Author's note: Thanks to Rhapsody for her wonderful reviews of the first two chapters. I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoy this (very short) chapter
Bumlets did not hear the irritated cries and warnings of those he accidentally stumbled into as he stalked the streets. The only voices that echoed through his mind were those he was as familiar with as his own. Midnight had told him not to follow her but when she had not returned to the lodging house despite the snowstorm, he knew he had to do something.
"It's a big city, Bumlets," Blink had told him as he had rushed around the boys' bunkroom in search of an extra scarf. "And she's one person. What makes ya t'ink ya can find her, especially in dis weaddah?"
Bumlets had not replied to his fellow newsie then but he thought of an answer as he rushed down sidewalks and through alleys, crying her name. Faith, he thought doggedly, finally answering Kid Blink's inquiry. The snow was piling up now, blanketing the streets and veiling shop windows. He glanced at the coat he carried under his arm, wondering what the storm would do to a newsgirl who sat unprotected in a gutter.
He shook the grim thought out of his head. It was Christmas Eve and he would find her. Despite his assurance, worry clawed at his brain and increased the speed of his feet and heart.
*****
Midnight wanted to crush the watch with her bare hands, but her fingers had turned a faint shade of blue and moved weakly. Her tears, although steady, were not the hot, noisy ones that had poured out of her eyes in Central Park. While she absently wandered away from the lake, they had become quiet and cold. She vaguely worried that they would become icicles and pierce her eyes. She remembered her grandmother reading her a fairy tale about a boy who had a shard of ice, like glass, in his eye that had stopped all of his emotions. That was what she wanted now. She would simply have to wait for the Snow Queen to take her away and she could be a barely living ice sculpture forever—cold and contented and nothing.
But this isn't a fairy tale, she reminded herself. There's no one left who will melt the ice with his warm tears.
She could almost hear her heart cracking like ice under her thin sweater. And it's my fault. I betrayed him and this is what I deserve. She sank to the sidewalk and, leaning against the cold brick wall of a building, allowed the snow to rest on her defeated body.
*****
Ivy shivered as she and Crutchy glanced outside, both wondering if Bumlets had found Midnight yet. There were no carols that evening as all of the newsies sat quietly and waited for any kind of news. "Do you think he's found her yet?" Ivy asked the newsboy, her soft voice fogging the frozen windowpane.
Crutchy shrugged, wanting to tell her that everything would be all right. "I dunno," he admitted.
"Hey,"
Cricket, the most anxious person in the lodging house that evening, called as
she paced the floor, "any sign of 'em yet?"
Ivy shook her head and Crutchy
replied, "Not yet."
Boots stood on his toes to glimpse the snow falling, thicker and faster than it had been a moment ago. "It's a storm out there."
"We know that, ya bleedin' idiot," Cricket snapped, her Cockney accent thickening and her eyes narrowing. When Boots held up his hands in defense she sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Boots, I'm just worried about Midnight and Bumlets. I mean…they could…I don't think…" she trailed off, unable to vocalize her fears.
Boots shook his head in acceptance. "Hey, dat's all right. I undahstand."
Cricket nodded and then, as she turned away, savagely kicked the brass leg of a bunk bed. She glared at the dent she left. "It'd take a miracle for 'im to find 'er, much less get 'er back 'ere before she's frozen."
"But it's Christmas," Ivy piped up in her usual quiet but hopeful tone. "If there's any time for a miracle, it's got to happen now." The other newsies laughed somewhat bitterly and Ivy turned away to stare at the streets that were quickly becoming a flawless shade of white.
To be continued…please review!