November 2, 1899
I woke up in the morning to a crazy knocking. I walked groggily over to the door to see Jack standing in the doorway looking really panicked,
"Squirt!"
"Jack, what's wrong?"
"I'm not Jack."
"Yes you are, what kind of game is this?"
"I'm not Jack, it's me Morris."
"What? Where's Morris?"
"I'm standing right in front of you." I grabbed his hand and dragged him out to the only bed in the lodging house to find Morris still in bed. He was looking around as confusedly as Jack was.
"See Morris is right here."
"I'm standing right next to you." I looked back at Jack, and then Morris.
"Squirt! Why does everything hurt!"
"You've been hurt for weeks Morris, what are you talking about?"
"I'm not Morris, I'm Jack!"
"If your Jack tell me something only he would know."
"Come here." I leaned down close to Morris,
"You're from the future." He whispered in my ear. I stood back up,
"Yep, your Jack." I turned back to Jack or well Morris.
"That means you are Morris!"
"That's what we've been trying to tell you!" The yelled in unison,
"Shh! Quiet down we can't let anyone else know what's going on."
"Squirt, you have to help us switch back." I but at my thumbnail,
"I'll try, but this is all new to me."
"Ok." Jack groaned and laid his head back on the pillow.
"Everything hurts so bad."
"Don't worry Jack, we are going to get this worked out."
"I know you will Squirt." I turned back to Morris,
"We gotta get to work or people will start suspecting." He nodded and followed me, I felt bad for leaving Jack in Morris's beat up body but we had to keep going until we figured this out.
"So how do I do this while being Jack thing."
"Aw Geez, I'm gonna have to come to sell with you today or your not gonna know what to do."
"So how does this whole being Jack thing work?"
"Three you gotta remember, Crutchie and Davey are your best friends. Any time something bad happens go into full-on overprotective big brother mode, and also you are best at selling papes second only to Blu do you have to sell them fast and furious." He nodded,
"I think I got. Being Jack sounds hard."
"You have no idea," I muttered under my breath. We finally made it to the square,
"Stay here, I'll be right back. Just act natural, also try not to talk to anybody." I ran off to go find Elmer and Mush, I pushed through the sea of newsies until I got to them.
"Sorry guys, I have to sell with Jack. Hopefully, I'll see you later!" I yelled as I ran back towards Morris,
"Squirt are you ok!"
"YEAH!" I ran back to the front of the square to see Morris was gone.
"No, no, no!" I whispered. I pushed my way back through the crowd trying to find the paper wagon. I saw Morris standing there looking around worriedly for me while Crutchie was trying to tell him a story.
"Jack, there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you."
"Well, I'm right here."
"Hey Crutch, can I borrow him for a sec." Crutchie nodded and grabbed Jack's, well Morris's hand and dragged him over towards the paper stand.
"Please tell me you didn't act weird."
"I don't know what weird looks like for Jack."
"Honestly me either teaches me not to leave you alone again." we stood in line and got our papers. We walked out of the square, and I lead him to Jack's selling spot.
"How do you even sell a paper?"
"Jack's not cute enough or young enough to pull the adorable trick, so you need to lie."
"Lie?"
"Shout fake headlines, lie straight through your teeth."
"Ok, I'll try." He took a paper out of his bag,
"Rumors of war in Africa!" someone came over and handed him a nickel.
"Great job Morris." We sold and sold and sold. We finally started to head to the square, and Crutchie stopped me.
"Hey Squirt, can I talk to you for a second?" Before I could even reply Crutchie had pushed me into an alley.
"What's wrong Crutchie?"
"Morris has been tailing me all day."
"Morris is out of bed?"
"Yes, and he won't stop following me. He seems really worried about me, and I'm so confused. You gotta help me."
"Oh no, Jack," I muttered,
"What?"
"Nothing, stay here with Morris, I mean Jack! I'll go take care of Jack, I mean Morris." I ran out of the alleyway,
"Jack got out of bed, you have to stay here with Crutchie."
"I swear, if he hurts my body I'll beat his to a pulp."
"Calm down Morris, just stay here!" I yelled taking off in a sprint down the street.
"Jack! Jack!" I ran down the street hard and fast I looked around for him everywhere. I darted past Newsies on every corner, until I heard someone chasing after me.
"Squirt! Where are you going in such a hurry?" I skidded to a half to see Race sprinting after me.
"Have you seen Morris anywhere?"
"Isn't he in bed back at the lodging house?"
"No, he got out and now I can't find him anywhere."
"I'll help you look." He took off running in the other direction and started sprinting again in the opposite direction of him.
"Jack!" I finally saw someone standing in the middle of the street looking around, with a crutch under each arm
"Jack! Thank goodness you're ok!"
"Why doesn't Crutchie want to talk to me?"
"You're still Morris remember?"
"Yeah, but Morris is nice now. Why doesn't he want to talk to me?" I pointed down to the left side of my abdomen.
"I know about when you went to see him in the refuge. Remember Morris helped to do that. He wasn't always nice, and you have to be more careful."
"But one of my best friends won't talk to me." I walked over and grabbed his hand,
"I know, I'm trying as hard as I can to keep everything together and it's hard I know. Come with me," I led Jack carefully down the street and back to the lodging house and put him back in bed.
"I'll come back later, but now I have to make sure Morris hasn't freaked Crutchie out yet." Jack dejectedly nodded his head,
"We're gonna figure this out, I promise." I dashed out of the lodging house trying to find Morris. I ran past Jacobi's and took a quick peek through the window and saw Morris and Crutchie sitting at a table together. I hurriedly pulled open the door.
"Morris! I mean Jack! There you are. I found Morris, and Jack I need help my ribs are hurting." He gave me a questioning look, I mouthed flip out.
"Oh no! Squirt! We have to go see a doctor right now, and you are never allowed to sell with anybody but me!" He jumped out of his seat and grabbed my hand dragging me out of Jacobi's.
"So how did I do?"
"You oversold it a little."
"Just a little." He joked,
"I found Jack."
"Is my body even more broken?"
"No, I don't think so. I think that we should have tried to get you out of bed sooner."
"Where's Jack now?"
"Back at the lodging house."
"Have you thought of anyways to switch us back?"
"No, I have no ideas. Zilch, I got nothing."
"Me either."
"What were you two doing last night?"
"I dunno what Jack was doing, but I was in bed asleep. After I recounted the ceiling boards for the millionth time."
"We have to go to Jack and figure out what you two were doing before you switched." Morris nodded and we both took off running towards the lodging house.
"Finally your back!"
"Sorry, we took so long." Morris grabbed two chairs and dragged them over to Jack's bedside. We both sat down,
"I have a theory, you guys had to have switched sometime between last night and this morning. We need to compare your days and what you were doing leading up to that night to try and look for any clues."
"I'll go first. I laid here and counted the ceiling boards again and again until I fell asleep."
"Well I was selling, then I made my rounds to everyone else. I then sat on the roof until I climbed back down to the penthouse and went to sleep."
"Great, that doesn't help at all! The only thing that is similar is you both went to sleep. There has got to be something we are missing."
"I really don't know." I sat there thinking and thinking, soon I had fallen asleep with my head resting on my arm on the edge of Jack's bed.
November 3, 1899
I woke up in the morning to someone tapping me on the shoulder. I looked up groggily to see Race standing behind me.
"Squirt, what are still doing out here?"
"I was trying to figure something out."
"What kind of thing?"
"I don't remember." I lied. I stopped to think again, thinking. Thinking? That's why nothing else was similar! I hadn't thought about what they were thinking! I excitedly shook Morris and Jack awake.
"Guys! What was the last thing you thought before you fell asleep?"
"Being me is hard." both of them said in unison.
"I think that's it. Your thoughts synced and something switched you. How did this even happen? This is not real, this is science fiction. This isn't happening, I'm not here, you're not switched. I'm in bed asleep at home."
"Squirt?"
"I can't with this right now." I ran to the window and climbed out and up the fire escape. I just wanted to go home, back to my own time. I couldn't hold it together anymore, I don't want to be here anymore. I just want to go home. I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face.
"Squirt?" I looked up to see Race climbing up the ladder,
"Go away." I heard his feet starting to click back down the ladder,
"Race, actually you can stay." he came over and sat down next to me
"Yeah, that's what I thought you would say. I don't like to be alone either."
"I guess not."
"You were saying a whole bunch of mumble jumble back there. What were you talking about?" I flopped onto the roof,
"I just can't hold everything together anymore, I just can't."
"Hold what together?"
"You ask way too many questions."
"You are way too vague."
"I don't know if I can or should tell you. I don't know if I can trust you."
"Trust me, I'm trustworthy."
"Fine, I'll tell you."
"Finally."
"Do you remember the day I came?"
"Yeah, Albert said that you were dressed funny and already knew his name."
"It's because I'm from 120 years from now. I'm from 2019, on top of that Jack and Morris switched bodies. So that's great." I put my hands on top of my face.
"Hang on, that doesn't make sense."
"Yeah I know, and now everything is falling apart and I don't know how to fix it. Yeah having a real victory right now." I mumbled.
"You're from 2019, is that why Jack freaked out more than usual when you got hurt?"
"Yeah, I can't die here or I mess up the space-time continuum. So I have to get home, switch back Jack and Morris. With my luck newsgirls from another universe are gonna be here in the morning."
"Rough."
"Yeah, that's pretty much how my life is going right now," I whispered starting to feel even more defeated.
"I could help."
"Not sure if you really could. Jack doesn't either. I just don't know what else we can do." I whispered.
"Squirt, we are gonna figure this out together."
"Whatever you want to do Race I'm not gonna stop you. Let's try any and every crazy idea you have, I really don't care."
"First crazy idea! Let's go." he grabbed my hand and dragged me off the roof. We got into the street,
"Where did you first pop out?" I looked around and started running down the street I finally found the building next to where the portal had spit me out.
"Right here."
"Wait for it, wait for it…" We waited for a minute,
"What are we waiting for?"
"I thought that the portal might open again if you stood in the same spot. I guess it's not working, I'm sorry."
"It's ok Race." We walked back to the square together, and I saw Morris standing there, still in Jack's body.
"What were you guys doing?"
"Talking a walk, trying to clear her head."
"Can I talk to you Squirt?"
"Yup." Morris pulled me aside,
"Got any ideas yet?"
"Actually, maybe. I think that you guys need to accept that you are gonna be you and until you both do you guys aren't gonna switch back. Go tell Jack, I'm too tired and grouchy to go deal with him." Morris nodded and walked off, I walked down the alley and climbed back up the fire escape. I laid down on the roof and closed my eyes soon I woke up to the chilly morning air around me. I didn't move everything felt frozen and cold around me. I heard somebody come up behind me, I rolled over to face Race.
"What are you doing up here?"
"Sleeping." He knelt down next to me and gently placed the back of his hand to my forehead.
"You have a fever."
"Then why am I so cold?" I grumbled.
"Come on." I stood up and followed him down the fire escape and back to the lodging house. I went and laid down in my hammock,
"Why were you even on the roof?"
"I was sleeping up there, I got tired and I was grouchy. I was being angsty and you wrecked it."
"Wow, you are so sick. I'll be back." I rolled over and stared at the wall. I could hear Race come back, and he dumped a whole bunch of blankets on top of me.
"Hey! What was that for?"
"You're being angsty, I'm helping." he grinned at me. I wrapped myself in the blankets, starting to fell a lot warmer.
"That feels really good." he placed a cold rag on my head.
"I'm not gonna tell Jack."
"Good idea," I mumbled sleepily,
"I'll be back later." I nodded my head. I fell asleep wrapped in layers of warm blankets. I woke up later to a soft tapping on the door.
"I'm back, haven't told Jack anything."
"Good. I'm too tired to listen to him yell at me at the moment."
"I had a feeling, teaches you for going all Jack angsty on me."
"Yeah I guess so, I don't feel sick. Just tired, super tired."
"I can tell, you've been asleep since I left this morning."
"Really?"
"Yeah, Elmer and Mush were asking about you."
"Did you just tell them I'm sick?"
"Don't worry I'm not gonna tell anyone about your from the future thing."
"Have Jack and Morris switched back yet?"
"I don't think so, Jack was still acting weird today."
"Morris is finding it really hard to be Jack."
"Yeah, he's not doing so hot."
"Well, you aren't either."
"Gee hadn't noticed."
"Yikes, your as bad as me." he laughed, he sat down next to my hammock.
"Do you feel any better?"
"I'm a lot warmer, thanks for helping me."
"When I didn't see you walking out of your room, I knew you were probably on top of the roof."
"Oh golly, I'm turning into Jack!"
"Yep, glad you said it instead of me." We just talked and talked and talked until I was peacefully asleep.