'm a freak. I'm not even going to promise a certain number of chapters on this, because I honestly don't know how long I'll be writing this. Stupid plot bunnies bit me in the ass last night and I had to write. Next chapter will be longer and hopefully out soon. Reviews always help to keep me writing longer. Feed the addiction!
I own nothing. It's a rather sad though, is it not?
The paint was peeling off the window shutters and even the once bright, brick wall seemed dull and forgotten in the light of the overcast morning. On the door was a length of chain holding the door handles with a large lock in the center. There was no way anyone was getting in the old McGregor Building. The place that had served as Mae's home for the past few months was closed for good.
Walking up to the door anyways, Mae tugged on the lock firmly. The chain clinked together but the lock remained the same, locked tight. Mae kicked the door in frustration and glanced up towards the sky, as if looking for a sign. After a few moments of stillness, she kicked the door again and gave a loud yell while doing do.
A few early rising people watched in mild curiosity as they walked passed but moved along quickly.
Letting out a deep sigh, Mae turned away from the building and stuffed her frozen fingers into the depths of her coat. Not many people were on the streets of Manhattan that day, many staying inside the warmth of their homes. Too bad Mae didn't have one anymore.
--
It was like the apple was mocking her. Even in the dull gray of the morning, the apple still shown a bright, cheery red that just screamed eat me, eat me! It sat patiently at the top of the pile of other apples, just waiting to be snatched up by someone. Mockage seemed to be a strong skill of the apple, Mae decided.
She glanced over to where the vendor was talking intently with a woman over tomatoes and then back to the apple barrel.
Still sitting there.
Her stomach growled in hunger, reminding Mae that she hadn't eaten in almost two days. A quick look over to the side showed that the vendor was now arguing with the woman and would no doubt be preoccupied for at least a few more minutes. Just enough time to grab the apple and make a discreet run for it. If that was possible.
Eat me! Eat me!
Growl
Mae's stomach gave another loud growl and she wondered if anyone passing by her had heard it. It had been loud enough, at least.
Eat me! Eat me!
Growl
"What the hell," Mae murmured before walking over to the apple barrel.
While walking past, she reached in and plucked the appealing apple and stuffed it into her tattered coat pocket. It fell into the deepest corner of her pocket happily and Mae's stomach ceased in its own complaints. Mae let out a sigh.
Peace.
Pausing for a second, waiting for the whistle blows that would warn every one of the police, Mae continued on casually down the block with a grin. She reached into her pocket and shined the apple with her thumb. She could almost hear the squeak as her thumb skidded across the smooth surface. Her mouth watered at the thought of food. Who cared if it was only a measly apple?
Good enough breakfast for the time being. Anything was better than nothing.
Mae almost reached the end of the block and was convinced that no one had seen her steal when Mae felt her arm wrenched back quickly. She stumbled a few steps and checked her pocket to check on the apple.
Still there.
Mae looked up to tell off the person holding her up and groaned.
So close.
"Hey, kid," the officer stated, giving her a smirk. "I do believe you have something that don't belong to you?"
Mae didn't have a chance to respond before the office dived into her coat pocket and pulled out the apple with an eye brow raised. "That would be it." He reached behind him and produced a pair of hand cuffs, which the officer proceeded to clap onto Mae's wrists.
Just spiffy.
She turned around to watch the officer hand the stolen apple back to vendor with an apology. The man took the apple and Mae's stomach growled again as she watched the vendor shake his head and toss the apple out into the street.
--
The refuge came into view as the carriage bumped through the streets of New York noisily. Mae watched through the bars as people stopped to stare at the latest criminal to be caught. She saw looks of pride from snooty business men, and women coaxing their children to stop staring in admiration. A few newsies stopped in their selling to search the carriage for their friends but looked away when seeing only a scrawny seventeen year old, dark haired girl.
'Don't you just feel loved?' Mae thought to herself a bit sadly. 'No one out there gives a care about whether not you come back tonight.'
The carriage gave a violent bump and Mae crashed to the floor of the trailer in a heap. She didn't bother to get up as they continued down the street, instead examining the ceiling of the wooden structure. It didn't take long for the carriage to pull to a stop and someone to open the door of the crate trailer. Mae climbed to her feet and hopped out onto the ground quickly, not wanting into trouble before she even made it into the actual refuge.
The officer who had arrested her grabbed Mae around her upper arm and walked her into the front of the building. Mae didn't pay much attention as he conversed with a man in uniform waiting behind the front desk.
"What's your name kid?" the man asked, looking up from the form he was filling out for her.
Mae hesitated before answering truthfully, "Mae Natalie Harris," she didn't see a point in lying. Either they would find her previous records, or they wouldn't. It didn't honestly matter to Mae, she wasn't breaking her parole anymore by getting arrested.
The man nodded and had Mae answer a few more questions before waving her and the officer through and down the hall. Mae noticed that the refuge was much like Chicago's 'Children's Refinement Institute'. Although it seemed that there weren't very many guards on duty at the moment, or that possibly they didn't even have any. Mae made a note to find out from one of the other kid's about security.
It never hurt to be prepared.
The officer stopped Mae in front of a door with a small rectangular window and turned her around to take off the hand cuffs. She rubbed the slightly red skin to get the blood flowing again and waited for the officer to allow her into her new "suite".
"You know the rules," he stated, obviously assuming her as a second time offender. "Any fights break out and you're into solitary."
Mae gave a small grin and clicked her heels into attention. "Sir, yes, sir!" she yelled, saluting the annoyed officer.
"Get your butt in there," he growled, pushing her into the open room with a hard shove.
"No need to be rude, Sarg!" Mae protested and turned around to face the officer. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to be polite to the ladies?"
The officer gave out a bark of laughter. "When you see one, let me know." He sneered at her before his face turned smug, thinking himself smart for his comeback.
"Lame," she said with a wave of her gloved hand, mocking the already annoyed man further.
He didn't bother to respond and simply spun on his heel and strode from the room, ignoring both Mae and all of the other children in the room.
"Nice people here," Mae muttered, brushing off her coat and throwing the officer a frown just before he shut the door in her face. "Should've stayed in Chicago, girl."
Mae turned away from the door with a shake of her head and was surprised to see a fraction of the kids looking at her oddly. It took her only a few moments to realize that she seemed to be the only girl in the large group of maybe three dozen boys.
Great.
"Eh. Hey?" Mae gave a slight wave to the watching boys. Most turned away from her after that, returning back to their previous conversations, not seeming to care about the new girl who had stumbled into their room.
One boy though stood up from the back of the room and made his way over to where Mae had sat herself on the ground, exactly where the officer had left her. The boy noticed that the girl was talking to herself, something about bad manners and mocking apples. She didn't seem to be aware of the older boy standing directly before her, so he kicked her gently on the toe of her boot.
Mae looked up from her ponderings to stare directly into one of the only bare light bulbs in the room and winced.
Pleasant.
She blocked out the light and found a tall, dark brown haired boy staring down at her with an amused expression on his face.
"Hi," Mae stated. She clambered to her feet and held out a hand to the boy politely.
He stared at it for a minute before putting his hand in hers and shaking it briefly. "Jack Kelly," he said, not unkindly. "And you would be?"
"Mae," she answered, not feeling the need to elaborate any further with a complete stranger, no matter how nice he seemed. "I'm new."
"Ya don't say?" another voice said with a laugh as a boy appeared from behind the 'Jack' boy. "I'm Racetrack Higgins. Nice to meet ya," the shorter boy held out his hand to her and Mae didn't hesitate to take it. The name threw her off a bit, but otherwise the boy didn't seem like a complete jerk.
"Racetrack?" she inquired curiously.
Jack gave a laugh and Racetrack threw him a grin before looking back to Mae, "I like my horses," he explained.
"He likes the money his horses make for him," Jack clarified, still laughing softly.
Mae nodded in understanding but didn't say anything further. At least Racetrack seemed to have a way to make money, which was more than Mae could say for herself. To say it simply, this wasn't the first time she'd ever been arrested for stealing. Sometimes, you had to make choices, do the right thing, or starve to death. The choice had always been easy for Mae.
She was brought out of her thoughts by the looks the two boys were giving her. "What?"
Racetrack shook his head, "Just trying to guess what you're in here for, is all."
"Stole a talking apple," Mae supplied easily. She laughed at the two boys when they looked confused. "Long story," she said with another laugh.
Jack shook his head as a grin started spreading across his face, "You're an odd one, Mae," he said, slinging his arm over her shoulder and steered her over to where a group of boys were playing what looked like poker. "But I think you'll do just fine."