Hello again! Back to the angsty mystery.

No. I didn't do that. That isn't blood…it's not…oh, jeez, there's so much…blood, it's blood, it's really blood…why is there so much? There's so much blood…it's not my fault, I swear! No! Run, you gotta run, Haddie. Run. Run! Go! No, it's not—

Mouse bolted up in her bed in the middle of the Lodging House, breathing heavily. She was drenched in sweat, and her heart was racing.

—my fault.

It was a dream, just a dream, just the nightmare she'd had for years…

Not real…it's over…she tried to slow her breathing. She wished this could just stop. That she could stop having these stupid nightmares and start being able to speak again.

Suddenly Mouse found her feet on the cold wooden floor. She was walking, walking towards the door. Because somewhere deep in her mind, she knew what she had to do. This could all stop if she visited the place where it all began…

She quietly opened the door of the Lodging House and stepped outside, gulping in the chilly night air. No one would know Mouse had gone. No one…

"Hey."

…except Jack.

Of course he was there. Of course, just when she had decided to follow through with one of the stupidest decisions of her life…he just happened to be standing right outside the door.

"Where you going?" he asked, leaning against the building casually.

Mouse shrugged. She tried to hurry past him, but he grabbed her shirt.

"I ain't taking that for an answer. You gonna write it or what?"

Mouse crossed her arms in frustration. Why did he have to make things so difficult?

"I'm just looking out for you, kid. The streets at night ain't no place for a little girl to be."

Shoot, forget it. I'll just go tomorrow. Sneak off while Jack is eating lunch. Yeah. That'll work. Mouse felt a bit relieved. She would not go tonight.

After a moment, Mouse turned on her heels and stalked decisively back towards the door.

"Hey, wait now! Hold on a second! What was you out here for anyway?"

Mouse placed a hand on the doorknob and tugged. It was locked. What?! She whirled back around to face Jack. He had been standing outside, knowing the door was locked?

"Ladders. Rooftop," he said in explanation, but pulled her to his side. From an alley nearby came distant shouts and screams. "That there's a gang fight. We gotta get off the street," he said calmly, leading her around the side of the building. "You think you can climb up?" He motioned at the ladder that went all the way up to the roof of the Lodging House. Mouse nodded. "All right. I'll go behind you. Just don't fall, 'cause I ain't gonna be able to catch you good."

The climb was uneventful, and Mouse scrambled for the stairs as soon as she was on the roof. "Not so fast!" Jack said, grabbing her arm at the last second, having jumped up the last couple rungs and sprinted across the rooftop. Mouse plopped herself down on a crate with a sigh.

"Hey," he said softly, swinging her around to face him and kneeling down so they were eye to eye. "Did you have a nightmare?"

How could he have known that? Mouse nodded, feeling tears spring to her eyes. She would not let them fall, oh no. Not in front of Jack.

"That's what I figured. You okay? You wanna talk about it?" Yes, Jack, as soon as some miracle grants me the ability to speak again, I will talk about it, about anything at all, really. "Ah. I mean…I got pencils and paper, if you want to write…" But Mouse was already shaking her head. It was over now; reliving it would only make it worse.

Jack got her a pencil and paper anyway. "Just in case."

He took a deep breath. Mouse could tell he was going to try and wheedle something out of her. She set her mouth in a straight line and prepared for a lot of head shaking.

"Mouse…why did you stop talking?"

She shook her head. Nope. Direct questions don't work. Trust me, Davey has tried. And Mother and Dad. Even Les. Even the doctor.

"I mean, there's gotta be a reason, huh?"

Mouse shook it harder. Yes, but not one I'm gonna share with you.

"You don't gotta tell me."

A slightly less adamant shaking. Good. I'll go to bed then.

"But I was just wondering…does it have to do with where you were going tonight?"

Of course it does. It has everything to do with where I was going. Where I am going. Tomorrow. She kept shaking her head.

"Doesn't it have something to do with…that factory you used to work at?"

Okay, that's a little too far. Who told you about that?

"Davey told me," Jack said, as if reading her mind. Mouse noticed she had stopped shaking her head but couldn't get the courage to start again. "He said you came home and said there was a bad accident at the factory and you didn't want to go back. But the thing is, you were fine for the rest of the night. It was the next day that you stopped talking."

True…but Jack, you can't—

"So the question is, what happened that night? And what was that bad accident at the factory? Was the accident the reason you stopped talking, or was it some entirely unrelated incident?" He paused pensively. "What do you keep having nightmares about?"

Too much.

Mouse got to her feet, crumpled up the piece of paper in her hand and threw it to the ground. She ran down the stairs as fast as she could and jumped back into her lower bunk. Mouse yanked the covers over her head and stayed still and silent. After a few minutes, she heard what could only be the sound of Jack coming quietly down the stairs. His footsteps came closer and closer until she sensed him standing right beside her bed. She didn't move. He seemed to know she wasn't asleep, because he put a gentle hand on the top of her head sticking out of the covers. He waited a moment, then went slowly back upstairs.

Mouse kept her eyes wide open in the darkness. She didn't want to fall asleep again, didn't want to have to live through two nightmares tonight. Instead, she went over the plan in her head for tomorrow. It would be worse than a nightmare. It would be the real thing.

Don't worry, I'll be updating ASAP!

Please review!

-Sis21K

(P.S. Another reminder to join the Newsies Pape Selling Competition over in the Forums!)