(Disclaimer: I wish I did, but I do not own Newsies. I do however own the following, as they are works of my creation: Heloise, Veronique, Pierre, Claude and Anna-Olivia, Jean-Luc, Daniel Pratt and family, Andrew Johnson and family, Marisa O'Neill and family, and Nicolette Andressen and family.)
Heloise held her face in her hands. Her and Veronique had been going through this newspaper article for a half an hour now, and each time, Veronique would stumble at the sentence "The victim was being held hostage on gunpoint.".Heloise suddenly burst from her quietness of focusing on what Veronique was trying to read.
"Veronique, eet's zee veectim was being 'eld 'ostage on gunpoint." stressed Heloise, folding up the newspaper. Finally, she no longer had to listen to her eight year old read the entire artice and start over when she got to that one sentence. She followed Veronique and picked up her diary, sitting herself beside her twin brother Pierre.
If Heloise cut her hair, lost her freckles, and shrunk an inch, she and Pierre would be identical. Not that they don't look alike. Pierre was born 14 minutes before Heloise and boy, does he take that for granted. You'd think for sixteen years old, they'd be mature young adults. That's a partial lie. They argued over the tiniest things whether it was who played the wrong key during a piano duet, or broke the picture frame.
Then it happened. So fast. Shouting, screaming. There was no moment to think, no moments to prepare.
"Anna, take the kids! Leave here!" shouted Claude DeLaroux, Heloise's father, in some sorts of French. There was not a moment to register what he was saying, or what was happening, it was all blurry, Pierre was forcefully dragging Heloise up the stairs. They packed lightly, and Anna-Olivia was out the door with eight year old Veronique at her hip.
"There is a train coming to take the prisoner's families to New York City." Marguette Andressen said, her bags packed and her family at her side. The Andressen's oldest girl, Nicolette, was Heloise's best friend. Suddenly, more families appeared. The O'Neill, the Johnson's, and the Pratt's all were going towards the train station.
For the first time, Heloise understood a word. Prisoner, that was the word her brain could register. Her father is now a prisoner because of the stupid rebellion paper that he signed. Great, thought Heloise, that's just great. Heloise kept up with her family, along with her best friends. Nicolette was holding her baby brother in her arms and was not close behind.
"We stick together!" called Daniel Pratt to Heloise, Marisa O'Neil, Andrew Johnson, and Nicolette Andressen. They agreed. They were all going to the same place, they were going to stick together. Suddenly, Heloise felt someone grab her hand. It was Andrew. The boy had an obvious crush on Heloise for Lord knows how long.
They arrived at the station. There was 15 minutes left before the train departed. Heloise took in her surroundings. The cool air. The trees and buildings. It was too much for her. She collapsed in Andrew's arms. This was the last time she'd see Canada for a while. Or possibly forever.
"I do not want to go, Andrew." she hugged him tightly. Just the thought of leaving behind her country, her home, hurt Heloise so. Andrew was so struck that Heloise has her arms around him, that he just about forgot to answer her.
"Don't worry, Lou, we'll be alright. We'll stick together, I promise." He wrapped his arms around her. He couldn't believe how close the two were. Closer than ever before. Pierre gave Andrew a glare, then escorted the sniffling girl inside the train car.
Heloise pressed her face against the window, watching the darkness from her bed. She was going to a new home now. Suddenly, she fell into a deep sleep.
The train halted to a stop, nearly throwing Heloise from her bunk. They had arrived in New York. Grand Central Station, to be exact. Heloise grabbed her bag. She seemed to be the only one off of her bunk. Her mother was soundly sleeping in her bunk, Veronique was tossing and turning in hers. Must have been a bad dream. And in the bunk above Heloise, Pierre was snoring lightly under his covers. How could they have not felt the train stop? Then again, Heloise was light for her age. She can be battered around a bit. It was no doubt she was.
The city was so much bigger than Toronto. That was not going to be a problem for Heloise, she's used to big cities. Once they got out of the train station, they took a good look of where they were living now. Some rich man bought an entire apartment building for the prisoners families. The first two months were going to be free, as majority of the families had little to no American money. The DeLaroux's only had about 60 dollars.
"Here, take your brother, and go explore. Be back by four o'clock." Anna-Olivia said to Heloise in French, handing her five one-dollar bills. Heloise and Pierre set off to explore their new home.