"Dad! Let me go! I'se was just coming back ta get a couple of things! It's not like I would evah come back ta stay, da way you'se used ta beat me. I don't blame Alex for leaving; in fact, I'se wish I'd left wid him!" He didn't even respond, probably because he was too drunk to even register that I had said anything, just repeated his earlier scream of "Git out a dis house! I never want to see you again!" When I moved towards my room instead of the door, he pulled out a piece of rope and started moving menacingly toward me. I was a pretty good fighter, but I had learned before not to mess with him when he was drunk. I only had one option: I ran to my room and threw my most important possessions into a small bag. I made sure I had my Bible, a necklace that was nothing more than a small silver key on a string, the only thing I had from Alex, and a couple other small things. Since I didn't figure I could make it past my dad, I ran to the window and jumped out, since we lived on the first floor. I never looked back, kept running for a long time, my reddish-brown hair flying behind me, until I finally collapsed in an alley, exhausted and worn out. I was almost asleep when I heard a voice near me, and it didn't sound friendly. "Well, well, what have we heah?" I jumped up and quickly located the source of the voice; there were two big thugs standing in the mouth of the alley, advancing menacingly towards me. "Let's just see what's in da bag, goilie!" One of them grabbed at my bag, and managed to get it away from me. He started to open it, and I exploded. "WHO DO YA CREEPS THINK YA ARE! GIMME BACK MY BAG RIGHT NOW YA OVAHGROWN APES!!!" The taller one smirked. "I'd like ta see ya try!" I didn't answer, just started punching and kicking them both, catching them by surprise. I've always been good at dodging, so they only managed to get a couple of hits in before I grabbed my bag and ran. I managed to get past them, but they kept chasing me. I ran into another alley, hoping I could lose them at the other end, but realized I had made a big mistake: I was in a dead-end alley, and the thugs were already there, and I realized my only option was to try to fight my way out. Just then I was grabbed from behind by one of them, while the other one put on brass knuckles. 'Oh shit!' was the only thing I could think, much less say. I guess they had done this a lot before, because the guy holding me wouldn't let go no matter how much I struggled. The last thing I remember was Brass Knuckles hitting me over and over until I fainted.

(A/N: I know, it's not newsies yet, but they show up in the next chapter.)

(A/N 2: I changed a lot in this chapter because some of the info clashed with later stuff. Also, chapter 3 was accidentally posted as chapter 1, so I fixed that.)