The Dangerous Wish

Chapter 1

"Happy Birthday, Skittery!"

"Aww…" Skittery grinned as his best friends, the Newsies, welcomed him at the door of the Lodging House, where they all stayed. Yes, today was Skittery's birthday- February 3rd. He had no idea when his REAL birthday was, so he just randomly chose his birthday to be on the 3rd of February.

"I got ya some new boots!" Crutchy handed Skittery a pair of brown boots that weren't too dirty and worn out. Skittery smiled gratefully. When you were poorer, you're more grateful when you get lowly items.

"Hey I got ya some cup thing ya might wanna use," said little Boots, giving an odd-shaped mug with a little crack at the side. Skittery grinned even wider as he accepted the present.

"Let's go upstairs- wese all got a surprise for ya!" the other Newsies were saying. Skittery went upstairs obediently and opened the door to their bedrooms.

"Why…" Skittery was almost speechless. There, in the middle of the room, was a table, and on the table was a nice little cake fit for only one person, and of course, it was for Skittery. There was only one candle in the middle, but who cares anyway? Skittery couldn't have been happier.

"Sarah made dat for ya," Jack was blushing a little. He was obviously very proud of his girlfriend. Skittery didn't reply. He just walked to the cake and sat down on the floor.

"Don't forget ta make a wish, Skits!" Mush yelled, but Skittery already knew that. He nodded quickly, then took a deep breath, closing his eyes.

I wish I could be rich.

Then, he blew the candle fire out. The Newsies clapped wildly and started singing a song. However, while they were gamboling, Skittery suddenly passed out and became unconscious.

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"Arrr me head hurts, me head hurts…" Skittery moaned. He closed his eyes shut, not intending to open them. He let his mind do the most work. What happened? Oh yeah, it was me birthday… yesterday…yeah and I blew out the candle on my cake…I made the wish…and why is it so quiet? Hm maybe all da Newsies left foah woik…what happened aftah I blew the candle? Oh, and da Newsies started dancing…and…why in da woild is it dis quiet?? Skittery opened his eyes wide suddenly, and gasped.

He was in the biggest four-post bed he had ever seen. It was complete with five fluffy pillows, a nice, bouncy mattress, the warmest blankets, furriest towels, and curtains around the bed, allowing a lot of privacy. Skittery almost fainted.

"W-what?" he managed to sputter out.

"Master Tidings, I see you're awake," a harsh voice could be heard from behind the curtains. Skittery jumped as the curtains suddenly opened. He felt a fresh, cool breeze.

"Huh?"

"Rise and shine, you woke up quite late today!"

Skittery turned to his left and saw a fat maid standing next to his bed.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"I'm your fairy godmother," she said in a sickly sweet way.

"Really?" Skittery sat up in bed, gaping at the lady.

"NO! Snap out of it, Master Tidings, or I will have to call your parents up." the maid snapped.

"I…don't…have…"

"Get dressed or you'll be late for breakfast!" the maid rolled her eyes. She got out a pair of dark brown pants and a clean white shirt from a closet and put them on the bed. "Get dressed now," she ordered briskly and waddled out from the room. Skittery slowly got out from the bed and looked at a full-length mirror that just so happened to be there. He was dressed in a sissy-looking, light blue nightgown. His face and everything else was still the same, except he looked…cleaner. He took some time looking around the room. It was well furnished with brown tables, brown desks, brown closets, brown drawers, and of course, the bed he had woken up in. It was a fairly large room, MUCH bigger than the bedroom at the Lodging House.

Shoes. Must be foah me. Skittery put on some socks and shoes. He quickly changed into the clothes the maid had gotten out for him and peeked out from his room.

"Hurry up! What do you think you're doing, peeking out from your own bedroom? Are you scared that pirates are going to attack you?" the maid was standing outside the door, her huge face taunting Skittery. Skittery blushed and walked out, followinh the maid as she walked down a staircase and into the biggest room Skittery had ever seen. In the room was the longest table and there were two people sitting at the edge of the table. They were obviously a couple, both around mid-40s. The man had thin glasses and was wearing a very clean suit. The woman had a light brown gown on.

"Good morning, Jimmy," Skittery stared at the woman, who had spoken. Skittery blinked once, and then pointed at himself.

"Er…me?"

"Sorry ma'am, young Master Tidings doesn't seem to be in good condition today," the maid apologized. What does she have ta apologize foah? Skittery thought to himself.

"Didn't you sleep well?" the man spoke this time.

"Come, sit here Jimmy," the woman, Mrs. Tidings, pulled out a chair next to her. Skittery meekly walked to her and sat down. A few other maids and butlers started bringing food in front of Skittery. Skittery gasped and dug into the food. Food, mm…food…

"Why, Jimmy, are you alright?" Mr. Tidings laughed. Skittery looked up and decided to end this. This was only a very confusing dream.

"Ya know, I have no idea who Jimmy is, me name's Skittery, alright?!" Skittery cried out, food still in his mouth. It was alright to be rude- this was just a dream anyway.

Mrs. Tidings covered her mouth and tried not to cry out. "Howard, our son is sick," she said quietly to her husband. Skittery left the table and ran out from the room. He could easily find the door out.

"Why am I heah?!" Skittery looked up the house to find that it was the big house he was always lingering around, always wishing he could someday somehow live here. This house was very near to where the Newsies bought their newspapers…

"That's it!" Skittery brightened up and ran down the street to where the Newsies bought their newspapers everyday. Sure enough, he saw the Newsies, laughing and talking boisterously.

"Jack!" he waved his arms wildly. Jack Kelly looked up and saw Skittery running towards him. Skittery grinned and slowed his pace. To his shock, the Newsies were snickering and whispering among each other.

"What?" Skittery walked to Jack. "What's goin' on?" He was expecting Jack to say something that would solve everything but…

"What's a goody-goody boy like ya doin' heah? Ya doan't belong heah anyway," Jack laughed. Skittery backed up.

"Okay, I've got enough wid da joke, it ain't funny any moah!" Skittery laughed back nervously.

"Hm, ya got a problem?" Crutchy leaned forward. Skittery looked at them with begging, pleading eyes.

"Please, what's wrong wid ya all? It's me, Skitts!" Skittery gasped out. This was just all too strange.

"Skitts, who's Skitts?" the Newsies started muttering among each other.

"Oh," David said, giggling. "I guess this boy here wants to be a Newsie…right? So he thought up a Newsie name so that we would accept him."

"Ya know, we would always let ya in our Newsies group," Kid Blink grinned. Skittery tried to shake his head.

"N-no, I'm already a Newsie! Jack! It's Skittery!" Skittery yelled.

"Yeah, stop ya crying, you ain't no Skitts or Skittery. Youse the son of da high and mighty Howard Tidings. You're da kid, Jimmy, aren't ya? Rather pathetic, I always thought," Jack laughed, and all the other Newsies laughed a long. Skittery couldn't stand it. He ran back to the Tidings home.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.