Note from Author: No, you are not having suffering from double vision.
Becoming Fickle was my first fan fiction ever, and midway through I
abandoned it because I just got so fed up with the writing and the plot and
knew I could expand so much more on it. So, this is what this fic is. A
whole new reworking of Becoming Fickle, same characters as before, just
with more depth. Confused-so am I.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Newsies, they are all affiliated with Disney and all that good stuff. I only own Butterfly James, Rylie and Horance Lyner, and any other supporting character. Please read, review and enjoy.
BECOMING FICKLE: AUTHOR'S CUT
PROLOGUE Summer--1897
"Hey Spritzy!"
"Hey, what?"
"Why didn't da skel'tin cross da road?"
"I don't know, Skiddy, why didn't 'e?"
"Cause, 'e didn't have no guts, Spritzy! Git it? 'e didn't have no guts!"
"D'ya know dat you'se a jackass, Skiddy?"
"Comin' from you, Sarah Jean Louise Sprites, dat's a compliment."
The day was excruciatingly humid in Queens that particular morning in August as Sarah Sprites and Skiddy Sniper pushed through the stifling masses of pedestrians that jay walked the streets. The tattered, filthy shirts of the two Queens newsies clung to their bodies from sheer perspiration. Skiddy removed his derby hat and began fanning it in front of his face, trying desperately to do away with the beads of sweat that trickled down his brow.
"Jesus Christ, Spritzy, it shoah is a killer out tahday!" Skiddy cried, wiping his brow with his forearm.
Sarah abruptly halted and turned over her shoulder, casting a glare at the overheated newsboy.
"What?" Skiddy asked, his features puzzled, holding her gaze.
"Ya know how I hate it when people take da Lord's name in vain, ya dumbass!" she growled, eyes blazing.
Skiddy rolled his eyes as beads of sweat cascaded down his brow and down the back of his neck, saturating his shirt. "So sahrry ta offend ya, Father Sprites! P'raps I shoahd rephrase da statement. Jimminy, Spritzy, it shoah is hot out tahday!"
A lopsided grin formed on Sarah's lips as she swatted Skiddy's hat from his grasp. "Ya know I love ya anyhow, Skiddy Snipah. Not ev'ryone can be poifict like me."
"'Hey, use ya own hat as a fan, Spritzy!" Skiddy whined, making a half- hearted attempt to regain possession of the hat.
Sarah giggled, sidestepping him and colliding with a heavyset man. The harried man glared down at her, causing Sarah to erupt into stifled laughter as Skiddy grabbed her upper arm and pulled her away as quickly as possible. "I have ta use me own hat ta keep me damn hair off my own neck!"
"Den cut it off. Keep da hat. I jist wanna git to da docks and have a well- desoived swim in the rivah," Skiddy sighed, daring to glance up at the white, breathless sun before averting his pained eyes to the cracked sidewalk again.
"I'se with ya, Skiddy, I'se with ya."
Both newsies walked as fast as their weary overheated bodies would allow them to the docks over looking the East River. Jimmy Sprites, leader of one of the two sections of Queens newsies, had planned for all his newsies to rendezvous on the docks after a long, fatiguing day of selling newspapers.
Sarah and Skiddy finally reached the docks to see that the majority of Jimmy's newsies had arrived already. Most had stripped and stood only in their undergarments around the lapping waters, their audible shouts of laughter permeating the sticky air. Sarah left Skiddy's side for a moment to look for her brother. Shielding her vision from the sun's rays with her hand, she wove throughout the newsies, paying heed to the catcalls and whistles they greeted her as with a thin smile. She found him tottering near the edge of the dock, kicking off his shoes.
A smile invaded her lips and she cupped her hands around her mouth. "HEY, SPRITES!"
Jimmy, his shock of blonde hair blowing in the sight wind caused from the minute waves, caught himself from plummeting into the waters and raised his head, scanning the newsies to see who had called his name. Only one person could have. His face erupted into his trademark killer grin. "HEY, BUTTAHFLY!"
Sarah's smile grew. "Awful wheathah we'se havin'! Too damn cold out!"
Jimmy grinned, allowing his body to convulse with imaginary shivers. "I'se ready ta toin inta a Eskimo!"
He then turned and formed an immaculate dive position, but halted, catching his balance just in time, when one of his newsies cried, "What da hell do we have here?"
Jimmy abruptly turned and what he viewed cast a scowl upon his face, his features darkening. His younger sister shared in this expressions she crept closer to Skiddy, her eyes narrowed into slits. "What da hell are dey doin here?" she hissed.
Skiddy shook his head, his gaze never leaving the intruders. "Looking foah a good ass-kickin', I'd wagah."
The intruders posed a rather comical sight: hulking, brutal in manner boys flanking a wire-thin small boy. They were the Lyner newsies. Rylie Lyner stood in the center, his small, lanky frame poised high and erect, his messy mop of dingy brown hair glinting in the sun. His brother, Horance stood to his left, his hulking, bulging figure hunched, the sun glittering on the perspiration, his teeth bared. And behind the brothers stood the rest of the Lyner newsies, all bruiting beasts that could rival Horance. The newsies of Queens had been united once, and Jimmy and Rylie peaceful allies all under the roof of the Queens Newsboys Lodging House. But then ambition had infected Rylie like a ravaging disease, and he deemed himself too intelligent just to be James Sprites foil anymore. So the split had occurred. Sprites retained the lodging house and the Lyners resided in an old abandoned warehouse in South Queens. And the split had not been on very good terms. These confrontations were nothing new.
Jimmy narrowed his eyes as Horance Lyner took a step forward, looming down upon him. "Ooh, whadda we have here?" he shouted to his newsies. "I t'ink dat da gorilla 'scaped from da zoo again. Nah, moicy me, it's just Horance Lynah!"
Laughter rippled throughout the newsies as Horance stood, his face burning scarlet, his fists balling at his sides. "I'se gonna kill ya!" he bellowed, pulling back his arm with the intention to knock Jimmy out, but his brother Rylie stepped in front of him, placing his hand on the latter's fist, halting him. "Not yet, Horance," Rylie said softly to his brother.
Rylie then turned to Jimmy, his brown eyes glinting under his thin spectacles. "Really, James Sprites, your wit astounds me."
From within the mass of newsies, Sarah felt the impossible fury start to well in her stomach again. She despised with the utmost passion the confrontations between the damned Lyners and her brother's newsies. To think that Horance had wished to court her when they were as one always caused a shudder to dance down her spine. And she hated Rylie Lyner supremely above all for he reckoned that just because he had trained himself not to speak with the native accent and because he had memorized a hawked dictionary that he was immaculate above all else.
Enough was enough. She raised herself to her toes and cupped her hands around her mouth. "And ya ugliness astounds me, Rylie Lynah!"
From over the newsies' shoulders, she witnessed Rylie blanche. His beady eyes surveyed the lines of newsies and his voice quaked with anger, "Who said that?"
Sarah kept her eyes locked on Rylie as his face turned red when there was not a reply to his inquiry. His cheeks flamed hellfire red. "I ASKED WHO THE HELL SAID THAT!" he wheezed in fury.
At that, Sarah lazily pushed her way past the newsies and to the front. She casually leaned her elbow on the most convenient boy. "I did, ya stupid sonofabitch."
Rylie Lyner's gaze snapped to her, his eyes squinted in rage. And suddenly his face returned to its normal shade of white as though he was swallowing his emotions. "Well, go figure. I mean, why should I get worked up about what a stupid whore says. Your mother was illiterate and so are you--or wait--maybe it's your mother was a whore and so are you--"
It then was as though Sarah was a bull and Rylie was the seductively red matador's flag, for she let out a shattering screech and sprung at him, landing on top of him as he fell to the wooden docks, the wind being vacuumed out of his lungs.
Sarah elicited a series of growls and screams as she straddled Rylie, her balled fists blindly connecting with any part of his face she could touch. Blood spurted onto her face from his now broken nose.
"Hor-ance!" Rylie helplessly gurgled.
Horance erupted into a powerful growl and sprang over to his brother, wrapping Sarah in a headlock in his perspiration-slicked grasp. Spitting and howling in an orgasmic state of hate, Sarah struggled desperately against Horance's urgings of bringing her to her feet. Horance was bent over, one arm wrapped about her neck the other one moving to her torso as he tried to raise her off Rylie. This was a task he could have easily done, yet Sarah was relentless in her infuriation.
Jimmy's low voice suddenly pierced the air. "Leave my sistah alone, ya sonofabitch!"
Sarah felt Horance stumble and elicit a grunt, his grip loosening on her from Jimmy's thrust into his side. Immediately, she wriggled and dug her nails into his muscular arms until they fell lax and she escaped. She stumbled, her heavy breathing, brushing her flaxen hair out of her face.
Rylie was raising himself to his feet, his hand sporadically going to his shattered, bloody heap of a nose. She screamed and dove at him, painfully slamming into the wooden boards of the docks, grasping the hem of his tan trousers. His steps grew stuttered and he finally collapsed. With a grunt, Sarah pulled herself further up his body, alas; Rylie stealthy twisted in a catlike motion his torso underneath her. She felt a foreign object puncture the flesh of her left shoulder. Searing pain like smoldering fire radiated from the spot. She released a noise and sat back, Rylie slithering on his back from underneath her. In a rapid motion, he pulled the blade from her shoulder.
If agony was a true term, then agony she was in. Her hand slowly went to the wound and she touched it and erupted into a horrible scream.
"SARAH!" Jimmy's cracking scream ripped through the air.
Sarah felt the lightness filter through her head as she floundered about on the dock. Her breathing grew ragged. "Stabbed-I'se stabbed--" she babbled incoherently, stinging tears finding her eyes.
The waves of nausea and the capricious thought of being stabbed were so much that she blacked out.
Sarah's eyes fluttered open and she found her senses were sharpened tenfold. The pain ripping through her body from that damned wound was marvelous. And audible shouts and curses filled her ears.
She gave an effort to raise her head, but found herself too weak and let it drop back to the splintered boards. A groan escaped her lips.
The pain and bellows around growing more intense, she raised her elbows, spreading her palms at her side and picked up her head. A forceful wave of nausea rode through her, yet she forced herself to straighten her arms and open her eyes.
What she saw took her by such utter surprise that he arms gave out and she came crashing to the dock again, yet she quickly scrambled to a standing position, her eyes wide. It was like a picture out of one of the old history books Jimmy had hawked from the library. Like the picture from the chapter titled Civil War.
War.
All newsies were embattled with each other, blades glitter-shot in the sun and blood glimmering. She let out a grand cry, placing the back of her palm to her mouth.
And then her gaze fell on Jimmy. Jimmy was sickeningly on his knees, trying desperately to break free of Horance's deathlock. Rylie stood parallel to them, a malicious grin shining through his bloodied face. He mouthed something and Horance slowly brought Jimmy to his feet. And then the rest happened in slow motion.
It started when she saw Rylie Lyner, standing, bloody, reach around to his back pocket for something. He slowly pulled out a sharp knife, glittering violently in the sunlight, of which he held the hilt tightly. She saw he brother began to squirm vigorously and try to get out of Horance's headlock. She heard his desperate, tear-laced pleas. She saw some of the other newsies halt the fighting to only watch in awe. And she watched as Rylie Lyner drove the blade with one quick thrust into her brother's heart.
All noise was shattered by Sarah's breathtaking screams.
Most heads snapped towards her, including the Lyners. A malicious grin shimmied its way up Horance's lips as he released his arms, causing Jimmy's ashen body to collapse to the dock.
"Noooo! Noooo! Nooooo! OH JESUS CHRIST NO!" Sarah screamed, the tears blinding her as she savagely pushed her way past the newsies to her brother, falling over his body. The pool of blood collecting under her brother was now spreading and it turned all it touched the same violent shade of crimson.
"No, no, no, no. Jimmy!" she sobbed, as her brother whispered his last words to her. Then he was gone. His breathing ceased, his body grew still and his eyelids shut forever encasing him in darkness.
Sarah's screams bordered on mammalian. "NO! JIMMY! JIMMY! NO!"
She then felt a strong arm slid under her stomach and hoist her up. She stood facing Rylie Lyner, his eyes shimmering with an evil, and held in a deathlock by Horance Lyner, tightly pressed against his slick torso.
A sadistic smile crept over Rylie's face.
Sarah could only stand looking into those awful eyes before her cries erupted. "Ya bastard! Ya goddamn bastard! How could ya do dat! You killed him! YOU KILLED HIM! You MURDERAH! You are going to hell!"
A mocking smile spread over Rylie's lips. "Is that a promise, sweetheart?
Sarah spit on Rylie's shoes.
Rylie's face twisted in anger. "You bitch!"
Horance's grip became tighter. "How would ya like ta stay wit me, toots?" he whispered in a guttural voice, his hot breath playing in her ear canal.
She let out a cry of utter disgust and rapidly squirmed out of his grasp, kneeling him. Horance emitted a string of oaths.
Blinded by desperate tears, Sarah whirled about and chose a direction, picking up her legs. Alas, she felt Rylie's thin arms snake around her and powerfully hold her back. He bent over, ignoring her kicks with her legs, placed his free hand on the hilt which protruded from the cadaver's chest, and pulled it out with a sickening sliding noise.
He quickly straightened and pressed Sarah close to him. She cringed as she felt the sticky blood from his crushed nose settle onto her cheek and in her hair. And she stifled a scream as he roughly pushed her chin up and as she felt the sharp metal of the blade press against her neck.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you this very minute," he hissed.
In response, Sarah bit down hard on his fingers.
"Ah!" Rylie howled in pain, clasping his injured finger.
Sarah, seeing this as her chance, raced to the end of the dock ignoring the impossible pain both physically and emotionally, and dove off it with a splash into the exceedingly warm East River.
She didn't look back, yet coughed and sputtered and willed herself to propel in the water, as Rylie staggered to the end of the dock, battered and bruised, holding the very blade that killed her brother and shouted, the words ringing in her ears forever: "GOOD! SWIM AWAY, SARAH SPRITES! BUT IF YOU EVER COME BACK--EVER--I'LL KILL YOU IN A HEARTBEAT!"
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Newsies, they are all affiliated with Disney and all that good stuff. I only own Butterfly James, Rylie and Horance Lyner, and any other supporting character. Please read, review and enjoy.
BECOMING FICKLE: AUTHOR'S CUT
PROLOGUE Summer--1897
"Hey Spritzy!"
"Hey, what?"
"Why didn't da skel'tin cross da road?"
"I don't know, Skiddy, why didn't 'e?"
"Cause, 'e didn't have no guts, Spritzy! Git it? 'e didn't have no guts!"
"D'ya know dat you'se a jackass, Skiddy?"
"Comin' from you, Sarah Jean Louise Sprites, dat's a compliment."
The day was excruciatingly humid in Queens that particular morning in August as Sarah Sprites and Skiddy Sniper pushed through the stifling masses of pedestrians that jay walked the streets. The tattered, filthy shirts of the two Queens newsies clung to their bodies from sheer perspiration. Skiddy removed his derby hat and began fanning it in front of his face, trying desperately to do away with the beads of sweat that trickled down his brow.
"Jesus Christ, Spritzy, it shoah is a killer out tahday!" Skiddy cried, wiping his brow with his forearm.
Sarah abruptly halted and turned over her shoulder, casting a glare at the overheated newsboy.
"What?" Skiddy asked, his features puzzled, holding her gaze.
"Ya know how I hate it when people take da Lord's name in vain, ya dumbass!" she growled, eyes blazing.
Skiddy rolled his eyes as beads of sweat cascaded down his brow and down the back of his neck, saturating his shirt. "So sahrry ta offend ya, Father Sprites! P'raps I shoahd rephrase da statement. Jimminy, Spritzy, it shoah is hot out tahday!"
A lopsided grin formed on Sarah's lips as she swatted Skiddy's hat from his grasp. "Ya know I love ya anyhow, Skiddy Snipah. Not ev'ryone can be poifict like me."
"'Hey, use ya own hat as a fan, Spritzy!" Skiddy whined, making a half- hearted attempt to regain possession of the hat.
Sarah giggled, sidestepping him and colliding with a heavyset man. The harried man glared down at her, causing Sarah to erupt into stifled laughter as Skiddy grabbed her upper arm and pulled her away as quickly as possible. "I have ta use me own hat ta keep me damn hair off my own neck!"
"Den cut it off. Keep da hat. I jist wanna git to da docks and have a well- desoived swim in the rivah," Skiddy sighed, daring to glance up at the white, breathless sun before averting his pained eyes to the cracked sidewalk again.
"I'se with ya, Skiddy, I'se with ya."
Both newsies walked as fast as their weary overheated bodies would allow them to the docks over looking the East River. Jimmy Sprites, leader of one of the two sections of Queens newsies, had planned for all his newsies to rendezvous on the docks after a long, fatiguing day of selling newspapers.
Sarah and Skiddy finally reached the docks to see that the majority of Jimmy's newsies had arrived already. Most had stripped and stood only in their undergarments around the lapping waters, their audible shouts of laughter permeating the sticky air. Sarah left Skiddy's side for a moment to look for her brother. Shielding her vision from the sun's rays with her hand, she wove throughout the newsies, paying heed to the catcalls and whistles they greeted her as with a thin smile. She found him tottering near the edge of the dock, kicking off his shoes.
A smile invaded her lips and she cupped her hands around her mouth. "HEY, SPRITES!"
Jimmy, his shock of blonde hair blowing in the sight wind caused from the minute waves, caught himself from plummeting into the waters and raised his head, scanning the newsies to see who had called his name. Only one person could have. His face erupted into his trademark killer grin. "HEY, BUTTAHFLY!"
Sarah's smile grew. "Awful wheathah we'se havin'! Too damn cold out!"
Jimmy grinned, allowing his body to convulse with imaginary shivers. "I'se ready ta toin inta a Eskimo!"
He then turned and formed an immaculate dive position, but halted, catching his balance just in time, when one of his newsies cried, "What da hell do we have here?"
Jimmy abruptly turned and what he viewed cast a scowl upon his face, his features darkening. His younger sister shared in this expressions she crept closer to Skiddy, her eyes narrowed into slits. "What da hell are dey doin here?" she hissed.
Skiddy shook his head, his gaze never leaving the intruders. "Looking foah a good ass-kickin', I'd wagah."
The intruders posed a rather comical sight: hulking, brutal in manner boys flanking a wire-thin small boy. They were the Lyner newsies. Rylie Lyner stood in the center, his small, lanky frame poised high and erect, his messy mop of dingy brown hair glinting in the sun. His brother, Horance stood to his left, his hulking, bulging figure hunched, the sun glittering on the perspiration, his teeth bared. And behind the brothers stood the rest of the Lyner newsies, all bruiting beasts that could rival Horance. The newsies of Queens had been united once, and Jimmy and Rylie peaceful allies all under the roof of the Queens Newsboys Lodging House. But then ambition had infected Rylie like a ravaging disease, and he deemed himself too intelligent just to be James Sprites foil anymore. So the split had occurred. Sprites retained the lodging house and the Lyners resided in an old abandoned warehouse in South Queens. And the split had not been on very good terms. These confrontations were nothing new.
Jimmy narrowed his eyes as Horance Lyner took a step forward, looming down upon him. "Ooh, whadda we have here?" he shouted to his newsies. "I t'ink dat da gorilla 'scaped from da zoo again. Nah, moicy me, it's just Horance Lynah!"
Laughter rippled throughout the newsies as Horance stood, his face burning scarlet, his fists balling at his sides. "I'se gonna kill ya!" he bellowed, pulling back his arm with the intention to knock Jimmy out, but his brother Rylie stepped in front of him, placing his hand on the latter's fist, halting him. "Not yet, Horance," Rylie said softly to his brother.
Rylie then turned to Jimmy, his brown eyes glinting under his thin spectacles. "Really, James Sprites, your wit astounds me."
From within the mass of newsies, Sarah felt the impossible fury start to well in her stomach again. She despised with the utmost passion the confrontations between the damned Lyners and her brother's newsies. To think that Horance had wished to court her when they were as one always caused a shudder to dance down her spine. And she hated Rylie Lyner supremely above all for he reckoned that just because he had trained himself not to speak with the native accent and because he had memorized a hawked dictionary that he was immaculate above all else.
Enough was enough. She raised herself to her toes and cupped her hands around her mouth. "And ya ugliness astounds me, Rylie Lynah!"
From over the newsies' shoulders, she witnessed Rylie blanche. His beady eyes surveyed the lines of newsies and his voice quaked with anger, "Who said that?"
Sarah kept her eyes locked on Rylie as his face turned red when there was not a reply to his inquiry. His cheeks flamed hellfire red. "I ASKED WHO THE HELL SAID THAT!" he wheezed in fury.
At that, Sarah lazily pushed her way past the newsies and to the front. She casually leaned her elbow on the most convenient boy. "I did, ya stupid sonofabitch."
Rylie Lyner's gaze snapped to her, his eyes squinted in rage. And suddenly his face returned to its normal shade of white as though he was swallowing his emotions. "Well, go figure. I mean, why should I get worked up about what a stupid whore says. Your mother was illiterate and so are you--or wait--maybe it's your mother was a whore and so are you--"
It then was as though Sarah was a bull and Rylie was the seductively red matador's flag, for she let out a shattering screech and sprung at him, landing on top of him as he fell to the wooden docks, the wind being vacuumed out of his lungs.
Sarah elicited a series of growls and screams as she straddled Rylie, her balled fists blindly connecting with any part of his face she could touch. Blood spurted onto her face from his now broken nose.
"Hor-ance!" Rylie helplessly gurgled.
Horance erupted into a powerful growl and sprang over to his brother, wrapping Sarah in a headlock in his perspiration-slicked grasp. Spitting and howling in an orgasmic state of hate, Sarah struggled desperately against Horance's urgings of bringing her to her feet. Horance was bent over, one arm wrapped about her neck the other one moving to her torso as he tried to raise her off Rylie. This was a task he could have easily done, yet Sarah was relentless in her infuriation.
Jimmy's low voice suddenly pierced the air. "Leave my sistah alone, ya sonofabitch!"
Sarah felt Horance stumble and elicit a grunt, his grip loosening on her from Jimmy's thrust into his side. Immediately, she wriggled and dug her nails into his muscular arms until they fell lax and she escaped. She stumbled, her heavy breathing, brushing her flaxen hair out of her face.
Rylie was raising himself to his feet, his hand sporadically going to his shattered, bloody heap of a nose. She screamed and dove at him, painfully slamming into the wooden boards of the docks, grasping the hem of his tan trousers. His steps grew stuttered and he finally collapsed. With a grunt, Sarah pulled herself further up his body, alas; Rylie stealthy twisted in a catlike motion his torso underneath her. She felt a foreign object puncture the flesh of her left shoulder. Searing pain like smoldering fire radiated from the spot. She released a noise and sat back, Rylie slithering on his back from underneath her. In a rapid motion, he pulled the blade from her shoulder.
If agony was a true term, then agony she was in. Her hand slowly went to the wound and she touched it and erupted into a horrible scream.
"SARAH!" Jimmy's cracking scream ripped through the air.
Sarah felt the lightness filter through her head as she floundered about on the dock. Her breathing grew ragged. "Stabbed-I'se stabbed--" she babbled incoherently, stinging tears finding her eyes.
The waves of nausea and the capricious thought of being stabbed were so much that she blacked out.
Sarah's eyes fluttered open and she found her senses were sharpened tenfold. The pain ripping through her body from that damned wound was marvelous. And audible shouts and curses filled her ears.
She gave an effort to raise her head, but found herself too weak and let it drop back to the splintered boards. A groan escaped her lips.
The pain and bellows around growing more intense, she raised her elbows, spreading her palms at her side and picked up her head. A forceful wave of nausea rode through her, yet she forced herself to straighten her arms and open her eyes.
What she saw took her by such utter surprise that he arms gave out and she came crashing to the dock again, yet she quickly scrambled to a standing position, her eyes wide. It was like a picture out of one of the old history books Jimmy had hawked from the library. Like the picture from the chapter titled Civil War.
War.
All newsies were embattled with each other, blades glitter-shot in the sun and blood glimmering. She let out a grand cry, placing the back of her palm to her mouth.
And then her gaze fell on Jimmy. Jimmy was sickeningly on his knees, trying desperately to break free of Horance's deathlock. Rylie stood parallel to them, a malicious grin shining through his bloodied face. He mouthed something and Horance slowly brought Jimmy to his feet. And then the rest happened in slow motion.
It started when she saw Rylie Lyner, standing, bloody, reach around to his back pocket for something. He slowly pulled out a sharp knife, glittering violently in the sunlight, of which he held the hilt tightly. She saw he brother began to squirm vigorously and try to get out of Horance's headlock. She heard his desperate, tear-laced pleas. She saw some of the other newsies halt the fighting to only watch in awe. And she watched as Rylie Lyner drove the blade with one quick thrust into her brother's heart.
All noise was shattered by Sarah's breathtaking screams.
Most heads snapped towards her, including the Lyners. A malicious grin shimmied its way up Horance's lips as he released his arms, causing Jimmy's ashen body to collapse to the dock.
"Noooo! Noooo! Nooooo! OH JESUS CHRIST NO!" Sarah screamed, the tears blinding her as she savagely pushed her way past the newsies to her brother, falling over his body. The pool of blood collecting under her brother was now spreading and it turned all it touched the same violent shade of crimson.
"No, no, no, no. Jimmy!" she sobbed, as her brother whispered his last words to her. Then he was gone. His breathing ceased, his body grew still and his eyelids shut forever encasing him in darkness.
Sarah's screams bordered on mammalian. "NO! JIMMY! JIMMY! NO!"
She then felt a strong arm slid under her stomach and hoist her up. She stood facing Rylie Lyner, his eyes shimmering with an evil, and held in a deathlock by Horance Lyner, tightly pressed against his slick torso.
A sadistic smile crept over Rylie's face.
Sarah could only stand looking into those awful eyes before her cries erupted. "Ya bastard! Ya goddamn bastard! How could ya do dat! You killed him! YOU KILLED HIM! You MURDERAH! You are going to hell!"
A mocking smile spread over Rylie's lips. "Is that a promise, sweetheart?
Sarah spit on Rylie's shoes.
Rylie's face twisted in anger. "You bitch!"
Horance's grip became tighter. "How would ya like ta stay wit me, toots?" he whispered in a guttural voice, his hot breath playing in her ear canal.
She let out a cry of utter disgust and rapidly squirmed out of his grasp, kneeling him. Horance emitted a string of oaths.
Blinded by desperate tears, Sarah whirled about and chose a direction, picking up her legs. Alas, she felt Rylie's thin arms snake around her and powerfully hold her back. He bent over, ignoring her kicks with her legs, placed his free hand on the hilt which protruded from the cadaver's chest, and pulled it out with a sickening sliding noise.
He quickly straightened and pressed Sarah close to him. She cringed as she felt the sticky blood from his crushed nose settle onto her cheek and in her hair. And she stifled a scream as he roughly pushed her chin up and as she felt the sharp metal of the blade press against her neck.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you this very minute," he hissed.
In response, Sarah bit down hard on his fingers.
"Ah!" Rylie howled in pain, clasping his injured finger.
Sarah, seeing this as her chance, raced to the end of the dock ignoring the impossible pain both physically and emotionally, and dove off it with a splash into the exceedingly warm East River.
She didn't look back, yet coughed and sputtered and willed herself to propel in the water, as Rylie staggered to the end of the dock, battered and bruised, holding the very blade that killed her brother and shouted, the words ringing in her ears forever: "GOOD! SWIM AWAY, SARAH SPRITES! BUT IF YOU EVER COME BACK--EVER--I'LL KILL YOU IN A HEARTBEAT!"