Jack
Summary: When true love is faced with the darkest emotions and cruelest intentions, can love conquer all?
(Newsies 1899 adaptation of Othello)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the newsies or any characters from the movie I do own any characters you don't recognize from the movie. The plot belongs to William Shakespeare ( at least most of it ) I might change some things later on. Maybe not. We'll see.
The beds in every guest room of the house were stripped bare including her own. The sheets lay sprawled over the floor underneath her window. The knots folded over one another in a pattern of circles against the dark color of her carpet. It would never take that many sheets to climb out of a second story window, but she wasn't exactly experienced in this. They wrapped around each other inviting her to lay down and bask in their softness. They gleamed so white in the darkness she was sure they were glowing brightly enough to wake up the others. Her heart beat louder in her chest staring at them, it was impossible for anyone to sleep through that deafening sound. She stared holes through the sheets straining her ears to listen for any sign of movement within the house. It was silent. She knew she had to calm down, at least enough to think rationally or she'd never be able to go through with it.
Slowly she began to move. First it was forced but with each passing moment that she remained uncaught her confidence grew. She tied the knot around the bedpost closest to her window just as he'd taught her to. A skill he'd no doubt acquired from his lassoing ability. Luckily her bed had been positioned next to the window, as if this was premeditated by fate. Everything that helped her carry through with her plan made it seem as though it was destined to be, and anything that stood in her way was an insignificant fluke. The heat of the moment erases fear, doubt and sensibility leaving only passion, and blind faith in its wake.
She released the coil of sheets from her shaking fingers. It dropped gently toward the ground, unafraid of its tumble to the bottom. Gracefully it fell over the back of the house acting like Rapunzel's braid, a pearly beacon of hope against the dark night sky.
Her head followed out the window peering directly into the dark abyss below. The sheets illuminated the way down revealing the only destination she had to run to. It was hard to see at first, until his movement gave him away. His arms outstretched toward her, beckoning her down to him with his simple hand gesture. She smiled unintentionally, and could not find a way to make herself stop.
She turned back to the room that had been her home for the past seventeen years. She picked up her make-shift bag, one of the only sheets not to be used as her escape route. Within it were placed the few pieces of clothing it could hold, creating a bag when she tied the ends over each other. She returned to the window and waved it in the air, allowing enough time for her accomplice to position himself underneath. It fell perfectly into his arms the way she wished she could. Her only comfort was in knowing that these last few moments were the last they would spend apart.
She turned again to her home and didn't recognize it as a place of solace and sanctuary. Instead it was a place of isolation, peaceful at best but lonely at worst. She did not belong in this room, in this house. She couldn't help but wonder how she'd ever convinced herself that it was home. The definition of her home, along with her heart, belonged to the boy awaiting her at the bottom of the window.
With two quick tugs on her fashioned rope to ascertain it was tied tight enough, she lowered herself out the window. Her body followed her feet as they slowly and quietly eased their way down along the brick. Her hands were gripped to the sheets so tightly they became the same ghostly color. Every few steps she paused, unable to stop herself from looking down. It took five deep breaths to inch her way down the wall. Finally when she was within reach, and he became impatient enough, he reached up and scooped her off the wall.
In one fluid motion he planted her gently on the ground. His hands immediately found her face, as he cupped her delicate features in his calloused hands. He couldn't help thinking how soft her skin was.
"You alright?" he asked the question in his bronze eyes posing the true question 'Are you sure?'
She smiled up at him her heart beating too quickly inside her chest to form any response. She was free and she felt as though she could fly. He smiled back and kissed her lightly. Both becoming full of excitement with the thought that they're long talked about fantasy had just become a reality. Removing his hands from her face, he grabbed the sheet of clothes in one hand, and took hold of hers with the other.
They did fly that night, through the merciless and icy streets. They flew past everything ugly the street had to offer. Ran right past the dark alleyways concealing strangers' unfortunate fates, past the broken bottles that lay as the remains of a fateful brawl, past the blood-stained streets and its starved residents. They were too busy basking in their own beauty and joy, things that are not meant to blossom on the unsparing streets. They interrupted the dark nature of the Manhattan streets with their faith in love. They were blind to anything and everything that could hurt them. They never saw it coming.