Author's Note: I hope you are all enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it.
Big Thank You's to the last chapter's reviewers:
Aki
Moneybags
Dice
Rae
Iris
Dragonfly
Holiday
Emu
Jeanette
Sami
Moody
Lange LuckyAnd here is more of the story. *And a little more insight on this freaky Kisses character*
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After the entry on the 20th, the entry where Secrets told all about Stress' death and received the strange message from Kisses, she was much too afraid to write anything into the journal. Anytime she reached for a pen and pulled her journal out from under her pillow, Kisses' words from that day flashed before her eyes and she would thrust it away. But the lack of her entries and her unwillingness to write in her journal did nothing to stop Kisses' messages.
August 21, 1899
Layna,
So, my friend, my sister, my Layna. How was your first day with out that pesky boyfriend stealer hanging all over David? Good, I hope. Did you have fun selling? Well, talk to you later!
Kisses
When Secrets had read the first message that Kisses had left after the strange one, she had stared at him for over an hour, trying to figure it out. This was just like the messages that Kisses used to leave in her journal -- friendly and supportive, nothing like the scary ones she had been writing ever since she had run away from the orphanage.
And, of course, she then had to laugh at the questions that Kisses had asked. How was your first day with out that pesky boyfriend stealer hanging all over David? Secrets wouldn't know. David had spent the entire day with a mourning Jack inside the bunkroom over at the Manhattan Newsboys Lodging House. And, Did you have fun selling? Well, not necessarily. Secrets had tagged along with Mondie, Holiday and Spin and, as a result, had spent the entire day listening to the three of them re-live memories of their dear departed friend. Since Secrets had only known Stress for a few days she really had nothing to say. Instead, Secrets spent the entire day wondering if there was a connection between Kisses' strange message and Stress' murder.
But, upon returning to the lodging house that evening, Secrets did not write in her journal. She still wanted more time to think. Though, normally, Secrets would use her journal to write out her thoughts until they made sense, she decided not to this time.
Which only resulted in a change of tone in the next evening's message from Kisses.
August 22, 1899
Layna,
Hmmm...No answer yesterday. Are you O.K.? I would think so. I mean, you don't have to worry about Stress anymore. Now you can have your David all to yourself. Right? Right, Layna, right?
Kisses
Right, Secrets scoffed to herself when she had read that message before going to bed. Another day alone, another day without David. Though Secrets missed spending her mornings selling with David and missed spending her evenings in his company, she did understand the time he spent with Jack. But it didn't mean she had to like it.
Which meant that Kisses did not like it.
The next two days went by quite uneventful. Secrets saw David on the second night for a few minutes as he dredged himself home from another evening of trying to convince Jack it wasn't his fault that Stress had died. On the night that David made his way home, the first night that he stopped into the Bottle Alley Lodging House, he explained to Secrets what Jack was going through.
"I know I haven't been spending any time with you, Secrets, but you have to understand. You see, the day before and the actual day that Stress was killed, she and Jack got into an argument. You heard the two of them, so you know how bad it was. Well, Jack is not too happy right now because they never got the chance to kiss and make up. He thinks that it's all his fault." David sighed and just hung his head. Only a week ago, everything was so normal...
Secrets, just glad for his company, nodded. "Dat's O.K., Dave. I undahstand." She didn't, really. But as long as David was there with her, then, everything was just fine.
David smiled, his first smile in days, and wrapped his arms around Secrets. "Thank you."
He stayed there with her until Mrs. Cook came upstairs and announced curfew. After he left to head back to his home, Secrets decided it would be time to write in her trusted journal once more. Besides, what was she afraid of anyways?
August 25, 1899
Layna,
O.K., Layna. I was being nice, I was being kind, I was being your friend. I forgave you for befriending others and even tried to help you keep that friendship. And what do I get in return? I'm ignored, forgotten. Is that how you feel as you sit by yourself in the lodging house while David spends his days with Jack? I don't like that feeling Layna and I'm sure that you don't either. I will take care of you. But you must write to me. Write to me, Layna. How do expect me to help you and be there for you if you don't tell me. I need to know.
Kisses
Oh yeah. Secrets remembered exactly what she was afraid of.
"Well, in dat case, maybe I bettah write." she murmured to herself, surprised at how nervous a message from someone she's never met resulted in making her feel.
August 25, 1899
Dear Journal,
Well, I finally am writing once again.
It's been a strange few days and it's extremely hard to be surrounded by
so many depressed people. And it's
doubly hard to be surrounded by so many depressed people when David isn't one
of them. Because I am hurt and jealous at all the time he is now spending with
Jack. I feel selfish to admit it, but
in a way relieved. I don't know why I
haven't been writing my feelings out, Journal.
You truly are the only friend I can turn to right now. Y--
And, once she got the momentum going and knew exactly what she wanted to write down, Secrets had her first black out spell in the past three days.
Knock, knock. Officer Murphy led the seven-year-old Layna to the door of the large 5th Street Orphanage and waited upon knocking on the large door.
A stout woman with her long black hair knotted at the nape of her neck answered the door. "May I help you, Officer Murphy?"
Officer Murphy removed his police hat and stepped aside to reveal Layna. "Sorry about disturbing you so late, Madame Pearson, but this is important."
Madame Pearson took one look at Layna and motioned for the two of them to step inside. "Come in, come in." Once she was sure that the two of them were standing inside of the orphanage, she began to walk down the hallway. "Now before we have a talk about the wee one here, let me show her to a bunk. It seems like she might have had a rough day and a little girl like her should get some sleep." Madame Pearson continued to talk until she reached a particular door on her left. "Here, I think this room will do fine for now." She opened the door and gestured for Layna to enter.
Layna thanked Madame Pearson and waited for her to lead Officer Murphy to her office to talk before approaching the only other occupant awake at so late of an hour. It was a young boy with sloppy dark hair and brown eyes that were hidden by glasses. "Hi deah, me name is Nicolas, but awl me pals cawl me Nick. What's yer name?"
All at once the day's events caught up with Layna and she felt a sudden rush of pain flood into her head. It took a second to pass and when it did, she stared her dull, lifeless blue eyes straight ahead. "My name is Kisses."
"Oh my Gawd, what happened?" Secrets lifted her head from her hand, waiting for the familiar pain to leave her head. The last thing she had remembered was getting ready for bed and writing in her journal. "Me joinal!" she shrieked, ignoring the stirring of the slumbering girls around her. Her journal was no longer sitting on her bunk. Secrets jumped up from the bed and searched frantically until she found where the journal had fallen - in between the bunks where she slept and where Iris slept.
Picking it up and clutching it to her chest momentarily, Secrets flipped the journal open to the page she had been writing on. And there was her entry, only half finished. But, already though, there was a response.
Layna,
Good, you listened to me and wrote back. Just like I thought you would. I know you so well, Layna, I really do. Now, don't you worry. I must admit that I didn't like the idea of you pouring your heart and soul into someone but me when you first mentioned that you were making friends. But I see now that if it makes you happy, you must be happy. And I will be the one to make sure of it. You'll see.
Kisses