A/N: I have come out from hiding to post my newest chapter! *hears wild applause* I hope you like it, R&R right now!! I order you!
"Hey! Scout's here!" Lucky, a tall girl with blonde hair and brown eyes called when she saw me. I smiled a half-smile, deciding to forget about Eliza and just have fun. A boy with sandy blonde hair turned around to look at me. He had blue eyes that I could see even in the dark, and an arm wrapped around Milkshake's waist.
"Spot! This is Scout! Say hi!" Saturday shouted from across the dock. I looked down, shaking my head as a little laugh escaped my lips. The boy stood up and walked over to me. He spit in his hand and held it out for me.
"I'm Spot Conlon. Nice to meet ya." I looked at his spitty hand, and was about to shake it when Saturday came up out of nowhere and wiped his hand with her handkerchief.
"Girls don't do that, remember Spotty?" she said loudly. He just rolled his eyes and went back to Milkshake's side. We all sat down along the pier, and just talked. The moon was starting to get high up in the sky, so we finally decided to disperse. We started walking back to the lodging house, after we had all said goodbye to Spot, virtually dragging Milkshake away. The lodging house was dark when we returned. Only the faint light from Mrs. Yeardler's room was still on. We quietly climbed back up the fire escape, so we didn't wake her. I had completely forgotten about Eliza- not because I didn't care enough, but that I didn't want to remember. I didn't want to remember that my father had impregnated her. But I did wonder why she hadn't tried to contact us and expose my father. I decided that the next morning, I was going to follow her to her selling spot and ask her. But for tonight, I was to sleep. It was already past midnight, and Mrs. Yeardler would kill us if we were still away.
A/N: ok, I meant to add this to the last chapter. Oops! So I just stuck it onto this one. Ok so now you can read what I actually meant for this chapter.
~^back to the story^~
I was again poked back to consciousness the next morning. I followed my normal routine, washing, drying, and flooding out of the lodging house with the rest of the girls. I had a different plan for this morning though. Today, instead of selling with Saturday, I was going to follow Eliza and some answers. So after I had bought my papers, I told Saturday that I would meet back with her later and invisibly followed Eliza. She obviously didn't like to sell anywhere near Queens, because after about ten minutes, I found myself sneaking through the Bowery. She finally stopped, glanced over the paper in her hand, and yelled in that vaguely familiar voice I had heard that summer day a year ago her headline. I waited for a minute or two, rehearsing what I was going to say. I took a deep breath and walked up to her, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned around, probably expecting a customer, and her eyes widened when she saw me. She looked very vulnerable for a second, but quickly recovered her mysterious shield. I forgot what I as going to say at first, but then I took a second to recollect my thoughts. She grabbed my arm and dragged me into an deserted alley. I opened my mouth to speak, but she spoke first.
"Why didn't I ever ask for help from your father? I did. He didn't care though. He shut the door in my face. You were there. You just have to remember." then I did remember. Whenever I was around her I rediscovered suppressed memories.
*flashback*
I was sitting in my living room, mending a hole that was in the side of my sister's shoe. I heard a knock at the front door and got up to answer it. My father beat me to it though, so I went back to my chair to finish the mending. I did pay attention to the conversation at the door though. I heard a girl's voice, pleading with my father.
"It's your fault! You should at least give me money to feed her!" the girl was on the verge of tears. I could hear it in her voice.
"No. now get the hell away from my apartment you whore." my father answered coldly. Then the door was slammed shut. My father walked over to me and put his face menacingly close to mine. His breath reeked of beer and cigarette smoke as he spoke in a low growl.
"You didn't hear anything did you?" I didn't answer. I felt a sharp sting blaze across my left cheek as his thick hand struck my face.
"did you!?" he hissed again. I shook my head, not allowing the tears to come. My cheek was smarting, and I feared for myself greatly. He was drunk and angry, and I wasn't going to doubt what he was capable of. He stood up straight and glared at me.
"If you tell anyone, I'll kill you. Got it bitch?" I was paralyzed with fear. I couldn't move. After that, I wished I couldn't feel anything. At that moment, I felt a blunt fist connect with my gut, causing me to fall to the floor in pain. Then a steel-toed boot struck my temple. I could feel a line of warm blood trickle over my eye just before I blacked out.
I awoke with a throbbing headache, a blood-crusted temple, and a bruise on my stomach. I never told anyone about that day. Not that anyone asked, especially my mother. She was off prostituting like she did every night. I don't even want to know what my father did to me while I was blacked out. I had completely forgotten about the girl at the door.
*End Flashback*
I touched the light line of raised scar tissue that still remained on my right temple. I had forgotten that Eliza was there, but when I looked back up from the ground, she wasn't. she had left. I searched the streets, looking for her, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I finally realized that it was about eleven and I hadn't sold one paper. I couldn't think though. I decided to go back to Saturday. When I found her, she was almost done selling her papers. I finally found a worthy headline, and quickly sold my papers. We headed towards Mama Nuss's for lunch.
"I talked to Race today" Saturday told me.
"Don't you talk to him everyday?" I questioned.
"well, yeah, but today he actually had something to tell me" she paused to make sure I was listening. I looked at her, silently prodding her along.
"he said that Manhattan is going on strike" I looked at her questioningly.
"why?" I asked.
"well, ya know how the price was raised today? Well they say that the can't afford it! They aren't as good of sellers as Queens is I guess, huh?" she answered, laughing a little.
"did they ask us to join?" I asked after a brief moment of thought. Saturday looked up at the cloudless sky, thinking, letting her mouth hang open carelessly.
"no" she answered finally. And that was that. We arrived at Mama Nuss's and forgot all about the strike. I didn't forget about Eliza or my father though. The scar on my temple seemed more visible now, and Eliza was still missing in action. I didn't eat anything at the restaurant. I was too busy reenacting those two days over a year ago when Eliza had made her brief cameos into my life. I couldn't believe I had forgotten about what I had seen, but I had. I guess I just did what some little kids did when someone changed their life in some horrible way. Instead of dealing with it, I discarded all the memories connected with it. I realized that I was pitying myself. I knew that what happened to me was so much less scarring than what had happened to Eliza. I still couldn't get over what a horrible person my father had turned into. He used to be the best dad ever back when my brother was alive. He had big plans for him, but when he died, all those plans died too. My father would go out to bars and stay there all night, gambling away all of our money. That's why mama became a prostitute. We needed money badly, my father got fired from his job and she had no skills, so she put her feminity to use. My younger sister doesn't even remember when they were decent parents. She was only three when Paul died. There was a very long, sullen period when nobody in our family wore colored clothes or even smiled. I didn't talk for about a month. He was my twin brother. We were best friends.
"Womb to tomb, birth to earth [1]" we used to tell each other. My dad took the death the worst. I, even though I am still not the same, have moved on. Papa hasn't. Mama has, and so has Mary. But not Papa. He lost a lot of himself when Paul was killed. Maybe because he wasn't able to protect him.
*flashback*
"Papa!" eight-year-old Paul cried as he hurried down the street towards his father.
"Hurry up boy! The race is gonna be over by the time we get to the tracks!" John Harris called with a smile. He was taking his son to the racetrack for the boy's birthday. All of a sudden, something lurched onto the sidewalk out of nowhere. There were screams and smashing of wood and neighing horses. John looked frantically for his young son, until he finally found his limp body. He had a hug bloody gash across his face. John could hear struggled, almost strangled breaths from the small body. Everyone was crowding around, some people were calling for help. Policemen arrived, and they took Paul to a local hospital, but they said they could do little for him. John was in shock. All he could do was sit by his dying son's bed and cry. The rest of the family was called in. mother, twin sister, and baby sister. The whole family cried all day and all night, not leaving the boy's side. Sometimes the Olivia Harris would sing to him, sometimes Nellie would sit and talk to him.
"You can't leave me. Womb to tomb, remember?" she would whisper occasionally through tears. The pain did not last long for the boy, for he passed just a day after the accident.
*End Flashback*
We had a small funeral for my brother, and after that my father really hit it hard. He started gambling and drinking as if it would bring Paul back. It never did, but he kept drinking and Mama kept prostituting.
"Scout??" I felt someone shake my shoulder worriedly.
"Huh?" I mutter ed as I awoke from my thoughts.
"We're leaving now. You coming?" Saturday asked, showing more concern and seriousness than I had ever seen her show before.
"Uh, yeah" I answered as I stoop up and followed the rest of the girls out. We all headed back to the lodging house because we still had some time before the afternoon edition was released. Eliza was still nowhere to be found.
"Scout, do you know where Eliza could possibly be?" Striker asked me quietly.
"Well, I know that she doesn't sell near Queens. I followed her all the way to the Bowery today." I answered, not mentioning that after I had talked to her she had disappeared.
"Would you mind goin' wit a few oddah goils 'n' look fer 'er?" she asked.
"Sure" I answered. So a bunch of us, Lucky, Trinny, Sparks, and a few others, headed onto the street. I directed the group over to the Bowery and searched around there for a bit. Then we decided to split up into smaller search parties and cover more ground that way. We searched for hours, and still no Eliza. It was already quite dark when we regrouped and went back to the lodging house. When we returned to the lodging house, everyone was in their beds. They weren't sleeping though, for when we entered the room, most of them sat up or looked down from their bunks. Striker walked out from the shadows of her bunk and strode over to me. She was frowning.
"Didn't find her?" she asked, but there wasn't much question in her voice. I shook my head solemnly and she faded back into the darkness of the room. The rest of us headed to our own bunks and fell asleep quickly despite our consciences. The next morning was still quiet and depressed. Eliza was still nowhere to be found and I felt the most responsible for her disappearance. We bought our papers, sold them, and returned to the lodging house. None of use felt like going to Mama Nuss's for dinner. As soon as we entered the bunkroom, our eyes shot to Eliza's bunk to see if she had possibly returned. She had, but hadn't stayed. There was a note on her pillow though. Striker noticed it first. We all hurried over to read it, or have it read to us. Striker read it to herself first, with a question in her eyes. She handed it to me and I read it to myself.
Dear Scout,
Thank you. You have set me free. Now that you know the truth, I can finally be with the ones I truly love. The view up here is great.
-Eliza-
My face was as white as the paper in my hand. It took me a minute to comprehend what I was reading. she…killed herself?
"Oh my God" I whispered faintly. I looked up at Striker, who had the same look on her face. My breathing quickened. I felt so guilty. This was my fault. I handed the note back to her and turned to fly out of the room and onto the midday streets. I started running, as fast as I could, down the street. I didn't know where I was going, but judging by all the harbors, I decided I was somewhere in Brooklyn. I ran past the Brooklyn boys' lodging house, where I could easily see Spot sitting on the roof, cane in front of his bent knees. He saw me too, and stood up. I could see him run back into the building, probably to come out and follow me. I didn't want him to. I wanted to be alone. I was afraid of what he would think and say. I didn't want to be alone either. I was more afraid of what I would think. His words would hurt, but my thoughts would eat me alive. I ran faster, but I couldn't escape him for long. He was faster than me and also hadn't been running for as long as me.
"Hey whaddaya doin' out 'ere?" he asked when he reached me.
"Nice night for a jog don't ya think?" I asked, slightly winded. I finally slowed to a walk and he heeled beside me.
"Why are ya really out here?" I didn't want to answer, so I didn't. we continued walking in silence and found ourselves on an empty pier. We both sat down at the edge and let our now shoeless feet graze the cold ocean water.
"You can ell me ya know. I ain't one ta judge" spot said quietly. I gulped and looked down at the black, rippled water under my feet.
"I may have indirectly killed someone" I choked out.
"Indirectly?" I then proceeded to spill my guts to him without meaning to. When I was finished, I couldn't bear to look up and meet his eyes.
"Don't cry. It's not yer fault. Seems to me that you gave 'er what she really wanted" I didn't even know I was crying. He was right though, but I still couldn't really bring myself to be forgiven.
"But if it weren't for me she would still be alive" I pleaded through another wave of tears.
"and miserable. If it wasn't for you, she would still be alive and miserable" I looked over at him, hot tears still streaming down my pink cheeks.
"Now you can either sit here crying, or you can go back to Queens and talk it through with the girls there. I'll follow you" he told me.
"Which way?" I asked, not sure what he meant.
"whichever way you pick." he answered. I looked down at the water for a minute longer before I stood up and slipped my shoes back onto my feet. Spot smiles at me and stood up beside me. Together we walked in silence back to Queens.
---End of Chapter---
[1] if you can tell me what movie that is from, you shall receive a newsie of your choice to follow you around and make sound effects for you. =D
A/N: okay, you have the first R completed, now you just have to click a little button and finish the second R! make my day! So just click it! *reaches through computer, grabs pointer and moves it over to the 'Go' button* now click!
Shout outs- wow I do believe there are quite a lot.
Padfootismyhero- Yay! Glad you liked it!
Matchin' Laces- I did good! I'm so relieved I did it right *beams*
Blue Boxer- ugh sorry it took so long to update! I went on vacation, then I was way too lazy to type it all from my notebook onto my computer. I just got around to finishing it. Hope you liked it!
piratechic- lol that's okay, I know whenever I'm in someone else's story I totally freak out when they accept my info. I think I used your character in this chapter, I can't really remember though because I wrote most of this a long time ago and I really don't feel like rereading it. Yeah I'm just that lazy. Hope you like this chapter too!
Saturday- my no.1 reviewer! Gah, you weren't in this chapter as much as last chapter…but you shall come back! I promise! You're probably going to hug Racey-poo more often too. Hehe. Thank you! Keep reviewing!
Trinny- thanks for the review! Hope you liked this chapter!
Taps Riffwalk- thanks! Hope you liked this chapter too!
----to all----
Thank you! I love you all! I hope I pleased you all with this chapter…it's a lot darker than the others I believe…oh well. It needed to be done. Please review again! And again when I get the next chapter out! Yay! *dances for reviews*
~!~Scout~!~
p.s. if I forgot your review I am soooo sorry! Just feel free to yell at me until your fingers hurt from hitting the keyboard so hard.