Storm
For Newsies Pape Selling Competition
Task 4
Word Count: 3174
Crutchie's head was spinning. He couldn't make the decision. He was over analyzing everything. Loss on both sides, gains on both sides. Live an easy life, or risk the real world? He clutched at his hair in desperation. Was there any right decision? Any chance of forgiveness for what he would decide to choose? Any peace? Any sense of finality? Any escape from torment? His skull seemed to be cracking in billions of pieces. What was causing him this trouble? Was it the change bubbling up inside of him? Was it his newfound weakness? What was it?
I suppose you would like to know how Crutchie got in this situation. Here, see if this helps.
Crutchie woke one morning with an extra painful leg. He found this out by rolling over and nearly screaming out when all his weight transferred to his bad leg and the left side of his torso. He frantically flipped onto his back, breathing hard. This pain was almost as bad as the day he became crippled. Jack peeked his head for over the top of Crutchie's bunk.
"Heya, pal. Youse okay?" Crutchie's expression must have been pretty terrified because Jack hopped nimbly down from the top bunk and landed quietly next to Crutchie.
"Crutch? Youse kinda pale-ish and your eyes are like," Jack motioned with his own eyes, pulling them open as far as they can go.
"How are youse keepin' them open? My eyes are dryin' and threatenin' to fall right outta my head!" Crutchie's breathing stopped being so heavy and slowly returned to normal as no weight was placed on his leg. He chuckled lightly at Jack's classic humor.
"I'm fine, Jackie. Doesn't your goilfriend need you today for youse… actually, I don't rememba the occasion, so youse outta luck." Katherine and Jack had been dating for the past couple months. It was smooth sailing so far, and the inevitable break up was on a faraway island, washed up on a rocky beach and acting as a piece of glass. The couple kissed frequently, and Crutchie often felt as if he was third wheeling. The worst was when Race took his date out on a double date with Jack and Katherine and Jack invited Crutchie. He was stuck in the middle of two couples. It was pretty much torture.
Katherine and Jack were constantly celebrating random holidays- 'second time I saw you', 'first time we brushed hands', 'the day you first flirted with me', 'the first day you visited me at work', etc. It was craziness, especially since it wasn't even the correct day they celebrated them on. It was just like, "oh. We haven't had a holiday in a week. Let's have one today!" Katherine always came up with the holidays and poor Jack had no idea what they were celebrating until Katherine told him. Luckily, Katherine took no offense at his forgetting. Technically, it wasn't forgetting… whatever. Crutchie could sometimes guess what the anniversaries were. If he had no ideas, Jack was as good as dead for guessing correctly and surprising Katherine by knowing what the occasion was.
"Dang it, Crutchie! You're right! You better?" Jack ran a stressed hand through his hair and rubbed his temple.
"Yeah. I might not sell papes today, though. My leg is hurtin' and I don' think I can walk."
"I'll tell Kloppman. Gotta go! Wish me luck!" Jack was already on the top stair. The rest of the boys were up by then and getting ready for the day. Crutchie sighed.
"Bye, Jack." Crutchie wouldn't ever admit it out loud, but he often envied Jack's abilities to get places quickly and efficiently. He wished he could suddenly be healed and he could run free without having to tow around a heavy, clunking crutch. Crutchie tried to sit up. His leg throbbed. He laid back down to try to ease the pain. Once again, the bum leg relaxed and stopped hurting. Crutchie was basically immobile that day. He spent the day in bed. Kloppman brought him some aspirin occasionally, which made him able to sit up for short periods of time so he could get his blood running again.
While he was stuck in the laying position, he read avidly until his arms ached from holding them above his head for hours on end. When they were shaking so badly he couldn't make out the words, he dropped his arms and counted the number of indents on the ceiling. He felt like he was going insane. The rest of the Newsies came back in, eventually, with food and many hellos. After a hot meal, Crutchie fell asleep.
His eyes flew open. It was still dark outside. He flicked his eyes from side to side to figure out what woke him up. It was a creaking sound coming from the door. He sighed in exasperation.
"Really, Jack? I thought you oiled the door!" Jack guiltily crept in.
"I got a little caught up that day. I sorta kinda mighta forgotten to oil it…" Crutchie shook his head.
"Youse woke me up!"
"I'm sorry! How is youse leg?" Crutchie experimentally wiggled his pajama-clad legs underneath his bedsheets. Minor pain. He sat up. No pain. He grabbed his crutch and stood up, being as quiet as possible. Pain, white pain. He stood there for a moment with his eyes closed. He was completely convinced he was going to pass out. Colors started making themselves known in the white space in front of his closed eyelids. Yellow, pink, baby blue. Lime green, orange, lavender. Black. His eyes fluttered open.
"Hurts," he muttered. Jack stood there, wide eyed.
"I can tell. You were swayin' and I thoight you was gonna fall over."
"Jackie… I dunno if my leg is gonna be okay. I think I must have twisted it last night and, Jack, I don't know if I can walk." Jack briskly made his way over to Crutchie and supported him. He forced Crutchie's legs forward and grimaced as he heard the sharp intake of breath given. Jack continued to walk Crutchie around the room until he was comfortable.
"Thanks, Jackie. But mebbe youse could be a little more gentle next time," Crutchie said, panting. They both crawled back in bed and instantly fell asleep.
The next morning, Crutchie hopped out of bed and limped around the room with his crutch as if he was miraculously healed. The boys all were amazed at the strength he suddenly had. Crutchie did have one more line on his young face, though. He now knew how easily his life could take a turn for the worse, and that worried him greatly.
He sold more papes than usual that day, probably because he looked so stressed and worn out. He retired to bed earlier than usual. His leg was still sore, but he hid the hurt well. He put on a facade of unperturbed indifference. Crutchie was nervous. His leg was fragile. Even when he was just moving it, he tensed up involuntarily.
The stress took a toll on him. It had been a week since the limb had become the cause of Crutchie's uselessness. He was thinner, paler, and altogether looking very sick. He stumbled more often. He hardly ever smiled. His cheerful attitude had started fading away. Jack was worried. He had never seen his best friend like this before. Even when Crutchie came back from the Refuge smiling and joking. He knew it wasn't just Crutchie's leg. Something had happened. Jack couldn't imagine what was worse than the Refuge, but he was very concerned for his friend.
Jack approached his crippled buddy on a Wednesday approximately a month after Crutchie's leg got twisted. He hesitantly came up to Crutchie and twisted his feet around, waiting for Crutchie to notice him. The boy's condition had steadily gone in a downward spiral. His skin was nearly translucent. The bags under his eyes were nearly black. He took fewer and fewer papes to sell every day and returned to nap earlier and earlier. Crutchie was oblivious to Jack's presence for quite a while. Jack opened his mouth to say something right when Crutchie spun on his heel and rammed right into Jack. As if they repelled each other, they both bounced backwards- Crutchie into a table and Jack into a wall.
"Oh my word, what did I do, stupid idiot, sorry, Crutchie!" Many words came tumbling out of Jack's apologetic mouth. He rushed over to the table Crutchie was clutching and picked up everything that had fallen. In Crutchie's fragile state, that scare affected him more than it would have had he been in good health. His breath was shallow, his scrawny chest rose and fell rapidly, and he was even more pale.
"It's okay, Jack, as long as you have a good reason to scare me half to… death," he trailed off at the word 'death.' Jack took a deep breath, preparing himself.
"Tell me why youse acting like this. It has to be worse than the Refuge because youse didn' come back from da Refuge in dis… dis… condition. Please, Crutchie. I wanna help." Cruthcie sighed. He knew this was going to happen eventually. He was surprised Jack had been able to suppress his curiosity until now. It was longer than usual.
"Don't make me tell you. You don't want to know. And if you ask me to tell you, Ise has no choice. I have to tell you because youse my brudda."
"Tell me."
"Jack… Snyder is using me. He quietly escaped from jail, and found me when I was selling papes. He threatened me. He said if I told anyone where he was, he would- would," Crutchie looked down, tears coming to his eyes, "kill you."