I do not own any of the Newsie characters *wipes tears away* in this story except Liz.

And this is my first fanfic so yeah that probably will explain a lot! R&R Thanks!

Her Voice

Two strangers:

The year was 1900. The night was cold, the wind blowing lightly throughout the city. People hurried by from their work places to their warm, cozy homes. Some walked slowly, not caring about the bitter cold, because they were simply used to it. Among these walking people were a girl of seventeen and a boy of just about the same age. The two didn't know each other and just happened to be walking in the freezing cities, to two totally separate destinations. Not much about these two was similar; actually just looking at them you could only find one similarity among them. They were poor. They both had shabby clothes; both with thin, worn out coats. But there was one more similarity between the two that is quite hard to find by just looking at a person. Both the girl and the boy were not going to a warm home, where a loving family was waiting for their return.

Let us focus on the boy for a second. The boy had dark blonde hair that came down in small waves, and was a bit dirty. His face was a slight bit tan with thin lips, a decent sized nose, and a strong jaw line. His eyes were two dark blue orbs that shown with hope and pride. But all this was covered by a hat. He walked briskly, even though he was one of those people used to the cold. He had one of his hands shoved in his pocket and one gripping something under his coat. He walked down a few streets and then to a building with a sign that was hanging from one nail. It read "Newsboys Lodging House." He walked up the few stairs and opened the door to the building. He was greeted by an old man sitting at a reception counter. The man had a bowler's hat on, a brown vest and a suit jacket. The man also had spectacles close to the tip of his nose. He was reading the day's paper. The boy walked by the old man and nodded a hello, which the old man replied with the same gesture. The boy then made his way up a flight of stairs and into one of a few rooms on the floor. One was a huge bunk room, full of bunk beds all lined up. One that served as a washroom, and then there was the one that the boy went into. This room was smaller than the others. Inside were a few boys, the same age as the boy. The boys greeted him with a few "heys," "hellos," and some gestures. The boy took his hat off, now clearly showing his features and took a seat in the circle the others were positioned in. He took out the object he had been carrying under his coat and set a brown paper bag on a small table that was at the center of the circle of boys. He slid the bag off the object and revealed a bottle of liquor. Another boy took out a few cups, mugs, glasses; pretty much anything that could hold a drink and passed them out to all of the boys. The boys then passed around the bottle and each poured a little into his own cup. One of the boys raised his glass once everyone had some liquid in their cup and proposed a toast. He looked at the boy who had brought the liquor.

"To Jack"

Now let's go back to that street we had started on just a few minutes ago. We saw a girl, seventeen walking in the streets. This girl was also walking extremely fast, although she was used to the cold wind. She pulled her coat tighter around her small body and picked up her pace. Now despite her being female she had mens clothes on. She had a white men's shirt on, that was quite loose on her and slacks with suspenders placed on her shoulders. She also had a hat placed on her head, pulled low so as to cover her face in shadow and to attempt to shield her face from the bitter wind blowing by her. The girl had light brown hair that was now held up in a bun beneath her hat. Her face was a bit pale and her cheek bones slightly poked through her skin. Her nose was a perfect straight line on a slant, which had a few freckles, as well as on her upper cheeks. Her eyes were a green-gold color, with beautiful dark pupils in the middle of the green forest of her eyes. Her eyes though, not like the boy's did not shine. Well at least they didn't shine with hope and pride. They showed a dark past, and a probable dark future ahead. Under these eyes were slight dark circles weighing her face down a bit.

She passed by a few streets until walking into a new part of town. She had walked farther downtown, towards the battery. Soon she was in the heart of the battery, one of the most disgusting places in the city. Drunken men roamed the streets, and poor women and children searched through the many garbage cans, looking for a few crumbs to call dinner. Many homeless were lying in the gutters, and on broken benches. The remains of a dead horse were among the people, rotting away on the gutter as well. The girl picked up her pace once more and finally made it to a door. The door was stuck in a small building front and a sign overhead read "O' Conner's." The girl opened the door, walked down a flight of stairs, and was greeted by a rather muscular man standing by a desk. He nodded towards her, and she proceeded into the small, overcrowded room.

She entered a room full of smoke; the smell of nicotine and cheap liquor permeated the room. Men sat on chairs near little tables with women dressed in overly inappropriate getups. A small stage held a man at a piano, playing some ragtime music. A bar was in the back left corner of the room and had a man with a dirty white shirt and a bowler hat on. He soon got out behind the bar and came over to the girl.

"Where the hell have ya been?" He asked her angrily. She practically shriveled under him.

"Um, I missed the trolley" The girl replied softly.

"Well go on and get dressed already, what the hell do I pay ya for?"

The girl hurried to the back of the room and down a few stairs to what was a makeshift dressing room. Another woman, in her mid twenties was powdering herself. The girl took off her coat and quickly got dressed into a similar outfit to those of the women on the floor she had just been on. She took a seat next to the women and started applying makeup to her face.

"Hey toots, how ya been?"

"Hi Meg, I'm alright"

"Ya look a little tired there"

"Yeah, well you know, it's hard to get sleep in this business" The girl laughed at her own words, as did her twenty year old friend.

"See ya later toots" The woman said as she got up and went up the stairs to the floor with the bar.

The girl finished applying her makeup and followed the women to the floor. She then walked up another flight of stairs to a floor full of rooms. Just as she reached for one of the door's knobs a woman came out of another room.

"Hey"

"Hi"

The girl turned the knob on the door and right before she started for inside the room the woman wished her a goodnight,

"Have fun Liz"