"My newsies saw yous layin' in a' alley down in Manhattan, beat up pretty bad." Said the face. Brooklyn…It's the infamous Spot Conlon! (I thought in surprise) It was true. I was covered in bruises and caked-on blood. I was layin' there barely dressed, and what was there was ripped and soaked. I knew what had happened. Damn those Delanceys! After knocking me out, they raped me. I shivered at the thought. No, no this can't be happening. Not to me. No, Jack would never let this happen. If I didn't feel like enough of a slut… A thousand feelings rushed to my brain. Pain, loneliness, disbelieve; I felt like dirt- cheap dirt.
Spot smiled at me warmly, but concern still showed in his face. "I knew that this would happen to a goil newsie, Is just knowin' this would happen. Someone bring me a tub of water and some clothes for this goil!" At these words, I realized that I was in a room much like the one back at my former lodging house. "Here, take this," he said as he handed me a towel. "Get washed up and dressed. The boys'll lend ya some clothes." Once the tub of water and clothes were in my room, Spot left me. I took off the remainder of my clothes and dipped my foot in. Warm water! They brought me warm water! I slowly sank into the tub, the pain coursing through my bruises. The water lapped at my cuts, causing an almost unbearable pain, almost as if the water contained a large concentrate of salt. Every part of me ached. My legs, my arms, my head, but worst of all, my heart. The words "If only…" kept on popping up into my mind. If only I had let Racetrack kiss me. If only I hadn't cried. If only I had told Racetrack how much I loved him. Whoa… hold on there! I love Racetrack? There was no denying it anymore. I loved Racetrack. His opinion meant the world to me. If it hadn't been for him, I would have never been able to become a newsie. The way I treated him… I was afraid. I had lost so many people I loved, I knew that if I said that I loved him that if I lost him, well, I just couldn't lose another. That's what I did though. It was because that I wouldn't admit how much I cared that I lost him. What a fool! I didn't know what to do. I was afraid to go back. No one cared for me back there. I figured that I might as well just stay in Brooklyn with Spot. Then again, not even Spot believed that I could be a newsie. He saw what had happened to me because of it. Well, I figured, might as well play it by ear. There was nothing else to do. I gently stood up and stepped out of the tub. However, to my dismay, when I stepped out, my legs gave out and I fell to the floor with a thud. Then, almost immediately, Spot came running through the door.
"Are yous all r—" Spot stopped his sentence as he saw me naked on the floor.
"GET OUT YOU CREEP!" I shouted (more like shrieked) as he hurriedly left and shut the door. There is nothing that could go much worse, I kept on thinking. Then I realized what would happen if the other newsies thought that Spot had done that on purpose. Or had he? All I knew was that I needed to dress before something worse happened. I put on the clothes as fast as possible. The clothes weren't perfect like my old ones, but they would do fine. I stumbled out of the room to see spot sitting, his face bright red, on the floor.
"I-uhm- didn't mean to, er, I'm sorry," Spot said, as embarrassed and red as possible. "I thought you were hurt."
"I fell, but I'm ok now. Just- be more careful. After all I've gone through…"
"Yeah, stay here as long as ya like goil, but it'll only be out of charity until yous can walk a little better. I won't be responsible for any other injuries."
"I'm sellin' papes tomorra."
"Only if yous go wit me. Gimps and goils sure sell 'em papes! I wonder how many we can get if a goil gimp sells 'em!"
"I'm no gimp, but I'll go with ya. I'll show you how a goil sells papes in New York! And you better not make me show ya how I got ta be a newsie." I said, jokingly displaying my cut yet nevertheless strong and tightly clenched fists.
"That aint how I hoid that yous got Jackie's favour. News travels, and by the sounds o' it, you deserved the beating yous got." Spot said.
"It was a misunderstanding. We never did anything. Honestly!" I defended myself.
"Save it for da judge, goily, 'cause I don't care. That Racetrack is always gambling and losing, he shoulda nevah gambled his goil."
Gambling his girl? What did Spot mean by that?
Anyone wanna know? Review and maybe, JUST MAYBE, I'll update. Not enough reviews for this much effort, so if you aren't one of my regular reviewers, YOU SHOULD BE!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR (Gremlin Growl)
Yours truly,
THE GREMLIN