alrighty. just so you know, dont start reading this story unless you've read "I Know I Know You" it will make no sense. this is my sequel, or rather, i thought the other one was getting too long, so i started a new story. this chapter is going to be somewhat akward. partially because i dont know how to go about what i want to do, and partially because the add for toenail infection stuff is distracting me...oh yeah, and i just need to throw this in here, dont ask: "I WANT MY GODDAMNED GRAPEFRUIT!" for the record, i didnt say it... eh, sorry, another quote i need to post somewhere: "Gene killed Finny, Stanpole killed Finny, Finny killed Finny, I killed Finny, you killed Finny, EVERY ONE KILLED FINNY!"

For a moment Mustang just stood in the street, unsure of where to start. There was no one to stop Cowgirl from going where-ever she wanted to go in her panicked state. So she just started walking, Dutchy at her side. The rain made it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of them except when lightning lit up the streets. In one flash, the beautiful silhuette(which i cant spell) of a horse was visible at the top of a hill. Mustang gave a whistle and ran towards it. Another flash of white-blue light and the only other living thing she could see was Dutchy. He caught her eyes and saw no fear, but hysteria and desperation that made him want to look away. It seemed like nothing would scare her now. Nothing could make her turn away from this dark, cold night, make her go back inside and hide in her blankets. She grabbed his hand and ran forward, pulling him with her. She was desperate, and was starting to scare him. Finally, after running through the flooded streets until she could hardly breathe, she gave up. Dutchy nearly tripped over her as she collapsed. He fought to make her sit up as she tried to bury her face in her arms in the two inches of water that had gathered on the street. When he finally got her to face him, she started screaming.

"What do you want me to do? This is hopeless! I'm never going to find her, she's gone! The only thing that ever mattered to me and she's gone!" She held him by the front of the shirt and shook him as she spoke. He eyes looked like Cowgirl's had. Wide in terror, as though not seeing everything around her. "What do I do? What can I do?" She was bordering on crazy. Dutchy remembered the afternoon on the edge of the river when he had seen Mustang fall. He had lost control of himself. That's what was happeneing to her now. Cowgirl was the only one she had all her life, ever since she lived in Santa Fe, and now she was gone.

"Maybe we should go back inside," he said over a rumble of thunder, gently taking hold of her wrists.

"No! No, I'm not going back until I find her! I have to find her, I have to!" She wasn't crying, but her voice was constricted and seemed distant. "She's out here somewhere, she has to be! You want me to leave her? If I leave her, she'll die! That's what you want? My horse dead?" There was no question about it, she had lost her grip on reality. Dutchy shook his head and opend his mouth to speak, but Mustang moved her hands to around his neck. He looked at her and realized she would kill him. Her grip tightened slowly until the other newsies, who had opted to join the search, appeared behind Dutchy. He didn't see them, but Mustang immediatly released him and charged at them. Before anyone had time to react, she tackled Kid Blink to the ground. Normally, he could have easily defended himself against her, but in the past week he had been soaked badly, fallen off a horse, slammed into a desk by said horse, and hadn't had a chance to rest. Plus he was lying on his back in a flooded street with rain pouring down, threatening to drown him. He was in no condition to fight. Luckily, the others pulled her away.

"You! You scared my horse! You let her get away! I hate you!" Racetrack helped Blink to his feet. He looked at Mustang as she screamed at him for a moment. He reached out and grabbed her hat.

"What's da matta wid you?"

"The matter with me? Of all people, you should know! My horse is gone! Gone! And it's your fault! I hate you! I hate you, get away from me!" She fought against Jack and Mush, who each held one of her arms, kicking at him. Blink looked at her and though he could tell she wasn't entirely sane, he found himself slowly taking every word to heart. Dutchy ran up to him, but wasn't fast enough. He drew back and punched Mustang in the eye. Thunder crashed as Jack and Mush let go of her and sank to her knees Blink and Dutchy dropped down in front of her. Her head dropped. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean, I just-I don't know." She gave Blink a quick hug, never looking up. "Cowgirl's everything to me."

"I know." He took her trembling hands in his and she looked up at him. Her eyes weren't wide and crazy anymore. In fact one of them was already a bit swollen. "Sorry I had ta hit yeh." She smiled.

"That's alright, I needed it." Dutchy picked up the hat Blink had dropped, wrung some rain water out of it, and placed it back on Mustang's head.

"Why don't you three go back to the lodging house?" Jack said, helping them up, "We'll keep lookin'" Mustang started to say something, but Dutchy and Blink lead her away. She began to slip back into her old fear as they walked back. By the time the lodging house came into view, Dutchy was carrying her and her face was hidden in his shoulder.

alrighty, there we go. if you didn't read the other story and didnt catch on, cowgirl is the name of the horse. remember that, its important