Prologue
A Dark Street in Queens
There I stood, my whole world crumbling right in front of me. I watched as the life slowly drained from the one person I loved most. He had tried to dodge the knife, but failed. One minute he was ducking, the next, knife met flesh, and he found himself on the ground experiencing the most excruciating pain in his back. I cupped a hand over my mouth in shock. Red sneered down at Rocky as he lay on his side, blood oozing from the fresh wound in his back.
"Howse it feel, Rocky, knowin it's ovah, dat Ise da one comin out on top?" Red snickered in a low tone. He spat on Rocky's face "Good riddance".
Red walked off with his goons feeling pretty victorious. Once they were out of sight I crept out from the shadows where I had been watching and ran over to Rocky's seemingly lifeless body. I cradled his head in my arms, tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Please Rocky, youse a fighta. Queens needs ya. Ise needs youse. Come on Rocky, please, say sumthin". I sobbed as I stroked his forehead.
"S..scout..Ise love..." his soft voice trailed off unable to finish the sentence. He let out a gasp of air, and then there was silence. I waited to see if he was going to speak again. When he didn't I gave him a shake.
"Rocky?" I whispered. "Rocky?" I stared down at him lying there completely motionless. I felt my heart breaking into a thousand pieces. With my hand on his cheek I lowered my face until my lips met with his. They were still warm. I let mine linger on his for a few moments then pulled away.
"I love youse Rocky. I always will." I said softly. Still sobbing, I lowered his head to the ground and stood up. I took one last glance and then took off running. I ran until my legs were screaming at me to stop. After catching my breath and getting my legs to stop screaming I kept going at a walk until I found myself in a completely different town. I scanned the area around me and found my eyes drifting on a huge board the words "The New York World" across the top. I knew very well that my legs had carried me right into the center of Manhattan.
Manhattan is where this story begins. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't literally bumped into Jack. He and the other Manhattan newsies became my new family. While I didn't tell them everything they could clearly see the pain in my eyes. That pain would eventually leave the surface, but it wouldn't be until much later when a certain Brooklyn leader made his way into my life and my heart, that the pain would be completely gone.