Written for the Battery Park Lodging House Quotes Contesr
Title: Lost Boy
Author: Holiday
Part: 1/1
Rating:
Genre: General
Summary: Specs searches for a lost child.
-------Tangle stood in the center of the market looking around desperately for a familiar face. He hadn't meant to wander away from Specs, but the sights and sounds of the city were very distracting. He had seen another young boy playing with an odd looking toy and had followed him to get a better look at it. When he next looked around, Specs was nowhere in sight.
Now he was lost and he had no idea as to how to get back to the lodging house. He could already feel the tears welling in his eyes as a teenaged boy shoved past him. He bit his lip and moved, deciding that he needed to keep looking around for the older boy.
"Specs!" He called out in his high boyish voice.
A few people around him gave him annoyed looks and he shrank away from them. Maybe calling out wasn't such a good idea. He didn't want scary people to realize he was lost and try to take him. That also ruled out asking for directions. A couple tears ran down his cheeks and he angrily wiped them away. He had spent enough time with some of the other newsies to know that only babies cried.
He clenched his small fists in an attempt to distract himself from his tears and continued to look around. There were a lot of people in the market but he couldn't see a single newsie or any other person that he recognized.
The longer he looked the more he felt like sitting down and crying. He had seen smaller children do the same; sitting on the ground and wailing for their mothers. Only it wasn't his mother he hoped would find him.
--------Specs looked up from selling his last paper only to notice that Tangle was no longer in sight range. He sighed and stuffed the penny into his pocket. This wasn't the first time that Tangle had drifted away from him.
"Tangle!" He headed towards the park, figuring that the boy had gone to play. He looked around as he walked smiling at a couple of the girls from the Battery as he passed them.
When he reached the park he looked around carefully. "Tangle!" Specs called loudly. There was no immediate response so he wandered around, searching for the boy and occasionally calling his name.
After completing a circuit of the park Specs started to feel worry in the pit of his stomach. There had been no sign of he boy and he was imagining all sorts of terrible scenarios. He took several deep breaths before deciding to ask someone if Tangle had been seen nearby.
"Excuse me ma'am." Specs said as politely as he could, hat in hand, "I'm so sorry to bother you, but have you seen a young boy come past here by himself? He's about this tall," He held his hand near his waist, "With wild brown hair and blue eyes."
The lady who had initially been looking at him with disdain was now giving him a piteous look. "I'm sorry young man, but I haven't."
Specs nodded looking dejected. "Thank you."
"Good luck finding your son." The woman said as she hurried to catch up with her friend.
Specs sighed. It was a good thing Tangle wasn't really his son—what kind of father loses their child? He shook his head and jammed his hat back onto his head before continuing on in his search.
-------Tangle felt like he had been lost for forever now. It had to have been a whole day and he was beginning to think that Specs wouldn't come for him. Both his mother and his daddy had left him. He wouldn't be too surprised if Specs and the others did as well.
This thought made him forget his resolve to not cry like a baby. He sat down on the curb and buried his face in his hands hiding the fat tears that were rolling down his cheeks. People walked past and gave him odd looks but nobody could be bothered to check on the dirty little boy crying on the ground.
-------Specs was panicking. It had been nearly four hours since he had last seen Tangle and it was beginning to get dark. He imagined that the little boy was probably terrified and it was all Specs' fault for not watching him closer.
"Hey Specs!" A cheery voice called from behind him.
Specs turned to see his girlfriend coming towards him with a smile on her face. "Corner! Have you seen Tangle?" He asked urgently, grabbing hold of her shoulders when she was in range.
"No." Corner answered with wide eyes. She raised a hand and placed it over one of Specs' to get him to loosen his grip. When he did she looked up at him, worry clouding her eyes at his expression. "Has he been missing long?"
"I haven't seen him for almost four hours. He was with me and then he was gone and nobody's seen him!" He rambled.
Corner looked worried as well, but she managed to take a deep breath before speaking calmly. "Where did you last see him?"
"Over by my selling spot he was playing near the corner while I sold the last few of my papes."
"Alright, and where have you looked already?" She asked, taking one of his hands in both of hers and stroking it gently.
Specs looked down at their hands, "All over. Central Park, up and down the streets around here. Tibby's and the lodging house."
"Did you check the Battery Park Lodging House or just your own?" She asked with a thoughtful look.
"Just mine. Do you think he could have found his way to the Battery?" He asked hopefully.
"It's more likely that one of the others found him and brought him there. He's met enough of them that they'd recognize him."
Specs didn't say anything, just headed towards the Battery, knowing that Corner would follow on her own.
--------"Are you sure?" Tangle asked the older boy for the fifth time.
He had been sitting on the curb for only a short while when the dark haired boy had found him. Skeleton had insisted that it would be better for them to go to the Battery Park Lodging House rather than continue to look for Specs. Tangle wasn't so sure that this was a good idea, but he figured that it was better than sitting by himself on the curb.
"Yes, I'm sure. Specs will come looking for you there and if not we can find someone to come with us to the Manhattan Lodging House" Skell answered in his soft voice.
Tangle nodded still not entirely convinced, but at least Skell had offered to take him back to his own lodging house if Specs didn't find him. Deciding that the gray-eyed boy was okay, he reached up and grabbed his hand as they continued the rest of their walk.
When they entered the lodging house they barely had a chance to look around when Tangle was snatched up into a tight embrace.
"You're alright!" Specs exclaimed holding the blue-eyed boy to his chest.
"Specs! I knew you would find me!" Tangle returned, wrapping his arms tightly around Specs' neck. He buried his face in the older boy's shoulder, happy to have found his mentor.
Corner moved over to stand next to Skeleton. "Thank you for bringing him here." She said softly, smiling at the now blushing boy.
"It was no trouble." He said watching Specs and Tangle. "He really cares about the little boy. But he's not his father or anything." Skell said looking a little confused. He had only seen such care coming from his own family.
"It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons." Corner explained with a grin before moving forward to join her two boys.
Skell watched them for a moment before smiling in understanding and leaving them to enjoy their reunion.
----------I just want to say that I really really do not like this story. I wrote it for the contest and sort of lost my steam after the first few paragraphs. So, I do apologize if its not very good. I just wanted to get it done.