Emma's heart skipped a beat and she froze in fear from the sound of the footsteps coming up the stairs. "Is it Snyder?" she thought fearfully. She was thinking about what had happened last time in the distribution center. She was sure that it happened all the time here, and this time, there would be no Jack to save her.
She took a few steps back hoping to find someplace to hide, but just backed into the wall. It was rainy and dreary outside with a hidden sun and the lights were so dim in the halls that when the figure emerged at the top of the stairs, she could only see his silhouette.
Emma cringed and waited, waited for him to be holding her against the wall, waiting to smell the liquor on his breath, waiting for whatever was to come. Then the waiting was over. "Hey, girl, could ya give me a hand with these?" a boys voice called out. Emma brought her hands down to see who it was and then breathed a sigh of relief.
It was the boy with black hair, Michael, carrying two large buckets with water. Emma dropped her rag in her own bucket and walked over to Michael, taking a bucket from him. "This way." He said as he started down the hall.
"You looked pretty scared when I came up the stairs." He said to her looking worried. "Ya ain't scared of me, are ya?" Emma shook her head and looked at down at the floor. "I thought you were…" her voice trailed off. "Snyder?" Michael said as he turned and opened the door to a bunk room. Emma nodded
"So I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that you've been in a run in with Snyder the spider before?" Michael said setting his bucket on the floor and gesturing Emma to do the same. She nodded.
"Sorry kiddo," he said walking back towards the door to leave. "That's rough. Hope you don't have ta run into him again any time soon." He held the door open for her. "Thanks." She said quietly. "What were those buckets for?" she asked him as they headed back down the hall to where she had been working.
"Some of da younger kids have floor duty and gotta scrub da floors." He said. "Dey's too small to carry dem up here so I bring up for 'em. I was pretty impressed that you could carry one yourself." Emma lightly punched him on the arm. "Tiny but mighty." She told him. He grinned. "I'se don't doubt it." He said.
They reached the staircase where Emma had working and she picked the rag back up to continue. "Thanks again Emma." Michael said, heading back down. "No problem." She said, focusing on getting a stain off of the window.
After a while of finishing the windows on her half of the floor, she put her rag back in her bucket and carried it down the stairs and back to the storage closet. Once she got there, she did what Anne told her and emptied her bucket and rinsed her rags. Then she headed back up to the fourth floor to wait for Crutchie.
Back in the bunkroom, there were several boys who must have already finished their chores, playing a game of cards. She gave a small laugh, they reminded her of Race and his friends all sitting around his precious poker table playing a game and gambling.
Her laugh caught one of the boys' attention and he turned to her. "Ya wanna us to deal ya in?" he asked her. The boy had red hair and many freckles and he looked pretty friendly but Emma declined. "No thanks," she told him as she walked over. "I'd rather just watch." The boy shrugged and he turned back to his game.
She watched the four boys playing in total seriousness and as time passed, other boys were making their way into the bunkroom. But there was no Crutchie. "Excuse me," she asked a younger boy with dark brown hair who had just walked in. "Do you know how long it takes for someone to finish dish duty?" The young boy shook his head. "Sorry," he told her. "I ain't been here too long."
Emma nodded and the boy walked away. She went and sat down on Crutchie's bunk, nervously tapping her foot. "Where could he be?" she thought growing more and more anxious as boys kept walking in. She took a deep breath. "Calm down." She told herself as she walked over to the bunk and sat down. "You are overreacting. He's probably fine, there are probably just lots of dishes." She watched as more boy piled in to the bunkroom and she hopelessly scanning, trying to find a chestnut brown haired boy with a crutch and wide smile. "He's ok." She thought again. "Right?"
Emma stood up. "I'm going to go look for him." She thought to herself. "What if something's wrong and he needs help?" She squeezed past the group of boys who were chatting quietly amongst themselves. Some of the boys had black eyes and bruises and were covered with a layer of dirt and grime. Emma hoped that she wouldn't find Crutchie with a black eye or something worse.
She opened the door and headed out into the short hallway that lead to the staircase and walked quickly, her heart beating fast. Emma ran down the stairs to the first floor, trying to remember where the kitchen was that Crutchie had gone into earlier.
She took a left at the end of the dark hall and never slowed down her pace as she continued to make turns and open doors just to find, nothing. Emma was getting frustrated with herself. "I'm an idiot." She thought angrily. "I should have paid more attention this morning so that I wouldn't be lost, and I would have found him by now and-." She quit running and stopped dead in her tracks.
Emma could hear what sounded like a bottle breaking, coming from down the hall. Curiosity took over and rather than turn around and head back, she followed where the noise was coming from. At the end of the hallway was an office with dark tinted windows. "Whose office could this be?" She thought as she crept closer. She read the sign on the door and took a step back. It was Snyder's office.
There was another crashing sound and Emma jumped back as the door flung open, banging into the wall behind it. Snyder stumbled out of the office with a bottle of whiskey in his hand and when he saw Emma frozen in fear, he laughed. He dropped the whiskey bottle, causing it to shatter, and before Emma could react, pinned her against the wall.
Emma let out a small cry as he held both of her hands in one of his and was using his other arm to pin her shoulder against the wall. "Let go of me!" she cried, thrashing around and trying to get away from his grasp. All he did was laugh and Emma cringed from smelling the liquor on his breath. Snyder studied her face for a moment and his greasy face lit up as if he was remembering something. "Hey wait a second doll face, I-I'se remember youse from da distribution center." He said slurring his words. "I was just about to get started when dat street rat came and ruined things!" Emma continued trying to squirm and get away.
"But Kelly ain't here to save ya now is he?" he said taunting her. Emma looked up at him and spit in his face. In a rage, he let go of her and slapped her hard across the face, sending her sprawling to the floor on top of the shattered bottle. She rolled away from the shattered bottle and tried to get up and run away, but slipped on the puddle of whiskey on the floor. Snyder stepped out to grab her but thankfully, slipped in the whiskey as well.
Emma let out a sob as she ran down the hall trying to find her way back to the fourth floor, trying to find her way away from him. She could hear Snyder yelling after her and the loud clonking sound of his shoes against the dirty wood floor as she continued to run and run until she found the staircase. She stopped for a moment to listen and try and hear if he was still chasing her, but the first floor was silent. All that Emma could hear was the sound of her ragged breathing.
She heaved a sigh of relief ad wiped away the tears that were blinding her. She slowly walked up the wooden staircase to the fourth floor where she could hear the familiar commotion of boys behind the door. She reached for the handle just as the door opened. A boy with chestnut brown hair was looking behind him over his shoulder, "I have to go and find 'er!" he was yelling. Then he turned around and jumped when he saw Emma.
"Em!" The boy shouted, grabbing her shoulders Emma looked at the boy's face which along with a black swollen eye, had a huge smile. It was Crutchie. His face was momentarily filled with relief that he had found her, and was then filled with concern and distress. "Oh God, Emma!" he started looking at all of the cuts on her body. "What happened to ya?" he asked her looking into her brown eyes which were filled with fear.
Emma felt dizzy and began to slide to the floor, but Crutchie reached out and grabbed her. "Thank you." She murmured as she tried to regain her balance. Crutchie put her arm around his shoulders, and he led her back to his bunk. She sat down and he sat down next to her leaning his crutch against the wall. He put his hand on her cheek, which was red from where Snyder had slapped her. He brushed his thumb against her cheekbone. "What happened?" he asked her gently.
Tears began to slide down Emma's cheeks and Crutchie pulled her close, wrapping his arms protectively around her. She nuzzled her head against his chest, listening to his heart. Boys around the room gave her brief looks of pity and then turned back to what they had been doing.
"I was so worried." Emma said quietly, her head still against his chest. "You weren't back and I thought that something awful had happened so I went out to go find the kitchen." Crutchie placed his hand on her back as she continued. "I got lost and walked past Snyder's office. He was drunk." Crutchie looked down at her and could tell that she was shielding her body and closing herself off. He knew that it wasn't directed towards him and that she was just scared but he was nervous. "Emma, did he touch you?" he asked her gently putting his hands on her shoulders, making sure she was looking him in the eye. Emma could tell that he was trying hard not to get really angry and go find Snyder.
She shook her head. "No," she said quietly. "He was drunk and dropped a bottle of whiskey and it shattered. He got mad and pushed me and I fell on top of the broken bottle. He tried to grab me but he slipped in the whiskey and I ran away." Crutchie only nodded and reached for my left arm which had taken the most beating to the broken glass.
"We's need to clean ya up." He said as he stood up. "I'll got get some towels." Emma nodded and laid down on the bed, suddenly exhausted. A few minute later Crutchie hobbled back with a damp towel and a dry one. He sat down next to her and she tried to sit up and help him. "Shh." He whispered. "Youse just lay down, ok?" Emma nodded and rested her head in his lap.
He lightly started dabbing her arms with the damp towel and could hear Emma's steady breathing as she closed her eyes. Crutchie gave a quiet laugh looking down at the now sleeping Emma. But that laughter was replaced with anger and frustration as he wiped the blood off of her arm.
"When I find Snyder I'm gonna kill 'em." He thought to himself. He lightly dried off her arms and hands with the dry towel. Then he cautiously stood up and set her head down on the pillow trying not to wake her up. She mumbled something to herself and rolled over onto her side. He smiled and hobbled off to the bathroom to wash off the towels. Crutchie held the towels under the sink and scrubbed them until all of the stains were out. He hung them back up to dry and made his way back to his bunk. He heard an older boy call out, "Lights out everyone!" Several 'goodnights' were exchanged and all of the boys crawled into their own bunk and laid down.
When Crutchie finally reached his bunk, he saw Emma sleeping in the exact same position he had let her in and he smiled to himself as he leaned his crutch up against the wall. Then he crawled into bed next to Emma's small figure.
He pulled the covers around the two of them and Emma nuzzled her head into his warm chest. Crutchie wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. He looked up and out the window that was next to their bed at the sky, where he could see the dim brightness of stars. Emma murmured something in her sleep and Crutchie held her tighter. "I love ya Emma." He whispered. And then, he fell asleep.