OE Chapter 11 - Get It Faster

"I should have thought things through / I'm holding out / but not getting an answer / I wanna do right by you / I'm finding out / cheating gets it faster." - Jimmy Eat World

            Ocean Eyes winced to herself as she rolled up her skirt and stared at her legs. Large purple spots—three of them—dotted here and there. She gingerly touched one. These bruises were deep. Just a soft touch made them feel like they were on fire.

            Grimly she tied up her boots and stood up. Searing pain shot through her right leg. She cried out and sat back down, then looked around in panic. Luckily, it was early in the afternoon, and the bunk room was empty. No one had seen her falter. She untied her right boot and set it aside, then glared at the ankle, which was swollen to nearly double its size. It was most definitely sprained.

            He didn't mean it. He didn't mean it. He didn't mean it… As usual, she repeated her mantra to herself. It was an accident. Pie Eater didn't mean to hurt her.

            Frustrated, she lay back on her bed and hugged her pillow to her chest. Tears pricked her eyes as she stared up at the bottom of Melody's bunk. How could he have changed so much? Her darling Pie Eater….

            Flopping over onto her stomach, she shoved the pillow into her eyes and sobbed. The pain in her ankle was radiating through her body. There was no way she could go sell papers that afternoon.

            She couldn't even walk to Tibby's that evening for a meal, so she just stayed in her bed. But she knew she had to go talk to Mush that evening, so she forced her foot into her boot, tied it up, and hobbled out of the room, stopping every few steps because she felt so weak.

            Mush was waiting at the statue when she arrived. His concerned expression intensified when he saw her. "Where was you at dinneh?" he asked. "We all was scared ta death aboutchu!" He shook his finger in her face. "And why is you limpin', ya silly goil?"

            She swallowed, and couldn't meet his eyes. "Why do ya t'ink?" she answered softly, looking intently at Horace Greeley's name plate.

            Mush grabbed her waist and hoisted her up onto the statue's base, then jumped up next to her. "Pie Eateh?"

            She still wouldn't look at him, and he knew her silence was a yes.

            "Listen heah, Ocean. Ya need ta do somet'ing abouddim. Ya need ta tell someone who'll fight 'im or somet'ing. Because I t'ink I might hafta soon if you don't." He lifted his chin defiantly.

            She turned her turquoise eyes, panicked, on him. "No, Mush! You wouldn't!" She began to cry again.

            Mush let it drop, but became business-like. "Let me see dat ankle," he said gruffly, picking up her foot and frowning at the thickness of it. He unlaced the boot and let it fall to the street below. He tenderly caressed her ankle, and sadness burned in his heart. "Oh, Ocean."

            "It don't hoit so bad," she said, as cheerfully as she could, though the pain was much more intense when Mush was holding her ankle. "It jus' looks bad."

            "An' you didn' come ta dinneh because it looked bad?" Mush raised his eyebrows. "Don' lie ta me, Ocean. I'se know you. An' you like to eat." He hoped the last statement would bring a faint smile to her lips, but it didn't. He hurried on. "It keels me dat he can git away wit' dis an' you won' even do nothin' abou' it."

            "Mush?" she asked softly. He gently put down her ankle and turned to her expectantly. "Will you please hold me?"

            He gladly complied, wrapping his strong arms around her little bruised body. "Dis'll neveh happen again," he whispered in her ear, one hand running through her beautiful curls. "An' if it does, Pie Eateh'll have me ta answeh to."

            She began to cry, so there was no more talking that night, and the two stayed out way later than usual, Mush rocking her back and forth.

            When the stars were shooting and the moon had risen to its highest perch, Mush cradled the now-sleeping Ocean Eyes. The moon, waxing brilliant, shone and glistened on her sleeping, angelic face. "I love you," Mush whispered. "Foreveh." He leaned down and kissed her lips, which woke her. She smiled up at him as he moved his face back, worried he'd done the wrong thing. She leaned forward and touched her lips to his lightly, which intensified with time. They kissed and kissed, until Mush realized what they were doing.

            "We can't, Ocean Eyes," he said softly, then lit from Horace's base. He reached up and grabbed her by her waist again, setting her down as gently as he could. "C'mon, I'se gotta walk ya home."

            They started out, but she was limping so badly, he stopped her after a few steps and picked her up in his arms. She gazed at him adoringly until he set her down at the girls' lodging house.

            "You's shore dere's nowhere else ya wanna go?" she asked lightly, not wanting him to leave her.

            "Go get some sleep, Ocean Eyes," Mush answered, a smile on his lips. "G'night."

            "G'night," she answered, turning and limping inside.

            Mush's smile dropped as soon as she was out of sight. He headed back to the boys' lodging house, his heart heavy and his mind weighed down.

            Kid Blink hurried through selling his papers the next morning, then ran to Brooklyn. He found Timber on a corner, yelling out her fare. "Timbeh!" he said happily, racing over to her.

            "Heya, Kid," she answered, grinning back. She threw her arms around his neck. "I missed ya."

            "I'se betcha dat I missed YOU more!" Kid Blink answered, scooping her into a hug. He kissed her a short but sweet kiss, and she returned the favor. He helped sell the rest of her papers, then they went on a little stroll.

            "Hey, le's go visit yer friends in Manhattan," she suggested after a little while of walking.

            So they did just that. They didn't get far into Manhattan, though, when Mush came running up. "Kid! Kid!"

            "Heya, Mush," Kid Blink said, smiling at his best friend.

            "Hiya, Mush!" said Timber.

            Mush nodded a hello to Timber, but it wasn't his usual relaxed nod, it was hurried and panicked. "Kid, ya need ta help me. I'se sorry I didn' tell ya oiliah, but Ocean made me promise—"

            "Tell me what?" Kid Blink answered lazily, glancing over to admire Timber's beauty. She smiled at him too.

            "Dat Pie Eateh…" Mush trailed off when he realized Kid Blink wasn't listening to him. "KID!"

            "What, Mush?" Kid Blink asked, looking annoyed as he turned to his friend. "Give Pie Eateh an' Alex some love advice, an' den let dem woik it out on deir own! I'se sorry I eveh got you involved wit' Alex, cuz it's jus' made a huge mess. So jus' back off 'a' dem, okay? Let dem woirry about deir relationship. It ain't yours."

            Mush's face fell. Timber, her arms hugging Kid Blink's waist, felt sorry for him as he turned to leave. Then he turned back. "Why don' you pay attention to yer own sistah fer once?" he yelled, spitting at Kid Blink's feet. "If you weren' so involved in starin' atcha liddle goil heah, you'd notice dat t'ings is diff'rent about 'er!"

            "Don' tell me what ta do, Mush!" Kid Blink answered, his eye flashing. "You live yer life, an' I'll live mine. Oh, an' stay away from Alex from now on, okay? She picked Pie Eateh. So stop hangin' all oveh his goil. ALEX AIN'T YERS. She's his."

            Mush glared. "As long as you feel dat way, den I guess we ain't friends."

            "I guess not."

            "WAKE UP, CHRISTIAN!" shouted Mush. Kid Blink glowered at the mention of his real name. "WAKE UP! She ain't happy!"

            "She's a lot more happy den when she was wit' you!" Kid Blink yelled back. The two boys stared at each other, then turned to go their opposite ways. Neither looked back.

            "Ya know, maybe Mush's right," Timber said softly. "You haven't been spendin' much time wit' Ocean since I came inta yer life."

            "Alex can take care 'a herself," Kid Blink answered, looking down at Timber. "She knows what she's doin'."

            "If you say so," Timber answered.

            Ocean Eyes stared at her arm in shock. It was bent weird. She opened her mouth and let out a scream.

            Several newsies came running over to where she stood in Newsies Square. Mush and Melody were among them. They pushed their way to her and then stopped short.

            "Wha' happened?" Melody asked.

            Mush, the only one to know about Pie Eater's abuse, couldn't believe it. He stared from Ocean's shocked face to her arm and back again.

            "Dat arm is broken," one newsie in the crowd told his friend.

            "Oh, my Gawd," said Melody.

            Mush didn't know what to do, so he took Ocean Eyes to Denton's apartment. Luckily, Denton was inside, writing a newspaper article for his deadline that afternoon. He took one look at Ocean Eyes and immediately summoned a doctor.

            Mush left when the doctor arrived. He had to find Pie Eater. He'd promised Ocean Eyes it'd never happen again. Thoughts pounded against the sides of his head like ricocheting bullets. He stared wildly around, looking for the yellow shirt and brown vest anywhere.

Now was the time for Pie Eater to get hurt.

Copyright © Mondie 2002