... Needless to say, that was the most fun I'd had in a long time, well, that and swimming with some man eating sharks.
I venture back to the other side of the river, hat tightly tucked underneath my shirt, and surface under the shadow of the bridge. I replace my hat on my head again, it was sopping wet and tearing apart everywhere.
This isn't safe...
And needless to say!... I camp out under the shadow of the bridge all day. Not how I plan my arrival back to the world above. But then again, I didn't plan on spooking out a whole tribe of news boys, not including the one I scarred for life! Well, I guess the saying "when one door closes, another opens" could apply to this situation... or it could just be karma...
Wow... isn't this the exact image of a vampire.
The day flies by, mostly because I let it. I have all the time in the world, 12 hours is nothing. I don't need to open my eyes either to know that the realm of night has finally taken over. My eyes pop open, and I give a small grin. After so long, I can finally see the sky, the stars, the big crater hanging out in the sky that we like to call the "moon". I howl with joy and jump upward, into the air in a very nonhuman way, and out from the bank. After some cool looking somersaults, I land lightly on my toes and dash out across the land. I run by vampire speed, a blur so blurry you would never take heed to notice, my footsteps are a whisper, not heard by any human. A smile is plastered to my face as I whip through streets, fly over rooftops, clear rows and rows of wheel barrels. There seems to be more bums in the alleys, I can give this city that. I run all around until I end up on the porch steps of the fabric store.
I stroll right on up and walked in, the owner of the store looks up in surprise with the look of "Who in their right mind is coming into my store at this time?" She looks like she was just closing up, putting needles in boxes in one hand, dusting off counter tops with another. When it is in her head that a girl is standing in front of her; her face drops into a frown. I can imagine what she is seeing, a young rebel out and about way past her curfew whose hair and clothes still sopping wet with a look on her face that reads "mischief" all over it. She begins to walk towards me.
"H'well! Aren't ve out a little late, eh?" She has an Italian accent. I'm surprised she doesn't do some hand gestures along with it. She talks all snooty and mean, walking around me, looking me up and down.
"I came to see if you had this type of fabric..." I pull the hat from my blouse and lay it in the palm of my hand to show her. She laughs in disbelief.
"Hahaha! Of COURSE I 'ave your silly fabric! Vut, you expect to come to me now? The sun 'as alveady set, I'm going 'ome. Come back during my 'ours!"
She jabs her finger at a sign hanging on the door behind news clipping that does indeed stated 'HOURS'. The whole time she is talking, I am scanning over the store, picturing the fabric, the scent of it, until I pinpoint its hiding spot. I go directly to it, the woman trying to keep pace with me.
"Vere are y..." I whip out the fabric. ".. How did you..."
She does a double take, looking at the cloth in my hands, then up at me, over her shoulder to look at our last standing position, then back at me. The only fail with this is when she goes to look back at me, I am already gone from the store, the bell hanging from the door ringing in the background. I cackle like a witch as I slow down the block, the woman in the store is scratching her head and looks all around her. She resembles both a dog chasing its tail, and a human who merely dropped something and didn't know where it fell to.
I swiftly turn around, and for the fun of it, I do one of those dramatic kicks into the air, leaning back with my upper body and begin to walk briskly away. As I turn the corner in high spirits, I end up tripping over a little boy. The lad is up to my waist, a newsies cap sits upon his head, has plain brown suspenders, and a dirty pair of pants to go with them. He has a dirt-stained shirt on with holes on the elbows and a tear at the collar.
Because I am an idiot and forget humans aren't use to cool vampire tricks, I absentmindedly bend down from my waist so my stomach grazes the tops of his hairs, and spring up from my feet, doing a somersault over the poor child's head. I fall right on my bottom with a soft thud.
After shaking my head a couple times, I turn half my body around to meet a pair of blue eyes staring down at me in "awe". His eyes are wide and his jaw dropped.
"That was SO COOL!" He shrieks out in joyful laughter while clapping his hands and turning in circles out of excitement. I chuckle softly. Spazzy kid… He looks so tasty.
"Are you lost, buddy?" I look around to see if there is any adut(s) nearby, but find none. The happiness he just has leaves as his eyes dim and he bows his head, nodding.
"Can you help me, Miss?" He looks back up at me in a plea. Now this is a predicament. I know I have to help out the little guy, but I absolutely need blood, and I need it bad!
"Uhh, sure, kid. Just, umm, come over here." I place the boy under a tree.
"Stay here for a minute, I, uh, forgot something. over. there…"
I book it at the fastest human speed possible to an alley way on the next over. As suspected, bums are scattered throughout it.
"Hmm…" I neatly step over bum after bum, trying to find a good host.
"You're drunk, you're drunk, you're drunk, I don't know what's up with your blood, you're drunk, you're dead, wait wait… is that cheese?(Eww, you fool, did you inject yourself with.. ugh, gag!) Mostly every guy here is an unworthy candidate. I can't drink from the drunks because A. Beer+blood=yuck! B. More alcohol is consumed then oxygen while feeding.
I reach the end of the alley when I finally find a fellow not drunk, merely homeless. I glare at his neck and see it pulsing against his skin. I lean in for it, my fangs unsheathing as I open my mouth.
NO…
I tense up, mid attack, mouth gapping over his delicious neck. I am completely frozen, torn inside. A strike to his neck will surely kill him, especially since I am aiming for his vein. Isn't this the reason I jumped into the river? To stop my urge to kill the innocent? My mind is exploding, my eyes are almost blind and I'm shaking from the pause. My hands lock onto warm skin and next thing I know, his wrist is against my lips, my teeth purge blood from his body and it is deposited into myself. I begin to breathe easy once more, my ambition to strike him down fades, and when I am content, I almost have to rip my teeth from his arm to stop. Two red dots are bubbling up and streams start spilling over. Even if I don't kill him, continuous blood flow just might. I bend over his wrist and quickly swipe my tongue across the bite marks, and when I pull back, they have vanished. Oh the power of venom…
Shoot, the boy!
How long was I gone? It couldn't have been that long, right? Well, I make it like Sonic the Hedgehog and roll on out of there and back to the lost boy. He smiles up at me as I approach him, and I just can't help but smile back.
"Did you find it?" He runs the rest of the distance to me, and I smile at his innocence.
"Yeah, I did." His little face beams up at myself again.
"So where am I taking you, young man?" I ask, walking in any direction to get us moving. He blushes from being called a "young man."
"Well, the Newsies Lodging House! I jist started living there, and.." I take his arm and swing him around so we face the opposite direction and start walking again. I know just where that is.
We walk and he starts telling me all about his first week on the job, and suddenly it hits me that I have no idea what his name is.
"Whoa, hey there, kiddo. What was your name again?" He stopped mid sentenced, and smiled as he replied proudly, "Pip!"
"Pip?" Is that your newsie name?"
"Nuh, uh. It's my real name!"
Well, his parents hated him…
"Well, what's your newsie name? He smiles wider.
"They call me Pip, too! My real name is Pipkin Piper!"
Yup, his parents hated him.
"How about your folks?" His smile finally starts to falter.
"Well, my parents abandoned me when I was a baby, so they were going to put me in the orphanage with other kids like me, but the place was too full and they took some of us to the refuge. But then the Newsies strike ended, and I bet you heard all about that, and Jack, oh he's the Manhattan Newsies leader and he's super cool, well he came by and got some of us out! But I don't know what happened to my mommy and dad…" His face completely drops now, and his lower lip quivers..
Oh my God his parents actually did hate him!
I stop walking and face him towards me. He has tears freely falling from his eyes so his eye lashes shimmer.
"Hey there, Pip. Men don't cry! Come on now, if you stop crying, I'll let you hop on my back and I'll carry you the rest of the way home." I make a cocky smile, acting as if it was a once in a life time deal. I would make an excellent newsie with this talent. He does end up putting a smile on his face for me and nods his head vigorously. He steps behind me and jumps up, his arms clamped around my neck and his legs wrapped around my stomach.
"You ready?" He readjusts himself slightly, then nods. "Okay, now, hold on real tight.." He grasp tightens, ".. and close your eyes." This brings me back to a time where I would do this with Jacob, and he would laugh his cute little laugh as I ran. I fall first on my back foot, then wprint ahead.
"Hahahaha, wheee!" He laughs and cries aloud, just like Jacob. I laugh myself, and I actually feel… something.
"Awwuh, sorry, Buddy, but we're here."
I crouch down once again and he slides off my back lazily, poor kid is exhausted! He starts walking towards the door when he takes my hand in his and drags me with him. I just stare at his little, tan hand in my marble white hand. No one has done that to me since I left Ms. O'Berry and her kids, since Jacob…
I knock on the door loudly, since loud chattering is easily heard on the other side, and a boy answers, no surprise there. He is yelling at someone else over his shoulder, laughing, but once he catches sight of me, he sobers up.
"Uh, I think you lost this…" I nudge Pip forward, and he complies. Dragging his feet up the last steps, his head is bowed as he stands in front of the boy with his hands in his pockets.
"Heya, Pip! Where ya been, Kiddo?" The boy smiles out of humor as he takes Pip by the shoulder and pushes him past the door. "Ya look exhausted, why don't cha head up to bed, I'll come up in a minute, and you can tell me exactly where ya ran off to." Pip turns around to me again.
"Thank you, Miss!" He hugs me. Again, I'm not ready for it.
"Oh, hey, please, Pip, call me.. Rush." He smiles a sleepy smile and walks under the boy's arm and up the staircase.
The male turns back to look at me once more.
"Thanks for bringing him back, Miss." He tips his cowboy hat at me.
"Not. A. Problem. He's a sweet kid. And it's Rush, Cowboy. None of that 'miss' stuff for me, thanks" Whoa, I'm acting.. cordial? Polite?
"Well, Rush, I think we owe ya." He says, leaning on the door post. "What can we boys do for ya? Walk ya back home, buy ya a soda?.." He flirts nonchalantly. Teenage boys…
"How about you watch your young ones, eh? I can walk myself home, thanks." I didn't say that part sweet at all. His face hardened slightly, but he was too much of a gentleman to say anything more, except for, "Well then, Mi.. Rush, if you're sure, you watch yourself." I laugh and say, "Yeah, I'll stay as safe as I can under a bridge. Goodnight, Cowboy. Maybe I'll see you around."
*This very pretty girl gives me a cocky grin as she turns on her heal and starts to walk down the street, then like a breeze she flew away and out of sight. Creepy? Oh very much so. I'm still trying to figure out the whole bridge bit. I think she was kidding, but then again…I close the door and head up the stairs into the bunk room. Pip is sitting next to his bed telling the other kids about his night, and I listened in as he went from the market, to the laundry shoots, to falling asleep, and then to the part about Rush. She seams nice, but she sounds… strange. I quiet them down and pull Pip aside. He says that he hopes he runs into her again, and I silently hope that he doesn't.
I am already back at the bridge.
Now where are those..
I pull some swiped pins and thread from my pocket, then the hat cloth, and finally my ruined hat. This wasn't the original hat I first received, since that one was also ruined by water damage. I did take a patch from it though and put it in this on, and now I am going to take back the remainder of that patch, a patch from this hat, and sow then into my newest one. And I take my time sowing, replicating it from my first hat, and also because I'm horrible at sowing. I just can't help it! The only time I took a break was to greet my old friend, the morning fog, after that magical moment, I went back to work and finished in time for my first sunrise back. I didn't mean to think it, but once I see it, the first thing I thought was… I wish my dad could watch this with me…
I miss my dad.
